Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jeffrey Guzman. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Jeffrey, appreciate you joining us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea
The idea for KC Mobility Scooter Rentals began somewhere on a highway in Ohio while I was driving from my home in Kansas to Pennsylvania to attend a funeral for my uncle. During the trip, I grew tired of hearing the same songs on the radio and decided to turn on a podcast. The podcast I chose was episode 564 of the Side Hustle Show by Nick Loper. During the episode he interviewed Lenny Tim, a young man who started LA Mobility Scooter Rentals. After listening to the Podcast a couple times, I excitedly called my wife Tinamarie who was back in Kansas around 1am. Just a side note, but my wife is super amazing and has been my partner for over 20 years since Highschool. She wasn’t thrilled with me calling that late, but due to the reason I was driving almost halfway across the country she entertained having a conversation with me. During this call, I explained the podcast and how I truly thought this was something I could do. It was a little too early in the morning for my wife to help create a plan, but surprisingly she agreed it was a service that we thought was underserved in Kansas City. Our phone call ended, and I continued my drive towards Pennsylvania taking short naps at rest stops until I arrived in Pennsylvania.
The next day, I decided to do some market research to see exactly how much competition Kansas City had and was surprised that it appeared to be a market with opportunity. I am a little embarrassed about it, but the truth is at that time, my market research consisted of simply Googling “mobility scooter rentals in Kansas City”. I looked at the other businesses websites and realized that it was competitive, but not quite over saturated.
It was at this point that I got creative, I looked at each competitor and identified that they each lacked certain things that could make my business unique. The first was providing larger scooters with higher weight capacities, the second was targeting deliveries that may not be worth the time of larger businesses, and lastly, yet most important provide a level of convenience to truly make the rental experience smooth.
The first step was creating a website and a Google my business page to see if there was any interest. Within the first week calls and emails were coming in. This continued for a month of people calling for rentals before I actually owned any inventory. After passing up $1,000 in possible rentals, I decided I was officially going to start a mobility scooter rental business… I just needed insurance.
When searching Online, the insurance websites make it look super easy to find a policy, in fact there are insurance companies that specifically provided mobility scooter coverage, but they only cover major tourist spots like Orlando, Las Angeles, and San Fransisco. Those specific insurance companies did not cover Kansas or Missouri. The next few weeks were quite painful, I was on the phone for hours trying to find an insurance company that supported my vision, often I would get an agent on the line and explain my business and the answer was an immediate no. Insurance companies did not want to get involved with a business whose customers are either elderly, injured or obese.
I was at a point where I almost was ready to give up, when I stumbled across an amazing Insurance agent named Jamie Blystone who found me an underwriter to create a custom policy. While the Insurance cost is more than I prefer, it provided me an opportunity to test this business idea out.
Once insured, we registered as an LLC and began operating in August of 2023.
I’ll admit, the first few months we just shot from the hip trying out things to see if they worked. One specific mistake I remember occurred during our first month, when I accidentally double booked a scooter rental. Instead of canceling an order and inconveniencing a customer, I went out and purchased the exact same scooter the customer booked.
Today we are a lot smoother operation that uses one simple motto “Convenience meets Mobility” and now also offer wheelchair, transport chair, knee scooter and rollator walker rentals.
Jeffrey, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Jeffrey Guzman, I am 39 years old and married to my high school sweetheart, I am a father of two amazing kids. Prior to starting KC Mobility Scooter Rentals, I was an active-duty Soldier before retiring from the Army after 20 years as a military police corrections officer.
KC Mobility Scooter Rentals is a mobility device rental business that offers mobility Scooters, wheelchair, transport chair, knee scooter and rollator walker rentals in Kansas City and surrounding areas. We deliver and pickup equipment at hotels, Airbnbs, residences, and convention centers.
What sets KC Mobility Scooters apart from other mobility equipment businesses is our focus on rentals. Most of our competitors focus on more expensive services such as stairlifts, wheelchair ramps, and selling new equipment. We specifically focus on rentals, which means our rental equipment is consistently inspected, cleaned, repaired or replaced. Additionally, I believe our business truly understands that we serve an important role as an ambassador for Kansas City to our customers.
When it comes to what I am most proud of about this business, it is meeting a customer to pick up the equipment and hearing their stories about how our service helped them create amazing memories and a way to truly enjoy themselves despite mobility ailments.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
KC Mobility Scooter Rentals is a zero-debt business, we have never taken a loan and hope that will always be true. Our initial funding came from the profits earned from my wife and I’s Ebay store called Tornado Alley Collectibles.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
The hardest lesson I had to unlearn was only focusing on the present and immediate issues. My 20 years in the Army taught me to be adaptable due to an ever-changing situation, variables such as leaders changing, mission changing, and often environment changes. Due to being enlisted, I typically focused on training my Soldiers, and dealing with immediate problems that popped up and my officer counterpart focused on the long-term planning.
While I enjoy the freedom of being spontaneous, this business has taught me the importance of long-term planning. If I want to take my family on vacation I need to choose and block out a period where I do not accept rentals many months ahead of time. I have equipment that I need to plan maintenance for, while ensuring I have enough equipment that can be rented during that time. I also need to plan for events taking place across Kansas City to ensure that I have equipment available to meet the demand. Additionally, I often get rental requests that are up to six months away.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.KCMobilityScooterRentals.com
- Instagram: https://www.facebook.com/KCMobilityScooterRentals
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KCMobilityScooterRentals
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreylguzman
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/MobilityKC
- Yelp: https://m.yelp.com/biz/kc-mobility-scooter-rentals-leavenworth
- Other: Google My Business Page: https://g.co/kgs/WVaPnkM