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How to Start an Event Planning Service Want to be an event planner but not sure how to start your own event planning service? Discover how to start this business in our step-by-step guide.

Some people get a lot of personal and professional joy out of making big events and special days even better for their attendees. If you have the hosting itch, and if you love to tackle complex problems and make big days go smoothly, you might have a future as a professional event planner.

But whether you choose to work alone or with a small team, starting an event planning service is no small task. Today, let's break down how to start an event planning service step-by-step.

What are the basics of event planning?

Event planning is the art (and sometimes science) of event ideation, planning, coordination and operation. When a big, important event needs to go smoothly, it's time to call an event planning service or coordinator.

Event planners are key service providers who can ensure event production and execution happens smoothly. They perform these duties for trade shows, senior events, nonprofit galas and much more.

Related: Find Your Event-Planning Niche

Event planning is most often used for purposes like:

  • Big educational meetings, like graduations or conferences.
  • Major promotions, like marketing events, product launches and fashion shows.
  • Corporate events, like after-work cocktail hours, galas, etc.
  • Celebrations and social events like parades, weddings, birthdays, reunions, etc.

Event planning is highly important to make sure the above and other major events go off without a hitch, especially so that the most important guests can enjoy themselves.

The primary duties of full-time or part-time, on-site event planner jobs include:

  • Doing research prior to the big event.
  • Event design and team-building for project management.
  • Finding the appropriate site for the event.
  • Creating event budgets and running fundraisers if necessary.
  • Arranging for decor, entertainment and food for the event.
  • Sending invitations to potential attendees.
  • Planning transportation for attendees to and from the event.
  • Arranging any other necessary accommodations, like seating.
  • Coordinating activities for event personnel, like caterers or entertainers.
  • Supervising activities at the event site.

The events industry, both for wedding planning and other events, requires good communication skills. Additionally, obtaining a bachelor's degree in public relations or related areas can be helpful but is not absolutely required. Let's look closer at this job type and business.

Why do people hire event planning services?

People primarily hire event planning services for two reasons:

  • So that event-goers and guests of honor can enjoy themselves without focusing on the event.
  • So that the event in question goes smoothly.

Imagine a typical example of a wedding. Many engaged couples hire event planners or event planning services to coordinate, organize and carry out their wedding plans. In this way, the couples can enjoy their special days and focus on getting married rather than worrying about things like catering, parking and kicking out rowdy guests. Instead, the wedding planner takes care of that stuff.

Furthermore, some events are so complex – particularly those with hundreds of guests or more – that it's almost impossible to properly plan and organize them without the help of a specialist. Knowledgeable, experienced event planners know how to organize groups of people, how much food to provide and other details that can make or break an important event.

Related: The Price Is Right: Turning a Profit in the Event Planning Business

Who should become an event planner?

You might consider becoming an event planner if you love hosting parties and the thrill of organizing a complex event and running it without an issue. Planners often have to handle many moving parts at once. Many event planners have histories as managers or coordinators in other industries. You should become an event planner or start your own event planning service if you feel that you would enjoy this kind of work.

It's also worth noting that event planning often requires you to work on weekends or holidays (since these are the days when people have free time to schedule and hold events), as well as handle chaotic, sometimes confusing work and competing agendas. You should also consider acquiring certification for your event planning service, as it can help you acquire relevant professional skills and attract more job opportunities . Meeting Professionals International (MPI) is an association that offers a list of degrees and certificates from colleges and universities. The right degree or certification can lead to more job opportunities and even pave the way to a higher salary.

Alternatively, try to become a CSEP or Certified Special Events Professional or CMP or Certified Meeting Planner. Both of these are given out by the MPI or the ISES (International Special Events Society), which also highlight your skills and designate you as an expert event coordinator.

Now that we've covered the basics, let's get into the steps you need to take to start an event planning service:

Step 1: Make your company

Your first step involves making your company and filing the right paperwork. You should first draw up a business plan, which will include details like:

  • The business's name.
  • The business's tax structure (like a sole proprietorship, LLC, etc.).
  • How you'll make a profit.

Related: Check out these business plan templates to get started.

You'll also want to get an EIN, or employer identification number. This will allow you to hire employees for your event planning service if you desire later down the road.

How to Start an Event Planning Service

Step 2: Choose your target market

Next, do market research and pick the target market you want to work for. For instance, if you want to primarily work with weddings, you need to research that target market to know how much to charge for your services, what's involved and what you need to be experienced in.

By doing some research ahead of time, you won't find running your first events to be too overwhelming. You'll also know how much to advertise your event planning service to be competitive relative to other services in the area.

Step 3: Consider startup costs

When you start an event planning business, you'll have to consider startup costs. Working from home or primarily by yourself will keep costs low as opposed to hiring employees (who will require salaries).

However, if you want to expand your event planning business, you'll eventually need extra equipment, business premises like an office or warehouse and more. All of these things can add up, impacting the kind of business you begin.

Note that you can always scale your business after acquiring steady work. For instance, you can start off as a one-man event planning service that only provides services to small events you can tackle by yourself. After you save up some money from some successful jobs, you can hire a few more employees and rent out a warehouse for your equipment, like cameras, chairs and more.

Step 4: Understand the work involved and hire employees (optional)

For your event planning service to be successful , you need to fully grasp the nature of the work involved and understand whether you should hire employees.

Planning and executing an excellent event generally involves:

  • Designing the event, which means sketching out the feel or look of the event in question. Some clients will have very specific ideas you'll need to incorporate into the design.
  • Putting together a proposal for your clients so they can improve your plans.
  • Organizing the event, which involves almost everything else, like renting the site for the event, hiring vendors, hiring entertainers, organizing caterers and much more.

There's a ton of work that goes into planning even the smallest event. Fortunately, as you acquire experience, you'll be more adept at anticipating and completing this work.

Related: The Event Planning Recipe for Success

Generally, the larger the events you want to manage and coordinate, the more employees you need to hire. At a certain point, you can't be everywhere at once! Consider hiring employees when you have the cash to do so; this will allow you to plan events for larger groups of people and make more of a profit.

Step 5: Settle on a price structure and fee basis

How you price your event planning business will impact how often you get requests. You can determine your pricing structure and fee basis by things like:

  • The market segment you serve: For instance, social events usually have different fee structures than corporate events.
  • Your geographic location: If you have a higher cost of living, you are justified in charging your clients more to plan their events.
  • Your experience and reputation: As your business gets a reputation for success, you'll be able to charge a higher premium for your services.

Step 6: Start marketing your event planning service

Once you have all of your ducks in a row and you know how to charge your clients, you can start marketing your event planning service. Do this online through Google PPC (pay-per-click) ads, social media marketing and other efforts. Don't hesitate to use in-person marketing materials, like posters or TV ads, as well.

Related: 8 Savvy Ways to Promote Your Event Planning Business

As you can see, starting an event planning service is a matter of preparation and deep consideration. If you plan everything properly, your event planning service will launch smoothly, and you'll get your first batch of clients in no time.

Check out Entrepreneur's other guides and resources today!

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How to Start an Event Planning Business: 8 Vital Steps

Image of two people at a whiteboard planning

It may seem like everyone is running their own businesses these days. In fact, there are about 33.5 million entrepreneurs in the US alone – a 24% increase from 2015 .

If you’re looking to start your own event organizing business, you might not know where to start. There’s plenty to do, but following these eight steps will get you started on the right foot.

Ready to roll? Here’s how to make the leap into starting your own event planning business.

1. Establish your event planning business

There’s no requirement for a certification or license to become an event planner in the US. However, it’s still a good idea to establish a legal structure for your event management company, and you’ll likely need other certifications and licenses related to running an event planning business.

Why register your business

If you run your business under your name, you don’t need to register it . But even though it isn’t required, it still has advantages.

When you register your business, you get some great benefits that will help you get started. You get a tax identification number, which will help you separate your business income when tax season comes around, and you also get to open business banking accounts. 

Different business structures also give unique advantages, such as tax benefits and liability protection. But that depends on the type of business you establish.

Types of business

In the US, there is a wide variety of business structures you can choose from. For this article, we’ll focus on the three most popular types of business for small event planning business owners to establish. 

Sole proprietorships

Sole proprietorships are the easiest businesses to establish because you don’t need to register them with the state. But pay attention–you may still need to get a local business license depending on your location.

Sole proprietorships are simple to establish, and you can pay taxes on your business on your personal tax returns. However, being a sole proprietor doesn’t offer the tax advantages or liability protections of other business structures.

Limited liability companies (LLCs)

LLCs are a very common corporate legal entity for everyone from small businesses to publicly traded companies. To establish your own limited liability company, you’ll need to register with the state where you do business , which usually costs a little under $300.

LLCs offer their owners more protection than sole proprietorships in case the business fails. If your LLC goes bankrupt, your personal assets can’t be liquidated to cover any debts the business may have. If you are your LLC’s only employee, the federal government will treat you as a sole proprietorship for tax purposes.

Partnerships

A partnership is a great way to start a business with another person. You’ll need to file legal documents outlining the business entity with the state that say whether there’s one primary owner or an equal partnership. 

Partnerships give you legal protection if you’re working with another person. They make it easier for you to resolve any disputes that can come up, and let you divide the business’s profits into your personal income. This helps sort out each of your taxes without getting into overly complicated corporate structures.

