When you decide to start your own business by renting out bounce houses and other inflatable structures, you need to ask yourself which type of small business owners you want to be, a hobbyist or a professional? The hobbyist is an individual who start their party rental business with one or two commercial bounce houses and only rent them out on weekends. However, the professionals in the event rental industry are basically a company. They do it as a full-time job and want to earn serious money in this business. If you want to be successful in the bounce houses rental business, we're more than happy to help you. Let's take a look at the following useful tips and skills that a professional party rental business owner should have.
1. A good attitude is half the battle
Attitude decides everything! This is pretty much universally true on all avenues of entrepreneurship. No matter what kind of jobs you are doing, the most important factor to be successful is your attitude. You need to be motived, ambitious and willing to roll your sleeves up on day one. If you are afraid of hard work and don't want to spend enough time doing necessary research to figure out where to start and what your competitors do, this may not be a good profession for you.
2. Patience and dependability
Success is never overnight, and most party rentals businesses start out slow. That's why you need to take some time to show the communities that you're dependable and have good products. To make your new customers believe that you are someone they can trust to offer great entertainment for their child's birthday party, well, you should rather deliver the inflatables 20 minutes early instead of 2 minutes late. Of course, it's much better if you always have Plan B to ensure that your client's party can be held normally.
3. Unafraid of physical labor
Carrying inflatable units in and out is not the kind of job you can sit in the office comfortably. A commercial grade
inflatable bounce house can weight several hundred pounds. You have to ask help from a friend, a spouse or a sibling to move the inflatable equipment. This is going to be physically challenging work. Before your party rental business grows and become successful, you have to do a lot of physical work until you can hire people to help.
4. Spend your money wisely
Most of us start a new business with limited initial investment. So you need to save money on unnecessary items and invest in good ideas. High quality but expensive
bouncy castles,
slides and
combos are smart investments, and those cheap and poor quality residential inflatable moonwalks are a bad idea for the rental business. Every mistake is costly. It costs your money and time and energy. But you can take preemptive measures to mitigate the risk of making the
common mistakes when starting bounce house rental business.
5. A DIY mindset
The durable inflatable equipment used in parties and events does wear down over time. Does your inflatable unit lasts 8 months or 8 years depending on how you maintain it. A professional with strong DIY ethos and ability to do safe and quality repairs when the inflatables break down will go far in this inflatable rental business. The ability to read instruction manuals thoroughly and understand how to use a variety of tools can be the difference between keeping or replacing your inflatable equipment.
6. Customer oriented
You need to remember an old adage "the customer is always right" when interacting with customers. As a professional party rental business operator and service provider, you should always be proactive, enthusiastic, friendly and customer-first. If there's a dispute, maintain a professional tone as best you can. Don't ever forget how important your customers truly are. Without customers, your business won't get vary far.
7. A willingness to learn and research
If you want to obtain real business savvy like a professional in this party rental industry, you need to know the industry well and be willing to learn what you don't know. You need to know what your customers like and what they don't like, you need to research what your competitors are up to and what are the emerging industry trends, you need to learn emerging marketing techniques and the best practices, know your own business like what makes it special and what need to be improved on, etc.
This inflatable entertainment industry is in a perpetual state of growth. Everyday, there are new party rental companies open and people exit the industry. The most important trait that allow you to stay in the competition is do your best to become professional. Always remember that you should have fun when you go to work and enjoy what you do, and go to great lengths to ensure your customers and their event guests are having as much fun as you're able to provide as well.
