Jumping J-Jays Castles and Slides provide inflating “bouncy” castles for children’s parties. Originally these novelty experiences were restricted to fairs, fetes, expos and shows. As they became smaller it was feasible to have them in a suburban back-yard. John Newton was driving down the street one day and saw a bouncy castle in a backyard.
He could immediately imagine a business that had personal appeal to him. Most kids’ parties were on a weekend and he recognised this was something that could be done on weekends without affecting his Monday to Friday job.
But John realised that an opportunity needed to be researched. As he worked to gain the background knowledge about the party castle industry he realised this was a fantastic and profitable opportunity. The industry was very ‘young’ and there was no existing
jumping castle franchise that had been the pioneer in providing castles on a wide scale. John could see there was a chance to be the market leader. John was Year 12 qualified, had done some small business management study and had good experience in sales. He was ready to make sacrifices and take the chance to be that leader.
He promoted his new business with full colour brochures, and provided a wide range of sizes and themes, such as popular children’s characters. He and his team delivered and set up the castles personally. Most importantly they provided confidence to the customer that the “big day” of their child’s party would go well both for them and all their guests.
What had worked for John he shared with others. He divided the capital cities and other large cities in Australia into regions. Each region operates as a small business run by a local person, familiar with the area. Each owner does as John did in the early days, delivering and installing the party castles and slides themselves and helping parents feel confident that the party for their children will go well. Now over 50 business owners work with John, consistent with John’s original vision: a weekend job but with the added bonus of being part of the market leading team.
“The Most satisfying thing about being an entrepreneur is knowing that I did it myself! I never worked for any other company or knew anyone in the industry. We wrote the rules for the industry and we attained market leadership from the first day. Seeing people around us copy our business model makes us feel very successful.”
4-Jun-2007