There are over 28 million entrepreneurs in the US and many of you experience event organizers may be ready to break out on your own. This could be in the form of freelancing or creating your own company to manage everything from soup to nuts.
The leap from employee to employer is not for the faint of heart and many event planners have no clue as to where to begin. We’re going to outline the steps you need to take if you’re ready to take the plunge to own and operating your own event planning business.
1. Register your Event Management Company and Choose the Appropriate Business Structure
There are many pro’s and con’s when it comes to business structure ie. LLC, sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, etc. Much to cover in this post but do some Google searches to uncover a wealth of information on the topic. From experience LLC’s are the most common since they allow you to operate with limited liability protecting your personal assets from business assets.
2. Create a business plan
Creating a plan helps you stay organized and have a roadmap to follow as things start to grow and progress. It’s also helpful when it comes to attracting partners, investors, and clients. It’s a living, breathing document so don’t think you will write it once and follow things to a T. When the speed in which the industry and technology changes you must always keep your finger on the pulse and be ready to change, adapt and pivot.
3. Create a marketing plan
Marketing is one, if not the most important part of creating any business but even more so an event planning business. Marketing is the lifeblood of successful events as well as finding new clients or them finding you rather. As a small business owner, you need to market your brand so people know who to hire when the need arises. Word of mouth is great but most times not enough to build a scalable and sustainable business.
With the advent of social media, online video, blogging, and more the options are endless. Pick the ones you are most comfortable with or have the greatest potential to hit your target market and go for it. Marketing efforts never stop and the more you work on it the more it will reflect in your bank account.
4. Streamline your tasks
Any event organizer is familiar with juggling multiple tasks. But when you start your own event planning business, those tasks will multiply quickly.
Use technology to automate the tasks and you’ll be able to streamline the process of invoicing, emailing, ticketing, client management, advertising, scheduling and more. There are more tools available today than ever before to help you succeed. So whatever you find yourself doing repeatedly, take a stab with a Google search and I can almost guarantee there’s an app for that!