You’re great at coordinating parties and you love DIY decorations and seeing your whole vision come to life. You can manage countless tiny details and oversee the contributions of others. These are the beginnings of a party planning business. Take your organization skills and love of people and put it to good use. If you love a good celebration and can work well under pressure, then starting a party planning business might be a good fit. Break out the heart shaped sparklers and the champagne and get ready to celebrate. There are many things to consider when starting any business, but these tips will help you focus your party planning business on the right path and help you get off the ground faster.
Choose Your Niche
Some people plan parties only for corporate events, others focus solely on weddings. Choosing a niche helps you define what you’ll be doing and who you’ll be doing it for. While some wedding planners also plan other types of events, focusing on the one thing helps them get good at it and it also helps them connect with the right kinds of vendors for that niche. Party planners who focus on family events like a baby shower can also help families with something like a gender reveal. They help them coordinate things like getting a gender reveal box or gender reveal confetti cannon in the right colors so that mom and dad can be surprised as well.
Expand Your Network
Building the right network of people is critical when you are in the party planning business. You’ll need to know vendors who can rent out furniture, supply linens, create floral decorations, and so much more. Your network should also include the planners at various venues. Not only can this help you connect your clients with the right pieces for an event, but it can also be a source of referrals. When people are planning a large event, they often choose the venue first.
If the client is in need of a planner for their event, the venue will often offer a list of preferred vendors. You want to be one of the people on that list. All vendors keep a list of other businesses they know, like, and trust so that they can refer them when their own clients ask. Additionally, it’s important to connect with other party planners in your industry. In the event you’re already booked, you can easily refer potential clients to these trusted industry friends.
Get Professional Photographs of Your Work
Stop Snapping photos with your phone and expecting them to give a wow factor to your potential clients. Professional photographers know what they are doing and can create amazing images of your work. They know how to capture the perfect image of wedding sparklers, and the exact moment to get a picture of a baby digging into a piece of cake for the first time. Some event planners and party planners coordinate photography events.
These planners gather food, decorations, and people to come to a “fake” gathering for the purpose of getting professional images. They might host a wedding photography shoot, a kids birthday party, and even a corporate event. Then photographers come and shoot the details, the people, and the event. It not only helps the photographer build up their portfolio, but it also helps you build yours. You can talk about all the pretty things you know how to create and plan, but without pictures, it might as well not have happened.
Create a Business Plan
Your niche is one piece of a bigger puzzle. A business plan helps you determine what you’re going to do and how you plan to do it. If you want to be planning multimillion-dollar events in 5 years from now, what path do you think your business needs to take to get there? If your goal is to be the #1 party planner in your region, how do you think you can do it? Create a plan. The nice thing about a business plan is that you can adjust at any time. Your business plan should include things like marketing, competitor research, pricing models, business name, website, and more. There are plenty of places to get free templates for business plans.
