David Stillson hated cardboard boxes — and that frustration turned into a business.

When David and his wife Nikki needed to move, he went looking for a cheaper alternative to buying boxes and stumbled onto tote rental. For about $2,000, he bought a pallet of commercial logistics totes and dollies, used them for his own move, and started renting the rest. Their first customer needed totes to transport live coral from a 180-gallon fish tank. Their fourth rental was a 150-tote corporate order they didn't have the inventory to fill...yet.

Now they're running 380 totes out of their garage, hitting 61% utilization, and booked out weeks in advance with residential movers, real estate agents, and corporate clients.

In this episode, David covers:
→ How he researched and validated the idea using ChatGPT and competitor scraping
→ Why he chose commercial logistics totes over $7 Home Depot bins
→ The bundle pricing structure that makes it easy for customers to say yes
→ How in-person networking (and premium cookies) outperformed paid ads
→ Logistics of delivering, cleaning, and storing hundreds of totes from home
→ His advice for anyone who wants to start a rental side hustle this year

If you've been looking for a physical rental idea that's low drama, low loss risk, and easy to scale from your own driveway — this episode is for you.

Adam was one month from finishing college when he decided to start a tent rental company. He maxed out credit cards, cashed in birthday bonds, bought three tents, and advertised in the Yellow Pages and the local Penny Saver. That was 22 years ago.

Today Adam runs a full party rental operation in upstate New York, tents, tables and chairs, dance floors, lighting, restroom trailers, and more, generating at least $200K per year from tents alone. His framework for the whole business: the tent is just the bread. The money is in everything under it.

This episode is packed with hard-won perspective: how to price equipment so you break even in 10 rentals, why Google Ads is the only marketing channel that makes sense for event rentals, when to say no to a revenue stream that's making your life miserable, how to use efficiency equipment to double your profit without adding a single job, and why he's made an estimated $300K in mistakes — so you don't have to.

What you'll learn

• Why Adam started with 3 tents on credit cards right out of college
• The "tent is just the bread" framework and everything under it is the real money
• Target payback: recover your equipment cost within 10 rentals
• Why he dropped $150K/year in catering revenue and doesn't regret it
• Google Ads as the only marketing that works for event rental (search-based business)
• Using Facebook Reels to reach people who don't know restroom trailers exist
• Efficiency equipment: how Adam cut tent setup time from 4–5 hours to under 2
• Profit margins: up to 30% if you run efficiently, closer to 12% if you don't
• Renting trucks seasonally instead of buying them
• The $300K in mistakes — and the credit card processor that cost him $90K over 6 years
• Why rentals are one of the few businesses where you can bootstrap to millionaire status

Timestamps

• [0:00] How Adam got started: one month before college graduation
• [2:00] First years: Yellow Pages, Penny Saver, mom's SUV
• [4:00] Why nothing went wrong early and when it started getting hard
• [5:00] The tent count question: why 30 tents isn't the right gauge
• [6:00] What he actually rents: tents, tables, chairs, dance floors, restroom trailers
• [8:00] Dropping catering equipment: $150K revenue that wasn't worth it
• [9:00] Customer acquisition: Google Ads only for tents, Reels for restroom trailers
• [12:00] Still working crew lead and the company culture advantage
• [13:00] 10-rental payback framework for pricing equipment
• [15:00] Setup equipment: from hammers to powered hand carts and stake pullers
• [19:00] Revenue: $200K/year from tents, over $1M lifetime in tents
• [20:00] Getting started revenue: $20–25K cash at age 22–23
• [22:00] Profit margins: 30% efficient, 12% inefficient
• [23:00] Weather as the biggest ongoing challenge
• [29:00] The $300K in mistakes including $90K in credit card fees over 6 years
• [31:00] "Rentals are one of the few businesses where you can bootstrap to millionaire"
• [32:00] Famous Four Questions

Find Out More

• YouTube: The Tent Guy (free — covers ~80% of the business)
• startapartyrentalcompany.com (course)
• TikTok: @realworldsidehustles