Shownotes
The Business of Balloons
When Mireya identified her love for balloons [4:40] Learning the craft [5:27] What drives Mireya’s passion for balloons [6:44] An emotional balloon moment [8:48] Legalities behind balloon designing [12:41]Candle Flickering Moments
Getting her business license and claiming her name proved to be more than Mireya expected [15:39] What to do when the imposter questions start up [18:36] You should fight for what you love [22:14]Business Building Insights
The reason why you want to be certified in your craft [10:02] Getting your first customer and growing from there [23:16] Facebook ads and more [26:12] Progressing into teaching the craft of balloon design [29:02]Success Trait
Being a creator and having the talent to make things [32:20]Recommended Reading and Listening
I Declare: 31 Promises to Speak Over Your Life by Joel Osleen
Contact Links
Website Facebook Instagram Twitter LinkedInIf you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe and leave a review in Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. That helps us spread the word to more makers just like you. Thanks! Sue
Transcripts
Thanks for joining me.
Speaker:This is gift biz unwrapped episode 89.
Speaker:Thank you,
Speaker:Bob. Just fight,
Speaker:fight for what you love and you can accomplish many things.
Speaker:Hi, this is John Lee,
Speaker:Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,
Speaker:and you're listening to give to biz unwrap,
Speaker:and now it's time to light it.
Speaker:Welcome to gift bears on wrapped your source for industry specific
Speaker:insights and advice to develop and grow your business.
Speaker:And now here's your host,
Speaker:Sue Mona height.
Speaker:Hi there.
Speaker:I'm Sue and welcome to the gift biz unwrapped podcast.
Speaker:Whether you own a brick and mortar store sell online or
Speaker:are just getting started,
Speaker:you'll discover new insights to gain traction and to grow your
Speaker:business. And today I have joining us by Raya
She is a certified balloon artist and a master certified party
Speaker:decorator. She's been working in the balloon industry for seven years
Speaker:and received her certification a couple of years ago.
Speaker:In 2014,
Speaker:Maria recently started her home based business and is working full
Speaker:time doing balloon decor.
Speaker:I ran into Maria at the America's baking and sweet show.
Speaker:She was selected to do the decor for the show and
Speaker:it caught my eye.
Speaker:So after talking with her,
Speaker:I knew I wanted to have her on this podcast.
Speaker:And that is why we're getting an opportunity to talk with
Speaker:her today.
Speaker:Welcome to the show,
Speaker:Maria. Hi.
Speaker:So how are you?
Speaker:Thank you for having me.
Speaker:I'm a great,
Speaker:and I am thrilled that we were able to make this
Speaker:work right around the holidays too.
Speaker:So that's kind of fun.
Speaker:Yeah. It's going to be fun.
Speaker:It's kind of busy,
Speaker:but it's going to be fun.
Speaker:As our listeners know,
Speaker:we like to learn something more about you in a different
Speaker:way, and that is by having you describe your motivational candle.
Speaker:So if you were to help us envision what that would
Speaker:look like,
Speaker:what color and what would be the quote on your candle
Speaker:like Kendall,
Speaker:what color will be blue?
Speaker:I love colored blue.
Speaker:It makes me feel gray.
Speaker:When I have it add,
Speaker:is it Navy blue or Royal or light blue?
Speaker:What color?
Speaker:Royal blue.
Speaker:Royal. Okay.
Speaker:Royal blue.
Speaker:I think it's a wonderful color.
Speaker:And as someone there to me,
Speaker:he asked me to research what the color means.
Speaker:And I was looking at the color.
Speaker:It says the blue is the color of the sky and
Speaker:see in license,
Speaker:trust, loyalty,
Speaker:wisdom, confidence,
Speaker:and all these days pay cut to me because I'm loyal.
Speaker:I don't want to sound considered or anything like that,
Speaker:but people tend to trust me.
Speaker:And I have a lot of friends that they can count
Speaker:on me.
Speaker:So the blue,
Speaker:it really represents me.
Speaker:So that will be my color.
Speaker:And my motivational quote,
Speaker:it's put your heart might insult even into the smallest act.
Speaker:That is the secret of success.
Speaker:Do you use that with your balloon and your decor company?
Speaker:Yes. I always do it.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:everything that I do,
Speaker:I try to do the best that I can.
Speaker:And every decorations that I do,
Speaker:every event,
Speaker:I put my heart on it and my soul,
Speaker:because this is something that I love to do.
Speaker:I want my stuff to reflect everything that I do and
Speaker:everything that I love in every decoration that I do.
Speaker:Oh, that at the show,
Speaker:because I remember the show was already up and you had
Speaker:the balloons all over.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:she had gift biz listeners.
Speaker:She had like tears,
Speaker:like towers of balloons,
Speaker:kind of like almost lamp posts.
Speaker:And then she had wall art of balloons.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:they were just balloons everywhere.
Speaker:It was beautiful.
Speaker:And I remember one morning,
Speaker:so this was after the show had already started.
Speaker:I saw you,
Speaker:I don't know if you were fixing one of the displays
Speaker:or you were making another one,
Speaker:but you could just tell the dedication and the time you
Speaker:were putting in.
Speaker:Yeah, I was actually fixing it because some of the balloons
Speaker:do that tends to deflate or something.
Speaker:So I wanted to stay there.
Speaker:They gave me the opportunity to stay in the show,
Speaker:put a booth or just come back and walk around.
Speaker:So I decided to stay because I wanted to everything to
Speaker:look perfect.
Speaker:And when I was walking around,
Speaker:I also some of the balloons deflated.
Speaker:So I decided to fix them right away before the people
Speaker:start coming a no,
Speaker:I want them to see something nice.
Speaker:Not something that they're going to say the flight and say,
Speaker:huh, there's another balloon right there.
