Can You Create a Full-time Income From Balloons? by Guest Blogger Sonia Payne

Can You Create a Full-time Income From Balloons? by Guest Blogger Sonia Payne

This question is something I frequently get asked by people growing their balloon businesses. It is also a question all balloon business owners ask themselves at some point. For some it is before they start their business, and for others it comes a little further down the line. In this blog I am going to look at whether it’s really possible and what you need to do in order to create a full-time income from your balloons business.

Full-time Income Means Different Things To DifferentPeople

Before we get into whether it is possible… I guess we need to understand that full-time income means different things to different people. Your personal circumstances, household income, expenditure and number of dependents will obviously have a big impact on this. The hours you have available to dedicate to growing your business and the experience you have at running a business also have a bearing on the success of a business.

If They Did It… So Can You!

I ran my balloons and venue decor business full-time, as the sole-earner for my family, for nearly a decade, and totally believe it is possible but as the market is shifting constantly, I like to keep abreast as to what is happening outside of my local area.

Every year around this time I ask the question “Is it possible to create a full-time business from balloons only?” on The Qualatex Balloon Facebook Group.

It is my personal thermometer of how the industry is performing as a whole. I am astounded every year by the response and the positivity within the industry! When I asked this week, I had 77 comments responding to the question! Of all the responses, only 5 felt it was not possible at this time. Many of the full-time balloon business owners had been running their full-time businesses for decades, as well as employed lots of staff and earned hundreds of thousands of pounds annually. Two companies reported earning over a million dollars per year just from balloon sales. Now if that is not inspiring, then I don’t know what is!

You can read their responses and thoughts on taking your balloon business full-time to the question here:
You will need to be a member of the group to view it!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/17261393033/permalink/10158661130098034/

And, if you are interested the 2021 responses during Covid they are here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/17261393033/permalink/10157906601568034/

I decided to dig a little deeper by searching Companies House here in the UK, and found numerous companies accounting 5 or 6 figures, reinforcing my belief that it absolutely IS possible to grow a full-time profitable balloon business!

What Does it Take to Create a Full-time Profitable Balloon Business?

Okay so now we have established it is possible, the next question I usually get is can anybody do it? 

I firmly believe that with the right mindset and business skills anybody can build a successful business from balloon decoration that delivers a full-time income. What do I mean by right mindset and business skills? There are some key elements to becoming successful, and these elements were repeated in the facebook posts above by all the truly successful balloon business owners:

You need to believe you can do it…
Sure there will be days every business owner wonders if it is actually possible but you need to get up every single day with the belief it will happen and that you are capable of achieving what you want. Mindset is key to running a full-time profitable business!

You need to have a clear vision and destination for where you are taking your business.
You also need to work out what it will take to get you there in terms of investment and growth, how much sales you need to bring in and the profit you need to make to grow your business. Set end goals and stepping stones along the way to reach those goals. Check in with your destination daily and make sure everything you are doing is moving you towards your end goals.

You need to CONSISTENTLY price for profit.
The key to any successful balloon business, including one that delivers you a full-time income, is that you need to price for profit and growth in your business. You also need to be constantly watching the cash flowing in and out of your business and making sure you are generating the profit you need. The biggest reason people don’t achieve a full-time income often comes down to poor pricing and poor control of finances.

You need to consistently market your business to the type of customers you want
and need to grow a full-time business. 

You need to actively get out there and find them. It’s not enough to hope or pray the right people find your business… you need to work out who they are, where they are and then get in front of them! It takes more work than you think to find the right customers who will grow your business full-time, but once you do the magic really starts to happen!

You need to put systems in place so that you can become super productive
and ensure the time spent in your business generates the right level of profit to create a full-time income. Time is the most valuable asset any balloon business has, and you need to maximise and spend it wisely!

Today’s business world is fast paced and constantly evolving… You need to constantly adapt to the marketplace. You need to spend time working ON your business as well as in your business to ensure your business is capitalising on opportunities, and you are ready for any challenges that lie ahead.

But What About Balloon Skill?

