Pump Up Your Business with this Amazing Tool for Calculating Helium Costs

What can I say! The balloon industry is made up of some truly generous people who want to help other "Balloonies" succeed and grow their businesses successfully!

Last week the fabulous Michelle Severino, CBA, of Party Splendour in Peakhurst, NSW, Australia, sent me a copy of her amazing Helium Cost and Volume Calculator to share with the ballooning community. Michelle says that this tool has been invaluable to her business and hopes that it will help others, too!

The calculator is very easy to use. You will be able to find Michelle's original calculator in both the Qualatex and QBN Facebook Groups in the FILE section in both Excel (PC) and Numbers (Mac) formats (unfortunately, I cannot share these files on Blogger.)

To start, you will need to change some of the fields to suit you and your business. I have marked these on the image below and colour-coded them with descriptions.

Those of you who are more familiar with creating documents using Excel and Numbers will be able to customise this form very easily.

• CYLINDER SIZE: List all the cylinder names and sizes that you use. The form is currently set up to take three different sizes. 
• CUBIC FEET: For each cylinder size listed, add the cubic feet volume if you work with cubic feet.
• PRICE/ Cu ft: Change the currency to suit your country. 
• CUBIC METERS: For each cylinder size listed, add the cubic meter volume if you work with cubic meters.
• PRICE/ CUBIC METERS: Change the currency to suit your country

I have customised the Helium Cost and Volume Calculator to suit my business in the UK. I have changed the cylinder sizes to three different BOC cylinders that I use. For each cylinder size, I have added both the cubic feet and cubic meter volumes - I don't think that you need to add both, but I did. I then changed all the currency values to U.K. Sterling. 

I know that this tool will help me greatly when I am quoting for a job and calculating my helium costs.

Chris Adamo Does It Again!

I have some fantastic news to share with you! Chris Adamo, CBA, of Balloons Online in Sydney, Australia, has just added some amazing new features to his Balloons Online Design Tool software.

With immediate effect, you can now design Arches and Columns.

Simply log into http://www.balloons.com.au/tools/  and follow the CLICK HERE TO START as shown in the image below.

Once you enter the software, you will be taken to the Design Template page.

To find the template that you want to work with, click on ADD MODEL - this is on the right-hand side of the page. 

Halloween's Coming, - Let's Go Totally Catty, Batty, Deadly, Ghostly, and Scary!

Halloween is creeping up on us. It's time to get ready with our "balloontastic" designs and excite our customers with witches, ghouls, and ghosts!

The key to any successful holiday sales campaign is in the planning, preparing and of course, organising.

Get displaying!

The purpose of good displays and visual merchandising is to attract, engage, and motivate customers towards making a purchase.

Good visual merchandising can help:

• Create interest and excitement 
• Prolong dwell time (we want people to stop and look) 
• Increase customer understanding of what you can offer



Think about all the potential display areas that you have:

• Windows 
• In-Store Displays
• Till/Checkout area
• Wall Space
• Ceiling Space

If you own a die-cutter like a Cameo Silhouette, create some fun and exciting decals for your shop window and other display areas.

I found this cat image at Snazzy Little Things.com. It has a great selection of Halloween window silhouettes that are free to download.

UpClose and Personal with Jackie Ochitwa CBA

I was very excited to meet the very talented Jackie Ochitwa, CBA, of With A Twist Balloon Creations in Alberta, Canada, earlier this year when we shared the instructor's prep room at the World Balloon Convention in San Diego, California, USA. The prep room is one of my favourite places at a convention because you get to meet some truly lovely and very talented balloon artists. You also get to see all the amazing designs that they are teaching!

I am always intrigued to find out a little about the artist behind the balloons and their ballooning journey. So, I asked Jackie how she converted her former radio show host career into becoming an international balloon artist! 

Jackie Ochitwa, CBA.

"I continued my radio career until my second child was born, and I decided that it was important for me to stay home and raise my babies. So, that’s what I did.

My kids always loved balloons, even at a really early age. We brought them to a fair one summer, and there was a group of teenagers twisting swords and flowers for the little ones. We took the balloons home and the sword unraveled (as swords tend to do when a four year old plays with it). My son was so sad; I picked the balloon up and attempted to put it back together the best I could. The smile on my son’s face was priceless – it was then that I decided to look for a balloon twisting book at the library the next time we went. I mean, how hard could it be?"

Yes, It Is Possible To Make 5" Confetti-Filled Balloons!

Everyone loves confetti and confetti-filled balloon decor, it is still very much a hot trend. But how many of us struggle to get the confetti inside a 5" balloon? 

5" confetti-filled balloons look fabulous in centrepieces, and are perfect for organic style decor, too, like this beautiful organic decor created by Shannon Kilford of Born To Party in Sydney, Australia — It really adds a sparkle to this beautiful balloon installation! 

Organic Decor by Shannon Kilford of Born to Party in Sydney, Australia.

So to help you make these fabulous 5" confetti balloons, I have made a short video to show you how easy it is! 

You will need:

• 5" Diamond Clear Latex Balloons
• Hand Pump
• Confetti
• Cloth
• Castration tool/castrating ring pliers/economy castration bander; the 4-prong version is the best. Probably the easiest way to find a supplier is to search the Internet using any of the keywords that I used above. 

