We were lucky to catch up with Paula Heaven-Swaby recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Paula thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Often outsiders look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight. Even media and especially movies love to gloss over nitty, gritty details that went into that middle phase of your business – after you started but before you got to where you are today. In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. Can you talk to us about your scaling up story – what are some of the nitty, gritty details folks should know about?

If I have to choose one pivotal decision that allowed my business to scale up, it would be leaving my job as a nurse in November 2021. I came to the realization that as long as I had a “safety net,” I would never give my all to the business. I didn’t have to, because I knew I had an income either way. Resigning from my job left me no other option but to level up because I was now in survival mode. I can always go back to nursing, but I probably will not have this business opportunity again. I HAD to make it work.

It has not been easy, but doing what you truly have a passion for makes you push through the tough times. With the additional time, I have been able to grow the business exponentially. Along with running the venue, I have been able to take on much more off-site events, party rentals and balloon artistry projects. There is now time available to network, learn new skills and branch out.

I recently became a Certified Balloon Artist, something I am super proud of! I would never have been able to dedicate the time to do that while working a 9-5 job.

Leaving my job was a difficult but necessary decision. There isn’t really any “right time” to make that decision. You step out on faith and work for the best!

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 background and context?

I am a Registered Nurse, wife, mother and grandmother. I’ve always been the unofficial Event Planner/Decorator in the family. My daughter decided to open a store front for her bakery, Sweet Realities, and we added the adjacent space and created The Sweet Space.

The Sweet Space is an intimate boutique event space perfect for birthday parties, small weddings, baby showers, bridal showers, pop up shops, business meetings, classes and more! We provide full service event planning, day of event coordination, event staffing, event décor, backdrops and balloon art. Services are available on-site or off-site.

Let us make your next event a Sweet Reality!

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

This has definitely been word of mouth. Many of my clients have been referred by people who have either hosted or attended an event at The Sweet Space. While it is not possible to please every single person, we pride ourselves in doing our best to create a one stop shop to satisfy our client’s needs.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Our audience was built slowly over time by being consistent with our posts and engaging with our audience.

Know your audience and be yourself!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sweetspaceevents.com
• Instagram: sweetspacevenue
• Facebook: thesweetspacevenue
• Other: TikTok: thesweetspacevenue