It may surprise you that nowhere in the list above have I mentioned balloon skills… Whilst undoubtedly being an amazing balloon artist will help, unfortunately there are many hugely creative and talented individuals within the industry who are struggling to make a full-time income out of balloons. Maybe you are one of them and that’s why you are reading this blog post? It may surprise you but I promise it is actually more than possible to make a successful profitable full-time balloon business doing only the more basic balloon decor. Unfortunately, it is more difficult to build a profitable and successful balloon business if you are highly skilled in balloons but don’t understand how to run a business…

The Good News Is Anyone Can Learn to Run a Business!

Before you throw your arms up in despair at that last sentence… I just want to leave you with a final thought… anyone can learn to run a business. That includes you! All the skills you need to run a full-time profitable business can be learnt. It’s no different to learning any skill set. Some of it you will learn by trial and error as you progress, but I would encourage you to consider that in order to run a full-time profitable business you need to spend as much time, energy, passion and money on learning to run a business as you do on learning new balloon skills and equipment. If you look across the industry at those who are carving amazing businesses across the world, it’s clear that they invest in themselves, their knowledge and their business!

🎈Until next time… Stay amazing!🎈

Sonia x

About the author: Sonia Payne is the founder of the Balloon Business Academy. She has spent over ten years growing her own balloon and decor business. She now works with creative entrepreneurs to show them how to start and grow a balloon business the quick and easy way! Having previously spent 10 years coaching in sales and marketing, she can show them how they can create an amazing profitable and sustainable business by showing what really works to get quick results without the stress!

To find out more about Balloon Biz Academy and read more of Sonia's great articles visit https://www.balloonbizacademy.co.uk

What a great post, and thank you to everyone who responded to Sonia's question on the Qualatex Facebook page.

Happy Ballooning! 

Sue

www.suebowler.com

Follow me @suebowler

Warning! These 9 Copyright Mistakes Could Ruin your Business! By Guest Blogger Sonia Payne

Copyright laws are an absolute minefield, and much easier to break than you imagine. 

I recently came across this enlightening and informative article by Sonia Payne of Balloon Biz Academy, who has kindly shared it with the Very Best Balloon Blog. I believe that you will find this an extremely interesting and helpful read! 

 

When one does a quick flick through Facebook looking for balloons,  It doesn’t take long to stumble across countless acts of copyright theft! Yes, I did say theft… because ultimately when you use another person’s work for your own commercial gain, that’s exactly what it is! It is an industry-wide issue, and hands-up it is something I have been guilty of before in my business! I saw so many others doing it across the entire industry, so I assumed it must be okay… but having looked further into what you can and can’t do, I am here to tell you why it's wrong.

One of the biggest myths in our industry is that as a small business, many of which are operating from home, you don’t need to worry about too much. As the majority of businesses only have a few thousand followers on social media, many of which are local customers, how will anyone find out you are breaking the law? Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there are numerous ways your business can end up being investigated!

This can happen when: a trading standards officer stumbles across your online shop, a disgruntled customer decides to report you, Your competitor dobs you in, your neighbours get fed up with customers collecting and parking in front of their house every weekend, or corporate investigators doing a search find your balloons (and yes these investigators do exist – Disney has whole teams scouring social media and the internet!).

Another industry myth is that if caught you will get a cease and desist letter, and then they will simply stop once you do! Whilst cease and desist letters are commonplace in copyright infringements, there is no due process that requires this to be done initially, and they can and will decide to prosecute straight away. The consequences to your business (and personal life) can be big if you are found to be flouting the law!

I can’t tell you how many industry myths there are to try and justify the wrongdoings of others in the industry. As a balloon business owner, you may hear things like; hand-crafted items don’t count, if it’s not available as a balloon already it’s fine, we are too small for them to even worry about, everyone else is doing it and they can’t take all of us down, non-profit companies don’t worry about copyright, and so it goes on. Let me be upfront and tell you none of these things will stand up in court should a lawsuit come knocking on your door… Neither will “I didn’t know!” Ignorance is no defence in the eyes of the law. It’s your responsibility to understand the laws your business trades within…

Small home-based businesses do get prosecuted!

