Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Barney.
Jason, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I worked for Shell Oil in Houston, TX for 21 years in Corporate IT. My position was off-shored to India ultimately leading to my lay off. I decided the corporate environment did not suit me, so I started searching for something I could do that was more self-fulfilling and enjoyable. I had seen several party rental trucks delivering inflatables and other items for backyard parties so I started to research the party rental business. My initial view of this type of business is its always a positive and fun occasion. Everyone is always happy to see us when we arrive to deliver and setup what’s usually the main attraction at their children’s party. The children are always excited and I really get a kick out of their reactions to our inflatables and games. I absolutely love to see these reactions and hear their stories when we return after the party. While it is a lot of work, it all is well worth it in the end to know we helped provide some good, safe fun for the families we work with.
We started this business in March 2012 with 5 new inflatables, some concessions, and an enclosed trailer for deliveries. In the last five years, we have grown almost 10 times over in inventory and around 20 times in sales. We now have 7 employees and continue to grow each year. This journey for us has been very gratifying and I am grateful for all of my experiences. I continue to learn new things almost daily and continually make changes to our policies and procedures to ensure we deliver good, clean, and safe items every time.
As long as we continue to provide excellent customer service, and quality products I know we will continue to grow our customer base.
Has it been a smooth road?
When I started this business I had no experience whatsoever in the inflatable business. I did however do tons of research and found the proper way to open the business and run it within all of the state’s rules and regulations. We are required to have each inflatable ride inspected every year and we are also required to have a minimum 2-million-dollar general liability insurance policy. I also took certification tests on the proper installation and maintenance of inflatables. Before I opened for business I wanted to ensure I could safely install our inflatables ensuring a safe and fun experience for our customers. Once I had all that down, I opened up and started to take orders. After we had a few orders and I was able to get my feet wet, I started to realize how much physical work this actually is. Each time we would pick up at an event, it was a struggle to say the least. But after a while of the struggles, I started to notice things started to get better. Just like everything else in life, you learn as you go and things tend to get better and easier. I learned techniques on how to better move around these inflatables and other items we supply. I also invested in the proper tools which help tremendously in moving around heavy loads.
Another obstacle was the first web site we had built. While the web site was nice looking, and I had many complements from our customers on how nice it was. It really did us no favors on google ranking. I had no control over it and had to have each new item we purchased added by the marketing firm that built it for us. We also had a separate service that would track our inventory and scheduled events. I needed one service that would offer the front-end web site that I could manage while also managing our inventory and scheduling at the same time. After some research, I found there are several companies that offer exactly what I needed. I decided on a company and went to work on designing our website, and setting up all of our inventory with pricing and all the pertinent information on each of our rentals. After we went live with the new site, it didn’t take long to see some positive results on our google ranking and the business really started to take off. This was probably one of the best moves we had made which made the largest increase to our business. It’s very important these days that your customers are able to find you when they search for your services.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with DFW Party Rental – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Our company is DFW Party Rental. We specialize in children’s parties but also do school and church events. Our main products are inflatables. Our inflatables range in size and use from small bounce houses to large obstacle courses. We also have inflatable water slides with attached pools or slip and slides. We offer other items like dunk tanks, carnival games, inflatable sports games, concessions, table and chairs and frozen drink machines. All of our items are delivered to the customer’s home, a park, school, church or business. We set the items up and train them how to use them. Then we return when the party or event is over and pick everything up.
I’m most proud of what we as a family have accomplished in a fairly short period of time. We are a small family run business. My mom, Linda manages the office. She offices out of her house in Bedford and answers all of our calls. She does all of the bookings and answers any questions the customers may have. Without her, I know this company would not have succeeded the way it has. I get so many complements about how nice she was to work with and knowledgeable she is. My wife and even my 7-yr. old son helps with some deliveries. I love to have them with me when they are available to come along.
As far as what sets us apart from the other companies. The one thing I think of is customer service. We get calls almost every weekend from a frantic parent calling because a company they used canceled on them last minute. Or just didn’t show up. While there are lots of legitimate companies out there like ours, there are even more out there that are offering services without the appropriate insurance or inspections that are required by the state. These companies (actually people, not companies) are able to undercut our prices since they have no overhead to speak of. They are the people that setup unsafe, unclean bouncers and give all of us that are following the rules a bad name. It’s a constant struggle but the state is working harder to enforce this industry so I try to remain positive.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love the Dallas area! I was born in Dallas, grew up in the HEB area in Tarrant County. For me the best thing about the city is the people. I like how diversified it is. No matter which area we deliver to everyone is always very nice. I like to see the different cultures and meeting all the people we deliver to. I also love the opportunity the city has provided to me and my family.
I think the one thing I like the least right now is the traffic. With all of the construction going on, it sometimes makes it a struggle in a delivery business. But I know it will eventually get better once the construction dies down a bit.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.DFWPartyRental.com
- Phone: (817) 584-6424
- Email: info@dfwpartyrental.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DfwPartyRental/
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