We caught up with the brilliant and insightful India Jackson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
India, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Folks often look at a successful business and imagine it was an overnight success, but from what we’ve seen this is often far from the truth. We’d love to hear your scaling up story – walk us through how you grew over time – what were some of the big things you had to do to grow and what was that scaling up journey like?
My Scaling up story definitely comes with plenty of up’s and downs. In November of 2021 Popgurlz Events & Design Co decided to take a leap of faith and open up an event venue in Union City, Ga called Popgurlz Event Venue. I did a lot of research but no amount of research prepares you for owning a brick and mortar. My husband and I quickly learned how important it was to have a lawyer to look over contracts, hire a contractor before signing a lease to make sure that the building is good condition and last but not least making sure that the first thing you do is go to your local development of planning (Zoning Department) to make sure that the business that your trying to open is zoned for that particular business. These three steps if done will save you a huge headache at the end. Luckily for us everything worked out in our favor and we were able to officially get our business license in February of 2022. From the mistakes of not doing our due diligence from the beginning definitely taught us the fundamentals of starting and running a successful business.
India, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
As a mother/daughter duo, our mission is to bring luxury, value, and uniqueness to every event that amazes our clients and their guests. Life is incredibly short; you must celebrate the life you are living and the people you are living it around. A celebration writes a narrative, creates energy and gives focus to what is most important. Celebrations honor commitments, achievements, beginnings and maybe even endings. We provide decor packages for all types of kid and adult events. We specialize in balloon design, event design and event rentals. Delivering a POP of glamour to your party is something that we do the best. We offer services for our event venue and on-location services throughout South Atlanta.
(Union City, Fairburn, College Park, East Point, City of Southfulton and Newnan)
We believe that every event should be inviting and welcoming. A destination where people can come together to create special memories, share stories, exchange laughs, or even shed the occasional happy tears.
We take the time to get to know you like family, because working with good people who genuinely care about the success of your event makes for an experience you’ll feel confident and comfortable with from start to finish. Whether you are looking to host a gathering of your closest family and friends, celebrate a special occasion, or need an impressive space for a social or fundraiser, we’ve got you covered.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
In my business I had to unlearn that I could do everything myself. I was quickly getting burnt out and the mental and physical stress was breaking me down. The key to success was learning how to delegate, once I gave up control and trusted the people around me to deliver what I envisioned my life became so much easier.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
In the process of getting my business license I was told from the zoning department that I wasn’t able to get my business license because of zoning laws that I knew nothing about. I was so stressed because I put so much money and time into getting the building up to par, but I was determined that I wasn’t going to accept no for an answer. I called any and everyone that would listen to me until I finally spoke to someone that gave the okay for us to get our business license. This lesson taught me to keep pushing for what you want even if you hear a couple of no’s eventually you will get your yes.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.popgurlzevents.com
- Instagram: @popgurlzevents
- Facebook: @popgurlzevents
Image Credits
Visions by legit