101 Bounce House Business Tips for New Bounce House Operators

Today, I’m going to teach you 101 Bounce House Business Tips for new bounce house business owners.

There’s a lot to learn, so in this article I’m going to do my damndest to cover it. ALL.

101 Bounce House Business Tips for new bounce house business owner

Now that it’s late May, all of bounce house nation is in full swing, the insurance companies are backed up with new requests, Facebook Marketplace is full of goofy ass fisher price bounce houses for rent, and you need to get ready for summer because this is when the real businesses turn up, and losers businesses sell to companies to us!

So here we go, 101 Bounce House Business Tips for New Bounce House owners!

1. If you put a bounce house in your logo, the columns will look like a penis or condoms.

2. You don’t need damn bounce house in your logo. Or kids or water splashes. Build a logo that builds a brand. Think Nike, Starbucks, Mercedes, Toyota…

3. Get a website day 1. Inflatable Office is only $39 if you have under 10 units and is a website that’s made for you, inventory tracking, online booking, route building and MUCH MORE.

4. Google matters the most. Start working on SEO asap, and if you don’t know what that is, that’s where you start. Do ALL the research.

5. You’re a business owner now. “I don’t know how” or “I can’t figure it out” is NOT an option. The market doesn’t give a rip how “bad you are with computers” because guess what, they only shop at places that are on the internet.

6. Facebook marketplace will be your best friend in the beginning. Get all your units on there, make your posts the best picture on Marketplace, with the best description on there, and link out the the URL of the exact unit in the description, and push people to just hit the “is this available” button.

7. To win on marketplace you need good deals.

8. Your Facebook page is the only place that you can reach customers with posts. Spend at least 8 hours getting everything on there PERFECT when you start it. Post there daily.

9. Start an instagram, link it to the FB page, and ignore it after that. It’s for half naked girls and Ronaldo, not for renting doing bounce houses.

10. Buy from American based companies – Yes they are MADE overseas, but designed by American based companies that design the slides properly for us to rent them out.

11. Don’t buy from overseas based companies – They are made by a company that ASSEMBLES inflatables. It’s like buying a car designed by the factory that ASSEMBLES Toyotas. They don’t know how to design. They just put them together.

12. Buy so you can rent it – Get items that the clients will want to rent. Don’t buy just because of the wow factor – if you think it’s cool, it means NOTHING. Clients have to want it.

13. People want slides. Bounce houses with slides, and waterslides, so limit your basic bounce house purchases.

14. Get units you can actually MOVE. Yes the 40ft waterslide is epic. No you don’t have a shot at moving it when you’re new. Stay around 400 lbs max.

15. Bounce House combos will be your most consistent items, be ready with enough inventory to meet the demand!

16. Waterslides make you the money, be ready with enough inventory to meet the demand.

17. Your area is different than mine, research #6 and 7 before blindly following what I say.

18. Insurance is a MUST. Don’t rent until you have it.

19. The difference between a great setup and a mediocre one is THE DETAILS. Teach them to employees!

20. Marketing freaking matters!!!!! Google ads will be your best spend because people go to google looking for “bounce house rental near me” and then your ad takes you to the top of the list/map.

21. Never boost a FB post. (unless you have read Christopher Weeds book).

22. FB ads will make you feel fancy but they are hard, and complicated, and make far far far less money than google ads for a bounce house business specifically.

23. Make sure your logo is on your bounce house with a URL or phone number. If not on the banner, then on a yard sign next to it.

24. Give every customer a magnet when you drop off the units.

25. You need branded shirts. One color, with your logo. Add a collar if you think your fancy.

26. When you put a sign next to a bounce house, just the logo and a URL or phone number. The bounce house does the hard work of getting attention!

27. Tarps are a pain in the ass but save you from mud. Use the size tarp you need for your area.

28. Clean tarps on site so you don’t waste 30 mins cleaning each tarp during the week. I have a YouTube video on it.

29. Wipe your water slides down on site and roll wet, so you don’t have to clean them weekly. They’re just going to get wet in 5 days anyways.

30. Mold sucks but it’s not a risk short term. Dry out all your units in September for winter, thats how you win the war with mold.

31. Salesmanship will book more slides than anything else there is. ALWASY BE CLOSING!

32. Start a YouTube channel so you can make tours of the units and put them in the description on the website.

33. You didn’t start a business cause its easy!

34. Flipping units makes you way more money, but its hard, so refer to # 34

35. Hourly rentals make the flips possible and are best for maximizing money, for the longevity of your units and it lowers your liability because your inflatable isn’t a babysitter.

36. Leaving your rentals overnight makes your life so much easier. Pick your flips up in the morning on Sunday’s route.

37. Leaving overnight also saves payroll.

38. Hire a cleaner gal or guy ASAP so you don’t have to do that non-value adding task.

39. Take your cleaner gal with you on pick ups when your company gets bigger, the payroll is worth the energy savings.

40. Never stop working on your website, it is the “store front” for your customers.

41. Don’t confuse working on the website with doing all the work you need to do.

42. Shop at harbor freight extremely often.

43. Drink lots of coffee and drink it black.

44. Quit your job when you’re ready. Know what you need to make to pay your bills, and how you’re going to get that amount of money.

