I want to share Sarah’s story.
Sarah started her event planning business earlier this year and she’s still employed by someone else. Sarah is trying to shift from being an employee to planning events full time.
At work, colleagues and clients surround her all day so she’s worried that she’ll miss her built-in social life, but the desire to make a bigger impact on her life and her community drives her to work while she’s building her event planning business.
Sarah also fears she won’t be able to make her business profitable and make enough money to support her family.
Taking the leap into full-time entrepreneurship can be challenging, especially when you know you have a steady income. One of the biggest obstacles that holds most aspiring event planners back from starting their business is the fear of not making enough money.
Having a job while you’re building your event planning business is a great way to bring in money and keep yourself on track financially while you build your business on the side.
Start Your Event Planning Business
If you’re in a similar situation, use your day job to keep a roof over your head and to learn valuable business skills that you’ll need in your event business. Watch today’s episode of EventPlanning BlueprintTV and learn 4 ways your day job can help you build a sustainable event business.
If you’re considering starting an event planning business while you’re ‘working for the man,’ but you’re being held back because you’re scared you won’t make enough money, here are 4 ways your day job helps you build a successful event planning business, and how it’ll help you improve your business skills and move a step closer to planning events full time.
- Hire and Train Employees – as your event business grows, you’ll hit a point when you’ll need employees to help you plan and manage your events. While working your day job, learn as much as you can about hiring and training staff, legal obligations, payroll and expenses.
- Make Connections (while you’re working) – making powerful connections is a key to business success so it’s important to connect with, learn from and build relationships with the people you come into contact with each day.
- Invest In Your Events Business – having a day job allows you to invest in your business by building a website, by getting professional photographs taken, and by creating high quality marketing materials. But, before you spend a lot of money on ‘marketing stuff,’ know how to find three clients (yup, only three to start!) and understand how your investment (in a website or other marketing materials) will make an impact on your event business.
- Avoid Desperation – having a job while building your event business, avoids making you desperate for clients. And, this may be exactly what’s stopping you from getting hired in the first place. It’s hard to stay positive when you’re being turned down and when your bank account is running low and it’s easy to feel a sense of desperation. The thing is, your event clients will feel it too.
What I really want you to understand is that building an event planning business is a process and requires consistent actions that help you achieve your dream of being a business owner.
Having a job with a steady pay check helps you make enough money to start and build your business and impact your community the way you want to.
There’s no magic pill and it’s about having the right know-how, support system and mentors who have ‘been there, done that’ that show you exactly what to do and when to do it. It’s about creating a plan: A real (and solid) plan.
All you have to do is follow the steps.
Having a plan and the steps is what gives you the confidence to (eventually) leave your job, while knowing that you are making enough money with your event planning business.
Let me know in the comments below…
Are you building your event business while working a full–time job? If so, what are you learning at work that you can use in your business?
I look forward to hearing from you.
I know you can do it!
P.S. This also happened to me. In 2004, I started my event business while I was working and in school. I busted my butt to learn how to run events, find clients and make enough money to feel comfortable leaving my job. It wasn’t always easy and I often had to make it up as I went – making lots of expensive mistakes along the way – until I created a formula that worked.
P.S.S. It doesn’t have to be as difficult as it was for me in the beginning, so if you’re ready to stop doing it on your own and to stop guessing what your next step should be, I invite you to see what it would look like to get step-by-step instruction and support.
