Small Bouncy Castle Business

Mwesty

Hi

Me and my girlfriend have started a bouncy castle business and we are just looking for ideas how to spread the word. We only have the one bouncy castle so far, it's 15x15 which is fairly big. We're going to reinvest all the money we get from hires and hopefully buy a new bouncy castle after every 20-25 bookings.

We have created a facebook group and invited all our friends but haven't had any bookings yet. Price wise, we're the cheapest in the North West and letting it out for £40 a day. Does anyone have any suggestions how to get bookings and how do you go about taking it to car boot sales etc? I know it's a very competitive market but hoping the price and service we offer will overcome not having a large selection of inflatables to choose from.

Unfortunately we can't afford to get anymore castles so that's out of the question.

CeeBeeDeeBee

Hi good luck with it

Just go to all the car boots in your area and get the contact details of the operator and ask them - some may already have 'agreements' with other bouncy castle businesses and not let you in.

Also contact your local councils as they may have pitches in the parks for rent.

I trust you have the appropriate insurance as there have been a few horror stories in the press re bouncy castles and you will deffinately need it if you are 'open to the public' at car boots etc.

Mwesty

Hi, thank you.

I was considering going to the car boots and going to contact the operators now. Am I suppose to pay x amount to the operator or a percentage of the income from the day? We'll be needing a generator of some sort for the electricity if it's outdoor.

We have public liability insurance for £1m. I think it it goes upto £5m or £10m.

Horace

Use twitter, facebook, LinkedIn - visit a few wedding fairs (some folks want bouncy castles to entertain the kids), join a networking group - try https://www.4networking.biz as you can network online for free then but it may pay you to go to some breakfast meetings too that 4N run.

paulwf

From what I can see on a selection of websites you seem to be far cheaper than any comparable competitor. Make sure you have sat down and done all your costings and set your price correctly. It is common for new businesses not to have the confidence to set their prices high enough. Make sure you charge a realistic rate otherwise it won't be worth your time to do it especially as you are reinvesting the profits...if you aren't careful it will be years before you actually draw a half sensible wage from it.

Savvy_Sue

Mind you if you don't have a generator you're going to be a bit limited where you can take it.

I'd say write to all the schools you're prepared to travel to and negotiate coming to their summer fairs. You'll both need to make some money from this, so think carefully about how you'll do that - share of profits or they pay you £X and keep all the money paid by excited little children but you 'run' it (and make sure you don't have babies on with teenagers, or too many at once etc).

But you'll need to make it clear that you'll need to be near an electrical supply, and at the very least you will need to supply a long weatherproof cable, IMO.

Mwesty

Horace wrote: »

Use twitter, facebook, LinkedIn - visit a few wedding fairs (some folks want bouncy castles to entertain the kids), join a networking group - try www.4networking.biz as you can network online for free then but it may pay you to go to some breakfast meetings too that 4N run.

I've created a page on facebook and got 70 fans so far. I paid £30 for the Facebook advert to get more people visiting the fan page but it only brought 36 clicks and a couple members so I don't think that was worth it. On first glance that looks like a very interesting website, one that I hadn't heard of before, so I'll definately be reading more into it and signing up. Likewise with Twitter. Thanks

paulwf wrote: »

From what I can see on a selection of websites you seem to be far cheaper than any comparable competitor. Make sure you have sat down and done all your costings and set your price correctly. It is common for new businesses not to have the confidence to set their prices high enough. Make sure you charge a realistic rate otherwise it won't be worth your time to do it especially as you are reinvesting the profits...if you aren't careful it will be years before you actually draw a half sensible wage from it.

The bouncy castle with all the assessories cost me £940. I would have to hire the bouncy castle out 24 times before it's paid off and I buy a new one. I had a choice really, to put the money into an ISA or to try something like this. I opted for this because of the percentage ISA's are paying at the moment and the growth this could potentially lead to. I think once I have 7-8 castles, I'll settle down and start taking a wage. I've never seen anyone hiring a brand new castl eout in this size out for £40, the usual price is around £50-£60. I'm happy with £40 for the time being. After I've made contacts and getting regular bookings, I could look at the possibility of increasing the price slightly If I need to.

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Mind you if you don't have a generator you're going to be a bit limited where you can take it.

I'd say write to all the schools you're prepared to travel to and negotiate coming to their summer fairs. You'll both need to make some money from this, so think carefully about how you'll do that - share of profits or they pay you £X and keep all the money paid by excited little children but you 'run' it (and make sure you don't have babies on with teenagers, or too many at once etc).

But you'll need to make it clear that you'll need to be near an electrical supply, and at the very least you will need to supply a long weatherproof cable, IMO.

I'm going to look at getting a generator over the next few weeks. It seems the normal price is around £250. I didn't even think of summer fairs so that's an excellent suggestion. What would be a sensible share or profits, 50/50, 60/40? And do you change for an amount of time? Say £1 for 15 minutes?

Oh here's a picture of the castle too with my littlen infront of it.

Owain_Moneysaver

Ask any local groups for kids if they'd like a freebie, then get a nice photo and write-up in the local paper of local children enjoying their fun day on a bouncy castle generously provided by Mwesty Bouncy Castles.

Hand out cards to every parent advertising bouncy for birthday parties etc. Maybe give each child a souvenir pen (or other age-appropriate toy, sticky bug, paper hat, etc) after their bounce, with the phone/website on it - they will take that home and keep it.

And get that white front panel vinyl'd with your website / phone number!!

hermum

Here's a good site, I'm not sure if the ads are free
http://www.villagefetes.co.uk/

Organisers of car boots
http://www.carbootjunction.co.uk/car-boot-by-county.php

I don't know whether you have outdoor markets near you,if so this could be useful.
http://www.nmtf.co.uk/

See if you can find a cake supplier, wedding planner, small local shops that sell party supplies etc, & ask if they will pass your card on to people organising a party.
Search out village halls, community centres etc & go visit them.
Local schools are generally looking for ways to raise money so if they want to do a sponsored jumpathon, you could offer to provide the castle for cheaper, maybe just cover the cost. You will then have lots of parents who may book you for parties.
Please let me know how you get on, as I've been considering doing this.
Good luck

Horace

I admit that I don't pay for advertising on facebook - I join other groups and fan pages and spread the link to my website on them. Your prices are too cheap to be honest and - if your competitors are hiring out at £50-60 then you should be considering the same, if you appear too cheap people will think that you are cheap and unreliable.

I know that on 4networking.biz there is a woman who provides entertainment for kids, Acorn Entertainments (I think that's what she is called), although I am not sure which areas she covers. I am also aware that there is a trade show on at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire in September for Party Planners - its the Decor show - it might be worth a visit to see what contacts you can make (its on from 24-26 Sept).

blue_monkey_2

Contact your local schools as they will be using them for coming Fetes - we had to pay £100 for ours at the fete.

Put ads up in village halls.

There is 'Primary Times' in some areas or a free mag that is given out to school children, advertise it for garden/birthday parties. £40 is VERY cheap. Also check out your local soft play areas as some will have a magazine they offer parents for free. Any mag that is geared towards kids - advertise it for childrens parties. Local paper. Ebay ad (there are lots of classifieds for Bouncy Castles). Freecycle Cafe (if you have one). Make some laminated cards and drive round looking for noticeboards to pin them on. Village hall noticeboards, school notice boards, church noticeboards (for a donation)

Seriously, the list is endless but I would definately go for an eBayclassified ad as these are picked up by google.