We recently connected with Brittany Finn Cropenbaker and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Brittany thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Looking back, do you think you started your business at the right time? Do you wish you had started sooner or later
We feel that we were fortunate enough to start Blushery Events at the exact right moment – both in our lives and businesswise. Two out of three of the Finn sisters had already planned weddings and were married, and Kelsey, the third Finn sister had just recently gotten engaged. So with the knowledge of two previous brides, and a future bride, we were able to curate Blushery Events to meet both the wants and needs of someone throwing an event, as well as someone who would take the place as the guest of honor at a Blushery Events event.
And yes, Kelsey had both her bridal shower and bridal suite at Blushery Events earlier this year.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
We are Blushery Events – three sisters, all born, raised, and living in Anderson Township, which is nestled in Cincinnati, OH.
Brittany, the oldest Finn sister, has been happily married to her husband, John, for over a decade, and together they have two amazing kids – Jack and Ruby. Tara, the middle Finn sister, and the second sister to marry, has a brilliant son, Nolan, with her husband, Brooks. And Kelsey, who is both the youngest Finn sister, and who Tara and Brittany believe to be the favorite Finn daughter, just recently wed. Kelsey married the love of her life, Bill, in an absolutely beautiful outdoor ceremony in a local Anderson Township park, and even had their fur-baby, Charlie, walk down the aisle!
Blushery Events emerged as an idea at the beginning of 2021, shortly after Bill proposed to Kelsey. We knew we would need a space to host a bridal shower for Kelsey, however, we could not find a suitable space that met both our vision and budget. Discovering the lack of this specific event venue in our area, we knew we were on to something.
In October of 2021, Blushery Events opened, and we have not looked back! We have had the privilege of having events from bridal shower, baby showers, 1st birthday parties, 16th birthday parties, anniversary parties, holiday parties and events, a father-daughter dance, mother-son game night, markets, celebrations of life, sorority meetings and events, local business meetings, craft workshops, bridal suites and so much more all at Blushery Events. Getting to be a small part of these incredibly special events has been so incredibly rewarding.
As the owners and operators, we sincerely love every moment of owning our own business. From assisting our clients in making their event visions come to life, to networking and supporting other local businesses, to planning and hosting our own community events, we feel truly blessed to be three women with a family-run business.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Creating a business takes courage – a lot of courage. And putting your business out into the world, takes even more courage. As three women, who were embarking on starting a new (brick and mortar) business, all while a worldwide pandemic was very much still part of everyday life, we were not prepared for the business lessons that we would face while making our dream into reality.
Sure, there are those business lessons that most business owners learn in the beginning, such as never believing the contactor when they tell you how much the build out is going to cost, or realizing that you have misspelled your address on your business cards. However, there are also tougher lessons, that we did not anticipate would be part of our business journey.
In the spring of 2021, when we began to scout out location options for Blushery Events, we learned quickly that commercial real estate does not mess around, and landlords do not always have the viewpoint of a space with a tennant is better than a space that is sitting vacant. After narrowing down our ideal locations, we began reaching out to those “Space Available” signs hung up in the windows of empty storefronts.
One space in particular we thought was perfect. The size we were hoping for, tons of windows to provide natural light, and was an “anchor” to the strip. We fell in love with this space, and we had not even stepped foot in it. We contacted the agent and they asked for basic information about our business venture, funding, and our business history. We were notified shortly after this conversation, that the landlord was not only not interested in renting to three women opening their first business, that he did not understand how this could be a business, but also, that he would not even allow the agent to show us the space.
To say this was a slap in the face is truly an understatement. We could not believe, that due to being women, we were being dismissed by a landlord, and told that he could not be bothered with first time business owners, who were looking at “playing party hostess”.
Did we spend a few moments feeling sorry for ourselves – yes, yes we did. And then we picked ourselves up, and got down to work. We were going to find the commercial space for Blushery Events – and we were going to prove to this landlord, and anyone else that was not taking us seriously, as business women, that Blushery Events was going to be a success.
Shortly after this lesson, we found the space that would be the first ever Blushery Events. We learned that landlords can have a laundry list of reasons to not consider a tenant, and unfortunately, there is not much we could do about that. We learned that landlords did not necessarily see us, Brittany, Tara, and Kelsey, as good-hearted, hard-working, driven sisters, but as a mere business plan with funding written down in black and white.
Blushery Events turns one year in October of 2022, and the three of us could not be more excited to say that we are actively looking for our second location, and have just hired our first employee. Blushery Events is growing, and we have no plans on slowing down anytime soon.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
When Blushery Events was founded, we laid out extremely specific standards that we, as owners, would promise to uphold every day.
One of those standards was our commitment to having beyond-excellent customer service. It is our structure to uphold our standard of customer service has helped build the Blushery Events’ reputation within our market and community.
Blushery Events is a space for celebrating – and we believe that the customer service a client or guest receives from Blushery Events must reflect our love for what we do. In a world where customer service can be hit or miss, and unfortunately, those hits can come few and far in between, we do everything we can to go above and beyond for our clients and guests. From sincerely caring about the vision our clients have, sending handwritten thank you cards to each client, to taking and editing photos of the event and sending them to our clients, you are guaranteed to receive customer service that is one of the very best in the event space industry.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.blusheryevents.com
- Instagram: @blusheryevents
- Facebook: @blusheryevents