She quit balloons then came back different
Quitting balloons is supposed to be the end of the story, but Melody's version had a plot twist. She built a following on custom backdrops and a disco ball wall, then stopped completely about two years ago. An old neck injury kept getting aggravated by the lifting, the loading and the installs. There was never enough downtime for it to heal. So she stopped.
Stopping Meant Actually Stopping
She sold the van and the disco ball wall. She subleased half her warehouse and kept one small corner of things she could not part with. Then she spent almost seven months reading books, doing Pilates, hanging out with her kids and throwing everything she had at healing.
Here is the part worth underlining: she said the fact that she sold her gear is what made it easy to say no.
On Announcing It Out Loud
Melody made a public announcement, and she is glad she did. It made people take her seriously instead of quietly circling back. She also personally told her bread and butter clients exactly who to book instead.
Do you have to make it public? No. But tell your best clients, and draw a hard line. We are all terrible at saying no, especially to the clients who pay our bills. A hard line does the saying for you.
The Job That Pulled Her Back
A production company she had worked with before offered her a CoverGirl activation at Coachella. She took it, loved it and slowly started booking again... this time with new rules.
Now she does custom fringe walls, feather walls, painted lockers, disco walls... working with all sorts of materials. There are months where she does not touch a balloon! She is extremely selective about what she posts to Instagram because she refuses to advertise work she does not want to repeat.
Quoting Work Nobody Has Built Yet
For all the custom work, she quotes higher than she thinks it will cost, on purpose... because custom means unknowns. Sometimes she still leaves money on the table. Sometimes she quotes even higher and they pay it.
The safety net, she says, is ownership. Those custom pieces are priced as custom rentals and they stay hers; her contract spells that out. She builds it once, then repurposes and re-rents it forever. That feather wall or fringe wall is inventory, not a giveaway.
Key Takeaways
- A real break is easier to protect when the gear is gone
- Announcing it is optional; telling your top clients is not
- Coming back does not mean coming back to the same business
- Quote custom work high, and keep what you build
If you have ever wondered what is on the other side of "I'm done," go listen to this conversation with Melody in episode 440.