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

Licenses and certifications

While the US doesn’t require you to get a license to become an event planner , there are some activities that you might do as an event organizer that have their own legal requirements. Here are some licenses and certifications that you might need:

Food handler card

If you’re preparing food that you’ll serve to others as a part of your event planning services, you’ll need a food handler card. This won’t be necessary if you hire the food services out to professional caterers, who are required to have their own cards.

Liquor license

Weddings, birthdays, corporate events, and many other events commonly serve alcohol. If you plan on serving alcohol at those events, you should get a liquor license for the state you’re serving in. This can be a complicated process depending on the state, so it’s a good idea to get it started as soon as possible.

Business license

As discussed above, some states, municipalities, and counties require you to have a business license to start a company there. You should check with local authorities to see what requirements they have, and whether your business registration has already covered them—often, registering your business qualifies as licensing it.

Public performance license

Do you plan on holding public events with music? If you are, you’ll need to license that music with a public performance license. The easiest way to do this is by purchasing a general public performance license from a performance rights organization (PRO). That license grants you the right to play music covered by the PRO at your events.

2. Find a niche

Look at what kinds of events people are running in your area. From there, you can find your target market . For example, if you’re in San Francisco, it could be a good idea to specialize in product launches, kickoff parties, and IPO announcements. 

In New York City, production for private birthday parties, high-end events, and charitable events at large-scale venues might be a better fit. But if you’re in Miami, it could be better to build a party planning business that relies more on weddings, bachelor(ette) parties, and the many festivals in South Florida. It all depends on where you are.

Market research can sound intimidating, but it’s an important foundation for your company. To simplify this process you can use Eventbrite’s marketing resources that can help you make data-driven choices. If you want to start an event planning company that specializes in social events, check what social events are happening in your area, and ask current event planners what most of their business is.

Here are a few of the niches you could specialize in as an event planner:

  • Corporate events
  • Weddings and anniversaries
  • Educational conferences
  • Product launches
  • Trade shows
  • Music festivals
  • Outdoor/sporting events
  • Bar & Bat Mitzvahs
  • Gala fundraisers
  • Social gatherings

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

Any one of these could be a great fit for you. Consider the volume of business for each niche, your ability to run these types of events, your connection to people in related industries, and your desire to plan these events. All of these factors can help you decide if a particular niche is right for your event planning business.  

Once you find the right niche, focus on it. Becoming an expert in that area will set you apart from the competition and make it easier to gain new clients. Spending time learning every aspect of your chosen specialization will be invaluable when it comes to finding new events and planning them successfully.

You will also have a better understanding of the expectations, challenges, and opportunities that come with that particular type of event. By focusing on one niche, you can become an expert in your field, build a strong reputation for yourself, and create loyal relationships with clients. 

3. Create your event planning business plan

Creating a business plan helps you get organized and attract partners, investors, and clients. It’s also a document that will serve as an important touchstone for you as you grow your business.

Future partners, investors, and clients will want to know that your business has a strategic vision for a path to growth and profitability. A good business plan will show them both that you have business management skills and that the company is on solid footing.

The plan will also be useful for you moving forward. It will be your guidebook on how to overcome the challenges that meet every business. Your business plan can help you manage your finances, marketing strategy, and the next steps to take as you grow. 

If you’re thinking about how to start an event planning business, here are the core parts of a solid business plan :

  • Table of contents
  • Executive summary
  • Background and history
  • Development plan
  • Marketing plan
  • Budget and financial plan
  • Client list

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

Two of the most important parts to get right in your own plan are the budget and potential client list. These sections will go far in helping you establish your company’s viability. 

Budget 

There are many small-business expenditures you might not be aware of, from taxes to insurance to licenses. Make sure you check out all the available budgeting resources so you know what you’ll need to pay to run private events, including who you’ll need as a part of your team. 

Knowing how much money you’ll need coming in will help you determine how much to charge for your services. It’ll also help you figure out how much you can afford to pay in startup costs.

Client list 

The events industry is enormous, and there is definitely a place for your event planning business. The global events industry was valued at $887 billion in 2020 and has only grown since then. But what clients can you actually count on? Make a list of potential clients, including local businesses, people you’ve worked with previously as an event manager, and dream accounts. Then, make a plan to approach them. Have contacts that already committed to working with you if you were to break out on your own? Make sure you list them here as well. 

Once you have a business plan, you can take tactical steps to launch your event planning business. 

4. Start marketing your business

Marketing is one of the most important parts of starting your own event planning business. If you’re already an event manager, you’re very familiar with how important it is to market your events , and marketing your own business is just as key. 

Make sure to build social media accounts early on, so you’re ready to start distributing your marketing materials as soon as possible. You’ll also want to build your own website, make a company logo and a business name, and start telling your friends and family to help promote your business. 

Friends and family can also help out as a sounding board for your marketing ideas. Use them as a focus group to test your ideas out with, especially if any belong to your target audience. 

Your niche will likely determine how you market yourself. Be aware that people look for a specialist as their wedding planner , corporate event planner, or party planner. It’s not enough to just have a professional-looking website—you’ll need to model it to the needs of your business and the local market before you can start pitching event ideas .

5. 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 you can. Today, there are many apps for startups that can automate a surprisingly vast number of tasks. For instance:

  • HelloSign can help you send and receive legal signatures on contracts and liability waivers.
  • Email marketing programs like MailChimp allow you to schedule the sending of invitations, announcements, and promotions to your entire mailing list or target segments of it.
  • Apps like Zapier let you get creative with linking up your various technologies and automating repetitive custom tasks.
  • Finally, online ticketing platforms like Eventbrite help you create event pages quickly and make it easy for people to buy tickets to your events online. Integrations with discovery and distribution partners like Facebook and Spotify make it possible for people to find your events and buy tickets from other places on the web.

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

But even with the best tools on hand, there is some work you’ll want to do yourself. You’re a small business owner now, and that means taking on all of the accounting, sales, marketing, and operations for your company.

To handle each of these types of tasks, try devoting certain sections of your day to the different “departments” of your business. That way, you can be sure that each task gets your full attention and that you don’t leave anything by the wayside.

If you have your own home office, you can also hang a Kanban board to keep track of your ongoing projects. The visual nature of the boards makes them easy to manage and provides an overview of the entire project at once. By visually representing tasks and progress, Kanban boards help teams manage workflow, anticipate potential issues or bottlenecks, and ensure nothing is overlooked or forgotten.

6. Track your progress

If you’re using technology to automate tasks, sell tickets , and organize your business, that technology will collect data for you. And data is crucial to tracking your progress as a new business owner.

With every tool you use, carve out time to check your metrics so you can gauge how your planning is panning out. And go back to your business plan periodically to make sure you’re staying on track with your vision and hitting your goals.

The specific metrics you choose to track might depend on your business model. For example, if you want to rely on inbound website visitors, metrics like website traffic might matter more to you. On the other hand, if you’re making cold calls to potential clients, you might track those metrics in your customer relationship management (CRM) software .

Corporate clients often want consistent, real-time updates from you, especially with their large-scale events. It helps to have an established system so you can assure them that the event is on track. That’s why they ask event organizers to use tracking software like the Eventbrite Event Check-In App .

These are the types of metrics you can track, even if you’re just starting out:

  • Client engagement
  • Cost per event
  • Number of events organized
  • Website traffic and conversions
  • Event attendance rates
  • Ticket sales and profits earned.

Make sure to use data to make informed decisions as you grow and expand your business—it will save you time, energy, and money. These metrics will also come in handy when you pitch your business to more clients. You can cite these to prove you’ve run a similar successful event to the one you’re pitching and prove your value.

7. Time management

No matter how many tasks you automate and how organized you are, you’ll always have plenty on your to-do list. Managing time well is crucial for an event organizer dreaming about how to start an event planning business.

Meetings, for instance, are simultaneously one of the best ways to connect with people and a total drag on our time. While you’ll need to connect with clients regularly, you can make your meetings more efficient .

Create a solid agenda and stick to it, with just enough chit-chat to build a relationship with clients and vendors. As you build out your staff, resist the temptation to add unnecessary meetings to everyone’s calendar.

8. Manage the stress of starting an event planning business

Most importantly, throughout all of this, stay calm. Being an entrepreneur can be stressful. The more you can keep a cool head about you, the higher your chances of success. 

Your own confidence and calm will also affect how your team, clients, and sponsors feel about you. Your team wants to be led with a steady hand, and your certainty about your projects will reflect on their ability to perform their own duties. 

Similarly, your clients and sponsors want to feel like they’re in good hands. By working on your own calm, you’ll earn their trust and cooperation. The more you respond to questions and issues with appropriate, calm answers, the more they’ll trust you.

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

There are a few steps you can take to manage your stress levels:

Set realistic goals 

Set realistic business goals to avoid frustration and burnout. This will help you remain focused, motivated, and moving forward, even if it is slow. You’ll be doing a lot of hard work, and you want to be able to measure your success after a big day.

Take time for self-care

As a business owner, it can be easy to neglect self-care. However, it is crucial to prioritize your well-being by eating well, getting enough sleep, and exercising. Make sure you have plenty of good things going on outside of work, and don’t let work be the first thing you think of when you take a break.

Connect with others

Connect with other event planners, business mentors, or support groups. Surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals can help you gain valuable insights and inspiration, as well as relieve stress. See if there are local events for your industry, and check in with your colleagues about how they maintain a healthy work-life balance.

