My Balloon Business Growth Lessons in Year One of the Podcast
Almost five years ago, it was the one-year anniversary of The Bright Balloon Podcast. At that point I had been doing balloons for several years already, so I wasn't a beginner decorator. But I was a beginner podcaster, and honestly, a beginner at running a business intentionally, so I had several things to share about my the growth lessons of my balloon business that year.
Listening back to the anniversary episode I recorded, I can hear how much was shifting for me that year... not in my balloon skills, but in how I thought about systems, money, hiring and what I actually wanted my business to look like. A lot of what I talked about in that episode is still core to how I operate today. Here's what actually moved the needle...
The Van
By year five of doing balloons, I had been renting U-Hauls and cramming jobs into my SUV for years. The time wasted standing in line at the rental place, the cost of the trucks, the logistical gymnastics of fitting installs into a vehicle that wasn't designed for it... it was exhausting and limiting in ways I hadn't fully realized yet.
When we moved homes that year, the financial situation shifted just enough that I was able to buy my van outright. And almost immediately, something changed in how I quoted jobs. Suddenly a columns-only job became two arches in my brain because I could actually fit them. I started proposing bigger... and people started buying bigger.
My average job at that point in my balloon business was somewhere around $200 to $300. The van pushed that closer to $500 to $800. Not just because of capacity but because of the mental shift that came with it. Having the vehicle changed what felt possible. Years later I still think it's one of the best investments a balloon decorator can make.
Profit First
Profit First genuinely changed how I managed money.
Before utilizing it, I had one account and everything lived there. I was never sure what I was earning versus what the business needed nor was I paying myself consistently. It felt like all the money was mine... but also none of it was.
Profit First gave me a simple rule: a percentage of every sale goes directly to me as a paycheck and never touches the business again. Separate accounts + clear percentages = no more guessing. It also made it possible to actually see whether I could afford to hire someone (which I couldn't have answered before with any degree of confidence).
Hiring Help
Around this same time, I finally hired someone. Not to inflate or design, but a digital strategist who happened to be a 17hats expert. She took over all the things I was consistently leaving undone: follow-ups, calendar updates, etc.
What made me finally do it was a podcast guest who broke it down simply: five hours a week at $15 to $20 an hour is less than the cost of one balloon column. That reframe is what got me over the line.
Looking back now, the barrier to hiring is almost always in your head before it's in your budget. And the real cost of not hiring is everything that never gets done.
Grab-and-Go Garlands
This idea came from another podcast guest, who described doing 10 to 15 garland pickups on a Thursday evening. (As in, NOT Saturdays, because those are reserved for the big jobs.)
It seems so obvious in retrospect, but I was blown away at the time.
It inspired me to build a grab-and-go garland page on my website and automate the whole thing through 17hats. Let me say, the feeling of seeing that first order come through was amazing. A notification that a $200 sale happened with someone I'd never spoken to.
Even now, that feeling never gets old.
What I'd Tell Myself Now
The podcast started as a quarantine project. I had five years of balloon experience and zero plan for what the show would become. My only goal was to make it to year one.
Five years later, the thing I'm most grateful for from that season isn't any single business decision. It's that I kept showing up, having honest conversations from great guests and kept sharing what was actually working. That consistency built something I couldn't have planned.
If you're in the early years of building your balloon business, the moves that feel small right now are probably the ones you'll look back on with pride.
Listen to the full, one-year podcast anniversary episode on The Bright Balloon Podcast here!