45. Don’t quit your job if you don’t want to. Everyone is different.

46. Inflatables will be 90% or more of your revenue, buy more of those.

47. Add tables and chairs soon though because they’re easy and low maintenance.

48. Concessions are messy and a pain and will slow you down, buy if you want to though.

49. The customer is rarely right, but they’re the only reason we exist, so be flexible.

50. Carry 1 gallon of water with you on your routes, its hot out there!

51. Don’t drink beers with the customers.

52. Hire the minute you can afford it.

53. Fire people that don’t fit the culture of the company and do it FAST.

54. Get a tool kit for every truck (see Nick’s TikTok video for the Oh Shit kit)

55. Bring an extra blower on every route.

56. Go to Iappa, it’s the most fun you can have all year. Being in person with your industry brethren is incredible.

57. Make sure all your equipment has a specific place in the shop.

58. The Rollsall is $4200 and it’s money VERY well spent, trust me.

59. Order the Rollsall now, you won’t have it until February anyways.

60. The addition/usage of a winch is personal. It makes the dolly heavier and the rolling is slow af, but it’s for sure easier

61. Using the Rolling straps that we sell at The Jump Off Store by hand are the happy medium to the winch. It slows you down 2 min to set up, and 2 mins to roll them up after, but it makes it SO EASY. 4 mins is well worth it on flooded and huge slides (Video here)

62. Join the Bounce House Business Mentors FB group. It’s the best way to learn!

63. If you are DEAD SET on winning, get into the Jumpstart Program created by Event Hawk and hosted by me. Everything you need to get from $0 to $100k

64. Used units are the shit. Half price to buy, and full price on your rentals

65. There’s nothing like a new unit though….that bag, that factory roll….the smell…

66. When it comes to the trailer, buy once. 16ft by 6’10” tandem axle with brakes. Big Tex 70pi is my fav.

67. Buy extension cords at Sams Club. 12 gauge 100ft for $65, thats half price, and GREAT cords

68. Buy only 100ft cords so you can just grab and go.

69. Simplicity is scaleable. Complexity is NOT. Putting cones over the anchors is cool When you have 15 rentals in one day, you aren’t bringing 100+ cones with you dude, I promise. Save the unscalable behavior for the marquee events.

70. Avoid excess fees. If you lose a $300 rental over a $30 sand bag fee, it takes 10 more sand bag fees to catch back up to the $300 you just lost!

71. Dri fit clothing and sunscreen are critical to your survival.

72. Customer service is the main differentiator of great businesses to mediocre ones.

73. The smaller the delivery window you give to your clients, the more they like it.

74. Over all, the higher your communication is with your clients, the better.

75. Write off your phone bill, your “home office” your internet, your truck, your gas…everything you can!

76 An LLC is what you need, get it through the secretary of the state website.

77. The 3 pound hammer is Thors Hammer of the bounce house business.

78. A Chevy 1500 is great for delivering bounce houses. Not saying 3500HD dully isn’t bad ass, just not needed.

79. In general, pay cash for all inventory purchases.

80. If you can borrow a shit load of money from grandma to scale faster, then use that “loan” to buy inventory. She loves you, she’ll loan it to you just ask and that interest rate is DOPE.

81. Business credit cards with cash back perks need to make every purchase no matter what. 2% cash back Spark Card from Capital One is my fav cause its easy and clean.

82. If you are good with finances get a 0% intro rate business card and max it out as long as you can pay that balance to $0 before interest hits you (inventory included)

83. Always be recruiting. You don’t need anyone now? Cool, but one guy is gonna quit, one is going to get hurt, and one is gonna get soft cause he fell in love. You need to be ready!

84. Recruiting is key, but the interview is the most important. Interview everyone for 60 mins, and never hire on the spot.

85. You need to know the 3-5 core values of your business so you can make sure your actions and your employees line up with them.

86. The longer you take no money from the business the faster you can grow.

87. No one cares that you take no money from the business except you and your angry wife. Pay yourself something kind of soon.

88. To figure out when to pay yourself, set a goal to how big you want to be, in revenue, and divide that by your average ticket size to see how many rentals that is total, and work backwards to see ROUGHLY how many units you need to do that. It’s Math.

89. Finance everything, except inventory, you need the cash on hand to grow and scale. This is the advice for entrepreneurs, NOT regular employees.

90. Come to Booze and Biz weekly. The learning is great, the community building is priceless!

91. The Christmas light business is great winter hustle, and will out earn your bounce house business within a few years.

92. Workout 3-7 days a week so you’re in good shape to win on the weekends.

93. Google reviews matter. Asking for them in a text with the link that takes them to goole is the key, but crappy service will keep you fromgetting any reviews.

94. Event Hawk will auto text clients on Tuesdays with that review link.

95. Event Hawk does a fantastic job at doing your marketing because it’s built by, and ran by bounce house business owners.

96. A good CPA is a dire must-have, so start looking now!

97. Quick books makes your life easier as well as your CPA’s life easier.

98. Set your prices based off your local competitors, add or subtract money based on the difficulty of picking up the unit, then balance it out by your ambition.
Price = (Comps + Difficulty) x Ambition

99. Good help is hard to find, so take care of your employees like the family they are. Give them all the tips, buy their snacks once and a while, keep them hydrated, have monthly meetings etc.

100. ANSWER THE FUCKING PHONE WHEN IT RINGS

101. If you aren’t having fun, make it fun.

WHOOO! There we go, 101 Bounce house business tips for new bounce house business owners.

Hope you enjoyed that one, and I hope you have some reaction to share, and some questions to ask, we’re here to assist you in growing your business, so lets do this….

What was the ONE tip that you want us to elaborate on right now and go a little more in depth on?

So these shows are a shit ton of fun, and I love doing them, but obviously the point is to TEACH you stuff. The 101 tips all came from my experience growing The Jump Off, and Mark’s experience growing Call the Moonman.

So please, take notes, rewatch these, and do whatever it takes to put the stuff into action!

Let me tell a quick true story that happened today to tell you what doing these things will get you…

So my office Manager Kassie is instructing a bible camp this week until noon, so I’m helping on the calls and texts.