Keep learning

Stay informed by attending conferences, webinars, and training sessions. Learning new skills and approaches can help you stay motivated, grow your business, and reduce stress. You can also take event planning classes to help you feel more confident in your skills, on top of your life experience.

Invest in your business

On top of education, you should also invest in your business. Make sure you have the office equipment you need, and feel free to hire staff to help run the business if you have the financial backing to afford it. Learning to trust others to help out is the most fundamental step in growing your business. If you’re working without the right tools, it can add significant stress to your day.

Start your event planning business off right

If you follow these steps, you’ll be ready to get a good start on your event planning business. Starting a business is a lot of work, but this way you’ll have a structure you can use to succeed.

The most successful event organizers use the best tools to make their jobs easier. So when you’re ready to start selling tickets online and collecting payments from attendees , remember that Eventbrite has your back!

Ready to host your event?

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Laura Bennett

Laura Bennett is an accomplished freelance writer who specializes in project management, SaaS, eCommerce, and hospitality topics. She’s written for well-known brands such as monday.com and ActiveCampaign. Before embracing a freelance career, Laura worked as a marketing and events executive, where she spent years planning and managing corporate events. When she isn't writing, she loves to be outside either swimming, hiking, running, or admiring people's dogs (without being weird about it).

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How to Start an Event Planning Business in (2024): Step-by-Step Guide

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Free How to Write an Event Planning Business Plan + Free Template Template

how to start an event planning business

The joy of making special days and big events even more special for the attendees seems exciting right? This is what event planners exactly do.

Whether it’s birthday celebrations, weddings, anniversaries, or corporate galas, the demand for expert event planners is soaring.

Starting an event planning business can be a great move because initially it needs a small investment, and you can make good money out of it.

It is a profitable venture but if are you confused about how to start an event planning business , then let us understand it through this guide.

Get to know the basics of event planning

Before you start getting into the process of starting an event planning business, you should know the basics of event planning, like what would be your responsibilities, what kind of events are there, etc.

So let’s get started:

Event Planning is most often used for purposes like

  • Social Events: Weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, reunions, etc
  • Corporate Events: Seminars, workshops,  conferences, product launches, award ceremonies, gala dinners, etc.
  • Cultural and Art Events: Art cultural celebrations, exhibitions, music festivals, etc

Key responsibilities of an Event Planner include

  • First of all, consult with your client properly before the event to understand their needs, objectives, and preferences.
  • You need to build a team as per the event type, whether it is a corporate or social event.
  • Prepare a budget to ensure that the event’s overall costs stay within the financial constraints of the customer.
  • Choose a venue that aligns with the event’s size, and theme.
  • Oversee the various vendors including florists, caterers, and photographers ensuring that they are all synchronized with the timeline.

After having a glimpse of the basics of event planning business, let’s see what is required next to start your business journey.

Quick Steps to Start an Event Planning Business

  • Conduct Industry and Market Research
  • Identify Your Event Planning Niche
  • Prepare an Event Planning Business Plan
  • Consider Startup and Operations Costs
  • Paperwork and Legal Registration
  • Figure Out Pricing Strategy
  • Get Licenses, Permits, and Insurance
  • Build a Core Team
  • Marketing to Spread the Word

1. Conduct Industry and Market Research

All businesses have competition – that’s what keeps the market in balance.So it is necessary to conduct thorough research of the market to identify your competitors and the current trends.

Moreover, it also helps you understand your target customers, identify market needs, develop marketing strategies, and maintain a competitive edge.

At the primary stage of your research, you may conduct surveys to learn more about your potential clients and their problems.

Now gather information for the secondary research from online resources and industry reports. Compiling and analyzing this data with your primary research will help you highlight the areas that need attention.

Besides identifying your target market, market research is instrumental in strategic planning for the future of your business. It also helps you discover effective growth strategies by setting the targets for your business and making you aware of your competitors.

2. Identify Your Event Planning Niche

Are you aware that knowing a “niche” is a must in the Event Planning Company? A niche is a segment of the market that an event planner focuses on serving.

Identifying your niche involves determining a specific area or target audience within the broader event industry where you can focus and distinguish your services. This allows you to delve into a specific client base and build a reputation for expertise in that particular niche.

Let’s have a look at a few of the common niches and event types:

Social Events

  • Wedding planning
  • Baby Showers
  • Anniversaries
  • Bachelor/Bachelorette Parties
  • Birthday Parties

Corporate Events

  • Award ceremonies
  • Conferences
  • Corporate Meetings
  • Grand Openings
  • Product or Service Launch Party

So you can develop various strategies for your venture after deciding upon any of the following above-mentioned niches as per the demand in the events industry.

3. Prepare an Event Planning Business Plan

Once you know your niche, it’s time to put together your business plan, which is an essential step of any business. A well-structured event planning business plan will help you build a roadmap for your business, by setting out where you want your business to go and how you intend to go there.

This business document will include details about your business, its history, service offerings, management, financial health, and more.

A business plan becomes particularly crucial when one seeks financial support from banks or other institutions. It provides a transparent overview of your plans to attain financial and operational objectives, offering reassurance to funders about the feasibility of loan repayment.

Although, many consider it just a way to peak investors’ interest, a solid business plan can change the entire course of your small business.

Besides these, it also provides a structure for your company’s daily operations, helps you understand the market trend, provides an exit strategy, and also helps to attract key employees.

Not very good at writing? Need help with your plan?

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how much money is needed to start an event planning business

4. Consider Startup and Operations Costs

The next foremost step is determining your financing requirements. You must have an in-depth understanding of your startup and operational costs.

You can estimate your startup costs by listing down the essential startup supplies, insurance costs, licensing requirements, office space, and associated expenses.

The operational costs include venue costs, decoration costs, employee salary, marketing, advertising costs, etc.

5. Paperwork and Legal Registration

Setting up the paperwork and legal registration for your event planning company is an important step to ensure that you are committed to legal norms.

First things first – before you start your event planning business finalize the legal structure and do business as (DBA) name of your business.

Brainstorm different names and pick something that reflects your business idea.

You can also opt for the DBA (Doing Business As) name. It allows the business to operate under another name other than the formal business name.

Register your Business Name

Once you have a name decided, it’s time to register your business entity with the state and local government. This will ensure that your business name is yours and you can do the business using that name.

Register your Business Structure

A business structure describes how a company is legally organized. This is an essential part.

You can choose from different business structures like operating as a sole proprietor (if you’ll be running the company on your own), a partnership, as well as other entities that provide limited liability (which ensures you won’t be held responsible for the company’s debts or other actions).

Get an EIN: Federal Tax ID Number

The process for this can vary, so you can reach out to the office of your state’s Secretary for specific guidance. Moreover, obtaining an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS Internal Revenue System is essential.

Once you have your EIN, you can open a business bank account, apply for a loan, and separate your personal and business finances.

6. Figure Out Pricing Strategy

The pricing structure depends on the market segment you serve, your potential customers, geographic location, expertise, and most importantly your competitor will help you decide your fees.

How you price your event planning services will impact how often you get requests.

You can determine your pricing structure as follows:

Hourly Rate: Initially, some event planners might charge around $25 per hour, while experienced planners can command rates exceeding $100 per hour. Corporate events tend to bring in rates about 30% higher than social events.

Flat Fee: This is a common approach where you charge a fixed price for your event planning services, often including a percentage of the total fees from vendors.

Percentage of Total Event Budget: Some planners prefer charging a percentage of the overall event budget, which could range from 15% to 20%.

Vendor Commission : A few planners choose to decrease their charges or may charge nothing for their services instead they prefer to make their income solely from commissions received from vendors they work with.

7. Get Licenses, Permits, and Insurance

Licensing and legal requirements are important in starting and running your own event planning business.

Common licenses you need to run this business are:

  • Business License
  • Special Event Permit
  • Liquor license
  • Fire/fireworks permit
  • Health and Safety Permit
  • Seller’s Permit

Insurance: While not a permit or license, having general liability insurance, and possibly professional liability insurance, is highly recommended to protect your business from potential liabilities.

8. Build a Core Team

Hiring employees is a crucial step. The team you set up will be the business’s backbone, helping you effectively manage and execute events.

Here are key roles you need to consider when building your core team:

  • Event Coordinator
  • Marketing and Communication Specialist
  • Sales Representative
  • Logistics Coordinator
  • Administrative Support

You can hire event planners from Zippia, Upwork, Workstream, and also through LinkedIn.

9. Marketing to Spread the Word

You need to build effective marketing strategies to spread the word about your business to attract clients and establish your brand in the competitive world of events. You also need to set some marketing budget.

Here are some key areas to consider:

Target Audience

Who are you trying to reach and cover? Understand their interests, objectives, and event planning needs.

Developing a Strong Brand Identity

First, see what makes your service stand out. Developing a strong USP(Unique Selling Proposition) will help you grow your business by making it recognizable in a competitive market.

Build a professional website

Create a website that is visually appealing, informative, user-friendly, and easy to navigate.

Content Marketing

Be active on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, sharing visually appealing content and engaging with your audience.

Showcase your successful events and satisfied clients to demonstrate your capabilities. Post the reviews of your customers on social media accounts.

Now you might be pretty much clear about how to kick-start an Event Planning Business.

To launch successfully, it’s essential to have a deep understanding of your target market, a solid business plan, and a clear grasp of the legal structure and financial aspects of running the business.

