Is it okay to enjoy your side hustle? ABSOLUTELY!!! I’m a firm believer that whatever you do…job, side hustle, hobby, etc. ought to be something you enjoy!
If you’ve read our About Page, then you know I am a student pastor, and have
been for the past 18 years. Throughout the years I have organized and manned numerous events, from community outreach activities to student overnighters, from weekend retreats to New Year’s Eve parties. As a result, I have rented more than my fair share of inflatable obstacles courses and bungee runs.
And though I am almost 40 (and proud of it) I’m still a kid at heart. I enjoy jumping in with the students and running the obstacle courses and going toe-to-toe in the pedestal joust. I’ve put on the sumo suits and flipped upside down on the velcro wall.
WHAT WE DID
So it was a natural fit when last year we decided to start a new side hustle and get into the bounce house rental business. I figured that since I know my way around these units after so much experience, why not have a unit of my own? Additionally, we live in a small town, and there are not alot of options here for kids; so it seems like this would be a good blessing for our community as well. And to me, that is a side hustle home run!!!
After doing my research (because I’m a wise nerd) I discovered that I could get a commercial unit with two art panels and all necessary equipment for around $1300. Of course I wanted to know what my break-even point would be. (*This is muy importante for any side hustle!) How many times would I need to rent it out in order to get my money back AND make a profit?
That depended upon my price. I looked around at what others were renting out their units for and decided that I wanted to offer mine at a cheaper price. Again, one of the awesome aspects of a solid side hustle is being a blessing to others. [Not everything is about money!!!]
HOW WE DID IT
I set my price at $25/hr with a three hour minimum, plus the optional delivery/set-up/tear-down/& cleaning for an additional $20. We would need to deliver our unit to fourteen “minimum-hour rental” parties to break even, not including travel and advertising.
$25/hr x 3hr minimum = $75 (+$20 optional services) = $95/rental
$95/rental x 14 rentals = $1,330
I can tell you that we spent ALL last year reaching the break even point! We created a FREE Facebook page to advertise on, as well as listed the unit for rent on Craigslist (also free). And in just about one year we broke even.
You might be thinking,
“This doesn’t sound like a good side hustle at all!
It took a whole year to break even!?!?”
And though you would have a point, you have to consider year two…and beyond! If all we do in year two is replicate the business from year one, then we will make $1,330 again, but this time its all profit! Considering that it only takes about an hour to do the delivery/set-up/tear-down/& cleaning, that means I’ll be making $95/hr this next year with our bounce house business!!!
Would you want to work for an hour this Saturday and make $95?
This also gives me ALL the rest of my time to work on my other side hustles. To simply pause for an hour to make a hundred bucks…that’s a good day!
To make this even more fun, as we start year two, we already have our name out in the community (and our local gym has a stack of our business cards sitting on their check-in counter.) My hope, though there is no guarantee, is that we’ll do 50% more business this next year, bringing in right around $2,000 PROFIT for the year.
Again, could you use an extra $2,000 this year?
THE RESIDUAL BENEFIT
Of course the goal was to make an extra dollar, but there was one other benefit that we received. WE HAD A BOUNCE HOUSE!!! Every time it came back from a rental, we blew that thing up to clean it out…and we JUMPED!! (Talk about being a superhero for your kids!!)
Not only that, but we were able to set it up for our church Vacation Bible School…we took it to the community home-school play day…it was available for a fundraiser for a local special needs girl! Again, it’s not just about making money, but being a blessing to others!
Your side hustle can open doors for you
to be a blessing in a whole new way!
And if that doesn’t warm your heart, there is one last benefit to share. EVERYBODY likes the bounce house guy!!! It doesn’t matter what kind of day
or week or month you’ve been having, as soon as you pull up to the party destination you are received with cheering, smiles, excitement and celebration. (Granted, it has nothing to do with you. You’re just the pack mule who delivered the bounce house…but they sure are glad you did!)
What is the funnest part of your side hustle?
Travelling, meeting new people, offering a service, being a blessing, using your talents, having a global reach, etc…
Leave your comments below.
Also, take a few minutes to share with us your side hustle and we’ll feature it on our “Side Hustle Success Stories” Page.