We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Becky Walls a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Becky, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a time you helped a customer really get an amazing result through their work with you.
One of my favorite stories to tell comes from the second year we were in business. There was another similar company in Atlanta that was having some difficulties in their business. I believe the owner of that company was experiencing burnout and did not enjoy the work anymore. On this particular morning, I received a text message from that business owner asking if Ariel could cover a party for them. The biggest fear in my work is a child expecting their idol to show up to their special day just to be left disappointed when that character doesn’t arrive. This company and other companies taught me early on to always have understudies on standby for every performance. We were receiving calls from them and other companies in the area asking for last-minute coverage every weekend, so I had stopped scheduling myself at my own company, just so I could be on call to help them out. It sounds crazy, but I really didn’t want any child to go without or have their expectations crushed. The party for this client was 2 hours away from me but I agreed to be Ariel for them.
As I was getting ready, I received a phone call from a panicked dad saying that another company had canceled on him, that morning, for his daughter’s birthday. I was so sad to tell him we couldn’t do his party until I realized he was the father of the party whom I was already covering for that day! I explained to him that I had already been contacted and that Ariel was actively getting ready. He then asked, “what about Moana?”… My heart stopped, “I wasn’t told anything about Moana. Are you expecting her as well?”
The father proceeded to tell me that last year, Elsa was invited to his child’s birthday party. They waited and waited for her but she never showed up. When he called the company to get a refund for his deposit she refused and told him that “refunds were non-refundable” even though it was the company’s fault. The company then promised to give him two characters next year for the same price, Ariel and Moana.
I jumped off the phone with him and called my Moana performer. She agreed to cancel her plans and to come with me to this child’s birthday party.
The party went amazing. The birthday girl was so happy to see us. Pure love and genuine joy covered her face the entire day. Near the end of our visit, she turned to me with sad eyes and said, “Elsa didn’t come to my birthday last year.” She then jumped up, grabbed my waist, and pulled herself in to give me a giant hug. She whispered into my dress, “thank you for coming to my birthday.”
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
It is no secret that small businesses are part of the foundation to which successful communities thrive. Our company Southern Belle Princess Parties was created with the goal of bringing family-friendly entertainment to the greater Atlanta area. We strive to ensure that every child, business, church, and community member has the opportunity to meet the characters that mean so much to them.
Our story began when our company founder, Becky Walls, was 7 years old and invited Ariel to her birthday party back in 2001. As time passed, Becky realized that the woman playing Ariel at her birthday party was an actress and that one day she could “grow up” to be a princess as well. At age 21, Becky was graduating with her BFA in English and knew that she wanted to work with children and that this was the time in her life to take a risk. She auditioned for the Disney College Program and worked as a Character Performer for Walt Disney World in Orlando in 2016. When she returned back to her hometown of Griffin, Ga, she knew that children’s entertainment was her calling. Becky began calling, emailing, and auditioning at every established company she could find. The problem was that the two closest companies to Griffin, Ga were over 1.5 hrs away in every direction – so Becky decided to take the leap and invest every penny she had in a single costume – Belle (inspired by Beauty and the Beast). This is where our company – Southern “Belle” Princess Parties- gets its name!
Princess Party Companies aren’t exactly known for high margins when you are operating legally and with quality costumes and performers. Becky began teaching 7th grade ELA to fund the company. As the company began to grow, Becky discovered that to own a successful business there were a couple of things she wanted to focus on. First, she did not enjoy her job as a teacher and wanted to create a business that gave herself and other performers a creative theater outlet. Second, at the end of the day, our jobs are about the children we are working for. She wanted to remember to put them first in every business decision she made. Finally, she never wanted to forget to give back to the community. To this day, we donate costumes, performers, money, time and so much more to local hospitals, charities, walks, and more. We support the other U.S.-based small businesses in our costume wig purchases. We truly believe that this community is a better place because our company and other small businesses like ours exist.
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
When I started this company, my dream was to be full-time. I was 22 years old, living with my grandparents and my company occupied a small hallway closet. I was teaching Monday-Friday as a brand new educator, going to school in the evening to get a teaching certificate, and booking every princess party I could on the weekends.
Our first character was Belle, then I hired another performer and we began offering Belle, Moana, and Jasmine. Moana and the live-action Beauty and the Beast had just been released and we booked those two charracters like crazy! Over those next few months, I spent every penny I had upgrading and buying new costumes. By the end of 2017, I had Cinderella, Snow White, Aurora, Ariel, Belle Elsa, Anna, Tinkerbell, Moana, Jasmine, Tiana, and Spiderman! I had also hired a couple of performers and had a modest staff of 7 people. The company had outgrown the hallway closest and took over the entire walk-in closet in my bedroom. I never once paid myself for a party and even put my tip money back into the company bank account.
Over the next year we grew so much! Local businesses like ‘Stache Studios, Chick-Fil-A, the Atlanta Gladiators, MyClayground and others partnered with us and by the end of the year we had added several mascots and many more Disney-inspired characters and superheroes. I took every opperunity I could, even if it meant losing money, to build up our reputation and our clientele. We went from doing about 4-5 parties a month to doing about 3 a week!