You’ve got everything now! What are you waiting for? Let’s start your journey as an event planner.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What do you need to start an event planning business.

To start an event planning business, you’ll need several key components:

  • Business Plan
  • Market Research
  • Legal Setup
  • Financial Management
  • Branding and Marketing

Do you need a degree to start an event planning business?

Technically speaking, you don’t need an event planning degree to become a professional event planner. However, there are certain qualities, skills, and certificates to help you attract clients when you start the event planning industry.

A degree in a field related to events planning, design, and management may give you an edge. All other skills can be developed over time.

How can I find clients as a new event planner?

You can get your customers through:

  • Building an online presence
  • Collaborations with known faces
  • Referral Programs
  • Advertisement

Should I register my business as an LLC, sole proprietorship, or corporation?

Each structure has pros and cons, so consult with a legal or financial           advisor for the best fit:

  • Sole proprietorship: Easiest to set up, but you have unlimited personal liability.
  • LLC: Offers some liability protection and is relatively simple to manage.
  • Corporation: More complex setup, but provides greater liability protection and tax benefits.

What skills are required to be an event planner?

To become a successful event planner, you may not need formal education, but you do have to master these skills:

  • Communication Skills
  • Networking skills
  • Adaptability
  • Negotiation Skills
  • Budget Management
  • Level-headed and calm under pressure
  • Attentive to details
  • Humble and Responsive to Clients’ Needs

About the Author

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

Shyam Dua is a seasoned tax professional with 40+ years of experience & a mentor at SCORE. He stands out due to his exceptional business planning skills. With a keen eye for detail and a strong financial acumen, Shyam crafts compelling business plans that pave the way to success. A CPA with a philanthropic heart, Shyam's strategic expertise, and dedication make him an invaluable asset in shaping thriving business ventures. Read more

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How to Start an Event Planning Business

Event planners help their clients organize and orchestrate events of all types and sizes. Everything from weddings and social gatherings to an industry-specific, professional soiree, an event planner’s job is to make sure everything runs smoothly, ensuring that any problems will be handled appropriately.

You may also be interested in additional low cost business ideas .

Learn how to start your own Event Planning Business and whether it is the right fit for you.

Ready to form your LLC? Check out the Top LLC Formation Services .

Event Planning Business Image

Start an event planning business by following these 10 steps:

  • Plan your Event Planning Business
  • Form your Event Planning Business into a Legal Entity
  • Register your Event Planning Business for Taxes
  • Open a Business Bank Account & Credit Card
  • Set up Accounting for your Event Planning Business
  • Get the Necessary Permits & Licenses for your Event Planning Business
  • Get Event Planning Business Insurance
  • Define your Event Planning Business Brand
  • Create your Event Planning Business Website
  • Set up your Business Phone System

We have put together this simple guide to starting your event planning business. These steps will ensure that your new business is well planned out, registered properly and legally compliant.

Exploring your options? Check out other small business ideas .

STEP 1: Plan your business

A clear plan is essential for success as an entrepreneur. It will help you map out the specifics of your business and discover some unknowns. A few important topics to consider are:

What will you name your business?

  • What are the startup and ongoing costs?
  • Who is your target market?

How much can you charge customers?

Luckily we have done a lot of this research for you.

Choosing the right name is important and challenging. If you don’t already have a name in mind, visit our How to Name a Business guide or get help brainstorming a name with our Event Planning Business Name Generator

If you operate a sole proprietorship , you might want to operate under a business name other than your own name. Visit our DBA guide to learn more.

When registering a business name , we recommend researching your business name by checking:

  • Your state's business records
  • Federal and state trademark records
  • Social media platforms
  • Web domain availability .

It's very important to secure your domain name before someone else does.

Want some help naming your event planning business?

Business name generator, what are the costs involved in opening an event planning business.

An event planning business can have a fairly low overhead for start-up. If you are based from home, you will avoid rent and utilities costs. Other costs will include:

  • Business website and site hosting
  • High speed internet and phone service
  • Advertising and marketing
  • Business licenses and taxes

What are the ongoing expenses for an event planning business?

Re-stocking supplies, employee payroll and replacing damaged or broken equipment constitute much of the ongoing expenses. Other expenses can include:

  • Event publicity and invitations
  • Equipment rental
  • Signage and flyers

Who is the target market?

Your target market will consist of clients wanting either social or corporate event planning. Social event age groups range between 25-60+ whereas corporate events are focused more on employees and other business entities, regardless of age.

How does an event planning business make money?

Event planners make their money from the service fees, paid by the client, for the planning and operations of the event.

Because events are priced on a sliding scale of size and supplies/workers needed, pricing can range quite a bit. Many event planners charge a percentage, say 15-20%, relative to the overall cost of the event. Therefore, if an event is $100,000, the event planner would be collecting between $15,000-$20,000.

How much profit can an event planning business make?

Profit margins depend on the size and number of events you pick up per year. A social event planning business can make between $10 - $75 per hour, whereas a corporate level event planning business could charge between $15-$150 per hour. An average salary for an event planner employee is around $35,000 annually, with an owner averaging $75,000-80,000.

How can you make your business more profitable?

As the event planning business becomes well-established, you may consider adding additional services, such as catering, bartending, or even photography to your customer options. By supplying in-house hospitality services, you are able to offer clients a full-service experience and, in turn, create more business revenue.

Want a more guided approach? Access TRUiC's free Small Business Startup Guide - a step-by-step course for turning your business idea into reality. Get started today!

STEP 2: Form a legal entity

The most common business structure types are the sole proprietorship , partnership , limited liability company (LLC) , and corporation .

Establishing a legal business entity such as an LLC or corporation protects you from being held personally liable if your event planning business is sued.

Form Your LLC

Read our Guide to Form Your Own LLC

Have a Professional Service Form your LLC for You

Two such reliable services:

You can form an LLC yourself and pay only the minimal state LLC costs or hire one of the Best LLC Services for a small, additional fee.

Recommended: You will need to elect a registered agent for your LLC. LLC formation packages usually include a free year of registered agent services . You can choose to hire a registered agent or act as your own.

STEP 3: Register for taxes

You will need to register for a variety of state and federal taxes before you can open for business.

In order to register for taxes you will need to apply for an EIN. It's really easy and free!

You can acquire your EIN through the IRS website . If you would like to learn more about EINs, read our article, What is an EIN?

There are specific state taxes that might apply to your business. Learn more about state sales tax and franchise taxes in our state sales tax guides.

STEP 4: Open a business bank account & credit card

Using dedicated business banking and credit accounts is essential for personal asset protection.

When your personal and business accounts are mixed, your personal assets (your home, car, and other valuables) are at risk in the event your business is sued. In business law, this is referred to as piercing your corporate veil .

Open a business bank account

Besides being a requirement when applying for business loans, opening a business bank account:

  • Separates your personal assets from your company's assets, which is necessary for personal asset protection.
  • Makes accounting and tax filing easier.

Recommended: Read our Best Banks for Small Business review to find the best national bank or credit union.

Get a business credit card

Getting a business credit card helps you:

  • Separate personal and business expenses by putting your business' expenses all in one place.
  • Build your company's credit history , which can be useful to raise money later on.

Recommended: Apply for an easy approval business credit card from BILL and build your business credit quickly.

STEP 5: Set up business accounting

Recording your various expenses and sources of income is critical to understanding the financial performance of your business. Keeping accurate and detailed accounts also greatly simplifies your annual tax filing.

Make LLC accounting easy with our LLC Expenses Cheat Sheet.

STEP 6: Obtain necessary permits and licenses

Failure to acquire necessary permits and licenses can result in hefty fines, or even cause your business to be shut down.

State & Local Business Licensing Requirements

Certain state permits and licenses may be needed to operate an event planning business. Learn more about licensing requirements in your state by visiting SBA’s reference to state licenses and permits .

Most businesses are required to collect sales tax on the goods or services they provide. To learn more about how sales tax will affect your business, read our article, Sales Tax for Small Businesses .

Services Contract

Event planning businesses should require clients to sign a services agreement before starting a new project. This agreement should clarify client expectations and minimize risk of legal disputes by setting out payment terms and conditions, service level expectations, and intellectual property ownership. Here is an example of one such services agreement.

Recommended: Rocket Lawyer makes it easy to create a professional service agreement for your event planning business when you sign up for their premium membership. For $39.95 per month, members receive access to hundreds of legal agreements and on call attorneys to get complimentary legal advice.

STEP 7: Get business insurance

Just as with licenses and permits, your business needs insurance in order to operate safely and lawfully. Business Insurance protects your company’s financial wellbeing in the event of a covered loss.

There are several types of insurance policies created for different types of businesses with different risks. If you’re unsure of the types of risks that your business may face, begin with General Liability Insurance . This is the most common coverage that small businesses need, so it’s a great place to start for your business.

Another notable insurance policy that many businesses need is Workers’ Compensation Insurance . If your business will have employees, it’s a good chance that your state will require you to carry Workers' Compensation Coverage.

FInd out what types of insurance your Event Planning Business needs and how much it will cost you by reading our guide Business Insurance for Event Planning Business.

STEP 8: Define your brand

Your brand is what your company stands for, as well as how your business is perceived by the public. A strong brand will help your business stand out from competitors.

If you aren't feeling confident about designing your small business logo, then check out our Design Guides for Beginners , we'll give you helpful tips and advice for creating the best unique logo for your business.