I started a conversation with a lady texting through the Event Hawk funnel wanting Rampage in early July, and she says, “I got your name from the country club in the neighborhood, I think you do all their events right?”

YEP, the nicest neighborhood in the area has lots of parties at the Country Club and we do a rental for almost all of them.

Kassie ended up taking this text conversation over later in the day, but then the woman started asking some oddly specific questions about the velcro stairs and a 2nd hose on the other side of Rampage…

So I text Kassie that I was just going to call her real quick.

It turns out the last slide this woman rented was falling apart and the velcro stairs would literally fall off when her autistic son would try to climb up there, PLUS that rental company left the slide there for over a week! She said they had to BEG them to come take it away.

All in all, she was just nervous, and wanted to make sure that her son would be able to slide!

So we had about a 7 min conversation, and by the end she loved The Jump Off and was super excited to have her waterslide supplied by us.

It’s Customer service, its salesmanship, its attention to details, its going the extra mile to pick up the phone and call her….

It’s the list of 101 things we just covered, plus hard work, dedication and relentless pursuit of doing things better, because doing things “good enough” is the death of your future.

You have to always be looking to evolve and improve, because you don’t compete with others, you compete against yourself.

So tonight, I’m going to close the show out with a little quote…

All the bounce house business tips in the world won’t work, if YOU don’t work!

Thank you guys! Everyone have an amazing evening, and I’ll see you all next week 7pm central for Booze and Biz!

Dude it’s common sense – Booze + Biz 5/3/34

Common sense is that thing that you can’t teach supposedly. However as you gain more and more knowledge on a subject, more and more things become common sense.

For example, hire a new person and work with them, and you’ll be SHOCKED how much you actually know. Ne things have become common sense to you.

So that means that I actually DO think you can teach common sense…to a degree. You can teach common sense to…a person with…COMON SELSE.

Ok so I’ve compiled a list of 29 common sense topics that I’m going to cover with the intention of teaching them to you, and ov course no matter how long my list is, there’s still a TON that I’ll miss, so please fill in the blanks for me!

Common sense item #1 – Answer the phone.
In what universe do we live in where a smoking hot lead is a burden to us? You should be running across the house risking burning the pizza just to answer the phone. You should be heavy-metal shushing your kids, sprinting to the other room, and working on selling there person that wants to buy SO BAD they did the unthinkable and CALLED YOU.

Common sense item #2 Trust your gut – you know it, so act on it, so you don’t have to say damn it I freaking knew it. Your intuition is one of the most valuable resources as an entrepreneur and leader. Don’t make a move when youre desperate, you’ll get burned and you’ll know you were going to get burned!

Common sense item #3 Ideas don’t pay the bills, execution does. Put in the work! Uber was invented already when Uber started. One company you’ve never heard of and the other took over the entire industry crushing everything in it’s path. The idea wasn’t the gold. Travis Kalanic’s execution was. Stop thinking like a revolutionary and start acting like one!

Common sense item #4 – Good help is hard to find
It has nothing to do with Millenials or Gen Z. People have always been lazy and didn’t want to work. Shut the fuck up Nick these kids now days are entitled, I know it b/c I posted on my social media about how entitled they are and my post went viral because everyone agreed with me! I’m not saying there’s not shit heads out there. And if that is who you are hiring and trusting your customers to, then YES it may appear that the young generation “doesnt want to work”. Fact of the matter is that it has always been hard to find good help, plus the younger generation grew up in the internet area, and GUESS WHAT, they watched bullshit artists on instagram tell them they can be a millionaire doing FBA drop shipping from their moms basement. They have options like never before, some of those options being let the government handle our bills, so they have to be MOVED to work for you. Money will never be enough anymore. They have to be inspired to come to work! Be a leader, and be inspirational!

Common sense item #5 Treat your employees like the family that they are.
There was a time when the boss low key abused the employees. Not cool no matter what, BUT the boss had the leverage because there wasn’t very many jobs out there. TIMES HAVE CHANGED. The economy was ON FIRE fro, ’10 to ’22 and the internet got to full scale. Now there’s a zillion jobs b/c Chic-fil-a went from a chicken place with 5 people working to some strange wholy experience overnight, and has 65 young people working at all times. You have to treat people right or they leave on a MOMENTS NOTICE.

Common sense item #6 You have to teach your people how to do it right. WEIRD. But I can tell you that TEACHING is the number one way to raise your retention and increase your recruiting results. Most people want to start their own business now days….start teaching them the small things you do that set your business apart and do it constantly!

Common sense item #7 Your employees will never care as much as you do. They don’t own the business though so why would they?? The babysitter doesnt care about your kids like you do. Stop expecting them to be 100% of you and realize about the best you can do is 80% of you, but 50% is the starting point. With that mindset you’ll be a stronger leader

Common sense item #8 it’s all your fault
You made the hiring decision. You made the schedule. When someone screws up, YOU caused because youre the leader and its your company. Doesn’t matter, still your fault. You’ve got to hold the employee accountable to their actions YES, because it’s a team game, but no matter what it’s your fault. It’s not scary though, it’s empowering! It means you can fix anything, improve everything, and be in control of your results, not helplessly floating along hoping to win. The guys forgot to bring any blowers? What kind of failsafe did you have in place to remind them of the equipment they needed to grab?everything is your fault.

Common sense item #9 You don’t have a business if you don’t have customers
I know that there’s some crazies out there. I know that some people are dramatic and others are needy, but the entire reason a business exists is FOR PEOPLE. Entrepreneurship has gotten cool so there’s a bunch of ulterior motives that people have…escape the 9-5, don’t work to make the ceo rich, build something for your family…all true and all good! But the real reason you started a business is to solve peoples problems well enough that they become your customer in turn paying you money for youre services. Remember that when you have the needy one that needs to move the party for the 3rd time. It’s not her fault, it’s yours. You started a business, this is your life now!

