Are you passionate about starting an event planning business from home? Do you need a sample event planning business plan template?
Do you want to learn how to become a certified event planner, run your own event management company and make money organizing events? Then I advice you read on because this article is for you.
What is Event Planning?
Event planning is simply the process of researching, planning and ensuring the smooth organization or flow of an event. The process of a full scale event planning and management service include:
Job Description of an Event Planner or Coordinator
- Conducting initial research
- Creating an event design and concept
- Finding a good location
- Making arrangement for food from caterers
- Doing the interior décor
- Organizing the entertainment needs
- Planning transportation to and from the event
- Sending invitations to attendees
- Arranging any necessary accommodations for attendees
- Coordinating the activities of event, personnel
- Hiring employees to work the event
- Supervising at the site and conducting evaluations of the event, etc.
Now looking at the duties of an event planner listed above, you will come to acknowledge the fact that event planning is an authentic knowledge-based service that cannot be replaced by modern contraptions and artificial intelligence. It is like modeling, so human and natural. For the next decades to come, at least you are guaranteed of a business and profession and may even be more prolific in the years to come. Why?
Why You Should Start an Event Planning Business
The reason is because events will always take place; as humans find pleasure in coming together for celebration purposes. As long as the following events listed below still occur daily, you will always be in business:
- Weddings
- Parties
- AGMs (Annual General Meetings)
- Political campaigns, Anniversaries
- Naming ceremonies
- Birthday Parties
- Award ceremonies
- Expos
- Trade shows
- Conventions, etc
Your duty now is to keep up with fashion trends and changing needs of clients. As new modern concepts come out, your event management strategy also needs to upgrade its science to keep at the fast pace of time.
Asking how to become an event planner is no longer the question. The big question now is “can you keep up with the demand? As ideas travel very fast in the internet age, it is not surprising that you will have bigger demands; so you should be more than prepared.
There is no restriction to entering and starting up an event planning business. The main idea is to start up. Most experts advise you to do the first two businesses that come your way at token prices, so that you build up a clientele and reputation.
Starting an Event Planning Business from Home – Sample Business Plan Template
Now you can never talk about running an event planning business without having the skills needed of an event planner. What this means in essence is that you have to first become an event planner before you can proceed to running your own event management company.
Learning how to become a professional event planner involves a lot of technicalities and practicalities; that most people tend to forget. To give you a clearer picture of how a modern event planner should be and what you should aspire to, below are the tips that will help make sure you are on the right track in business.
1. Make up your mind to become an event planner
To become not just an event planner but a successful event planner, you must be prepared for the challenges involved with event planning. You must decide if this business is really for you. Event planning is one of the most stressful businesses; with deadlines to meet and the last minute change in customer’s plan, you must really be prepared to face it all. Do you still want to become an event planner? The choice is yours.
2. Get the basic event management knowledge
Event planning is a service based business that requires a little bit of technical know-how. To succeed in this business, you must understand:
- Fashion trends
- People management
- Catering and food management
- Interior designs and decorations, etc.
You definitely can’t learn all this on your own; you are going to need some help, in the form of coaching. To get started, it’s advisable you take a course on event management and planning from a reputable school or training organization. You can also find such courses online that will help you with the needed event planning knowledge.
3. Get certified
No, there is no need to be a licensed event planner or finish an event planning course if you want to start an event management company. However, to boost your credibility and corporate reputation; it is advisable that you get event planning certification. Your certificate as a trained event planner would also come in handy when presenting proposals to corporate organizations.
It is very important that you should have certifications from recognized bodies and organizations of event managers and planners; and become a Certified Special Events Professional. However, you can still work from home after getting a certification. You can operate without any employees or an office because all you need are clients. You can get these clients on the internet.
4. Develop your entrepreneurial skills
Just like every other business, event planning requires entrepreneurial skills in order to create long-term happy customers. To succeed as an event planner, you need people skill, sales skill, accounting skill, negotiation skill, cooking skill, communication skill, etc.
Mind you that this business involves dealing with humans on regular intervals. You must also note that you don’t need to possess all these skills, as long as you are willing to partner with those who possess these skills.
