Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie Jennings.
Stephanie, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Back in 2010, my husband, Anthony, asked me what I wanted to do. I stated to him that I wanted to start an online clothing store. So, he says to me, well write up a business plan and I will help you. It took me a couple months to write the business plan, but I did, and he gave me $500 to begin. At the start of Eloisa’s Boutique, I had no idea about business, but I knew that I wanted to be my own boss. I didn’t do the proper research, I looked at it as a hobby/side job and didn’t think much of it and when things started to go wrong, I just exited the building.
Although my journey still felt very empty, I still felt in my heart and knew that I wanted to do something more, other than work for someone else. So, my husband Anthony, who is a serial thinker of money and my personal motivator, says again, let’s start a business. We’d looked into starting several different businesses and franchises, but nothing felt right for us. On one of our many weekend getaways, in September of 2015 we were in my favorite city New Orleans, we were walking down Canal Street toward Harrah’s Casino and seen a party bus pass us by full of people having fun, laughing, in good spirit. My husband and I immediately looked at each other and said, we should do that in Houston! It felt so right and good.
So, this party bus journey began, my husband who loves spending time online bidding on items on eBay, started his search for buses there. We had our first bus in October of 2015. It was a shuttle bus that we had converted into a party bus with the help of my late aunt Dixiana, who supported everything we did. As the bus was being converted, I started putting the website together, doing research on pricing, putting a contract in place, learning the rules and regulations of the business. One thing that I did notice about other party bus companies in the area was that they were pretty pricey. So, my husband and I used the information that we found and wanted to make our company, S and T ‘s Party Bus Houston a forced to be reckoned with by making our pricing competitive.
Our overall business model is, “The feel-good business model.”Imagine if you could build your business doing only what feels good to you, all the time. It is the simple idea of operating your business exclusively around your core strengths- the things you enjoy doing and do well.
My husband and I take the feel-good approach to our business because it allows us to be 100% our AUTHENTIC SELVES, that has been our business hack! We don’t get distracted by what others are doing, we distinguish our own set of criteria for what feels good to us and only spend time on the things that we are aligned with. That is our core strength and is the key to being successful. We are a unique blend of three things, we hone in on our gifts, we are authentic, and we attract the right group of customers who support our mission and integrate your personal and professional life!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
We faced obstacles such as finding used buses that were in great condition. Being in the transportation industry, we have learned that maintenance is key. We do just that, we constantly take our buses to our mechanic to ensure that our party buses are in tip top condition. We have replaced all AC’s on our buses to ensure that our customers can enjoy the full party bus experience even in this Houston, Texas heat. Along the way we made several mistakes, but our only option is to find a solution. One thing that we make sure it was that we give our customers the best experience possible, we pride ourselves in being a five-star business and making sure that all of our customers are 100% satisfied.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
We started with one bus in 2015 and by 2016 we had two buses, in total now we have six party buses ranging from 10 to 30 passenger party buses. The good thing about the party bus business is that my husband and I have a knack for hosting parties and making sure that others are having fun so being in the party bus business it has been pretty easy and has come naturally. We give a lot of our success to our community because I feel that they see that we give back throughout the year to different organizations and causes.
A few of the things that we do are: give free party bus rides to different women empowerment groups, we do complete makeovers with my nonprofit organization Flower Child Foundation for young ladies who can’t afford a prom dress or a party bus, we’ve also adopted a school through HISD and their strategic partnership program and do a back to school supply drive where we deliver the supplies on the party bus, as well as feed the homeless on our party bus is every Thanksgiving. We use our business as a platform to give back to the community and are thankful that we have been able to do just that.
We are known for, “Where the ride is better than the destination”! We specialize in providing a fun, safe and affordable form of transportation for any occasion. What we do the most of our quinceaneras, weddings, cruise transportation, bachelorette parties, night out, birthday parties, corporate events, bar hops, casino trips amongst many more.
What I’m most proud of for having a business is that I’m able to provide someone with a job/opportunity that can help them grow in life or to just be able to pay a bill. I have built a close rapport with our drivers and encourage them to do what they are passionate about.
What were you like growing up?
My grandmother Alva and step-grandfather Tim raised me, who taught me about trading stocks at 8 and my first computer to do so, mine you he made me out it together by myself. Growing up, I was a very inquisitive, I always questioned everything, I loved learning and I loved helping others. My neighbor friend and I would pick green beans and berries and sell them to our neighbors. I don’t know that they actually ate them, but they bought them. I laugh now because I feel like they did that out of straight pity.I spent a lot of time on their ranch helping fencing, feed their farm animals and cattling. I also spent a lot of time fishing in Port Aransas. I loved anything that had to do with being outdoors. A few of my favorite things to do were riding four wheelers, riding horses and being on the water. I am a country girl at heart but living the city life.
Pricing:
- 10-12 passengers for 3 hours is $385
- 15-20 passengers for 3 hours is $430
- 25-3” passengers for 4 hours is $540
- $100 deposit to book
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sandtspartybushouston.com
- Phone: 8329936659
- Email: info@sandtspartybushouston.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/sandtspartybushouston
- Facebook: wwww.facebook.com/sandtspartybushouston
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/sandtsparty
- Yelp: www.yelp.com/sandtspartybushouston
- Other: https://g.co/kgs/oH6PdV
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