Designer Showcase

Rossi Karlis Collado

About Rossi

mypenko
Nashville, TN, USA
Instagram

We first featured Rossi in The Very Best 2020 in the article on the rainbow trend as a way to keep people's spirits up during the lockdowns.

Staying afloat required new approaches

The pandemic has really made businesses think about how they can operate more efficiently. And for individuals, it made them think about work/life balance. For Rossi, it was the lure of working from home that she found attractive.

In July 2020, Rossi decided to quit the comforts of her job in the Healthcare industry, where paid time off, 401K and healthcare were part of her employee benefits. In October 2020, she started to put together a business plan. She took online courses with some of the most recognized professionals in the balloon industry and made sure she had the knowledge to properly operate a business. She then took a leap of faith and opened her own business.

Finding her audience on social media

First and foremost, the ability to continue operating digitally was a critical factor in how her business fared throughout the pandemic. Utilizing more social media platform features like reels and stories to stay connected with her followers was key to building community support. And support her they did!

Key lessons learned

In the process of managing her newly formed business, Rossi leaning the importance of setting boundaries and strict work hours. "Setting boundaries for myself was important to avoid burnout," she said. She attributes her success to setting achievable goals by implementing and innovating balloon products already available, as well as analyzing her to-do list to eliminate tasks that had little to no value.

The pandemic has taught her she must be prepared for anything to ensure that she can continue to provide her beautiful art and world class service, no matter the circumstances!