3 Trucking / Haulage Business Success Stories [2023]

Clarissa Rankin, a trucker, businesswoman, and social media genius, has carved a path for women in a male-dominated field, allowing her family to make ends meet.

The 36-year-old Charlotte, North Carolina resident has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. She could not secure a job in t criminal justice field, and she became a substitute teacher, earning $1900 per month, which was not enough to sustain her family,

Her husband encouraged her to get into truck driving, and she decided to switch her career. She found her love for truck driving because the job was outdoors far, preferably from an office job that kept her indoors all day.

She took the truck driving test, passed her first time, and got her truck driving license. Today, she transports anything from diapers to televisions to canned foods around the East Coast.

In 2021, the cost of leasing a truck for her was $49,200, and the cost of maintenance was $2,665. She also spent $19,336 on fuel. Despite these expenses, her take-home pay was $73,007, significantly higher than she had earned in other jobs.

Rankin now also earns money from social media by sharing her trucking life as she has become an influencer with a significant following. She has roughly 2 million TikTok followers and will earn an additional $36,000 in 2021 from promotional videos and advertising.

Rankin hopes that her endeavors will encourage other women to enter the trucking sector and lead to future financing for new avenues. Her business beginnings in the trucking sector have lately enabled the development of her passion project and cosmetic company, OwtSpoKen Collection.

Rankin’s other social networks, which have over 1.6 million followers, have become a source of additional revenue. She told AfroTech that she had landed business ranging from $12,000 to $18,000.