Perspective

Just before the end of last year, I wrote a blog about my first venture in to the private hire market. It was titled ‘A History Lesson’. It is important because it was my first taste of success with a business even though it eventually faded away due to being too erratic as a business model.

I’ve written other blogs too like ‘Jam Butty Ahead’ which talk about building on our current business model. In fact, if you read the original DrivenByQ business plan our intention was never to remain just a local business. It was never to be regional either.

The plan was to take the business in two different directions. The first would depend on local custom to build volume airport transfers around Manchester Airport and the second would depend on the Internet for bookings from passengers coming to the UK.

Now we have effectively taken eight years to complete part one of our plan, it is time to crack on and start building part two. The first tangible step of that plan began this week with the launch of our new web site www.drivenbyq.com.

Unlike the last time we revamped our website, this time we did it properly using a professional developer. We introduced a content management system; HTML5; adaptive content for mobile devices and it considers our branding and social media strategy too.

Catch Me If You Can

I am still taking time out you know. I haven’t really been involved in the day-to-day running of DrivenByQ since the middle of December. In retrospect it has done me good – I have been able to spend quality time with my baby son and in the process I have learnt a lot about my leadership style.

When you say to people I am taking an extended break, the first thing they ask is ‘how are you affording it’ – well, if you really want to know, I am selling some shares back to the company and in the process, rebalancing the ownership. My majority share always reflected the time spent building our booking system long ago, cashing in now is well timed.

I can’t really switch off from the business completely though. I am always tinkering with something somewhere and one of those things lately has been the development of a new web site. Look at me now, blogging away about it too – I get a kick out of it I suppose.

It reminds me how competitive I can be sometimes. I like being ahead of the competition. It excites me to bring something out before anyone else. It should reflect well on DrivenByQ too and help new customers recognise why we are the market leader delivering such outstanding customer service.

So what exactly am I going on about? Well, to support our new web site with Google we really need a lot of content and it helps to be an (original) authority on a subject for good rankings. So just as well I started this blog four years ago and have updated it weekly ever since. Lots of people thought I was mad all those years ago. Not quite so eh?

Reflection Time

It's been nearly a month since I posted a blog. Truth is I've taken some time out to reflect on things. After developing our new web site (which is yet to be published) and other projects coming to completion (such as software updates) I’ve been considering what is next.

I've really needed to ask myself if DrivenByQ is where I want to be. The company is in a very comfortable position. Over the last twelve months we have developed a new business plan; marketing plan and growth calculations but they all revolve around our accounting system.

Since becoming VAT registered we have used the flat rate scheme. This fundamentally feeds 10% of turnover in to the business. For a long time we have relied on that additional 10% as a subsidy – it has permitted lower commission rates for drivers while funding investment.

As we near the £230,000 VAT inclusive limit, the prospect of losing a ten percent subsidy throws a spanner in the works. To achieve the same level of profitability a complete change in the make-up of DrivenByQ is required along with a considerable investment fund.

In my mind, the company needs to tick-over for the next two years while an investment pot builds. It was the reason for altering the commission rates towards the end of last year. So, going back to my reflection – is an ambitious chap the right person to be a care-taker? Hmm

A History Lesson

Many people think DrivenByQ is my first attempt at a private hire company. In fact it is my second. My first effort was two years previous with the UK's first Internet licenced private hire company. It was aimed at passengers outside Great Britain travelling in to the UK.

Ten years ago if you built a web site, it was fairly easy to rank high on the search results in Google. The bookings received from the web site I built were fantastic! I met a string of celebrities, VIPs and businessmen. It didn't last long though because Google was unpredictable.

The algorithm Google used for ranking web sites changed regularly. One day a web page could be #1 and the next #101. To make anything of such an erratic business it would need supporting by something more stable: One business for bread and butter income and the other as icing on the cake.

That was where the idea for DrivenByQ came from: A local businesses marketing offline with the intention of volume bookings from smaller numbers of customers. After eight years of growth and slowly establishing a reputable business, I think it is now time to revisit the original idea.

If I Was An Executive Assistant – Part One

Sometimes I cringe when I see a driver representing a £multi-million business and they don’t have the first clue on etiquette or I know their car is not correctly insured. I ask myself who made the booking and do they realise how bad a job someone is doing? I often wonder if the person responsible for hiring the driver just didn't know what questions to ask?

If I was investigating a new (or existing) chauffeur supplier, the very first question I would ask is if they have an operators licence and if so, how many vehicles does it cover? The reason for this is that some smaller (one-man-band) operators will sub work to other drivers but if their licence doesn’t permit this, those drivers are not insured and neither is your passenger!

I would then ask the operator if they are registered under the Data Protection Act. If so, how do they manage their information – is it secure or do they leave it in a diary in a car with all the names, home addresses, telephone numbers and away dates of your key staff? Also, do they have a disaster management plan? What if the diary (or records) is lost, stolen, destroyed or even eaten by the dog? Will they still turn up on time? And what if the operator is taken ill or goes on holiday?

After the basic questions, I would then go on to ask about safety. How does the operator regulate the drivers hours and how much time off do their drivers take? Legally in the UK, there is nothing to stop a private hire driver completing a straight 36-hour shift. I know of people who will do it, especially if their prices are so low other drivers will not work for them. After all, how can you be sure a driver is not full of caffeine with the reaction speeds of a tortoise?