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

Maureen , appreciate you joining us today. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

Oddly enough I have both a full time “regular job” as an attorney, in addition to being a full time entrepreneur. I think both have their days. There are days where I wonder if maintaining my full time job impedes my ability to scale my business, and there are days where I resent being a business owner.

My business started at the tail end of 2019, and then 2020 came…. As as we all the know the pandemic shut everything down in March of that year. At that time, I just was promoted at my full time job, and was trying to acclimate to that position, and a sudden influx of bookings in the summer time– (If no one tells you, summer time is a killer for event decor companies)

I felt myself feeling SUPER burnt out, and turning into a Nasty Nancy. Everyone and everything was getting on my nerves, and I felt like I was drowning. I was resentful of being a business owner, and also realizing my inability to delegate responsibilities.

Now that I am a few years removed from 2020, I realize the importance of having “actual help” because all help isn’t good help, and will cost you. Actual great help/assistance helps a business to be productive, and also make more money. While bad help is like water leaking from a pipe– you have to pay all water that you didn’t even get to use.

It’s the inability to find great help that has caused the greatest deal of resentment for me as a business owner, and makes me want to give up on the business every time.

However, I LOVE the autonomy I have as a business owner. I love being a creative, and being able to dictate the look of my business. I also love generating ideas for the business, and implementing them. I love the countless clients that I have met over this journey. I love that I am paid to do what I love, and that my dream has birth other dreams for me, such as being a first time homeowner.

I look forward to the future, because I know my business will scale, and surpass my wildest dreams.

Maureen , 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?

My name Maureen Apugo Tillery. I am owner, lead designer and florist at ESQuisite Events. I am also a barred attorney– hence the name ESQuisite.

All my life I have been a creative. I thrived in art classes, and I have my dad to thank for that, because he’s also a creative. However, when I got to law school, that took up a good portion of my life for 3-4 years.

I recall very vividly, in 2017, wanting to create some kind of a business that allowed me to be a creative, and I just didn’t know what that was, or what it would look like. I had come up with a few ideas, but nothing really seemed to be a fit.

Then in 2018-19′ one of my younger sister’s was getting married. I decorated and designed both her bridal shower and igba nkwu (traditional Nigerian wedding.). I absolutely LOVED creating for those events. I remember looking for ideas on Pinterest, and other social media platforms, and was inspired to create again. After that experience, I knew that decorating events was what I wanted to do.

In October 2019, I started in the industry, only focused on balloon artistry, noting my goal was to branch into event decor later on, once I built a clientele, and had more capital to invest in the business. However, a then friend convinced me to join forces with her to create ESQuisite Events. The company evolved and shifted as it grew, and today it specializes in floral and event design.

I’ve had the opportunity to decorate weddings, baby showers, engagement parties, and bridal showers. My hope as a business owner is to create clarity in a client’s vision, but to also give them peace of mind that their event is in trusted hands, and that he or she should just enjoy their milestone moment.

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

I’m the oldest of 5 kids, and grew up in a Nigerian household. Almost every day in my life, I was reminded by my parents– “you are the oldest, you should be doing x, y, and z” That statement is literally engrained in my mind, and it still carries with me. Because of that statement, I realize that it imposed a great sense of responsibility on me at an early age. I felt that it left very little room to ask for help from others, because the oldest should have it figured out, and not ask your others for help.

In light of this, I have ALWAYS struggled with the ability to ask for help, because I am supposed to have it figured out. This most recent wedding season was super difficult, because I found myself working harder than I have ever worked in my business, and realize that I would be far more effective if I had “actual good help.”

I have learned to ask for help, and to also realize that we all have our strengths. That means, that there is always someone who does something better than you, so why not hire those individuals to create your overall vision? It cuts down on the amount of stress I put myself under, and helps create a better overall event for a client.

While I am still a work in progress, I am still unlearning.

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

Funny enough, I started mostly doing balloon garlands before I transitioned the business to an event design and floral company. When I started, I was obsessed with balloons. I watched popular YouTuber’s create garlands, and I would recreate garlands based on their tips and instructions. I spent every weekend, when I wasn’t booked, working on garlands, and creating content for the business. One of my instagram followers took notice of my work, and recommended me for an installation for a larger known event firm. That propelled the business– this was in 2019.

Then in March 2020, the pandemic hit. In an effort to generate revenue for the business, I needed to come up with a deliverable, which didn’t involved actual contact– in light of COVID restrictions. I came up with the ESQuisite Box in April of 2020, after developing a mockup for it. It was a large customized balloon, with customized treats, made by my then partner.
It went through a series of changes, until I got it right. The ESQuisite box consistently brought money into the business, and garnered a lot of attention.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.esquisiteevents.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/esquisite_events/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ESQuisiteEvents/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@esquisiteevents –TikTok https://www.pinterest.com/eventsesquisite/— Pinterest

Image Credits
LexisBannerman QuaminaImages Wyman J Productions JPCreates Drleksphotography