Recommended : Get a logo using Truic's free logo Generator no email or sign up required, or use a Premium Logo Maker .

If you already have a logo, you can also add it to a QR code with our Free QR Code Generator . Choose from 13 QR code types to create a code for your business cards and publications, or to help spread awareness for your new website.

How to promote & market an event planning business

Marketing and promotion of your business will rely on highlighting your business strengths or areas of focus. You will also rely heavily on the success of past events and the positive words or recommendations of prior clients. Consistently use social media outlets to supply pictures and video of your events as well as connect and network with prospective clients and related professionals.

You will also need a website for your business. By linking to your site, you can give clients more information about your specialties. And, once they are on your website, they can contact you for additional questions and to book you for events.

How to keep customers coming back

Providing a professional level of service and an impeccable relationship for giving the customer what they want is key. People are buying a service from you, for a particularly important event. Your ability to satisfy their desires will determine how many return customers you’ll have.

STEP 9: Create your business website

After defining your brand and creating your logo the next step is to create a website for your business .

While creating a website is an essential step, some may fear that it’s out of their reach because they don’t have any website-building experience. While this may have been a reasonable fear back in 2015, web technology has seen huge advancements in the past few years that makes the lives of small business owners much simpler.

Here are the main reasons why you shouldn’t delay building your website:

  • All legitimate businesses have websites - full stop. The size or industry of your business does not matter when it comes to getting your business online.
  • Social media accounts like Facebook pages or LinkedIn business profiles are not a replacement for a business website that you own.
  • Website builder tools like the GoDaddy Website Builder have made creating a basic website extremely simple. You don’t need to hire a web developer or designer to create a website that you can be proud of.

Recommended : Get started today using our recommended website builder or check out our review of the Best Website Builders .

Other popular website builders are: WordPress , WIX , Weebly , Squarespace , and Shopify .

STEP 10: Set up your business phone system

Getting a phone set up for your business is one of the best ways to help keep your personal life and business life separate and private. That’s not the only benefit; it also helps you make your business more automated, gives your business legitimacy, and makes it easier for potential customers to find and contact you.

There are many services available to entrepreneurs who want to set up a business phone system. We’ve reviewed the top companies and rated them based on price, features, and ease of use. Check out our review of the Best Business Phone Systems 2023 to find the best phone service for your small business.

Recommended Business Phone Service: Phone.com

Phone.com is our top choice for small business phone numbers because of all the features it offers for small businesses and it's fair pricing.

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Is this Business Right For You?

Those with an eye for detail, applied creativity, and the ability to easily converse with the general public, will find a great match in event planning. You must also have patience, humility, and the ability to help materialize the customer’s vision for their event.

Want to know if you are cut out to be an entrepreneur?

Take our Entrepreneurship Quiz to find out!

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What happens during a typical day at an event planning business?

An event planning business makes its money from hosted events. This means interacting with current and potential customers is critical. Either one on one or through larger social media outlets, a successful event planner must constantly work to get their name and reputation known to the public. Additionally, the business will be:

  • Reading and responding to customer e-mails
  • Re-stocking event inventory
  • Communicating with vendors or business partners, regarding upcoming jobs
  • Marketing and PR work
  • Employee training and continued education

What are some skills and experiences that will help you build a successful event planning business?

To begin, it is not necessary to obtain a degree or professional certificate of training for event planning. It may help you, but many successful event planners learned many of the skills needed from on the job training. A background in customer service or the hospitality industry can provide great experience.

You should also be familiar with or be able to:

  • Communicate effectively, both in writing and verbally
  • Possess strong organizational skills
  • Be flexible and prepared to make adjustments to plans

What is the growth potential for an event planning business?

Event planning is steadily growing as an industry. With increased globalization in business, more and more companies are looking to host professional, well-organized events to grow their own businesses. And, as business grows internationally, event planning will continue to mirror this trend.

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Take the Next Step

Find a business mentor.

One of the greatest resources an entrepreneur can have is quality mentorship. As you start planning your business, connect with a free business resource near you to get the help you need.

Having a support network in place to turn to during tough times is a major factor of success for new business owners.

Learn from other business owners

Want to learn more about starting a business from entrepreneurs themselves? Visit Startup Savant’s startup founder series to gain entrepreneurial insights, lessons, and advice from founders themselves.

Resources to Help Women in Business

There are many resources out there specifically for women entrepreneurs. We’ve gathered necessary and useful information to help you succeed both professionally and personally:

If you’re a woman looking for some guidance in entrepreneurship, check out this great new series Women in Business created by the women of our partner Startup Savant.

What are some insider tips for jump starting an event planning business?

Understand your client base and seek to create a niche for your business. A niche may be weddings and receptions only. Or events near the coast. If you carve out your own special place amongst the competition, the specialization should pay off in return customers and customer referrals.

  • Market towards the demographics you’re most likely to see in your area.
  • Join a professional event planner association. Networking with other professionals can garner excellent insider tips.
  • Make your business as well known as possible through social media. Free advertising, especially for start-ups, is an excellent resource.

How and when to build a team

From the onset of starting an event planning business, you’ll need to consider who should be part of your team. It will be necessary to carefully select individuals who understand the multiple roles they will play in creating successful events. As your client list and event size and frequency grows, you’ll want to bring in more staff. You may even consider having an overflow pool of workers, who are pulled in for larger events or as needed, but aren’t full-time employees.

Useful Links

Industry opportunities.

  • Event Planners Association
  • Event Service Professionals Association

Real World Examples

  • The Event Planner
  • Who’s Got the Time?
  • Elle A Events

Further Reading

  • Tips for starting this business from home
  • Considerations when starting this business
  • Tips for starting this business

Have a Question? Leave a Comment!

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How Much Does It Cost To Start An Event Planning Business?

Cost-LB

Starting your own event planning business can be a very rewarding experience, but it’s important to understand the cost involved in getting started. This article will explore the different expenses you can expect to encounter when starting your own event planning business. We will also offer tips on how to save money and how to budget for your new venture.

Costs of Starting an Event Planning Business

You need to consider a few different costs when starting an event planning business. The first cost is the initial investment, which can range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand, depending on the size and scope of your business. The second cost is the ongoing costs associated with running your business, such as marketing, advertising, office expenses, etc. The third cost is the cost of your time, which is important to consider if you plan on running your business full-time.

  • The estimated cost range is between $600 and $5,000.
  • The average cost of an event planning business is $3,500.

What to Expect When Starting an Event Planning Business

When starting an event planning business, you can expect to incur some initial costs, such as the cost of a website, business cards, and marketing materials. You will also need to factor in the cost of your time, as you will need to dedicate a significant amount of time to get your business off the ground. In addition, you may need to hire staff or outsource some services, which can add to your costs. However, there are ways to save money when starting an event planning business, which we will discuss later.

Ongoing Costs Associated with Running an Event Planning Business

There are a few ongoing costs associated with running an event planning business. The first is marketing and advertising. You will need to spend money to promote your business and attract new clients. In addition, you will need to budget for office expenses, such as rent, utilities, and supplies. You may also need to hire staff or outsource some services.

  • The estimated monthly cost of running an event planning business is between $200 and $2,000.
  • The average monthly cost of running an event planning business is $1,000.

How to Save Money When Starting an Event Planning Business

There are a few ways to save money when starting an event planning business. One way is to start your business part-time and gradually transition to full-time as your business grows. This will allow you to keep your costs low while you get your business off the ground. Another way to save money is to use low-cost or free marketing and advertising channels, such as social media, to promote your business. You can also save money by doing some of the work yourself or partnering with other businesses to share costs.

Starting an event planning business can be a very rewarding experience, but it’s important to understand the cost involved in getting started. This article has explored the different expenses you can expect to encounter when starting your own event planning business, as well as how to save money and how to budget for your new venture. The estimated cost range is between $600 and $5,000, with the average cost being $3,500. The estimated monthly cost of running an event planning business is between $200 and $2,000, with the average monthly cost being $1,000. There are a few ways to save money when starting an event planning business, such as starting your business part-time, using low-cost or free marketing and advertising channels, or doing some of the work yourself. With a little planning and preparation, you can be on your way to starting a successful event planning business.

Social Tables

How to start an event planning business

If you’re looking to snag one of the 116,700+ (on average) jobs available to meeting, convention, and event managers out there, here’s what you’ll need to get started.

Step 1: Determine if it’s a good fit.

Like most jobs, your skill set and personality will largely determine your success in this field. And while you don’t need to check off all the qualities on this list, here are some things to consider before you start an event management business :

  • You can keep the big picture in mind while still taking care of all the little details.
  • Whether it’s Sunday brunch or the company holiday party, you’re everyone’s go-to person for all group events.
  • Working within a budget and strict timeline makes you feel creatively stimulated, not stunted.

Try the most popular event management business software

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Step 2: Research certifications.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that demand for event managers will grow an additional 11% by the time we reach 2026. With such a positive industry outlook, it’s good to find new ways to stand out amongst the competition as new event planners enter the market in coming years.

Certifications are fantastic ways to add credibility to your business , regardless of your experience level. Besides proving you’re dedicated to further your education in the field, these credentials show that respected institutions can vouch for your abilities (and your business).

Some of the top certifications event managers pursue include:

  • Certified Special Events Professional
  • Certified Event Planning Specialist
  • Certified Quality Event Planner

There are lots more options to choose from, but these serve as a great jumping off point. However, if you aren’t able to acquire one right now, you can still get your business off the ground without it.