Common sense item #10 Give a kick back to the people that put you on early.
Jack Daniels whiskey is only as popular as it is because it’s all Frank Sinatra drank. However, JD never paid him a cent. Weird move if you ask me! You my friend have far less famous people that put you on in the beginning (mom, neighbor, buddy from the gym) but don’t forget about them! I see so many entrepreneurs crying online that their family doesnt respect them because they asked for a discount. Go cry elsewhere please. You started something from nothing, and made it successful and thats impressive, but that HOOK UP they want is coming from their pride, not their disrespect. “They know a guy” is what they brag to their friends, and YOU are “their guy”! Take pride in that! Give them a discount or don’t, your call, but you should take care of the ones that help you build.

Common sense item #11 Learning is the Gateway to success
The more you embrace this, the more you will win. Find a way to get as much knowledge into your life as humanly possible and you’ll be setting yourself up for FAR more success. Books, groups, Booz + Biz shows…get more info! I put this show on my podcast, on my YouTube channel…and guess what there’s a million other podcasts out there that will help you. Stop listening to murder podcasts and instead get positivity, and knowledge into your ears so you can improve.That said please hit the subscribe button right now! I’m going to stall for you and take a sip of my beer while you subscribe…thanks!

Common sense item #12 you are what you eat – You’re body is not replaceable, trash turns you into trash, and entrepreneurship is hard enough. Some beers,,,yes bad for body but GOOD for mind so its a trade off. McDonlands, not good for anything. Sugar, not good for anything. Push ups, great for you, sitting on the couch on Netflix AGAIN not good for you. Take care of yourself

Common sense item #13 dress to impress
If you’re a bounce house operator, you probably wear running shorts, crocs, and a dri fit shirt with your logo on it. That is appropriate attire for what we do. But even in our somewhat goofy uniform, there is a ton of awesomeness. If everyone has the matching shirts on, you INSTANTLY look put together. When I’m doing in person consultations at $3m homes for my Xmas light biz, it’s hot AF outside still. I’m in regular shorts, some nice sneakers, and my Lets Get Lit shirt, with a forward facing lets get lit snapback on, a tape measure on my belt, and a notebook in my hand. I also make sure my truck is clean. I don’t dress that nice doing waterslides, because we get wet, dirty, and sweaty on each stop. That is backwards a lot so give my neck some shade, but it’s still a Jump Off hat. How you look MATTERS

Common sense item #14 Advertising works!
To pay $600 a month for Google ads sounds scary and expensive. but that $600 will make you $3600, so you come out +$3000 top line revenue. You know what people spend on Super Bowl ads, and you know it keeps getting more expensive and they keep buying. Proof that ads are worth the money!

Common sense item #15 Social media is what every pays attention
If you aren’t on it, you’re losing ground to those who are. Also its free, so what in the world are you doing NOT being on it?? Organic is harder to get business from for a local company, paid is a beast! Don’t outsource it to you neice, YOU need to know the platforms and the types of content that matter as a business owner. Social media will become your life to some degree, and it should because thats what everyone is paying attention to! The more you post the more you make.

Common sense item #16 For your marketing to work, they need to read it
Why in the hell the bounce house industry has the most busy logos and marketing im not sure, but you DO NOT need a bounce house on the sign that goes next to a bounce house! Just a logo and a URL or even better a giant QR code with a small logo in the middle. Less is more! The bounce house that’s next to the sign does the hard work for you! Of if you were to put the signs on the road, OPPOSITE. It needs to be a big bounce house, and a phone number. No logo, no name, no words, no kids jumping, no palm trees no sunsets…Make your marketing easy for for a human to read so they can give you business! Small side note, some of the bounce houses in your logos are extremely falic…the look like dicks. 😬

Common sense item #17 Take care of the money
The other main reason you start a business, besides for customers, is for money. No one wants to work as hard as we do for no monetary gain. Get a set of softwares to keep track of the money. Inflatable office, square, quickbooks, and an accountant when you’ve scaled a little. Know your numbers: top line revenue, marketing $ (7500 or 9%), payroll percent (46%), bottom line profit (-11%).

Common sense item #18 Don’t Pay Cash – Fininace everything because paying cash wastes capital that you need to grow your business. I sunk a fat amount of cash into building a pool in 2021…3 months later the largest and most established business near me came up for sale but I had no cash!!! Lesson learned the hard way. Now that that business name has been sold and is a MASSIVE competitor near me, I get to sit at my pool , crying into my mojito ripe with regret. Don’t buy a truck cash. Don’t pre pay your landlord for a year. Finance everything but inventory purchases.

Common sense item #19 Use only credit cards – 2% cash back capital one card buys you trips to Mexico. If you sign up use my link, it pays me and you are signing up anyways! use that link, get yourself a trip to Mexico for free.

https://capital.one/3AYDgbr

Common sense item #20 pay off your credit cards before that Interest hits you! Wasting money isn’t great, interest is just that UNLESS you have a chance to expand fast and do it on credit, that interest needs to make sense….but never have any interest hanging out there!

Common sense item #21 Coffee is a gift from nature, drink a shit ton of it and drink it black the way it was supposed to be enjoyed.

Common sense item #22 Coffee is overpriced stop buying $7 lattes and buy a kuerig so you can save money to scale your business. Please don’t buy the pods though they are awful for our environment, and still costly, Buiy a refillable cup and ground coffee.

