Driven for Success

Send us Fan Mail Paying a truck driver on a 1099 is not automatically wrong—but calling an employee an owner-operator can create serious problems. In this episode of Driven for Success, Mike Ritzema breaks down what a legitimate owner-operator relationship actually looks like. He explains why owning a truck or signing an independent contractor agreement is not enough, and why financial risk, opera...

Send us Fan Mail Paying a truck driver as a 1099 contractor can seem straightforward—until someone determines that driver should have been classified as a W-2 employee. In this episode of Driven for Success, Mike Ritzema explains what can happen after a driver is misclassified and why simply switching them to W-2 going forward may not solve the entire problem. You’ll learn how driver misclassifica...

Send us Fan Mail Most trucking companies that misclassify a 1099 driver don't get caught because of a random IRS audit. They get caught because something happens — a driver gets fired, a driver files for unemployment, someone gets hurt on the job, or a pay dispute ends up in front of an attorney. In this episode, Mike Ritzema breaks down the five most common ways trucking companies end up wit...

Send us Fan Mail "I can't afford to put my drivers on W-2." I hear that a lot, but most owners saying it have only looked at half the math. In this episode, I break down what a truck driver actually costs, not just what you pay them, on both sides of the 1099 vs. W-2 decision. We go line by line through employer Social Security and Medicare taxes, unemployment insurance, workers&apo...

Send us Fan Mail  Paying a driver on a 1099 doesn't make them an independent contractor — and a lot of trucking companies are one audit away from finding that out. In this episode, Mike Ritzema breaks down the 8 most common mistakes trucking companies make when classifying drivers as 1099 contractors, from thinking the driver can "choose" their own status, to relying on a signed con...

Send us Fan Mail  Can a trucking company legally pay a driver as a 1099 independent contractor?  Yes. But issuing a 1099 doesn't make someone an independent contractor. In this episode of Driven for Success, Mike Ritzema explains what actually matters when determining whether a truck driver can legally be classified as a 1099 contractor. We cover why a driver's preference doesn't de...

Send us Fan Mail Should your truck drivers be 1099 independent contractors or W2 employees? It's one of the most common — and most misunderstood — compliance questions in trucking, and the answer isn't up to you or your driver. In this episode, Mike Ritzema, founder of Superior Trucking Payroll Service, kicks off a new series on worker classification for trucking companies. He breaks dow...

Send us Fan Mail Thinking about offering per diem but not sure if it's legit, what it'll cost you, or how to survive an audit? In this episode, Mike Ritzema answers the questions trucking company owners and executives ask most before rolling out per diem — including whether it's actually legal (yes, and here's the IRS revenue procedure to prove it), whether it costs your compan...

Send us Fan Mail Every week, drivers and payroll teams ask Mike Ritzema the same questions about truck driver per diem. In this episode, he answers the 7 questions he hears most often, straight from drivers themselves. Is per diem extra money, or just the same pay taxed differently? Will taking per diem hurt your Social Security payout down the road? Can you still deduct it on your tax return? Why...

Send us Fan Mail Many truck drivers are surprised when they receive their W-2 after participating in a per diem program. Some see a smaller tax refund. Others wonder if payroll made a mistake. In this episode of Driven for Success , Mike Ritzema explains why this happens and why a smaller refund doesn't necessarily mean something is wrong. You'll learn:  How per diem changes your W-2   W...

Send us Fan Mail Is your truck driver per diem program ready for an IRS audit? It's one of the biggest concerns we hear from trucking companies. The good news is that the IRS has already published the rules. The key is making sure your company is actually following them. In this episode, Mike Ritzema explains what IRS auditors typically review, why documentation matters, and how the IRS Reven...

Send us Fan Mail Recruiting truck drivers is expensive. Replacing good drivers is even more expensive. In this episode of Driven for Success , Mike Ritzema discusses an often-overlooked advantage that can help your trucking company stand out: a compliant truck driver per diem program. While per diem is usually viewed as a payroll or tax topic, it can also help improve recruiting, strengthen driver...