It’s worth noting that beyond certifications, there are no strict college degree requirements (although it seems most event planners do have some sort of bachelor’s education under their belts when starting out).  

Step 3: Fill out an event management business plan.

Any cursory Google search for the phrase event management business plan will inevitably lead you to some free wedding and event planning business plan templates .

However, you’ll find that the one we’ve created (below) provides a not too much, not too little approach you won’t find in any other guides.

Each point has been carefully selected so that you can create the event management business plan of your dreams without getting overwhelmed or missing out on details you definitely need to include. As long as you check off the items we listed, you’ll have a solid business plan ready to go in no time.

Step 4: Handle all the necessary paperwork.

To start an event management business, you’ll need each of the following:

  • An event management business plan (use the free template we made below)
  • Approval for a tax business structure that suits your financial needs
  • General business liability insurance

These documents cover all the basics. But as you gain more experience, you might want to add on things like home-based insurance or upgrade to a new tax entity once you enter into the appropriate bracket.

We won’t get into these more advanced concepts for this beginner guide, but make sure to revisit these categories before you’re officially open for business.

Step 5: Figure out finances.

To be clear, you definitely can start an event management business with no money ! However, whether your funding is from your own bank account or someone else’s, small businesses in the events industry should consider starting out with these budget line items:

  • Office space and essentials. You can use the computer, printer, and supplies you already have, assuming you do have (or can at least borrow) those things now. But keep in mind: if you’d like to write off your in-home office space on your federal taxes, your room must be secluded and have its own door.
  • Advertising. At the very least make sure you have a small batch of business cards and a portfolio website ready to go. If you have some cash to spare, consider getting into paid social media ads or printed marketing materials like mailers.
  • Software. The good news is there are plenty of great free event management software programs available these days, so you might not even have to budget for this one!

And that’s basically it! Depending on your niche or preferences, it would be good to also use this startup costs guide created by the Small Business Association to see if there’s anything else specific to you that might be missing.

Step 6: Choose a team.

Vendors, chefs, marketing agencies, software providers, event staff, and personal or office assistants all make wonderful additions to your event management business.

You can start out on your own (which, according to small business statistics , most people do) or you can go through the process of finding, interviewing, and hiring employees.

Depending on the amount of new business you plan to take on, you may or may not need to ever hire someone to help you part-time. At the very least though, you should start compiling a list of people who fit into this network so you can collaborate, get referrals, and perhaps even sub-contract them in the future.

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What is your vision for an event planning business?

Once you’ve completed all of these steps, it’s time to review the big picture. As you figure out your plan, budget, and staffing options, your idea of what you want for your business might change. And that’s totally okay!

Learning how to be flexible is a skill all small business owners must learn. Just make sure you adjust now so you can carry your vision with you for future decision making.

Event planning journal

How to write a personal event planning business plan

1. create an executive summary.

  • Objectives. Write down your realistic and measurable business goals .
  • Mission. Check out these inspiring company mission statements for ideas.
  • Keys to Success. Also known as why you think your business will succeed and how you will make sure it does.

2. Make a company summary

  • Company Ownership. If it’s just you, consider doing a sole proprietorship .
  • Start-up Summary . Think of it like a company overview . Include your business’s back story, location, and anything else you’d basically put on your website’s About section.
  • Company Locations and Facilities. Include the address you’ll put on your taxes and any long term rentals like kitchen prep spaces or coworking offices.

3. Identify your products and services

  • Services. Event management services can really vary so use this section to outline what you do and what you don’t do.
  • Prices. The average yearly event planner’s salary comes out to about $50,000 so plan accordingly.
  • Competitive Comparison. Who are your immediate competitors? What do they have that you don’t? Record this research and look for imaginative ways to stand out. Be very honest with your assessment of how your business stacks up against them and what you should do to improve your chances of success.

Try the most popular event management software in the world

4. create a marketing analysis summary.

  • Marketing Segmentation. Targeting means finding what area, demographic, or behavioral patterns your high ROI prospects all have in common, just like you’d do for any customer-focused corporate event.
  • Target Market Segmentation Strategy. Now that you know who you audience it is, it’s time to research and define all the ways you plan to gain their business.

5. Do a strategy and implementation summary

  • Sales Strategy. Here are the two best advanced event business pricing strategies to choose from.
  • Sales Forecast. It’s a bit complicated, but figuring out how much money you think your business will make over the next six months to a year (or more) makes studying a sales forecasting guide well worth the effort.
  • Milestones . Whether your goal is the total number of sales or income from sales (or something else entirely), you’ll want to formally establish what milestones you’d like to hit by when. Just leave wiggle room for the unexpected and adjust expectations as you go.

6. Write a management summary

  • Organizational Structure. For event management teams, clearly defined roles are more important for teamwork than pretty much anything else.
  • Personnel Plan. Here are some things to know about hiring staff for an event specifically that will also apply to your company as a whole.

7. Create your financial plan

  • Important Assumptions. Business plan assumptions can be fairly complex. For now, just focus on listing your anticipated fixed and variable event planning expenses , marketing costs, and what taxes you’ll have to pay on your earned income.
  • Break-Even Analysis . How much did you invest? And how much will you need to earn (after taxes, equipment costs, etc. are subtracted) in order to equal your initial investment? Keep this number handy – it’ll help you decide whether or not to take on more projects, motivate you to upsell whenever possible, and give you a realistic for success.
  • Projected Profit and Loss. The IRS might want to see your profit and loss statements at some point, so make a point to regularly record your expenses and sales in one organized document.
  • Projected Cash Flow. This free (and very helpful) small business book says to calculate it one month at a time for more accurate figures.
  • Projected Balance Sheet. If you’ll be acting as your own bookkeeper, check out this balance sheet template to speed up the process.
  • Business Ratios. Even if you’re not a math person, you can definitely handle this last (but very important) event management business plan step. There are lots of business ratios to choose from, but if you want the quickstart version go with these 3 most important balance sheet ratios for professional services firms .

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

Now you know how to start an event management business!

How do you become an event planner? You plan. Plan your business, plan your client’s events, and plan for a successful future.

There are lots of details involved but if you follow the ideas laid out in this guide, you’ll have yourself a healthy event management business plan along with some great strategies for reaching your goals!

19 Trends Shacking Up Events in 2019

For more on starting your own company , check out these tips for financing your event business , current event statistics worth considering, and event trends you should know for 2019.

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Get Going → Events & Entertainment

How to start an event planning business

February 17, 2022

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Step 1: Understand the job requirements

Step 2: find your niche, step 3: write a business plan, step 4: market your business, step 5: get insurance, get the party started, subscribe to greenlight by thimble..

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Whether you’re coordinating and facilitating a wedding, a conference, a trade show, or a corporate fundraiser, event planning is a high-pressure, high-stakes job.

It takes a whole lot of creativity, energy, organization, and people skills to thrive in the event planning industry—but if you have those qualities, being an event planner can be a career to celebrate. Knowing how to start an event planning business is your first order of business.

You may have already coordinated events on a smaller or ad-hoc scale. That experience will help you as you move forward in this industry. But launching an official party planning business requires jumping through legal and logistical hoops.

Think you have what it takes to become a professional party planner? (We think you do.) Here’s how to start an event planning business in 5 steps.

If you’re brand-new to the official event-planning industry, it’s easy to think that the job is all glitz, champagne, and celebrations. While that’s the result of your careful planning, things are a lot less glamorous behind the curtain. For any event, there are about a thousand boxes you (the professional planner) have to check off to ensure that everything runs smoothly for the client and attendees.

Those tasks may include, but aren’t limited to:

  • Creating an event design or theme
  • Arranging entertainment
  • Finding the venue
  • Booking vendors
  • Sending RSVPs and marketing information to attendees
  • Balancing a budget
  • Coordinating with staff and subcontractors
  • Decorating the space
  • Handling the catering and bar staff
  • Supervising the event

There are about a thousand more boxes to check off within each one of these tasks. The Type A personality type is well-suited to this line of work. You need to be:

  • Detail-oriented
  • Extremely organized
  • An ace problem solver
  • Have excellent communication skills.

Beyond that, you need to be a savvy negotiator, understand how to manage a budget, and know how to market your services. Especially if you’re a wedding planner, you must have high emotional intelligence to put nervous brides, grooms, wedding parties, and other starring attendees at ease in the midst of high-pressure situations.

If you’re not yet sure that your heart is fully in starting an event planning business on your own, it’s a good idea to give the job a test run. First, consider working as a personal or production assistant for an event planning company or experienced party planner. That way, you can see if the job is a good fit before you strike out on your own and find your corner of the business.

Once you’re clear on what the job entails, nail down your niche. Although you may be tempted to advertise yourself to prospective clients as a jack-or jill-of-all-trades, that’s actually not the best marketing strategy. A general title makes it much harder to distinguish yourself in a crowded market. Offering one type of service that you do really well demonstrates your expertise.

There are four primary types of events: social, corporate, nonprofit, and association—each with its own specializations. For example, managing a fundraising gala and coordinating a wedding are both social events, but they’re uniquely different jobs with distinctive requirements, challenges, and demands.

Once you’ve decided on your event specialization, consider your services. If you’re a wedding planner, for instance, will you offer full-service planning leading up to the wedding, or will you also offer day-of coordinating? Will you offer pre-wedding services such as showers, bachelor/bachelorette parties, and honeymoon planning, as well?

