Ballooneroo is a balloon decor, balloon modelling and face painting business based in North London. Founded by 15-year-old Ruben Persey, the business is entirely run by young people in their spare time outside of school. PartyWorldwide.net found out more.
Hi Ruben. We’ve heard that you’re the youngest balloon business in the industry. Can you tell us a little more about Ballooneroo?
“Hey! Actually, to my knowledge, there are two other teen balloon artists across the world! One in Israel (younger than us) and one in Norway (slightly older than us). It was really amazing to talk to them as it took such a long time to find them! When Ballooneroo started (a year and a half ago, when I was 13) I started with just balloon modelling. Eventually, I wanted to it to grow so I ‘hired’ two of my friends to do some face painting and started looking into balloon decorating. We now are most busy with décor (I ‘hired’ another friend to help with that!) and still do modelling and face painting.”
Very entrepreneurial! Out of all the possibilities out there, what made you decide to start out in the balloon trade?
“Thanks! Two summers ago, I wanted to do something entrepreneurial – I’ve no idea why! I started off with some questionable ideas… buying and renting out bikes and making and selling soap. We decided that these wouldn’t quite work for me in my area – north London. One day, when discussing it with my family, my aunt suggested that I could try balloon modelling as she knew someone young who sometimes helped for her kids’ parties and the rest is history!”
Your work is very impressive. Have you had much training? What benefits has that had?
“My only formal training, so far, has been the Chris Adamo UK and Ireland tour. Everything else that I have learnt has been from watching hundreds of hours of YouTube videos. I think that this has suited me very well as it allowed me to learn a thing or two about business before I jumped right into it and it helped me realise just how much work I would need to put into this if I wanted to succeed – which I did! That being said, the Chris Adamo course was amazing and I now understand what Greg (from BMTV) means about training getting you from A to B in a tiny amount of time – it’s true!”
Are you enjoying working in the balloon trade so far?
“I love the balloon industry so much! Everyone is so supportive and no-one is selfish. People don’t hesitate to help when others ask questions on all the multitude of Facebook groups and there are so many training courses led by brilliant people who care so much about helping the balloon industry and everyone who represents it.”
What skills have you learnt, other than balloon modelling, of course!
“The whole process has taught me so much that I could write a book on it. One of the most important things, in my opinion, is people. They come under two categories and the first is customers. These are the normal people who know nothing and everything, who annoy us with texts at the middle of the night and who we rely on to carry on with our passion – balloons. The second is other balloon artists. These are the people who love what we love and know the struggles that we are going through because they go through them as well. These are the people who so many of us, me included, owe so much to. That is what makes them perfect!”
Very true! So what are your plans for the future?
“I’ve no idea! I sometimes try to think about what I might want to do in the future and every time I just get stuck! All I know for certain is that I want to be successful. This word means something different to everyone and for me I think it means that I, and everyone else around me, is happy throughout life. I’ll just have to wait and see!”
Thank you so much for talking with us. Happy ballooning!
“Thank you! It has been so interesting and I hope that everyone has an amazing day! Just one message to everyone – Keep on going and keep on smiling because that’s what balloons are made for!”