In 2019, I could no longer juggle my company with teaching full time. I did not sign a contract for the 2019/2020 school year. I remember thinking to myself that if I could just make $800 a month with my business, that I could survive. I had just finished my teaching certification, taught for two years, and was managing a rapidly growing business. My mental health needed a break. $800 a month could pay for my car insurance, my rent at my grandparents, a survivable amount of food, gas, and my cell phone bill. I was 25 and still on my mother’s health insurance. When I took the leap and went full time with my company, I was terrified! I enjoyed my mental break for several months, but decided to take a part time job at my brother’s work for a little bit of extra savings. I knew that I eventually wanted my own space. The company has outgrown my walk-in closet and had poured over into my personal bedroom, was averaging about 10 parties a week, and had over 20 performers. In February of 2020, I got my own small apartment and the company fully moved into my old bedroom.
In March of 2020, the world shut down. April 2020 had more revnue on the books then I had ever seen before, about 3x our normal amount. We had 7 copies and Elsa and Anna and each were booked out at 3+ parties every single Saturday and Sunday (Frozen 2 had just been releasead). I was jumping for joy until clients started canceling and asking for refunds. I was devastasted. I did not qualify for unemployment because of my part-time job, so I ended up having to go full time at my brother’s company and we booked very few parties for months. Even when we are not actively doing parties, there are still costs. We survived with video calls, virtual parties, and because of some very kind clients who did not demand their deposits back. Over the next several months, we had top-quality masks made for our characters, and somehow we have avoided, to this day, ever having a performer get Covid from a birthday party. I went back to teaching for the 2021-2022 school year, because my part time job was low-wage and not supporting me even doing it full time.
In 2021, we had a massive influx of bookings. Parents had missed the 2020 birthday season and they wanted to go big with 2021! We started giving clients the options of our performers wearing masks, not wearing masks, or that it was the performers choice. All of our performers got vaccinated as soon as they were eligible.
As I was approaching the 2022 school year, I starting have panick attacks and dreading the start of the new school year. I rememeber crying every day for a week and not sleeping a bit. I decided to put in my notice before my new contract started. After putting in my notice, relief rushed over me and I slept like a baby. I was still scared of the financial insecurty, but this time I made a game plan. I figured out my exact expenses, including expenses that I wouldn’t have anymore if I stopped teaching: $1000+ in classoom supplies (for the year), $100/week dog walker, $100/week gas, $20/week food, etc. and figured up exactly what I needed to make with my company to not only survive, but to live comfortably. I then looked into the company’s financial data and discovered that we were consistently making a little more each month than was required for our rent, insurance, performer pay, website, ads, licenses, etc. In July 2021, I made the leap again into being full time.
Since making this decision, eactly 11 months ago today, I have not regretted it for a moment. My company tripled its monthly sales almost overnight when I was able to dedicate full time to my craft. Because I am able to answer emails, texts, and phone calls quickly, clients don’t need to inquire elsewhere. Because I was not overworked Monday-Friday, I am able to schedule myself on more weekend parties and more weekday parties as well. I am so happy to say that we have hit our financial goal (and in most months exceeded it) for the past 11 months. In our slow months, I am able to babysit (something I love) for local families needing someone part-time. I am making more money now than I did when I was teaching full-time and running my business on the side. I have been able to take another employee out of a job that she hated and give her ful-time employment with us. I am so happy to report that we have over 70 performers now and average about 25 parties a week. I am living proof that “all our dreams can come true if we have the courage to persue them” (Walt Disney).
Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
Managing a team and maintaining high morale is difficult for everyone – even if your job is bringing magic to little nuggets! At our company, we do a couple of things to help create a happy work environment.
The first thing we do to help maintain high morale is “employee of the month” awards. We usually do 4 awards each month for the following categories: driving the most miles, playing the most mascots, covering the most last-minute parties, and a generic “employee of the month” that I give to someone whom I noticed went the extra mile during the month. Driving, mascots, and last-minute coverage are a couple of the harder/more annoying aspects of our jobs, so I want to make sure my staff is rewarded for their hard work.
The next thing I do is called my “open-door policy.” My staff knows that they can come to me with any problems; work related or not and that I will listen to them and truly take an interest in their problems. Sometimes they just need to vent and knowing that their employer truly cares about them makes for a happy employee. It’s true what they say – people quit their bosses, not their jobs.
My last piece of advice for anyone managing a team is to be understanding. If someone oversleeps, needs the day off for a personal reason, makes a mistake, or doesn’t follow a procedure – give them grace. One day you might need grace and you will hope someone gave it to you. It is rare that my staff doesn’t meet my expectations, but when they don’t, I don’t need to “punish” them – they already know they messed up. Instead, work with them to figure out how the mistake was made and how it could be avoided in the future.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.southernbelleprincessparties.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/southernbelleprincessparties/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SouthernBellePrincessParties/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkpTH13_T-Rf-Fh_sEv1itw