Perhaps you’ll eventually be able to offer a full range of event planning services. But when you’re just starting, narrow it down so you can perfect your flagship service. (Hint: that’s all part of your business plan.)

Writing a business plan is the next step to start a party planning business. Your business plan is a detailed guide outlining your business structure, what it offers, how it operates, its long- and short-term goals, and some crucial financial information.

Your business plan will not only help your business grow and reach important milestones, it can also attract funding. 1

Every business plan is different. Some are highly detailed for presenting to investors, and others act more as “road maps” that help the business owner organize a plan of action. At the very least, your preliminary business plan should address the following:

  • What services your business offers
  • How your business sets itself apart from competitors
  • Your target market
  • Your mission statement
  • How you plan to evolve your business over the next few years
  • Your business structure
  • Your business budget
  • How much money you have on hand, and how much you need to launch
  • Your funding sources

Luckily, there are tons of business plan tools and templates available. Start by checking out the SBA’s guide to writing a business plan, which includes sample business plans. 2

You also need to make your business official. Start by coming up with a business name and choosing a business entity. Next,register your business with your Secretary of State, Business Bureau, or Business Agency, and gather any funding you need to get your business off the ground.

After you register your business, you have to invite customers to your party.

As an event planner, you’re probably naturally gifted at networking, so now’s the time to use those skills. Word of mouth is one of the most effective marketing skills in this industry. Scour your network for potential leads and send out a mass email to your contacts announcing your business. Ask happy customers to spread the word to their friends, family, colleagues, and social media followers.

With the vast majority of consumers conducting their browsing, socializing, shopping, and pretty much everything else online, having a website for your small business is non-negotiable.

Fortunately, there are website platforms that allow you to bundle a domain name and hosting services and create a website in just minutes. For this step, remember to take the following actions:

  • Build your blog to improve search results
  • Utilize SEO best practices throughout the site
  • Design a site that’s visually appealing, clearly states what you do, and is tailored to your target audience
  • Make the site easy and intuitive to navigate
  • Be sure to include your contact information, links to your social media accounts, and a portfolio of your work

If you haven’t already done so, now’s the time to create social media accounts dedicated to your business. Instagram and Twitter are mainstays. But as your line of work is aesthetically driven, a Pinterest account can also be a great way to showcase your work and inspiration.

Big groups of people gathering together is inherently risky. A liability claim filed against your business could ground your event planning business before it even launches.

General liability insurance can cover you for liabilities like non-employee third-party bodily injury, third-party property damage, personal and advertising injury. It provides the investigation of a claim and even the defense of such claim if a client takes your business to court.

Thimble’s Event Insurance is the easiest and most flexible way to protect your business. You can choose a policy that covers you by the hour, day, month, or year, so you’ll only pay when you’re actually working an event.

Along with general liability coverage, Event Insurance offers the option to add liquor liability coverage , which provides coverage for legal fees and damages incurred because damage or injury caused by a third party as a result of alcohol consumption at your BYOB or open-bar event.

To get your quote, just download the Thimble mobile app or click “Get a Quote,” enter a few details about your business. When you purchase, you’ll receive your policy and as many certificate of liability insurance as you need via the Thimble app and email.

Now, you can run your business with the peace of mind you absolutely need to track down that missing vegetarian meal for the groom’s sister at Table One.

Before you bust out the bubbly, let’s quickly recap the five crucial steps to becoming a professional party planner:

  • Understand the job’s extensive requirements. Ideally, work as an assistant to a party planner, or organize small-scale parties to gain hands-on experience.
  • Pinpoint what types of events you’ll plan, and any other additional services you’ll offer clients.
  • Write a business plan and follow through with foundational requirements, like registering your business and gathering funding.
  • Network, create a website and social media accounts, and do whatever it takes to land your first client.
  • Protect your business by purchasing general liability insurance.

As you go about launching your company, remember that success takes time. Stick to your business plan, work on building a clientele, create connections in the industry, and take calculated risks. Do that, and your parties will soon be the talk of the town.

  • U.S. Small Business Administration. 5 Reasons You Need a Business Plan.
  • SBA. Write Your Business Plan.

Written on February 17, 2022

Our editorial content is intended for informational purposes only and is not written by a licensed insurance agent. Terms and conditions for rate and coverage may vary by class of business and state.

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Event Planning Business Plan Template

  • Written by Dave Lavinsky

Growthink.com Event Planning Business Plan

Table of Contents

Event planning business plan.

Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 5,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their event planning businesses. On this page, we will first give you some background information with regards to the importance of business planning. We will then go through an event planning business plan step-by-step so you can create your plan today.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here >

What Is an Event Planning Business Plan?

A business plan provides a snapshot of your own event planning business as it stands today, and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategy for reaching them. It also includes research to support your plans.

Why You Need a Business Plan for Your Event Planning Company

If you’re looking to start an event planner business or grow your existing one you need a business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the growth of your event planning business to improve your chances of success. Your event planning business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes.

Source of Funding for Event Planning Businesses

With regards to funding, the main sources of secure funding for an event planning business are bank loans, personal funding, credit cards, and angel investors. With regards to bank loans, banks will want to review your business plan and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the loan officer will not only want to confirm that your financials are reasonable. But they will want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business.

Another common form of secure funding for an event planning business is angel investors. Angel investors are wealthy individuals who will write you a check. They will either take equity in return for their funding or, like a bank, they will give you a loan. Venture capitalists will not fund an event planning business.

Finish Your Business Plan Today!

How to write a business plan for event planning.

When you write a business plan, you should include the following 10 key aspects:

Executive Summary

Your executive summary provides an introduction to your business plan, but it is normally the last section you write because it provides a summary of each important component of your plan.

The goal of your Executive Summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of event planning business you are operating and the status; for example, are you a startup, do you have an event planning business that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of businesses.

Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan. For example, give a brief overview of the event planning business industry. Discuss the type of business you are operating. Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target audience. Provide a snapshot of your marketing strategy and plan. Identify the key members of your team. And offer an overview of your financial plan.  

Company Analysis

In your company analysis, you will detail the type of business you are operating.

For example, you might operate one of the following types:

  • Corporate Events : this type of event planning business caters to businesses, charities, nonprofit organizations, and the like to plan fundraisers, receptions, conventions, trade shows, competitions, award ceremonies, product launches, and other types of meetings.
  • Social Events : this type of event planning business targets middle- to upper-income individuals and families to plan events such as weddings, birthdays, reunions, and other types of celebrations.
  • Niche Events : some event planners specialize in just one of the above event types.

In addition to explaining the type of event planning business you operate, the Company Analysis section of your business plan needs to provide background on the business.

Include answers to questions such as:

  • When and why did you start the business?
  • What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include sales goals you’ve reached, new contracts, etc.
  • Your legal structure. Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your business structure here.

Industry Analysis

In your industry analysis, you need to provide an overview of the event planning business.

While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

First, researching the industry educates you. It helps you understand the target market in which you are operating. 

Secondly, market research can improve your strategy particularly if your research identifies market trends. For example, if there was a trend towards events that adhere to social distancing guidelines, it would be helpful to ensure your plan details what approach you would take (suggested venues, creative solutions for inclusion, etc.).

The third reason for market research is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting the research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.

The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section:

  • How big is the event planning industry (in dollars)?
  • Is the market declining or increasing?
  • Who are the key competitors in the market?
  • Who are the key suppliers in the market?
  • What trends are affecting the industry?
  • What is the industry’s growth forecast over the next 5 – 10 years?
  • What is the relevant market size? That is, how big is the potential market for your business. You can extrapolate such a figure by assessing the size of the market in the entire country and then applying that figure to your local population.

Customer Analysis

The customer analysis section must detail the clientele you serve and/or expect to serve.

The following are examples of customer segments: private and corporate clients, high-income households, medium-income households, engaged couples, etc.

As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of event planning company you operate and the event services you offer. Clearly, businesses would want a different atmosphere, pricing, and product options, and would respond to different marketing promotions than engaged couples.

Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, including a discussion of the age groups, genders, locations, and income levels of the customers you seek to serve. Because most event planning companies primarily serve customers living in the same city or town, such demographic information is easy to find on government websites.

Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target market. The more you can understand and define these needs, the better you will do to attract customers and retain your existing customers.

With Growthink’s Ultimate Business Plan Template you can finish your plan in just 8 hours or less!

Competitive Analysis

Your competitive analysis should identify the indirect and direct competitors your business faces and then focus on the latter.

Direct competitors are other planners and businesses that offer event planning services.

Indirect competitors are other options that customers have to purchase from you that aren’t direct competitors. This includes caterers, venues, and customers planning events on their own. You need to mention such competition to show you understand that not everyone who throws a party hires an event planner each time.

With regards to direct competition, you want to detail the other businesses with which you compete. Most likely, your direct competitors will be other businesses that offer event planning services very close to your site.

For each such competitor, provide an overview of their businesses and document their strengths and weaknesses. Unless you once worked at your competitors’ businesses, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as:

  • What types of customers do they serve?
  • What planning services do they offer (wedding planning, baby showers, birthday parties, social events, etc.)?
  • What is their pricing (premium, low, etc.)?
  • What are they good at?
  • What are their weaknesses?

With regards to the last two questions, think about your answers from the customers’ perspective. 

