The Secrets to Attracting Luxury Balloon Clients — My Conversation on The Bright Balloon Podcast

Full Transcript

The Secrets to Attracting Luxury Balloon Clients

[00:00:00] If you find working with large clients. Overwhelming in your balloon business. Today's episode is for you. My name is Sarah Meyer. I'm the host of the Bright Balloon Podcast where I help you make more money and eliminate stress in your balloon business. And today I am chatting with Sean Edwards, who's the owner of the balloon guy in LA and he works with large high-end customers and he's breaking down what they want, how you can best serve them, and what you do when things inevitably.

Go wrong. So let's jump into this week's episode so you can figure out how to work with those large, fancy, high-end corporate clients. Welcome to this episode, Sean. I'm so excited to talk with you. We are talking about your life of luxury decorating for. Celebrities. No, I'm kidding. We are gonna touch on celebrities.

You are in LA so that looks a little different than being in the middle of nowhere, Wisconsin. So I'm excited to hear about your balloon [00:01:00] adventures. But before we jump in, give us an introduction. Tell us about your business and, and how you got to where you are today. Oh my gosh. Okay, well first of all, I'm, I told you earlier, but I'm like so excited to be here.

I'm so nervous. I've done like a bunch of podcasts, but like I'm the most nervous for this one 'cause it's my favorite and you're my favorite. Well, thank you. But don't be nervous. I like, I like listen to this podcast like every week. I love it and I love all the guests you have on it. I'm like such a, I'm like such a super fan.

Gosh. Okay, so, hi, I'm Sean Edwards. I own the balloon guy in Los Angeles and I started like probably like a lot of people. You know, I started as a balloon twister when I was a kid. I got like a little kid, I was an only child and my parents got me like one of those horrible. Little kits and I like got super into it.

Um, and I got like better and better books as I like went along. But yeah, I started as an entertainer and then from there in LA I like branched out to decor, [00:02:00] but like very slowly, very slowly. I'd say I started doing balloon decorations about 10 years ago, but. It was a very slow progression. Um, and you know, I, I didn't do the whole class route.

There wasn't, like, when I was growing up, nobody, I mean, there wasn't YouTube or anything like that, so you just. You learned from like, I remember there was one I grew up in, uh, Virginia and North Carolina. Okay. And there was like one magic shop, I forget what it was called. But anyway, it was in, I think it was in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Maybe it's still there. But anyway, there was this one clown, she was a clown and her name was Brenda. And she used to smoke like a chimney. And I used to go there and I would like beg her to show me how Nick like balloon things. And she'd be like, well, if you wanna learn, you gotta buy. And then she would like smoke.

And I, I'd be like, hurry, how to make a, a balloon dog. And she'd be like, all right, all right. Come here. You know? I'm like, it was just so, well, not what you imagine a balloon artist would be, but those [00:03:00] were my roots. You, so I've had like the small town experience, you know, like a lot of people do where it's like.

Um, you know, you go up, you meet somebody, you see them doing it, and you like try and learn from them. And then, you know, I've had the big city experience where it's like, here you can pop into a class every week of the, or every day of the, the week. Um, yeah. Well, how long now? You don't, you don't, do you twist anymore?

I guess. I don't actually know. So it's funny, I don't do that much twisting anymore, but the last two weeks I've done like. Three or four parties because I had a guy sick, so I got to do some, I got, yeah. Um, I just worked for, um, I'm gonna name drop, but I worked for somebody I think is cool. I think, I don't know how to say their name, but I think it's Emma Grede.

Maybe she does and like she's an entrepreneur and she works with like the Kardashians. Anyway, really cool. Like role model type person, but super fun party. And then what did I do this weekend? Oh, I just did a really cute little party for like 15 kids in Brentwood. Okay. [00:04:00] Which is West Los Angeles. Like super fancy, right?

Yeah. A little fancy. Yeah, a little fancy Brentwood. Um, I love it. And you, but you, you primarily do decor now, is that correct? Now I mostly do, yeah. Decors, like where we make most of our money. And we have face painters and balloon twisters and entertainers too. But yeah, we, we, we are known kind of for like custom decor.

Like, uh, we do a lot of like brand activations, like influencer events, like movie premieres and like, um, that kind of stuff. Uh, we work with a lot of like experiential agencies and, okay. I don't know. I've gotten to do like a lot of fun stuff. It's always like something different. Yeah. Well, that's like, I mean, I'm, I'm interested to talk to you about this because it's like the total opposite of me.

