May 8, 2017

Meet Sara Coates of Fun Bus in Northwest Houston

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sara Coates.

Sara, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
About 5 years ago I started thinking that I might want to invest in a franchise. I started doing some research online but couldn’t find a good match for my interests and skills. One day I was talking on the phone with my sister who was telling me about a birthday party that she was having for my 3 year old niece…a party on the Fun Bus. I remembered the Fun Bus when my son was around that age and quickly looked up the information while I was still on the phone with my sister. There was only one other Fun Bus in all of Texas (in Dallas) and none in Houston. I knew I found the right business then and there. We have been up and running since spring of 2013.

Has it been a smooth road?
Funny you should use the term “smooth road” when it comes to a mobile business.

Never having owned a business before EVERYTHING was a challenge. Doing business out of a school bus provides its own unique challenges as well….learning to drive a bus, finding a mechanic who could fix the bus, etc.

Since the Fun Bus concept was new to the area I hit the ground running stopping into every preschool and child care facility I could find in Northwest Houston trying to explain what exactly a Fun Bus is. It isn’t easy to visualize how 15 children can get on a school bus to jump, bounce, swing and tumble. Sometimes I would walk into schools carrying huge poster boards covered in pictures and sometimes I would just pull that big green bus up to a school and ask if anyone wanted a “tour”.

We were lucky that a few schools took a chance on our concept and we started providing fitness classes in spring of 2013 to 4 schools. Today we provide classes to 15 schools weekly during the school year Sept – May and in-house camp field trips during the summer months. We also provide birthday parties on the weekends.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Fun Bus – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
During class our students work on balance, general strength, core strength and motor planning. We change our theme, layout and lesson plan weekly to keep class new and exciting for the children. We pride ourselves on teaching children that fitness is fun! To the kids they get to come aboard a big green bus to sing, dance and tumble but what they are really doing is taking turns, supporting their friends and moving their bodies. I just beam with pride when we pull up to a school and the kiddos yell “FUN BUS” and give us hugs. When I hear from parents that they appreciate and value what we are doing for their children I know we are making a difference.

Making a child’s birthday party different and unique is also one of the joys of this business. Seeing the birthday child and his/her guests waiting for us to pull up and seeing their faces light up when they board. Those moments are priceless.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I have been in Texas since 2009 and there is very little that I don’t love about Houston. I truly live by the saying “I wasn’t born in Texas but I got here as fast as I could”.

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