Common sense item #23 things are going to change
You have to adjust and pivot as the business landscape evolves. There was a time when naming your company AAA Auto was smart because it put you first in the yellow pages. SEO used to be putting whet words on a white background over and over and over…unitl google updated and killed that move. A website used to make you look fancy, not its the bare minimum to do business! if you don’t have a website, YOU NEED ONE NOW! PLEASE do me a favor and just send me a PM “I don’t have a website” and I’m going to set up a group call so I can teach you how to get a website. Look at the NOW for what will be the future.

Common sense item #24 Goals have to be Obtainable
We all want to be a millionaire. If that is your goal in the 1st quarter this year, you’re delusional. Think out your goals, and then focus on HOW TO ACHEIVE THEM. I’m not a big goal setter because they don’t;’t do anything for me emotionally. The actions is where my obsession is. JUST GO.

Common sense item #25 Electricity is scary and can kill you. Respect it and do it right. Don’t know how to do it right, go to YouTube U and learn! Quick hitters…electric items and water are not wise to use together, winches, pumps, rolling machines etc. No cords longer than 100ft. Never multiple cords. Never multiple blowers on one outlet. Plugs that aren’t tight will melt cords, especially in the hot summer sun.

Common sense item #26 Read the Instructions – Theres a right way to do things and a wrong way to do things. The instructions will tell you what to do.

Common sense item #27 Use the right tool for the job.
A wrench is not a hammer. Channel locks are not a wrench. An Altima is not a Silverado, however you gotta do what you gotta do in the beginning. Dolly, hammer, correct anchors.

Common sense item #28 Buy once cry once – good equipment will stand the test of time and make you more effecint. Time is money, and a Rollsall will not only save you time, it will keep you fresher not lugging slides through the grass so you can work ON the business more, and have energy to workout too. A 16 ft trailer is expensive, and you only have 2 bounce houses, but it future proofs you and you buy ONE trailer, instead of 4 like I did…Spend the money on the good stuff!

Common sense item #29 Equipment is expensive, take care of it!
The more you do to take care of it, the longer it lasts and the more work it can do. Abuse it, you have to repair or replace it and you have less money for growth!

There we go! Dude its common sense!. That is 29 common sense business items to help you live a fuller entrepreneur life!…Dude its common sense!

Says here on my notes, that “nick takes a big drink of his beer”

#1 Answer the phone.
#2 Trust your gut
#3 Ideas don’t pay the bills, execution does.
#4 Good help is hard to find
#5 Treat your employees like the family that they are.
#6 You have to teach your people how to do it right.
#7 Your employees will never care as much as you do.
#8 it’s all your fault
#9 You don’t have a business if you don’t have customers
#10 Kick back to the people that put you on.
#11 Learning is the Gateway to success
#12 You are what you eat
#13 dress to impress
#14 Advertising works!3
#15 Social media is what every pays attention
#16 For your marketing to work, they need to read it
#17 Take care of the money
#18 Don’t Pay Cash
#19 Use only credit cards –
#20 pay off your credit cards before that Interest hits you!Common
#21 Coffee is a gift from nature, drink a shit ton of it and drink it black the way it was supposed to be enjoyed.
#22 Coffee is overpriced stop buying $7 lattes
#23 things are going to change
#24 Goals have to be Obtainable
#25 Electricity is scary and can kill you.
#26 Read the Instructions
#27 Use the right tool for the job.
#28 Buy once cry once
#29 Equipment is expensive, take care of it!

How to Invest in Your Own Business

I think you’ll agree with me that turning that passion and drive you have for your new business into revenue and clients is NOT EASY.

So here’s a quick outline of how to invest in your own business to get it making money fast.

At first, the investment that you’re going to make comes as your time.

You build everything yourself… From the logo, to the ads, to the marketing, the procedures, the website, the Facebook page…on and on.

And you should! You need to know how to do everything. You need to be an expert at every topic so you can grow the business.

You have to launch things, then measure the results, and tweak your process to improve the products.

Kind of a side note here; I highly recommend that you document this whole process with as many pictures and videos, as you possibly can, and post them to your stories. 

Trust me, in a year you are going to need to see where you were at at this time last year.

It’s fun, yes, but more so it’s extremely motivating to see how much you’ve grown as a business and as an entrepreneur. You will always feel like you have so much more to do, that you end up forgetting how far you’ve come 

When you have last year‘s results or progress documented to see on Timehop or on those little Facebook messages that say, “Your stories from a year ago.“ it’s a major inspiration to keep going and keep building.

OK, so after you invest all this time, a cool thing starts to happen… The business starts to work!  You have success, you have clients, and low and behold you’re finally making money!

At this point, all that time you’ve been investing in the business becomes a much more valuable resource…all the sudden you can’t get everything done!

So from here you have to figure out how to multiply yourself so you can be more efficient. The best way to do that is to introduce technology into your business.

Now when I say technology, I just mean an app or a service that can help you do the things you’ve been doing manually.

Example: you don’t need to manually book all the clients on a paper calendar after texting with them (please stop doing this NOW).

Your clients probably don’t like they have to text you anyway! It’s time consuming. They just want to book with you!

So you should go and get one of the million different services that are out there that can do those bookings for you.

It will free up so much time you’ll be shocked, and you can stop working as your own employee and work on being the CEO , launching new cool things and testing ideas.

I use InflatableOffice for my bounce house rental business, The Jump Off.
I use Jobber for my christmas light install business, Lets Get Lit.
I use Shopify for my online straps store.
I use Event Hawk for lead generation and CRM for all my businesses.

With the extra time you have, you can make better ads.
You can experiment with new processes.
You can grow revenue instead of being the worker bee!

As you become less busy and more focused, the business will grow even more, and all the sudden you’re actually back to where you were before…out of time because you’re so busy with clients! 

