Bullock & Sons Trucking

Owner of Bullock & Sons Trucking in Henderson, NC, Dennis Bullock finds driving his rig to be relaxing, even meditative. It’s a big improvement from his days delivering furniture for a boss whose fondness for curse words made it difficult for Bullock to hold onto the serenity of Sunday morning church. “The most rewarding thing about this work is not the money,” said Bullock. “It’s that I don’t dread getting out of bed in the morning.”

As his own boss, Bullock works directly with vendors. “I really enjoy it,” said Bullock. “The people are just a pleasure to work with.” It’s a family business. Bullock drives the company’s 18-wheeler. His wife, Kathryn Bullock, keeps up-to-date on registration and decals. Their son helps clean the truck when he is home from college. A Self-Help loan of $65,000 gave Bullock the funds to purchase his rig, along with a little capital to keep him going until his first big deal was made. But this success came only after a period of frustration during which other lenders turned him away. “You had to have a large down payment and your credit history had to be just about perfect,” said Bullock, who found a more receptive audience with Self-Help’s Roberta Boyd-Norfleet.

“She read my business plan and she liked it.” Bullock is grateful for the solid backing from Self-Help. With his business healthy and growing and his trailer loaded with freight, Bullock hits the road and counts his blessings. He plans to grow and expand, developing additional contracts and hiring employees. An occasional traffic jam is nothing, as long as your wheels can keep turning.