What a 3-person partnership actually looks like
Three people in a balloon business partnership sounds like a recipe for chaos. But Heather, Brian and Megan from Soul Sisters Creations in Marysville, Ohio, are proving it can actually be the thing that accelerates your growth.
Whether you're thinking about bringing on a partner or you're already working alongside your spouse or a friend, knowing how to divide roles and protect the relationship is everything.
How Soul Sisters Got Started
Heather didn't start in the balloon industry. She was a social worker who left the field after a devastating loss on her caseload. She launched Soul Sisters Creations in 2022 with no idea balloons would be part of the plan. It started with digital downloads and weekly meetups with friends. Then in 2023 she and her partner Megan decorated a Sweet 16 and realized they were onto something.
By 2024 they were investing in education; taking courses and attending events. By 2025 they'd attended Balloonathon and competed on a TV show called The Blox. Two months after coming home from the show, they had a storefront.
Define Your Roles or Burn Out
The biggest piece of advice Heather and Brian shared? Sit down and write out every person's strengths and weaknesses. Then assign roles based on what each person is actually good at.
In their setup, Heather handles vision, marketing, systems and client relationships. Megan focuses on design, color matching and production. Brian runs operations; emails, scheduling, inventory and logistics. They jokingly call Heather and Megan "Hurricane Heather and Tropical Storm Megan" while Brian is FEMA… cleaning up behind them and making sure everything runs on time.
DIY Kits as a Revenue Stream
One of the smartest things they did was add DIY balloon kits to their offerings. Clients come in, color match in person and purchase kits by the color. Three clusters per color creates a solid garland. It lets them serve moms on every budget without giving up all their time to installations.
The Community Creations Corner
This is the idea that really got me. Heather and Brian are inviting small local makers to sell their products inside the Soul Sisters storefront. In exchange, each vendor covers one Saturday of store hours during their three-month contract. The vendor gets foot traffic and exposure; Soul Sisters gets staffing without the payroll.
It's a win-win model I have genuinely never heard of in this industry and I cannot wait to do a follow-up episode on how it's going.
The Bottom Line
Partnerships can work in this industry if you define your roles, invest in education and save before you scale. As Brian put it simply… don't give up. And as Heather and Megan always say, everything is figureoutable.
Catch the full conversation on Episode 430 of The Bright Balloon Podcast.
