We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Brooke Brueggemeyer. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Brooke below.

Brooke, appreciate you joining us today. What’s something you believe that most people in your industry (or in general) disagree with?

As a small business owner in the event industries, with an emphasis in balloon art and installation, one of the most common misconceptions that I have come across, is the misconception that, “They’re just balloons”. That mindset, or misconception, has single handedly derailed so many potential clients and opportunities; because people genuinely do not have a general idea of balloon pricing, they come to a vendor with a certain price in mind (usually on the lower side), and can be extremely disappointed and honestly shocked in the price of quotes they receive from vendors. As a balloon artist, I know first hand how fun balloons can be! I think a common mindset is, that because they are fun, they must be easy, right? Well, not to burst your balloon, so to speak, but creating balloon art requires a lot of work; more than the average person knows, and to most people (who have attempted it themselves), it isn’t easy work!

When you are paying for balloon services you are paying for much more than the visual art you see displayed at the end. You are paying for: years of experience, training, and expertise from your artists, high-quality supplies, hours of design work (we send our clients multiple mock-ups with matching estimates to choose from), the training it takes to learn the program we use create our mock-ups, the hours and hours of prep work (some of our backdrops are handmade, carved, painted, etc.), a minimum of two balloon artists, the cost and labor that it requires to transport your installation to the event site, the time it takes to install it at the site, the time it takes to come back to take everything down and clean-up, the knowledge of whatever billing system your artist uses; the list goes on and on.

On average, it takes two to four hours to create a few mock-up designs, input the math calculations for needed supplies to create accurate and precise estimates to correlate with each mock-up design, then anywhere from 2-6 hours of prep work (sometimes we have 12 hour prep-days); all before the day of the event. Then, on the day of the event, that is another 3-8 hour day. When we send out estimates, we make sure there is an itemized breakdown to help our clients understand where a price comes from. Once they are educated on the process, most clients are understanding and supportive of the work we do to help make their event dreams come true! Because, at the end of the day, that is what it is all about for me as a business owner; taking the ideas our clients have and bringing them to life. At Hot N’ Poppin’ Events, we aim to make our installations better than their dreams!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Brooke Brueggemeyer; I’m a full-time Special Education Teacher and a full-time business owner of my company, Hot N’ Poppin’ Events! I have been a teacher in the DFW metroplex for the last seven years; currently I’m teaching at an amazing school that is rated in the top 5% for the entire state of Texas! I have two Labrador Retrievers, Cal and Lucy, amazing friends, and a wonderful and supportive family. Life is absolutely beautiful!

As a teacher, I naturally love children and I love being an influential person in the life of a developing child; but, that has never been my only passion. I have always had a great love for events. I grew up in a household where my mom was constantly hosting! Our house was always lively, it was fun and festive, and always decorated for every holiday; what most would describe as, “doing the most”.

As a woman in my young 20’s, I naturally grew up with the same love for hosting; for the gathering of friends and family to celebrate someone or something, for the laughter that fills not only the room, but the souls of those there, for the show-stopping decorations, for the festive foods and beverages; I had developed a deep love for events. It was in the middle of my third year of teaching, that I took the biggest risk yet; I left the Field of Education and took a dive into the Event Industry. Unfortunately for me, four months later, the COVID pandemic hit; and as you well know, the event industry crashed. My job was lost. Talk about risk that didn’t work out, it was one of my lowest moments.

I refused to let that keep me down though. I eventually returned to teaching, as my love for kids and teaching had never died out; and after a few more years, I reached a point in my life where I thought to myself, “Why can’t I have both? Why am I only allowing myself one or the other?” For a while, my game was a side hustle; some side gigs here and there, just for some extra cash.This was in the middle of the Pandemic though, people were forced to host (in a safe way) their event from their own homes.

That is when my phone started ringing, when I had the idea that this could be so much more than a little “side hustle”; when my mind came back to those questions of risk. Truth be told, everything about starting your own business is a risk. Will I fail? Will I succeed? What will others think of me? The answer was YES. Was I capable? Yes. Did I have the means? Yes. Could I balance both? Yes. Did I have mentors to help guide me along this path? I absolutely did, as both of my parents, and grandparents, are successful entrepreneurs, business owners, and salesmen. I had witnessed that kind of success my whole life. I knew what it would take; the long hours, the dedication, the consistency.

