With 2025 almost in the books, the smartest thing a small carrier can do right now isn’t chase one more load — it’s slow down just enough to decide what 2026 actually needs to look like. If you’re reading this with less than two weeks left in the year, you’re right on time.
Not late. Not behind. Right on time.
This window — the quiet stretch between Christmas and New Year’s — is one of the few moments in trucking where you can look backward without the load board screaming at you and look forward without panic. Most carriers skip this part. They tell themselves they’ll “set goals later.” Later never comes. January shows up fast, and they’re right back to reacting instead of running a business.
This article isn’t motivational. It’s an exercise. Something you can actually sit down and work through to build real, measurable goals for 2026 — quarter by quarter — using numbers you already have access to.
Grab a notebook. Open your spreadsheet. Let’s do this properly.
Step One: Look Back Before You Look Forward
Before you talk about growth, new equipment, or “doing better next year,” you need to answer one uncomfortable question:
What actually happened in 2025?
Not what you felt. Not what social media said. What the numbers say.
Pull these five things from your records — settlement reports, fuel receipts, ELD data, or accounting software:
- Total revenue for 2025
- Total miles run
- Total fuel spend
- Estimated deadhead percentage
- Net profit (or loss)
Let’s use a realistic small-carrier example:
- Total revenue: $265,000
- Total miles: 105,000
- Fuel spend: $54,900
- Deadhead: 18%
- Net profit: $28,000
No judgment here. This is just the baseline. You can’t set intelligent goals without knowing where you’re starting.
Now calculate two key numbers:
- Revenue per mile: $265,000 ÷ 105,000 = $2.52/mile
- Net margin: $28,000 ÷ $265,000 ≈ 10.6%
These two numbers will drive almost every goal you set for 2026.
Step Two: Break the Year Into Quarters on Purpose
Most carriers think in weeks. Some think in months. Very few think in quarters — and that’s a mistake.
Quarters give you enough time to make changes and enough checkpoints to correct course.
Instead of saying “I want to make more money in 2026,” you’re going to ask:
- What needs to improve in Q1?
- What gets refined in Q2?
- What gets optimized in Q3?
- What gets protected in Q4?
Here’s how that looks in practice.
Step Three: Set a Margin Goal (Not a Revenue Fantasy)
Revenue goals feel good. Margin goals keep you alive.
Using our example carrier with a 10.6% margin, a realistic 2026 goal might be:
Increase net margin from 10.6% to 13%.
That doesn’t require running harder. It requires running smarter.
On $265,000 in revenue, a 13% margin would be about $34,450 net — roughly $6,400 more than this year without adding a single mile.
That’s your anchor goal. Write it down.
Step Four: Fuel Goals That Actually Move the Needle
Fuel is where small improvements add up fast.
Instead of saying “I want cheaper fuel,” set two specific fuel goals:
1. Reduce average price paid per gallon
If you averaged $4.05/gal in 2025, a realistic goal might be:
- 2026 target: $3.85/gal average
On 22,000 gallons per year, that’s $4,400 saved.
That alone bumps the margin by over 1.5%. This is station selection, routing discipline, and saying no to convenience stops — not magic.
2. Improve fuel burn slightly
If you averaged 6.8 MPG in 2025, a realistic improvement is:
- Target: 7.1 MPG
That doesn’t require a new truck. It requires speed discipline, reduced idle, and consistency. That improvement can save another $2,000–$3,000 annually. Fuel goals should be reviewed quarterly, not yearly.
Step Five: Deadhead Is a Quarterly KPI, Not a Guess
Deadhead is where most small carriers quietly bleed profit. An 18% deadhead rate means nearly 19,000 miles made zero revenue. Your 2026 goal doesn’t need to be perfect. It needs to be intentional.
- Q1 goal: Reduce deadhead from 18% → 16%
- Q2 goal: 15%
- Q3 goal: 14%
- Q4 goal: Hold the line
Each 1% reduction at this scale can add $2,000–$3,000 to annual profit.
This comes from:
- Better reload planning
- Lane discipline
- Saying no to “good money going nowhere” loads
Deadhead reduction is one of the cleanest ways to add margin without running more.
Step Six: Build One Operational Goal Per Quarter
Not ten. One.
Examples:
- Q1: Build and use a weekly P&L review
- Q2: Lock in three repeat broker relationships
- Q3: Implement preventive maintenance tracking
- Q4: Strengthen cash reserves to cover 60 days of operating costs
These are boring goals. They’re also the ones that separate businesses from hustles.
Step Seven: Sanity-Check the Math
Let’s stack the improvements:
- Fuel price improvement: ~$4,400
- MPG improvement: ~$2,500
- Deadhead reduction: ~$5,000
- Better load selection & discipline: ~$3,000
That’s $14,000 in potential margin improvement without adding trucks, drivers, or stress. That’s how a 10% business becomes a 13–14% business.
Step Eight: Write the Goals Where You’ll See Them
If your goals live in your head, they don’t exist.
Put them:
- In your business operations binder
- On your desktop
- In your accounting dashboard
Review them at the end of every quarter. Adjust without emotion. This isn’t about perfection — it’s about direction.
Final Thought
2026 doesn’t need to be louder than 2025. It needs to be cleaner.
Cleaner numbers. Cleaner decisions. Cleaner goals.
The carriers who win next year won’t be the ones who “hope the market turns.” They’ll be the ones who already decided what they need from it.
