With seven lovingly restored 1960s and 70s vehicles in its fleet, the Falkirk business has become a leading name in the self-drive holiday sector, hiring vans to holidaymakers from across the UK, Europe, North America, Australiasia, and the Far East.
The firm’s specially converted VW splitscreen microbus is also a big hit with wedding parties and event organisers looking for chauffeur driven transport with the wow factor.
Having both been made redundant from separate employers, Ishbel and Richie decided to turn their passion for VW vans into a business and went to Business Gateway Falkirk for advice on how to get online.
After completing a workshop on Facebook, Ishbel set up a business page and immediately started taking bookings from across the world. Now, thanks to receiving 21hrs of 1:1 support from the DigitalBoost programme, the company is attracting even more custom from abroad.
When I heard about DigitalBoost I jumped at the opportunity for free training and the potential to take my business to a wider online audience.
Set up to help transform the digital skillset of Scotland’s business community, DigitalBoost is funded by Digital Scotland and delivered by Business Gateway.
Ishbel said: “When I heard about DigitalBoost I jumped at the opportunity for free training and the potential to take my business to a wider online audience. The workshops increased my knowledge and gave me new skills while the 1:1 support has given us a clear idea of how to improve digitally.
“Our specialist adviser met with us before undertaking his own research which resulted in a 60 page document that told us everything we needed to improve upon or needed to be doing to expand our presence online. Now our website and all our social media accounts are improving and growing faster than ever, bringing more people to us looking to hire our vintage VW campers.
“Sometimes taking time out of your business, or sending an employee off for a few hours training, doesn’t initially appear to be the best use of time, but the help we’ve had from Business Gateway and DigitalBoost has been fantastic. You don’t get much free in this world, so I would encourage others to tap into the support as it will help your business get to the next level.”
For more information on Vintage VW Campers visit www.vintagevwcampers.com.
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