Lisa, mother of two and owner of Twisty Balloons, was a human resource professional in an engineering firm before becoming a full-time stay at home mother (SAHM).
When she was working full-time, Lisa found herself constantly busied by the need to juggle her family responsibilites, household chores and work commitments. Eventually, she chose to leave her job in order to spend more time with her two boys, Clarence and Anson, and also started up Twisty Balloons!
Little Day Out found out from her what life is like as a Mumpreneur.
Lisa, Twisty Balloons, and other Mumpreneurs will be at the Mama’s Bazaar & Family Fun Weekend (organised by Mums@Work) taking place on 28 and 29 September 2013 at SAFRA Toa Payoh.
Tell us about Twisty Balloons…
Twisty Balloons provides professional balloon twisting services and balloon decorations for private parties and corporate events.
As a balloon twister, I go around attending parties and entertaining children (and yes, adults too) with balloon sculptures that they can enjoy or play with. Kids love balloons and so do many of us who are young-at-heart. It is always fun to have a balloon twister at parties as it creates a focal point for the children and allows them to bring home their own beloved sculptures.
What inspired you to start the business?
As a stay-at-home-mum, I was looking for ways to create an income and yet keep my schedule flexible. Previously, while organising my company’s dinner and dance, we hired a caricaturist and I realised that it was a neat little job that met my criteria. I tried finding someone who could teach me to draw but was unable to and finally decided to try being a colourful balloon twister instead!
Where did you pick up your balloon twisting skills?
I learnt some basic balloon twisting skills from a balloon twister teacher. He also gave me the opportunity to assist him in few balloon twisting jobs which gradually gave me the confidence to go out on my own. After gaining some experience, I carried on upgrading my skills by turning to resources such as books and the Internet. This was coupled with lots of practice at home. The craft is personally fun and challenging and, even now, I find that there are still plenty of designs and techniques to be learnt.
Do you ever get tired of attending children’s birthday parties?
No, of course! Parties are happy occasions with many excited children running around. I love to be invited to parties to entertain with my balloon twisting skills. I am always delighted to see the happiness on the children’s faces when they get their sculptures. I also feel very honoured when adults wanted sculptures for themselves too! It gives me a great sense of accomplishment.
What do you think are essential traits for a Mumpreneur?
I have found that having a very focused and determined spirit is an essential requirement to be a Mumpreneur. Many a time, as my own boss, I personally find that I can easily lose track of time and let non-essential or leisure activities take over my home-based working hours. This can hamper the momentum needed to follow-up on enquiries and I have learnt that it takes discipline to stay on track and focused on what needs to be done.
How do you balance your responsibilities between being a mum and a business owner?
I do face a dilemma when my weekends get burnt with parties and I have to be away from my kids. Nonetheless, it is a trade off that I make in order to enjoy the flexibility of being able to spend time with my family during the weekdays and having some income as well. As a result of my work schedule, I now value ‘free weekends’ when I have no party engagements even more. I treat them as a bonus and make sure I use the time wisely to bond with my kids.
My favourite time of the day is …
The morning, which is the start of a new day. I love to sit down and plan my day as I have my morning breakfast.
If I only had 12 minutes at the end of the day to bond with my kids, I would…
Tuck them in to bed and have a small chat first before trying to kiss them from head to toe. They will usually try to wriggle out, especially when I get to the stomach or neck area where I love to blow air at them to create that bubbly effect!
