Wheelin’ and Dealin’

Daniel Russel-Einhorn is not your typical College of Charleston graduate.  Since his graduation last May, he has shown true entrepreneurial spirit by founding his own business called Unique Alternative Transportation.
“The response we’ve gotten from Craigslist and just the whole student body is really unprecedented,” Russel-Einhorn said. 
According to his count, the company, which caters to a specific need of C of C students, has sold over a hundred products in the first month alone.  What is this niche goldmine he has tapped into?  Something most students either want or need: bicycles.
Finding a parking spot downtown is no simple task.  Besides this, one must continue feeding the meter or face the wrath of merciless meter maids who stalk the streets handing out tickets. Russel-Einhorn found this out the hard way.  
“I had $800 worth of parking tickets so I got a $40 bike from Habitat for Humanity. It got stolen immediately off my porch, but I loved it.” Russel-Einhorn said. “I couldn’t figure out why I had been driving my car downtown for the past four years.” 
Since then he has never looked back.  Recruiting a few buddies to work with him, they started Unique Alternative Transportation.  Grift Duckworth assembles the bikes and Will Lord, who has an art degree from Savannah College of Art and Design, does the custom paint jobs.
“We knew students were sick of paying high prices at the bicycle stores but we thought students would prefer to bike to class rather than walk to class.  So, we started a brand called Afford-A-Bike for students to get affordable bicycles with good quality and a personal look,” Russel-Einhorn says. 
“I was taking a big gamble; I pretty much invested everything I had in these bicycles,” he says, recalling the initial phases of his now booming business. 
Thanks to his hard work his gamble paid off.  The orders are now coming in so fast that he projects they will need to assemble 5,000 bicycles next year.
Sophomore      Eric Scovill had nothing but praise for Daniel and his crew.
“It was the best deal I could find.  I had a problem with the bike and they fixed it that day and told me to call them if I had anymore problems.  They stand behind their product.          
Russel-Einhorn’s business came naturally to him with help from C of C.  He met Tommy Dew during Seminar in Entrepreneurship, a class in which local entrepreneurs share their experience and stories with students.
“He [Dew] was a guest speaker in Tommy Baker’s [Seminar in Entrepreneurship] class.  He is someone I met through a C of C class and have stayed in touch with him. He’s been a big influence on me,” says Russel-Einhorn.
Following  his  graduation from the College, he used the knowledge gained from his Entrepreneurship class and began his profitable business.
“I always wanted to start something and I saw the demand for bicycles,” says Russel-Einhorn.    
Unique Alternative Transportation’s custom beach cruiser bicycles range in price from $100 to $150, depending on the tires, paint-job, pedals, grips and chain the customer chooses.
 
Visit unique-transportation.com for more information.