This week on BMTV we are joined by Stuart Davies CBA who we previously had on BMTV a couple of years ago to talk about growing your balloon business (BMTV 151). Greg talks to Stuart about how his business came about and how he got into the industry. He also talks about the big projects he has been getting involved in and how he became a Qualatex trainer. Stuart also shows us how to make a birthday design that he makes in just under 6 minutes.

He also talks about his upcoming Grand Balloon Tour 2 where he’ll be visiting Balloon Market with balloon decorator, retailer, and trainer, Matt JB Lewis CBA on Friday 9th August 2019 to give training on balloon structures and tips on growing your business.

Stuart started working with balloons about five and a half years ago when his family newsagent business wasn’t doing so well so they looked at products they were selling (they sold a few balloons in the shop at the time) and looked at what products had the most profit margin in and eventually started to look at how they would make a develop a successful high street gift shop that used balloons as it’s primary business. He got in touch with Qualatex and did one of their courses and he also did three online courses and went on from there. In addition to balloons, Stuart’s shop also sells gifts and cards, but the balloons now make up 70% of their turnover.

He became very well known in the industry in such a short period of time and he has carried out lots of big build projects. His first big build was only four months after he started in balloons which was part of the vision that to develop the business, they needed to push themselves right from the beginning.

For the first big build they used 1000 balloons and it has grown a lot since as the build that happened last year involved 45,000 balloons, 2 days of building and 35 balloon artists, with some of these people coming from America.

Stuart has worked with Disney on about twenty-two occasions on various projects including a Pride parade and he has also been lucky enough to work with UEFA. He discusses with Greg about how he calls himself a manufacturer rather than a balloon decorator or artist as he takes various materials to then make or produce a product that is for example like a car manufacturer.

He then demonstrates a birthday design which he attempts to make in 6 minutes, and he manages to beat it with a time of 5 minutes, 35 seconds. He uses light pink and wild berry 5” latex balloons, constructing a base with these. He also creates a cluster of light pink and wild berry latex to go around the bottom of a 24-inch Elegant Roses & Butterflies Deco Bubble balloon.

He then takes an 11-inch Happy Birthday latex balloon which he then inflates inside the Deco Bubble balloon and he then adds in some bright pink tulle to the design as a finishing touch. A simple, yet effective design which you can tweak depending on the occasion.

Stuart is also planning his upcoming Grand Balloon Tour 2, along with Matt JB Lewis which is going to be coming to Balloon Market on Friday 9th August 2019. Stuart did the Tour last year and due to its success, he has decided to bring it back again this year! This training course will give you the knowledge and skills to build and structure giant letters and frames.

Stuart will also be sharing business tips on how to sell your designs to maximise profit.

To book onto The Grand Balloon Tour 2 click here

View all of our other upcoming training courses here

Anna-Jayne

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