How I Built A $5K/Month Part-Time Business Renting Mobility Scooters
Hello! Who are you and what business did you start?
Hi! My name is Lenny and my business is renting mobility scooters to people that need a little bit of help getting around. I rent mobility scooters to people for all sorts of occasions. People rent scooters from me when they are traveling, sightseeing, going to conventions or theme parks, and so on.
I only offer the best mobility scooters that can be transported as well, giving people mobility when they otherwise wouldn’t have it.
At this time, as a part-time business for me, it is generating about $5K/month. However, with a full commitment, I believe this business can easily generate $10K+/month.
What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?
I have always been creative and somewhat of an entrepreneur. For the most part, I did a lot of online selling, e-commerce, and product development. However, I also found local service businesses interesting as well and would always come up with different business ideas.
One day I was talking with a friend of mine who just began to get into the equipment rental business. We were throwing out ideas and wanted to get into other equipment rental businesses as well. I began to do a lot of research and came up with a list of types of equipment we could rent out.
One of my ideas was mobility scooters. I liked the idea because I thought it was fairly unique, probably wouldn’t have much competition, and could rent for decent money. The idea of renting mobility scooters was also very simple and intuitive for me.
You pretty much only needed to have one product available so there weren’t a lot of moving parts, for example, like with a party rental business. I knew exactly how I was going to build the website and present the “product”. It was just natural for me.
The first thing I did was build a website for the business. I looked at some of my competitors and took some inspiration from them. I focused on building a quality website that was better than most of my competition. My goal was to present a polished, professional, high-end service with my website. I also made sure to pick the best scooter brand there is. I think this is what helped me rank on Google quickly. I didn’t go out and buy any equipment yet, even though it wasn’t going to be a big investment. I just wanted to see if there was a demand for the business.
Take us through the process of building the first version of your product.
The first thing I did was build a website with GoDaddy website builder. I compiled a bunch of information about mobility scooter rentals from my local competitors and added my flavor to the website.
I tried to do a good job designing the website. Most of my competitors were old-school and didn’t have modern websites. This helped me stand out fairly easily. It was also very intuitive for me to build a mobility scooter rental website because there was only one product that I offered and it was a simple, straightforward process.
I also considered the day-to-day operations of the business and not just the demand and profit potential. This business didn’t seem that difficult to me to run even though every business has its positives and negatives.
You want to think of the day-to-day operations of the business you’re getting into, not just the profit potential or demand. Some businesses are just too much hassle, even though they are in demand.
Describe the process of launching the business.
My first step was just to create the website and wait and see if I was going to get calls. I also created a Google My Business page and a Yelp listing to help me rank on Google and get more exposure. I had a “fully operational” website at this point where people could call me and request a scooter. That’s pretty much all I did in the beginning.
I had the website up for a while before I started doing the business. I began to receive calls fairly quickly, within a few months even though I didn’t have any scooters yet. I was still debating if I wanted to get into the business. Eventually, I decided to buy a couple of mobility scooters.
I still wasn’t sure if I was going to do the business, but I had the mobility scooters and would just sell them if I didn’t want to do the business. I only paid about $500 per scooter. These were top-of-the-line Pride scooters. I realized that it was smart to launch a website but not necessarily invest in a bunch of equipment. You want to see if there’s demand for the business and this is the best way to do it.
Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?
After launching the website, I began to get calls within a few months. I think I ranked on Google fairly quickly because I built a decent website, didn’t have a ton of competition and there was demand for this service. Honestly, I think I just found demand and all I had to do was supply the product.
Since I had a Google My Business page, I did my best to solicit reviews as much as possible. I think this helped me rank overall. That’s pretty much all I did. I think my competition just wasn’t up-to-date enough with their online presence and that led me to take over pretty easily.
I learned that it’s ideal to test the demand for your business first before making any big investments. You can easily do that with a decent website and just a bit of marketing.
How are you doing today and what does the future look like?
I run my mobility scooter rental business as a part-time hustle. I generally only take jobs that I prefer. I don’t take every job and don’t invest a lot of time into the business. The business is very profitable because the equipment doesn’t cost that much and I can recoup the cost with 1 - 3 rentals which is amazing.
I run this business completely by myself and the most time-consuming part of the business is delivering and picking up the scooters. The business has a lot of potential and I’m always thinking about committing to it full-time. I’m sure that if I fully committed to this business, it would easily generate over 10K/month.
Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?
I learned that it’s good to test the demand for your business first before making any big investments. You can easily do that with a decent website. You don’t need to buy a bunch of stuff upfront.
I also learned that some businesses come with headaches that you may not want to deal with. You want to think of the day-to-day operations of the business you’re getting into, not just the profit potential or demand. Some businesses are just too much hassle, even though they are in demand.
What platform/tools do you use for your business?
I love the GoDaddy website builder. It’s extremely easy to use and intuitive. I build all of my websites with this platform. I also make sure to always create and optimize a Google My Business page for all of my local service businesses. That’s pretty much it.
What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?
The two of the most influential pieces of content for me have been two podcasts- Side Hustle Nation with Nick Loper and My Wife Quit Her Job with Steve Chou. I have learned so much from these two guys and have started several businesses because of their content.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?
My advice to entrepreneurs is to try different things, test different ideas and just create the minimum viable product. Don’t try to be perfect from the start.
Where can we go to learn more?
To learn more about me and my businesses check out my YouTube channel.
If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!
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