Where do great ideas come from? Is there a mysterious pool of possibilities out there in the fourth dimension ready to be tapped by imaginative men and women who can put ideas and situations together to create products and businesses that shape the future?
Lee Dorfman built Action Cellular Rent A Phone on just that ability to connect events with possibilities.

In early 1988, after a successful career in real estate, the 33 year old (at the time) entrepreneur became increasingly aware that the booming telecommunications industry presented enormous opportunities for business ventures, particularly in the area of cellular telephones. After spending 1988 in the planning stages, he launched Action Cellular Rent A Phone in the spring of 1989, with a dozen phones strictly for rent.

The Loma Prieta Earthquake of October 1989 was the catalyst that really shaped his business. Walking through the Marina, a badly hit area of San Francisco, Mr. Dorfman noticed long lines of people waiting at pay phones. He recognized that there was an enormous immediate need for on-the-spot telecommunications.

"We provided many phones to the City and to the police department," Dorfman said. "The demand for instant wireless service was so great that we depleted our entire inventory within hours. We ended up buying more phones and literally doubled our stock. I realized that there was a huge untapped market out there for a rental cellular telephone service."

Dorfman was right. Action Cellular Rent A Phone's revenues have expanded by double and triple digits each year since its inception. It was not only the first company in the Bay Area to specialize in renting cellular phones; it was also one of the first pioneers in rental cellular telephones in the United States, and one of the first to expand internationally.

The company quickly developed from renting cellular phones on a local basis to renting them internationally to an increasingly diverse clientele. The company's clients include American Airlines, American Express, Apple Computer, Reuter's New Agency, NBC Today, the New York Times, Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev, Paul McCartney, Mercedes Benz, NASA, IBM and 20th Century Fox. The Royal Family of Saudi Arabia is one of Action's largest customers. Further, Action has rented to about 20 different international governments. Action's phones are used for everything from sporting events to corporate announcements and by everyone from lawyers, and airplane pilots, to corporate travelers and foreign heads of state.

Action Cellular Rent A Phone is a specialist in being able to deliver large numbers of phones with little or no advance notice. The leaders in the cellular rental phone industry, Action Cellular Rent A Phone has consistently provided outstanding service capabilities and equipment to all of its clients for more than eight years.

In 1995, Action recognized the need to expand its business internationally. According to Dorfman, numerous travelers wanted an alternative to the unfamiliar, frequently unavailable and sometimes expensive telephone service offered in other countries. So in 1996, Action partnered with Global Phone Hired in the United Kingdom, and began to provide rental phones to an entirely new market- travelers not only going to Europe, but also travelers coming from Europe. Since that time, Action has developed relationships with numerous rental companies, opening 30 offices worldwide.

In early 1997, Action began renting mini satellite telephones, which are about the size of a notebook computer. Action's satellite phones have been used in locations where conventional cellular or land-line service was unavailable, such as the Sea of Cortez, Aleutian Islands, Kenya, China, Tibet, Nepal, Mexico, Guatemala, Chile, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

"The immediacy of accommodating our client's needs in the most important element of what makes our business successful," Dorfman explained. His phones can be delivered anywhere in the world, with same day or next day service available, seven days a week, 24 hours a day.