#35: Let's Get Event Ready! With Jessica Dávila, Owner of Bloon House.

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We're Erika Radis and Marie Lifschultz, a San Antonio area realtor and lender, but most importantly, we're working moms.

The goal of this podcast is to provide support and a sense of community to San Antonio area working moms like us. So join us in trying to find a balance between career, family, and everything in between. Welcome to this week's episode of the Working Moms of San Antonio podcast. We're here with Jessica from Bluen House as our guest, and I'm just going to turn it over to her so she can talk about all the fun work she gets to do.

Hi everyone, I'm Jessica. Thank you so much for having me here. I'm so excited to be part of this community. It's been challenging for me being here. I moved here from Mexico 2 years ago. Well, almost 3 now. My business started back in Mexico when my kids were little, but with being a mom and little kids, you know, it's like super hard to keep a business going. So when I moved here to San Antonio, I had some more free time. So I was like, I'm going to get really into this. But when I started, there were like a lot of balloon artists out there, and I was like maybe a little unmotivated because, I mean, it's a new— it's a different country, different rules. To start a business is so much different here than in Mexico. I think it's harder, and— but there's a lot of help out there too for small business owners. So I started getting into this and starting asking for help. My brothers that live here they have their businesses, but they couldn't help. It was another industry. So it was like a kind of challenging start, I guess, and trying to get a new clientele because, I mean, I don't know a lot of people here, just my friends, because I used to live here when I was in high school. So I met some friends. Yes. They stayed here, a few of them. So I started doing balloons for them to see if they really like my work and everything. And they did. So I started going stronger, registering my, my brand, and then started getting new clients, doing stuff for the school of my kids. And that's how I got going.

I mean, that's a great way to start, like getting out there, like with the schools, because I mean, people, it's, I mean, and the balloon, the balloon art has, for me, it was fairly new in the last couple years. I'm like, Went at this time. This is really cool. And it's really popular. Like any kind of party you go to, birthday parties have it, graduations, weddings, quinceañeras.

It's not for kids anymore. That's what it used to be when we were little.

Oh, it's out?

Yeah, it was for kids. It was like kids have fun, kids have balloons, but adults can have fun too. I mean, and whenever you see like a big balloon setup, it always like it's like a wow factor. You're like, wow, it looks amazing, and I want to take pictures with it. It creates memories. So that's what I like about it. It creates memories for adults and kids and businesses too. Yeah, because everybody's using the balloons right now.

Yeah, that's true. I'm so curious, like, how did you get into it? Were you just like doing it for yourself and you were like, I'm really good at balloons and I want to do it for others?

No, I started doing it for my kids' party when they were younger, and they were actually not that good. Oh, but then when I got here, that's the truth. But when I got here, I did some balloons for my son, and it's like a, it was a balloon bouquet, and it was really good actually. And I got it off from a YouTube tutorial. I was like, okay, I can do this. I'll try to do something more premium, to say it like that. Not just like the Amazon balloon garland that you put on the string and that. Yeah, right. I wanted to do something more. So I did that and it turned out really good. And I was like, okay, I'm good at this now. Not before, but now I'm getting better, I guess. So I started taking a course. I even have certification, a balloon artist certification. It was a course that I took for a year.

I didn't know that was a thing.

That's cool.

Yeah, that's amazing.

Yeah. I mean, not everybody has it, but I wanted to get certified because, I mean, if I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it right. And I'm a perfectionist, so I want to do it like really, really good and know all the techniques and all that. So I got that certification and I've been going on from there. And I always keep practicing. That's like the main thing you need to do in the balloon industry. Practice, follow the trends, because trends keep changing. I mean, as in fashion and everything, trends change. So you have to keep up with everything.

Yeah, I was going to ask that, like, are there new— there must be, you know, just like any other, because it's an art really. I mean, it's creative and, you know, it's that kind of thing. And so there must be just new innovative ways to like use balloons that change all the time.

Yeah, no, no, no, there is. It's amazing. I mean, if you go into the balloon world, it's amazing. But there's some balloon artists out there that do amazing things like big, big setups, animals, characters, and all that. I'm like, wow, I'm not into that, into the animal characters, but all the garlands, I mean, it's amazing what they do out there. So That's what I want to create too.

