This is one of the key questions I frequently get asked by people growing their balloon businesses. It’s also a question all balloon business owners ask themselves at some point. For some it’s before they start their business for others it comes a little further down the line. In this blog I am going to look at whether it’s really possible and what you need to do in order to create a full-time income from your balloons business.
Full-time Income Means Different Things To Different People
Before we get into whether its possible… I guess we need to consider that full-time income means different things to different people. Your personal circumstances, household income, expenditure and number of dependents will obviously have a big impact on this. Also the hours you have available to dedicate to growing your business and the experience you have at running a business all have a bearing on the success of a business.
If They Did It… So Can You!
I ran my balloons and venue decor business full-time, as the sole-earner for my family, for nearly a decade and totally believe it is possible but as times change and areas vary I like to keep abreast as to what is happening outside of my local area. Every year around this time I ask the question “Is it possible to create a full-time business from balloons only?” on The Qualatex Balloon Facebook Group.
It’s my personal thermometer of how the industry is performing as a whole. I am always astounded by the response and the positivity within the industry! When I asked this week I had 77 comments responding to the question! Of all the responses only 5 felt it wasn’t possible at this time. Many of the full-time balloon business owners had been running their full-time businesses for decades, employed lots of staff and earned hundreds of thousands of pounds annually. 2 companies reported earning over a million dollars per year just from balloon sales. Now if that is not inspiring, then I don’t know what is!
You can read their responses and thoughts on taking your balloon business full-time to the question here:
You will need to be a member of the group to view it!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/17261393033/permalink/10158661130098034/
BUT MAKE SURE YOU COME BACK AND READ ON TO FIND OUT WHAT IT TAKES TO TAKE YOUR BALLOON BUSINESS FULL-TIME!
And if you are interested the 2021 responses during Covid they are here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/17261393033/permalink/10157906601568034/
I decided to dig a little deeper by searching companies house here in the UK, and found numerous companies accounting 5 or 6 figures, reinforcing my belief that it absolutely IS possible to grow a full-time profitable balloon business!
What Does it Take to Create a Full-time Profitable Balloon Business?
Okay so now we have established it is possible the next question I usually get is can anybody do it? I firmly believe that with the right mindset and business skills anybody can build a successful business from balloon decoration that delivers a full-time income. But what do I mean by right mindset and business skills? Well there are some key elements to becoming successful and these were echoed in the facebook posts above by all the really successful balloon biz owners :
Today’s business world is fast paced and constantly evolving… You need to constantly adapt to the marketplace. You need to spend time working ON your business as well as in your business to ensure your business is capitalising on opportunities and you are ready for any challenges that lie ahead.
But What About Balloon Skill?
It may surprise you that nowhere in the list above have I mentioned balloon skills… Whilst undoubtedly being an amazing balloon artist will help, unfortunately there are many hugely creative and talented individuals within the industry who are struggling to make a full-time income out of balloons. Maybe you are one of them and that’s why you are reading this blog post? It may surprise you but I promise it is actually more than possible to make a successful profitable full-time balloon business doing only the more basic balloon decor. Unfortunately it’s far harder to build a profitable and successful balloon business if you are highly skilled in balloons but don’t understand how to run a business…
The Good News Is Anyone Can Learn to Run a Business!
Before you through your arms up in despair at that last sentence… I just want to leave you with one lasting fact… anyone can learn to run a business. You can learn to run a business. All the skills you need to run a full-time profitable business can be learnt. It’s no different to learning any skill set. Some of it you will learn by trial and error as you go along but I do encourage you to consider that in order to run a full-time profitable business you need to spend as much time, energy, passion and money on learning to run a business as you do on learning new balloon skills and equipment. If you look across the industry at those who are carving amazing businesses across the world it’s clear that they invest in themselves, their knowledge and their business!
🎈Until next time… Stay amazing!🎈
Sonia x
About Sonia
In today’s unpredictable world it’s not enough just to make amazing balloons. You also need to know HOW to grow your business.
Having run my own balloon business for over a decade I now help other balloon business owners, just like you, grow thriving and sustainable businesses.
