How To Start A Vinyl Bounce House Business

There are many ways to file your self employment business as far as business structures(llc, corporation, sole proprietorship). You will want to carefully consider each one before you register your business name if you decide to do so. In some states it is not necessary to register a business name in order to do business but it is common practice. To get more information about this you can visit the website of your state's department of commerce. Some even have a business walk through to help you make important decisions about your self employment business as far as whether or not you need to be licensed and how to do it if needed and much, much more.

Carefully consider the name that you choose as if you plan on expanding in the future you may not want your name to limit your services such as "Water Slide Rentals".  That implies that you do not provide any other service but water slides.  In order to register a name you must make sure it is not currently registered. You can visit your state's secretary of state website or corporation commission website to look up the tradename for availability.

There are tons and tons of companies that you can buy inflatable bounce house type equipment from. It is going to take leg work to find the price that doesn't break the budget. I recommend you consider the following before you start purchasing anything.

1. What is the climate of where you wish to do business in? I live in Arizona and it is hot or warm most of the year so inflatable water slides do well in my area.
   
2. The location of where your business is at can determine who your potential customers will be. If you live near many businesses, churches or schools you should focus more on popular items such as obstacle courses, bounce houses, or slides and dunk tanks or other interactive type equipment. That doesn't mean there isn't a market for smaller equipment because it is always in demand. You could even call them up and ask them what they would like or currently use for events. See the liability insurance section below as some insurance companies may not cover certain types of equipment or may charge more if they do.
3. Make sure you research the quality of inflatable equipment before purchasing anything. You want to consider the type of vinyl and weight of it. 18 oz vinyl is an industry standard for good quality and sturdy weight. Also, the more reinforcement stitching the better (triple stitch is best if possible).
   
4. Find out what you get with it. Some companies will give you free banner, stakes, and a blower while others may charge you extra for the blower.
   
5. You also want to consider shipping fees. If you live near a company you may be able to pick it up instead.
   
6. As a new company you can sometimes negotiate a couple of hundred off and especially if you purchase more than one item from them.
7. I don't recommend the modular bouncies that you add banners too because the quality of the bounce tends not to be as bouncy as regular ones. You would be able to tell by the short distance from the bottom of the bouncy to the top where kids bounce. It is usually shorter which means less air is trapped and therefore less bounce.
   
8. Finally, shop around and price match.

Each state differs in how much equipment is rented out for and as a matter of fact it may also differ from city to city. The best way to figure out pricing is by searching for equipment as if you were the customer. Do searches on the internet, yellow pages, Craigslist and where ever else you can think of. When you look at the equipment you have to consider what all is included in the price. Some companies include taxes or delivery fees in the listed price and some do not. Once you figure out what the going price is you will want to start your pricing just under that and only because you have not established yourself in the industry yet. Also, remember that slides and bouncies come in different sizes so worth different amounts. In addition, if your slide, is way different than any other slide you have see from your competitors but the functionality is the same then I would still charge around the same price as you have the edge in uniqueness.

Also take into account whether or not you want to charge delivery fees to serve customers outside of your normal delivery areas. Other factors that could affect your prices are whether you provide over night rentals, all day rentals or even multiple day rentals or multiple equipment discounts. In my case, I provide overnight rentals, all day rentals, special pricing for reoccurring customers and certain day of the week discounts. Of course, you could also promote these options as free to acquire a new customer too!

If you are planning on running an inflatable rental business it is a good idea to have liability insurance with a $1,000,000 policy for each occurrence with a maximum of $2,000,000 for aggregate total. Liability insurance will allow you to rent to schools, churches, business and at parks with minimal risk. There are many insurance companies out there and you can find them by going to websites of companies who sale bounce house equipment or similar equipment items as they usually provide links, recommendations or information on various companies that provide coverage for this type of business.

Insurance will cover you should anything happen if someone gets hurt while renting one of your pieces of equipment.

When you apply for the insurance coverage some of the things they will require are:

1. The business owner's personal information including the type and amount of equipment you want to insure as well as risk management types of questions regarding training, safety and operations. Typically, you want to train anyone who works for you according to the manufacturers directions on usage and maintenance of the equipment. You will also want to instruct the customer on safe usage and adult supervision of the equipment as well as include it on a written contract.

2. Some companies do not insure certain types of equipment like inflatables that are not completely enclosed or water slides that have a pool. You will need to contact the insurance company directly about the types of equipment they will insure. Some of this may also vary by state

3. You may have to provide a copy of your business plan.

4. Copies of the contracts (view sample) that you intend to use along with special provisions such as:

Hold Harmless Provisions

Duty To Mitigate

Disclaimer of Consequential Damages

Disclaimer of Warranties

Merger Clause

5. Finally, like with any insurance, you will have additional insurance options that you can select if you elect the additional coverages such as terrorist coverage. You will also have the option to finance the coverage for a year with a down payment and make monthly payments or you can pay the policy in full.

