By Megan McComas
Sales & Event Marketing Coordinator, Discover Carbon County Wyoming
Looking for a business idea but need help figuring out where to start? Let me suggest opportunities for you!
After visiting Seminoe this weekend, I thought about how great a business venture would be to open a rental business on the lake. It was the 4th of July weekend, and the lake’s resident Boat Club and the State Park were filled with people enjoying the sun, lake, and America’s birthday. I had just gone up for a drive around the lake to experience it for the first time since moving to this fantastic county, and I had no intention of getting in the water; therefore, I did not bring anything with me, no stand-up paddle boards, no kayaks, no Intertubes, nothing. I must say I got severe FOMO while I watched speed boats whizzing by with cheering kids on intertubes, hitting the wakes the boat made while pulling them. If someone had been renting out anything that could get me on the water, I would be all over that, and I know I cannot be the only one.
Other lakes in the state often have rental businesses available, which are usually popular among visitors. Looking at companies nationwide, you can see rental businesses renting out the following equipment; motorboats, flat bottom boats, fishing poles, single kayaks, double kayaks, swimsuits (or even to buy), Intertubes, canoes, stand-up paddleboards, jet skis, and so much more. Across the country, similar rental companies prepared to “sell out” of their rentals as people flocked to the water. One company, Texas Rowing Center, interviewed with MSN before this past weekend started and stated they were stocking 500 paddleboards and 250 kayaks to rent. Could you imagine the response to a business like this on Wyoming’s third-largest man-made lake? These businesses profit from purchasing a piece of outdoor recreation equipment, then renting it for an hourly or daily fee. Thus, they earn back what they bought the equipment for, plus an extra profit.
Businesses like this are thriving, and more are opening nationwide because COVID forced people to experience the outdoors, and they fell in love with it! According to a Penn State research article, almost half of the United States population is now participating in some form of outdoor recreation on at LEAST a monthly basis, and about 20% of the half are new or newer to outdoor recreation. Carbon County is a treasure trove for outdoor recreation, and Wyoming Outdoor Adventures in Saratoga has jumped on the rental wagon and have been doing excellent work. Seminoe is another market waiting for someone to fill this niche!
If you make a place that people like to visit, you make a place that people like to live. Carbon County is now a large part of my heart, and I want to see it succeed to its fullest potential.
Author Bio
Megan McComas, an Organizational Management graduate from Western Wyoming Community College’s class of 2023, has far too many ideas and too little time to complete all of them. She writes these weekly articles to give people ideas on businesses that she thinks would benefit the county and encourages people to steal the concepts and make them a reality. She doesn’t claim responsibility once the idea leaves the pages of this paper; she wants to give her ideas to someone that can make them happen, and that is where her part ends. So go ahead and take this idea of the vision board.
