IT'S GIVING PARTY VIBE SIDE HUSTLE

Summary

Podcast Title: The Carpool with Kelly and Lizz
Episode Title: IT'S GIVING PARTY VIBE SIDE HUSTLE
Release Date: July 8, 2025
Hosts: Kelly Stumpe and Lizz St. John

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Introduction

In the episode titled "IT'S GIVING PARTY VIBE SIDE HUSTLE," hosts Kelly Stumpe and Lizz St. John delve into the vibrant world of side hustles tailored for party enthusiasts. Known for their insightful reviews of cars from a millennial mom's perspective, Kelly and Lizz expand their repertoire by exploring entrepreneurial ventures that resonate with their audience's love for celebrations and gatherings.

Overcoming Recording Challenges

The episode begins with Kelly and Lizz recording from Kelly's local library, navigating unexpected interruptions and technical glitches. Kelly humorously shares her concerns about maintaining a quiet environment for the podcast:

Kelly [00:38]: "I don't believe. I thought this was, like, a soundproof meeting room... people keep walking by."

This segment sets a relatable tone for listeners who juggle multiple responsibilities while managing their passions.

Acknowledging the Texas Floods

Before transitioning to the main topic, Kelly and Lizz take a heartfelt moment to address the recent floods in Texas, expressing solidarity and empathy:

Kelly [04:38]: "Whenever we hear of any tragedy... it's really important that as mothers, we remember the importance of our job."

The sisters emphasize the delicate balance between grieving and fulfilling their roles as present and engaged mothers, offering a poignant reflection on resilience and compassion.

Introducing Side Hustle Summer: Party Vibe Edition

Shifting gears, Kelly and Lizz announce a special segment titled Side Hustle Summer: Party Vibe Edition. This edition spotlights two innovative side hustles that cater to party planning and entertainment, aligning perfectly with the summer's festive spirit.

Guest Segment 1: Balloon Vibes Girls with Maddie and Kendall

Guests: Maddie and Kendall from Balloon Vibes Girls

Journey into Balloon Decor

Maddie and Kendall share their inspiring journey of transforming a casual balloon arrangement for their children's birthdays into a flourishing business. Moving to Charlotte and bonding over shared interests, they decided to formalize their passion after receiving enthusiastic feedback from family and neighbors.

Kendall [22:21]: "It was my son's birthday. Maddie was doing balloons for her daughter's birthday. We were just helping each other."

Building a Portfolio and Growing the Business

The duo discusses the importance of starting small, leveraging personal networks, and gradually building a professional portfolio. They highlight the effectiveness of word-of-mouth referrals and social media in expanding their client base without heavy initial advertising.

Maddie [25:50]: "Almost all of our business has been word of mouth, people referring us."

Expert Tips and Pricing Strategies

Maddie and Kendall offer valuable tips for aspiring balloon decorators, emphasizing techniques like creating balloon bundles and ensuring balloons are rounded for a polished look. They also outline their pricing model, which includes charging per foot for installations and offering various packages to accommodate different event sizes and budgets.

Maddie [26:22]: "Ditch the balloon tape... Create bundles of balloons. Take two balloons, tie them together, and make a duplet."

Advice for Beginners

Reflecting on their initial challenges, the pair advises new entrepreneurs to progress at their own pace, prioritize their families, and avoid overcommitting too soon.

Maddie [32:03]: "You don't have to do everything at once... it's okay if your growth is not the same as someone else's."

Guest Segment 2: Ponytail Parties with Suzanne Stowe

Guest: Suzanne Stowe from Ponytail Parties

Creating Unique Party Experiences

Suzanne introduces her side hustle, Ponytail Parties, which offers petting zoos and pony rides for children's birthday parties and private events. She elaborates on the themed packages available, such as unicorn, cowboy, and superhero, designed to enchant young guests.

Suzanne [35:32]: "With our ponies, we'll put a little mask over their ears... it's very cute."

Starting the Business

Transitioning from her career in teaching, Suzanne explains how financial necessities prompted her to start Ponytail Parties. She discusses the initial investments, such as acquiring ponies and other animals, and highlights the importance of liability insurance in this niche market.

Suzanne [36:41]: "I started with our llama... It's pretty heavy up front when you buy everything at first."

Operational Insights and Challenges

Suzanne shares insights into managing live animals at events, stressing the significance of proper training and animal care. She recounts a memorable incident where her ponies remained calm amidst unexpected disruptions, showcasing the professionalism and reliability of her services.

Suzanne [37:42]: "One time a balloon popped near a pony, and they didn't even flinch. They handled it like champs."

Tips for Success

Drawing from her experiences, Suzanne advises future side hustlers to ensure thorough preparation, maintain animal welfare, and adapt services to meet client needs effectively.

Hosts' Personal Touch: Culinary Delights

Interspersed between guest segments, Kelly and Lizz share personal anecdotes and favorite recipes, adding a warm, relatable layer to the discussion. Kelly recounts her successful fish fry, highlighting the joys and challenges of hosting:

Kelly [07:00]: "I just patted it dry, didn't let Tyler help me with that part, and then I just fried it."

Similarly, Suzanne offers her beloved cheeseburger soup recipe, fostering a sense of community through shared experiences and culinary tips.

Suzanne [40:51]: "It's ground beef, potatoes... it's 10 out of 10. Delicious."

Closing Thoughts

As the episode wraps up, Kelly and Lizz reflect on the diverse side hustles discussed, encouraging listeners to explore their passions and consider creative ways to enhance their own events and gatherings. The hosts reiterate the importance of balancing personal growth with family responsibilities, leaving listeners inspired and motivated to embark on their entrepreneurial journeys.

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Key Takeaways

1. Embrace Serendipity: Kelly and Lizz illustrate how spontaneous collaborations and shared passions can lead to successful business ventures.
2. Start Small and Grow Organically: Both guest segments emphasize the value of leveraging personal networks and gradually expanding services based on demand and capacity.
3. Prioritize Quality and Professionalism: Whether it's mastering balloon techniques or ensuring animal welfare, attention to detail sets successful side hustles apart.
4. Balance is Crucial: Maintaining a harmonious balance between entrepreneurship and family life is essential for sustained success and personal well-being.
5. Community and Support: The importance of community support, whether through word-of-mouth referrals or shared experiences, plays a pivotal role in the growth of side hustles.

