Newsletter
of the Washington College Department of Business Management |
Spring
2000
Casey
at the beach: Casey's Kangaroo Cabs, LLC
If you go to Dewey Beach this summer, chances are you’ll
see a Washington College student’s business ride by you:
Casey’s Kangaroo Cabs, owned and operated by Casey Kenton,
a junior business major. His company is the sole supplier of
bike taxis to the tourists who flock to Dewey Beach every summer.
The company’s bread and butter is ferrying late-night revellers
to and from Dewey Beach bars each evening.
Casey
himself is full of entrepreneurial energy, having earned a pilot’s
license in 1998. Last summer he purchased the bicycle taxi business,
adding a Dewey Beach business license to his collection of licenses.
It’s an intense, cash-driven summer business that runs from
Memorial Day to Labor Day. That allows Casey to juggle being
a full-time Washington College student and a full-time, hands-on
entrepreneur.
Casey learned about the business by starting out as a rider.
At the time he was working in a restaurant, and he was interested
in earning more money after putting in his restaurant hours.
Working both jobs, Casey put in 11-hour days, riding until 3
a.m. (In his spare time he studied for his pilot’s instrument
rating.)
The business consists of nine bicycles. The bikes earn money
from fares and from the advertising they carry on the back and
front. The advertisements alone generate more than $5,000 in
revenue. Casey rents his nine bicycles each night to his riders
for a flat fee, letting them keep their earnings. His main challenges
are obtaining advertisements each spring, finding riders, and
keeping the bikes in working order.
Last fall Casey learned about business law in Bus 321, the Legal
Environment of Business, but his experiences have taught him
even more about the practical aspects of business ownership.
He has established the business as a limited liability company.
This hybrid organizational form affords him limited legal liability.
His riders are not employees but independent contractors, who
sign waivers absolving him from responsibility for their actions.
Setting up the business as an LLC also frees him from having
to pay taxes on his earnings (until they are recorded on his
personal income tax return).
Buying even a small business is a difficult decision, especially
when you’re still a college student. It’s one thing
to be a bike taxi rider and pocket easy money every night. It’s
quite another to become the owner and assume all the long-term
obligations of owning and running a business. To buy the company,
Casey had to learn how to negotiate, and he had to decide whether
to invest all his savings—and even borrow from others. But
Casey has no doubts that he made the right move. “If you
want to set and achieve high goals for yourself,” he says,
“you need to be an entrepreneur.” •
Casey Kenton can be reached at casey.kenton@washcoll.edu