A Few Simple Steps on How To Build Your Instagram Following

Last year, I made a commitment to myself to work on my Instagram account. I have always been a Facebook kind of girl, but today, I find Facebook cluttered and a little overwhelming with the number of unwelcome posts, videos, and adverts that appear constantly in my newsfeed. Instagram, on the other hand, I find inspiring and filled with content that I want to view. I wonder how many of our customers feel the same way?


Like any social network out there, there are right ways to use it, wrong ways to use it, and clever ways to use it.

Let's begin with hashtags.

I have written about hashtags before, but this time I would like to be a little more specific. Using hashtags is one thing. Using the right tags is a completely different thing. 

If you want to tag your photos properly, you'll need to find and use the most relevant hashtags. This means doing the appropriate research to make sure you're using hashtags that not only describe what you do but are also being searched for on Instagram. So how do you do this?

Have you heard of Webstagram? Not only does it show you the most popular Instagram hashtags, but it also offers a free search tool that allows you to find all the top hashtags related to your post. 

There is also another free site called All Hashtag. It has a "hashtag generator." Be selective with your hashtags. Using the top-rated hashtags might mean that your posts get lost and never seen. 

The important thing is to build your own hashtag list. There are two types of hashtags: BRANDED and COMMUNITY.

Branded, is specific to your company - your company name, for example. It's amazing how many people don't hashtag their own company name, including me! 

Community, like branded hashtags, can connect like-minded users around a specific subject. But, unlike branded hashtags, community hashtags don’t need to be directly related to a business. They can be broader and much less focused. You might decide to do a #happymonday or #TBT (throw-back-Thursday) campaign. This is a great way to engage with a wider community.

A slightly sneaky but great way to discover new and trending hashtags is to check out the hashtags that your competitors and industry influencers use.

"Selling the Dream"

How we describe and present our businesses can have a huge impact on how our clients perceive us. I have said many times before; our job is not to sell balloons, our job is to sell the special memories that our balloons make, whether it's a beautiful bouquet of balloons that we deliver for a special occasion or amazing decor that we create for a corporate event, a wedding, or a party.

Last month I attended the Qualatex^® Event in Shanghai, China. I had the honour of working with Lily Tan, of Myairtitude in Singapore, Jeff Wong, CBA, of Balloon Factory in Hong Kong, and TingYu Wong of Color Life Production, also from Hong Kong. It was also a great honour to meet some of the wonderful and very talented Chinese balloon artists who attended the event.

Balloon Decor by Jenny Wang of Bing Party Studio, China

So how does my trip to Shanghai have any relevance to my post topic, "Selling the Dream"?

Balloon Decor by Katie Jiang of ZUOYOU,
 Shandong, China.

I love to see the work of other balloon artists from around the world and was both inspired and excited to see beautiful designs created by some of our Chinese delegates. What really stood out for me was that every photograph told a story and shared a dream - a dream that could easily be turned into a wonderful memory.

Selling the dream is not just limited to creative industries such as ours. This is what companies such as IKEA do all the time. They sell the dream with all their fabulous room settings in stores. When people walk around the beautifully displayed rooms, they see a complete lifestyle rather than just a sofa or table. It's a clever concept, as I am sure that many people buy everything they see!






The photo above really brings the room to life! We all know that a celebration is not a celebration without balloons. This beautiful balloon bouquet adds the perfect finishing touch to this lifestyle photograph - the image would not look as vibrant and exciting without it.

Jenny Wang of Bing Party Studio really has a creative eye. Her photo really sets the scene for a romantic occasion - candles, wine, roses, and romance, but without the fabulous balloon heart, the photograph would not have the same impact. Equally, the heart would not have the same impact without the other elements. Being able to create images such as this is a true art that I would love to learn.

Design by Jenny Wang, Bingo Party Studio.

Here's another great photograph from Jenny Wang. A completely different dream setting, but this time for a child's party. What a fabulous photo backdrop!

Design by Jenny Wang, Bingo Party Studio.

Here are some more beautiful photographs that "sell the dream" -  As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words!

Design by Jenny Wang, Bingo Party Studio.

Design by Calypso Cheng, Nanching, China.

Design by Calypso Cheng, Nanching, China.

Balloon Decor by Katie Jiang of ZUOYOU,
in Shandong, China.

Balloon Decor by Moli Zhu of Bubble Double Balloon Studio, Shanghai, China.

In most cases these photographs are not set in elaborate locations, and the backgrounds are pretty neutral. It is the combination of designs and simple props that have made these images as appealing as they are. 

As much as they say that a picture is worth a thousand words, I do believe that words, too, are very important. Once again, I was inspired when I read these magical words on TingYu's "About" page on his Color Life Production website:

"We believe balloon brings happiness and balloon art brings happiness to others. Color Life Production keens to provide balloon art education and decoration services to different place, to turn every special moments into colorful and happy memories!" 

What a fabulous way to greet your customers and tell them that you are the right person to work with.

I hope that this blog post has inspired you as much as it has inspired me!

Thank you to all the wonderful designers who have shared their photographs with the Very Best Balloon Blog and to Soo Chin Goo who helped me greatly.

Happy Ballooning!

Sue 

www.suebowler.com