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Notable Quotes:

• Kelly [04:38]: "As mothers, through grieving and staying present, we navigate our roles with grace."
• Maddie [26:22]: "Create bundles of balloons instead of using balloon tape for a fuller look."
• Suzanne [37:42]: "Our ponies handled the unexpected burst balloon like champs."

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For more insights and detailed discussions on side hustles and motherhood, subscribe to The Carpool with Kelly and Lizz on your favorite podcast platform.

Transcript

[Kelly]

Welcome to the Carpool Podcast with Kelly. And baking is like, oh, your butter was melted, not room temperature. It's different. Like, respectfully, get out of my life.

[Liz]

And, Liz, I don't like the recipes we chose.

[Kelly]

Wow.

[Liz]

Like, poppies. Eat poppy seed chicken and gun. Or put a gun to my head. I mean, like, oh, my gosh. I couldn't. I couldn't finish it.

[Suzanne]

Your mom time off starts now.

[Kelly]

Welcome back to the Carpool Podcast with Kelly and Liz. I'm gonna be honest. I'm coming at you from my local library.

[Liz]

Yeah.

[Kelly]

I don't believe. I thought this was, like, a soundproof meeting room. And it literally says, like, study rooms are not soundproof. And I have this microphone, and, like, people keep walking by, and I. You know how librarians are. Like, I'm so worried that I'm gonna get in trouble.

[Maddie]

Yeah.

[Liz]

I kind of thought it was bold of you to go to a library to record a podcast.

[Kelly]

Where else do you want me to go? We have no WI fi.

[Liz]

Yeah, I don't know. I guess. I don't know.

[Kelly]

And we don't even have, like, sir. So there's a lot of. They're, like, working, so. Remember when those tornadoes went through?

[Liz]

Yeah.

[Kelly]

So they, like, destroyed. Like, the. The tornadoes were, like, 600 yards from my house, like, the way the crow flies, and they destroyed areas, and so now, like, they're rebuilding all of them. And we keep losing WI fi. Oh. Like, the whole town. Like, my whole town keeps losing WI Fi. And it's not for, like, an hour. It's for, like, 24 to 48 hours at a time.

[Liz]

And there's no, like, LTE. Like, you can't even, like, use a hot spot. Like, you're in the middle of nowhere.

[Kelly]

Like, I told Tyler, I need to do this regardless, but, like, I need to go get a DVD player and, like, four DVDs.

[Liz]

Yeah.

[Kelly]

Because we had, like, we. I cannot. My kids can't watch anything, and that's just hard to do. I need a minute every once in a while. Or, like, at night, like, you know what I mean?

[Liz]

You know, I have been wanting to buy a portable DVD player as well, and I've seen this resurgence. I've also seen people, like, buying VHS players and VHS tapes and just kind of, like, taking it down to the basics. I think that I've been thinking about this lately when James wants to watch a show, and. And he's like, oh, I want to watch this show, and. But actually, I want to watch this show. I realized that that instant gratification that he receives from, like, any show he wants to watch, he can watch at any time. Like, whatever the screens are already. What. Whatever they are. But I'm like, he kind of needs to learn. Like, you don't always get to watch what you want to watch in that moment. It's like when we were growing up, it's like, oh, you wanted to watch Rugrats. Well, tough. It's not on right now. You got to watch something else. And I think that there is something kind of nice about the. The DVDs and the VHS where it's like, here's your options. You don't get it. You don't get to watch anything under the sun. Like, that's a very crazy thing that we have access to.

[Kelly]

Totally. So I don't really want to know if I want to do portable. I just want, like, something I can plug into my basement downstairs.

[Liz]

No, sure. You could do that too.

[Kelly]

Yeah. So that's what I'm on the hunt for. It feels like a Goodwill Facebook marketplace find. Yeah.

[Liz]

And I know I bought some DVDs from that just between Friends sale that we go to that, like, res sale that happens in Saint. It's. I think it's all over, but, like, Goodwill, you know, you can secondhand those for sure.

[Kelly]

Yeah. So anyway, local library, but we have a good show for you. It's side Hustle Summer. So we are bringing you two side Hustles very, like, party vibes. Like, if you're a girl who likes a birthday party, these side Hustles will be for you.

[Liz]

They're very interesting.

[Kelly]

Oh, what?

[Liz]

No, we just said very interesting at the exact same time.

[Kelly]

Well, it's because they were. Before we go any further, we just do want to briefly mention the floods going on or that went on in Texas. And I just want everyone to know who's from the area, who knows someone from the area, that we are holding you so deep in our hearts and wrapping you in prayer and love. It is absolutely. It's absolute tragedy. It's absolutely devastating. And we thought about, like, you know, how we. What we want to say and how we want to navigate it. And ultimately we just wanted to acknowledge it and to let you know that we're thinking of you.

[Liz]

I've seen that quote so much come up. Like, when one mother cries, we all. Or when one. One mother mourns, we all cry. We all mourn, whatever. And feels.

[Kelly]

The perfect quote.

[Liz]

It's the perfect quote. It's so true. You just.

[Kelly]

It's unimaginable and I've said this before on the podcast, but I just want to say it again, like, whenever we hear of any tragedy, big, small, whatever. It's really important that as mothers, though, we remember the importance of our job. And I like the term not to leave your post and however you need to grieve and process this to while simultaneously staying a present and good an engaged mother to your children is what you need to do. And that's gonna look different for different people. So, like, yesterday I was feeling super heavy and I was like, we're baking cookies and just like, having that, like, that's just what I needed to do. That that's what my job required of me. And I just think as mothers, we need to give everybody a little grace who might be sharing a lot, because that's helping, might not be sharing because that's helping and just kind of understanding that things, people who grieve things privately and publicly and. And at the end of the day, you don't leave your post and your post is your children. So just remember that.

