0202: Building Your Business to Last with Patina Rentals
Nearly a decade after Corrin Arasa started NYC’s Patina Rentals, we hear how she built a business that has not only lasted but flourished. Enjoy an inside look into one of the country’s most talked-about event rental businesses.
What’s in this episode:
- How to build a work culture that empowers your staff long-term
- Patina’s famous roller skating parties, and how those started
- The rent-ready guidelines Patina uses for their vintage furniture
- Pricing your work in a way that builds self-respect and client acclaim
- Selecting and organizing a warehouse in the Big Apple
- Getting creative with business marketing
Quotes:
“I had this house filled with cool vintage things, and I said - ‘Oh, I can rent! I can use those chairs!’” - Corrin Arasa
“Everything that we have today is built up on those relationships we made early on.” - Corrin Arasa
“What I realized was that those were going to be the early adopters… corporate. Although there are so many interesting things that you can do experientially and activation-wise, the wedding market was ready to adopt what we were doing and was really excited about it.” - Corrin Arasa
“It is a very lonely thing being an entrepreneur sometimes, and so it’s nice to have a community of people to bounce your ideas around with.” - Corrin Arasa
“I built a business plan and a business model and a mantra and values... and everything that was really based on scaling and having work-life balance and bringing other people in.” - Corrin Arasa
“While we eventually got to where I wanted to be, and we’re still going, there were so many starts and stops along the way.” - Corrin Arasa
“It was really intentional letting go to grow and realizing my skill set and my time is going to be far, far better spent on mentoring other people and working on the business rather than doing it myself. Because they’re going to come with new ideas. They might not have done it exactly the same way that I do it-- they might do it better. They might come up with a new way to do it. And there are so many smart and talented people out there who can bring so much to the table. Maybe if it doesn’t go off exactly well, we’ll lose a client but it’s not about that. It’s really about building bigger so that we can all be better and learn and experience these things and improve the company overall.” -Corrin Arasa
“I was pricing for me and now we’re pricing to help the client understand their budgets a little better.” -Corrin Arasa
“They needed content, and we needed content. And so we kind of gave them a cocktail and blasted the music, and sent them around the warehouse, and then told them to come back and create this design in an hour.” - Corrin Arasa
Resources:
The E Myth by Michael E. Gerber
Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
The RW Elephant mailing list features more event industry resources and happenings—including announcements about new Trunk Show episodes!
Thank you to our sponsor:
RW Elephant: Mighty inventory management software designed to help you conquer chaos and reclaim your creativity!
And our guest:
Corrin Arasa of Patina Rentals