It can be stressful, but never forget that it’s the best problem in the world to have!

Now what you need to solve the problem, is PEOPLE.

In this article is not going to cover all the ins-and-outs of hiring, but I am going to give you some great tips here.

The first position that you should hire for is a job that’s non-customer facing. It’s the easiest thing in your business to do.

You can hire someone, train them on the procedure, and be mostly done with it. Yes, you have to check their work, but you don’t have to be worried about if your customers are being taken care of properly.

Just like when you got the technology integrated, this will free up so much time for you, and it keeps you interacting with the clients. That’s important because you’re still the engine that drives the business!

The non-customer facing tasks are also usually the lowest paid tasks so it’s easier to fit it on the budget.

The other thing you can do, is train a person to run your technology! They have to be smart and highly trustworthy, but they just get to stay at home and play on the computer all day!

I’ve now hired an admin that works from home, her name is Kassie, and she’s been AMAZING in getting me off the computer and back working on the vision of the business and on new tasks.

As of now I am working on a large project to teach my techniques for recruiting, interviewing, hiring, training, and team building . It’s something I’m super passionate about so stay tuned for details on that project. Hopefully it’s coming out in summer or fall 2023!

And there you have it, the path to growing your business!

Please hit me on Twitter with your questions @nick_o_glass and as always thanks for reading ✊🏼

3 Step Action Plan for Business Growth in 2023

You had a great 2022, now you’re ready to really have HUGE business growth in 2023!

I get a ton of questions this time of year, as business owners close out the books on their year and look forward to how to double or even TRIPLE revenue from last year.

YES, I have the answers on how you can set you your 3 step action plan for business growth in 2023, and I’ll outline all those shortly, but the first thing you have to ask yourself is…

Do You Really Want Huge Business Growth in 2023?

Of course you WANT to double your revenue. I WANT to do $2 Billion in revenue!

The question that I’m really asking isn’t, “Do you want the money?”

The question is, “Do you want THE WORK?”
Do you want the stress?
Do you want the hiring?
Do you want the firing?

The true question is, “Do you want the problems that come with doubling your revenue from 2022?”

That’s what entrepreneurship is after all…problems coming at you.

More scale, more problems, coming faster, and they’re larger problems!

If you love sound of that, HELL YES, I do as well. Let’s scale to the moon!

If you don’t, I suggest you actually still follow the 3 steps below so as to make your life easier, but knowing the answer to what you truly want from your business is the answer to SCAEL, not money.

The 3 Step Action Plan for Huge Business Growth in 2023

These steps are in this order for a reason, so I suggest you solve each in the order that I present them.

#1 Regardless of your size, you need to SYSTEMIZE YOUR BUSINESS

Think McDonalds…Think FRANCHISE. How can you set up all your operations so the business could be run FLAWLESSLY by your cousin, while you’re at Disney World?

How can you streamline operations?
What can you do to remove your need to make any decisions?
What can you set up to make the workers day smoother and bulletproof?

The more important you are to your business, the less success you’ll have.

#2 Regardless of your size, you need a RECRUITING PLAN

If you’re a small business, you can’t do it alone forever, and if you’re already big, you can’t get bigger without people!

Here’s some good questions to help you form your recruiting plan…

How many interviews do you do a month/week? Depending on size, it should be minimum 2 a month. You don’t need more workers now, but you will soon, that’s a guarantee!

How often are you recruiting? Pretty much everyone’s answer to this is NOT ENOUGH. Tell everyone your hiring. Make it your life mission to have everyone know you want great help!

What does your interview process look like? Where do you interview? What questions do you ask? How do you ask those questions? This article can help answer these!

What are you actually looking for in people? I’m talking about their values, and natural motivations. Watch this video below for more on that.

When you do hire someone new, what does your training process look like? More detailed the better!

People will ALWAYS AND FOREVER be the key to scaling a business, period.

#3 Regardless of your size, you need a MARKETING PLAN

You can’t give your new workers hours if you don’t have clients. You can’t use your fancy new systems if you don’t have clients. Honestly, you can’t do anything without clients! Business objective #1 will always be GET CLIENTS!

4 types of marketing to focus your efforts on…

1. FREE – This is organic social media posts (99% Facebook Page). Look like a human, not a desperate business. Think REALITY SHOW vs ADVERTISER.
2. PAID – This is google ads and Facebook ads mainly. TikTok, LinkedIn, Snap… sure, but FB runs the world I promise. Teach yourself with this Youtube video.
3. SEO – This is the most important, and also the slowest. Get your SEO “perfect” today, you’ll be SUPER glad (and SUPER busy) in 8 months.
4. GUERRILLA – My favorite! Hit the streets with flyers, yard signs, magnets and beer koozies for clients!

I outline a lot of my marketing techniques in this video below

I have a partnership with an amazing marketing company called Event Hawk where you can get some amazing deals, and they KILL IT on the google ads!

GET NICK’S EXCLUSIVE EVENT HAWK PRICING

I started with Event Hawk in April, and by the end of the year I was up 140% in revenue by the end of the year! So, give them a shot and at least schedule a call with them to discuss it.

I’m going to close this article out like this…

Hopefully I pushed you to JUST GO and plan your work! Go execute your personal action plan for business growth in 2023

Plan your moves. Make moves on your plans.

No one gets wild successful by accident. Sure, we all had some “luck”, but the moves are calculated and ON TIME.

Right now its YOUR TIME. Go get it and be aggressive about it!

Get more content from Nick
🎙JUST GO Podcast
📸 Instagram
📺 YouTube Channel
🎥 TikTok
👨🏻‍🏫 Bounce House Business Mentors Facebook Group

Lets Get Lit Logo Christmas Lights Xmas

The Best Way to Ask For Google Reviews (My Core Value #1)

Below is an email that I sent to all of our clients at my Christmas Light business, Let’s Get Lit (letsgetlitxmas.com).

