This month’s Partner in the Spotlight is Tiffany Burley of A Pop of Color, one of our two delivery partners servicing Houston, Texas!
Getting Started with Balloons
Before becoming a professional balloon decorator, Tiffany worked as an accountant in the oil and gas industry, but she’d always been drawn to balloons. In high school, she would help out at her mom’s gift shop and her favorite part was working the balloon counter. But in 2008, Tiffany created some balloon decorations for her friend’s baby shower. They were such a hit that her other friends started asking for decorations for their parties. Shortly after that, Tiffany founded her balloon company, then called A Cherished Moment, and eventually quit her accounting job to do balloons full-time.
Overcoming Early Struggles
When you’re a small business, starting from scratch is never easy. Tiffany had to take on a part-time job for 6 months of business while she hustled to build up a customer base. She paired up with a friend who was also in the process of starting her own paint & sip studio as accountability partners. They would advertise for each other, work together on designing their websites, and once a week they would go to three businesses in-person to advertise their services. Despite the early struggles, Tiffany never considered quitting. Now that business is steady, she would never consider going back to her desk job. “Not if I have a choice,” she said. “If I can put all my energy into my own business, why do it for someone else?”
Tiffany was even able to grow her business through the adversity of Hurricane Harvey. Even though she lost power at her house, she was able to work on building her WordPress site during the downtime. As a result, when she transitioned to using a Square website, it made the whole process much easier.
Delivering Happiness
For Tiffany, the best part of delivering balloons is making people smile. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a toddler, teenager, adult, senior citizen, every time anyone gets balloons, for a moment an adult is a kid again.” One of her most memorable decorating projects was a commission for two toothbrush sculptures for the Ronald McDonald House.
Tip: Use a Business Management Software
Tiffany uses 17hats, an all-in-one business tools platform, for managing her business. She likes using 17hats for its ease in integrating different business applications, such as Quickbooks and Square, into its platform. Business management applications like this are great tools to keep all aspects of your business organized.
Thank you, Tiffany, we are happy to have you as a Balloon Planet Partner!