Speaker:Yep. See,
Speaker:there's the example Putting in your heart,
Speaker:mind and soul right into every little thing.
Speaker:Perfect. Yeah.
Speaker:Even the smallest act.
Speaker:Yeah. Right.
Speaker:Maria, let's talk about how the whole balloon thing happened for
Speaker:you. What drew you initially to balloons and how did this
Speaker:idea of a business get started?
Speaker:Well, it was a long time ago.
Speaker:I learned about this balloon artist is from Texas.
Speaker:He does this amazing things and I was looking at all
Speaker:his works and art was actually at what he does with
Speaker:balloons. And it was more does the average Reno balloons taped
Speaker:to the wall?
Speaker:Like we used to,
Speaker:when we do parties,
Speaker:well, my family,
Speaker:they use the wall and that was at the curation with
Speaker:balloons that we knew this may have this amazing arrangements,
Speaker:wood, carrots,
Speaker:arches. And so on that,
Speaker:I was so amazed to see all these wonderful things that
Speaker:you could do with balloons.
Speaker:Where'd you see him?
Speaker:I saw him in a magazine that it's about balloons because
Speaker:images and he was there and I just saw his speeches.
Speaker:And that's when I fall in love.
Speaker:I started to learn on my own because there was really
Speaker:not, no one giving classes or there wasn't a lot on
Speaker:YouTube. Like we always start.
Speaker:So I started trying to imitate what he was doing to
Speaker:the pictures and the little by little,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:here and there,
Speaker:I started doing blooms.
Speaker:Then I decorated for my 25th wedding anniversary.
Speaker:It was something simple.
Speaker:It wasn't the greatest.
Speaker:So were you doing it initially,
Speaker:just because you wanted to make the decorations for family events
Speaker:more beautiful or were you already thinking with an a business?
Speaker:I was just trying to drift for my family and not
Speaker:myself, my little kids at the time.
Speaker:So I continued to learn on my own.
Speaker:And then one day when my daughter turned 16,
Speaker:she asked me if I could decorate for her six 16th.
Speaker:And I say yes.
Speaker:So I tried to practice and I practice a little bit
Speaker:more, so everything could actually look nice.
Speaker:And when I was sweating,
Speaker:I was doing notice the creations.
Speaker:That's the moment that he hits me.
Speaker:You, I realize this is what I want to do.
Speaker:This is what I love to do.
Speaker:So I continued to educate myself and I began taking classes,
Speaker:became a certified Petit decorator.
Speaker:And that was only the beginning.
Speaker:So when you were doing this for your daughter's sweet 16,
Speaker:what was it that you loved so much about the balloon
Speaker:decor? We went into this little rental place,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:where people had parties and whatever it wasn't the greatest.
Speaker:So when I started trying to put up towers here and
Speaker:there and the cornice on the ceilings put in flowers,
Speaker:woodcuts, and
and I saw had a place to transform.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:it wasn't the average place anymore.
Speaker:I could see like,
Speaker:wow, with the blooms,
Speaker:everything conscious is not the same place in a way.
Speaker:It gives them a different,
Speaker:feel, a different look.
Speaker:That's what it grabbed me.
Speaker:And that was an hour.
Speaker:Cause I was thinking,
Speaker:wow, you can do all these things.
Speaker:Imagine what you can do doing more than just,
Speaker:this is a place,
Speaker:a small place.
Speaker:But if you put loans,
Speaker:everything changes and everybody loves for loans.
Speaker:I haven't met some,
Speaker:one that doesn't love me loans.
Speaker:Well, and you know,
Speaker:I don't know much about the craft,
Speaker:but I'm thinking that you have to do it all on
Speaker:premise. Right?
Speaker:When you're decorating,
Speaker:you have to start with all the balloons deflated because there's
Speaker:no way you could bring everything in your car.
Speaker:Yes, we do it on site and I drive on main
Speaker:event. So when there's such like a big job,
Speaker:I do inflate some of the balloons in my house.
Speaker:So my brain is full of loans and the rest we
Speaker:do it outside because some venues,
Speaker:they only give you like two hours to decorate.
Speaker:And sometimes that's not enough time.
Speaker:Okay. So you can do a little bit beforehand,
Speaker:but most of it has to be done on site.
Speaker:So there's not a lot of room for error,
Speaker:apparently, Literally there's No.
Speaker:No. All right.
Speaker:So you see that this is something that you're interested in.
Speaker:You like the fact and you know,
Speaker:your whole point about that.
Speaker:It makes the room different.
Speaker:I would suggest that when you have a place that's festive
Speaker:and colorful,
Speaker:it sets the tone for the whole party because people come
Speaker:in and they're like,
Speaker:they've got the wow factor.
Speaker:It automatically puts a smile on their face and you're already
Speaker:set up to have a great event.
Speaker:Yes they do.
Speaker:I had this little six,
Speaker:16, actually.
Speaker:It was a quinceanera for one of my friends who daughter.
Speaker:And when she went North,
Speaker:she had her ceremony and she got into the ballroom.
Speaker:She had literally started crying and it was right on her.
Speaker:But you forget about everything else.
Speaker:And she ran to me,
Speaker:she had me and she was like,
Speaker:Oh my God,
Speaker:thank you so much.
Speaker:This looks amazing.
Speaker:And I couldn't believe it.
Speaker:And she was still crying,
Speaker:her makeup running down.
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:sweetie, I did it for you.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I love you.
Speaker:She's my best friend's daughter.
Speaker:And it's a wonderful feeling when you see people.
Speaker:And then our,
Speaker:when they point to a room and they see friends formed
Speaker:because of all the balloons and they never tell you can
Speaker:do the things that we do with Xeljanz.
Speaker:It's not just stay to the water anymore.
Speaker:It's times like that,
Speaker:that really ground what you're doing and make you feel so
Speaker:happy about it.