And you would think it'd be a less expensive way. Like flowers were a big thing for a long time. Like when you, like weddings, it's extremely expensive to get fresh flowers and it's very time consuming and you have to do it really fast. And I just thinking like, so I'm assuming a balloon would be, you know, I think they're prettier, a less expensive way to really, really decorate your space. And make it, you know, fun and inviting, right?

Yeah, I mean, there's, uh, price ranges for everything because there's some balloons that go over $1,000. It depends on how big— yeah, on how big you want to go and how much you want to spend too, because it's a lot of time, time like building the garlands. That's what people don't see behind the, the lines. I mean, you see a garland, you may think, oh, that's easy, I can do it, it's fast. And no, because there's, there's a lot of things going on. The inflating, the time-consuming, the preparing, the transportation, and all that. So yes, it's different from flowers.

You'd have to tramp because if even if you did it ahead of time, you— how do you get them from one place to another? That's hard without popping.

Yeah, like you should see my, my, my car. It's like always full of balloons, and I have videos on my Instagram and like putting everything in there and just pushing it in. When it's not that big. It's amazing how much balloons you can fit in a trunk.

Wow.

That's crazy.

Yeah, that's, that is. Well, so since you did come from another, you know, city and you've come here and you've had to rebuild, what are some of the ways that you're trying to get yourself out there?

Actually, right now I'm just doing Instagram, Facebook, and from recommendations. That's how I've been getting my business going along. I'm now doing some work in Austin too, so, which is amazing because it's for a nonprofit organization. I have 2 scheduled for this year. I did one amazing last year and people are getting to know me. I'm growing like really, really fast, more than I expected, which is like really good for me. I'm so happy that I, that I got to put my word out there.

Yeah. Yeah. Balloons seem like it would be fun. I mean, that's like good social media content, right? Like when we're talking about— because Marie and I are in real estate— when we talk about that kind of thing, like you can only show so many houses and it's like, okay, this kitchen, they all look the same. Like it's no big deal. But all these like fun balloons and like different decorations and stuff, that just seems like that'd be great content for the Instagram.

Yes. And it's really creative and competitive. You just have to put yourself out there, be creative, do something different, do it better than everybody else. Yeah, how people trust your work. Because I mean, you're always going to find balloons, cheap balloons. There's always Amazon, there's, oh yeah, I don't know, different brands that you can find cheap. But a good quality balloon can last for more than a month, and most people don't know that. I mean, balloons—

I have no idea.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've had balloons here from New Year's, which I didn't get to pop all of them, so I just brought them home and they were standing in my garage with cold, heat, and you know, all that winter thing. And when I brought them in, like, after a month and a half later— well, not a month, like, I just popped them a few weeks ago. So they were perfect. I was like, I can use this again. I mean, just like put a little shine on it and they're perfect. They look really good. But that's good quality balloons, because if you buy just whatever brand, they're gonna pop the next day, or I mean, 2 days, they're gonna just deflate.

Yeah, sometimes they pop as you're blowing them up. I don't even do balloons anymore because I don't have the patience. It's just not there for us. So my kids just like dream about the balloons.

You need a lot of patience to do this. It's like patience, patience, patience, and be creative, I guess.

Well, that— and I think it's a very creative, creative art. Like, it's really just— because you can do so much things with it. You just have to kind of I mean, tying them together. And so I tried to help at a school dance for my son, and there was 4 of us, and I had never used one of those blow-up—

yeah, pumps.

When I came in, I'm like, I have to blow them up. Like, they're like, oh no, use the thing. And I could not. I popped, I think, 10 of them. Like, just pop.

Yeah.

And they're like, now you're blowing them up too much. I'm like, why? Like, we have to be able to tie them. I'm like, oh, it took me forever to figure it out.

Yeah, it's a whole thing to learn. I mean Like I said, everybody can do it, but it depends on your style, your patience. The big setups, the time-consuming, that's why we're here for, to do all that for you and just create something beautiful and a happy memory for your kids, family, coworkers, whatever you want to do.

Yeah. Jessica, do you ever bring people along to help you with the setup? Because I mean, when we were doing this little bitty school dance, I mean, there's no way I could hold this garland thing up and tape it to the ceiling or whatever we did. Like there had to be several people. Do you bring anyone along with you when you do setups?

Yeah, the big setups, yes. I have somebody that comes with me and helps me. The one in Austin, it was last year, so I didn't have anybody. I haven't hired anybody to do that kind of things. So my brothers and sisters were the one that helped me over there. They came with me. I showed them everything. This is what we have to do. It's going to be two different setups. I have everything planned ahead. So just follow along with me and I'll keep like guiding you and tell you what to do. Because I mean, they're— they've never done balloons. They're like, what do I do here? It's like a big setup. But every— everything came out perfectly. It turned out so great.