[Liz]

Yeah. So.

[Kelly]

And if you feel like you don't know what to do and you know, this. This is one of the situations where I think we all feel a little helpless because, of course, like, you know, we can donate and, you know, we can share, but, like, you know how much you. I mean, at some point, it's like, it's all you see. So, like, what I just think it's important to remember, like, something that you can, like, tangibly do is make sure that you are there for your children in any capacity and what that looks like.

[Liz]

Yeah.

[Kelly]

You know.

[Liz]

Yeah. So we just wanted to, like, address that. We didn't just want to, like, go on and have this talk. Go and start talking without addressing it first. Like, it's something that we're. Is on our mind and on our hearts, as is for everyone. But we also want to share our podcast and maybe bring some light. So that's what we. That's what we're gonna do today. So.

[Kelly]

So, yeah, so we have side hustle summer coming up. Before that, though, I had another successful fish fry.

[Liz]

Oh, good.

[Kelly]

Yep. We had family over. I had my fryer, got it out. Fried fish, beer. Didn't do the beer batter. Did a different ver. Just did a standard fish fryer.

[Liz]

Which one do you prefer?

[Kelly]

It's the brand, LA's. No, I can't express to you how you just buy, like, frozen cod. I brought frozen cod from Aldi's, patted it dry, didn't let Tyler help me with that part. And then I just fried it.

[Liz]

I've got to see this fryer. I think you need to make a video of this. Like, you're just keep showing that you have fried and you're not taking this long.

[Kelly]

No, I think I will. I think I will. I'm just. I can't express to you how, like, it's such. It's such an event to invite people to, like. So we had tell our sister over, and I was like, why don't you guys come over? We're frying fish. And she's like, great, I'll bring a veggie tray. And I'm like, great, bring a veggie tray. And here was the meal. Like, here was like. Like, this meal. I. I need to start making hosting notes because, you know, we've got, like, some people who are coming over over the next couple of weeks, and some people are, like, people I've never had over before. Like, I just have things on my calendar. Like, but you're gonna have to get on my calendar if you want me to come over and host you, Elizabeth.

[Liz]

Oh, gosh. Okay.

[Kelly]

But, like, this was such a good meal. So here's what it's like, and I think it's. I love when you can tell the person coming, like, an easy thing to bring, but, like, I like to do the most of it. But I get that they want to bring something. Yeah. So I was like, bring a veggie tray, because, like, that's great. I just got a big foil pan. We did our fish fry. So I did chips. I fried chips. Which. Chips are kind of a big pain in the butt, I'll be honest. Those take the longest. I fried fish, and I just got, like, shrimp from Aldi's. Like, coconut shrimp for Aldi's. It's fully cooked. I literally just fried it for five seconds and pulled them out.

[Liz]

Oh, my gosh.

[Kelly]

So we. And then I just put it in, like, one of those big tin things. I just put all the food in there. I brought it down. We ate out by the pool. I brought it down. She had her veggie tray. I brought paper plates, and everyone just picked out of the thing. And then for dessert, I had ice cream cones. Like, I had ice cream and waffle cones. Like, what Elevation station. So we had.

[Kendall]

It was such.

[Kelly]

In my kitchen, really Come.

[Liz]

You're really coming into your kitchen?

[Kelly]

I am. Well, because, you know, I'm not a baker. Like, I. I just, like, embarrass the crap out of myself by trying to post me making Chocolate chip cookies with Hattie. Like, I am sorry. I hate baking. I just do. I don't like to bake and I'm about to move on from it because there's, you know, I don't like to live in a world where I haven't mastered things because I just. And I'm a good cook. Like, I really would consider myself a decent cook. And I'm such a bad baker. And someone post sent me something on Instagram which I thought was so profound. They said cooking is an art and baking is a science.

[Liz]

Wow, that is so profound.

[Kelly]

1000% cooking is such an art. Like, you just like, go for it.

[Liz]

Yeah.

[Kelly]

Like, you don't measure butter. Like, and baking is like, oh, your butter was melted, not room temperature. It's different. Like, respectfully, get out of my life.

[Liz]

Yeah.

[Kelly]

Like, oh, your egg wasn't room temperature. It's like, okay, literally, I can't, I can't with you.

[Liz]

But some people prefer that. Like, some people love the black and white nature of it and how all of it works together. And you love just being like dancing around your kitchen throwing flour and like, flour. Like, I like ice fry.

[Kelly]

I like cracking open a blue moon light and frying fish that I can't mess up.

[Liz]

Yeah, no, totally.

[Kelly]

So anyway, that was like such a solid meal. Fish fry. But I also, like, loved having like, the shrimp. And I can't tell you, the shrimp took five seconds. It's fully cooked. You just throw it in there.

[Liz]

Iconic. I want to come over. I know you're really, you're really talking it up. Can we talk about the fact that your husband built a deck? What?

[Kelly]

My husband built a deck.

[Liz]

Do you know how much money I spent on a deck at my last house?

[Kelly]

I am really in my obsessed with my husband era, which, you know, don't get me wrong, we ebb and flow just like the rest of us. But like, he is just. It's. I love him and I hate him because the way that he. Our last house was the most half assed, like, unfinished home that you could imagine. Like, he just wouldn't finish. He just had nothing sparked because we knew we weren't going to live there, we weren't going to stay there. And he just really. Tyler is very like, numbers driven. And he was like, we can't spend money on the bathroom because we won't get it back. Because, like, this house, like, what, like, this house is going to be what it's going to be. And I'm just like, okay, yeah, But.

[Liz]

I live here so Whatever.

[Kelly]

And he. I feel like he doesn't give me enough credit for, like, how chill I am about.

[Liz]

No, you're so chill.

[Kelly]

That's what I'm trying. Like, he has no idea, like, what other. Like, I. Whatever. I'm very chill. But he just has, like, a lot of pride in our new house. Like, I don't know if it'll be our forever home because, like, I just really, like, love the term forever home. Like, I don't know, like, I'm 31. Like, I don't know where we're gonna live, like, forever. That seems kind of crazy. But we're gonna be here for a while anyway. He built a deck.

