Creating Opportunity in Chaos

Creating Opportunity in Chaos. Last week was a wonderful week for me, with opportunities to listen to motivational speakers Thursday and Friday, I want to share some highlights with you. Thursday was my 7th time that Party People had won the bid to decorate the Lakeland Chamber Annual dinner. This year I had the pleasure to collaborate on the decor with Johanthon Gerber, the owner of Party People Events, I now serve as his Marketing Director, and Event coordinator (allowing me to have my major focus on BalloonCoach.com) . The theme this year was Creating Opportunity in Chaos, as the Keynote speaker for the evening was Jerry Ross, the Executive Director of the National Entrepreneur Center. His message for companies to survive and thrive they must be innovative to be successful during uncertain economic conditions. He brought up examples of how Kodak did not embrace the digital camera age, they did not adapt and change. Where other companies stepped up and into the change and created successful businesses and income. He also focused on people with determination that do not give up after the first failures or being told no. Very appropriate while sitting at the event we had decorated, as the first 4 years I approached the Chamber to decorate for the event they did not take me seriously, “I was just the balloon lady”. Then I realized it was my job to Educate them on the Mitzvah’s and other events I had been coordinating. I found out the bottom line is I had to have my company LISTED in a different category to be OFFERED a Request for Proposal to Bid on the job. Cost $50 to have a 2nd listing as Event Coordinator, rather than listed under Balloon Decor! Rather than giving up, I was creative I asked questions and changed my approach. The result, 7 years of working with a $10,000 budget to coordinate all the decor, well worth the $50 a year additional fee.

Thursday night the evenings speaker got me thinking about the balloon industry in general. I believe that 2016 is an amazing opportunity for growth in our industry! World Balloon Convention is right around the corner, with people from over 50 countries gathering in New Orleans to share their passion of balloons and learn from one another. There are more and more classes, seminars and educational events being held for our industry world wide. Social Media is flooded with photos of balloon decor, on Sunday during the superbowl one commercial had a Balloon Goalpost in it AWESOME! What an amazing time to be a balloon company, as your client emails you their Pinterest or Instagram photos of what they are looking for, Hi this is Jan, I want you to make this for me, how much does it cost? How exciting is that…they are pumped and excited to use balloons – all you have to do is close the sale! Many times in balloon groups on facebook I see people make statements like “I hate Pinterest”, or “another dreaded pinterest client” STOP that thought! This person is reaching out to you wanting to pay you Money….they are excited about balloons…this is a good thing! Granted sometimes clients are unaware of what the cost is for that lovely 3 ft helium balloon with Tulle and Ribbon on it, but this is your opportunity to educate them, and offer other solutions if that item does not meet their budget. I know I personally was in shock the first time I ordered a cake from the local bakery for my daughters birthday rather than picking in up at the grocery store. It was large difference in price, did I buy the cake from the bakery? Yes! Why? Quality and service, it was the specialty item I was wanting!

Part 2 of a wonderful week for me was Friday I invested in myself, $109.00 for a one day Women’s Leadership Symposium in Lakeland Florida, put on by the Chapter of the American Business Women’s Association that I am a member of. 4 dynamic speakers kept a smile on my face, laughter and lots of ah ha moments as I quickly took notes of what they were saying.

My #1 Take away of the day…..What you Name the Thing…the Thing Becomes…. Linda Larsen

• That was such a powerful point. If we don’t like what we see we need to rename it. A small example is waking up and thinking you are going to have a bad day, we need to rename that thought to a good day. Any time we think something negative we need to rename it to a positive. Because what we name the thing the thing tends to become.
• When our minds start to go negative we must not go with it. Something to think about: What do we tell ourselves about ourselves? If you call yourself names or say negative things about your body you need to think about the saying “what you name the thing, they thing tends to become”.
• Linda taught us her “STOP TECHNIQUE”

1) Notice you’re being negative

2) Tell yourself to Stop

3) Replace that thought w/ what you want

Back to the Pinterest situation, put the steps above into action. When the client sends you the photo of the Tulle balloon and that negative – ugh they aren’t going to pay for this comes to your head. Stop that thought…and replace it with Awesome, she want’s these lovely balloons and at $$$ a piece, it will be a wonderful sale for me and a beautiful event for my client!

PUT THE POSITIVE VIBE OUT THERE! Set yourself up for success, not failure!

I wish YOU much success in 2016! If you know where you want to go and how you want to grow your business, but you are unsure how to get there…BalloonCoach.com is here for you! With one to one and elite coaching to help you Crush your goals with personal attention, to our Group Coaching to Pump you up and support you on your journey check out our coaching program and make 2016 the year you take your business to New Heights!

Your Partner in Success!

Joette Giardina, CBA

Mentor. Motivator. Speaker.

For more support and ongoing training go to BalloonCoach.com