Good Neighbor Podcast: Frisco

EP #69: Transforming Hardship to Joy: Lena Magenheimer's Journey with Jump City, Safety, and Community Spirit

• Sophia Yvette

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What makes Lena Magenheimer with Jump City a good neighbor?

Can a family business born out of adversity become a beacon of joy and community spirit? This episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast features Lana Magenheimer from Jump City, whose resilience and dedication transformed a personal challenge into a thriving enterprise of fun-filled party inflatables. Lena shares the compelling story of how Jump City began when her husband faced a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma diagnosis, and how they implemented rigorous safety measures, including annual state inspections and comprehensive insurance compliance, to ensure their customers' peace of mind. Her commitment to safety and customer care dispels the myths surrounding inflatable rentals, making Jump City a trusted name in their community.

Beyond the business, Lena opens up about her personal passions, from horse riding to CrossFit, which help her stay active and balanced. She emphasizes the importance of maintaining personal connections with her customers, a practice she upholds through a landline phone number that has been in use for 25 years. Her direct interactions with customers ensure a personalized experience, fostering a strong sense of trust and loyalty. Join us for an inspiring conversation that highlights the power of community support and the unwavering spirit behind Jump City, backed by glowing reviews and heartfelt customer stories.

To learn more about Jump City go to:
www.jumphouses.com

Jump City
972-539-5867

Speaker 1:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Sophia Yvette.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of rentable party inflatables? Surprisingly, one may be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to your neighbor, Lena Magenheimer, with Jump City. Lena, how are you doing today? I'm doing great. How are you? I'm great. We are so excited to learn all about you and Jump City. Can you tell us a bit about it?

Speaker 3:

Definitely. Jump City is a family-owned business, a small business, where rent inflatables, bounce houses, obstacle courses, slides, water slides in the summer games, popcorn, snow, cotton candy machines. We deliver them to parks, churches, schools, backyards. We are fully insured and state inspected, which is a state law that sets us apart from other inflatable companies that don't have insurance. But we do follow the state law 100 percent for our customer safety and, furthermore, every year in September we just had this done we set up all of our 60 inflatables for a state inspection and then inspector comes out, takes a picture of every unit. He will after, after that send it, sends it to our insurance company, the underwriter, and we get insured. So there is a big process involved in making sure that our inflatables are in great condition and that's what the inspector said after we passed our inspection a couple of weeks ago.

Speaker 2:

And how did you get into this business?

Speaker 3:

It actually was a necessity for my family because in 1999, 25 years ago, my husband, carl, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and sadly at that time the doctors only gave him three years. So we had four children at home and we had to think fast on our feet and my husband wanted to start something to help me finish raising our family. And he was actively involved and, lucky for us, and with all the treatments he actually lived 15 years. So we were able to grow our business from three basic bounce houses to over 60 units in our inventory right now. And my children, all my four children, grew up helping me in my business setting up, cleaning, driving, you name it. They went through colleges, all of them, and now they're independent adults, but they all have their own careers but they still come and help me, like my daughter, ashley flew from New York to be here on the inspection day to help me because she knows how busy and difficult this day for me.

Speaker 2:

Well, it sounds like you have an amazing family unit and I am so sorry for your loss. Let's go ahead and get into some of the myths or misconceptions in your industry. Can you name a few?

Speaker 3:

Inflatables sometimes are not safe, but they are safe. That's why we do the state inspection every year and we do have insurance and we watch the weather closely for every weekend. We have a lot of sources and resources to make sure the weather is beautiful and your inflatable will be anchored, set up safely. So, honestly, our customers don't have to worry about that, because we worry about that. Our insurance company stands behind us every action that we take and then, unfortunately, on the days like when the winds are over 25 to 30 miles per hour, if we have severe weather in the forecast, we do advise to cancel and reschedule. But in the big picture, inflatables are very safe. They just have to make sure the customers have to make sure they rent from a company like mine that does have insurance in place and passes a safety inspection every year.

Speaker 2:

Wow. And outside of work, what do you do for fun? Every.

Speaker 3:

Tuesday I actually go to my friend's ranch in Bartonville to unwind and I ride horses every Tuesday for a couple of hours. That's my day off, usually if we don't have any events or I don't have to do any cleaning, and I've been doing it for over 10 years.

Speaker 2:

Awesome. Any other hobbies that you have or anything like that, any?

Speaker 3:

other hobbies that you have or anything like that. Well, I actually still help my drivers deliver inflatables, so I have to stay in shape, so I also CrossFit.

Speaker 2:

Oh, sounds like you have quite the adventurous life, huh.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I stay busy every day.

Speaker 2:

Well, let's go ahead and change gears for a second, and I know you did touch on this a bit, but can you describe one hardship or life challenge? You rose above and can now say because of it, you're better and stronger.

Speaker 3:

It was actually yeah, it was definitely my family history and my husband's health. He was fighting cancer for 15 years and me and my kids were just taking it day by day to support him in his health journey and trying to grow our business, which we did. And looking back right now, I can truly say that that saying what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. It's really true. You just have to concentrate on the positives and do the best you can every day and just take it day by day.

Speaker 2:

And with going through such a difficult time in your life, what was the biggest thing that helped you push through it?

Speaker 3:

Honestly, I think it was my customers, because when my husband passed away it was a very difficult time and I remember waking up every morning really overwhelmed. But I remember that sense I was needed, I was needed, my customers needed me. I had to show up for parties and events and every time I show up it's basically a celebration. Everybody's happy to see me. So I think my business really helped me to get through the tough times in my life.

Speaker 2:

And what is the number one thing that you would like our listeners to remember when they think of Jump City?

Speaker 3:

That it's a family business and I really, really care about my business, that they can rest assured that the Jump House will arrive on time and clean, and actually we have over 300 five-star reviews on Google so to give them a peace of mind when they're searching for vendors for their parties or events, they can just go on Google and read our reviews.

Speaker 2:

And how can our listeners learn more about Jump City?

Speaker 3:

We do have a really good website. It's jumpcitycom, where we display all of our inflatables. When you click on each name of the unit you can read about and see pictures from Instagram. We are jumpcitydallas on Instagram and Facebook where I try to post pictures from Instagram. We are Jump City Dallas on Instagram and Facebook where I try to post pictures from actual events and the parties that we do, and we actually don't really have online booking. I love talking to my customers, so when they go on our website they will see a phone number that we started with 25 years ago and it's a landline. So I really love talking to my customers, so every time they call they'll talk to me, lena.

Speaker 2:

Well, lena, I do really appreciate you being on the show and we wish you and your business the best moving forward.

Speaker 3:

Thank you.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpfriscocom. That's gnpfriscocom, or call 469-221-9345.