Early during my summer job as an Administrative Assistant at a small-size car rental agency, my supervisor was telling me that he would like to expand his business. For fun, we used to brainstorm various ventures, but realized that we didn't have enough information to really develop an idea.
I had been receiving a number of calls from the general public asking if we knew of any trucking/moving services in town. On a hunch, I started to survey our rental customers for their reaction to the benefits and demand for such a business. I told my supervisor that I would be glad to talk to our existing vehicle wholesaler to get prices on trucks and examine how we could maximize staff by looking at different job responsibilities during 'down' times. My supervisor agreed to launch my plan of buying a truck, thinking that if the plan didn't fly, he could rent the truck out. We brainstormed the name of the business, "Two Men and a Truck", fashioned after the movie, 3 Men and a Baby. We used our previous customer base to launch our advertising campaign.
This new extension of the business took no time to become profitable. My employer gave me a bonus for my efforts just before I returned back to Dartmouth.