[Liz]

It's crazy.

[Kelly]

Buy him.

[Liz]

And it wasn't like a. Like a short deck. It's like on the second story of your home deck.

[Kelly]

Like, he just threw it up there. He just threw it up there one day. And yeah, he's very talented. I'm very, very, very impressed with him. Um, he also, like yesterday, he put. He replaced three exterior lights. He replaced a doorknob. He hung a tv like, the man can't be stopped. And I'm telling you, it's the list. Yeah, it's the list trick that my mother in law taught me. I feel like not all husbands will respond to this, but, like, if you. It's just. It's a no pressure list. And it's like I said, you write something that they already did so that they can feel impressed with themselves and go from easy. You put. You put some easy peasy ones on there, and then you shoot your shot, you know? Yeah, that's exactly what I did. Yeah. The list. That. That is tangible, tangible advice.

[Liz]

That is tangible advice. I think it. I think it would work for most people.

[Kelly]

Hurt.

[Liz]

No, I mean, it can't hurt.

[Kelly]

Yeah. So he has to finish the railing and then the deck's done. And he's gonna put my Blackstone out there, which I think will be very fun. Can you just me, like, black stoning? Yeah.

[Liz]

You know what you should do is we should all sit at the bottom of the deck and you should do a hibachi show and you can, like, toss your fried shrimp to us.

[Kelly]

That's such a good idea.

[Liz]

You know, I would be a little.

[Kelly]

Worried about, like, grease falling on you. Like, hot grease. That's my only thing. So I might put the grill out there. I might put the Blackstone out there, you know, and then, you know me, I'm thinking, I still want to buy a smoker. And I just saw a reel About a pizza oven. Like, I can't be stopped.

[Liz]

You're going to have every gadget. But I love it. I'm so happy that I don't have to have it all.

[Kelly]

No. And a lot of people said like this. People always say, like, is it worth it? Like, I got overwhelming support for the smoker. If you are a person who, like, eats a lot of meat, has a lot of meat, the smoker is a real game changer.

[Liz]

Okay, well, that's good to know.

[Kelly]

The thing that resonated the smoker, it's just like the chips, like, I don't know about. It's giving baking. It's like I need like hickory versus cherry. It's like a thing I have to buy. I'm not sure.

[Liz]

I think you have to think about. Yeah, I get that. But. But it kind of like a crock pot. Like, you put it on and you leave it.

[Kelly]

It's a sad and forget. Oh, my gosh. I know. So anyway, I'm going to continue into my hosting era and then I'm going to do a whole podcast dedicated on. I want to do something like, I want to find someone to who I could interview about, like, how to tangibly host and make meals, like, formal for a crowd, but like, in a paper plate kind of way. Like, I've tried to, like, I listened to this one episode. It was about hosting. I just like, randomly went into the podcast app and typed in like, hosting tips and it was a little too much. It's like, pick a theme for your tablescape. It's like, no.

[Liz]

Oh, you said the word tablescape.

[Kelly]

I'm not doing a tablescape.

[Liz]

You know what? I think I'm trying to think about which creator it was. I think it was Tello and Rose. She had posted that she always likes to be be ready to host within 30 minutes, which is like, that's my vibe. Okay. I don't know if I could do that because, like, toys and stuff everywhere. But she says she always has on hand chips and salsa and a dessert in the freezer. Even if it's like ice cream or like something that just needs to be thought out and then like, that's it. Like, oh, her friends last minute came over. Let me put out some chips and salsa for us.

[Kelly]

Oh, and two pantry stable items. Yeah, that is an excellent tip to always have chips and salsa on hand. Okay, I'm, I. You know what I think I said this last summer? I need a killer chips and salsa bowl.

[Liz]

You do.

[Kelly]

I don't have one.

[Liz]

You need to Start. You need to start looking for that.

[Kelly]

Where would. I don't want, like, an Amazon Gap. I want, like. I want, like, one that my kids will, like, fight over and recognize. Yeah. I type in sassy. Chips and salsable.

[Liz]

I think you need a cowboy hat.

[Kelly]

I think I need a cowboy hat.

[Liz]

Chips and salsable. But I think Pottery Barn has a pretty one. But no, it has to be like. It can't just be white. Like, it has to be something so fun.

[Kelly]

I think I need a cowboy hat one.

[Liz]

I mean, the cowboy hat's so fun. I'm telling you.

[Kelly]

I'm gonna go. Okay. I'm gonna. I'm gonna work on that anyway.

[Liz]

Okay.

[Kelly]

Speaking of hosting, do you want to do thoggest again this year? I mean, to bring this up with you.

[Liz]

Yeah, we can do Thougus.

[Kelly]

I mean, I technically.

[Liz]

Didn't we just say that we shouldn't have done it in thus and we should have done it later? What did we say? Several months ago, we said Thougus was a bad idea because did we want to have it for holidays?

[Kelly]

I mean, it'll last till the holidays, though.

[Liz]

But why did we say Thaugus was dumb? I know we said that. We said we were so stupid for doing Thorgus and we should have done it at this time. Obviously now we can't remember what it was.

[Kelly]

Was it that we were just like, home with babies and, like, we, like, definitely could have done that maybe? Or was it that. No, here's what it was. It was that we were. We'd rather have meals while we were pregnant than when we were postpartum. Like, I would have rather pulled out something to eat for dinner at nine months. It doesn't matter. I think. I think it was baby related, which we are not having this August. Yeah, but I mean, whatever we said, I ended up using all of them so, like, they didn't go to waste.

[Liz]

Yeah, I mean, we can do. We can do thoggest. I need. I don't like the recipes we chose. Wow.

[Kelly]

Wow.

[Liz]

Like poppies eat poppy seed chicken again. Or put a gun to my head. I mean, like, oh, my gosh. I couldn't. I couldn't finish it.

[Kelly]

I agree. The poppy seed chicken.

[Liz]

It was a bad call. It was, like, good the first time. And then I just like. And honestly, I haven't had it in a long time. I haven't had it since. And honestly, it sounds pretty good.

