Mobile Websites
Setting Up a Website
Design
Website Must-Haves
The Homepage
Drilling Down
The Rest of the Site
Contacting You from a Website
Updating
Marketing Your Website
Your Website URL
Keep ’Em Interested
Choosing a Web Host
Chapter 9
Employee Considerations
Whom to Hire
Reaching Out to Candidates
Advertising
Interviewing
Interviewing Strategies
Pay
Training
Letting Employees Go
Seasonal Workers
Layoffs
Termination for Reason
Vendors
Professional Services
Chapter 10
Day-to-Day Finances
Financial Statements
Organizing Cash Flow
Pricing Your Services
Maintaining Cash Flow
Break-Even Point
Taxes
Deducting Expenses
Chapter 11
Making Sure the World Knows You Exist
The Difference Between Sales and Marketing
Why Marketing?
Networking to Business Success
The Ins and Outs of Advertising
The Small but Mighty Business Card
Information Brochures
Direct Mail
Newsletters
Press Releases
Make It Newsworthy
The Power of Customer Service
Retaining Customers Through Topnotch Customer Service
Giving Back to Your Community
Building Your Image
Traditional Media with a Digital Twist
eNewsletters
Chapter 12
Social Media
Blogs
Photo-Sharing Platforms
Snapchat
Appendix
Transportation Resources
Books
Blogs
Conferences
Magazines
Organizations
Glossary
Index
The transportation industry in America is alive and well. And there are so many entrance points that anyone interested in starting a small business could find something in the transportation industry that would interest them and utilize their strengths and skills.
One consistent piece of advice we received from all transportation business owners—advice that is common with all small-business startups—is that you cannot do enough planning before you start your business. And one important part of planning is to talk with others in the field you intend to enter. Transportation covers a wide range of services—we interviewed a taxi cab service, a horse transport business, and a helicopter business, showing with just those three businesses how diverse this field is! And each one of them has its own set of complex regulations. Hauling livestock requires knowledge on interstate agricultural regulations, helicopter service is subject to a huge array of federal aviation regulations, and any service carrying human passengers is highly regulated—something that the popularity of the five-year-old ride service Uber has challenged as antiquated. But despite regulations, the transportation field offers some lucrative and creative business possibilities.
Planning is important and made easier with the amount of information available on the internet. Government regulations might be hard to slog through, but you can do it in the comfort of your own home without having to print out hundreds of pages.
Don’t forget to look up from the computer and talk to people who have been in your shoes and gone on to run successful transportation businesses. Utilize the SCORE program of retired executive advisors. While these entrepreneurs may not have kept up on the most recent changes in regulations, they have great advice and experience to draw on.
So sit back, relax, and read about what you need to do to get off on the right foot in this intriguing industry known as transportation. This is admittedly just the tip of the iceberg of the research you will need to do and the planning you will need to put to paper, but you have to start somewhere. This book will launch you on one of the more interesting journeys of your career.
