Water Water Everywhere.... How Does it Affect Your Moonwalk Business ?

Being in business in the Midwest right now kind of sucks. We're knee in water almost everywhere. Of course, in the whole scheme of things, losing a few rentals isn't much compared to what others are losing, but we still have bills to pay and employees to support so all this rain can really hurt.

What can you do to protect yourself? A lot depends on how you handle your written contract. A few years ago we returned deposits if an event rained out. We were building our business and wanted the good will, but after losing a fortune due to rain one year we changed that policy. Now... we require 50% down BUT if the event cancels due to weather they have a full year to reschedule and use their deposit.

The basic fact is that if you don't take deposits or return them due to weather issues you'll find it hard to stay in business, and most businesses understand this.

Now, even though our contract states no refunds, in some cases we'll refund small deposits for backyard parties. $75.00 here and there isn't much when you realize the good will you can make, but this is a personal preference.

Just remember, people know you have a business to operate and deposits are taken for a reason. You are under no obligation to return them as long as you've made your policies clear to the customer up front.

If a customers really want to fight this, offer them a rain waiver. For 3-5% of the total cost of the event, they can purchase the ability to get a full refund in case of weather. This can be a win win for everyone. The customer will be more comfortable and in many cases you can make an extra 3-5% for all your events.

Tomorrow we'll talk about the effect of the weather on your moonbounces & interactive inflatable games in the party rental business.

Here's Your Chance to check out All Three of My 3-Books for FREE

Hi Cheryl,

I'm doing something this week I've never done before but I guess I won't know how it works out unless I try it.

I've been helping get people started in the rental business for years with my E-book "Start, Operate and Expand a Successful Party Rental Biz".

This past year I've written 2 more E-books; "Party Rental Pitfalls," Growing Your Business without Crashing & Burning" and "Marketing Your Party Rental Business on a Budget".

I seem to sell about 50/50 between my newsletter subscribers and people doing searches online and the #1 question I always get asked is "Which Book Do I Need?"

Here's the Answer:

If you're just starting out: "Start a Party Rental Biz"

6 Months and up and any company that's still in the growing phase: "Party Rental Pitfalls"

(if you're a huge company that's been around for years, you don't need it.)

EVERYONE in the Business can use "Marketing Your Party Rental Business on a Budget".

The marketing book covers everything you would ever need to market on a budget, and most of the marketing methods are free. You've seen some samples the past few weeks.

I'm starting to market these books a little differently and I need testimonials for my website so I'm going to give you a FANTASTIC Opportunity.

Each book is $49.00 and comes with numerous bonuses. And I offer a package too- Buy 2 books & get the 3rd Free with ALL the bonus products.

Since I want testimonials I'm going to let you have my books this week for FREE. Check them out, look at all the bonuses and read! read! read!

If you think there's nothing in the books that can help your business, just let me know before the 7th day and NOTHING will be charged to your account.

If I don't here from you, you'll be charged for your purchase in 7 days.

But you have a full guarantee anyway...Use all the books for 60 days. If you decide at ANYTIME in that 60 days that there's nothing in the books to help you improve your company business...send me an email and I'll be glad to refund your money in full.

I have a special page set up for you to choose any book, or the whole package. It won't be up long so get your downloads fast. And then...if you like what you read, please send me a testimonial.

Click Here to Get YOUR FREE TRIAL of ALL My Ebooks

Have a GREAT Day!

Cheryl

ps...if you already have one of my books and want the "Buy 2 Get One Free" special just email me and I'll make arrangements for you to get the other two books for just $49.00

PartyZone Entertainment

Start a Party Rental Biz

Grow Your Party Rental Biz

Market Your Rental Biz on a Budget

Use Craigs List to Build Your Business

Would you like your business to grow? But you hate spending a fortune on advertising? Why not try the bum marketing method.

Craig's List is a great way to start. With a little practice it can be fairly easy...but the best part is that advertising on Craig's list is FREE.

To learn all about advertising on Craigs List click here: Craigs List Revealed.

The techniques you'll learn in this e-book are for all types of business models. So...you can use it for your party rentals but you can use it in a lot of other ways too.