Send us Fan Mail Why would a truck driver turn down extra take-home pay? It happens more often than many fleet owners expect. In this episode, Mike Ritzema explains why some drivers decline per diem and why those decisions are often based on legitimate personal circumstances rather than misunderstanding. You'll learn why concerns about mortgages, Social Security, past experiences, and trust a...

Send us Fan Mail A good truck driver per diem program can save drivers money, reduce payroll taxes, and benefit the entire company. But if it's rolled out poorly, it can create confusion, distrust, and unnecessary pushback from drivers. In this episode, Mike Ritzema shares the five steps every trucking company should follow before implementing per diem. You'll learn why education comes b...

Send us Fan Mail Most trucking companies know per diem can save money. What many don't realize is there are three different ways to calculate it. Some fleets use a cents-per-mile method. Others use a percentage of driver pay. The third method calculates per diem based on qualifying travel days. In this episode, Mike Ritzema breaks down all three approaches, explains why companies use them, an...

Send us Fan Mail Truck driver per diem is often promoted as a way to save money, but how much does it actually save? In this episode of Driven for Success, Mike Ritzema breaks down the real math behind truck driver per diem and explains why many trucking company owners focus on the wrong number. You'll learn:  How per diem increases driver take-home pay   Where trucking companies save money ...

Send us Fan Mail Most trucking company owners have heard of per diem. Most drivers have heard of per diem. But very few people can clearly explain what it actually is. In this episode of Driven for Success, Mike Ritzema breaks down truck driver per diem in plain English and clears up some of the biggest misconceptions in the trucking industry. You'll learn:  What truck driver per diem actuall...

Send us Fan Mail Most trucking company owners don't have a time problem. They have a decision problem. When every question, exception, approval, and problem comes back to the owner, the business starts to feel chaotic—even when you have good people on the team. In this episode of Driven for Success, Mike Ritzema explains why most owners make the mistake of trying to systemize everything at on...

Send us Fan Mail Most trucking companies do not feel chaotic because they hired bad people. They feel chaotic because everybody is filling in the blanks differently. One manager says yes.  Another says no.  Drivers get different answers depending on who they ask.  And eventually everything starts flowing back to the owner. In this episode, Mike Ritzema breaks down why chaos in growing trucking com...

Send us Fan Mail Most trucking companies don’t have a people problem. They have a repetition problem. The owner keeps answering the same questions over and over again… and every unanswered process slowly turns the owner into the bottleneck. In this episode of Driven for Success, Mike Ritzema breaks down why growing trucking companies get stuck in operational chaos — not because employees are bad,...

Send us Fan Mail Most trucking company owners think process problems are people problems. They’re not. In this episode of Driven for Success, Mike Ritzema breaks down the hidden reason processes stop working as trucking companies grow. Because most of the time… your team is not resisting the system. They’re adapting to reality faster than the system is. You’ll learn:  Why employees create “shadow...

Send us Fan Mail Most trucking owners think they need to delegate more. They don’t. They need to stop giving away the wrong decisions. In this episode, we break down why some decisions should never leave the owner—and what happens when they do. Because when direction gets delegated, your business doesn’t get easier to run. It gets inconsistent. We cover how to identify the decisions that define yo...

Send us Fan Mail Most trucking companies aren’t overpaying drivers on purpose. But if you’re paying drivers a percentage of revenue… there’s a good chance it’s happening anyway. In this episode, I break down a common mistake that can quietly eat into your margins—paying drivers on revenue without separating out fuel. When diesel prices rise, revenue goes up.  Driver pay goes up.  But profit doesn’...

Send us Fan Mail Most trucking company owners don’t have a people problem. They have a decision problem. If every question still comes back to you, your business isn’t lacking effort… it’s lacking context. In this episode, we break down why your team struggles to make decisions without you—and how to fix it without micromanaging or stepping back completely. You’ll learn:  Why people don’t actually...

Send us Fan Mail If your team isn’t following your processes, it’s easy to get frustrated. You put the time in to build the system. You explained it. And yet, people still do something different. In this episode of Driven for Success , we break down a simple way to think about why this happens—and what to do about it. There are really only three reasons someone doesn’t follow a process:  They didn...