DOING WHAT YOU LOVE

As I write this article, the thermo-
meter reads three degrees. I’m not boasting or com-
plaining. My friends in Minnesota and Michigan are emboldened by their temperatures in the negatives. And fellow ballooners in Florida started wearing coats and gloves when the mercury plummeted below fifty.

I love living in the Midwest. I enjoy having equal parts of all four seasons. I look forward to the heat and humidity of August, the rain of April, the late frost in March, the last gasp of fall in November, the first day of short pants in March, the following day of wearing coat and gloves. I truly feel sorry for anyone who can’t enjoy both mowing the lawn and shoveling the driveway.

The cold weather gives me the opportunity to organize myself for the coming year. Compiling receipts and invoices for tax time, updating addresses for marketing campaigns, writing press releases for upcoming projects and working on new balloon designs.

I was recently talking with a friend at a networking luncheon. He has recently started a graphic design business out of his home. He has many years of experience and is very talented. His portfolio of logos, ad campaigns and websites is very impressive. (He designed the logo for my Balloon Garden project.) He’s been self-employed for about six months and already has a good client list.

We were discussing all the stuff we have to do that has nothing to do with the stuff we want to do. As we talked, we were joined by a few other “non-employee” business owners. (That’s the term being used to describe anyone who runs a company but doesn’t hire traditional employees.) Our little group included a bookkeeper, a baker, a plumber, a graphic designer and a balloon entertainer. We had a lot in common. While we all worked out of a home office, (the baker has partnered with a commercial kitchen), and are in different businesses, we all loved what we did. We all had a passion for our chosen field.

Unfortunately, to be successful in our business, we had to spend a lot of time not doing what we loved. Between marketing, contracting, invoicing, phone calls, letters, return phone calls and proposals; we were left with a small part of the calendar to perform our expertise. We came to the conclusion that you better love what you do because you’ll get very little time to do it. The rest of the time involves trying to convince someone to pay you to do what you love doing.

Many in our little group had worked in larger companies doing what they were now doing on their own. The plumber had worked for a national chain. The baker had worked in many restaurants. The bookkeeper had worked for a big firm. We all had our own reasons for starting our own businesses. Either the freedom to make our own decisions or to express our own ideas or to do things the way we wanted.

We discussed what we most loved about owning our own businesses. Nobody talked about the paperwork or phone calls or sending contracts. The plumber loves to rebuild drains. The baker loves to decorate cakes. The bookkeeper loves to balance numbers. I love to create unique balloon sculptures and entertain an audience. In our own ways, we love to show off what we love to do for the appreciation of our clients.

Certainly the burden of having to do everything yourself is outweighed by the sense of accomplishment in doing everything yourself. Love what you do and appreciate the time you get to do it.

Thad James
SAMMY J Balloon Creations
www.sammyjballoons.com
“Balloon entertainment with a twist”

Balloon Holiday Season

What happened to October? Fall festivals, trade shows, birthdays, company events and so many Halloween parties!!! I’ve put away the ghosts and ghouls, finished making vampires and spiders and properly disposed of the rapidly decaying jack-o-lanterns. I’m still recovering from the sugar high off all the chocolate, marshmallows and nougat. (If only I knew what nougat was…)

As soon as I lose the Trick-or-Treat weight; I’ll be ready for turkey, stuffing, potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce. And of course: Pie.

But enough about my food obsession.

The holidays are a great time for balloon artists. And the holiday season for balloons lasts all year long. Every month there are plenty of things to celebrate and balloons can be made to fit the occasion.

Some great holiday opportunities for balloon creations:

January
Paul Revere’s birthday - horse and rider, church tower with lanterns, revolutionary flag
Benjamin Franklin’s birthday – kite being struck by lightning, $100 bill

February
Sub-planet Pluto discovered – build a solar system and discuss how Pluto was de-certified as a planet.
Mardi Gras – anything and everything in Purple, Green and Gold. The possibilities are endless

March
Dr. Suess’s birthday – a red and white top hat or a red fish and a blue fish
First Day of Spring – flowers, birds, more flowers, sun

April
Jazz Appreciation Month – trumpet, saxophone, trombone
Earth Day – Earth imprinted rounds used in centerpieces or hats or column toppers

May
Cinco de Mayo – all things green, white and red
Hillary and Norgay first to climb Everest – what a about a large, white-capped mountain?

June
Summer Solstice – Bouquet deliveries to your favorite Wiccan or Druid
Luzo-Brazilian Month – Celebrate the Brazilian/Portuguese cultures in your area


You get the idea.

I enjoy showing customers the possibility of balloon sculptures. I look for different ways to incorporate my love of balloons with special occasions that are not well known. It is a great way to expose customers to less well known celebrations as well as expand their thinking of what can be done with balloons.

Best of all; nobody in my neighborhood has ever seen a 13-foot tall Frankenstein!


Thad James

SAMMY J Balloon Creations

http://www.sammyjballoons.com/

“Balloon entertainment with a twist”

JAZZ AND BALLOONS

I look forward to the Old Webster Jazz & Blues Festival every September. I have performed at the festival for eight consecutive years. While I don’t play sax or sing, I’m proud to be a featured artist. While, I don’t occupy space on the main stage; I always have an enthusiastic audience.

