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

Michelle, appreciate you joining us today. We love asking folks what they would do differently if they were starting today – how they would speed up the process, etc. We’d love to hear how you would set everything up if you were to start from step 1 today.

So. Many. Things. And also nothing.

What I mean by that is this: I started my business by accident. I never intended this to be more than a hobby; a creative outlet for me to share party planning tips and make a balloon garland here and there and make a pretty Instagram page. It was completely and only for me. I didn’t start this business with a goal to quit my corporate job, to make a certain amount of money per year, or with a list of clients in mine. I enjoyed throwing parties for my kids and a few people asked me to throw them a party and the rest is history. With that being said, there is so much I would do differently and also not at all.

Things I would do differently; Make an actual business plan. Create goals. Measure my success. Register my business with the state (for real this is sad I didn’t do this first). Get a business bank account. Plan for tax season. Know the best products to use. Have literally a plan for anything at all besides a cute name and an IG handle. I started what I thought was a little hobby on September 27, 2020 and by January 1, 2021 I had a full business with literally no plan. Working a corporate job in the middle of a pandemic, managing a team of people and a new promotion did not give me a lot of time to promote to this little side thing. But every time I got to work on this little hobby of mine I felt joy, an excitement when a new inquiry would come in. I often wondered what it would be like for this to be an “actual” job.

If I knew now, three years later what this would be I would have created the plan, thought through my goals, registered my business with the state, figure out the back-end stuff. But I also think about the flip side of this. In my true heart I feel like if I did all of this I never would have started. I would have found a reason or an excuse to not go through with it. I easily would have talked myself out of it. So as much as I would have had a better plan and knew what I was doing and where I was going- I am glad I started the way I did. I was scrappy. Literally scrappy in all bold. But I figured it out. Where there is a will there is a way. And I now no longer have to dream about making this a “real job” It is my job and I love it.

Michelle, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I started a balloon business at the end of September, 2020. When people hear the year 2020 they automatically think this was some sort of cry for help, or I lost my job due to the pandemic, or I needed additional income. But starting this was none of these things. My husband and I were actually one of the few couples that didn’t have much change in our everyday life during 2020. We both worked in industry’s that were considered “critical” so we never worked from home, we never were remote or had much change at all.

I always wanted some sort of creative outlet. I worked in HR and for those that know me personally, never understood it. I never understood it. But you get a job after college and you learn and grow and all of the sudden its 10 years later and you look up and think “since when did I ever want a job in HR?” I started planning big, elaborate parties for my kids birthdays and neighbors and friends started asking me to do the same for them. I told my husband if one more person asked I was going to take it as a sign to do something. That something was balloons. I figured out how to make balloons. I watched videos. Alot of videos. I tried different methods. I wasted a lot of balloons. But I learned to make something pretty decent looking and people wanted to buy it. So I started an IG with no business plan whatsoever and here we are. I own a balloon company. I don’t work in the corporate world anymore and I never will again. Not because I didn’t like my job. Because it was fine. I was content and 100% perfectly fine. Who really loves their job anyway?

I do now.

I create my schedule. I say yes to what I want to say yes to. I learn new techniques and invest in things that are interesting to me that help me grow my business. I get amped to get a new corporate client and get way too excited to create an amazing NYE install. But the most important part in all of it is the time I have with my kids. I will never ever get this time back. They are 8 and 5 and when I blink they will be 18 and 15 and not wanting to hang with me. Thats my why. For them and for me.

I create big and small balloon garlands. I try to make it work for all my clients no matter what their budget is. Can’t afford the big bold balloon garland and install? No problem – purchase a DIY kit for me and watch the video of me putting it together. I can create something for anyone and I genuinely love what I do. That doesn’t mean there aren’t hard days. Of course there are. But I would take a hard day full of tears in something I am fully passionate in than my best day in my perfectly fine corporate job.

I am most proud of my hard work and my energy. I love that people refer me and people return to me again and again. Nothing is a bigger complement to me.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I gained a corporate client at the end of 2021 that turned into my largest client in 2022. They accounted for approximately 20% of my sales in 2023. For a small business, this is a lot. In late 2022 they came to me and asked me to train their employees to do balloons because they needed to get their costs down. So basically train others to give up my job. I didn’t get mad. I wasn’t upset. From a business perspective it made complete sense. So instead of getting mad I decided to think. How can I keep their business, decrease their costs and continue a partnership where we all win? So that’s what I did. I came up with an idea and I pitched it to them. They loved it. Their costs are cut. I will make about 20% more profit per year with my idea and do about 80% less work. So my best advice is this- think differently and outside the box. What might seem like a negative can actually turn into a positive. Just think differently. Creatively. And you never know what could happen that is even better than the current situation you are in!

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

I am a cash gal. I also didn’t need a lot of start up money. I truly believe you can start the same business that I started for $500. Then invest every penny back into the business. I have never once taken out a loan and have paid cash for everything in my business and man that feels good!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.balloudesigns.com
• Instagram: balloudesigns

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