Today we’d like to introduce you to Julie Razo.
Hi Julie, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
The Hustle is something I grew up with, watching and helping my mother clean houses, and make tamales during the holidays to provide the best she could for my sister and me. Something so embedded and valuable to me that letting go of my career to care for my family from home was not going to stop me from providing and being an example to my children. So my husband and I took a leap of faith and invested in what has turned into more than just a side hustle, a small business.
In April of 2021, I decided to put a pause to my career of 7 years as an ultrasound technician to become a stay-at-home mom. The idea of being home and caring for my babies was so ideal to me but not being able to keep providing was definitely frightening.
CreationsByJulieR was a small business account that I created in late 2018 creating vinyl print tees, items, and custom doormats. I drove away from that and re-focused on a new vision something that required work, time, and of course patience. Just before I left my job we slowly started building backdrops and booking one or two events a month not knowing where it could lead or if this was something stable we were trying to create. An idea came to mind one night and I said to my husband “what if you design Marquee letters and numbers”. He right away jumped on that and before I knew it he made us a rendering of BABY Marquees.
Soon after I started marketing them on Instagram and we got out first booking. The BABY marquees are truly what started it all, the inquiries and followers through the Instagram account became more and more consistent. From then on, we have kept going we built and bought what our clients have asked us to provide for their events, and the feeling of knowing that some luxurious decor is bringing memories to their families is truly rewarding. Why did we choose party planning and events as our next big thing? We are family people.
We love hosting for friends and family and adding decor to our events just always adds that “extra” touch we need. Gatherings with our loved ones make us happy as we know we are creating memories with them, And we enjoy making sure others are experiencing the same feelings with family and friends.
We do not know where this small business may take us but we are in for the ride as we continue to learn and grow for everyone giving us the opportunity to create something memorable for their celebrations.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Smooth ride? Of course, not, there have been plenty of issues that we have had to face while running our small business. Taking our kids to our setups because we can’t seem to have a reliable source of child care at the beginning of our journey was definitely a struggle.
My husband and I would tag team the set up he would go in and assemble backdrops and when he was done I would go and finish the balloon arrangements while our babies stayed in the car with one of us. Issue resolved my younger sister started her career and has weekends available during the day to help us out with our babies.
Another big one was having the right amount of space to transport backdrops, marquees, and balloon arrangements. If we couldn’t rent out a U-Haul we would stuff our SUV and my husband’s small car and make it out to our events. We were so fortunate that with the profit we have made we were able to quickly purchase our own cargo trailer making it a smooth process for transporting.
All in all, we know that we will constantly face new struggles and we are determined to find ways to figure it out. I always say “nothing is impossible”.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
CreationsByJulieR offers event decor and balloon arrangements. I am a self-taught balloon stylist using each event we have allowing us to perfect and better our quality for our clients. We provide backdrops and personalized details for special events, such as flower walls, wooden backdrops, marquee LED letters and numbers, and of course balloon garlands.
Something that sets my small business apart from others is that we focus on providing a service with pure honesty. My goal is to always treat my clients with respect and provide them with exactly as they please giving them the most memorable decor for their special celebration.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
My best advice to anyone starting a small business in any industry is to take the risk and give it all you can, you never know how far you can get if you don’t start somewhere. Something I wish to have known before starting out is not realizing how intense Houston’s summer’s heat could be when having outdoor setups.
Staying hydrated and keeping a cap on is something we learned the hard way.
Contact Info:
- Email: creationsbyjulier@gmail.com
- Instagram: @creationsbyjulier
- Facebook: CreationsByJulieR
