Plain Township teacher turns balloon decor hobby into side business

PLAIN TWP. – A teacher at Avondale Elementary wanted to experiment with balloon creations to cheer up her students. Now, she has her own business.

Abby Messner, of Plain Township, is the owner of Inspired Balloon Designs, a custom balloon decor company in Canton. She balances her passion for balloon design with her full-time job teaching the third and fourth grades within the Plain Local School District.

While the COVID-19 pandemic forced classrooms online in spring 2020 and kept people indoors throughout most of that year, Messner began thinking of ways to make her students smile when they returned to in-person learning. In her search, she turned to YouTube.

After falling down a balloon "rabbit hole," as she described it, she ran to a local store to purchase some supplies. She tried creating a simple design and found she took naturally to balloon decorating.

"I was like, 'Oh, that was easy. I can do this,'" Messner said. "So then gradually I found more videos and more networks of people and started researching and learning."

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Once back in school, Messner began creating balloon animals and other designs for students' birthdays. She allowed students to request what they wanted and worked tirelessly to make it happen.

It was an instant success.

"They look forward to it when it's their birthday," Messner said. "It's really funny because I'll have kids in the hallway sometimes go, 'I want to be in your class next year so I can get a balloon for my birthday,' and that makes me feel good."

Teachers love balloons, too

Messner hasn't reserved her creations just for her students. She's created balloon displays for some of her coworkers, too.

Lori Eckelberry, a teacher at Avondale and founder of a grant-funding nonprofit called Katie's Kids, enlisted Messner's talents for a recent fundraising golf outing at Paradise Lakes Country Club in Suffield. For the past two years, Messner has provided the nonprofit with her work for free.

"It's just really neat to have," Eckelberry said. "What I love about it is it gives our outing that extra touch. I think our audience is pretty special in itself, but it just adds that one more touch to it where people are coming together and having fun."

Eckelberry said Messner's creations have been extremely popular at the outings and have helped a lot in bringing awareness to Katie's Kids' mission. She said she often sees people posting on social media about Messner's balloon designs.

Turning passion into profit

As her balloon creations gained widespread popularity, Messner began to consider the money-making possibilities of her newfound passion.

She launched Inspired Balloon Designs in fall 2020 and found most of her initial clients through friends.

One of those friends is Kristin Selby, of North Canton, who has ordered balloon gifts from Messner multiple times. She bought her nieces balloon decorations for holidays like Valentine's Day and Halloween, and her nieces love Messner's balloon creations, Selby said.

Having grown up with Messner, Selby said she's not at all surprised Messner turned her talents into a viable business.

"She definitely has an entrepreneurial spirit, she's got that entrepreneurship bug," Selby said. "She's really good at what she does with it. She loves doing it and she cares about all her clients. I've just seen a different side of her from mom and friend and teacher Abby to businesswoman Abby."

Selby added that Messner is always trying to think of new ideas and different ways to create balloon designs.

In mid-July, Messner traveled to Orlando, Florida, for a week to collaborate with 300 balloon creators on a "Balloon Wonderland." The wonderland featured half a million balloons organized to resemble many different creations.

Teaching is top priority

During the school year, Messner's ability to focus on balloon decor diminishes, she said. This fall, she plans on booking one weekend per month to work on her small business because she'll be juggling other responsibilities, like working full time and raising her three kids with her husband.

If she wanted to, Messner could run her business full time. She said she's aware of other balloon artists who make profits of six figures or more from their businesses, and though her operation is relatively small, she could see it has potential.

However, she doesn't want to. She started creating balloon art as a side gig, and she wants it to remain that way.

"My colleagues will ask me that all the time at school. They're like, 'Are you going to quit your job and do balloons full-time?'" she said. "And I'm like, 'No, I love my job, I love the kids.'"

Contact Ryan via email at rmaxin@gannett.com, on Twitter at @ryanmaxin or by phone at 330-580-8412.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Abby Messner makes a business from balloon decorations