A lady from Sutton, UK, who was making and selling bows from counterfeit ribbon, found herself in court resulting in a criminal record and a huge £4100 fine! Sutton trading standards made several test purchases from her online shop posing as a customer before raiding her home address and seizing her products and computer. The lady was found guilty of 10 offences under The Trade Marks Act 1994, the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, and The Fraud Act 2006 for the sale and possession of counterfeit goods, engaging in unfair commercial practices, and carrying on a business in a fraudulent manner.

In the balloon world specifically, Disney issued many cease and desist letters to several balloon artists in Orlando in the past. Many, many balloon artists have had their Facebook pages or other social media accounts shut overnight due to trademark and copyright infringements, and found themselves having to start from scratch as years 'worth of work building their businesses just vanished in a split second!

So what mistakes could you be making in your business related to copyright?

1. Using other people’s Logos and images – Just because you own a vinyl cutter does not mean you can cut or print stickers of designs from TikTok, Fortnite, Disney, football club badges, or other logos or characters. It doesn’t matter that you can’t buy balloons with these designs on and that your customers want it. It doesn’t matter that you are not directly taking money away from the company because there isn’t a balloon alternative you could use – you still must not do it! It also doesn’t matter if you bought the cut file of another person who was breaking the law first – By using the image on your balloons for commercial use, you too are still breaking the law and you can get in trouble for it.

2. Making Balloon Parodies for Sale - Making twisted Mickey's, Minnies or any other cartoon character for sale can mean that you are breaking copyright laws. No one can stop you practicing your twisting skills at home in creating popular cartoon representations (this would be deemed fair-use) But as soon as you put that item up for sale, you are opening yourself up to potential legal consequences. Some twisters have tried to get around this by describing them as 'parodies,' but to create a parody there must be an element of social or comical satire or criticism within the work. Simply creating a copy of a cartoon character in latex and calling it a parody will not suffice. There is a fascinating article by Todd Neufiled, a balloon artist and a solicitor, on Balloonhq.com exploring this subject further. You can read it here: https://www.balloonhq.com/faq/parodylaw.html  and I do recommend reading this, as I learned so much from this article - in fact, I wish that I had found this article years ago! 

3. Fabric and Ribbon – There is a lot of counterfeit fabric on the market, but did you know that even the genuine Disney fabric is sold for personal use only! That means you are not allowed to use the fabric to make and sell items. Printed on the material itself, of all genuine Disney material, it states it is for personal use only. When purchasing fabric and ribbons to use in your designs, it is your responsibility to check that you are allowed to use it for commercial gain!

(This also applies to other licensed items such as stickers! You would think that this would be a safe way to use a licensed design on a balloon, however, the same rules apply, as these are also sold for personal use only!)

4. Fonts – There are numerous sites online offering free fonts to decorate your foils and bubbles using your vinyl cutter, but did you know that the majority of them are for personal use only? By using these fonts to make items for sale, you are infringing copyright. You are far better to purchase fonts with a commercial license via the font marketplaces, such as creativemarket.com, but even then you need to make sure you read the terms of the license. They often dictate how you can use them, the types of products you can make with them, and how many you are allowed to sell under the terms of that license.

5. Song Lyrics – While song lyrics generally don’t fall under copyright regulation, many song titles and phrases within songs are trademarked, which means they can not be used on balloons. The more unique the title or phrase, the more likely it is to be trademarked. Check before you cut vinyl to put on your balloons!

If you would like to learn more about this topic visit: Copyright & Trademark Concerns for Crafters: Song Lyrics 

6. Words and Sayings – Following on from song lyrics, there are thousands of words and sayings that are trademarked. Elf on the Shelf is probably the biggest one that has affected the balloon industry over the past few years. Many balloon business owners woke up to discover they had lost their Facebook and/or Instagram accounts because even though they were using genuine elf balloons, they had described their product as an elf on the shelf and this term is not only trademarked but fiercely protected by its original creator. Facebook and other social media platforms are not interested in the fact it is a genuine mistake on your part – they don’t want their platforms blemished with bad representation or lawsuits, so they will simply remove your account without getting notice or discussion! Do not expect your account to be reinstated – I haven’t heard yet of anyone who has been able to get Facebook to change their mind!

