September 21, 2025 – Daily Recap

The Long Drive
Today I only had one job, but it completely reshaped how I look at things. I drove over an hour—64 miles to be exact—for a wedding reception delivery. This was the job I thought I’d priced too high for the customer to ever accept. Turns out, they were all in.

The order itself? Pretty basic: 50 white resin chairs, 4 cocktail tables, and 6 eight-foot tables. The rentals totaled around $450, but with the distance and Sunday pickup factored in, the invoice ballooned to a little over $1,100. No setup required (thank goodness), but that drive and turnaround still ate up my whole day.

The Math Problem
Here’s where it got tricky. I ran everything through my profit tracker, and the margins came in under 60%. That’s me doing the job solo and not even paying myself. If I’d hired help, margins would’ve dipped below 50%.

The kicker? The job was 2 hours round trip plus about 30 minutes onsite to drop off, and the same again for pickup. Altogether, 5 hours invested. For a quick gig, that kind of math doesn’t sit right with me.

This type of job definitely won’t be the norm for Peachy Party ATL.

The Chair Struggle
Oh, and let’s talk about those white resin chairs. Every single time, they come back dusty or marked up, which means more cleaning on my end. It’s becoming the thorn in my side. I was so frustrated today that I updated my profit calculator to build in a bigger buffer for cleaning and admin. Unfortunately, those updates weren’t in play for this job, so the true cost still bites.

New Systems on the Horizon
Today pushed me to start working on a new template to track driving costs more accurately. If I’m going to keep doing longer-distance gigs, I need to know exactly what I’m making (and not making).

Sometimes, one job is all it takes to shine a light on the gaps in your system. Today was definitely one of those days.

Until next time
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