Today we’d like to introduce you to Shayla Maddox.
Hi Shayla, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Thanks for having me! My name is Shayla Maddox. I was born and raised in Chattanooga, TN. I graduated from Brainerd High and Middle Tennessee State University, so shoutout to all my Panthers and Blue Raiders! I have three beautiful children, Kayla, Skylar and KJ, who are my whole world and one of the main reasons why I go so hard today!
Over the years, I have always been the person that my family and friends will call on for help with their events from weddings, showers, birthday parties, you name it, I was there behind the scenes! During it all, I’ve also noticed that it was very hard finding extra people to actually help with setting up, hosting, and staying to clean up after the event was over. I wanted to solve this problem by one day making it a business and offering event staff services to others in need for their weddings, anniversaries, birthday parties, and etc.
In 2018, I finally applied for my business license and worked towards having a business name and website, but that alone didn’t push me to actually launch it to the world. I was dealing with some personal issues and self-doubt that were holding me back from actually putting myself out there. In 2020, I ended a marriage of 5 years and became a single mother of 3. The year 2020 was crazy for me from dealing with the pandemic, having a 2020 baby, dealing with a divorce, adjusting to being a single mom, and now working with a single income that was less than my bills.
I had to boss up and figure out how I was going to do more to provide for my family. Why not go for what I was called to do and the things that made me happy now? I finally decided to push myself in announcing my new business venture to the world and launched it in 2020. With the open door and opportunities given to me, I invested my money and time (even quit a good full-time paying job that had me tied down and stressed). I wanted more freedom with my children. I wanted a better working schedule. I wanted to finally live for myself. In 2021, my business started growing and more events were being booked.
Many thought of me as a lifesaver for their events. I was getting future inquiries while working an event and people started spreading the word about my company’s services. I invested more and added on party rentals to the business where I provide inflatable bounce houses, toddler soft play rentals, inflatable movies, concessions and hosts as an option to work the events. It took me 2 years but I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for me finally going for what I really want, taking risks and my support system for helping me push through the tough challenges that were meant to keep me down. I was finally not afraid to actually “just do it”. Launch that business!
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?
It hasn’t been a smooth road, to begin with. I had to figure out a way to get my name out there more and for people to trust my services for their events. I had to come up with ways to grab more attention in which I started learning social media management with promoting and advertising through social media to gain more leads and traffic to my website.
I had to learn to post more, take more pictures/videos of work, promote, promote, promote, and even when I feel like no one is supporting or sharing my work, I have to keep going! (and this was hard coming from being a very shy person and not liking to publicly speak or be a center of attention lol). I had to break out of that shell and overcome that in order to become a successful business owner and for others to want to work with me. Being a business owner is definitely challenging and the road to success is not easy.
Learning how to manage business finances, knowing the legal stuff, marketing, insurance, responding to customers the right way, and providing the services has been a task. I’ve decided to take on trainings and business classes to help me improve as a business owner and to be able to tackle any barriers that may come my way.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about The Party Popperz Company?
The services my company provides are event services from setup crew/decorators, hosts, food servers, and after-event cleaners. You can book one service, two services or them all if we are needed for the whole event. We also provide party rentals from inflatable bounce houses. toddler soft play rentals, inflatable movies, and concessions from popcorn machines, cotton candy, and snow cone machines.
What sets us apart from other event and party companies is that we actually provide professional event staff to help with your weddings, anniversary parties, birthday parties, and more! These services are not offered as much in the Chattanooga/Tennessee area and I want to help provide these services for those in need for their events. We also travel!
The party rental we provide is one of a kind because they are uniquely made to bring the fun to you! Whether your child needs a bounce house for a birthday party, soft play set rental for a toddler party or daycare/school event or you are wanting to watch movies with popcorn on a 17ft inflatable screen in your backyard, we got it all for you! My inflatable attractions are named after my children from KJ’s Playworld (the toddler soft play rental for ages 5 and under, Skylar’s Bounce Party (soft play for ages 3 and up ), and Kay’s Safari (for the bigger kids). You can add a cotton candy machine, popcorn machine, or portable speakers to bring more life to the party!
We also provide hosts to help work for your parties with setting up, serving food to guests, and cleaning up afterward.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
Something surprising that most people may not know about me is that I am a very shy person.
I prefer not to be outspoken and will only talk if being spoken to lol. But of course, I can not be that way while running a business in which I have to speak with customers daily rather in person, over the phone, or through social media.
When people do converse with me, they are always surprised at how professional and responsive I am when it comes to answering their questions, inquiries, and providing my services. Some couldn’t even tell that I am a true introvert lol. I have now built the confidence to be more open and verbal. I don’t worry about if no one is sharing my work, or events. I know that I have to keep going, keep promoting, keep representing my business until it is known across the states. I want to one day branch out and offer my services across different states.
Contact Info:
- Email: thepartypopperzco@
gmail.com - Website: www.
ThePartyPopperzCo.com - Instagram: @ThePartyPopperzCo
- Facebook: @ThePartyPopperzCo
