Niklas Nyström has spent years working in theater and performing with bands, and along the way he built up a collection of equipment, tools, and gear that mostly sat in storage between gigs. He started renting pieces out to friends and acquaintances, and it wasn’t long before he wondered if he could reach a wider audience. That thinking became Hobby Rent, based in Finland.
Today, Hobby Rent’s most popular items are party coolers, sound equipment, karaoke machines, disco lights, and folding tables and chairs, basically everything someone needs to throw a good party. Consumers make up the bulk of the customer base, and Niklas used Booqable’s rental website builder to put together his rental store, so people can browse and reserve what they need without any back-and-forth.
Before settling on a rental management system, he ran things by email, calendar, and a basic webshop. Quotes went out one at a time, and invoicing was something he chased manually. He chose Booqable to handle both the back-office side of the business and the booking platform customers see, leaning especially on the quoting and invoicing tools to keep things moving.
Getting a proper paper trail with quotes
Before Booqable, there was nothing formal tying a booking to the terms both sides had agreed to. If a customer damaged something or kept it past the return date, Niklas had no document to point back to. That gap made every rental feel a bit like a handshake deal, which is fine with friends but not something you can build a business on.
With Booqable, Niklas can send customers clear rental documents outlining what they’re renting and under what terms, and request an electronic signature before the equipment leaves his storage. As he put it in his own words, “Now the customer gets a clear contract stating what was rented and under what terms.”
That one change has done a few things for Hobby Rent:
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Every rental can have a signed record of what went out, when, and under what conditions
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Disputes over damage or late returns have a document to fall back on
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Customers have a clear record of the rental terms they’ve agreed to
Niklas no longer has to rely on memory or a string of emails to prove what was agreed. If a question comes up about a booking, the contract is right there.
Getting paid without chasing anyone down
Invoicing was one of the things Niklas named outright as a challenge before Booqable, alongside inventory tracking and the booking calendar. Managing invoices manually added another task to an already hands-on rental process.
Booqable gives Niklas a much cleaner way to manage invoicing and payments alongside his bookings. He can create invoices, keep payment information connected to each order, and accept credit card payments, which he called out as one of his favorite parts of the system.
The impact is a simpler payment process:
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Customers have a straightforward way to pay for their rentals
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Payment information stays connected to each order
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Niklas can spend less time manually keeping track of invoices and outstanding payments
For a business Niklas is still running around his other work, that time back matters. Spending less time managing invoices means one less thing pulling his attention away from the next booking.
From side hustle to something bigger
Bookings, invoicing, contracts, and inventory now all run through one system, and Niklas says the difference has been massive. “The overall package has made it possible for us to start developing operations in a more professional direction,” he said, adding that he’s even started thinking about whether Hobby Rent still fits as a name now that it’s grown past being just a hobby.
He’s hoping to eventually open a proper pickup and showroom space, and his long-term goal is to turn Hobby Rent into full-time work for himself and one or two others. With more of the rental process managed through Booqable, he’s spending less time on equipment rental admin and more time figuring out what comes next for the business.
