Full Length Interview: Jorge Sanchez from Hermes Worldwide

How Jorge accidentally bought his first limo company

Before Hermes Worldwide became one of Colorado’s biggest ground transportation companies…

Before the motorcoaches, the mountain markets, and the 90+ employees…

Jorge Sanchez was just a software engineer who needed rides to the airport.

One day his cab driver said:

“Hey, you can just call me directly.”

That simple relationship opened his eyes to the transportation world.

A few months later, that same driver said someone wanted to buy his little one-car business.

Jorge thought:

“Let me practice using my new MBA skills… why not run the numbers?”

That practice run created a rumor across Denver:

“Jorge is buying a limo company.”

He wasn’t.

But someone else called him and said:

“There’s an older couple… they want to sell. Interested?”

So Jorge sat down, ran the numbers, and bought the company for $90,000.

Today he laughs about it:

“Knowing what I know now, I massively overpaid.”

But that one small acquisition

→ turned into multiple acquisitions

→ which turned into new markets

→ which turned into a regional powerhouse.

That first deal changed everything.

And the lessons from it will change how you think about your own business too.

#1 mistake owners make when valuing their business

Jorge said it plainly:

“Owners think their hard work adds value. Buyers don’t care. Results matter. Not effort.”

Here’s what most small operators believe:

• “I’ve been in business 20 years.”

• “I have great repeat clients.”

• “My phone rings nonstop.”

• “My website is beautiful.”

Believe it or not, none of that determines the value of your company.

Buyers only care about:

• Profit

• Predictability

• Transferability

• Market position

• Replacement cost

• Digital footprint

• Fleet + asset condition

• Customer retention without YOU

And the biggest one…

Why SEO ranking is worth more than half your fleet

When Jorge evaluates a business today, the first thing he checks isn’t the fleet…

It’s the SEO.

Not the website’s design.

Not how “nice” it looks.

He looks at:

Where does this company rank organically for the money keywords?

In Aspen, for example, he purchased a small company with a website that ranked:

• #1 for Aspen limo

• #1 for Aspen car service

• #1 for Snowmass transportation

• #1 for all the surrounding mountain markets

As Jorge put it:

“That level of SEO takes years to build.

You can’t replace it with ads.

That’s worth real money.”

This is where most operators mess up.

They spend years taking care of clients…

…but never build a digital footprint that survives without them.

If you want your company to be worth real money someday:

Build SEO equity now.

Your future buyer will pay for it.

What buyers actually look for (it’s not what you think)

Jorge broke it down simply:

Buyers want to know:

1. Can the business run without you?

2. Are customers loyal to the brand, or loyal to the owner?

3. Is your revenue predictable?

4. Do you have contracts?

5. Are your margins real — or inflated by you doing five jobs?

6. Do you have systems? KPIs? Processes?

7. Does the website actually produce leads?

He shared:

When you buy a company, you will lose some clients, no matter how great you are.

Why?

Because:

• Some clients resist change

• Some secretly weren’t happy before

• Some use a sale as an excuse to switch

• Some were only loyal to the previous owner personally

That’s why website ranking + inbound traffic are so powerful.

They don’t retire.

They don’t switch providers.

They don’t get emotional.

They just keep generating revenue.

How “engineering thinking” boosts your valuation automatically

Jorge isn’t just a CEO.

He’s a software engineer by trade.

Which means he thinks in systems, not emotions.

The way he described it:

✔ Identify failure points

✔ Remove friction

✔ Reduce response times

✔ Build processes that survive without you

His example?

Water bottles.

Not just placing bottled water in the car.

Not just chilled.

But:

Swapping it 5 minutes before the client returns so it’s freshly chilled.

That level of detail is what Five-Star hotels like Four Seasons expect.

And it’s what creates stickiness and repeat business.

But here’s the deeper insight:

This operational discipline increases your company’s valuation.

Because buyers don’t want a messy, chaotic, personality-driven company.

They want:

• Measurable response-time KPIs

• Clean handoff between departments

• Predictable customer experience

• A culture of optimization

• Systems that scale

• A process that runs without the owner

The more “engineered” your business is…

The more someone will pay for it.

Final thoughts

Jorge didn’t set out to build a transportation empire.

He just:

• Stayed curious

• Solved problems

• Treated customers with intelligence

• Optimized relentlessly

• Bought strategically

• Built a brand people trust

And now?

He’s running one of the largest and most respected ground transportation companies in Colorado… with mountain markets, motorcoaches, 90 employees, and a brand that competitors literally whisper rumors about.

He earned it.

And the lessons he shared today are a blueprint for anyone in this industry who wants to grow… whether you ever plan to sell or not.

Did you find this valuable? Let us know by tagging us on Facebook or LinkedIn.

See you next week.

— Mark

P.S. Want to watch my full-length interview with Jorge? Check it out below:

P.P.S. Want to become our next client so you can start building your digital footprint? Click here to apply.

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