I am like columns, arches, garlands, like, you know, they can be kind of like quote unquote customized, but like they're not, they're all the same. It's like you choose your colors and on the rare occasion I have the event planner that wants the super custom thing, but that sounds [00:05:00] like mostly what you're doing, which I find.

Incredibly stressful. So like behind the scenes in your actual business, what does that look like? Are you doing site visits? Are you doing mockups? Are you sending like mood boards? Like how do you get to the point? Or you're kind of all on the same page. Sure. So it kind of depends on the budget. Sometimes I can just take a look at a photo and if they want like a simple setup in like one area, I'll just look at a photo, ask them for measurements.

Um, but if they have like a huge budget, I will definitely go and visit because I don't wanna mess something out. Yeah. And uh, you know, uh, like for instance, we just did a, a job at the Hollywood Palladia, which is like a, a venue here, and it was for this show on Amazon. But they just wanted one arch and they wanted a really fancy arch.

But um, it was just one yellow arch, but super like. Intricate and, and like, uh, they wanted like two arches in one. They really wanted a tunnel, but they didn't wanna pay for it, so they got an arch. So that was just [00:06:00] pictures. But then like, but a lot of times I will go and visit and just see this type because it's a lot of, I, I started working out of very humbly, you know, out of my car.

I didn't have like, you know, space is so limited and expensive in la Yeah. For the longest time, like I just worked out of my apartment and a car and me and like a helper for the day and we didn't do anything ahead of time. We like showed up, we blew everything up on site. It was super stressful. Yeah. But like we would.

I would, I'm very like, I really like to look at the environment that I'm working with and like let it inform what I'm gonna do. Mm-hmm. So like I feel like structures and things that we make, I really try and fit them to where we're gonna work. So I guess, I guess that's. Why? For me, custom stuff, uh, kind of just works.

I feel like I do a ton of bubble installs. Okay. I think I did one like a couple years ago and like now everybody's like, well, you do bubbles for me. And like, so I just do tons of bubbles everywhere. For brands, it's like shampoo companies and like, yeah. Oh cool. Yeah. You con your niche. You're the bubble guy.

Bubble. Gosh. The balloon guy. The bubble guy. Yeah. Well that's neat. I mean, I feel like sometimes if you do get those high-end clients, 'cause I've had a few, you know, like we have. I've done like athletes or like a brand that I know the name and I'm like, oh my gosh, this is a fancy thing. Do you have tips in working with these coordinators?

Because before, like before you, when you started recording, you said even when you're working for like a celebrity, you're never gonna meet the celebrity like you're meeting, you're, you're working with like their people or, you know, an event planner who does high-end work is still just like a regular person.

Uh, do you find that it's a different vibe or do you think you, you just treat everyone like people and it works out. So I guess like what I've always tried to focus on is like I'm a bit of a people pleaser. So like I have just like I talked about like three pillars in our business, which is like, I feel like the artistry that we create, um, [00:08:00] you know, I want to be number one.

The customer service is like really, really important to me. I try and really focus on having amazing customer service, like in the past, like year, we're really trying to grow our business right now, so like I make sure like someone's always answering the phone, you know, nine to five, nine to six right now.

You can always get to somebody right away. Yeah. And, um. People really like that. They really respond to that. And I know personally, like if I have a problem with something I ordered online or a local business, like if I want like flowers or something like that, it really makes a big difference if you have good customer service because I don't think people expect that from most balloon decor companies and or especially balloon artists.

So to me that's really important. And I will say in a city. Like Los Angeles, that's what people expect. Okay. And like that's how you, to me, that's how you work with the big brands and you work with celebrities and, and that's how you can charge top dollar [00:09:00] is by like ensuring that you're gonna be there on time, you're gonna be professional, you're gonna have the best artistic values and integrity, and then.

At the end of the day, like if my client isn't happy, like I do have a hard time sleeping at night. So like I like try and focus on like the joy and like happiness that we provide. Like I feel like, you know, balloons in and of themselves are not that spectacular. They're around latex product. It's what you do with them and it's like the magic and like, you know, heart that you bring to everything you do.

Big or small. That makes it. Impactful, but like I was talking with somebody that about this, this weekend, you really can light up and change an entire room, like with just balloons. Mm-hmm. You can make a beach more beautiful and interesting. You can make. An alley. Cool with like some balloons and a cool photo shoot.

You can make the fanciest house look even more alive and exciting with balloons. It's really cool. Yeah, [00:10:00] I agree with everything you just said. I like, I just wrapped my biggest job ever last week, like it was Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and a couple things you said just now were completely true. Like, first of all, everything I delivered was like fine, like it was.

