We recently connected with Ruth Alexandre and have shared our conversation below.

Ruth, appreciate you joining us today. Alright – so having the idea is one thing, but going from idea to execution is where countless people drop the ball. Can you talk to us about your journey from idea to execution?

I never intended to get into the balloon business… Not seriously anyway. My friends and I love a good celebration for any and everything. In 2019 a good friend of ours had a baby shower and when I found out the cost of the balloons I thought, we have to figure out how to cut cost for future events so I’m going to learn. I essentially learned just for us, until another friend had me do an intimate baby shower July 2019, then I did another friend’s baby shower in September 2019. I didn’t touch balloons again until June 2020 for the first birthday of the daughter of the friend who had the eye opening baby shower. At this point I’m still not thinking “go into business Ruth”. August 2019 is when I had two friends tell me to really tap in and this could become something so I tried it, even though I didn’t fully believe that anyone would book me. Half of my first few events were through an event planner I was connected with and the other half was through social media and people just seeing my work. My business kind of took off on its own and in my 1st full year of business I did 100+ events. If I had to really explain step by step how to build a business I don’t think I could but what I can say is to just go for anything you want to do. You just never know what could happen. I’m kind of learning backwards. I didn’t set out to do balloons but one thing that aligned with who I already was is that I loved to bring people joy, I loved to make people feel better and I love special moments and I found a way to do that through balloons.

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 Ruth Grace I aim to do everything with GRACE its like my “slogan”. My background is in healthcare but towards the end of 2020 I started this balloon business called Blown Gracefully. I make organic balloon garlands and create focal points for peoples most precious moments/events. I got into this industry unintentionally but once I started its been quite the journey and I love it. If there was something I want people to know about my brand it would be that I strive to make all my clients happy. I take great pride in everything I do and it’s a joy to continuously put smiles on faces.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I wouldn’t say this is a lesson I had to unlearn but it was something that happened to me that I make it a point not to do to other people and that is choosing not to withhold knowledge. When it comes to picking balloon colors for an event sometimes people are very specific and may request a custom color they saw on social media. I’ll send a direct message to ask someone how they may have achieved a color or where they may have purchased it and I’ve been met with people who say they don’t share those things or they just ignore me. Luckily for me since then I have found quite a few people in the balloon community who will answer any question I ask and I do the same for anyone who asks me questions. Having never had a business before I had no clue what I was getting myself into but there are people who have helped me tremendously along the way so I choose to do the same for anyone who seeks help. Social media has been a great tool.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I did not need a lot of money to start my business but I learned quickly the difference between certain quality items. I started with just a $20 balloon pump and I would buy balloons and fishing line from Amazon. I worked a 9-5 that funded what I needed for my business. As I made money I put it back into the business to buy things like prop items, better balloons and such. Then someone gifted me a more elite balloon pump that had a balloon sizer (I still love my $20 pump) but it really helped with some installs. I worked alongside some balloon stylists that showed me the importance of using high quality balloons verses amazon balloon kits which required more money to be put in to my business.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Blowngracefully
• Other: Email: [email protected]

Image Credits
Ray (@Rawnyc) Jadea (@dgtlbae) & Chris (@cbellvision) Picture I’m sitting on the bench