We recently connected with Brittanae Campbell and have shared our conversation below.

Brittanae, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Ivy League Events started as an idea while working my corporate career as an HR Manager. In that role I was responsible for Employee Relations and Appreciation; so, I did a lot of event planning for the organization. While planning, I recall having to rely on rental companies and sometimes these companies had less than quality inventory. After so long, I mentioned to my husband that I wanted to start my own rental furniture company and he supported that decision.

The thought that I would supply every day folding chairs and tables quickly changed while researching inventory. While sourcing, I became intrigued with all of the beautiful luxury furniture. I liked the thought of offering more high-end furniture and that is how we decided to offer premium furniture rentals.

Initially, things were very slow for Ivy League…snail slow! So, during that downtime I started to play with balloons. My now 9-year-old daughter was turning 5 and I decided to give her a birthday party. One, because you only turn 5 once and two, I needed pictures! I did the balloons for her and at that time they were cute but now 4 years later all I can say is, thank God for growth. LOL

They didn’t come out exactly how I wanted them, so on the weekends I would practice and decorate around my house and post pictures. Soon people began to reach out about balloons and they became a service. I connected with one of my favorite balloon stylists and she became my mentor. She explained the importance of knowing the education behind balloons and how to continue to be a desirable stylist after the fads are all gone. So, I decided to start investing in my professional development in that area. And fortunately, it has been a great journey so far.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

Ivy League Events is a growing premium event rental furniture and balloon styling company.

We specialize in providing amazing rentals and balloon decor. We are passionate about our inventory and we put our heart into every installation and delivery. Once you book one of our services, we are dedicated to it from start to finish and we are certain that you will return for future services.

Some of the things that sets us apart and that I am most proud of is our punctuality, stellar customer service and the fact that I can honestly and proudly say that we provide clean and blemish-free furniture. We give all of our rentals a “white glove” service on-site at your event. Your event is just as important to us as it is to you and we are committed to do our part in your big day.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I never considered any business loans or investors for starting ILE. Once my husband saw that I was serious about starting ILE he decided that he had better come on board before I “blew up!” LOL My first initial seed check came from my husband – Jovon, on Mother’s Day 2018. After that, I was able to start the process to purchase my first 4 throne chairs which began my inventory.

Because of our business model, we did not need much to start, I started ILE with less than $10k. A huge part of our model is that we are delivery ONLY, this is something that I do not see changing in the near future. Doing this helps us tremendously by keeping overhead down as well as not needing to replace inventory often.

I have since grown from 4 throne chairs to over 250+ pieces of inventory with an additional 200+ pieces in route scheduled to arrive by the holidays. So, ILE has always sustained with no outside funding and on our own gained revenue.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

One of the most valuable lessons that I have learned is that being proud of sustaining your business on earned revenue alone is GREAT but it is NOT good for building business credit.

So, I had to UNLEARN ignoring the necessity of business credit, it is definitely needed and should be a priority. For the longest time, I ignored and disregarded all of the credit card and loan offers because I thought to myself: “I don’t need this”, “I can afford what I need” or “I don’t want to pay a bill!”. But, as I am growing my business and wanting to do other things, I am learning that I do indeed need business credit.

First, you have to know that building business credit is important! It is a taboo topic and it is not something that is shared among small business owners, especially business owners in the same industry. You first have to know that in order to take your business from side hustle to corporation that business credit is a neccessity.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ivyleagueevents.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ivy_league_events/
• Linkedin: https://www.facebook.com/IvyLeagueEventsMemphis/

Image Credits
Camille Leigh Photography and J. Hues Photography