Today we hear the sad news that Jack Taylor, founder of multi-millionaire enterprise Rent-A-Car, has dies. Following a short illness the business tycoon passed away at the great age of 94, leaving behind him a legacy in which the whole rental market will take inspiration from.
Taylor, who launched the company in St. Louis, Missouri in 1957, was this year featured in Forbes Magazine, sporting a wealth of $5.3 billion. Seeing him listed in the top 250 richest people in the world Taylor is a clear example of the hire market’s capability, investing in vehciles to hire out to the public.
Whilst the World War two veteran was one of the greatest success stories of our time his vision and outlook on life was incredibly humble, wanting to be thought of as simply a nice guy.
‘”Taylor was a nice guy.” I like that,’ he said in an interview.
‘I want everybody to be happy, it’s impossible but I’d like for that to happen.’
‘I had no thoughts about being the biggest, I just wanted to be the best,’ he said.
‘When I started Enterprise I just wanted the customer when the walked out the door, to say “God, that’s a nice guy and that’s a nice place to do business.
‘Being rich wasn’t that much of a motivator.’
The outlook inspired his business ethos:
‘Take care of your customers and employees first, and profits will follow.’
Working with this sense of pride the entrepreneur came from humble begginings, starting with just a handful of cars and one single employee. With great customer service so heavily ingrained within the business the company grew and grew and eventually became Enterprise. Differing from competitors the firm allowed customers to pick up and drop off their cars at airports, filling an incredible gap within the market.
By early 1980 the fleet comprised of 6,000 cars and less than ten years later the firm were operating a whopping 50,000, making $2 billion in revenues.
At Anything For Hire we would like to progress our deepest sympathy to the Taylor family.
