We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jennifer Pace a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jennifer, thanks for joining us today. Parents can play a significant role in affecting how our lives and careers turn out – and so we think it’s important to look back and have conversations about what our parents did that affected us positive (or negatively) so that we can learn from the billions of experiences in each generation. What’s something you feel your parents did right that impacted you positively.

When I think back to my childhood, I immediately think of growing up in my family business. As a young child, my days were spent at the retail store my parents owned. I guess you could say I grew up there. I got to see first hand how hardworking, persistent, and business savvy my parents were. Most of all I got to see how kind hearted, generous, and selfless my parents were to not only me but all of their employees and customers. They took pride in owning a business that treated their employees like family and offering their customers with amazing customer service. They didn’t have a lot of cheesy, gimmicky marketing to drum up business, their stellar reputation and talent for that industry spoke for itself. They were in business for over 30 years before they retired. Some employees worked for them for over 20 of those years and they had loyal clients for just as many.

When I decided to go into business for myself, I knew I wanted to run it like my parents did. I wanted to provide my clients with excellent customer service and build a reputation and trusted brand that people wanted to work with. I am still new in the Balloon Artist industry but so far my clients are loyal and truly appreciate the service I provide. My hope is to grow Swanky Pop in the coming years but to never lose sight of the business foundations that my parents instilled in me.

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 Jennifer Pace and I am the Owner of Swanky Pop LLC. I create custom balloon decorations for client events. I got started in the Balloon Event business over a year ago out of necessity of needing a job change. I was in the Marketing industry for over 18 years and the industry had drastically changed after the Covid lockdowns. I wasn’t fulfilled creatively by it as much as I use to be and wanted a change.

I had a friend in the Event Planning industry that would ask me to make some kind of decoration over the years for her events, mostly with balloons, and I always enjoyed doing it. She knew I was looking for a new creative career, so she suggested I open my own Event Decoration business. I settled on Balloons because they bring me such joy and can make a huge visual impact at an event.

Most clients typically order fabulous balloon garlands, balloon centerpieces, bouquets, columns, and backdrops from me, but I am always willing to customize something new and creative to fit their needs. A lot of my clients struggle visualizing or with explaining exactly what they want for their event. That is when we start the designing process. I absolutely love the designing process because it allows me to showcase my skills as a designer and help my clients bring their ideas to life. Seeing the smile on my clients face when they see my balloon creations at their event is the best reward. Knowing that my balloon creations will live on in their memories and pictures of the event, is very special to me.

My parents instilled in me that great customer service can make or break your business, therefore my goal with Swanky Pop, is to provide my clients with an enjoyable experience where they feel heard and valued. I hope that they are so pleased with my work that they tell their friends all about my business. I want them to take as much pride in hiring my services as I do in providing them.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

The most effective strategies for growing my clientele are word of mouth and social media. I started my business out of my house so marketing to my neighbors was the first place I started. We had a neighborhood facebook page and I started posting pictures of balloons I made just for marketing purposes. I started getting inquiry after inquiry because neighbors love to support other neighbors. This gave me the confidence to branch out of my neighborhood facebook page and start marketing to surrounding businesses and areas of town through facebook, instagram, Tiktok and even just stopping by a local retail store and introducing myself. I get inquiries almost daily that say “so and so recommended you”. I always make sure I reach out to the person that recommended me with a huge thank you or even sometimes a special thank you gift. Through my social media accounts and word of mouth I now service the Greater Houston area.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Being in the Event Business most of my work is on the weekends. This can be challenging with having an adequate work/life balance. There has been many times I thought to myself that this isn’t the right industry for me because I am not always as available for my family as I would like. When these intrusive thoughts creep in I am reminded of what my daughters are witnessing when they see me working my tail off even on the weekends. They are seeing a strong, hard-working female business owner that takes pride in her business. They have told me multiple times how proud they are of me. Even though this career path can be challenging at times, I absolutely love it. I definitely make sure I make time for my family even if its during the week or if I need to take a day off on the weekends. Knowing that my daughters and husband are supportive of me, is so empowering.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://swankypopballoons.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swanky_pop/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SwankyPopBalloons
• Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@swankypop

Image Credits
Sara Massey, Wild Orchids Photography Jennifer Pace