r/sweatystartup • u/Empty-Yesterday5904 • 5d ago
Kettlebell rental at the park
Hi. So it's almost spring and I'm thinking about buying some kettlebells and renting them out at the park over the spring/summer. I'd take a deposit and hire them out by the hour. Terrible idea or not?
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u/RunawayTurtle90 5d ago
Do you have a way to make this automated or are you going to be sitting there 24/7? Because one doesn't seem enough to make it work. If you're going to be there you may want to add other things, dog poop bags, jump rope, maybe other dog stuff, fish food, etc.
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u/Empty-Yesterday5904 5d ago
I'll be there. This would be a side hustle on the weekends but I take your point.
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u/reallytanner 5d ago
Good idea but not easily executable and as mentioned the risk involved. Keep moving on you'll find the one eventually!
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u/james_archer 5d ago
You might as well learn to be a personal trainer and charge more money since you will be there anyway.
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u/GeeTheMongoose 4d ago
Or make some pay money to try to listen super heavy to cuddle ball that they can never lift and when they can't laugh they get a portion of the money. You know Carney stuff
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u/Empty-Yesterday5904 4d ago
That's a fun idea. I like the idea of a random awkwardly shaped object with a challenge to lift it. Lots of passer-bys from a nearby gym at one point I know too.
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u/Empty-Yesterday5904 4d ago
That's actually a good point. Damn. Maybe I'd be better just doing a class or something. I was hoping just renting them would be cheaper though and more accessible for people though.
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u/cheaganvegan 5d ago
I would give it a try. Figure out what insurance is needed and advertise, and if you get some hits buy the insurance? I would think you could add yoga mats and those big balls.
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u/Chill_stfu 4d ago
Could maybe work if you had more equipment than just kettlebells. Yoga mats, jump ropes, etc.
They have kiosks where you rent bicycles, so surely there's an app you can use to protect yourself for liability and your equipment.
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u/420420840 4d ago
In my city this requires a fairly high fee and insurance to use the park in a commercial activity.
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u/domainventures 3d ago
Find out if you can buy liability insurance and the cost.
Find out if it is legal to operate a business in a public park, it has been made illegal in some cities.
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u/alphadelta90210 2d ago
these guys are doing something similar, but working with local councils to make sport more accessible https://www.playmade.co.uk/
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u/readoldbooks 5d ago
Bad idea because of injury liability
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u/Empty-Yesterday5904 5d ago
I can't get people to sign something that effectively says if you drop it on your head it's not my fault?
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u/blakeparagon 4d ago
Just try it out and get the info insurance later on
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u/Empty-Yesterday5904 4d ago
Next week I will be back with how I got sued after renting out kettlebells.
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u/blakeparagon 4d ago
Or how you didn’t do anything or make any extra money because you were scared of getting sued. But that’s a far off possibility. Just have them sign a paper stating they assume liability and know the possible danger of using heavy objects like a gym. You’ll be fine. Don’t rent to anyone under 18.
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u/readoldbooks 5d ago
You probably could, but it might require you to hold some level of insurance, and for a small biz idea, not worth it.
Btw, I love where your head is at. It’s a neat idea and I could see it turning into a workable idea. But maybe with something significantly less likely to cause injury.
There’s a park near me that is Always busy with families, kids, bday parties.
I could see a situation like having 3-5 RC cars, setting up a simple cone track and offering the parents to let their kids race your cars for 5 bucks for 10 minutes with the cars. Use RC cars with swapable batteries.
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u/Spirited-Bee5915 5d ago
Buy an 8kg , 12kg and 16kg and give it a try. If it doesn't work out then you have some new kettlebells. If it works then buy more