| During 1993 I rightly or wrongly decided to start a | | | | complexities and agendas of all the travelling public. |
| car hire business from scratch. To make it really | | | | With both the staff and the customers, of course |
| easy I decided to do it in one of the most | | | | ninety percent were good to do business with |
| competitive areas in Australia, the Gold Coast! In | | | | and some even became friends and repeat |
| addition to that, I knew absolutely nothing about | | | | customers over many years. However as usual, |
| the business and my sole employee was equally | | | | it's the vocal few with their own ideas about life |
| ignorant. However I was a Licensed Motor Dealer | | | | who unfortunately constitute the bulk of the |
| and as I was going to start with used cars, very | | | | memories. |
| used cars, this was a big advantage. | | | | One area that took me ages to get used to was |
| The first challenge was to find suitable premises. | | | | stolen and damaged cars from accidents. I |
| Fortunately, after a little foot slogging I was able | | | | remember working late one Saturday night |
| to find a suitable spot and at a reasonable rent. | | | | detailing a car for the next morning's booking, only |
| Further challenges followed in short order. Next I | | | | to come in on Sunday morning to find that I had |
| had to nominate an opening date in order to have | | | | done such a good job that someone had stolen |
| a goal to work towards. I then commenced | | | | the car. Usually the stolen cars were recovered |
| collecting an assortment of used cars, having | | | | and the accidents were sorted one way or the |
| them roadworthied, painted if necessary and | | | | other, but it was a long time before I could roll |
| registered for rental. | | | | with those punches. One customer actually blew |
| Whilst all this was happening, I had to tackle all the | | | | his brains in one of the cars and a "friend" saw fit |
| marketing of the business in order to gain some | | | | to comment, "gee I didn't know your cars were |
| customers as soon as possible to help me pay | | | | that bad" ha ha. It cost more than the car was |
| the rent. Before that could start, I needed to | | | | worth to have it professionally cleaned, as it was |
| register a business name, procure some phone | | | | required by law. |
| numbers and have all the stationery printed. That | | | | Anyway I am proud to say that we opened on |
| included a plagiarized rental agreement, artwork | | | | time and made money from week one! An |
| and a logo for the business. | | | | achievement that is very unusual for a start up |
| Of course office furniture also had to be bought | | | | business. I will always remember the look on our |
| and the office sign written. | | | | faces when we received the first phone call, |
| Now, back to the marketing. Yellow pages had to | | | | sitting on the office floor (waiting for the desk to |
| be booked as early as possible so that we were | | | | be delivered) looking at each other and hoping the |
| present in the next issue. Brochures had to be | | | | other would answer it. Car rental is a world wide |
| designed and distributed. The distribution company | | | | business, but try to find out from anyone, |
| had to be coerced into doing some sort of | | | | anywhere, what are some of the benchmarks of |
| distribution as their brochure racks were full and | | | | the business and I have to confess it was a |
| they had a long waiting list, especially for car | | | | mission impossible for me. Therefore procedures |
| rental. As well as that there were four travel | | | | and policies had to be made up as we went. |
| magazines that had to be contacted, deals done, | | | | Some were ok, some were downright stupid and |
| advertisements placed, artwork done and copy | | | | some just needed some tweaking. Nevertheless, |
| supplied. | | | | with the help of some great staff and valued |
| At the same time I also had to place an | | | | customers, no one got killed or maimed, |
| advertisement for staff. This was and is even | | | | everyone got paid and I can still live in this great |
| more so today, a very time consuming function. | | | | country, somewhat the wiser. |
| Over the 17yrs or so that I operated that | | | | There are numerous, unbelievable anecdotes from |
| business, finding and retaining good staff was | | | | those years and I could not begin to relate them |
| probably the biggest challenge and could fill many | | | | here. Suffice to say that it was an in creditable |
| books with entertaining excerpts. In the end I had | | | | experience and I seriously wonder, with hindsight, |
| three branches, 200 cars and twenty five staff. | | | | would I choose to do it all again. Fortunately that's |
| Second only to staff was the incredible | | | | not a decision that I have to make. |