We caught up with the brilliant and insightful James Ransom a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi James, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with what makes profitability in your industry a challenge – what would you say is the biggest challenge?

The biggest challenge we face being profitable is the massive insurance costs required to operate particularly passenger transportation services. Large insurance lawsuits for the passenger transportation industry affect all of us. It does not matter that your company has a good history, the costs are spread across the industry as a whole. Our fleet of 19 vehicles costs over $300,000 annually to insure. Maintenance costs, high costs of fuel and other skyrocketing costs make it much less profitable than it used to be to operate a luxury limousine service like we do.

James, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Personally, I’ve always really enjoyed working in the service industry. When my wife and I had the opportunity to purchase and operate Showtime Transportation, we jumped in full swing! At Showtime, we provide luxury transportation services to groups of all sizes. We strive to wow our clients. With every interaction we have, we want to fully impress them and anyone they bring along with them on our vehicles. When someone calls in to book transportation for their wedding day, our reservation specialists express their excitement that they’re about to get married! We want to make sure they have the right vehicle for the right group, so we take the time to learn what they are doing with the limo/bus/trolley, so we can give them the best ride possible. Many clients call with a lot of questions, never having had to arrange transportation before. We happily advise and answer any and all questions they have, while focusing on making sure we cover all the bases so they don’t have any hiccups on what is probably the biggest day of their entire life!

What sets us apart from others is not just our approach that focuses on the wedding industry as a whole, but our diverse fleet of specialty vehicles. Our fleet is the largest of its kind in Kansas City, so we really do have something for everyone.
Our focus is not on just getting you from Point A to Point B. We want you to be excited to get BACK on the bus when it is time to get going again! One of our clients recently told me about how they took one of our buses for their company outing to a KC Royal’s game, and afterwards, their employees all raved about how the bus was the best part! Hearing that sort of feedback makes all the extra little things we do well worth it.

Can you talk to us about your experience with buying businesses?

Yes, my wife and I purchased Showtime Transportation from someone who had been running it for 8 years. We have now run it ourselves for 9 years, and we still meet with the prior owner every once in a while to talk and share and learn from different experiences we both have had. Purchasing a business is a long and detailed process, If you have your ducks in a row, and can jump/climb through all the hurtles involved in financing such a venture, then it can be pretty amazing what you can get into!

We bought Showtime because it looked like a lot of fun, and the numbers were solid financially. The acquisition process was done through a business broker who lists several businesses for sale for many different sellers. We reviewed their mailing list and eventually found Showtime and decided to interview the owner and go see his operation. That meeting was all it took for us to go, “This would be a lot of fun to run!” We made an offer the next day, and then got financing going for it. We did an SBA loan through Wells Fargo and they made the deal happen.

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

Funding the business came from several investment opportunities we have had along the way. I was lucky enough to get involved in some small startup companies. They were riskier in their beginning stages and so as an employee I had the chance to acquire good stock options from them. We also personally invested part of our savings in the stock market which we cashed in to fund a portion of the down payment. Lastly, we had two rental properties we sold and pulled equity from as well. Between these different investments, we saved and had enough to do 10% down on a business purchase. The seller provided a small amount of seller financing and the remainder was funded with an SBA Loan.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://limokc.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/limo_kc
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/showtimetransportationkc
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@showtimetransportation8168

Image Credits

Mojica Photography
Mellissa and Beth Photography