That's awesome.

Well, I think it's going to keep going, the trend. I think it's going to continue to grow just because I've seen it more and more. And you know, I know you said, uh, like, I'm— weddings, I saw, I saw one, I think maybe on Instagram. It was the whole place was in balloon, like not just like, you know, the nice pretty arch. I mean, it was everywhere. Their tables, the entrance, around the DJ, everywhere. Yes, everywhere.

Yeah, no, and it's growing so much. I mean, a few years ago I started seeing them more after— no, during COVID and after COVID, because I think before, I mean, in my personal experience, it wasn't that much of a trend. And right now everybody's using them for everything. It's amazing and it's wonderful. I love seeing all the types of creations that they make out there. It's great.

Yeah. I mean, with the popularity, I imagine then, like you said, it almost feels like it's a saturated industry. And Marie and I can relate to that. Obviously, there's a lot of lenders out there. There's a million real estate agents.

It's growing more. Yes.

Yeah. And so do you have any advice for dealing with maybe trying to stand out in your industry or like working in a saturated industry or anything like that? What is your opinions on that?

I think just like customer service is mainly the thing. If you give really good customer service and like help the client throughout the whole process, because I mean, clients keep changing. I want this. No, it's too expensive. I want this. No, add a little bit more. Remove this. So it's like a whole thing you need to do before the final installation. And as long as you give good customer service and your client likes you, they're going to recommend you. And you do good work. I mean, good work with quality balloons, good setup, and give them what they pay for because they're expensive. So you need to provide, okay, I pay this, I don't know, $600, it's worth the $600. She gave me a whole customer service like really good customer service. I think that's the main thing. I mean, whenever you get good customer service, you're always going to recommend the services, right?

That's true. Yeah.

And your work and your work also.

I mean, of course. Yeah.

Good quality work. And I think that's basically how I stand out and how I get my clients.

Well, I think that I would, I would refer someone that gives, hey, you know, they they gave me quality work, they're always available, they answered my questions, they taught me whatever, what, you know, I would refer that person if I use them. Like, hey, this person's great, you know. And I— people always talk about— we talk about cost in these, you know, small businesses, right? Like, you get with what you pay for. So if you're gonna go cheap, you're gonna get cheap. Of course, you pay, you know, you're— and you're not gonna be— you're not gonna be happy with the end product, maybe. And again, maybe not even the customer service.

I've seen that with clients. I mean, they've I've done everything, everything, like the mockup, the quote, the time, everything. And at the end, they're like, oh, I'm so sorry, you're too expensive for me. And then I see them on their Instagram and they're doing the same thing. Somebody that didn't do all the mockup, they're copying my work. I'm like, well, that's, I mean, I don't mind. That's always going to happen. People are going to think that I'm too expensive, but I'm not going to reduce my prices for that kind of people. I mean, if you want my services, you have to pay for what I give you, which is good quality work, good customer service, and basically, yes.

Yeah. I mean, that, that's such a good point. I just feel like, and there are customers for every, I think, price point, you know what I mean? If you put yourself out there as somebody that does do good work, that really prides themself in customer service, you're going to end up attracting the kind of customer that is comfortable paying the, the prices that you're charging. I believe that. And so there's plenty of people that need balloons. Maybe if you're too expensive for this particular person, they can find it cheaper elsewhere. I mean, I just, and I just am a big believer in when you start getting in these low, low prices, like Marie said, you are gonna get what you pay for. And some people, unfortunately, either they're fine with it or they learn the hard way, you know, and that's, how that goes. But yeah, I mean, if you're putting yourself out there with quality work, you're going to get the clients that are comfortable paying your fees.

Yes. And I've been, I mean, investing time in just like my course, my certification, all that counts into my work. I mean, that's why I charge what I charge because I have the backup that I'm certified. I've been taking courses lately. I'm keeping up to trends and all that is time and investment.

Of course. Yeah, for sure. I'm curious now, what do you get asked for? Like, what do people ask for the most? Is it like these arches? Is it the garlands? Like, what are your most like popular setups?