[Kelly]

Regardless though, we don't need three of them in our freezer.

[Liz]

It was too many. Here's what I want to do. I want to do Napan Chick kitchen's Chicken enchiladas.

[Kelly]

Chicken enchiladas. The ziti. Don't hate on this. Don't hate on the ziti like that.

[Liz]

No. Here's what I don't like about the ziti.

[Kelly]

Your husband doesn't like tomatoes. That's not my problem.

[Liz]

No, no, no, no, no, no. That's not what I was gonna say. What I don't like about the ziti is, for me, spaghetti checks the box, which is, like, the easiest meal to make ever. So why would I go through the process of making a ziti and pulling it out and doing this thing when I could have just made, like, fresh.

[Kelly]

You're so wrong. Ziti does not check. That is.

[Liz]

It does. It does for me. It's the same flavor profile.

[Kelly]

The chicken pot pie was excellent.

[Liz]

Chicken pot pie was good.

[Kelly]

So we'll do enchiladas, we'll do shichi pie pies, and then we need two more. Yeah, I'm just asking. I mean, we don't have to make it a whole hubba blue again like we did last year, but, like, as someone who would like to host.

[Liz]

No, yeah, yeah. You should have them. You should have something at a moment's notice. Yeah.

[Kelly]

Until I get my smoker or my pizza oven, I can't keep frying food.

[Liz]

Yeah. Okay. Now a pizza oven's interesting to me. I do feel like it's one note.

[Kelly]

I do feel like it's one note. I also feel like we just put the pieces on the grill. Like, is that enough?

[Liz]

I do think it's probably worth you getting one to, like, find out, though.

[Kelly]

But I'm also just like, do I put build me a brick pizza oven on my husband's to do list to see what happens? What if he's like, oh, I could do that?

[Liz]

At this point? I. At this point, sure. I didn't think he'd be able to build a deck by himself or freaking 10 foot retaining wall.

[Kelly]

I know. And he loves being able. Like, people are like, why doesn't he ask for help? And I'm like, because he likes that he did it himself. But for the deck, I actually had to hold a board while he nailed it. And I'm like, well, now you can't say you did it by yourself.

[Liz]

Oh, you're so annoying. Oh, my gosh. Okay, well, I think that was enough chit and chatting because we have a very fun side Hustle summer to get into. So without further ado, let's get into side Hustle Summer. Today's episode is brought to you by Clean Simple Eats. We love Clean Simple Eats. I have something from Clean Simple Eats every day. So does Maddie. We're obsessed. The protein powder is so good. It's like noticeably better than other protein powders that I've had. It's very creamy and smooth. It's not chalky like other, other brands I've had. So I, I really love it. In addition to that, there are no seed oils or artificial ingredients. Third party tested non GMO gluten free and each serving has 20 grams of grass fed whey protein. We know how important it is to try and get all of our protein in our diet and this is such an easy way to get an extra 20 grams. So you can visit cleansimpleats.com and use code carpool10 at checkout for 10 off your order. That's clean simple eats.com code carpool10 for 10% off your order. The link is also in the show notes.

[Kelly]

All right. It is a very special edition of side Hustle Summer. It's kind of like the party girls edition. We have Balloon Vibes and we have Ponytail parties two, I guess you could say, like party vendors who are going to share how they have turned their passion, I guess, into their side Hustle. So we are going to start with Maddie and Kendall of Balloon Vibes Girls. Welcome to the Carpool podcast.

[Maddie]

Hi, thanks for having us.

[Liz]

Thanks so much for joining us. We want to talk to you all about your side hustle, how you got started, how it's going. So we're just going to kind of rapid fire some questions for you. We want to hear everything that you're doing and then maybe this will spark an idea for someone listening. Like, hey, maybe I could do this as well. Because it really is something that most people could start. You would agree. You would agree?

[Maddie]

Absolutely, 100%.

[Liz]

So what sparked the idea for your business and what was your first event that got rolling? And will you also just sort of explain an overview of what it is that you're doing?

[Kelly]

Yeah.

[Kendall]

So basically what started all we moved in across the street from each other to Charlotte, and just instantly we clicked. And around the same time, it was my son's birthday. And then I think a month later, it was Maddie's daughter's birthday. And so I was doing balloons for my son's birthday. Maddie was doing balloons for her daughter's birthday. And we were just kind of helping each other. And then we were just chatting about it more and I was like, you.

[Suzanne]

Know what we could do?

[Kendall]

This, like, this is so much fun. People would pay us to do this. And then it just kind of stemmed from there. Like, we stewed on it for probably a couple months. It took a lot of time.

[Maddie]

Yeah.

[Kendall]

And then I think.

[Maddie]

So our neighbor, our other neighbor, we live across the street from each other, so that's like part of our backstory that's really special and unique and fun is that we hit it off and then also realized that we were passionate about the same thing. So our other neighbor, we were talking with her one day and she was planning her daughter's birthday and we're like, ooh. Like, we would do balloons for you, like, for her birthday. Do you want us to? And she's like, yeah. And that is literally what kicked it off. Like, we did balloons for her. The venue that they had it at. We're like, if you want to leave business cards behind, you can. So we're like, oh, my gosh, we need a logo. We need like a business plan. We need to know how much we're going to charge. And it just like, we sat at my kitchen table one night and like mapped everything out. Like, everything we're going to do. Literally, like, our husbands are sitting in the living room, chit chatting, our kids are playing out back and we're making our business plan.

[Kelly]

That's like all in a week.

[Liz]

That's dream, right?

[Kelly]

Yeah. That's so fun. And I think how I love when things just kind of happen accidentally. And to your point, like, you think you're just going to help out a neighbor and then you leave with a business, you're like, oh, yeah, exactly.

[Liz]

Better.

[Kelly]

Better get started. And I do think when you have a. I guess I would call this like a service base, but also like, you know, to book things, you need to have kind of a portfolio when you have like any sort of these like, creative type businesses. So I would love to hear about just like how you guys started to build your portfolio. Did you guys just take. Did you have pictures of balloons that you've done for yourself in the past? Did you just offer to do some for free to just to like, get the exposure or how did you start to build the portfolio to show to clients?

