The Story of The Bounce House Guys
Once upon a time, in a town called Mason, there was a little boy who wanted nothing more than a bounce house at his birthday party. His mother and father scoured the yellow pages and the internet for a company that rented them, but no matter how hard they tried, they could not find one single business that offered a good service for a reasonable price. The only ones they could find were expensive ($200 or more!), only available for short periods of time (what good is a bounce house if you only have it for two hours?), required that they, the customer, transport, set up and take down the bounce house (that’s not their job!) or, worst of all, not licensed and insured (that’s not safe or legal!)
That little boy was my brother and his plight made me decide to start my own bounce house rental business. I realized that the other moonwalk rental companies were really only concerned with the big-ticket clients—churches, festivals, schools—and to attract that clientele, they purchased huge, extravagant inflatables that cost tens of thousands of dollars. Because these companies carry so much overhead, they are unable to offer parents who are just hosting a small, backyard party a medium-sized bounce house at a fair price. So, when I was only a junior in high school, I took all the money I had saved up from the past two summers of working in an amusement park and bought a bounce house (The Palm House). Along with my good friend and business partner Andrew (who bought the Boxing Ring bounce house), I took out an ad in our local paper in July of 2006 and started renting out the bounce houses. They were a big hit at birthday parties, sports team parties and, surprisingly, graduation parties. Because we kept our costs low by only purchasing basic bounce houses, we were also able to keep our prices low. After Andrew left for college, I took over the business by myself and, with the help of my very supportive family, the amount of rentals has increased each and every year since the business was started, including the summer of 2009, a time that most other businesses struggled.
I have been amazed and delighted to see how well my little idea for a business has been received by parents and kids alike. Seeing how excited all the children get when I set up a bounce house is my favorite part about this business. There has been such a positive reaction to what I am doing that I have expanded the business to include seven bounce houses and a set of Sumo Suits for the 2011 season. I encourage anyone reading this to contact me with any ideas or suggestions for things you would like to see offered in the future. I truly am one of the few people fortunate enough to have found a way to make money doing something he loves, and for that I am grateful to all the customers who have made it possible for me.
Ben Doublett
The Bounce House Guy