It is midnight. The stranger stood beside me says work is busy. I spot the blood shot eyes and the edgy behaviour. The caffeine loaded body chatting away, unable to stand still! We wait in the airport for a flight to arrive. A conversation develops. The owner-driver admits working flat-out since 4am once again!
I remember starting out. It was expensive to give jobs away. It hurt the cash flow. You quickly learn how competitive some drivers are too. They will give their card to your passengers in a bid for work. To avoid using them, there is always the temptation to work more hours. Stay out on the road and never come home. Too easily you can neglect family, strain relationships and destroy what you are working for!
In the Chauffeur industry, there comes a time when you have to make a decision to cling on to what you have or decide to grow. You have to believe customers will stay loyal when you ask them to travel with another driver. For most one-man-bands who take the leap-of-faith, this will test their character, strength and courage.
Over time, I have learnt to place trust in people. To succeed, you have to rise above the pressure of the industry. You have to see the bigger picture and have faith - the support offered by your team will deliver far greater benefit to your customer than you ever did as an individual. There again, would a corporate client really risk the welfare of their employees by using a mad busy one-man-band (no matter how dedicated)?
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