7. Counterfeit stock – With Amazon, eBay, and the likes of Alibaba all selling cheap balloons there has been an influx of counterfeit balloon products into the marketplace. Not only do many of these balloons fail to meet CE standards, they also of very poor quality, placing your customers and yourself at risk. Many also do not have a license to produce them. Purchasing counterfeit stock and then selling it as part of your portfolio of products is illegal, and doing so can land you in hot water for many reasons. Make sure you only purchase your stock through a professional balloon wholesaler to prevent yourself from falling foul of the law.

8. Music used in your marketing – This is another little known area where your business can end up in trouble. Using backing tracks to your social media stories or videos can land you in hot water. You need to use only royalty-free music, or you can find your social media account shut down for infringement simply by adding a song as background music

9. Using other people’s images without permission – It can be difficult when you're first starting your business and you don’t have a supply of good quality photos of your work. I see this all the time in the Balloon Biz Community Facebook group, with new businesses asking how to build their portfolio. It can be tempting to take a couple of images off google and put them on your social media and website to “get you started”. I STRONGLY urge you NOT to do this. It is theft! In doing so, you are not only breaking copyright laws, as those images belong to the original creator, but you are also creating a major social blunder in the balloon world! In the sharing, caring world of balloon professionals, one thing that is never tolerated is photo theft. You will quickly find yourself called out on this. Not only will you get so many comments on your social media from enraged professionals telling your customer this is not your work, you will also find yourself shunned from all social media groups! It really isn’t worth it! If you are starting out – check out the Starting a Balloon Business Ultimate Guide, where I have a whole chapter on building your portfolio, plus a masterclass on how to build your portfolio when you don’t have photos. You can find the link below! Click HERE or visit https://balloonbizacademy.vipmembervault.com/products/courses/view/1022245

What should you do? 

Here lies the dilemma… Your competitors are doing it, and half the industry seems to be doing it! At the beginning of this article, I was upfront and honest and put my hands up to say I, like so many other business owners in the industry, have been guilty of copyright infringement in my business. I am not here to tell you what to do in your business, merely to educate you and let you make your own decisions.

I should also be clear that I do not have any training in the formalities of copyright or trademark law. This article is simply provided for educational and informational purposes based on the research I have done on the subject. You use this internet site at your own risk, and I always recommend seeking legal advice in your business from those qualified to provide it.

My advice is, put yourself in the shoes of the person you are stealing from. Just say you come up with a design or product tomorrow, you spend hours and lots of money refining it, for it to become so popular it takes the world by storm. The revenue from that idea could change your life and your family’s life. How would you then feel if every balloon artist, in every town in the country stole your idea and began flouting it cheaper than you could! I am guessing frustrated wouldn’t cover it in the slightest – they didn’t just steal your idea, but they stole your dream life too! Just because you don’t enter the home of the person who owns something, pick it up and walk out with it does not mean you aren’t stealing… Equally just because the person you are stealing from is a business doesn’t change the fact it is theft…

You also need to consider the risks of whether your business and your families lifestyle could cope if the next knock on the door was an expensive lawsuit!

I hope you found this article useful, I know for some people it may not be information that brings joy to their ears, it may not even make me very popular for raising this industry-wide issue. My mission is to help you grow a profitable and sustainable business so you can get paid to do what you love every single day for many years to come! In doing so, I sometimes have to discuss difficult subjects with you, so you can do what you need to do to protect your business and grow.

Until next time… Stay amazing!

Sonia x

Sonia Payne is the founder of the Balloon Business Academy. She has spent over ten years growing her own balloon and decor business. She now works with creative entrepreneurs to show them how to start and grow a balloon business the quick and easy way!  Having previously spent 10 years coaching in sales and marketing, she can show them how they can create an amazing profitable and sustainable business by showing what really works to get quick results without the stress! 

To find out more about Balloon Biz Academy and read more of Sonia's great articles visit https://www.balloonbizacademy.co.uk

I hope that you have found this article as interesting and informative as I did! A huge thank you to Sonia for sharing this post!

Happy Ballooning! 

Sue

www.suebowler.com

Follow me @suebowler