Keith Glasgow: 47, President, owner Jump 'N Bump Inc., St. Petersburg, 522-3592, www.Jump-N-Bump.com
By ELLEN MOSES
Published May 19, 2004
What does your business do?
We rent out inflatable bounce houses, different size slides, from 12 feet to 16 feet. And then we also have wet slides. We go to private residences, parks, festivals, churches. I go to schools. And we rent them out by the day.
How long have you been doing this?
We started last June, so it's almost a year.
Do you lease or own the bounce houses?
I own them. I started out with four last June, and I'm up to nine units now.
How much do the structures typically cost?
They run anywhere from $2,500 and $6,000 a piece, depending on what you get.
What do you do with them when they're not in use?
They're stored right in the garage. They roll up into about a 4-foot-high and probably about 3-foot-around circle. And then you have the blowers. Each one has its own blower.
How did you get interested in doing this?
We went to a couple of parties that my daughter was invited to, and one of them that we went to we found that the jump was old and dirty and it wasn't real presentable. And then we went to another one down in Sarasota, where I find out there was a police officer down there who was renting them out on the weekends. I'm a police officer, that's my main job, so I started talking to him, got some information, did some research on the Internet and decided to go into that business for myself.
How many employees do you have?
My wife and I own it. I'm president, and she's the treasurer. She takes care of the money.
What is your full-time job?
I am a community-policing sergeant. I'm in charge of a squad of officers that work the 34th Street corridor for the St. Pete Police Department. The hours vary, so I work at night, I work midnights, and I work on the weekends.
Has it been difficult to balance the two jobs?
No, it's worked out very well.
How many hours a week do you put into the business?
I would say my Saturdays and Sundays are pretty much full. Sometimes I'll start at 8 o'clock in the morning and I'll have about two hours in between delivery and pickup, and then I'll go up to 9, 10 o'clock at night. Saturdays are usually the busiest. I would say I probably do about 25 hours a week, including cleanup and any other chores or maintenance I have to do with them.
How do you handle a typical rental?
I have a big pickup truck and an 8-foot trailer. My wife does all the reservations, and then she prints out where I need to deliver, and then I load my trailer accordingly. . . . Say there's people that want it (a bounce house) at 11 in the morning. I try to have it there at least an hour before their party.
What is your setup procedure?
I have a special dolly that I use to take them from the trailer to the point where somebody wants it. Either in the front yard, backyard, on the driveway, wherever. Normally I place a tarp down on the ground. Then I unroll it, set everything up with a blower. It blows up and then I stake it down on all four sides so it doesn't move.
How long to does it take to set up?
I can normally be at a location, drop it off, have it all set up, show the customer what some of the safety rules are what they need to look for, what they need to monitor with the children, get paid and be gone in 20 to 25 minutes.
How about takedown time?
Takedown is a little bit longer, because normally I'll vacuum them out and wipe them down with a disinfectant before I take them out. If I'm in a hurry, then what I have to do is take them down and then later on in the week I come home and blow them back up and I'll clean them out then.
Who can play in these?
Anyone can use them, even you and I. I've been in them and I've jumped in them with my kids. It can hold me, and I'm a slim 240!
What is your most requested bounce?
The favorite of the customer right now seems to be the Spiderman, I believe over the year, that is the most rented inflatable bounce house. Now as far as the slides, I have a 16-foot slide that has a full-size bounce house that Velcros next to it, and kids can jump, and then they crawl through an opening space and then they climb up a ladder, and then they slide down the 16-foot (slide). I bought that probably four months ago, and that's the most popular combo. I rent it sometimes twice a week. That rents out probably the most now.
How much does it cost to rent an inflatable?
A regular bounce house goes for $125 for the day, and when I get up to the big combo unit, it goes for $185 for the day. Normally that's a minimum. . . . We try and let them keep it for at least six hours.
What is your favorite part about the job?
I just like watching the kids. Having kids of my own now, seeing what they like and taking them to all of the houses for other kids to enjoy. I try to let each kid, if it's their birthday, I let them turn the (blower) switch on. When they turn the switch on and it blows up, they love it.
What is your least favorite part?
When they (the inflatables) get really dirty. It just causes a lot more work to try and get them cleaned up for the next rental. Sometimes, the tough times are when I get home, late at night with my load of jumps, and I've got three or four that need to go out again the next morning, and I haven't cleaned them out, so I set up all my lights outside here, blow them up and then I'm out there in the dark with my floodlights cleaning them. That makes it difficult.
Are your neighbors pretty tolerant when you blow these up in your side yard?
Oh, my neighbors love it, 'cause they all bring their kids over to jump. My daughter is the most popular child in the neighborhood. I've told all the kids that live around in the area that if they see it up to come on over and just let me know they're going to jump, and I'll let them jump.
What kind of money do you make?
We wanted them (the inflatables) to pay for themselves in the first year. Each unit projects to make somewhere between $9,000 and $12,000 a piece, per year, gross. So if you have 10 units, you're looking at between $90,000 to $120,000 a year.