5. Set a goal
To become a successful event planner, you must be a goal getter. You must think big and aspire to improve the caliber of your clients.
6. Conduct feasibility study and choose your market
- Why do you want to start an event planning business?
- Why do you want to become an event planner?
- What aspect of event planning do you intend to focus on?
- Do you want to become a generalist or specialist?
The key to successfully wading in the event management business is knowing what type of service to offer because that will also determine the image you may want to project, the clients you want to sign up with and more importantly, the price you want to ask. Knowing how to become an event planner is also about knowing your direction.
- Specialization as an Event Planner
You must find a niche in which to specialize as an event planner which depends on your areas of expertise and also on your location. Will you specialize in weddings or corporate events? These are some of the questions you need to answer.
For instance, if you do not live in a commercial area, then your area of specialization would be severely restricted to social events and charity affairs. You cannot offer specialized event planning style to clients looking for generalist approach because you are on a different market bracket. Specialists tend to get more lucrative deals because of their forte but as they are also more expensive, it leaves generalists with more clients to tend to.
7. Choose your clientele
Knowing your clientele also means knowing the occasions you can handle with eyes closed. Will you focus on corporate clients or individual clients? For marketing purposes, it is not enough to be certain with the services you want to offer. Rather, a research is needed on the clients who often avail such services and what market section has the most potential. From there, you can develop your business and may even stumble upon an untapped area.
Individuals find that they lack the expertise and the time to plan events themselves. Independent planners can step in and give these events the attention they deserve. Large and small businesses hire event planners to produce the myriad events; from trainings, seminars, conferences to trade shows with tens of thousands of attendees—that are necessary each year to promote their business.
It is vital that you consider your life and lifestyle as you plan a business in event planning. You have to get the passion, and then the money will come. It’s hard work but it’s rewarding especially if it’s your passion.
8. Write a Business Plan for your event planning company
When it comes to starting a business and growing it, it is a known fact that having a business plan can be an added advantage to you; regardless of the business you are starting. After doing your feasibility, it is advisable you write an event planning business plan. This will help you stay focused on your market and further help you adapt to change fast.
One of your first tasks is to determine the market limits or trading area of your business. To conduct a market analysis you need to ask and answer the following questions:
- Is the population base large enough to support your event planning service?
- Does the community have a stable economic base that will provide a healthy environment for your business?
- Are the people you wish to serve?
- Do you want to focus on social events or corporate events or both?
For example, if you will be planning corporate events, you need to know the number of corporations in your service area that hold regular conventions and meetings, the size of these companies, their budgets for these events, and if they are using outside services.
9. Start Small
Social event planning is the ideal place from which to launch your career. Social planning is a growing industry. There are more opportunities out there than those planners in the marketplace can handle, so if you find a large amount of competition in your area, don’t be discouraged. Remember that if you strive to be the best, research your market, promote yourself, and develop a good event business plan, you will find your SPOT in the marketplace!
10. Assemble the needed manpower and equipment
Event planning is often a one-man venture. Everything else is contracted with third-party organizers and providers. However, if you are aiming an extra mile in the business, you also need to have your own manpower and equipment. In the long run, you can save more from these investments than continually renting and cutting the contract with other businesses.
For a start-up, it is not necessary to spend on this. As you expand, you also need to think in advance and in a more competitive way. Knowing how to become an event planner is a business game that requires intelligence; so it is best partnered with tangible investments.
11. Apply for small business insurance
Another important factor on how to start an event planning business is to get insurance as this will secure your business. You can know more about getting the right insurance on this industry by checking out the website of the NASEP or the National Alliance of Special Event Planners website.
12. Develop a marketing plan
Having a marketing plan for your business is also a vital part when starting an event planning service. You must know the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of your business. Your marketing plan should recognize your strengths and then come up with a detailed plan to address weaknesses, opportunities and threats. You need to know how you can outsmart and outperform your rivals and this marketing plan shall serve as your guide. Here are some event marketing ideas and tactics to help you get started.
