A Mobile Party Service Bounces Back
This LA-based party startup has begun the bounce back from those costly economic shutdowns.
Chatting with Heather is uplifting in itself — she’s one determined entrepreneur!
How did her company start? Heather had evolved into a being a stay-at-home mom to a toddler. Wonderful as all this was, it didn’t quite provide the stimulation of her former corporate career. With baby number two just around the corner, her determination kicked in.
She began researching her market, assessing her opportunities and unleashing her creative streak. Her new income stream and side project was already taking shape.
What did Heather decide and how did she do it? In early 2015, she discovered the Paint and Sip Industry and decided to enter it with her own business: “I hauled my computer bag, diaper bag and 2-year-old daughter to the YMCA practically every day for the 2 hours of childcare that came with membership. It took determination and focus to get this done, working in 2-hour blocks for months. But in the end, I had my business plan and a functioning website.”
How did she grow the business? Heather grew the business organically. She took every event offer that came her way and pulled them off to rave reviews. Her marketing was sporadic, but the customers kept coming. The company did private house parties, fund raisers for non-profits, corporate events for team building, stress relief, and creative problem solving. The only flaw for Heather was: No time for family.
And then what happened? We worked together and set on a strategic combination of coaching and advisory services, while Heather and her new assistant, Kim – who had no marketing experience but lots of enthusiasm – did the actual work. Heather became a working mom with a clear direction and a viable business.
Her demographics were scattered so we needed focus. A simple 52 week marketing calendar led to social copy that was short and sweet. We also settled on the social media she would use. Looking at results — she had been smart to ask people how they found her — she determined that Yelp, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn worked best for her business. Heather, Kim and I worked together to create a template for each media, using the same copy in each. We were off to a very smooth start.
Time to pull everything together! The pictures from the events from the week prior were the stars of the posts. Pictures were carefully picked to include all of her target demographics and the leads were coming in.
Then 2020 happened…
Heather had to scale back almost entirely falling back on a Zoom format of her original sessions. They were successful with home-bound work groups, but it was difficult moving ahead. We worked together again — same relationship — coaching and advising — same determination. We knew we could do this.
Then 2023 arrived…phew!
Heather is now regrouping and using her determination to drive her business onwards and upwards. Collaboration, consistency and curiosity have been at the center of everything we’ve done together. They’re also the hallmarks of any successful marketing campaign.
Heather is an empowered, purposeful and determined entrepreneur never afraid to think outside the box. I’m excited to see where our collaboration takes her business and will be happier than anyone when she beats her pre-pandemic numbers.