Kids' parties. Yeah, things like the garland. Yes, theme parties. Yeah, that's the most that I have right now. Theme parties and heliums. I make big helium bubble balloons. Which are hand-painted inside. They look beautiful. Oh, those are— yeah, they're cute. They're like 3 feet. They're, they're amazing. I mean, when you see them, you're like, wow, this is huge. And I get that— I, I get asked that a lot for the helium ones, parties and helium, the bubbles especially.

About like your most popular design. Okay, what's the most odd, I guess, design that you've— or maybe odd thing that people have asked for? Like anything kind of—

I'm trying to think. Odd? Different, maybe? But it's just, it was just a— it's not different, it's a trend now, actually. It was foil balloons, a wall foil balloon. It's like the foil, the shiny.

Okay.

Yeah, the shiny, a whole wall made of that.

Oh, I've seen that at like sports pictures. Like, yes, I've seen that where the, where the, the kids were taking like their sports photographs or whatever they have, and it's neat in the back, like the— maybe the school colors.

Yeah, it's a trend right now for that, that— and that's the— I did it last year actually. It's like really going on right now. They use it for photo booths. It's like filled with foil balloons. They look amazing. But like, odd, not really. It's just like I try to keep up with everything, and I can do pretty much everything the client asks me for.

That's amazing.

Wow.

What would you say if you could, what do you think is one of the, your favorite things about, you know, working in this industry?

I think everything. I love the creative part. Once I started doing, well, from the beginning, when the client asked me for something and they just tell me, I need a balloon garland for this. And this is the theme, show me pictures, their inspiration, this, like, all the creative part, like looking for pictures, inspiration, and all that, and then doing my work based on that and seeing the final result. It's amazing. I love all the parts of the, of the industry. I mean, just creating, looking at pictures, inspiration, doing the garlands. Sometimes they can be like really big something small, but everything I did out of my passion and love for balloons.

Yeah, I bet it's nice to have, like, some of it must be quite challenging. And so trying to figure out how you can, you know, make this look like this, or, you know, get the result that they want. That's the part that I would like, is if somebody would say like, hey, can you do this? It's like, okay, let me figure out how to do that thing. And yeah, I can definitely do that. So the challenging part, I bet it's figuring out.

Yes. It is challenging sometimes because they ask, I need you to hang, I don't know, like 100 balloons from the ceiling. I'm like, how am I going to install all the way up to the ceiling and trying to figure it out, investigate what's the best part. I don't want to damage their ceiling. I want it to look the best. So yes, there's a lot of challenges going on. But I mean, I always get through and I always accept everything. I'm like, okay, this is new. I'll do it. I don't mind.

That's awesome. I love that. Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, now would be the time that I guess we would typically ask for you to share how our listeners can get in touch with you for your, all your balloon services.

You can find me on Instagram as Balloon House, also on Facebook. I am as Balloon House, and I'm actually just about to launch my webpage where you can find all my helium balloons. Without getting in touch with me, just like the basic ones. You can just order them online, not have any contact with me, because sometimes people just like don't like to go back and forth with information. So you can just click on the, on the balloon that you want and have it delivered to your house. And they're going to be a little less costly than what I usually make them for since you're not having to deal with me. So that's a big project that I've been working on for a few months now, and it's about to go up. So I hope everybody likes more, more of the balloons than the flowers.

No, I think that's great. But the, like, you can— so it's a kind of another channel of your business that you're creating. So that's awesome.

It's a different part, yes.

Oh, that's great.

Yes, and sometimes, I mean, it's like whenever you order online, it's easier. You don't have to have contact with anybody. It's just like order and just get it sent to whoever you want to.

Oh, that's great.

No, I like that.

That is nice. And so what we'll do is we'll put all that information in our show notes so people can reach out to you. And if your website is live by the time this airs, we'll include that in there as well. So it's almost done. Oh, perfect. Okay, well, that'll be great. Well, I just want to thank you for being on with us. This was such a fun one. We got to talk about some fun party stuff.

And so thank you so much for having me.

Yeah, and then thanks so much to our listeners for tuning in to this week's episode of the Working Moms of San Antonio podcast, and we will just catch you guys next week.

See you guys next week.

Thanks so much for tuning in to the Working Moms of San Antonio podcast. Be sure to follow us on social media at our respective Instagram accounts or join our Working Moms of San Antonio Facebook group. Those links can be found in our episode description. If you have an episode topic suggestion or question, please email us at office@radisagent.com. And be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave us a review. See you next week.