When you live somewhere separated from the mainland, like the Isle of Skye in Scotland, you strongly rely on local services. This reliance leads to residents starting and maintaining high-quality businesses like Jan and Effie Nicolson. They started Jans over 50 years ago and have established a lasting business model. In the past few years, they have used Booqable to increase productivity and grow revenue.
Jans
Jan and Effie live on the Isle of Skye, a beautiful remote island off the coast of Scotland. There were a lot of challenges when it came to getting construction done, but they saw the opportunity to start a business. In 1972, they began Jans to support residents with the necessary equipment to build, renovate, extend, and more.
Now, over 50 years later, they offer various services, including equipment rentals, a hardware store, self-storage, and a cafe. Island residents can find almost everything they need to rent, from vans to excavators, scissor lifts, pressure washers, generators, power tools, cement mixers, scaffolding, and more. It also has a wide range of hardware that is available to purchase.
Throughout the business’ lifetime, Jan and Effie have become a cornerstone of the community, helping residents of all ages across the island. They have been able to overcome the challenges that being on a remote island brings and expanded their offering as the needs of the residents have evolved.
Being flexible
You don’t build a long-lasting business without being flexible and adapting to changing technology. Jans found themselves at a roadblock with the existing software they used to manage the rental side of the company. It wasn’t giving them the performance they needed to make the most of their equipment, especially at its price point. So, in 2021, they began searching for an alternative modern solution.
Their search led them to find Booqable, which helped them bring all their rental operations into a single system. They found the price extremely competitive for the value they were seeing. In addition, they find Booqable easy and intuitive to use with flexible solutions that meet their needs. It was also easier to train staff than the archaic system they had previously used.
Booqable also has features they desire for future growth and the direction the company is heading in. This includes the ability to offer self-service rentals through the website builder. This will enable them to accept bookings 24/7 and grow their revenue even more. Additionally, they plan to equip the team with tablets to use the mobile app.
Doubling revenue
Since 2021, Jans has doubled their revenue and plans to do the same again in the coming years. This will be assisted by implementing self-service bookings, which they look forward to offering soon. Doing so once is an impressive achievement, especially after 50 years of growth, but doing it again will be an almighty task.