You can learn other ways of growing your rental business at: Partyzone Sales Book Store

Why I stopped writing a rental business newsletter

Hi Everyone,

Greg and I just returned home from the IAAPA show. The show was basically the end of a year long plan to make some big changes in our lives.

About this time last year we took a long hard look at where things were going and neither of us was real happy with what we were doing. I'm not going to get into all the details yet but to make a long story short, we had 3 divisions of PartyZone Entertainment and we expanded all of them too fast. WAY too fast! Actually, any one expansion might have put some extra stress on us....but all three was just way too much to manage. Unfortuately rapid growth doesn't always make you money...if you do it wrong, the bigger you get....the more money you can lose.

So, last November, we re-evaluated the business and our priorities. Then we put a plan in place to get the things back in our lives that we looked forward to when we got married.

The margins are so low on sales that I put new sales completely on the back burner. And we stopped game manufacturing completely. Then we spent the year cutting expenses and making changes to turn things around for the rental company. It took us about 10 months to get things back on track which really is amazing but we had a lot of guidance from other friends who had gone though the same thing. Are we out of debt yet? Nope! But we're on our way and our primary goal is to get completely out of debt this next year.

The final part of our life priorities was to spend more time traveling together. Once we got the rental company turned around we started putting it into a package to offer for sale. We actually closed on a partnership right before the show. Our new partners have already taken over the running of the company. We'll still be involved for a couple of years but eventually they'll be buying us out completely. The last few days in Florida have been a blast. We spent a lot of time introducing one of our partners to our friends and seeing IAAPA through his eyes was a blast!

Remember your first time at IAAPA? Everyone does...and if you haven't visited a show yet, I highly recommend it. I don't believe there is any other industry where business owners share the good and the bad as much as they do in this type of business. Chris probably learned more about the event business in 4 days than he could have on his own in months.

This was only the 3rd time in 16 years that we haven't had a booth....the show is SO much more fun when you're not really working :).

One of the things that was so flattering to me was all the people who asked why they haven't gotten a newsletter. WOW! I didn't realize anyone would really notice. You know, it's hard to write an upbeat newsletter when you're stressed about money. It's also hard to admit that you make mistakes. But, if you're ever in the position of wondering "where the money went this year" please know you're not alone. When I started opening up and telling people what we were going through I was swamped with people telling me they've experienced the same thing at one point or other in the growth of their business.

Watch for my next newsletter. I'm in the process of putting together a package that tells a lot more of what we did to turn things around...AND the things I should have done to avoid getting in the spot in the first place. Hopefully it can help others avoid the same pitfalls.

In the meantime....about the show! Thankfully it's finally back in Orlando again! The weather was wonderful, the hotels were great and it's SO much easier to get around in Orlando. It was a decent sized show although I didn't see a lot of new and unique items. Inflatables keep getting cheaper and cheaper each year though. In fact, we bought an obstacle course with a rockclimb slide for less than we were selling the obstacle course two years ago. There were a lot of stock sales with some great prices. I truly believe that if you're going to buy at the show, stock is the way to go. The plan to buy and get your stuff shipped in March hasn't worked well for a lot of us. It just never shows up on time. The majority of companies showing this year had stock available to ship.

Here are some items left over from the show that still have fantastic pricing. There are still a couple of each left but once they're gone, pricing goes right back up to the regular price.

Save an EXTRA $50.00 on this unit if you purchase today!

Save an EXTRA $50.00 on this unit if you purchase today!

Save an EXTRA $100.00 on this unit if you purchase today!

The above unit prices are based on cash discount pricing and do not include blowers or freight. If you'd like to purchase using credit card via paypal , just let me know what you want via email and I'll send you over an invoice. I'll need your shipping address with a phone number.

All three of the above items are great rental pieces. I really don't think you can have enough water slides...even in a shorter season like we have in the midwest. Some insurance companies don't allow pools so make that call before you make your purchase. I talked to a friend that has over 30 slides at the show and he still needs more. That ought to tell you how popular they are.

OK....That's it for now! I have 10 days of work to catch up. Have a great day...and don't forget to watch for Part 2 of this newsletter.

Cheryl

Partyzone Entertainment

www.partyzone-sales.com