Speaker:Yes, it is.
Speaker:It's An amazing feeling.
Speaker:I want to Continue on with your story.
Speaker:So you saw that this was something that you wanted to
Speaker:do and you looked and followed and started training yourself.
Speaker:At what point did you decide and why did you decide
Speaker:that you needed to be certified?
Speaker:Ask her a few years.
Speaker:And I started doing that.
Speaker:I learned about the
quality checks.
Speaker:And I sit there with that certifications,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:it opened doors to you because it's something that is prestigious.
Speaker:I noticed that people asked me,
Speaker:do you have any kind of certificates or education or something
Speaker:like that?
Speaker:So you can do this.
Speaker:Yeah. What satisfies you to do this job?
Speaker:Because I was a certified party decorator,
Speaker:but not a balloon artist.
so there was this company that they wanted me to do
Speaker:this job.
Speaker:And they say,
Speaker:are you certified to be a balloon artist?
Speaker:And they're like,
Speaker:not really.
Speaker:I'm not understanding what you're asking me.
Speaker:So they actually,
Speaker:this company explain me what a balloon artist was.
Speaker:It wasn't a balloon.
Speaker:They created it.
Speaker:Wasn't the same thing.
Speaker:So they told me,
Speaker:you know what,
Speaker:I'm going to give you this job,
Speaker:look into it.
Speaker:Then we continue to working with you.
Speaker:I wanted to Google.
Speaker:Of course,
Speaker:everybody goes into Google and they find out what I said
Speaker:was I took the training.
Speaker:It took me three months to complete it.
Speaker:Then I took my test.
Speaker:It's a four hours long test.
Speaker:It's kind of difficult that talks about our business.
Speaker:It talks about my finances is not only does balloons.
Speaker:Oh, interesting rules about the industry,
Speaker:how they use helium,
Speaker:the laws did there,
Speaker:there's a law about balloons.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:there's different things that people don't think about that.
Speaker:So that's when I decided,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:what, if I'm going to do this,
Speaker:I'm going to do it the right way,
Speaker:because that's what I believe is you're going to do something
Speaker:right. Or don't do it.
Speaker:Right. So I told my husband that I was going to
Speaker:get this certificate,
Speaker:that I was going to become a Lumeris.
Speaker:And from there,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I continue my certification.
Speaker:I pass the test,
Speaker:thank God.
Speaker:And everything from there,
Speaker:it's been a roller coaster.
Speaker:It's been great.
Speaker:Wonderful. So I like the fact that You're talking about you.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:you were going to make it a serious business.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:you could think balloons are so lighthearted and fun.
Speaker:I would have never considered some of the things that you
Speaker:just talked about here in terms of certified balloon artists.
Speaker:Part of that is the business side,
Speaker:but legalities behind balloons.
Speaker:And of course,
Speaker:helium, I would have never considered.
Speaker:And I'm sure some of the events that you're doing,
Speaker:like the America's bacon and sweet show,
Speaker:you had to have that type of a certification to even
Speaker:work. One of those shows.
Speaker:Yes you do.
Speaker:Actually, because I say I have my own business,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I have all my license.
Speaker:I have to have insurance,
Speaker:right. Insurance,
Speaker:personal insurance.
Speaker:And I have to have all my licensing and there's laws.
Speaker:Like I was saying that I have no,
Speaker:I have to follow because if something happens that will come
Speaker:against me.
Speaker:The good thing about the baking and pastry,
Speaker:they didn't ask me for any helium,
Speaker:which it was good.
Speaker:But when you have to work with helium,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:that's a total different thing.
Speaker:How to handle the tank.
Speaker:You know how to handle the ball,
Speaker:how to put it in a safe place.
Speaker:Had I not let people play with them with that,
Speaker:explain them that the helium is not for you to inhale
Speaker:because it's a very dangerous thing.
Speaker:Their SLOs about how to tie the balloons.
Speaker:There's so many different things that I could never imagine what
Speaker:I can put myself into it.
Speaker:But now that I know about it,
Speaker:I just love it.
Speaker:I love loans.
Speaker:I love working with balloons.
Speaker:I love everything that has to do with that's so fun.
Speaker:You actually formed your business.
Speaker:A couple of years ago,
Speaker:you were working with balloons for seven years and you started
Speaker:your business.
Speaker:How long ago?
Speaker:My business is going to be two years,
Speaker:but I was working like full time or maybe just getting
Speaker:pay actually for balloons is going to be four and a
Speaker:half years.
Speaker:Okay. All right.
Speaker:Do you know which friends and families at the beginning,
Speaker:I stayed with my family,
Speaker:which of course it was free.
Speaker:Then I decided I'm going to start charging because material costs.
Speaker:So about four years and a half,
Speaker:no, I actually started letting people know that I was doing
Speaker:balloon decorations.
Speaker:And it's good that you started with your family because that
Speaker:way you could perfect what you were doing.
Speaker:You could practice perfect,
Speaker:everything. So that then as you started advancing towards having a
Speaker:business where you're actually going to charge people,
Speaker:you knew,
Speaker:then that the end result,
Speaker:the product was going to be good because you've been doing
Speaker:it then for a while.
Speaker:Yeah. And you know,
Speaker:your family is going to tell you something's wrong.
Speaker:I lose,
Speaker:my family would tell you that doesn't look nice.
Speaker:I don't think that's the way it's supposed to.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:my family would tell you in a good way,
Speaker:they're there to support me.
Speaker:And they would tell me,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:I don't think I don't like it like that.
Speaker:What about this?
Speaker:Even though they don't know anything about blooms,
Speaker:sometimes, you know,
Speaker:they come into me little tapes at the moment.
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:what do you know about balloons?
Speaker:But after I think about it and I looked at it
Speaker:and I like,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:There were rights.
