How to Start Your Own Event Planning Business After College
It may appear to be a stretch to launch an event planning business right out of school; however, it can be accomplished if you have your head on straight and can follow some basic principles. With so many people getting married, holding corporate events, having parties with friends and relatives and developing brand experiences in India, the need for an increasing number of professional event planners is growing at a rapid pace. With an abundance of creativity, organizational abilities, and a willingness to learn on-the-job, students will find that event planning can offer them much flexibility and great potential income
The first step is to find out what type of event planning niche you will work in. In a general sense, event planning consists of several distinct market niches, including weddings, corporate events, college festivals and promotional events. It is much more successful for someone who wants to start out as an event planner to only operate in one niche to begin with, rather than try to incorporate all niches at the same time. By becoming very skilled in one specific niche, you will develop a strong brand identity for your company and attract a target market of clients from the beginning of your career.
In addition to having the talents and drive to start your own event planning firm, having hands-on experience will be a key component to developing a solid foundation for your new business. Before opening your event planning company, you should spend time helping to put on actual events to help you develop your skills. This could include completing an internship at an event planning agency, helping wedding planners or volunteering at your college’s student events.
Your experience will show you how to deal with unplanned situations, coordinate with vendors, remain within budgetary constraints, and communicate properly with your customers. With only a little experience, you can greatly enhance your self-confidence and your ability to make decisions.
As well as obtaining experience, you will need to create a portfolio to display your work. In this profession, potential clients value past accomplishments far more than being able to tell them what you think you can accomplish. A portfolio may contain images or videos from events that you have done, with a brief description of how you were involved. Positive client and mentor testimonials will also help to build your own credibility.
Once an individual has established some degree of hands-on experience and developed a portfolio, the next step is to formally create their business. Most new entrepreneurs will begin with a sole-proprietor entity type due to it’s ease of start-up and low costs. By establishing your company’s name as well as registering your business entity (if necessary) and establishing its own separate bank account, you will greatly enhance the faith that your vendors and clients place in your company. As your business continues to expand, you can grow your business structure and the registration of your business based upon growth needs.
Early in your journey as an entrepreneur, you will rely heavily on marketing to establish your business. As an event planner, you will benefit greatly by utilising visual platforms, such as, Instagram, to display your completed projects.
Sometimes sharing photos that show how you created your event (before and after), as well as sharing what your clients think of your work, can not only get you noticed but also build your credibility within the industry. In addition to social media, you should also spend time networking with people and building relationships through local events and word of mouth to bring in your first few clients.
A huge part of operating a successful event management business is building a successful vendor network. How well and how professionally you can deliver an event will depend on how well you work with other suppliers, such as decorators, caterers, photographers and locations. By strong relationships with reputable vendors, you will be able to work together more easily and have continuity in work product.
Start out small. Many new businesses fail because they take too big of a risk and attempt to plan/execute large events without the valuable experience to execute such large projects properly. By starting out with smaller-type events, you are able to learn and grow, as well as make mistakes and learn from them, which will preserve your organisation’s reputation. Eventually, after you’ve developed an impressive portfolio in your event management and grow your confidence level, you can begin to execute large, complex and expensive events.
Being successful in this space requires creativity, but it also takes professionalism and skill. Communication, time management, budgeting and problem solving skills are critical to your ability to manage clients and effectively deliver events.
What sets apart exceptional & good event managers is their ability to remain calm when presented with pressure-driven & unforeseen situations.
Tritya Institute of Event Management (TIEM) provides its formally educated students the benefits of a hands-on approach to learning from actual experiences in the industry. Students at TIEM get practical exposure through working on live projects, interning at companies and interfacing with the industry itself, providing them with critical skills that will enable them to be prepared when they enter the workforce after graduation or begin an entrepreneurship venture.
Starting your own event management company is no easy task; it requires being patient, persevering, and having a willingness to learn from each & every learning experience encountered along the way. While much of the early part of your career will be difficult and exhausting, the return on investment associated with your commitment can be substantial over the long term, especially when your foundation has been built through a solid base and you continue to improve over time. Having a passion for events is a good start to creating a profitable business, but remember the secret is never to let your passion for the business stop you from growing and improving as you continue to service your clients better than ever before.
TIEM provides aspiring event managers with practical training and professional advice so that they can begin building a successful career.