Where it all began
Back in 2013 I hired a bouncy castle. Upon collection the owner said, we could do with someone like your husband to help with deliveries and collections. At the time money was tight, I was working part-time and the kids were young so an extra income was welcomed. For two years my husband was working 7am-10pm Saturday and Sunday as well as a full time job and at the end of each shift would hand the daily takings over to someone else for a tiny wage in return.
One evening we decided we could do a business alike this ourselves. I had the business skills and my husband had experience from working within the industry plus a van from his carpentry work.
Finding my way
So, I joined an inflatable association with an active community to explore what it takes to start a business and best practice. I wanted to build a solid foundation for our business that would be credible. We researched the local competition. The market in our area was pretty saturated but as a parent and knowing what I wanted and needed from a local business providing me with a service for special occasions I was determined to building in operations so that our business would be customer focused, reliable, efficient, safe and friendly. We agreed on affordable but doable prices, bought our first small inflatable and the domain name Cheam Bouncy Castles was purchased and the business was born early 2015.
I bought a cheap SIM, used an old phone, a friend showed me how to design my own website using a free blog on WordPress, that took a lot of long nights designing and I didn’t have a website host, I never even knew what a host was, so I taught myself how to map my website to my domain name… a whole another world, let me tell you!
Some of the things I had to learn quickly
- Rules around inflatables and their safety
- Designing disclaimers, terms and conditions and FAQ’s
- Embedding our values as a business into our booking and delivery processes
- Building a brand
- Public liability insurance
- Safety inspections, where, who and how
- Building a website
- Marketing
- Social media
- Risk assessments/safety
- And many more….I just blank it all out now ha!
To make the business viable and to buy more equipment my husband continued working 7 days and I ran the business solely for a year with two young children in tow and yep, they had to travel around in a van all weekend. I am pretty sure 20% of the profit in the first year was spent on bribes of ice cream and treats.
I started sharing and reaching out to local Facebook community networks and free sites such as Yell and talking to local parents. And then enquiries started coming in slowly. I was so nervous!
Everyone loves a bouncy castle, no matter how young or old, they bring out the youngster in us.
With life being so fast paced, taken over by devices and technology, it’s so lovely to see the simplest things in life bring hours of endless fun, smiles and laughter.
What I learnt
We both learnt skills and behaviours from each other, my husband’s customer service skills are second to none and I am better at being firm about what is achievable. I once didn’t want to let a customer down that I ended up doing her gardening and pruning her rose bush… yep, this is why Dan has now taken over the business customer facing role and I now manage the back end.
‘I ended up doing her gardening and pruning her rose bush’
Our growth
We tried our hand at fancy dress hire, soft play for under 5’s, adult castles to grow our appeal to a wider audience. I purchased a Kandy cart to cater for special parties, weddings and anniversaries and started doing party sweet bags and we continue to look for the next steps… maybe hot tubs maybe a children’s entertainer, who knows?
Conclusion
We all have hidden talents, we all have transferable skills we can apply to lots of other talents we just don’t always realise it. I sometimes forget that I was a big part of starting this business up and without the skills and knowledge I have gained over my career and life as a parent have been so valuable to the success of our business. If I can do it, you can too.
Starting a business – FutureLearn – FREE
Vision and opportunity https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/starting-a-business-1
People and networks https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/starting-a-business-2
Customers and competitors www.futurelearn.com/courses/starting-a-business-3
Business processes https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/starting-a-business-4
Managing finances https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/starting-a-business-5
Funding your business https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/starting-a-business-6
Thank you for sharing, Michelle Battista, Learning Community and Content Curator
Some people have a love-hate relationship with social media. Critics say platforms like Twitter and Facebook have polarised opinion and are divisive. However, community groups exist and thrive across a range of platforms. Professional groups meet on twitter and share their insights and learning. Pinterest provides a space for people to collaborate on a range of interests, crafts and hobbies.
For me, it's all about user choice, each user has the choice to engage or not with posts. In real life we make choices about who we interact with and when, the same rule can apply on social media.
I use Twitter to engage with learning groups, and Facebook to stay in touch with my running club and book running sessions with them. I use Instagram for sharing pictures with people in my network who are interested. However, I may go two or three weeks without posting a picture. I connect with people whose pictures I am keen to see. I also use running and fitness apps to help me connect with other runners and with an aim of maintaining (and improving!) my level of fitness whilst remaining injury free.
It is up to you to control how you interact, when you interact and what your purpose and intent for each interaction is. It can expose you to a wonderful world of learning!
David Hayden is a digital portfolio manager at the CIPD