Speaker:So that's what I said with my family,
Speaker:because they would tell me the truth.
Speaker:They would tell me what is right.
Speaker:Or what is wrong.
Speaker:Or if it looks nice or the color is off,
Speaker:that's a great thing to having a family.
Speaker:So you straight out you're wrong.
Speaker:So you've been in business for a short time,
Speaker:really, you know,
Speaker:two years,
Speaker:four years,
Speaker:that type of thing.
Speaker:What do you know now that you didn't know before?
Speaker:What kind of challenge have you had that you weren't expecting?
Speaker:Wow. No challenges.
Speaker:There's been a few.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:they're always going to be challenging,
Speaker:but at the beginning,
Speaker:first of all,
Speaker:trying to get all my license,
Speaker:that was something that I didn't expect.
Speaker:I live in a tunnel Cicero.
Speaker:So they have different rules than the city.
Speaker:And they're asked for many requirements,
Speaker:many little papers here,
Speaker:sign here,
Speaker:sign there.
Speaker:How did you go about finding what type of paperwork and
Speaker:documents you needed to have?
Speaker:I had to go to my town hall and I asked,
Speaker:told them what I wanted to do.
Speaker:And they had to,
Speaker:they told me,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you have to fill these forms.
Speaker:You need to get into the internet.
Speaker:You need to file a permit for the state,
Speaker:for the city,
Speaker:everything, you know,
Speaker:the insurance,
Speaker:they actually gave me a list.
Speaker:Perfect. Okay.
Speaker:They want to helpful,
Speaker:but they have a strict laws here.
Speaker:So gift biz listeners,
Speaker:if you are at a point where you are looking at
Speaker:starting a business,
Speaker:then the city might be the best place to go.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:just go there and tell them what you're planning on doing.
Speaker:And they may be able to direct you to all the
Speaker:forms that you might need for whatever it is.
Speaker:You're planning on going into business for obviously the balloon industry
Speaker:is different than if you're going to start making cupcakes than
Speaker:if you're opening a brick and mortar shop.
Speaker:Everything is different from one another and no matter what you
Speaker:need, state forms and federal forms,
Speaker:but the city is a great place to start.
Speaker:So good point there,
Speaker:Maria, thank you for talking about that.
Speaker:What other challenges did you encounter?
Speaker:And I have to own my own name or my company's
Speaker:name. There is from like me.
Speaker:I got to make sure that nobody has that name.
Speaker:So I had to put ads on the papers,
Speaker:my challenge and my difficult at the beginning,
Speaker:it was all the money that I was investing that I
Speaker:wasn't planning on in our speaking here.
Speaker:And when I open a home-based business,
Speaker:I don't think they're going to ask much,
Speaker:maybe a few forms here and there,
Speaker:but then they told me no,
Speaker:the name of your company.
Speaker:So when it came out with this,
Speaker:me and my daughter,
Speaker:we were joking around in there were saying about balloons.
Speaker:And they're like,
Speaker:yeah, you know what?
Speaker:The balloons around.
Speaker:She was like,
Speaker:yes, I know that.
Speaker:And I told her they're round like me.
Speaker:So she started laughing and that's had the main chemo,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:round like me.
Speaker:It was hilarious.
Speaker:That's fun.
Speaker:Yeah. So she also did my local,
Speaker:which is a little door and the body is a balloon.
Speaker:It's a red balloon with a little hair and just a
Speaker:stick legs,
Speaker:which is funny.
Speaker:And then I had going to the newspaper,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:poster mat asking if somebody has the name I had away
Speaker:for two weeks for death,
Speaker:for someone to respond,
Speaker:which nobody did.
Speaker:Then I had had the copyrights for my local.
Speaker:There's so many things that at the beginning,
Speaker:it was like a lot for me.
Speaker:And I was taking to my husband and I was telling,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:This is too much.
Speaker:I think I'm just gonna let it be,
Speaker:Oh dear.
Speaker:I never thought it was going to be hard because attitude,
Speaker:the true,
Speaker:this is like the first time that I actually work up
Speaker:to my home,
Speaker:even though I'm at home.
Speaker:So I never thought it was going to be all these
Speaker:papers and all these questions.
Speaker:And that's when the question started,
Speaker:begging me,
Speaker:what are you going to do about it?
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I wanna be able to continue doing this.
Speaker:Do you have the skills to do this?
Speaker:Because you're spending money.
Speaker:So all these questions and this,
Speaker:these came to my mind all the time.
Speaker:Like you were saying this to yourself.
Speaker:Yes. You know,
Speaker:when I was filling up papers and when I had to
Speaker:do like payments and spend money on something,
Speaker:the first thing that came to my mind is do you
Speaker:have the skill to do it?
Speaker:Can you handle this job?
Speaker:Those were my Strauss,
Speaker:my struggles to starting my own company.
Speaker:Like, are you gonna do it?
Speaker:This really are you really that good at you really could
Speaker:have. You know,
Speaker:when you start hearing voices in your head,
Speaker:all these questions came to me.
Speaker:So I had a text to my husband and we sit
Speaker:down, we talk about it.
Speaker:And he started talking to me and sending me,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:There's something you love.
Speaker:Let's clean this,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you started doing all the paperwork.
Speaker:Let's just finish it,
Speaker:whatever it takes,
Speaker:it is what you really want.
Speaker:He told me,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:let's pray about it.
Speaker:Let's do what we can and the rest,
Speaker:you just leave it in God's hands and let's see what
Speaker:it comes out.
Speaker:So think I listened to my husband.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:we throw the paperwork.
Speaker:I did all the legal stuff that I had to do.
Speaker:I talked to my daughter and she said,
Speaker:if you need money,
Speaker:I'm here for you.
Speaker:So thank God here I am.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:And this is a great story.
Speaker:And I want to underline two things that Mariah's talking about.
