Balloon Bar YQR

Balloon Bar YQR started with two sisters, a spare bedroom, and a whole lot of chaos. The year was 2017, Shayla (my sister) was working at the University of Regina as a Manager of Marketing and Student Recruitment. She worked closely with her work bestie, Meaghan Jones, Admissions Coordinator, at the time. Through these roles, Meaghan and Shayla planned multiple events at the University and always used Balloons by Fred, a local balloon business in operation for 30+ years. However, Fred was adamant he was retiring and no longer able to provide balloons for the University of Regina.

Shayla and Meaghan would casually joke, “someone should start a balloon business!” without any real intention or thought behind it.

During this time, I was working as a Probation Officer for the Ministry of Justice. For anyone who works front line with the most vulnerable populations, you know it can be f***ing hard. One day, after a really tough day working with offenders, I messaged Shayla and said, “I can’t do this forever, we need to start a business”. I knew I needed an exit strategy and wanted to build something that was my own (or at least half mine and half my sisters). All Shayla said was, “I have an idea”. And, in this moment, I remember thinking, “I don’t care what it is, I am in.”

I spent the following weeks googling, “how to start a balloon business” and “cool balloons”. It was during this week I discovered AMAZING companies around the world doing AMAZING balloon work! Places like Wisconsin Balloon Décor, Vroom Vroom Balloon in Nashville, TN, and Pacha Balloon Creations in Toronto, ON were all CRUSHING the balloon game, and this was the moment. That moment all entrepreneurs (still can barely spell this word) talk about. The “ah-ha!”, the “I have an idea”, the “could this work?” moment that you feel an overwhelming sense of drive, passion, and determination to put everything you have into an idea. It was this moment where we said, “f*ck it, let’s start a balloon business.”

This was the beginning of Balloon Bar YQR - start date January 1, 2018. 

And from where it was all sunshine and rainbows and we were instantly successful and made a butt tonne of money. HA! I wish. Looking back, it was coming up with the idea that was easy, it’s everything else behind a business that is hard. It’s putting you and your product out into the world and saying, “like me, buy me, support me!”. 

Follow along on our blog to see how we went from a little start up in my spare bedroom, navigated the hegginning, middle, and end of a partnership, and built this tiny business from the ground up!