With help from the LSBDC Greater New Orleans Region, Aaron Dirks created a online airport transportation booking website to save its struggling luxury transportation business.
Aaron Dirks, a native of Baton Rouge, owns and operates Limousine Livery in New Orleans, Louisiana. Despite the recession, Aaron and his wife decided to expand their business so that they could create revenue and maintain their current employees. They saw a void in the aggregation of airport transportation in the New Orleans area and the U.S. as a whole. The couple sought to create a web-booking portal that provided consumers with a safe and reliable source of airport transportation. Since creating a professional and interactive website was paramount, they initiated the help of LSBDC Greater New Orleans Region. Through the Louisiana Economic Development Small and Emerging Business Development Program (SEBD), LSBDC GNOR helped Dirks obain $10,000 in partial funding to create the website. Soon after, MyAirportTrip.com was born. According to Dirks, “LSBDC was critical and instrumental in establishing this business model. This effort has enabled us to save our limousine business as well as start an entirely new business that has the potential to create hundreds of new jobs in Louisiana.” To date, MyAirportTrip.com sales are projected to increase by $500,000, and three new jobs have been created while retaining five.
SOURCE:
www.lsbdc.org