Speaker:First off,
Speaker:we can be our own roadblock.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:some people will call it the imposter syndrome in some time
Speaker:in our heads,
Speaker:we decide who are we to think that we can be
Speaker:doing this?
Speaker:Or why should it be able to be me?
Speaker:And do I have the qualifications?
Speaker:And is this really something that can happen to me?
Speaker:And as long as we recognize that this is natural,
Speaker:even the biggest names you can think of out there,
Speaker:get imposter thoughts going in their mind.
Speaker:And as long as you realize,
Speaker:all right,
Speaker:it's going to happen.
Speaker:I'm just not listening to my own mind in this manner
Speaker:and carrying on.
Speaker:And this is a real big trigger point where a lot
Speaker:of people will stop.
Speaker:Just like Maria was saying,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:maybe I won't be doing this,
Speaker:but luckily,
Speaker:and this is underlying number two.
Speaker:She had support.
Speaker:She had her support in her husband who really believed in
Speaker:her. And then her daughter who was there to back her
Speaker:up, probably just emotionally,
Speaker:as well as financially,
Speaker:if you would have needed it.
Speaker:So two things that are really important.
Speaker:And so I'm also talking to all of our listeners that
Speaker:if they're out there and they have an idea and they're
Speaker:starting to put things together and all of a sudden,
Speaker:their mind starts saying to them,
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:I'm not so sure about you.
Speaker:I want anybody who's in that situation to ignore those comments
Speaker:and also make sure you have some type of support system.
Speaker:Whether it's a friend,
Speaker:a family member could even be people that you're meeting in
Speaker:your community,
Speaker:in a networking group or somewhere.
Speaker:But you want someone who understands what you're trying to do,
Speaker:believes in you and support you for those times.
Speaker:When you get a little bit down or you start questioning
Speaker:yourself, would you add anything to that,
Speaker:Maria? Hey,
Speaker:I just want to say something like that you were saying
Speaker:right now,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:when those questions has to come into your mind,
Speaker:ask yourself,
Speaker:because that's what I'm always doing.
Speaker:I'm still doing it.
Speaker:Am I going to give up or am I going to
Speaker:fight for what I love?
Speaker:And then I decided to fight,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I decided to do what it can't and the rest I'm
Speaker:going to live with God's hands.
Speaker:My, my husband always says you do what you can.
Speaker:And the rest later in that sense,
Speaker:I don't know if it's correct to take a bag.
Speaker:I don't know,
Speaker:but that's are my beliefs.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I tell the people don't give up,
Speaker:just fight,
Speaker:fight for what you love.
Speaker:And you can accomplish many things and take you from someone
Speaker:who has been struggled with those questions.
Speaker:And I decided I'm going to fight for what I love.
Speaker:And I love loans.
Speaker:So I'm fighting them.
Speaker:I'm here.
Speaker:You're fighting for the balloons.
Speaker:That's great.
Speaker:Right? Okay.
Speaker:So now,
Speaker:so you overcame that you filled out all the paperwork,
Speaker:you got your name and that's such a fun story about
Speaker:how your name came to be.
Speaker:So now,
Speaker:how do you get your first name Customers?
Speaker:My first customers,
Speaker:actually, it was one of the guys that went to my
Speaker:suit. My daughter's sweet 16 party.
Speaker:It was this guy.
Speaker:I didn't know who he was.
Speaker:And I asked my daughter,
Speaker:who is that guy?
Speaker:She's like,
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:Somebody. One of my friends invited him and I don't know
Speaker:where he came from.
Speaker:The point is that this guy,
Speaker:he came to me like two years later.
Speaker:And he's like,
Speaker:yeah, I know you don't remember me,
Speaker:but I was at your daughter's three 16.
Speaker:And then when you do it for me and they're like,
Speaker:okay. So I started taking to her and I asked him,
Speaker:what do you have in mind?
Speaker:What is this about?
Speaker:He is the son of the owner of a store.
Speaker:That's more store.
Speaker:And they were going to do like an anniversary celebration for
Speaker:the store.
Speaker:So he asked me to do some well,
Speaker:no marches.
Speaker:I met some columns.
Speaker:So the people will see the store,
Speaker:something that would attract the store outside.
Speaker:Cause he was a very small store.
Speaker:So when he told me that he had a business in
Speaker:LA and he asked me,
Speaker:did he have your license in order?
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:yes I do.
Speaker:He was like,
Speaker:great. That's all I need to know.
Speaker:So he was my actual real client.
Speaker:Was he your first customer?
Speaker:My first customer.
Speaker:He was my first and he's still my customer.
Speaker:Oh, wow.
Speaker:Well that says a lot about your services and your design
Speaker:for sure.
Speaker:Repeat business tells you everything.
Speaker:Yes. And then what happened from there?
Speaker:From there?
Speaker:Some people like everything else,
Speaker:you see something you do ask our people started asking,
Speaker:who did this car alarms,
Speaker:people that went to the store.
Speaker:I left some of my business cards and people started calling
Speaker:me from there.
Speaker:And they're like,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I saw your arch at the store.
Speaker:I would like something like that.
Speaker:Would you do something for accuracy?
Speaker:And will you do something for a birthday party?
Speaker:Will you do something for a baptism?
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:this is my baby's first year.
Speaker:I want to do something special.
Speaker:What do you recommend?
Speaker:So people started calling me out of the sudden,
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:wow. So I started getting clients like that.
Speaker:It might be an aesthetic throwing.
Speaker:Then some people from his phone company call me also if
Speaker:I wanted to do their decorations for certain events.
Speaker:And I started doing a little bit of corporate,
Speaker:I started a lot of personal parties,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:all kinds of events we'd do from the smallest ones to
Speaker:the biggest ones.
Speaker:That's how my business is growing.
Speaker:I did my website.
