About | Bounce House 101

Hi! I'm Joe.

I created Bounce House 101 as a platform to share everything

that I've learned about starting a Bounce House Rental Company.

My hope is that this can become a community of knowledge for anyone that's curious about starting a rental company or anyone who's in the beginning stages.

I'll share what I have learned, what I know now and what I would have done differently from the start.

Monday through Friday I worked in Corporate America, making other people rich. But the weekends were my ticket to getting rich. I had been searching for a side hustle that would help us pay off debt. Aimlessly scrolling through Craig's List, I found a bounce house being sold in a city not too far from home. It wasn't in great shape, but it seemed like a good deal. (Although I had no previous experience to base this off of! ) We ended up purchasing the bounce house and using it for our kids' birthday parties. Neighbors started asking if they could borrow it and then the light bulb went off. How much money can I make by renting this bounce house when we're not using it?

An entrepreneur was born!

My wife, Amber, and I started our Bounce House Rental Company in March of 2017. We started small with 6 inflatables and a small utility trailer that hitched to the back of our family SUV. We crammed all of our equipment into our two car garage. My wife answered phone calls from home

and reserved each inflatable by writing down the customer's name, delivery address, phone number and which inflatable they wanted on a printed paper calendar.

Not exactly professional or proficient. Saturday mornings we would load up the trailer with the bounce houses, load our youngest kids into the SUV and start our day. Sometimes not getting home until 11pm and then starting all over for Sunday rentals.

At first we made enough to pay off our debt. Then we started reinvesting the profits into the business. We purchased several more inflatables and started trying out new products, like dunk tanks and games. We watched what was being rented the most each weekend and purchased more. I learned pretty quickly that I didn't want to work for someone else. I loved entrepreneurship and wanted to grow our business to the point where I could finally leave Corporate American behind.

In 2024 I officially became self-employed! We have full time and part time employees. An ever-growing number of inflatables, concession machines, tents, tables and chairs. Our oldest son oversees a cleaning crew and we have steady work Monday through Sunday, March through November. I'm very proud of how far we have come in the last 8 years.

BUT if I could do it all over again, knowing what I know now....what would I do differently?

Subscribe below to see original content that I post that will help you avoid some of the trials and mistakes that I made along the way. Engage with me and other followers by commenting on the blog posts and asking questions. Join our group Bounce House 101

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Learning never ends. There's always space to grow. And there are no 'dumb' questions.