There are many forms of advertising. Personally, I wouldn't waste money on expensive advertising like Yellow Pages when you are first starting because the ads are too expensive for a small business budget. My main form of advertising has been Craigslist because it is one of the most used places to go when searching for services or products these days and people expect a deal. You could also try GoogleAds because it is budget based. I noticed google ads tend to pop up in most directories that I belong to with competing companies in my area so they are definitely efficient.

Your local newspaper is a very good place to advertise as it covers the market of people who don't use the internet which is about 60%. In my area we have local newspapers that are free to us and delivered weekly plus the ads are very cheap.

The best form of advertising will come in time and that is word of mouth. About 20% of our customers are now word of mouth or frequent customers because we are reliable and our equipment is clean.

Tips:

• Think outside of the box when advertising. I had a bouncy that had multiple colors which I thought was a good idea because it could be used for just a general party without a character theme. However, in order to encourage it to be rented out for themed parties I would associate the colors with the colors of popular cartoons that are used for themed parties such as Transformers, Wonder Pets, Spider Man and so on and so forth.
• Also, since you will probably have a website why not earn additional money by becoming an affiliate of several party supplies stores and provide the banners or links on your website.
• In order to encourage more readers on your website you can also include party ideas, party games and a party planning list for your customers or potential customers. You could even create or develop games which are related to the themes that are associated with your type of equipment. Since, I have water slides, I could have a list of how to play water-related games like a water balloon popping contest or hot potato with a water balloon. This adds substance to the website plus associates fun and activities with your equipment which can set it apart from other businesses and close the deal on a rental.
• In the infancy of my bounce house business I had several signs made which I placed everywhere I thought would get high traffic. One day I received a call from the town that it was against city ordinance to advertise like that. So, before you go and use this method of advertising I would find out what your city or town's local ordinances are regarding advertising with signs. If you do decide to use this method make sure you consider whether or not your prices will remain the same or even if you want to include them on the signs. Also, the type of equipment as some of it may be seasonal.
  

There are many merchant service companies in which you can use to accept payments. However, I have found from my experience that PayPal works best for the price range and volume that I do with my business and it is free and user friendly too. PayPal has the functionality to send out electronic invoices to your customers so they can pay using their credit card. The invoice serves as a receipt for the customer too. Many of my customers pay cash but every once in a while I get a customer who is unable to get the cash and will pay by credit card instead. Many people are already registered with PayPal. Most of my credit card transactions cost around $3 and I pass the fee on to the customer as I inform them in advance of their payment options and the fee associated with credit card payments.

If you do decide to go with a different merchant provider you should consider what the estimated volume of credit card payments you will have and compare that with what the merchant's per use fee will be as well as the monthly fee or any equipment fees. Other merchant providers have options such as being able to use a cell, internet or phone to process a payment but the costs are all different. Many banks can provide you with an array of choices in these areas as well with their merchant services.

Once you purchase the equipment you need to keep it going and in good health. Always clean your equipment because it is sanitary for your customers and because it will extend the life of your investment. A pressure washer works well with cleaning the exterior. You can purchase the soaps for the pressure washer at any hardware store, Walmart or Home Depot. The interior can be cleaned using auto cleaning brushes with extensions which you can buy at an auto parts store or Walmart, Kmart and the like. Bleach is an excellent cleaning agent but you should follow the sanitizing mixture-solution directions on the bottle to reduce strength. Make sure you only use it on the vinyl and not the netting (don't want to mess with color) and rinse off as well as possible.

Most likely the company where you purchased the equipment from offers a 1-2 year warranty which will cover defective repairs only. However, if you purchased the equipment from another state it will cost a relatively large amount for shipping in which case you may want to find a local place that can repair. I've found that awning companies do vinyl repair for a lot less than what shipping will cost you to use the warranty repair. However, if you really want to save, you could do the repair yourself using the patch kit and glue that came with your inflatable for minor repairs. If you ran out of the repair supplies or never had it, you can also purchase it from almost any bounce house company.

I waited until the end to bring up the dreaded taxes part. In order to figure out what taxes to pay you will need to contact your local department of revenue. They have a small business department who can walk you through the taxes you are responsible to pay and how often. I suggest you retain and maintain the following documents for this purpose:

• Keep all receipts for business-related purchases such as equipment, supplies, gas for transport vehicle and even when you eat for work.
• Maintain a driving log of the mileage on your vehicle. Write down the address you went to and the number of miles you traveled as well as what the mileage was on your vehicle before and after.
• Maintain a list of all of your customers and when you rented to them. This will also be helpful in case they rent from you again and you want to reward them for coming back.
  
• Retain all rental contracts in a safe place. You can also scan them and store them electronically but make sure you retain a copy in case for some reason litigation arises from a rental.

In addition to state, local and federal taxes you are also responsible for paying Social Security taxes. Normally, when you are employed for someone else your employer is responsible for half of your social security taxes but because you are self-employed you are responsible for the full amount. You can visit the social security administration's website to find out more information about this at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10022.html as well as the current rate.

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