As a fan of jazz music, this is a great day for me. I get to make wonderful balloons, entertain my audience and listen to some fantastic music. The bands included the Dogtown Allstars, the Soulard Blues Band, the St Louis Jazz & Blues Revue and the Funky Butt Brass Band. While I didn't get to hear the Funky Butt Brass Band, Michael "Tunes" Brooks says their great. And that's good enough for me.

My own performance was interrupted several times by self-imposed “dance breaks” whenever the music moved me. Of course the crowd didn’t mind as they were usually tapping or snapping or head-bobbing to the beat anyway. Everyone was enjoying the great music and the cool vibe that moved through the air.

The Old Webster Jazz & Blues Festival was founded in 2001 to promote music and culture in the Old Webster Groves Historic District. The festival has been a HUGE success over the years. The event started with a stage at the end of a street and four bands. Every year the festival has grown and now includes two stages on different streets, a kid’s area, food vendors, a jazz clinic, eleven bands and hundreds of music fans. By the late afternoon, the streets are full of folding chairs and blankets and families from miles around.

The organizers hire me to arrive early so I can get a good spot. Far enough from the stage to be able to entertain but close enough to hear every note. I get to listen to classics from the golden age of jazz, the funky rhythms of new age, the big bands, the sultry vocals, the percussion, the fat sax, the brassy horns.

This year, a light rain began to fall in the afternoon. Did the crowd scatter? Did the audience thin out? Not a chance. It was quite a sight seeing the umbrellas pop-up and start swaying to the beat.

Major congrats to the committee: Joe Rath, Jennifer Bellm, Dawn DeBlaze, Mary Chambers, and Katy Sommer. Of course, the biggest thanks to the hardest worker of all: Matt.

See you next year!


Thad James
SAMMY J Balloon Creations
www.sammyjballoons.com
“Balloon entertainment with a twist”

FOR APPEARANCE SAKE

A networking group I belong to holds a meeting for new members. This orientation is to inform them on the benefits of the group, the networking opportunities and the ways to benefit the member’s company by attending meetings. Because I’ve been an active member for many years, I am asked to speak to the new members about networking.

Before the orientation began, I was introducing myself to new faces in the crowd. The makeup of the group was typical; insurance rep, remodeling guy, banking woman, etc. A wide variety of business types. And a variety of business dress. The main presenter is a financial advisor and always wears a suit. The banking woman wore a jacket and skirt. I typically wear nice pants and a logo-embroidered polo shirt.

As I was talking to a couple of people, a woman walked in the room. She approached our group and made her introductions. She is the area representative for a well-known cosmetics company, (I don’t mention the name of the company for good reason). The woman was dressed in baggy gym shorts, a wrinkled and stained T-shirt and cheap flip-flops. Here she was, attending a networking meeting full of potential customers wearing clothes suitable for hanging around the house.

More importantly, we didn’t just represent potential customers; we are her referral agents. The number one marketing use of networking groups is the “I know someone” aspect. The people you meet may be your future clients. But they talk to their customers and when the topic of your business comes up, you should be their first thought.

I know this works. I am the only balloon entertainer in my networking group. I am the BALLOON GUY! All other ballooners in my market are compared to me for people in my group. When the topics of “balloons” or “entertainment” or “balloon dress emails” are mentioned, my fellow members (over 450 of them) think of me first. That’s 450 business people talking to thousands of their customers with me on their mind. Now that’s marketing power.

But that’s not the topic of the day.

The first impression of the cosmetics lady was: gym shorts and T-shirt. It was difficult to listen to anything she had to say after that. She was very knowledgeable about the long history of her company. She was enthusiastic about her involvement with the company. She was proud to be a representative. My attention was drawn to that wrinkled, stained shirt.

No, I don’t wear a suit and tie when I attend networking events. I’m not in a “suit and tie” business. (I only own a couple of jackets and a few ties!) And I can usually be found in lounge-wear while I’m writing or practicing my stage acts. That’s in my home-office. But we were in a room a business people. I don’t wear my “entertainer outfits” when I attend business meetings. Those clothes are for performances. The remolding guy didn’t wear his tool belt. The doctor didn’t bring is sphygmomanometer. And the karate guy wasn’t wearing his Gi and Obi.

I have worked very hard to be known as “The Balloon Guy” in my networking groups. I am educated about balloon events, trends, conventions. I can build the most amazing balloon sculptures. And yes, I know most of the artists in those balloon-dress emails.

More importantly, I am a business person. I dress professionally when I’m at meetings. I can speak to issues affecting small companies. I address micro-business marketing ideas. I discuss articles from the recent business magazine. That gives me the respect of being a serious business person.

The cosmetics lady may attend other meetings and she may wear more appropriate clothes. It will take a long time before people forget her shorts and shirt first appearance.

So how do you present yourself? Is your appearance appropriate to the event? Do you wear a tuxedo to a bar-b-que pool party? Do you wear a tropical print shirt to a funeral? (I got to do this for a parrot-head friend as his last request. He would have smiled at the entire crowd in outrageous attire.)

We in the entertainment industry need to advance the idea that we are fun. Just make sure you dress the part.


Thad James
SAMMY J Balloon Creations
www.sammyjballoons.com
“Balloon entertainment with a twist”