Raising the Roof: A Roof Tent Rental Side Hustle

We are brother and sister who love the outdoors and exploring what the beautiful world has to offer us right on our doorstep. Grass Roots Rentals is a roof tent rental company based in Scotland offering other adventure seekers the option to hire a roof tent, roof bars, and camping equipment for their next trip out into the countryside.

We both have loved camping as kids and exploring the countryside. So, once we were older and could drive we decided to look more into the idea of roof tents for a more luxurious, comfy way of camping. After investing in a cheaper version, we realised that we loved it so much but wanted to upgrade to a higher spec version which would be comfier and even quicker to set up and take down. The biggest issue with roof tents being the initial cost and storage we realised that we wouldn’t be the only ones with this problem, and it was stopping people being able to experience camping in this new, more comfortable style. We were lucky enough to have some space to store the tents so we decided that we would try start a business to allow others to forget about those issues, enjoy the good bits, and just plan their next adventure.

- Your main customers aren’t always the audience you initially think they’ll be. We estimated our target audience, however, as rentals have progressed, we’ve seen a larger traction in a different target audience which was unexpected. Additionally, where people find you. Once being aware to this new audience it was important that we used appropriate channels that catered for that demographic.

- Every step is progress in your business no matter how small. The year goes quickly so having goals set for reviewing in a year’s time really helps you see where you’ve come from.

- Try not to reinvent the wheel but instead look at how you can do it well or better than competitors. What’s your unique selling point?

- Don’t hold your ideas fully into your chest. Share your ideas and plans with you family and friends as there is probably someone in your circle that can help you in some shape or form.

- A lot of our business has come through word of mouth however we put time into our SEO on Google to help our discoverability. This has meant customers have found us just by searching ‘roof tent rentals near me’ and we are up at the top of suggestions.

- Instagram and Facebook are the social media channels we use to create content and to help educate followers on camping tips or provide information.

- We have used marketing promotions in the past on Instagram and Facebook to get some more traction on posts. This has proven beneficial and the couple of orders we have had through these promotions has paid themselves off.

- Providing a seasonal offer was our most recent marketing example. We did a February offer to lock in rentals for the year of 2024, helping us set up before the camping season commenced.

- We have also reached out to a couple local Instagram influencers to see if they would take out our products to post on their channel to help stretch out our social reach.

- Rental websites are not common templates if you’re managing the website yourself on the likes of Wix or Squarespace. So, we would recommend building one from scratch or finding one you could buy or get a developer to build one for you. Otherwise, look at alternative ways of booking to get you started like email bookings. This is a much more manual process but okay initially.

- Try and watch out for paying lots on monthly bills for the likes of plugins on websites and other fees as some rentals can be very seasonal.

- Make sure you know your products well. We find a lot of people coming to hire love to talk about the tents, what they can do etc. We love it because we love to talk about them too.

- With all larger rentals you want to be taking some sort of deposit. The only way to do this on a small scale without monthly fees is by getting them to pay it into your account through some sort of payment system or bank transfer. However, once your business begins to take off or you need to take larger deposits you have to look into pre-authorisation payments. These can only be done with certain payment systems, and all come with monthly fees. Do your research, do your maths, and see what works best for you. Sometimes contacting your own business bank is a great way to start.

We can be found on;

Facebook: Grass Roots Rentals

Instagram: @grassrootsrentals

Website: www.grassrootsrentals.co.uk