Simone Adams’s un-swerving focus on building a successful business has not distracted her from other worthwhile goals that she has set herself. Three years ago she parted company with an employer whom she had served for several years and, along with her husband Dwayne established Rent Right Party Service. It was, she says, the realization of an ambition “to work for myself.”
That, however, has not been her only preoccupation. Managing what she says is a demanding enterprise has had to take its place in queue that includes fulfilling a responsibility to a spouse and four children and pressing ahead with as yet unfulfilled academic ambitions. “It has not been easy,” she says.
The keys to what she has accomplished up until now are a determination to do well at the things that really matter, a demanding disposition and a preparedness to push herself hard.
From a modest beginning that focused on the rental of plastic and folding chairs, tables, tablecloths/linens, tents, food warmers, dinnerware & cutlery and what she says has been a family tradition of designing and baking cakes for all occasions, the establishment has expanded into a service that embraces the entire wedding industry. Rent Right now offers bridal chairs and arches, decorative columns, floral stands, chair covers, chair ties/sashes along with interior and exterior decorating of halls, tents and other accoutrements associated with receptions.
Modest beginnings are never without challenges and Simone says that the complications associated with engaging local financial institutions to secure the support that fitted the profile of the business she envisaged compelled her to resort to her own savings for startup capital. Still, she does not rule out knocking on the doors of the commercial banks in search of support for expansion in the future.
She concedes that her aptitude for multi-tasking sometimes takes its toll, but she points to her accomplishments as a worthwhile payback for her efforts. Her family is supportive and her enterprise, driven by a work ethic that commits the company to ensuring that no customer walks away with less than “a superlative service,” is growing steadily. As for her academic ambitions she has completed a Diploma in Marketing and a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management and is in the midst of tackling a Masters Degree in Business Administration.
Rent Right Party Service is part of an emerging sub-sector of a broader service sector. It embraces all of the various services that are in demand at weddings, parties, receptions and other public functions. Rent Right, Simone says, will provide whatever it takes to make your function the occasion you want it to be.
Simone concedes that it is the kind of enterprise that can only be rewarding if you have an aptitude for it. People who ‘hive off’ the responsibility of putting their public functions together – which responsibility invariably ranges from choosing the right tablecloths to decorating the venue – can be demanding. On the surface it might resemble no more than an exercise in ‘doing nice things,’ a notion that Simone is quick to dispel. She points out that when a client places their important functions in your hands, the responsibility of meeting their requirements can be particularly demanding. It is one of those undertakings that can have setbacks ranging from slight hiccups to unmitigated disasters.
She considers herself accomplished at the various tasks that comprise her vocation and also addresses the administrative aspects of the job, sitting down with clients, seeking to convert what they visualize into reality, visiting sites and sometimes trying to talk clients out of what might be ill-advised demands. Vision, creativity, forbearance and stamina are qualities that are required in abundance if you are to make a mark in the sector.
The challenge provides her with opportunities to immerse herself in her work; not only in setting tables and decoration halls but also in research pursuits that put her in touch with what the global industry has to offer.
Hardly one to hide her light under a bushel, Simone readily admits that business is good. Social change has meant that the market has grown beyond the traditional middle class. Working-class people too have a taste for the services that she provides. “It’s sometimes a matter of matching people’s tastes with what they can afford,” she says.
She reflects momentarily on the period in her earlier life that helped her prepare for her current pursuits. Her grandmother made cakes to order and that was where her experience began. Later, she attended the Carnegie School of Home Economics where she secured certification in Event Planning.
Growth and expansion are ambitions which, she says, will materialize with time. Three years is a relatively short time.
In the fullness of time she hopes to own her own bridal shop. Apart from the growing demand for services in the wedding industry, the pursuit will provide her with more opportunity to display the flair and the creativity which the industry affords. Meanwhile, Simone says she is enjoying both the self-fulfillment and the material returns from owning her own business.
