Is it your dream to plan events for a living?
Do you struggle to come up with the money to start your event planning business?
This week I’m going to show you how it’s possible to start a home based event planning business…this week!
I did it 10 years ago so I know you won’t need to spend a lot of money; all you really need is a computer, a phone and your event planning skills.
Here are 3 essentials for getting your home based event planning business up and running. The best part is, they won’t cost you a dime.
Start Your Home Based Event Planning Business
1. Choose Your Event Planning Niche
As you launch your business, narrow down the types of event planning services you’ll offer.
If you’ve already planned events for friends or family or volunteered to plan company or charity events, you’ll know what you do best.
If you don’t have experience planning special occasions, ask yourself, would you rather work with brides planning weddings or busy mothers planning children’s celebrations?
Would you enjoy organizing corporate seminars or would you rather plan fundraisers for non-profits?
Try to focus your event planning goals down to a specific group of clients, rather than offering to plan any and all events. Your marketing will be more effective and you’ll be recognized more quickly as an expert at what your ideal customers need.
2. Develop Your Business Plan
Planning events for a living is an exciting and rewarding career, if you take the time to plan how you’ll run your business.
Admittedly, developing a business plan isn’t my favorite thing to do, so I focused on the essentials: how to reach the people who need my services and how to keep track of my business.
Marketing Plan: Reaching your ideal audience requires marketing. Will you create a website or blog and build your email list of potential clients?
Think about advertising your services where the people who need them can find you. Some ideas – websites with tips for busy moms, directories for wedding services, local specialty publications.
Design a simple business card and get some printed. You’ll want to give them out whenever someone asks about your new business.
If you’re hoping to work with corporate clients, who is already in your network that could introduce you to their colleagues?
Who do you know personally who might need help with event planning? Ask them to coffee and present some ideas for special occasions (see Step 3.)
Business Management Plan: This simply means how you’ll track income and expenses and other business details. Having a firm grip on business details gives you the foundation for success.
Part of your business planning is deciding how much you’ll charge for your services. Here are the questions to ask when making that decision:
- How much income will you need to make from your home based event planning business? How many hours do you want to work?
- What do other event planning professionals in your area charge? Do some research so that your rates are competitive. Tip: Coming in as low bidder in your market may earn you business at first, but clients may not value what you provide. Don’t be afraid to charge an appropriate amount for your events management services.
3. Create an Event Planning Portfolio
During your week of planning for your business, set aside time to create an event planning portfolio. This is what you’ll show potential customers when meeting with them.
Your portfolio can be as simple as an album with pictures showing the themes, menus and other details of parties you’ve planned. If you don’t have event planning experience, pull together several creative ideas for events you’d like to plan.
The event planning portfolio could be a simple album, or it could be a digital collection to share from your tablet or laptop. Having a professional portfolio will give prospective clients confidence you’ll do a good job for them.
Learning how to start a home based event planning business is possible this week, if you focus your efforts on these three steps.
Use what you’ve learned in this first week to begin approaching the people or companies you hope to reach. Build on your first events you plan as a professional by fine-tuning your approach and don’t forget to add those events to your portfolio.
As your business begins to grow, you’ll become expert at identifying new event planning needs in your market. By meeting those needs creatively and carefully managing your business details, you’re on the road to becoming the owner of a successful event planning business.
I’d love to hear from you.
Now that I’ve shared what steps I took to get started, in the comments below, let me know what steps you’re taking to start or build your event planning business.
As always, thanks for reading, for your comments, and for sharing this post with someone you know who will benefit from it.
Have an amazing week,