It was arches, it was centerpieces. It was Garland like. It wasn't stuff that I don't do every single weekend. Just because it was this huge event didn't mean it was like crazy stuff. But I would say the way I earned my paycheck was communication and logistics and like being able to be ready if things changed, which they almost all did.

Three of their four events were rained out. They just got the worst weather and they were supposed to have these outdoor events, and I think I could have been a jerk and just been like. Sorry, like you ordered Garland that was gonna go on this outdoor fireplace, and now here it is. I'm just gonna leave it on the floor.

But instead, we were able to turn it into these like 10 foot columns last minute and like, you know, did they pay for that? I [00:11:00] don't know. Was I gonna like, look, let their party look like garbage also? No. You know, like you, you go outta your way. And it worked out and they were really happy with it, but it wasn't like they were paying for the balloons, if you know what I mean.

They were paying for. Me being there on time and not dropping the ball and the confidence that I was able to give them that I was gonna be able to pull it off. So, yeah, I mean, I just, I totally agree with everything you just said. Yeah, I think that's so true. Like, I mean, I feel like part of like a big part of what we do is like reassure our clients that everything's gonna be okay.

Mm-hmm. 'cause they like everybody, you know, comes to. Balloon decorator for a lot of times, like a really important event, like a first birthday or a baby shower or, um, you know, a wedding, like something important. And, um, you know, half the time they're stressed about it. They, they don't really know what they want.

Like, it's a lot of like guiding them and I'm like reassuring them that like, you're in good hands. Like, we got this, like, we're gonna take great interview. Like, you know, so, or like even assuring them that their ideas are good, you know, like, oh, that'll look [00:12:00] amazing. Like, they just want someone to tell them like, you picked great colors.

This is gonna look great. You know, like they just, just agree with them and they feel I think a bit more confident. And sometimes I think if you disagree too, like, Ooh, great idea, but that's not gonna last long, so let's do something else. Like, I think that can give them confidence. Yeah. We talked about this.

You're in la, you have some high-end clients, you have some probably crazier jobs. Do any stand out, either good or bad, things you're really proud of or things that you're like that could have gone better? So an interesting job that I had recently that didn't go exactly as planned was we did a job for Porsche and they sent us this really cool design that they came up with, and it was like the car, and then it was supposed to look like it was like speeding in really quickly and there was like exhaust coming out and then it like evaporated like three quarters of the way through the arch.

So I'm going to weight it only on one side. [00:13:00] Would it be helium? So it kind of floated. Well, I was gonna, I built a frame. Okay. So I built a frame with conduit and like an air, a really heavy air pole base plate. And I had the conduit go up and then we bent it, and then I used aluminum rod and like had that extent down.

And then I used wire, so it like kind of trickled down, literally like the design. And then my plan was to float. Use water weights and float balloons up and then drop them down with fish flying. So it would've been perfect. It was, if it was inside as the client, I said, you know, it doesn't get a lot of wind there, blah, blah, blah.

And they were like, no, not at all. It was like a tornado. It was insane. We got there, I built it like we, we were, we had a whole prep day. We got there at like 5:00 AM and we had until like 6:00 PM So we had so much time and I built it. Three times with, we made frames, we used the frame. We had, we, like, [00:14:00] I had balloon bonded.

I duct taped. I, I got so creative with the design and nothing was working. Yeah. Their entire, like they had all this tenting set up. It all like fell over. Gosh, like forklifts come out and like move it all, and like, I mean it was just crazy. What did you end up doing? Did you figure it out or you just were like, this isn't possible.

So their design didn't end up being possible and I felt really bad, but it didn't, it didn't end up being possible to do the xzy they wanted. Yeah. So what we ended up doing was like slightly moving the location to like, there was a big gate. That was like super sturdy. It was not never gonna fall over. So we ended up doing like a huge, just massive arch on it, and then we like linked it to the car.

Okay. We literally stuffed balloons inside the exhaust pipe and then like fish lined it around [00:15:00] everything. Yeah. So it gave a similar effect. It wasn't as cool as what we wanted to do, but it was huge. It was beautiful, and we ended up using helium for part of it. Yeah. It all worked out. The client was super happy.

And I will say like, again, like I feel like we've talked a lot about customer service in this, you know, today, but like, they were super, they, they said like, oh my gosh, well we just can't appreciate like how hard you tried and like how effort that you put in and like how many times you built it. And so much so that they like called us to recreate it in Atlanta, which we didn't end up doing, but it was really nice, you know?

