Business Skills Course Available From OBAC

WELLAND, ONT. (November 1, 2003) – The Owner-Operator's Business Association of Canada (OBAC) and the Canadian Trucking Human Resources Council (CTHRC) have reached a distribution agreement for CTHRC's Owner-Operator Business Skills Course. The course is a CD based e-learning program designed for current and prospective owner-operators wishing to improve their ability to manage a small trucking operation.

Leo Van Tuyl, OBAC's interim executive director, said the course will become the cornerstone of a larger suite of personal and professional development initiatives being planned by OBAC.

“Distance-learning will allow our members to access course material right from the cabs of their trucks on a laptop computer,” Van Tuyl said. “We see computer-based training and other e-learning possibilities as an excellent way of delivering educational material to our members. When they're home, they've got priorities other than spending time in front of the computer. There's time for that on the road.”

CTHRC's Owner-Operator Business Skills Course covers all aspects of running and managing a small trucking enterprise from determining suitability of becoming an owner-operator to spec´ing the truck, tracking costs, negotiating contracts, hiring and paying a driver, and choosing a financial service provider. It contains useful tools that can be used immediately to evaluate different carriers and find out exactly how much money is left in the owner-operator´s pocket at the end of the day.

Written by owner-operators for owner-operators, the course is in plain, clear language. It's a self-loading, user-friendly point-and-click program, you don´t have to be a computer expert to use the program.

“This course is an obvious first step in improving the owner-operator's bottom line,” Van Tuyl indicated. “This and other business improvement strategies will take owner-operators from the margins and put them back in a profitable position, which is a benefit to the entire trucking industry.”

For more information about the course, see the Council's web site at www.cthrc.com, or OBAC's website at www.obac.ca.

Contact:
Joanne Ritchie
Executive Director
jritchie@obac.ca

or
Mike Smith
Director, Communications
msmith@obac.ca

Owner-Operator's Business Association of Canada (OBAC)
275 Slater Street, Suite 900
Ottawa, Ontario
K1P 5H9

Tel: 613-237-6222
Toll Free: 888-794-9990
Fax: 888-205-9991