Former dealer's new career blowing up

     By Sonya Padgett
     View staff writer
      Give a child a helium-filled balloon attached to a piece of ribbon and the response is often one of unbridled delight.
      Just talking about the party favors elicits a similar response from Suzanne McGoldrick.
      That's because the Sunrise resident credits balloons with revitalizing her life.
      McGoldrick, 43, quit her secure job in June as a dealer at Caesars Palace to start a business, Fantasy Balloons and Decor, that she runs out of her home on 10th Street and Franklin Avenue.
      It wasn't that she had always dreamed of making and selling custom-made balloon arrangements.
      But she had longed to get out of the gaming business after being a dealer for 16 years, and starting the balloon business allowed her to accomplish that goal.
      "I, like a lot of gaming employees, liked the money but not necessarily the business. I tried a few things but never had the courage to go out on my own," McGoldrick said.
      Former co-worker Denny Walker admires McGoldrick for having the spunk to strike out on her own.
      "She quit Caesars Palace for all the right reasons," Walker said.
      Something changed McGoldrick after she turned 40. She had dreamed of doing something different but never explored her ideas.
      "I had a realization that time was my most precious commodity. I had been wanting to do something but didn't have the courage to do it," McGoldrick said.
      In January 1997, a neighbor who had discovered the balloon business asked McGoldrick to be a partner.
      "When he introduced me to it, a whole new world opened up," McGoldrick said.
      She realized that if she didn't quit her job and start a business she never would. So McGoldrick decided to take a chance.
      "Sometimes you have to jump off the cliff and grow wings on the way down," McGoldrick said, quoting a saying she read on the Internet.
      The partnership didn't last, but McGoldrick struck out on her own part-time in July 1998, selling custom balloon arrangements and running a gift-delivery service. She went full-time in June after quitting her job and expanded her services to include face painting and balloon twisting.
      She recently launched her own Web site, www.fantasyballoons.com, to allow people from out of state to buy gifts for friends or family members here in Las Vegas.
      Another motivating factor to start the business was McGoldrick's 12-year-old daughter, Katie.
      Throughout her nine years at Caesars, McGoldrick's time with her daughter was limited to just before school in the morning and after work at 8 p.m. Occasionally, they had a day on the weekend together.
      The idea of her daughter getting out of school and coming home to an empty house until nighttime bothered McGoldrick. Spending more time with her daughter gave the single mother another reason to turn in her notice and start the home business.
      "I didn't want my child to be alone from 2 to 8 p.m." said McGoldrick, who has two additional grown children. "I didn't want to be old and not have lived my life, the life I wanted. The cool thing about the business is my daughter can work for me and learn a life lesson while having fun and earning some money."
      Walker admires McGoldrick for following her convictions.
      "She's devoted to her daughter. Quitting her job to be with her daughter is an admirable thing," Walker said.
      Leaving behind a good job with a $50,000-a-year salary to start a business where the outcome is not certain is a frightening experience, McGoldrick said, but she's certain it was the right decision.
      McGoldrick's new-found confidence has bolstered her courage enough to enroll in three classes at the Community College of Southern Nevada, something she's wanted to do for years but always put off to raise her children.
      Her goal is to get a bachelor's degree in landscape architecture.
      "I've always been putting my life on hold. I helped my ex-husband get out of the gaming industry by starting a landscaping business and he was supposed to help me, but it didn't work out that way," she said, adding that you have to make yourself happy and not wait for someone else to do it.
      "Who knows how it's going to turn out; my balloon business may be the vehicle to becoming a landscape architect," McGoldrick said.
      Whatever the outcome, McGoldrick feels good about her decisions and believes things will work in her favor.
      "It's slow but it's gaining momentum. It takes time to build a business. I have enough faith to know that it'll be OK and I did the right thing," McGoldrick said. "I am a success whether my business is or not because I'm pursuing my dream."
      McGoldrick can be reached at 382-2224 or she can be seen Sept. 17-19 at the upcoming Crafter's Village at Cashman Field, where she will have a decorative balloon display and do face-painting and balloon twisting with her daughter.