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Ok, first off I'm not a businessman, never attempted to be one. Just a guy that likes to run a SMALL limo service. Here's my take on this whole thing.
1 - Dont get too big too fast!!!! - Most important. I had an old limo guy that dominates St. Louis tell me the way to operate small and profitable...1 sedan 1 stretch 10 pax lincoln and 1 suv limo
2 - Buy USED but GOOD limos. Look at Platinums Escalades....you could fare much better with one of those and they are bitchin.
3 - Split your 15 plus pass limos and your 15 minus pass limos into 2 seperate companies OR "make your big cars smaller" you'll have to email me on these. you'll save $$$$
4 - You need to keep those recurring expenses down, so I would have went with some part timers for cleanup, driving, etc.
I'm not wealthy, but I keep my expenses under 1200 per month total costs inc. insurance. I clean my truck and I pay my drivers when I can't drive. Limo services for the most part are like small trucking companies....the owner drives too and does his own mechanic work *and probably skirts the law when he can* to save money. Thats the limo industry.
Great Words from Signature! I am a business man, honestly this is a hard business to make profitable.
I've been around as long as you have. I started in a completely opposite way from you. Theres always one key in any business, if you grow too fast you've just set yourself up for failure. You are now at a pinnacle point, if you keep doing things the way you have been, you will be out in six months.
When I started I gave myself a small budget an stuck with it. My cars where on the road ALL THE TIME. To the point I was farming all the time. Once I got to that point I then invested in a stretch SUV, because that was the majority of my F.O. Work. The SUV wasn't like anything I own today, but It was an inexpensive tester, it made lots of money and now it's doing the same for a good friend.
Knowing your market is Key. You may have too many big limos, they are awesome. Its all I have now, a year later but Nashville is a party town.
I would suggest you liquidate some of your units and downsize, and re-work EVERYTHING. So far it hasn't worked to well so change is honestly eminent.
You may not really know the Portland market. I would trim down to 1 Stretch SUV, 1 10 Pax Stretch, and a Sedan. This way if you do hit the gutter you'll live. Once the demand is there for more cars buy what the clients ask for, and BUY YOUR CARS RIGHT!!! Don't just jump at the first cool limo, they are revenue generating cars not your personal cars, letting your own personal presences and emotions in on the deal screws you. Once you are farming 3-4K worth of revenue out buy add something.
Your next step is to trim down your operations. If you can't handle calls hire a receptionist. If you can't clean your cars hire ONE $12 and Hour part timer. Your day to day expenses are insane. You don't need a MANAGER at this point, your company is sucking money every day. The truth is the majority of operators that start out like this fail. Your best bet in any business is start out small and grow when your customers ask you to.
The things I would change NOW:
--SELL EVERYTHING EXCEPT 1 SUV, 1 10 PAX & A SEDAN
-- Trim down your day to day operations
-- Get aggressive on google. (I know thats a drop in the bucket for you)
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Marcus, I do believe that you may have jumped too fast into the big cars, esp. the "Money Suck" project. Although these are cool cars to have they will suck you dry fast. I personally started with one little and old 6 pack and have built it from there. The stretch that I have now is my 8th car and the first one to have a loan on it, and I'm keeping it rolling 4 - 5 days per week. It is a 2000 LTC 120 Tiffany that had only 113k miles on it that I purchased for 16,200. In the 5 months that I've had it it's already half paid-off.
My airport car is also a used 2000 LTC sedan, I bought it on Ebay with 92k miles on it for 4200 bucks and had to do nothing to it other than clean it. This car always makes me a minimum of 400 per week in airport service work.
The Hummer that I have isn't actually mine but belongs to a local mortgage company. They bought it for their own clients and don't want to run a limo service. They contacted me 1.5 years ago and said take it, keep the maintenance up on it, rent it and pay us a cut of the run. We worked out a legal contract and got the insurance stuff in-line and I've been running it ever since and it doesn't cost me near as much as it makes me.
I am an owner/operator and make most runs myself. Sometimes I wonder when I will sleep but love it when I finally sit back and look at my account. I have a few drivers on-call to use when I double/triple book a time.
Advertising: The top three ways I advertise are... Google Adwords, MySpace and Limos.com. Between these three I don't need anything else. I have a Yellow Book ad but may not even renew that next year. My website and MySpace page are solely built by me and I do all of my own Adword campaigns.
I do all of the cleaned, detailing and maintenance on my cars. I do my own wiring and upgrades too. The only time I pay anyone to do anything for me is when it comes to suspension, major engine stuff or tranny work, otherwise it's all me.
I am single and live on the low side. I rarely eat out, never hit the bars unless it's a limo run and buy 2-liters of pop and refill my 20-ouncers. I eat a lot of cereal, bologna sandwiches and Roman noodles, but I keep my head above water every month and keep growing. I figure that the day will come that it all pays off, but I need to make some sacrifices till it does.
I know it may be a tough decision to part with vehicles but I'd really think about it, starting with the one that is losing the largest amount. Even if you part with it at a loss it will be less than what you are losing by keeping it.
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