[Kendall]

Yeah, so we created our Instagram page, but then we. I don't even think we used photos from like our kids parties because we had since done research and perfected our technique and we're like, we can't use those. So for our neighbor, we use photos from that party to like initially post on our Instagram page. We did do some free jobs for some of our other friends.

[Maddie]

One of the first things we did is so that that first event for us was in January. So for Valentine's Day, we decided to make a couple garlands and like, sell them to friends and for like a discount and use those as photos. So that kind of started it. And honestly, like, I don't. We posted in like, our neighborhood group, her mom's neighborhood group, and started getting business from that, like, fairly quickly. And so then we had examples to share, which was pretty lucky. But like, I think if you can kind of focus on like, your friends, your family, people within your network and start building up business that way, we're pretty fortunate. Like, we've done pretty much no advertising. Almost all of our business has been word of mouth, people referring us. And then I think as we've grown now we've got like a really nice professional website. But like, we didn't do that right off the bat. So like we. People find us on Google. But a lot of it comes from social media, word of mouth.

[Kelly]

Your.

[Liz]

Your Instagram is. It's. Oh, I just had it up. It is balloon vibeclt. Your stuff is amazing.

[Maddie]

Thank you.

[Liz]

It's so amazing how. What are. What are some, like, tips and tricks that you've learned along the way to like, really create a memorable and like, beautiful arch? Because I feel like there, yes, a lot of people could start this, but there has to be, like a technique to it. Like, has there been some trial and error? How have you guys gotten so good at this?

[Maddie]

Definitely trial and error. Honestly, like, practice is the big thing, but I think we kind of have like a couple things that like every balloon professional will tell you that they do. That steps it up from being like a novice, like DIYer and even like ourselves, like when we did balloons for our kids parties at the beginning, we look back and we're like, oh, God.

[Liz]

We'Ve come so far.

[Maddie]

Yeah, right? That's cute. But like, okay, so here's our main tips. Like, ditch the balloon tape, like those like strands that you like, have to like, try and put like stick the balloons through. Like, they're terrible. Don't do that. So we create bundles of balloons. So you take two balloons, you tie them together and you make a duplet. And then you take multiple duplets and twist them together into a bundle. Like, that is our number one tip. It makes it look really full and nice. And then our other tip is to round out your balloons. So if you just inflate a balloon, it's going to make a pear shape. All of the professionals round our balloons, and it's literally so easy. It's just like after you blow up your balloon, you push down on two sides of it and let out a little bit of air, and it gets it to, like, a nice, pretty round beach ball shape instead of a pear.

[Kendall]

And then you're tying those clusters together. So, like a cluster is six to eight balloons, and then you're taking a neck from each cluster and tying those together and just building the garland from there.

[Maddie]

Yeah. Or some people will use, like, fishing wire or, like, stretchy balloons. They're called 260s, the kind that you use to make, like, balloon animals. So there's a different techniques for attaching them. But don't use balloon tape.

[Liz]

Don't use balloon tape. I have. I want to know because I'm looking at your Instagram. I love this 4th of July 1 that you guys just did. How long did this one specifically take?

[Kelly]

Yeah, no, that one is so cute.

[Liz]

It's so cute.

[Kelly]

There are Instagram again, is balloon vibes, clt if you want to go look.

[Maddie]

So that one was, let's see, 6 12, 24ft of balloons, and it probably took me an hour and a half to inflate everything and then like, another, like, 30 minutes to install it. But again, like, that is not like, that is three years worth of time to perfect it, to, like, really get it to that speed. I would say at the beginning, something like that would have taken us like, three to four hours, but you get better with time.

[Kelly]

Well, what I like about this for a side hustle is you really. You really can do kind of like a crawl, walk, run, approach. With this. You can start by doing yourself and be offered to a couple of friends. It's very much the thing where, like, you can practice it in your house for your holidays, even just as a way to, like, make it special for your own kids. Because it's not like, you know, to me, if I'm like, if I'm seeing if I have a talent for this, seeing if it's something I like, I love the idea of. It's like, okay, I'm just gonna take this year and I'm gonna just practice, and every holiday I'm gonna make something for my house or for my kids. And if I'm good at it and if I like it, then maybe next year I'll try to, you know, turn it into a side hustle. So I think it's just a very fun, creative, creative way to kind of you know, dip your toe into something, you know.

[Kendall]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

And honestly that's exactly what we did like that first year like before we really started the business. Like we started out with her son's birthday, my daughter's birthday. Then we did something for Thanksgiving and then we did. That was like our first like using a professional technique. And then we did like Christmas balloons for my kids preschool like that we donated and stuff like that. That just really.

[Kelly]

Yes. Yeah.

[Suzanne]

Yeah.

[Kelly]

That is so fun.

[Liz]

What are you guys charging of? Say I'm having my son's second birthday. I want a balloon arch. What are, what are you charging me? How are you charging? Talk to me a little about that.

[Kendall]

Yeah, so we do have different packages, but if we just use our standard package, for example, we charge by feet, so it's $15 per feet. And then that's a minimum. Our minimum is 12ft for a custom installation. And then depending if you want need one of our backdrops to rent. Depending on that but.

[Maddie]

Or like adding foil. Yeah, foils.

[Kendall]

Or if you do use a backdrop and we add a decal, we can do a custom vinyl decal. What is the math on that? I'd say it could range from anywhere from 3:50 up to 500. Is kind of typically the range that we fall in for like a custom installation. And that's us delivering it, setting it up, all of that, the whole. Yeah, poodle, yeah.

[Maddie]

And then we also offer grab and go's which are like smaller. So they're going to be like anywhere between like 5ft and 8ft. And you come and pick that up from us and hang it up yourselves. And those are more budget friendly. So that's like between fifty and a hundred dollars. But also if you go to our website, we try and be really transparent with our pricing. So we have everything laid out there, like how much we charge like per foot for our grab and goes for backdrop, stuff like that. So. Love it.

