Attain Freight Broker License

Steps To Attaining Your Freight Broker License and setting up your Freight Operation

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1. Acquire the necessary knowledge | Get Training – Extensive knowledge and training is required in order to become a good freight broker, but if you’re a determined person, you’ll get through it just fine. Before getting into the actual broker body of knowledge, you should sharpen your math skills, and make sure that your communication skills and people skills are up to snuff as well. Many would-be freight brokers actually attend freight training, and during the process acquire formal training books which can be used as reference material forever after. One of the great benefits of going through some of the really good training programs around the country is that you become aware of openings in the industry that you may want to pursue.

2. Register your company – Before you can legally conduct business as a broker, you have to establish a company name and get your company registered. It’s a good idea to check with the US Patent and Trademark Office to make sure you have a unique company name. After that, decide which business entity type is appropriate for your business aims and objectives, e.g. sole proprietorship, corporation, or limited liability company.

3. Build a Company Website – It’s very important to have a professional freight brokerage operation website.

4. Obtain a Motor Carrier (MC) & USDOT Number | OP 1 – Having acquired the background training and knowledge and having taken the initial steps toward establishing your business, you’ll then need to take care of some of the legal requirements. This is when you apply to the FMCSA for your Motor Carrier Operating Authority license. This will get you a USDOT number, and you’ll be able to fill out most of the information on the agency website as described above.

5. Get BOC 3 | Process Agents – Now that you’ve acquired your surety bond and insurance, you’re in a position where you can go ahead and choose process agents for each of the states you intend to do business in. To accomplish this, you’ll need to fill out a form BOC-3, which is entitled Designation of Agents for Service of Process, which you will then have to completely fill out and submit to the FMCSA.

6. Get properly bonded – The bond requirement for freight brokers is now $75,000, but you won’t have to pay that full amount when acquiring your bond. The actual amount you pay will be closely tied to your creditworthiness and business credit history, but you can expect to pay somewhere between $1,000 and $4,000. You may have to pay even more than that if you have already established bad credit.

7. Find carriers to work with – It’s essential for any shipper to find and establish relationships with the right carriers since they will be the ones transporting the goods for businesses that you work with. These carriers should be very professional and very trustworthy because of their work habits and their reliable performance will be a reflection on yourself.

8. Set up Transportation Management System (TMS) | Load Board – The TMS will allow you to manage your entire freight brokerage operation; such rate & price shipments, dispatch shipments, track shipments, post to the load boards, manage your team, manager account payable and receivable …. much much more

9. Operation Resources –you must purchase all the office supplies like a computer, printer, fax machine, phone system, and Internet connection.

10. Arrange for startup financing | factoring – Most beginning freight brokers don’t have the capital to fund their operations at the outset, so you’ll have to have a plan for obtaining a line of credit or a loan before you can go into business as a broker. One of the things you’ll need startup cash for is paying your carriers for the transfer of goods on shipments because you won’t actually receive payment from shippers until deliveries are actually made. A business line of credit will help you get going, and after that, you should establish regular cash flow.

11. Begin marketing and advertising – With everything else set up and in place, the last thing you need to consider is how to conduct marketing and advertising that will gain some attention for your new freight brokerage. It will also be to your advantage to establish a website, and a regular blog that positions you as something of an authority in the field, so you can begin to impress potential new clients.

 

We help with the below:

• Provide Training: $399

• OP1 – Get Freight Broker License |We will process and pay FMCSA Fee: $350

• BOC 3 – Process Agents | We will process and pay agency: $95

• Build Your Company Website: $299

• Set up Transportation Management System (TMS): $199

Total Cost: $1,342

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Industry Information: The pay of Freight Broker Agents in the US range from $36,951 to $458,998  with a median salary of $82,446 . The middle 57% of Freight Broker Agents makes between $82,446 and $207,570, with the top 86% making $458,998.