13. Get a Good Location or Office
When starting out an event planning business, you are well advised to run the business from your home. Social media is changing the way we do business. Most start-up businesses learn to tap into this whole new arena. So, one way or the other, you need to open an office online via social media through having a website or opening a Facebook page.
10 Super Tips for Running a Successful Event Planning Company
Entrepreneurs all over the globe know that running a successful business is a topmost priority for them. This is why they strive at all cost to see that they imbibe some very needful traits, so as to see the growth rate of their business move up the radar.
The event planning industry is to a large extent a very competitive one and this is why one have got to stay abreast with happenings in this domain. Those who already walk this path success know that once one begins to relent at doing some fundamental things, then that sure is the beginning of failure.
As such, if you have found yourself in this industry or are looking to dive into this business terrain someday, then it becomes pretty necessary that some of the tips to be pointed out in this read be imbibed. Just what are these tips, you just might ask? They are time tested tips to help you run a successful events planning company.
a. Be an Ardent Researcher
The event planning is such an industry that needs you to be vast and well informed about news about the industry. What does this mean? This means that you have got to be alert about everything as it concerns events planning all around the globe. You may consider reading up a whole lot- do not be far away from information. You can successfully pull off being a researcher off by reading books on this business, as using the internet.
b. Be Technology Savvy
The world indeed has gone global, and as a result it is important that you move with the trends. You have got to be a technology savvy person if you want to record good success. Why is this important, you may quip? This is particularly important because you may record the most number of your client via the internet. Therefore, if you do not know how to go about things on the internet, you better learn.
c. Get Business Training
It is okay to get trained in the events planning sphere; however it is a whole lot better to have a business training background. This is especially important because you would garner a lot when you learn from experts the rudiments of how to run your business. Consequently, you have got to look for a business school and attend.
d. Have an Eye for Details
Events planning require that you take off the burden of planning an event from the shoulders of your clients. This is whether it is a corporate of informal event. Therefore, you would need an eye for details in addition to the eye you have got. Confused? Do not be, that was on a lighter note. Now, the truth is that you would need to be extremely detailed. You do not want to come across your clients as one who leaves some kills important details out. If you do not possess this skill now, you may consider building it up.
e. Know How to Close Deals
Some folks are good at marketing and talking people into patronizing them. But at the end of the day just when they thought the client would deal, everything falls through. This to a large extent means that the client lacks the finesse to close a deal. You have got to learn how to do this if you do not. One of the ways to pull this off is by following your potential up big time. Be in your prospects face, so far they have registered and affinity with your brand.
f. Go the Extra Mile
You stand to gain a lot when you go the extra mile in dealing with your customers. If for instance; a client wanted you to provide a particular service, you could go the extra mile of providing even more just so that you really win the hearts of your clients the more.
g. Train and Re-train
This doesn’t just apply to only your employees, you have got to learn how to create time off your tight itinerary to attend trainings. Things begin to go wrong the day you feel that you do not need to be trained. Consequently look for trainings that can make you and your employees become better at what you do so that the company may be run on new ideas.
h. Stay Transparent
This as a matter of fact is one of the most important tips that you should look to adopting. When your clients sense that there is some crookedness in the way they are being dealt with then they may begin to seek business elsewhere. It is for that reason that staying transparent should be your watch word.
i. Reward Repeat Customers
The way your loyal clients are treated should be a big deal to your company. Truth is that without these repeat customers, then perhaps you wouldn’t have gotten to the height you are in now. So, make rewarding your loyal customers an imperative practice.
j. Reward Employees
Your customers aren’t the only ones who have done a lot in building your brand; your employees should also be rewarded. If you feel you have workers who need to be appreciated then do not relent to do this as you would be motivating them to put in more in uplifting your events planning company.
These are tips that would do your business a great deal of good when you make these 10 tips yours. Do bear in mind that making a business successful is an all encompassing practice which you must not toy with.
As a final note, I want to state clearly that the capacity to earn in event planning profession is only limited by how far you can see yourself in the business. Do not strive just to know how to become an event planner, but try to be the leader in the field.
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