A Jumping Castle Business can be Profitable

A Jumping Castle Business can be Profitable

Although a jumping castle business opportunity can no longer be started with R5000 but there are ways and means to get around it. Initial Jumping Castle Investment could be as high as R7,000. I recently saw a Gumtree classified ad where the owner wanted to hire her jumping castle for R2500 per month to another jumping castle business for them to generate an income. All she wanted was the guaranteed R2500 per month. Another alternative to buying a new jumping castle is to buy second hand, there are many jumping castles for sale on Gumtree too. Do your homework and don’t part with your hard earned money too quickly.

New Jumping Castle prices range anywhere from R7000 to R15000 each. The different inflatable types range from a standard 3x3m to the fancier 3x6m 3-in-1 jumping castle with slide and pond. We are negotiating with different manufacturers to reduce your initial investment. Will publish those revised pricing when it is available. In my opinion the 3x3m is too small and would really only suit very small kids.

The Requirements for a Jumping Castle Business

Time and Effort – This business requires time and effort unless you are able to make a larger investment to hire staff to do the leg work for you. We suggest you rather operate on your own first (include family), learn the business. Once it is established and expanding (bought more jumping castles) consider getting extra help. Time and effort is one of the main reasons why some jumping castle hire companies decide to abandon their dreams. Be prepared to lose a Saturday / Sunday morning and / or afternoon.

Reliable vehicle – A reliable vehicle is a must, beyond reliable, economical and easy to maintain. This is one expense we tend to lose sight of but it is your tool of trade. You can consider a client pick up and drop off but we find this riskier. At least if you drop the jumping castle off you know where to collect later and there would be no excuses why the return is late or worst yet, the client who hired the jumping castle is nowhere to be found and not contactable.

Cost of Running the Business

Although there are low overheads in operating a profitable jumping castle business you need to keep accurate records of income and expenditure. These figures will point out areas of the business where expenses can be reduced and profits increased. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different work process flows. We would suggest you invest in a durable ground sheet, this should be the size of your jumping castles footprint. These days clients are accustomed to being charged for delivery, work out your standard inflatable rental pricing (spy on your competition) and quote separately for delivery. When starting out keep your delivery area to a 20/25km radius, remember you are dropping off and collecting again. The further your delivery is the higher the petrol expense. Jumping castles take a beating, so expect some jumping castle maintenance. If the inflatable castle is made from quality product then repairs most probably will only happen in a year or 2. Blower motor is expensive, take extra care of it.

Marketing your Jumping Castle Business

This business is easy to setup and easy to maintain. For someone with time on their hands, willing to put in some effort, a reliable vehicle, friendly disposition and of course the jumping castle you can make this a success.

“Success occurs when opportunity meets preparation.”- Zig Ziglar

Now the preparation needed in this business is you must get the word out that you have a jumping castle for hire. No bookings = 0 cash, meaning your return on investment is going to take a long long time. To get things going could be a simple thing as telling your friends and family (much like a multi level marketing business starts) to spread the word. Today things are simpler but in days gone by you needed to place an ad in a newspaper in their classifieds section, you paid per word and it ran for a day. Today, classifieds services like Gumtree make it super easy to reach your intended client for free, visit Pretoria Online Classifieds for a more targeted visitor or create an ad on the free online classifieds.

Use all the free resources at your disposal, Junkmail, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc These social media websites spread the word like wild fire. You can become the next #tag sensation. One major thing you need to consider is setting up a website with your own domain name to promote your product / service even more. This can be challenging but my friends over at WebNail IT have a custom made a web hosting package that includes a sitebuilder free, this allows anybody to put up a website.

Jumping Castle Business Website Marketing Offer

• .co.za Domain
• 5MB webspace
• 1 x 50MB email box
• 10 x email Aliases

For R300 or for an additional R200 we will setup a front page with all your relevant information and submit it to Google.

Use the form below to submit your request.

Return on Investment (ROI)

How soon can you expect to recover you initial investment? Well it depends on many variables. I kinda like a disclaimer I see on many business opportunity websites “income projections should not be considered as guarantees”

eg.(this is thumb suck figures, do not quote me)

3x6m 3 in 1 Jumping Castle – R9000 (excluded other expenses for simplicity)

est. Full Day Rental – R300

Assuming 2 Rentals a week and 4 weeks in a month the ROI would look something like this

Income per month – R2400 (300 x 2 x 4)

You would have recovered your initial investment in the 3.75 months.

Simplest way to reduce that ROI period is to invest more time, effort and up your marketing strategy to increase your jumping castle bookings. Another way is to upsell when renting your castle, like offer party buckets, invitations, etc. In no time you will be investing in your second castle. Jump around but don’t rush.

Make your business unique, let it stand out from the rest, provide a memorable experience for kids and parents alike. Remember them the following year, Whatsapp is virtually free to make contact.

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