4 Ways Inflatables Make Your Event Better

When you are hosting an event, the question of what you can do to make it spectacular comes up. You wonder about food, guest lists, drinks, decorations and 99 other things that you wish would take care of themselves. Everyone wonders if they have enough space, and what will we do with all of the kids that show up? How will we keep them occupied? These are just a few of the things that may run through your mind. Below, are some great reasons that Inflatables at your event could make the difference between a flop or fabulous! 1. LESS DETAILS- Less is always more! When you rent inflatables, you have just taken care of several details. Entertainment, time killer, and fun! You don't have to worry about "What will my guests do if they get bored", because they will never be bored. You don't have to worry about set up or tear down because we take care of that, not to mention the fact that even adults can have a great time on inflatables. So, take out the guess work and worry, and grab an obstacle course or sports combo, to make every guest smile! 2. COST- So many people are worried about finances these days, and when hosting an event, sometimes it gets pricey spending money on party favors or gifts for your guest. Even a DJ, clown, band or other ideas are expensive and don't last more than 1-2 hours. With an inflatable, our rentals include 3 hours, and EVERYBODY get to participate, and you are not in the poor house. Think of it as making the biggest impression for the smallest amount of money. 3. IMPRESSION- Everybody wants to make a great impression on their guests, and leave them feeling like the event was the best thing they have attended in years! Inflatables are unique in the fact, they give your event a whole new dimension of fun and takes the event from small town-back yard to BIG TIME, OVER THE TOP! Keep in mind, not everybody will have an inflatable at their event, so you will be the friends that EVERYBODY will talk about for weeks. 4. VERSATILITY- Inflatables are great for almost ANY event. From five to five-hundred, we have the perfect inflatables for any type event. We have served tail gate parties, company picnics, birthday parties, family reunions, school fun and awards days, church events, fundraisers, college campuses, car dealership sales, grand openings, back yard parties and more.

Face to Face not just Face time!

When dealing with customers, friends, or just people in general, I personally believe that dealing with others face to face far outweighs dealing with them through electronic means. When dealing with customers, a face to face meeting is the only way that your potential customer can see your passion for your product or service. Being able to look somebody in the eye is an invaluable asset when assessing potential customers, clients, partners or those I want to purchase a service from. When dealing with friends, you can not have a real authentic friendship over email and facebook. There must be some time invested in hanging out and making that human connection. While electronic communication such as twitter, facebook, texting or email are not inherently evil or wrong, they should only be the means to the end and not the main platform for ongoing relationships. One of the things I love about the two main businesses that our family own is that they both depend on face to face interaction. With the golf course, we pride ourselves on knowing our members and serving them with down home, friendly service along with golf that anybody can afford. The inflatables company ALWAYS pushes our team to serve people and go above and beyond to give each and every customer an experience that will make a positive impact on them and their family and friends. How would this be possible if we had no human interaction? How would we KNOW how to serve people the best ways if we do not know them? The answer is we can't. Face to face interaction makes a difference, and when you team technology with the personal service, then you have a combination that is hard to beat! The most successful ministries, businesses and leaders are those who understand that we are here to serve people and we do that by building relationships and making it personal!

Relationships Matter More

When people start a business, most will tell you that the bottom line matters. Some will tell you that profit margin matters, while others will say debt to income ratio is most important. You have so many things to keep track of including, payroll, taxes, customer satisfaction and so much more. While all of these things are very important, I believe that there is something that matters much more. The one thing that I believe makes or breaks a company is relationships! Relationships with your customers and your team members. By choosing to serve people and not just make a profit, we hope to build a special bond with those we come in contact with. We want to do more, not because we have to, but because we genuinely want to. We were very intentional to concentrate our services on our hometown region of Southeast Kentucky, where we grew up, work and I have served various churches in music and worship ministry since age 15, and also the area that we operate another family business. We felt that these areas, were places that we already had great relationships, and knew the hardworking people that we could impact through inflatables. We do a good amount of donations and sponsorships, again, not because we have to, but because we have built relationships with people that we want to help make a difference in their lives. The bottom line is, money will be spent, time will fly by, but when you build a relationship with a customer or even a potential customer, then that is a connection that can benefit both you and them for years to come! Relationships can help keep a business afloat in the lean times, and help serve a customer better at a time when they could really use your services. It helps build trust and confidence, and gives the customer peace of mind, that in the current business world, is a rare luxury. At BAI, we go out of our way to say thank you, touch base after the job is complete, and follow up on each email, phone call and text...why? Sure we want to book your event, but we also want to build a working relationship, not just mark "complete" on the invoice, because with us, the job may be over, but we hope the relationship will continue! Relationships matter more than anything else, and in my book of business, they are priceless!

My Mother Always Said...

Some people are only able to refer to their mother in past tense, however I am blessed to still have my mother around, and to have her involved in both of our family businesses. Mom has always been a great teacher who taught life lessons by example. Lessons that have translated into our core principals at Big Adventure Inflatables and at Monte Vista. One of those principals that I believe every business leader should embrace is, "Never ask somebody to do something, that you are not willing to do yourself." The idea that the "boss", the "head honcho" the person who is in charge of others would do some of the menial jobs or tasks such as take out the trash, clean the bathrooms, etc., is basically unheard of in the business world, but at Big Adventure we are bringing that idea back around. At BAI and Monte Vista, we want to be sure that there is no task too small that any of us from the owners to the greenskeeper or inflatable operator wont do. When all of us work together as a team to get the jobs done, we will notice better efficiency, not to mention a great respect for the team as a whole. There are times that a team member may be fed up with a particular job or task and decide that they are above that, or that they "deserve" to shirk the job and get somebody else to do it. It's at that moment, the worker has forgotten that there are no levels of jobs for certain levels of employees and that if something needs to get done, ALL of us are qualified and expected to help get it done. Sure, there is a chain of command, and there is an organizational chart and levels of responsibilities and pay, but in our family businesses, you will often find us as owners working along side of our employees and hopefully our team is willing to do anything that is asked of them because, like my mother always said, we never ask a team member to do something, that we are not willing to do ourselves. Business take away: You aren't much of a boss, if you don't lead by example. Let your employees see your willingness to work beside them, and they will always be willing to work for you!

Our Business Philosophy

At Big Adventure Inflatables we are about more than making money, although thats always a good thing. We are about more than inflatables, even though its in our name. We are about people! When Melissa and I started this company, we committed to always using our business to serve others, and to make a positive impact on every person that we connect with. From our team members to our customers, we hope to impact each life for the better. Sometimes this happens by simply providing clean inflatables, on time delivery and friendly service. Sometimes it happens by our team going the extra mile to make sure that your event exceeds your expectations. We hope that we also serve those that work on our team, and help provide a good job for them that they can be proud to have. We want each person on the team to have take ownership and pride in our company, and be glad they are here. We also wanted to give back to both our hometown community of Middlesboro, KY and the area Laurel County KY, where I currently serve as a local associate Pastor. We believe that God wants to use us as funnels to bless others as we can, and that our business is nothing more than a tool to make a difference in other peoples lives. By treating people right, doing business with integrity and working hard, we hope to become a stronger company with many years ahead of us serving others. With us, people aren't just customers, but they are considered friends and family, and its not just business, its service!