So, I took the risk, and started my own event company. Taking that risk, the metaphorical “leap of faith”, was the best risk I have ever decided to take. Fast forward a few years, and here we are: this is my second interview about my business, one that is surpassing the boundaries of not only Dallas, but Texas as well, going on a National platform, and when I tell you that I am still pinching myself, I absolutely mean it! I talk about making my clients dreams come true; as for myself, I never imagined my dreams coming true in the process as well. Reach for the stars, break that glass ceiling, don’t let anyone define who you are and what you can do; we all have greatness within us, and I am so blessed to have found my niche at such a young age.

A little bit about my business! Hot N’ Poppin’ Events is an event vendor located in the DFW metroplex. We have a wide range of services and products that we offer: from grazing tables and charcuterie boards, to balloon garland, arches, walls, and set-ups, light-up marquee letters and numbers, custom signage, rentable products, and more! We have grown and are continuing to blossom and make our mark in this industry. We have our first out-of-state event this month, and we are SO excited to be crossing state lines! We have also gone corporate! We are vendors for major businesses such as: Bank of America, Dallas Children’s Theatre, The Grandview, The Viridian, Cookies by Design, The City of Dallas, Plano ISD, and more! There isn’t an event too large that we can’t handle. Our mission is to bring our clients dreams to life, and leave them with smiles on their faces, and memories to last a lifetime.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

The first few years of my business I was absolutely horrible with my social media presence. I mean, just absolutely horrible. Infact, it was basically nonexistent. Word of mouth is how I got new clientele the first couple of years; but even then, that only gets you so far. Especially in the world we live in today! Today, you walk down the street and 80% of the population is on their phones. We have to make a point to put our phones down and enjoy the company we are with physically, versus the company we are with online. Today, society has made something abstract, very much a real realm in our lives today. As business owners, if we do not adapt with changes in society, our businesses will become a thing of the past. A thought that once I knew, I couldn’t shake.

After I accepted the fact that my stream of new clients had plateaued from word of mouth alone, I knew it was time to jump into the social media relm and help get Hot N’ Poppin’, well, POPPIN’! However, don’t fall under the assumption that I went from not posting to going viral in a day. That actually, couldn’t be farther from the truth. It took, what felt like, an eternity to get our social media presence where it is at. It was a lot of posting, and trying to “break the algorithm”, losing followers, gaining followers, but it was still slow growth. Until my team and I started creating posts that were geared towards interacting with our followers. Things like, sharing our posts to get entered into a raffle, creating free giveaways, etc. Once we started marketing our social medias with those types of posts, within three days our followers on Facebook went from 200 followers to over 1.2 thousand followers! We discovered two key parts in “breaking the algorithm” both being quite simple: engage your followers, and change up the styles of your posts!

Changing up the way you post is key too; it helps keep users engaged and helps prevent them from becoming “bored” with seeing the same thing over and over. Save trending audios, research different recording techniques and styles; as long as you put effort and consistency in your online presence, you will see results. Consistency is key. Even when it feels daunting, or as if no one but your family likes your posts, I promise, your posts are being seen. People are remembering your work. Keep posting, keep learning, keep your followers engaged. The results will come!

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

Building brand loyalty is as easy as creating personal relationships with your clients. I love getting to know each of our clients. It doesn’t matter if it a major business such as Bank of America, or if it is the best friend of bride who is hosting the bridal shower; I make connections with each of my clients. The reality of being a business owner is that YOU are your company. How you treat other people, how you make them feel; it’s those lasting impressions and qualities that become associated with your business.

People will remember you, of course by the work you do, but they will truly remember how you made them feel. It’s that truth, that helps drive my interactions with my clients. More than that though, it’s a practice I like to use with everyone in my life; from personal friends, to coworkers, or family; I treat each person with the respect, kindness, and empathy that everyone should naturally be treated with. I truly care about my clients, and I believe that it is because of the relationships I form with them, that keeps them coming back. Everytime they return, our relationship continues to grow, and the loyalty is continuously growing and being reinforced with every interaction we have.

Besides building relationships with my clients, I also put some legwork in, to make remind them that we are here and ready to help get their event Hot N’ Poppin’! I do this by running promotionals, giving a “Customer Loyalty” discount to returning customers, contacting them and checking in, popping into stores and saying hi, etc. If your clients aren’t seeing you or your work, if they aren’t constantly reminded that you are there, then it is so easy to fall off of their radars.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hotnpoppinballoons.com
• Instagram: @hot.n.poppin.events
• Facebook: Hot N’ Poppin’ Events

Image Credits

Not applicable – I took them myself!