Yeah. Great client like, but yeah, that was, that was a tough one. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, if their tents are blowing away, that's what sometimes wind are like outdoor balloons. I'm like, people have to understand that they're balloons. Like they have to know like, these are going to blow. Or like all the linens are blowing away and like you said, the tents are toppling over.

I'm like, no one's caring about the balloons at that point, because like [00:16:00] their whole party is destroyed. Like it's just, you know, we get wind here, so it's just, and sun are just. My nightmare. Outdoor in general. Do you do a lot of outdoor stuff then, because the weather's always nice? We do. We do. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, I definitely always prefer it inside too, but um, I mean, it's just so pretty here. And then people, most of the parties are outside Yeah. Homes or, um. KnotOut. Yeah. So what have you done? Are there any where you're just like, everything did go well and you're like, this is the coolest job ever. Like, we got to do this huge install, or, or something you're, you're super proud of that's on your short list of installs.

So my favorite thing that I've ever done would be at this like, um, this like private club called Soho House here. And this was at the one in West Hollywood. And they had like this like. They have this, it's in the penthouse of a skyscraper. Like, I mean, it's really cool. There's only like one elevator that goes up.

It's kind of hard [00:17:00] to get stuff in and out, but. We did, it was for Halloween, and their theme was Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. And they wanted to recreate the steam where like the Charlie and his grandfather, I think. Yeah. Like float, you know. And so we did like bubbles, we did all these clear bubbles.

We were there for like a week. Oh my gosh. I had like 25 people working. We were like high floating everything. Um, it was like, I don't even think, like the pictures on our Instagram, like do it justice. Sure. It was massive and like, it was so cool. It was my favorite thing I've ever done there. It was really tough because they said you can't put anything on the floor, nothing on the walls, nothing on the ceiling.

So we were like. How do we do this? Yeah, so we ended up building like this, like grid, like out of fish line, and we like floated balloons up and we dropped balloons down and then there was a staircase in the middle and so I left the staircase [00:18:00] completely empty so people could get up and down. It was really cool.

It was just like bubbles everywhere. As soon as you got off the elevator and like stepped in, I mean, I like. Everything went great. Like it was, it was so cool. The, the, yeah. So how do you hire 25 people for these huge events? Like how many employees do you have and where are you getting additional help when you need it?

So this was actually, we were working with a production company and so they ended up providing a lot of the staff. Okay. For it. And I had like my people too. I had like five people that worked for me and like knew what to do. But I mean, it wasn't that hard because they were just inflating balloons and like it was labor.

Yeah. Yeah. So for that job it was okay. It wasn't like I was sending people out to go build garlands and backdrops and stuff like that on their own, you know, everybody was in the same room and working together. So it wasn't that bad. But we got lucky because the production company paid for like all of that labor.

Yeah. [00:19:00] They, they didn't want to pay, like what I quoted them for the bubble installation. So they, they were, I was like, well, if you pay for the labor, like we can get this down a little bit. Sure. And, um, yeah, so, so that's what happened and that's interesting. Yeah. So on any given day, what is your typical staffing?

Looking like how many people work for you? Well, this year we've gotten a little bit larger 'cause I'm really trying to grow the company like within LA and like maybe outside, I'm not sure. But so today for instance, we have, we have one person answering the phone from nine to five or nine to six. And is, is that in like a physical location or are they remote and do they have like a Google phone to their cell phone?

How does that work? Yeah, so I. I like to, I, I give everybody an iPhone just so that I can like hold onto the information and like, interesting. Okay. So we use a CRM, um, [00:20:00] uh, which is go high level and I will say it's kind of glitchy. I wish I could afford something fancier, but the other ones are like $800 or, um, but it's cool because it has like an app and then everybody can access the app and, okay.

It's my dog chance. He, he appears in every podcast I've ever done. But it's great because like you can have like unlimited users for like a hundred bucks a month and you can do so much. We don't even use all the capabilities of it, but I have like Lee who does like operations and like is like helping me.

As like, kind of like a business manager and he just started like in January. Okay. I'm looking to him to like help organize and stuff like that, the business so that we can grow. I think it's tough, like as like a solopreneur where like, I mean, I always get in the weeds like, because like I used to run this business just myself, so I like am a little micromanage and like, uh, you know, a bit of a perfectionist.

So I like want everything to be really great, but like [00:21:00] you also like have to let some things go. Um, and just like. Let people make mistakes, I feel like. Yeah. Which stinks 'cause I don't love it. But that's where I'm at right now. And then we have, I have Kelsey who's amazing and they answer the phones Monday through Wednesday.