I wanted to share it here for a few reasons…
-First of all I’m proud and I want to share our successes
-Second, I wanted to show any entrepreneurs or managers out there a GREAT way to ask for some google reviews.

It’s fine if you just ASK, I mean it’s your business do whatever the hell you want to do, but I feel strongly compelled to tell a story and add value in most everything I do.

Put it this way…I’d rather say thanks, and tell a story, and bury the link for google reviews at the bottom, then shamelessly ask and get potentially more reviews.

The “transaction” is second to the investment and gratitude. I may get LESS results from that today, but in the long run it will cause MORE winning and larger victories.

It’s karma baby 🙂

❤️🆖

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Whats up Lets Get Lit Fam!!

What a year we had in 2021…Yes, the sheer VOLUME of homes and businesses we lit absolutely blew me away (111 Jobs), but the thing that was absolutely amazing was the reactions and love we got from not only YOU, but your neighbors and friends/fam too!

The other day I was checking our 7 year old, Boston, out of school to get his flu shot, and I ran into of my oldest clients and supporters, Jess. We started talking a bit, and then from behind me I heard another voice, “Oh my god you own Lets Get Lit?”

I smiled and said, “Yes I do…”

Before I could even finish what I was going to say, she said, “Wow ya’ll are so amazing! We saw one of your signs in Tchefuncte Country Club Estats and the house was beautifully done! My husband thinks ya’ll are so bad-ass, we’re getting you to light out house next year once the repairs are done!”

The feeling of pride and gratitude that I get when I hear things like that can’t be properly expressed with words.

I mean, this silly Xmas light idea of my next door neighbor Lori, that I named something totally weird, and themed with the color black, is not only successful, but it touches so many lives!

LGL Core Value #1: Aim to positively impact lives

It’s number one for a reason, and that’s because it TRULY is our aim, and I’m so damn proud to say that we are living true to it, and bringing some light to the world!

If you have a second, below is the link to leave us a google review, and it would mean the absolute world to me and the team if you could spread the good (or bad I guess) work about our little lighting company 🙂
https://g.page/r/CUTiQizLPPfQEAg/review

Thank you all so much!!

❤️🆖

PS: If you want to check out my other projects…
My YouTube Channel 
My personal Blog
The Jump Off (my waterslide and bounce house biz)
The Haul Off (my Junk Hauling biz)
-My podcast (AppleSpotify)

Entrepreneur Inspiration

Entrepreneur Inspiration

24 hours x 7 days = 168
8 hours sleep x 7 days = 56
168 – 56 = 112 hours
112 hours – 40 working = 72 hours
72 – 10 for commute/shower = 62

So that means you have 62 hours a week to work on building something amazing. You decide what you do with those 62 hours.

Before I quit my corporate job, every single one of those hours had to have PURPOSE or else I was never going to make it.

I started sleeping less so gain time to workout, read, and journal.

I stopped playing video games, stopped drinking, quit TV, and all I did was work on my blog cause I knew that either it would be my way out or that the knowledge I gained would get me out.

And I was right.

I missed a large chunk of Boston’s life, Journeys almost fired me, I lost touch with every friend I had, I went to parties and snuck off to build my blog on my phone in the other room…

but look at what I have now.

I’d do it 4 times longer than I did to get here.

And that’s just to get it started! Once it’s built it takes even more effort to scale.

But that’s ME. You have to find your path and “balance”.

There was one time when a dear friend told me that I was lucky cause of how big The Jump Off was getting.

We were on the phone, and I remember EXACTLY where I was when she said it.

I just smiled cause I knew what she meant, but in my head I was like…LUCKY?? Lol no, no.

That was the moment when I decided I had to figure out how to document my work ethic actually.

I look like an overnight success but I did more than anyone will ever know.

Don’t try to be me. Be you!

But just know this entrepreneur thing is closer to the story I just told and not what you see on Instagram.

If you don’t love it, you can’t make it. It’s too fucking hard.

But if you find enjoyment in the difficulty then you WILL make it.

♥️🆖

Being a Bounce House Entrepreneur (What its REALLY Like)

New YT video up!!

It’s about a 6 minute excerpt from the end of my last 60min video. I talk about some real shit.

Being an entrepreneur is MANY things good and bad, but if you really want to make you you’ve got to have the motivations for it meaning…

-Shit that 99% of people see as BAD, you see as good
-Losing is better than winning
-Winning never satisfys your drive to win
-Money is just a scoreboard not a inspiration
-There are no reinforcements. You rely on yourself
-The thought of a 401k is disgusting
-You’re all in. All in on YOURSELF
-Failure isn’t an option, but temporarily losing small to win big later is bad ass
-You not only can’t blame others, you are the scapegoat
-No one will ever care about it like you do
-All eyes are on you, and everyone has an opinion about you
-Pressure baby, you gotta love it!

Thanks to all the peeps that watch, LIKE, and subscribe.

We’ve got one more video in the pipeline now, and many more to come!

❤️🆖

That Time I Hit the Bounce House Lottery

A LONG time ago I said that I “wanted to change the world”.

I firmly believe that you don’t ACTUALLY change the whole world, but rather impact one person, thus changing THEIR world, and when you do that, you have succeeded…Then that person you impacted goes and spreads it, and you’ll never know what came of it, meanwhile you keep working to change another person’s world.

It’s a process that repeats in perpetuity and there is no finish line!

In a million years I never thought that the vehicle for me to execute on my ambition to change the world would be a Waterslide and Bounce House rental company! But…

When You Hit The Bounce House Lottery

What the hell is the Bounce House lottery? 

