We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sharon Wong and Han Pham. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sharon and Han below.
Sharon and Han, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One deeply underappreciated facet of entrepreneurship is the kind of crazy stuff we have to deal with as business owners. Sometimes it’s crazy positive sometimes it’s crazy negative, but crazy experiences unite entrepreneurs regardless of industry. Can you share a crazy story with our readers?
We’ve had some pretty crazy stories while on the job as every day is different. From seeing bugs that we didn’t know existed (potato bugs are a new discovery) to having kids and customers recognizing us outside of the job, it never gets old.
Starting out, we would have to start our day at 6am and drive over an hour to get to our customers in Orange County before settling down in the San Gabriel Valley. This particular day became a turning point in drawing boundaries to our service area. Early in the morning, we delivered two large bounce houses to a church in Irvine with a beautiful massive lawn. We noticed a small rip on the tread of our dolly tire, but didn’t have time to take a look at it and didn’t have the knowledge to change the dolly tire! As we made it to the last delivery, the outer layer of the tire ripped to 4 inches and the inner layer over inflated itself so it looked like a giant balloon was coming out and ready to pop. All these thoughts of fear came flooding in. Should we pop it? What if it pops and hits the customer’s car? Will we get hurt? We were just too inexperienced at this moment. All while this was happening, the tire kept getting bigger and bigger and then POP! No one got hurt, the customer’s car was fine, but now we only had a dolly with one tire and many more pick ups to go. We tried to call around to see if anyone would change a dolly tire. Looking back, it is as if we asked car shops to change out a stroller’s tire! Obviously, no shops or stores would do that for us, so we continued on our deliveries and pickups of the day. I still remember that day as we packed up the heavy bounce houses on the church lawn, lugging it all on one wheel, drenched in sweat and lack of sleep, that I vowed to no longer service areas an hour away. Han had never seen me so angry before. With that experience, we ended up being able to focus on our local community and have been able to grow it near home ever since.
Sharon and Han, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
We are Jump to the Stars! A Queer, Asian, and Women owned and operated bounce house rental company located in San Gabriel Valley, California. My partner, Han, and I are the owners. Not only do we own the company, but we are currently a 2 women operation – taking care of customer service, handling bookings/reservations, managing community outreach, marketing, finances, and best of all, just the two of us delivering and picking up the bounce houses.
In a male dominated industry plus the need for physical labor for the job, I think we are unique and hope to inspire and break stereotypes that women can do it all too. We always get such positive feedback from customers who are shocked that we are able to lift and maneuver the bulky units as they can weigh between 150 – 400 pounds.
We hope to make fun and lasting memories with families as how bounce houses did with our childhood. I’d like to think we are unique where the customer’s experience from booking to end of party will always start and end with us. I am the one they will be speaking to on the phone or booking through text or email. Then, my favorite part is showing up to meet our customers in person when Han and I come to deliver the bounce houses. I think our customers are always shocked to realize that the owners are the ones showing up to set up and we hope to create a special experience for not just the parents but also the children.
Let’s talk M&A – we’d love to hear your about your experience with buying businesses
Actually, Jump to the Stars was an acquisition. After countless brainstorming, we were still stuck at what business we wanted to start and own. We didn’t have any experience being a small business owner, so it was difficult to zone in on one item or industry as nothing jumped out at us yet. We eventually stumbled upon BizBuySell.com and discovered a whole new world. The idea of acquisitions and business brokers were such a foreign concept to us. Within a plethora of listings, an indoor kids playground caught our eye. After inquiring with the owner and touring the location, we realized this was the spark that we were looking for but the listing was out of our budget. However, it led to many thought provoking discussions about what we are passionate about. We are both two kids at heart who love to interact with kids.
Our a-ha! moment came when we saw a listing for sale for bounce house rentals. The previous owners were based in Orange County and we could have easily moved the storage to Los Angeles. It was an advantage to take the goodwill of the previous owners as they had the foundation, but we could improve it to make it run efficiently. As this was our first time ever buying a business, we went into it more or less clueless. A deep dive into research on Google helped to determine the value of the business and whether or not this would be something to invest our savings in. Business brokers offered some advice, but it was very much a “if you don’t know it, figure it out” process.
The valuation and outlook of the business looked promising so we decided to go for it. We entered the escrow process and trained with the previous owners. It was a surreal feeling after we closed and started receiving phone calls. It took time to figure out how the business functioned with the previous owners, but we have since made it our own and continue to grow.
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
It actually started as a love story! Han and I started dating in 2020 and who knew as a Covid couple, we would end up with a business together. It all started with a conversation about our future and what we wanted to achieve. Prior to meeting each other, we both had dreams of no longer working in the corporate world and to start something of our own. For myself, I didn’t think I had the confidence to actually become my own boss until I met Han. Her motivation, ambition, and drive inspired me to want to go for it. Having a partner to support me in all aspects, personally and professionally, made it less scary as we took on the unknowns together.
We realized that we individually have certain skill sets that compliment each other. Han is comfortable with crunching numbers, financial forecasting, and data analysis. I am natural with customer service and relationship building. Both of us love to tinker around too, so figuring out how to change the oil on a generator or learning to hitch and reverse park a trailer proved to be a fun challenge!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jumptothestars.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jumptothestarsrentals/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/jump-to-the-stars-san-gabriel
Image Credits
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