how do i go about setting up my own event planning business, what needs to be done?
I am interested in setting up my event planning business in about 12 months, at the minute i am not sure what i need to do and it is kind of putting me off doing this. I was wandering if you could help me with what i need to include when going about setting one up .
Asked by Carly Bartram,
June 2008 - Contact this person
2 Answers
-
Hi Carly,
I'd always recommend doing some market research first of all. You may want to find out about your competitors - who is out there? where are they? what do they offer? how much do they charge, etc. At the same time, you can be asking similar questions about potential customers - who are they? where are they? what do they want? how much do they usually spend? who have they used in the past?
You may also want to contact the likes of your local enterprise agency, Business Link, etc to see if they have any free business start up courses, which will usually cover funding and finance, marketing, business and the law, etc, etc.
Lee -
Hi Carly - you don't say what experience you have. The hardest thing to do, in any new venture, is to set something up from scratch with no prior knowledge, experience or training. If you do have experience, you presumably already know something about barriers to entry [e.g. setting up costs, competition levels, can you be price competitive, or does it depend on quality - and many more!] and you will know who your potential customers are. Lee's advice about market research is vital. One way of carrying out research is to pick random possible customers out of Yellow Pages [pick say 10 types of businesses that would be likely to use an event organiser, then on each group pick the same entries (1st, 3rd, 5th, or similar) for each one, have a story ready about what you plan to do, and then ring and ask them if they would be interested in talking to you, once you get started - it is vital that you talk to the MAN, an acronym for the individual with access to the Money, with the Authority to place an order and, what you've already identified, the one with a definite Need, . This 'pre market research' will give you an idea of whether the business could be viable and will either encourage you, or demonstrate a lack of viability, before you commit to any financial investment.
The hardest thing to judge is how much you will need to work. I find that most people think they will put in whatever hours it is necessary to invest, because it is YOUR business. In practise, that works for about the first 2-3 months, then your 'normal' work patterns assert themselves and, if your business needs more, your business will almost certainly fail, because you will either not put in enough hours, or grow ever more resentful of the time that is being taken away from your ability to do other things. Believe me, I know, having been there myself!!
Hope this helps.
Share this question:
