We recently connected with Megumi Pair and have shared our conversation below.
Megumi, appreciate you joining us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?
It sounds so cliché but I think to be successful in anything, you need to first and formost have a vision and a goal of where you and your business want to be, the determination and patience during the journey but most of all to not give up because things don’t usually go exactly as planned. Success definitely does not happen over night and and usually with many mistakes and bumps along the way, you find what works best for you and your business and keep improving and getting closer to the goal. If something doesn’t work out, don’t think of it as a failure of your business but better yet a learning experience as to what doesn’t work but can be improved. Keep bettering your skill, learn new skills, and learn from others that have succeeded before you. And remembering to always be thankful for everything you accomplished but don’t get too comfortable of the current moment and situations because you can always find something to improve or something new to better your business. And last but definitely not the least, always treat your customers and people you meet along the way with kindness because in the end, they are the ones that is going to further your business and help you get to your goal.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Hi! Im Megumi Pair, co-owner of Pumps and Brushes. We are a husband and wife duo with two energetic little boys and we started this entertainment business October of 2019. We specializes in Balloon Twisting, Face Painting and Balloon Decor. We love entertaining your parties and the magic it brings to create fun memories to your event that your loved ones, friends, and guests remember for years to come.
Starting a business as a young couple navigating parenthood and life had its own challenges but in the end, we truly love what we do despite all the obstacles life threw our way. The smiles and laughter of the kids and adults alike bring joy to our work and we are so thankful everyday to our clients and friends who help us achieve our goals in growing our business.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
Treating all our clients with kindness and respect. Some examples to that are responding promptly, being up front and honest with costs, and helping them figure out what is best for their specific event. Little things like that leaves a positve lasting first impression of your business. Next of course is arriving on time to their event and making each child or adult that either get a balloon animal or sits in my chair to get a face paint feel special. Customizing and improvising to their interests and requests. Little simple things like that, that seems so obvious but is the biggest key to growing your business. Business grow with words of mouth and for someone to recommend your business to their friends or family you will have had to leave a positive impression.
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
Hmm, Im not sure if I can fully call it a side hustle but… I learned a few balloon animals for my mission trip to Indonesia when I was 16 so that I would be able to make some simple balloons for the kids in the orphans we were going to visit. and from that I did a few restaurant gigs where I would make balloons for the kids dining in with their families. So it wasn’t “my business” but I did always work with balloons and was interested in the world of entertaining with balloons. So it was almost a no brainer that my business is centered around that now. But of course with starting a business comes its own struggles and when we started, we might get a gig here or an event there that amounts to maybe 3 or 4 events/private birthday parties in a month. We put ourselves on some gig receiving sites that helped us get events and to hopefully get our name out there that way too. With our tight budget we had to choose wisely what to spend our money on that would most benefit our business vs cost, navigating pricing, and when to say “yes” but most of all that it’s okay to say “no” too.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pumpsandbrushes/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pumpsandbrushes