Speaker:I've done Facebook.
Speaker:That was going to be my next question.
Speaker:Does social media play any role within your business?
Speaker:Yes, he does.
Speaker:It's a big influence,
Speaker:especially Facebook because they have my business page on Facebook.
Speaker:I try to put all my pictures,
Speaker:so my work,
Speaker:I try to keep it updated and you know,
Speaker:people always private message me.
Speaker:Can you do this for me?
Speaker:How much we did B can we do that?
Speaker:Or can you come,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:the usual questions and I do get a lot of clients
Speaker:through Facebook.
Speaker:That's wonderful.
Speaker:I like that.
Speaker:You can say that there's a direct link.
Speaker:So you're posting photos and people are seeing them there and
Speaker:then contacting you to do some of their events.
Speaker:Yes. And have you done any Facebook ads or is it
Speaker:all just posting?
Speaker:I did a net for a class that I was given
Speaker:because I'm also taking balloon decorations.
Speaker:So when I decided to give a class,
Speaker:I do,
Speaker:I put it in Facebook and I do the advertising,
Speaker:the advertising Facebook for classes.
Speaker:Most of the time is as classes,
Speaker:Got it to leave my Page like that.
Speaker:And people exploring because also my Facebook is linked to my
Speaker:actual personal Facebook.
Speaker:Right. So whenever I put something in my personal Facebook,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:it's open for my friend's friends to see whatever and they
Speaker:see something in my page.
Speaker:So they go to my page,
Speaker:Facebook and from there they call me and people found me
Speaker:and I like that.
Speaker:Right. Okay.
Speaker:Give biz listeners a good point.
Speaker:I just want to bring up in case you're not aware
Speaker:of this for Facebook.
Speaker:Okay. When you open a Facebook business account,
Speaker:it should be linked to your personal page.
Speaker:So you would have your personal page in Maria's case.
Speaker:Okay. Mariah's page and then connected to that would be a
Speaker:business page.
Speaker:The wrong way to do it is to open up a,
Speaker:another separate account that is called your business name.
Speaker:Okay. Cause then it's like a business name.
Speaker:That's really a personal account.
Speaker:If you do that,
Speaker:a couple of things.
Speaker:Number one,
Speaker:you can't do any advertising if it's not a business page.
Speaker:So you can't do advertising on a personal account.
Speaker:Additionally, if you try and make posts on your personal account.
Speaker:So if you were to go on your personal account and
Speaker:do anything where you're suggesting monetary exchanges that is against Facebook
Speaker:rules and your account could be shut down.
Speaker:So really important to understand the difference.
Speaker:So you have a personal account,
Speaker:that's in your name as your real live name.
Speaker:And then if you're going to conduct business,
Speaker:you have a company page with the name of the company,
Speaker:which might also be your name,
Speaker:of course,
Speaker:but that's connected to your personal account.
Speaker:Just exactly the way Mariah has set it up.
Speaker:So perfect.
Speaker:I'm just a side note for anybody who wasn't aware of
Speaker:that. Cause it is really important.
Speaker:I have heard of people getting their entire Facebook accounts shut
Speaker:down, which means any followings,
Speaker:anyone you've ever had is gone.
Speaker:Yeah. They lose everything.
Speaker:Yeah. All right.
Speaker:Quickly. I did not know about the teaching.
Speaker:So I want to jump into this for just a second.
Speaker:At what point did you identify and decide you were going
Speaker:to do teaching and talk us through how that's going Two
Speaker:or three years ago?
Speaker:There was this t-shirt that I went to her classes because
Speaker:she was given a special plus about balloons.
Speaker:She invited me the next year to help her teach him.
Speaker:Should I,
Speaker:you know what I like the way you talk to people,
Speaker:even though I was taking the class,
Speaker:people were assessed with asking question and there was a lot
Speaker:of people in this class.
Speaker:So she didn't have the time to explain to other people
Speaker:what she meant with certain terms or little stuff like that.
Speaker:So then I was sitting around the people and I'll like
Speaker:to help people.
Speaker:I like to share what I know.
Speaker:So I told them,
Speaker:if you don't mind,
Speaker:I can of explain you what you meant with this.
Speaker:And I was trying to help people the class.
Speaker:And she noticed,
Speaker:so she talked to me on the side and I thought
Speaker:she was going to be mad or something.
Speaker:And she said,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:I like it that you're helping me in this class because
Speaker:there's a lot of people that I was in County.
Speaker:And then she asked me to join her the next year
Speaker:to teach the class.
Speaker:So I decided to go.
Speaker:And then she told me,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:I ended up coming back to Chicago.
Speaker:Why don't you teach the people that they want to learn?
Speaker:Because I'm not going to have the time it gives classes
Speaker:and other States to gave me the opportunity that if I
Speaker:wanted to teach and I asked her,
Speaker:I don't know if I'll be able to wait in his
Speaker:lap. She told me,
Speaker:I saw you with the people.
Speaker:I show you that you have the patients.
Speaker:I saw you,
Speaker:how you handle it.
Speaker:You can teach people.
Speaker:And from there she,
Speaker:she told them one of the ladies,
Speaker:it was the last day of class and she didn't know
Speaker:anything. And she's like,
Speaker:look, I cannot help you anymore.
Speaker:But getting touch with her,
Speaker:she will help you.
Speaker:And then she told some other friends and some other friends
Speaker:posted pictures that I was giving classes.
Speaker:And now people asked me to teach and how to decorate
Speaker:with loans.
Speaker:So what I do is I give like a beginner's class.
Speaker:What I teach people from the beginning,
Speaker:people that doesn't know anything about wounds,
Speaker:teach them the certain way that you have to inflate the
Speaker:balloons. There's a certain way that you have to tie the
Speaker:balloon. So they actually they're actually passing.
