Friends will get you home safely
STUDENTS Steven Paterson and Tony Honiball were not content with joining the rat race when they finished their studies, so they decided to be their own bosses – and it paid off.
That is how private chauffeur service Home James Home was born.
Greenshields Park residents and best friends Paterson, 22, and Honiball, 23, may be young but their drive to succeed is no idle dream.
The duo started Home James Home in December last year just in time for "silly season" and it has been growing steadily ever since, with almost daily sign-ups.
"We now have an impressive client base," said Paterson, a business master's student.
Honiball, who is completing his law degree, said they began from almost nothing, having had limited resources.
"We started with a website and put 80% of our initial cash into it, and it worked," he said.
The businessmen even had a client waiting to be signed up before their company was up and running.
Paterson and Honiball's friendship started in Grade 6 at Clarendon Park Primary and continued through Victoria Park High and now as students at NMMU.
Balancing their studies with running a new business has been a little "crazy", they said, but worth it.
Their success story began when they saw a gap in the market, noting that there were no other competitors to rival company Goodfellas.
"We looked at some ideas, built a business model, set our prices and started the business," said Honiball.
Having limited resources, the men relied on advertising via Facebook and word- of-mouth.
Because Home James Home is still growing, Honiball and Paterson are very hands-on and are on call most nights of the week.
Having been a police reservist at the Walmer police station, Paterson has seen the consequences of drunk driving first hand.
"It is a huge problem in our country," said Paterson, who has been through many roadblocks while driving clients home.
Although they do not have much time for it at the moment, the pair will relax by having a couple of drinks around a braai.
But at the end of the night, they always call Home James Home.