[Kelly]

Yeah, it really does. It makes such an impact like just to have a balloon decor. And I even love, I mean I'm even thinking about, you know, for me, if I like, I love the idea of doing it for maybe not just like a birthday party or my kids, but like for the school. Like I would love to hire someone to like and donate it to my kids school for like the first day of school. We're gonna have this big fun balloon arch. I think that's just so many different directions that you could go. Okay, before we let you girls go, just tell us like, you know, we like meat and Potatoes on this podcast. What's what is one thing you wish you would have known before you started. Like, save someone else. Who wants to start this? The headache.

[Maddie]

Oh, gosh.

[Liz]

Balloon tape. Don't use the balloon tape.

[Maddie]

Okay. I think this is a good one. I. You kind of mentioned this earlier, Kelly, but, like, you don't have to do everything at once. Like, totally.

[Kelly]

We.

[Maddie]

We are moms, and our priority will always be our kids. Which, if you're doing a side hustle, like, you feel the same way. And I think it's so easy to compare yourselves to other on Instagram, like any entrepreneur, like, not even just your direct competition, and feel like you're not doing enough. And so, like, one thing we all, like, constantly have to remind ourselves is, like, it's okay if our growth is not the same as someone else's growth. And, like, we're constantly adding new products. Like, every couple months, we'll be like, I think we should do this. I think we should do that. But, like, if we had tried to do it all at the beginning, I think we would have failed.

[Liz]

Totally.

[Kelly]

I love it. I think that's great advice.

[Liz]

After a long day of blowing up balloons, what are you guys making? Your family for dinner?

[Kendall]

So this one's a staple in my house. I think we have it at least once a week, but it is Mississippi pot roast.

[Kelly]

We love a pot roast.

[Kendall]

Yeah, I love my crock pot.

[Kelly]

It's.

[Kendall]

I use it all the time, but super easy. You just get like, a chuck roast, or even if you do, like, the stew meat that's already diced up, get a couple pounds of that, throw it in your crock pot. You do a packet of a juice seasoning, packet of the ranch seasoning, a stick of butter, a couple pepperoncini peppers, depending on the spice level, pour a little juice in there and put it on low for six hours or high for four hours. And you can also do with chicken. That's a new one I've done recently with chicken, and it's really good as well.

[Liz]

You use the same au jus, the same.

[Kendall]

Same exact ingredients, but just put chicken breast instead of the chuck roast.

[Suzanne]

Or steamy.

[Kelly]

It's such. Speaking of mean potatoes, I mean, it's a such. Such a crowd pleaser. Yeah, it is one of those recipes. Like, it's so easy, but, like, the way that my husband walks in and he's like, what are you making? And I'm like, I got a roast. I love being like, I got a roast.

[Suzanne]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

The number of times I've Walked into Kendall's house and been like, oh, my God, that smells so good. And she's like, it's the Mississippi pot roast. I'm like, I knew it.

[Kelly]

Yeah, yeah. No, it's such. Oh, that sounds so good.

[Kendall]

But even with the chicken, when I make it with the chicken and I have leftover chicken, I'll use that and make chicken enchiladas with it the next day.

[Kelly]

I love that. Look at that. We got a twofer from Maddie and Kendall. Okay, girls, well, thank you so much for joining the carpool podcast. One more time, guys. Their Instagram is Balloon Vibes, ctl, clt, CLT or clt. So Balloon Vibes, clt. Girls, thank you so much for joining.

[Kendall]

Thank you.

[Kelly]

Okay, and up next, we have Suzanne Stowe from Ponytail Parties. And Suzanne, tell us a little bit about what the heck Ponytail Parties is.

[Suzanne]

Yes. So we do kids birthday parties and private events with our petting zoo and our pony rides. It's pretty fun. We started with just doing them at our barn, and then we kind of expanded and started going to people's backyards and to country clubs and parks, etc.

[Kelly]

So I'm looking at the website, and one of something that caught my eye is you have a we come to you pony party package. You have different themes. So, like, if you have a kid who likes ponies, you could do a unicorn, a cowboy, a superhero, Minnie mouse, frozen spirit, boho, or floral. Tell us a little about what those themes mean.

[Suzanne]

Yeah, so with our ponies, we'll put, like. So say we're doing superhero. I'll put a little, like, mask over their ears. So it's not over their eyes or anything, but it's like kind of like a little headband over their ears. And then I'll put a cape, like, behind their saddle. And usually I'll bring, like, capes for the kids to ride or to wear while they're riding, or the unicorn. I'll obviously put a unicorn horn on the pony. And it's just a headband. It doesn't, you know, hurt them or anything. And then I'll put, like, flowers around their necks, etc. It's very cute.

[Liz]

What's your most popular package?

[Suzanne]

Definitely unicorn.

[Kelly]

I would totally book a unicorn.

[Liz]

Yeah.

[Suzanne]

Yes. In our unicorn, we have. I have a few, but they literally have, like, blue eyes, white. Like, they look real.

[Liz]

Oh, my gosh. That's so funny.

[Kelly]

So you obviously, obviously, this is a side hustle that not everyone can do, because not everyone has the. The means to keep a horse, but for the country, Girls listening out there who maybe have a couple acres, have a couple animals. Can you tell us how you kind of decided to get started in this?

[Suzanne]

Yes. So I'm a teacher and I really needed. I was like, I had just had our first baby and I was like, how are we gonna do this? Like, everything is so expensive. So I started. We got the ponies, and then we just kind of added on with that. Definitely. It's a lot.

[Kelly]

It's.

[Suzanne]

It's pretty heavy up front when you buy everything at first, but then, you know, once you have it and add on and start making money, it's pretty awesome. The only thing that is a little hard is that you do have to have liability insurance if you're doing everything, you know, like you should be doing.

[Kelly]

And what's hard about that? Just like the extra cost and the.

[Suzanne]

Tracking down the insurance agent. Yes, just the extra cost in finding somebody that will take horses. Because a lot of people, they don't want to have liability insurance on. On horses and. Yeah.

[Liz]

What are some of your biggest challenges of running a business that involves live animals?

