THE HAPPY JACKS STORY
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Happy Jacks Play World is the culmination of 2 and half years of research and work. In the beginning we had been looking at purchasing an existing business but nothing ticked all the boxes, so eventually we decided to start something of our own from the ground up.
Our initial thoughts were based upon a 12-month time frame to have the business up and running; obviously this was not the case, having many obstacles to overcome along the way, not to mention a very steep learning curve.
Once we had made the decision that this was the business for us we then had to move from the concept to the reality (which is what you see today). After 3 weeks of hard work (and many drafts) we had our business plan to show viability of the idea in a practical situation, with this began the negotiation with the banks as to what we could hope to achieve.
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One of our first considerations was where to open the business. Having lived on the western side of Ballarat for many years we knew that there were no such services available here so we wanted to open in this area. Ideally we wanted to find an existing premises that we were able to fit-out for our purposes. This, in combination with beginning to look at the equipment we would put into the centre lead us to the realisation that there was nothing available in a suitable premises. The biggest hurdles were building size, location, roof clearance, on-site parking and zoning. As a result of this our decision was to find some suitable land and build a premises specifically to fit our needs.
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Skipping ahead a number of months and we had considered 3 possible locations, all with their pro’s and con’s. Once we had gone over everything we chose the current location in Icon Park. I guess this is when the work really began. Now that we had chosen the business, the location, the name and the bank we only had to organise the builder, the design and everything else required to create a fully functional indoor play centre.
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Obviously the delay in getting the centre up and running resulted in its fair share of stress and tension, what with raising a young daughter and both of us still working. To make a dream like this become a reality you soon realise what a valuble commodity time is, not to mention the support networks that you need to create.
One thing we found after visiting a number of other centres in Ballarat, other areas of Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland; in addition to extensive research on the internet and through speaking with different play equipment manufacturers was that Indoor Play Centres in purpose built premises are very rare; it’s an extensive project, finance was crucial.
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We certainly had more than one occasion where we wondered if we were doing the right thing, and considered calling it quits, but you get to a point where there is no going back; after puttng in so much for so long, you think, if we don’t do this what else do we do.
We’ve learned so much and done very extensive research, but we certainly wouldn’t have been able to get where we are today without the great support and help of both our families and also our siblings. It all comes down to having a good team of people behind you – not just your staff but your business support networks – the bank, accountant, financial advisor, business mentors, builders, architects, designers, contractors, equipment manufacturers/suppliers/installers – you are dependent on all these people so you need to make sure you have good ones, and we did.
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