Well, in this case it happened to be a 14ft enclosed trailer with 9 bounce houses in it, and we bought it for a mere $2000.

pastedGraphic.png

To put that in perspective, the newest slide that we just bought on July 12th 2020 was $2300 used, and a good deal at that!

So how did I score that trailer? It’s a story of hustle and people.

It was early in the week of Thanksgiving, and I had quit my job back in September.

I was driving Uber and selling old stuff on eBay and FB Marketplace to make money. I had got some old bikes from my buddy Kip to sell, and the guy that came to buy them a few days later noticed the bounce houses in the garage. Turned out he had his own business too!

We had 3 at the time…he had 28!

We chatted for a bit and then he said, “You’re a cool guy…”

I knew he was about to tell me where he buys his slides at! I took out my little journal I keep in my back pocket and he said…”Tony and Red Stick Entertainment. He sells them in bulk…”

After he left with the bikes I called Tony. No luck the receptionist wouldn’t put me through. I tried 2 more times and still couldn’t get him.

I had to drive out to Prairieville the next day to bid a job for the first business I’d ever started, Christmas Light Installation! (It’s called Lets Get Lit and I kill it on hanging lights, FYI).

pastedGraphic_1.png  

                                 Logo prob looks familiar 😉

Tony’s shop was in Prairieville too…odd coincidence. After I bid the xmas light job, we drove over to his shop (It’s a freaking warehouse actually!) and knocked on the door cold. My mom was with me b/c she was looking to invest in The Jump Off!

The receptionist was NOT happy to see me, but I talked her into getting Tony for us. 

He walks through the doors a few minutes later and is NICE AS CAN BE. He leads us back through warehouse 1, full of inflatables and forklifts and games….our heads exploded, then out back to a big shipping container. He said we can have all 25 in there for $5000.

Uhhh…yeah, a bit much for us to handle.

So he said “Ok I also have that trailer back there, it has 7 inflatables in it, and you can have them for $1800. If you want the trailer too, $2000. I just want it gone.”

HOLY SMOKES!

He only wanted cash, so we went back the next day with $2000 and bought the trailer and towed it home having no clue what was in it!

We started pulling stuff out and blowing them up when we got back home, and it was so fun! 

One blows up and we yell “It’s a bear one!” or “Oh, it’s a finding Nemo water slide!”

We unfortunately couldn’t keep the trailer because we have a HOA where it’s not allowed. It was a little beat up, so I posted it for $1600 and it was gone, sold to an awesome guy named Joe, in a day.

Then we rented one unit from the trailer (after scrubbing it to death) to two different clients over Thanksgiving weekend for $200 each time…

$1600 + $200 + $200 = $2000

We were even on our investment in 5 days!

That’s how the Jump Off got to scale, and THAT my friends, is called Hitting the Bounce House Lottery!

Lesson here: Hustle is super important, but if you slow down just a tad to CONNECT with people, amazing opportunity WILL come your way!

Much love,

Nick Glassett
Owner
The Jump Off

985.212.8510

How You Can Achieve Small Business Glory Without Taking Too Much Risk

It’s oft-said that one is likely to get rich by going into business, as opposed to working for somebody else. While this does make sense in more ways than one, the fact remains that not everyone has the luxury of taking such a leap of faith. After all, becoming an entrepreneur does come with risks—most of it, the financial sort—so it can be hard for the average person to fully commit to it from the get-go. 

However, it’s actually not all black and white. You can, in fact, go into business for yourself without putting your finances at risk. The key is in going into it slowly but surely, rather than taking one big, splashy plunge. Here’s how.

Start small.

Contrary to what many people might believe, you can definitely start a small business without having to give up your day job just yet. Some business experts even recommend it, and it is, in fact, now more important than ever to get into entrepreneurship. This is because rapid developments in technology are making it so much easier to pull off these days.

Of course, taking this essentially “hybrid path” to entrepreneurship while still earning a livelihood does come at a price, too. For one thing, you will lose much of your free time. For another, it can be hard to juggle different responsibilities when your work and business don’t align. And yet if they do, you might inadvertently find your intellectual property at risk, too. 

But despite the challenges, it’s still worth starting your business small in this way. This way, you maintain your peace of mind and security. In some cases, you might even be able to keep your job and other resources—though it’s still best to keep it on the up and up, of course.

Get the best help. 

Now, as you start your small business, you will, of course, want to give your focus to the business aspects that you know and are good at, such as the actual profit-making operations. However, there are many factors and responsibilities you’ll need to account for when starting a small business. Beyond offering your product and service, you also need to think about all the other things that are just as essential in running the business (e.g., marketing, accounting, customer service), which can be a bit much to one who is new to entrepreneurship.

In order to avoid being overwhelmed, therefore, it’s more than wise to let go of the mindset that you need to do it all yourself. In fact, delegating some business functions will not only do wonders for your operations and eventual growth, but it could even save you money in the long run (despite the initial cost). 

Thankfully, it’s easy enough to find people to help you these days—and without even having to take on the cost and responsibility of hiring someone full time to boot! Case in point, as your business grows, you may need a bookkeeper to ensure that your financial records are in order, as well as help you maintain your business’s financial viability. Look to online job boards like Upwork where you can hire virtual bookkeepers who have the expertise, experience, and credentials to do the job and do it well.

Ultimately, while it does take guts to go into business for yourself, there is really no reason to be reckless about it. Rather, you can choose to err on the side of caution and still find glory on the other side. In this day and age of massive opportunity coupled with a great deal of uncertainty, it may even be the smarter way to go into business. So go ahead and do what feels most comfortable for you. The important thing is simply to take that first step.

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