Um, and then I have a new person that just started that is gonna do all outbound stuff. Okay. We're gonna do, like, I'm gonna have them really target like corporate. Um, so we're like really working hard on Instagram or, I'm sorry, uh, LinkedIn and Instagram, our social media presence. So, um, so yeah, so when I started like, I was like, well, Instagram, that's like a passing fad or whatever, and like, I'm so not, like, I just, I'm not really like, I mean I hope this seems true, but I'm not really like that showy or like, you know, I don't like to.

I'm not a big bragger or any, I don't, is that a word? Bragger. But anyway, I'm not like, I never, like, what I'm trying to say is like I never focused like that [00:22:00] hard on the social media in the beginning. Sure. And I feel like it's so important, but now we're having to like backtrack and like, 'cause I feel like we, I just got like over 2000 followers on social media.

Because it wasn't something that I put any effort into. Right, right. You and I talked like before the podcast recording started and you were like, I never heard about you, and like, now you're everywhere and whatever. And like I feel like that's like something like I've tried to work on is like trying to be more visible and you know.

Well, and it's hard 'cause I feel like everyone I meet is in person at a convention. But like we also said before we started recording, like I think a lot of the biggest businesses in the country, like no one knows about, they're just, they're grinding, right? They just, they have these well-oiled operations.

They've been around for 25 years. They're not really on social media. So I mean. Everything online I think is a little bit fake. So I think you don't know what's happening in people's businesses. But yeah, I mean, I, I only know who I can find or who I meet in real life, but yeah, [00:23:00] I have noticed a big uptick in your, you know, your social media presence and, and of course I met you at Summit, so that, that was how we first met.

Yeah, I feel like always like face to face is like super valuable, right? Yeah. Like, okay, I put a face with a name and like blah, blah, blah. But um, yeah, I mean. I feel like social media is really cool. It's like, I don't know, I feel like I don't know anything about it, but I've tried to like invest a little bit more because like, I feel like it's changing how people find balloon artists and find decorators and, and you know, everything.

I feel like you have to do so much to be visible, um, including like show up in person and like yeah. Lock doors and, and call, call around like locally it's running a business is no joke. It's not, yeah. So as you're kind of growing and evolving, where is your goal to like be in your business? Do you want to never touch a balloon?

Do you want to be the face of your company? Do you like love doing the installs? Or like where, ideally, [00:24:00] where are you kind of trying to go as like the owner? Because I know people have different answers for this, but I'm just curious personally where, where you'd like to see things go. Um, a bit of a hybrid actually.

Like, I feel like I love, like you do, um, like running the business and like focusing on business and, um. Uh, you know, customer service and helping like learn how to run a company and like, I don't, I didn't go to business school. I went to art school. Yeah, same. Uh, so I really don't have any experience in running a business except for like what I've learned by doing, but I really enjoy it.

It's something like fun and like unique and it's like always every day is different. I feel like as a business owner, like you're always, and as a decorator, you know, you're always trying to like. Put out fires and like, you know, I focus on social media and then I'm like, oh gosh, I gotta reinvest in like the artwork and like, okay.

I'm like invested in like the artwork and like making sure our designs are really cool, but okay, now I gotta, I gotta go solve our phone problem. 'cause like our phone problem's down. Okay. [00:25:00] Now the website needs attention and like, I feel like it's easy to get really run around. Yeah. But I guess my like goal is I would like, as I'm getting older, to me, like what's.

More important is like family and like having fun and like living a great life. Giving to, uh, getting to go on vacation. Like, you know, I've always been like really grinding in my business and just trying to get by and like mm-hmm. Now we're like at a sort of comfortable level. I feel like that's great, but like now I need to like have a little bit more work-life balance.

Yeah. Enjoy things a little bit more. So like I would love to, not that I don't want to ever touch a balloon again, but like, I feel like I would love to let the business run itself a little bit more and just like, oversee things and, and maybe insert yourself on those really fun projects. Yeah. I see. I I still love to go do like the big projects for sure.

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Well, Sean, it was so nice talking to you. I hope I get to see you in real life [00:26:00] again sometime soon, but I will be following along online. Where uh, can people follow you if they wanna check out your work? Yeah, sure. So Balloon Guy LA is, our social media is our Instagram and it's pretty much everything else.

Balloon Guy la and then our website is theballoonguyla.com. Perfect. Well thank you so much and uh, it was so nice chatting. Thanks Sarah. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.