Issue 1 No. 1 July 2000 *Balloon Sculpting Corner *Secrets of (Pricing) *Classy Wrap Corner *Interview of Month (The Road To Becoming A CBA)	Interview of the Month with Brenda Roed, CBA The Road To Becoming A Certified Balloon Artist - page 4 - Brenda: Yes. One supplier would not because I'm a CBA. They believe that I can only sell Qualatex brand products - while I have agreed to promote their products as much as I can, I'm not completely restricted to the use of other products. Question: Would you recommend everyone doing or getting into balloons to become a CBA? And why? Brenda: Yes - major reason even if you don't stay in the business you learn the basics correctly. One of the strongest parts of the program is pricing your product, this is with out a doubt the weakest area for most. In my opinion there is nothing worse than a bad looking balloon job - reflects on everybody in the industry. Question: What are your goals as a CBA? Brenda: Huge goals. I plan to compete at IBAC and win in all divisions. To have a feature article written about our company. Work towards the implemenation of National Balloon Week for North America, same as in Europe. Brenda, thanks again for the interview, and my best wishes to you for continued success. Best wishes. BRENDA ROED, CBA answers my questions about the path of CBA. Hi, Brenda. Thanks for giving me this interview. Question: First of all, what is the name of your business, and where is your location? Brenda: Highlight Balloons Inc., 2112 Sunview Drive, Kelowna BC, V1Z 3P9 Canada Question: How long have you been in business, and are you homebased? Brenda: November 1998 & yes we are homebased. Question: How did you hear about becoming a CBA? Brenda: Surfing the web looking for a business opportunity, areas that I was interested in balloons kept popping up as an option. So I investigated. Had never really thought about balloons too much until I really investagated the idea. When I contacted Pioneer they sent out the information in regards to a CBA. Question: What made you decide to become a CBA? Brenda: The training offered was comprehensive I had little knowledge about balloons but knew I would enjoy working with the product. Qualatex offers a strong network of products and services only available to CBA's. Has a respectful title people once educated have an understanding that you take your business seriously. Question: What are the requirements? The costs The tests Brenda: I'm not 100% certain about this, I would have to go back thru my receipts but I believe I paid about $75 for registration and $40 exam fee. but again I would have to look-up the value before I was certain. Question: What are the benefits of becoming a CBA? Brenda: Customer Service support - I can call in weekdays to a support group if I have questions that need answers that I can not figure out on my own (I have had to use the service twice - one time they could help and one time they couldn't). Professional Marketing materials available at great prices. Once a CBA you can form chapters in your area then product is made available to yourself personally and to the chapter for projects or whatever. Belonging to an international organization. The ability to attend IBAC and take courses. Question: Has becoming a CBA meant more business for you? If so, how? Brenda: Yes. I have one main competitor here in our area they are also certified. Both of us market the heck out of this feature because of the competition from dollar stores and the flower shops. I have an exclusive contract with our local hockey team - we have a large beautiful arena - we are one of the few business that can decorate inside the arena for other events other than hockey - solely because we are certified. I give the clients comfort because we have demonstrated a set level of knowledge required to be certified. Question: Is there any downside of being a CBA? (Back to top.) | Balloon Sculpting | | Secrets of Pricing| | Classy Wrap Corner | | Interview of the Month | | Click Here to Go to Home Page | Copyright © 2000 Charles Prosper All Rights Reserved cprosper@prosperballoons.com