[Suzanne]

Oh, just making sure that all of my animals are fully trained and ready to go, just in case something happens. Like, for example, one time we were at a park and it was very hot that day, and we were doing a kids birthday and there was a balloon artist there, which is great. We have balloon artists all the time. Well, this kiddo was standing in line and a gust of wind happened and a balloon went right underneath one of my ponies while a kiddo was on, and it popped. And most ponies would absolutely freak out over that. And ours just handled it like champs. They didn't even flinch. And I was like, oh, my gosh, you guys are worth your weight in gold.

[Kelly]

Totally. Just like that. Desensitizing is.

[Suzanne]

Yes.

[Kelly]

I don't know if you know, I used to be. I used to be a horse girl. So we used to do some big desensitized training. Yes. And then what about outside of the ponies, you also do have like a petting zoo service.

[Suzanne]

Yes. So we started with just the ponies and everyone was always like, do you guys have a petting zoo? Do you have a petting zoo? And so I started with our llama. It was so funny. I called my husband and I was like, I'm gonna go get a llama. And he was like, no, you're not. And I was like, no, I actually like, I'm headed there right now. I'm getting a llama. So I started with him and Then we added on our chickens and bunnies and goats. And so now we have just a whole variety of little things. And yeah, it's super fun and it's, it's different. I like to say that ours is like a step up petting zoo. We're not your typical, you know, set up at the pumpkin patch all day type of situation.

[Kendall]

It's.

[Suzanne]

We like to just do private parties, we like to keep the animals happy, and then we go home.

[Liz]

What does like walk me through an event, a private event, like from setup to tear down. What does it look like? How long are you there? Just walk me through the whole thing.

[Suzanne]

So our most popular package that we do is the we come to you petting zoo and pony ride package. And that includes our pony to ride and our petting zoo. So if we're doing that, we show up about 30 minutes early and we set up, I have these cute little white panels and my trailer, we set those up. I, I put up a cute little decoration here and there. Depending if there's like, you know, like fourth of July, I put up little flags and stuff like that. So we take all the animals out, put them in their little pen, and then next to the pen we'll do a pony ride. So it's hand led. So I have someone who is leading the pony. Usually since I'm a teacher, I, I have several students who've helped me, you know, over the years. So they'll lead the pony and then I'll typically petting zoo. So we, like I said, set up 30 minutes early. We're there for an hour and then we take down. And while we're taking down, they're doing cake and presents.

[Kelly]

So fun. Yeah, that's so fun.

[Suzanne]

It's really perfect.

[Kelly]

And Suzanne, after a very long day of pony rides and petting zoos, what are you making your family when you come home?

[Suzanne]

Oh, I'm making cheeseburger soup. It's really good.

[Kelly]

We love a ground beef recipe, first of all.

[Suzanne]

Yes. So it's potatoes. It's potatoes, ground beef. Then you make a little roux. And it's not like a difficult roux. It's pretty easy. It's just flour, butter, and then you stick it all in there with some carrots, celery, which I know you're like, oh, that doesn't sound very good. No, it's really good. And then you put in some velveeta cheese, some sour cream and some cream cheese. And it is like 10 out of 10. Delicious. Like my husband does not even like Soup. And he. My whole family devours this, including my 8 year old and 20 month old, so it's pretty good.

[Liz]

This sounds like a soup I'd be interested in. I'm not a soup girl.

[Kelly]

No, I, like I said it before, I love one of recipes is ground beef. I love that it's ground beef that's not chili. Just like a slightly different flavor profile.

[Liz]

That's so true.

[Kelly]

I've never tried. And I like hamburgers, so I can't imagine why I wouldn't like a hamburger soup. So I will be definitely trying that this fall.

[Suzanne]

It sounds really good. Yes. And it started for my husband's grandma. She was all about a good cheeseburger soup, and we've just kind of continued the tradition.

[Kelly]

I love it.

[Liz]

Cheeseburger soup, it's so Midwest.

[Suzanne]

Yes.

[Kelly]

But you're, you're Oklahoma, right?

[Kendall]

She's Oklahoma.

[Liz]

What's Oklahoma considered? Isn't that not Midwest?

[Kelly]

I think that's Midwest. Or is it just West?

[Suzanne]

I mean, I say Midwest, but.

[Kelly]

Okay.

[Liz]

Okay. I don't know. Some people say St. Louis isn't Midwest. I'm like, we literally couldn't be more middle of America.

[Kelly]

Someone's like, isn't Missouri the South? I'm like, it's what?

[Liz]

It's. If anything, it's just middle.

[Suzanne]

Yeah, I, I say Midwest, but what do I know? I'm not a geography teacher.

[Kelly]

Okay, but hold on. This is a hot take. I just asked what are the 12 states of the Midwest you are not on here. Oh, it is Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wiscons.

[Suzanne]

I mean, that's debatable, but.

[Liz]

Okay, so what is Oklahoma? I know, I agree.

[Kelly]

Is. Oh, there's. Oh, I think.

[Liz]

I think Midwest is a state of mind.

[Kelly]

I think Midwest is a state of mind. I think. Is Oklahoma South? The US Government classifies Oklahoma as a Southern state.

[Suzanne]

All right.

[Liz]

Wow. Okay.

[Kelly]

Well, now we know.

[Liz]

Now we know it's a state of mind.

[Kelly]

Anyone can be Midwest if they try. If they make cheeseburger soup, they make.

[Liz]

Cheeseburger soup and say, oh, when someone runs into you, you are in the Midwest.

[Kelly]

And if you complain about your weather and if you're like, you don't like. If you say, if you say the words, you don't like the weather, wait 30 minutes, it'll change. You're in the Midwest.

[Suzanne]

So true.

[Kelly]

All right, Suzanne, thank you so much for joining the Carpool Podcast.

[Suzanne]

Thank you.

[Kelly]

Thank you for listening to the Carpool.

[Suzanne]

Podcast with Kelly and Liz. Make sure you're subscribed, so you never miss an episode. And if you enjoyed riding with us.

[Kelly]

Tell everybody you know there's room in the car for everyone.