October 6, 2025 – Daily Recap

Another full day on our hands today. Not everything went according to plan, but it all worked out in the end. The kind of day where you’re reminded that flexibility and problem-solving are just part of the job description.

A Sweet Start

The first stop of the day was a table and chair drop-off for a movie production. What made it sweet? They’re keeping the items for almost two weeks — and we charged accordingly, rush fee included. They booked after hours on Friday, so you already know it was a quick turnaround.

I did mess up a little though — forgot to add a weekend fee for the pickup date. I was just so hyped when I saw a long-term rental come through that I sent the quote without thinking twice. Still, we were in and out pretty fast, and I’ll take that as a win.

The Rain Delay

Next up was supposed to be the 20x30 tent pickup from Friday’s backyard wedding. But the rain wasn’t letting up — sprinkling on and off all morning (and afternoon). I told the customer we’d wait until the weather improved for safety reasons. I’m definitely not taking that tent down wet.

We did swing by since we were close, though. Picked up the tables, chairs, and lights under the tent to make the return trip quicker later. That’s future efficiency right there.

String Light Shuffle

Third stop — a quick pickup for the backyard reception we lit up last Thursday. Easy peasy, except the customer decided to “help” by taking everything down and mixing up the string lights. So, we spent some extra time unraveling them before loading up.

Margins on this job were close to 75%, which looks great on paper. But if I had hired this one out completely and removed myself, it would’ve dropped to around 60%. The real win here was seeing how much stronger margins get when the crew is spread efficiently across multiple jobs.

The Final Push

After unloading back at the warehouse to clear space, we headed to our last stop — a pickup from Friday’s last-minute scramble. I wanted to reschedule since the chairs were still damp, but I didn’t want to risk a bad review. The good news? Margin landed right where I hoped, above 80%.

This job was nearly an hour away, and long drives can eat margins fast. Thankfully, setup and breakdown services boosted revenue enough to offset that. I always build in a small buffer — around $80 for this job — for admin and cleaning, when calculating profitability. But these chairs? Yeah, they’re getting the full spa treatment. Wet, leaf-stained, and a reminder that sometimes you win the numbers game… but lose to Mother Nature.

Until next time
P.S. Don’t miss out on future updates! Subscribe to the newsletter to stay in the loop.

Your boy is an influencer now 👀
If you're running an event rental biz and want your life to make sense:
👉 https://refer.goodshuffle.com/RamonLuna

Get $100 off your first year of Goodshuffle Pro. I get a small kickback and get to keep pretending I’m a tech-savvy small biz influencer. 😂 Win-win.

Small Biz Hack 💳
If you’re in growth mode and need some breathing room for big purchases, check this out: The Amex Blue Business Plus card has 12 months of 0% APR and comes with a 15k Membership Rewards bonus if you hit the spend threshold. Perfect for when you’ve got gear to buy but don’t want the financial sting all at once.
👉 https://americanexpress.com/en-us/referral/bluebusinessplus-credit-card?ref=RAMONLn23D&XLINK=MYCP

Of course, if you find a better deal for this or any other card, go with that — I’m just sharing my referral code in case it’s useful.