Box truck carrier’s pivots show new fleets must know costs

Telly Arnold founded TLA Group LLC, a Houston-based carrier that has run non-CDL box trucks for about three years. In that time the company has rented a truck, co-owned one, financed its own, hauled final-mile appliance deliveries and moved over the road. Her advice to new owners, drawn from each of those stops, comes down to two habits: know every line item behind your cost per mile, and change course quickly when a business model stops paying. She came to trucking with a bachelor’s degree in accounting, a master’s degree in business and more than 20 years in corporate America. She is also a small business trainer at the University of Houston Small Business Development Center .