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Our business finished 2019 on a high note with much anticipation for the new year. You know that feeling when you sorta feel like nothing can go wrong? Like when you have had so many good days in a row that you forgot what it was like to have a really bad day?
Our company, Wonder Event Rentals, operates in the San Diego Wedding & Event Industry specializing in farm table rentals, wedding chair rentals, and lounge furniture rentals. The last couple of years we have experienced a lot of growth and things were trending in the right direction. We were expecting 2020 to be one of our greatest years yet and I know of several other rental companies in San Diego that had similar expectations, but it all changed in March.
The first few months of mask mandates, lockdowns and lack of toilet paper was definitely an adjustment. Quickly we watched the majority of our booked events for the year begin to either cancel or postpone. We had several team members out of work. We watched our sales funnel dry up since people were hesitant to plan future events with so many unknowns. It was easily discouraging and frustrating. All of this happened so quickly and for the first few months and it felt like there was nothing that we could do.
We have always envisioned that ‘Wonder’ would act as a brand with many different companies under that name. We’ve also wanted to start other businesses in different industries. In June we decided it was time to adjust to our new reality, so we started Wonder Moving Company, providing local moving services throughout San Diego County. Here’s why we decided to do this:
First, we are passionate about business and people so starting another company seems like the logical thing to do. We wanted to do everything in our power to keep our team members working with a steady flow of available work. We already had much of the needed start-up equipment: Trucks, dollies, moving blankets, shrink wrap, a warehouse, team members, etc. Considering all of this, our start-up costs were fairly low. The moving industry is different than the event industry, but there are a lot of similar logistics. Lastly, I thought what’s the worst that could happen for trying?
Since launching I’ve been pretty surprised at the amount of work that has naturally poured in just by talking about it and it’s been great to feel the support from our community. Our new company may never amount to anything significant, but why not give it a shot?
Our rental company is still up and running and is not going away. Now we are maintaining what was already working, and starting something completely new. It’s been a lot of fun but has also been challenging. Moving other people’s stuff is hard work and I understand why people are willing to pay a company to do it for them.
It has been just about 8 months of living in the everyday normalcy of Covid: Masks, restrictions on gatherings, limited capacity in restaurants, social distancing, shutdowns, and overall regulation. I’m not sure if we will offer moving services forever, but for now we are going to focus on the present. A lot of people have asked me “What are you going to do when you have too much work to handle between events and moving?” Honestly, I can’t wait to have that problem.
Wonder Event Rentals: Website, Instagram, and Facebook
Wonder Moving Company: Website, Instagram, and Facebook