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Is A Boat Rental Club Right For You

Owning a boat is a dream for many Americans, but one that can turn into a nightmare of unforeseen costs. Many novice boaters don’t realize all the costs associated with purchasing a boat and wind up with an expensive driveway ornament aside their car instead because they can’t afford gas, insurance or the other myriad things boat owners must pay for.

In recent years, enterprising business people have begun offering a solution for the high price of boat ownership: Boat rental clubs. These clubs rent out their fleet of boats to members on a daily, weekend or even monthly basis at a discounted cost. For example, one marina in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida charges non-members $329 to rent a 21-foot bow rider, but a member of the club would pay just $136, not including gasoline.

Typically, boat rental club members must pay yearly dues in order to receive the discounted prices. However, once most boaters add up the costs of insurance, gasoline, storage, docking and maintenance, not to mention the actual purchase of the boat itself, they find that joining a rental club saves them money. Boat rental clubs may also offer their members other benefits such as discounts on equipment rentals like skis or scuba gear, discounts at local restaurants and a special price on gasoline and oil.

Membership plans vary from club to club. Some offer annual memberships with a high initial cost and lower costs for renewals. Some offer a flat annual fee with no further rental costs. Some offer seasonal memberships. Be sure you understand all the terms of the membership agreement and don’t allow yourself to be pressured into more of a membership than you feel you need. For example, if you’re new to boating and unsure how much you will actually use your membership, a multi-year contract is probably not the best choice for you.

Finally, if you are an avid boater and plan on taking your boat out for several days every week, or for a series of long trips, a boat rental club may not offer you the same savings as it would a more casual boater. To see if a rental club would save you money, total up all the costs associated with your boat and divide that by the number of days you plan to use it in a year. Then add up all the costs associated with a boat rental club membership and divide by the number of days you will use your membership. Whichever number is lower will be the most cost-effective option for you.

How to make the Switch to Booth Rental or Salon Rent a Chair?

Just because a competitor across the street has shifted their salon to rent a chair or booth rental business model, does not mean that you should follow suit. You may be under pressure if they try to poach your staff or you lose a stylist or two however, sometimes-forced change is good and in this case you might be forced to take a long hard look at your business model to decide if its for you? If you have good quality staff and you’re happy with running the traditional model you need not worry. Nevertheless, it’s always better to keep your ear to the ground and be ready for any changes that your competitor might make at your expense right?

One of the basic issues in managing the switch to rent a chair is dealing with the present and future employment status of your employees. Ideally you should try and convince some of the more ambitious staff to be entrepreneurial and take a leap of faith, as your existing staff already knows the systems and procedures and are acquainted with the work and salon culture. This makes for a significantly smoother transition for all parties but not always possible. Moreover if your existing staff make the switch, it will be a testament to you and the team further sending a message to other stylist in your area that you must have something going on if your own team are keen to make the switch.

Depending on your Government’s Labor Laws, you may or may not be able to ask your staff to resign from his or her existing position in order to take on the new venture. There should be no termination from your side unilaterally or else you may spend considerable time in court dealing with unfair dismissal claims. It really has to be the employees idea and their free will to resign because they favor the new contract and concept, and are happy to, in writing, terminate their existing employment contract to become self employed. At this time, you will also be required to pay all holiday pays, superannuation, etc as if the employee were leaving your salon.

If you have any apprentices and you decide to change to rent a chair or booth rental, it goes without saying in most states and countries, you cannot terminate the apprentice. Be sure to do your dewdiligence with you local governing body. In this case you have to let them continue their training and employment with you till they organically move on, and till that time, your salon will have to run with a mixed structure.

If you’re planning to shift to the rent a chair model, systems and procedures need to be clearly defined for its success. The very first thing you need to determine is the booth rental contract including such topics as, percentage rent or flat fee, professional products and payment and supply, inventory and stock control, billing clients, will the stylist make there own appointments, marketing, etc…

Some of your qualified employees may not be ambitious enough to make the switch to a booth renter. Being an entrepreneur is not for everyone so do not terminate them or else again, you could be spending considerable time in court defending your actions.

Good luck.