Speaker:Wow. There's a way to get the proper size of the
Speaker:balloons or the decoration actually would look nice and professional.
Speaker:So there's many little details about the balloon industry that is
Speaker:not just blowing up balloons.
Speaker:So I started teaching and I teach a class almost once
Speaker:every three months from the beginners and advanced.
Speaker:That's a nice additional revenue stream for you then too.
Speaker:Yes, it is.
Speaker:It's something that just happened.
Speaker:I wasn't planning on doing it,
Speaker:but it,
Speaker:it was there and I took it and it's been good.
Speaker:I hear that.
Speaker:So often you weren't even thinking that you would teach,
Speaker:but an opportunity presented itself and you grabbed onto it.
Speaker:You never know when that's going to happen,
Speaker:but if you come to your business with an attitude of
Speaker:being open and seeing what else is out there,
Speaker:it can evolve from one thing to another.
Speaker:In this case,
Speaker:you're just adding on top of what you're doing,
Speaker:but really smart because multiple streams of revenue helps secure your
Speaker:business too.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So we are going to go now Maria,
Speaker:into our reflection section.
Speaker:This is a look at you and some other things about
Speaker:you that have helped you to be successful.
Speaker:If you were to think of one natural trait that you
Speaker:have, that's helped you to progress to where you are.
Speaker:What would that be?
Speaker:That will be Cref.
Speaker:I love to do all kinds of crafts.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I, since I was a little girl,
Speaker:I love to work with my hands.
Speaker:And every craft that I saw at the stars I wanted
Speaker:to do it.
Speaker:I wanted to try it.
Speaker:Scrap with you now is doing floral arrangements.
Speaker:I've been doing,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:you name it.
Speaker:I have worked with almost everything.
Speaker:I learn how to crochet had a need,
Speaker:how to do a little Christmas decorations with felt.
Speaker:I don't know everything.
Speaker:I can even think about it right now because they have
Speaker:a whole section of preface in my house.
Speaker:I used to have a room,
Speaker:but we moved to a smaller place.
Speaker:So
Laughter the craft supplies can get out of control,
Speaker:Right. Especially when you're going to Michaels and they have this
Speaker:crazy sales.
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:Exactly. All right.
Speaker:So I think that because I love craft so much,
Speaker:that's something that he helped me.
Speaker:I love to work with my hands Crafters.
Speaker:Don't really recognize and appreciate that.
Speaker:Not everyone can do that.
Speaker:Not everybody can work with their hands and create something beautiful.
Speaker:So if you have that talent and then you also have
Speaker:that passion,
Speaker:You're lucky.
Speaker:Yeah. That'd be telling me you have so much patience to
Speaker:do that.
Speaker:I can't.
Speaker:I like you have to love what you do.
Speaker:If you don't love what you do,
Speaker:you won't be able to do it.
Speaker:It takes patients to do something.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:you put your heart,
Speaker:you put your soul into it and that's the way it's
Speaker:supposed to be when you love something.
Speaker:Absolutely. That's awesome.
Speaker:Okay. Well,
Speaker:so what Tool do you use regularly in your business or
Speaker:in your personal life to create balance?
Speaker:Is there something you call upon that keeps you all organized
Speaker:and together?
Speaker:I have a book that I read that he helps me
Speaker:a lot.
Speaker:Sometimes there's so many things point in my life and I'm
Speaker:out of grandmother.
Speaker:I have my daughters still live at home right now.
Speaker:I'm taking care of my mother.
Speaker:This is something new for me.
Speaker:Then I have to take care of my home.
Speaker:They have to take care of my business.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:sometimes he gets to be alive to me.
Speaker:So there's this book that I read.
Speaker:It's called it.
Speaker:Claire is by Dale Aston and this book,
Speaker:I read it every month.
Speaker:It's my book forever.
Speaker:It has 31 decorations of what you want for your life.
Speaker:And it declares,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:things like are you texted by your finances,
Speaker:your outlook.
Speaker:So overcoming obstacles,
Speaker:he talks about health,
Speaker:your family decisions,
Speaker:everything about it.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:about putting actions behind my faith and not be passive.
Speaker:And this book sucks about all the stuff.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:everyday says something different.
Speaker:Like one day talks about finding peace in your life and
Speaker:he talks and he gives you a little reflection about,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you have to take it easy.
Speaker:Don't don't over.
Speaker:Think it,
Speaker:pray about it.
Speaker:Putting that teens somebody's tastes talks about decisions.
Speaker:What this is just,
Speaker:am I going to take,
Speaker:am I going to do everything about at the same time
Speaker:a teacher,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:to see what is important?
Speaker:What is not a site?
Speaker:He texts about finances.
Speaker:This book has helped me a lot because he helps me
Speaker:find calm and peacefulness.
Speaker:And I just love to read this book.
Speaker:Wonderful. It's called I declare yes,
Speaker:it's called.
Speaker:I declare it is by a Christian pastor and he's a,
Speaker:I book writer.
Speaker:His name was Joel Austin.
Speaker:Okay, perfect.
Speaker:It's a great book.
Speaker:Like I said,
Speaker:I read it every month because every month is something different.
Speaker:Even though it's the same things in the book.
Speaker:But when you go on to something,
Speaker:I can go back to my work.
Speaker:And I read about,
Speaker:let's say,
Speaker:if I don't know about what I'm thinking,
Speaker:he has a,
Speaker:he has a chapter about all your thoughts.
Speaker:It comes through your mind and how you can handle with
Speaker:it and take it easy piece one A month.
Speaker:You might be encountering different challenges too.
Speaker:So the next time you run into that declaration,
Speaker:it might apply to your life differently.
Speaker:You see it differently just because of your situation keeps changing.
Speaker:Yeah. That's what somebody told me.
