Secrets to longevity in the balloon industry
Jacqui has been doing balloons near Sheffield, England, since 1992. She started the business with her best friend after an 11pm phone call, two weekend training sessions and an ad in the local paper. Now, she's sharing her secrets to longevity in the balloon industry.
I sat down to interview her for the podcast because I'm ten years in and I feel like I've lived a hundred lifetimes in this industry. I always love talking to someone who's lived even more balloon business lifetimes, and here's what she shared.
Passion Isn't Optional
I asked Jacqui what has kept her in business for over three decades. She didn't hesitate.
Passion. You've got to absolutely live and breathe it.
Not motivation, which can be circumstantial. Not excitement, which comes and goes. But passion... the kind that makes you want to do the job even when the job is three balloons on a table for the hundredth time.
Three Balloons on the Table Pays Your Mortgage
Jacqui met Rocky Toomey at a balloon convention in 1997 and told him she'd admired his stunning work in Hawaii. He said: three balloons on the table pays your mortgage. You only ever see the best jobs.
And the point isn't to stop aspiring, but to stop resenting the ordinary work. Most of what we do isn't the dramatic 40-foot installation or the celebrity event. It's the birthday bouquet, the corporate columns and the simple centerpieces. That work is consistent, reliable and it's how you stay in business long enough to get the big ones.
Still Going to Training Courses
Jacqui has been doing balloons for 33 years and she still shows up to training courses.
When I asked what keeps her from feeling above it, she said "You only ever need to pick up one thing. If it makes you work faster, smarter, or more economically it's been worth it."
She's also noticed that trends are cyclical. She went to a training course recently where someone taught an organic centerpiece she recognized immediately. She pulled up a Facebook memory: she had done the same technique over 20 years ago! Everything old is new again... and that observation could make a person bitter, or, it could make them feel quietly vindicated and keep going.
Jacqui has chosen to keep going.
The Community Is the Secret
Something Jacqui kept coming back to (and something I feel deeply, too) is how much the people in this industry have mattered to her.
She's made friends from all over the world doing balloon builds. Some of them she sees once a year at conventions; some she sees even less than that. But when she has a big Christmas job decorating an office building from top to bottom she calls friends from across the country to come help. People she trusts to show up and get it done.
She said: I don't think you can teach that.
She meant the kind of person who looks for what needs doing next without being told. But I think she also meant the community itself: the warmth and generosity of people who could be competitors and choose instead to be colleagues and friends.
The Longevity Formula
It's not a system or a strategy. It's showing up and loving the work... even the boring parts. It's staying curious enough to keep learning. And best of all, it's finding people who love the same weird, wonderful thing you do.
Hear the full conversation with Jacqui on The Bright Balloon podcast! Episode 419
