We all have a desire to grow our businesses. We try to do this through gaining knowledge, learning new skills and designs, and working on our social media activity.
Attending training sessions, events, and conventions is a fabulous way to gain confidence, knowledge, and improve our ballooning skills. But having access to additional resources is vitally important for the growth of our balloon businesses!
Today, there are many resources available online. These are some of my favourite, and they are all FREE!
March 2019 saw the launch of the first ever free online Balloon Magic! Until now, Balloon Magic has only been available as a paid subscription, but it's now free and packed with some amazing content!
One of the great benefits of this publication now being available online is that it includes video tutorials. This gives us the opportunity to watch and follow while an instructor creates one of their wonderful designs. In this first issue, you can see both Vadim Shushkanov, CBA and Nicole Greg, CBA demonstrate two amazing and very sellable designs - I know I will definitely have a go at making them both!
In addition to the how-to-video's, there are also some great step-by-step design recipes from Pippity Pop, Matt Falloon and Takehiro Kai - all of whom are incredible artists!
If you are new to the world of entertaining, there is an outstanding article by guest writer Todd Neufeld of the Twisted Balloon Company, New York, USA. Todd shares the Top Ten Components of an Entertainment Contract!
Even if you are not a twister, you can really learn some great skills from Balloon Magic and maybe even incorporate some more twisted designs into your everyday designs and decor!
Balloon Images also went digital earlier this year, and is now available online. Like Balloon Magic, it has the benefit of featuring how-to-videos, which are a great way to learn new ideas and skills.
Design inspiration is something we are all looking for constantly. Lucky for us, Balloon Images is packed with ideas, tutorials and amazing high quality stock photographs that you can use for marketing and to show your clients.
Where else would you be able to find a great how-to video tutorial, like how to make a fabulous on-trend hot air balloon? Plus some great downloadable high resolution images that you can use for your marketing campaigns! If you are a QBN member, by simply logging in, you have access to even more free materials!
Another excellent resource is Q Corner - a twice weekly live-streaming talk show that is aired on YouTube and hosted by Dominic Cassidy, CBA, and Keith Stirman, CBA. Known for their lighthearted banter and entertaining style, Keith and Dom show features a wide variety of topics including: Business Tips, Design Inspiration, Industry News and Announcements, New Product Features and much more.
Below is one of their earlier episodes where they show Confetti Balloons & Gumballs.
Attending training sessions, events, and conventions is a fabulous way to gain confidence, knowledge, and improve our ballooning skills. But having access to additional resources is vitally important for the growth of our balloon businesses!
Today, there are many resources available online. These are some of my favourite, and they are all FREE!
March 2019 saw the launch of the first ever free online Balloon Magic! Until now, Balloon Magic has only been available as a paid subscription, but it's now free and packed with some amazing content!
One of the great benefits of this publication now being available online is that it includes video tutorials. This gives us the opportunity to watch and follow while an instructor creates one of their wonderful designs. In this first issue, you can see both Vadim Shushkanov, CBA and Nicole Greg, CBA demonstrate two amazing and very sellable designs - I know I will definitely have a go at making them both!
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| To learn how to make this fabulous little balloon sculpture - click HERE |
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| To learn how to make this adorable Toucan click HERE |
In addition to the how-to-video's, there are also some great step-by-step design recipes from Pippity Pop, Matt Falloon and Takehiro Kai - all of whom are incredible artists!
If you are new to the world of entertaining, there is an outstanding article by guest writer Todd Neufeld of the Twisted Balloon Company, New York, USA. Todd shares the Top Ten Components of an Entertainment Contract!
Even if you are not a twister, you can really learn some great skills from Balloon Magic and maybe even incorporate some more twisted designs into your everyday designs and decor!
Balloon Images also went digital earlier this year, and is now available online. Like Balloon Magic, it has the benefit of featuring how-to-videos, which are a great way to learn new ideas and skills.
Design inspiration is something we are all looking for constantly. Lucky for us, Balloon Images is packed with ideas, tutorials and amazing high quality stock photographs that you can use for marketing and to show your clients.
Where else would you be able to find a great how-to video tutorial, like how to make a fabulous on-trend hot air balloon? Plus some great downloadable high resolution images that you can use for your marketing campaigns! If you are a QBN member, by simply logging in, you have access to even more free materials!
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| Check out this great how-to video, simply click HERE |
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| Downloading images is easy, just click on the arrow that appears on the left hand side of the image and choose the size of the file that you want to download! |
Below is one of their earlier episodes where they show Confetti Balloons & Gumballs.
The great thing about Q Corner is if you miss an episode, you can always go back and watch it at a later date! We recommend that you subscribe to the channel, that way you will always get a notification when a show is about to air.
For Russian speaking balloon artists, there is now a Russian Qualatex TV channel. This new channel is hosted by Alexander Solomatin, CBA. Each episode covers a variety of topics and includes some great how-to videos. The show airs weekly, and you can subscribe to ensure that you get notification when a new show airs.
In addition to these excellent resources, there is of course the Very Best Balloon Blog - which of course you must know about, as you are reading this blog post! I wrote my first post in June 2011, and to date I have written 390 different posts covering a wide range of topics! It is very interesting to see which of the posts are most often read - can you guess? Whilst you would think it is a design related post, it's actually - How much should I charge for that... how to price your work! This post has been viewed over 45,000 times! Pricing is one of the hardest things to do, especially if you have never run a business before. Learning how to price to ensure that you make a profit is not always easy. I hope that my pricing related posts (I have written a few) help those who are struggling. I am always keen to hear what topics you would like me to write about. There may be a subject or something that you would like to know more about. My posts are often inspired by questions that I see on Facebook groups, such as how to write a Risk Assessment or Method Statement, or how to use a heat sealer.
If you need to search for a specific blog post, just type in key words to the search bar, and you will see all the posts that relate to those words.
Each one of these amazing free resources is sponsored by Qualatex, and I truly don't believe that there is any other balloon manufacturer who gives so much support to the balloon industry! Thank you Qualatex and all those who work so hard to bring us such high quality support and freely accessible materials.
Happy Ballooning!
Sue
www.suebowler.com
#suebowler