Speaker:They're like,
Speaker:you always read that book because you know,
Speaker:everyday there's something new,
Speaker:right? Even though it was yesterday,
Speaker:maybe it was to date the same problem.
Speaker:But you sweat in a different way.
Speaker:You always know there's something new every day.
Speaker:There's something new that's going on in your life.
Speaker:To me,
Speaker:this book has helped me a lot.
Speaker:Wonderful. Okay.
Speaker:Give this listeners just as you're listening to the podcast today,
Speaker:you can also listen to audio books with ease.
Speaker:Since we've been talking about books,
Speaker:I've teamed up with audible and you can get an audio
Speaker:book for free on me.
Speaker:All you need to do is go to gift biz,
Speaker:book.com and make a selection.
Speaker:Okay, Maria,
Speaker:I now invite you to dare to dream.
Speaker:I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.
Speaker:It's a magical box with balloons on top containing unlimited possibilities
Speaker:for your future.
Speaker:This is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable Heights
Speaker:that you would wish to obtain.
Speaker:Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.
Speaker:What is inside your box?
Speaker:It's my aunt's store.
Speaker:Okay. Tell us about this.
Speaker:Your own store.
Speaker:Yes. Is it a retail shop?
Speaker:No, it's a balloon store.
Speaker:It's a balloon store.
Speaker:She had the balloon decorating services to my dream is to
Speaker:have a business that I can really do what I love
Speaker:with no limitations of space.
Speaker:Because since it's a home base,
Speaker:it's a small place.
Speaker:What I have to do my things,
Speaker:but if I have my own place,
Speaker:my own store,
Speaker:I have all the space that I need to do this
Speaker:creation. They are in my mind that I cannot do it
Speaker:because of the space.
Speaker:I know this man.
Speaker:His name is David Mahoney.
Speaker:He's in Texas is separate to successful business.
Speaker:And he has a lot employer system,
Speaker:a lot of jobs and his main inspirations.
Speaker:I really admire this man because he's a humble man and
Speaker:he's always ready to help.
Speaker:And every time that I come through something that I need
Speaker:to do,
Speaker:and I don't know how to do it,
Speaker:he texted me.
Speaker:He tells me,
Speaker:you know what,
Speaker:Maria, you can do it this way.
Speaker:You can do it that way.
Speaker:But because he owns a big place,
Speaker:he can do everything that he tells me to do.
Speaker:And I can't.
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:thank you.
Speaker:So when I,
Speaker:but then another temperature allows it.
Speaker:I do it in my yard,
Speaker:like building frames,
Speaker:a big arch Or big frames for us,
Speaker:a sculpture or something.
Speaker:So if I have my own store,
Speaker:my own place,
Speaker:that's my dream to have a place where I can actually
Speaker:go like a little warehouse.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I have all my tools or my materials,
Speaker:everything in order that I don't have to be going through
Speaker:boxes looking here.
Speaker:Well, that sounds like a great dream and a great goal.
Speaker:And I certainly hope that that comes true for you in
Speaker:the future.
Speaker:For sure.
Speaker:So if there were one place that our listeners would like
Speaker:to link up with you and see some of your balloons
Speaker:and possibly hire you for an event,
Speaker:if they're here locally in Chicago,
Speaker:what would that single place be?
Speaker:Where should they go?
Speaker:And look at your balloon designs?
Speaker:The main picture we'll recommend will be Facebook.
Speaker:Okay. And a business page,
Speaker:right? Yes.
Speaker:My business page that will be around like me events.
Speaker:Now I also have a website which is round like me,
Speaker:that the P web that com and give biz listeners,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:there'll be a show notes page connected with this episode.
Speaker:So if you are out and about,
Speaker:and not able to write down any of that information,
Speaker:you can always access the show notes page and there will
Speaker:be links there so that you will be able to get
Speaker:in touch with Maria.
Speaker:If you,
Speaker:for some reason,
Speaker:just can't capture the information right now.
Speaker:All right,
Speaker:Maria, thank you so much.
Speaker:I really appreciate your taking the time and being with us
Speaker:today and sharing the story.
Speaker:And I really like that we got into this whole concept
Speaker:of the imposter syndrome because it is real.
Speaker:You are a survivor of the syndrome,
Speaker:right? You overcame it because you did not listen to those
Speaker:messages that your mind kept telling yourself.
Speaker:And it's really,
Speaker:it's a really,
Speaker:really important message.
Speaker:So I appreciate that you shared that and I am.
Speaker:So looking forward to the success that you have and hopefully
Speaker:one day you are going to be telling me,
Speaker:Oh, I have a shop.
Speaker:Let me tell you how you can come and visit me.
Speaker:So that would be,
Speaker:that would be our wish for you and Maria.
Speaker:May your candle always burn bright.
Speaker:Thank you so much.
Speaker:Where are you in your business building journey,
Speaker:whether you're just starting out or already running a business and
Speaker:you want to know your setup for success.
Speaker:Find out by taking the gift biz quiz,
Speaker:access the quiz from your computer at bit dot L Y
Speaker:slash gift biz quiz or from your phone like texting gift
Speaker:biz quiz to four four,
Speaker:two, two,
Speaker:two. Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for
Speaker:the next episode.
Speaker:Today's show is sponsored by the ribbon print company,
Speaker:looking for a new income source for your gift business.
Speaker:Customization is more popular now than ever grant your products of
Speaker:your logo for Grindle happy Jessica bourbon to add to a
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Speaker:it's all done right in your shop or across video in
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Speaker:For more information after you listen to the show,
Speaker:if you like what you're hearing,
Speaker:make sure to jump over and subscribe to the show on
Speaker:iTunes. That way you'll automatically get the newest episodes when they
Speaker:go live.
Speaker:And thank you to those.
Speaker:Who've already left a rating by subscribing rating and reviewing help
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Speaker:It's a great way to pay it forward,
