Company to Watch: Michael’s Party Rentals
This Entrepreneur Certainly Has Things Covered
It wasn’t really a question of if Michael Linton would start his own business, but when. Let’s just say it’s in his blood.“My father has owned a business since before I was born,” the 28-year-old owner of Michael’s Party Rentals (MPR) told BusinessWest. “His father owned a separate business, and his mother owned a different business from that. And my mother’s father owned a business.”
When he and his younger brother, Ryan, started the company called Party Tent Rental in 2000, they figured it would be a good seasonal and part-time job while going to college. For the sons of entrepreneurs, the idea for the business came with their sharp attention to detail: A neighbor rented what he thought would be a tent for his daughter’s backyard high-school graduation party. What showed up was a portable carport.
“We knew of other companies offering a tent of like size for similar rates,” Michael said. “So we took a photo of one of those tents, called up the manufacturer, and ordered one. We now had a legitimate tent instead of a carport. And that’s how it started. We used our father’s pickup truck, our parents’ garage, and we did it all ourselves; we never envisioned it becoming a full-fledged business.”
But just a few years later, Michael said that he came to the realization of how much the enterprise appealed to him.
“There was always something new,” he explained, “and it was different. When I started getting into renting the tables and chairs, the calls started coming in, and there was real growth. I knew it could be a long-term business.”
So in 2003, he bought out his brother, renamed the business, and hasn’t looked back since — because there hasn’t been any time for that.
From that one tent, MPR now has more than 60 in stock, along with the necessary tables and chairs, lights, dance floors … everything one needs to get the party started.
“We’re a one-stop shop for your events,” Linton said, “from backyard gatherings to weddings to commercial affairs.”
And while the term ‘no job is too big or small’ might be tossed around by others, Linton means it, and said that his experience has put that adage to the test. Smaller, one-man businesses out there are tough competition for his operation, he said, comparing them to his humble origins.
“When I started,” he said, “I had no overhead, and I was definitely the cheapest option around. But as I grew, I realized the importance of keeping a good crew, who needed health insurance, and who needed to make a living. I had to increase my rates.”
He proudly mentions his staff whenever talking about his business, and he gives them a great deal of credit for the company’s success. They work upwards of 80 hours a week during the peak season, and Linton said that they are there to help him with those ever-changing challenges to keep things interesting.
There was the time they had to set up in the Mullins Center in Amherst at 2 a.m. for the Glen Miller Orchestra, “because that was our timeline,” he said. And for a wedding of 450 at a soccer dome in Connecticut, he said there was a unique complication.
“When we got there with three box trucks filled with equipment,” he remembered, “we realized that everything had to be brought in through a 10-by-15- foot room, with either entryway door having to be closed, otherwise the dome would deflate.”
“It took much longer than we anticipated,” he admitted, “but it’s those challenges that make me enjoy coming to work every day.”
And they’re the reason for people to rely on him to make sure everything goes according to plan. Linton said that in an industry with so much competition for the bottom line, his experience and customer service set him apart.
“A lot of places don’t deliver seven days a week,” he said, “and we don’t charge extra for Sundays. For us, it’s a regular workday. Every prospective client has access to my cell-phone number, and when they call me, I answer. Even on a Saturday night, I’ll run out there and fix something if I have to.”
Linton said he feels very fortunate to be where he is today.
When making the first steps to take over from his brother, he said, “it was difficult at 20 to approach a commercial loan officer, having no credit and no experience. But I did get lucky. At a convention I met an investor who believed in me, and he loaned me the money to get started. My parents were also very helpful in lending me financial support, as they own the building I’m in. They paid my brother’s college education, and I got free rent for a year.
“When I first started, they helped out with more than just the checkbook,” he added. “My mother went out and helped me break down tents when I didn’t have anyone else.”
While the party-rental industry is inherently seasonal, ever-entrepreneurial Linton offered his means to address that challenge. It helps that wedding plans are made during the winter months, so deposits can be taken for the following season.
But he envisions branching out into linens, china, and what he called pipe and drape — for expos and convention set-ups, all to keep his crew employed through the year. “That crosses pretty closely to what we’re good at,” he said.
Ultimately, he never forgets the people who help keep him going forward, and he knows that his success isn’t just a party of one.
— Dan Chase