The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:

  • Will you provide superior event management options (e.g., more cuisine types, better venue options, etc.)?
  • Will you provide event options that your competitors don’t offer?
  • Will you make it easier or faster for customers to book your services (e.g., utilizing event planning software, etc.)?
  • Will you provide better customer service?
  • Will you offer better pricing?

Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your plan.

Marketing Plan

Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For an event management business plan, your marketing strategy should include the following:

In the product section, you should reiterate the type of business that you documented in your Company Analysis. Then, detail the specific products/services you will be offering. For example, in addition to designing the event, locating the venue, arranging vendors, coordinating personnel, and supervising the event, will you offer services such as catering, decor, and entertainment?

In this section, document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price sub-sections, you are presenting the services you offer and their prices.

Place refers to the location of your event management business, conference centers, and/or venues in which you own and/or have a relationship. Document your location and mention how the location will impact your success.

The final part of your event planning business marketing plan is the promotions section. Here you will document how you will drive customers to your site. The following are some promotional methods you might consider:

  • Social media marketing
  • Advertising in local papers and magazines
  • Reaching out to local bloggers and websites 
  • Partnerships with local organizations (e.g., getting on the list of recommended vendors with local venues)
  • Local radio advertising
  • Banner ads at local venues

Operations Plan

While the earlier sections of your event planner business plan explained your goals, your operations plan describes how you will meet them. Your operations plan should have two distinct sections as follows.

Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your event planning business such as interviewing clients, making arrangements, keeping the store/studio clean, etc.

Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to serve your 100th customer, or when you hope to reach $X in total sales. It could also be when you expect to hire your Xth employee or launch in a new market.

Management Team

To demonstrate your own event planning business’ ability to succeed as a business, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow a company. 

Ideally, you and/or your team members have direct experience as event planners or in the industry. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.

If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act as mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in event planning and/or successfully running small businesses.  

Financial Plan

Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statements.

Income Statement : an income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. It shows your revenues and then subtracts your costs to show whether you turned a profit or not.

In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will you plan one event per week or several events? And will sales grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.

Balance Sheets : While balance sheets include much information, to simplify them to the key items you need to know about, balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. For instance, if you spend $100,000 on building out your business, that will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a bank writes you a check for $100.000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.

Cash Flow Statement : Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business and make sure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t realize is that you can turn a profit but run out of money and go bankrupt. For example, let’s say a company approached you with a massive $100,000 event contract, that would cost you $50,000 to fulfill. Well, in most cases, you would have to pay that $50,000 now for supplies, equipment rentals, employee salaries, etc. But let’s say the company didn’t pay you for 180 days. During those 180 days, you could run out of money.

In developing your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key startup costs needed in starting or growing your business:

  • Location build-out including design fees, construction, etc.
  • The total cost of equipment and furnishings like decor, sound systems, etc.
  • Cost of maintaining an adequate amount of supplies
  • Payroll or salaries paid to staff
  • Business insurance
  • Taxes and permits
  • Legal expenses

Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include your store design blueprint or location lease.

  Event Planning Summary Putting together your own event planner business plan is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the event planning sample template above, by the time you are done, you will truly be an expert. You will really understand the business, your competition, and your customers. You will have developed a marketing plan and will really understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful event planning business.

Event Planning Business Plan FAQs

What is the easiest way to complete my event planning business plan.

Growthink's Ultimate Business Plan Template allows you to quickly and easily complete your Event Planning Business Plan.

What is the Goal of a Business Plan's Executive Summary?

The goal is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of event planning business you are operating and the status; for example, are you a startup, do you have an event planning business that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of event planning businesses.

  OR, Let Us Develop Your Plan For You Since 1999, Growthink has developed business plans for thousands of companies who have gone on to achieve tremendous success.

Click here to see how Growthink’s business plan consulting services can create your business plan for you.   Other Helpful Business Plan Articles & Templates

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Business , Education , General Tips , Your Event Career

How to Start An Event Planning Business From Scratch

Starting a new business in event planning can be a very profitable venture . However, it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to get started. In this blog post, we’ll teach you how to start an event planning business from scratch in 6 easy steps!

We’ll also provide tips on how to market your new company, advice on what services to offer your clients, the type of training you should get, and more. So, if you’re ready to start planning some amazing events, keep reading!

Frequently Asked Questions:

How much does it cost to start an event planning business.

First thing’s first: you need to have an idea of the money required to build an event planning business. The cost of starting your business can vary, depending on a number of factors – such as the size of your company and the services you want to offer. However, in general, you’ll need to invest in some basic start-up costs, such as:

  • A computer and/or laptop
  • Telephone line and headset
  • Business cards
  • Business website

In a recent article published on  Shopify’s  blog, it was stated that in an entrepreneur’s first year of business, they’re likely to spend an average of approximately $40,000. Keep in mind that many of Shopify’s customers are business owners selling and shipping physical products from an online store. So, some of the data within this article may not necessarily apply to an event planning business owner. Still, the data within this blog post is definitely worth the read!

Additionally, you may also want to consider purchasing software that can help streamline your event planning process, such as wedding or event management software. How much you end up spending on start-up costs will largely depend on your specific needs and budget.

How to start an event planning business in-post image 1

What Does an Event-Planning Entrepreneur Do Day-to-Day?

The next question to consider is: what does an event-planning entrepreneur typically do on a daily basis? How many hours will you be working each week? Will you have enough work to pursue this endeavor full-time?

The answers to these questions depend on a lot of things. (Although we can  say that the answer to that last question is a resounding YES!)

In general, an event planner is responsible for the organization and execution of a wide variety of events. This may include everything from weddings and corporate functions, to birthday parties and charity galas. An event planner will typically work with clients to get a clear understanding of their vision and budget, then develop a plan of action that meets both requirements.

Moreover, they’ll also be responsible for overseeing all aspects of the event on the day-of, from coordinating vendors to ensuring that everything runs smoothly.

It’s important to note that the job duties of an event planner can vary, depending on their level of experience and specialty. For example, if you’re just starting out in this industry, you may only have limited experience working with specific types of events. In this case, you might want to focus your business on providing services such as event planning consultation, venue scouting, or contract negotiation. As you gain more experience, you can then expand your services to include things like catering coordination, decor design, and even budget management.

For even more information on this particular subject, check out our blog article all about a day in the life of a wedding planner !

How can i start an event planning business with no experience.

Starting an event planning business with no experience can be a daunting task, but it’s not impossible! In fact, many successful entrepreneurs got their start in the event planning industry by starting small and gradually building their business over time.

One way to gain experience in the field is to volunteer your time at local events. This will allow you to learn about different types of events, as well as the logistics involved in putting together a successful event. You can also network with other professionals in the industry, attend workshops and webinars, and/or read books and articles on event planning.

Another option is to take online courses that specialize in event planning . These courses will teach you everything from how to plan corporate events, to wedding etiquette, to event decoration. They can also help you get started by providing tips on marketing strategies and business management. Furthermore, completing an accredited online course will also arm you with a reputable certification to add to your resume!

We’ll delve deeper into the type of online event planning training you should get a little later on in this article…

Portrait of cheerful female entrepreneur working on laptop from home

How Much Should I Charge for Event Planning Services?

There are many factors that go into pricing your event planning services. Some of the questions we recommend asking yourself include (but aren’t limited to):

  • How long have you been in business?
  • What are your qualifications as an event planner?
  • How much in-field experience do you currently have?
  • How many clients do you have at the moment?
  • What type of events will you be working with (i.e. weddings, private parties, corporate functions, etc.)?
  • Are you planning to launch your business with a team, or solo?
  • If the former, how experienced are your staff members/team members when it comes to planning events?
  • Do you specialize in any sought-after niches, or intend to?
  • How much time does each client take up per month or year?
  • How profitable is this particular industry within your region/niche market space right now?

Once these questions have answered, then you can better determine how much money it would cost you to run your company over a set period of time, such as the first year, years 2-5, and beyond. This article by  The Balance Small Business  provides further information on the topic of pricing your services. So, we recommend giving it a read!

What Type(s) of Services Do I Want to Offer My Clients?

When starting an event planning business, it’s important to decide which services you want to offer your clients. For example, will you be specializing in weddings? Corporate events? Social events?

You don’t have to limit yourself to one area! In fact, many event planners offer a variety of services, such as wedding coordination, theme design, catering management, and more. Either way, it’s important to choose the services that you’re comfortable with and that you know you can deliver on successfully.

Here are just some of the services you can offer your customers:

  • Private event planning
  • Wedding planning
  • Destination wedding planning
  • Luxury wedding and/or event planning
  • Event decor
  • Floral design
  • Virtual event and/or wedding planning
  • Corporate event planning
  • Promotional event planning
  • Travel and tourism services
  • Festival and live event planning

Fun Fact: Did you know that QC Event School offers internationally-recognized training in ALL of the above events services? It’s true! Learn about our full list of self-paced, online courses here !

How to start an event planning business in-post image 3, wedding reception set-up and decor

Alright, now that we have some of the most popular FAQs answered, let’s jump into the 6 steps involved in building an event planning business from scratch!

Step One: Get Trained and Certified as an Event Planner!

First thing’s first, you’re going to need training in this industry. Although technically,  event planning isn’t a regulated industry, this does NOT mean you won’t be  much  better off with proper training under your belt. In fact, we’d even argue that getting professionally certified is the single BEST way to become an event planner and achieve success!

When it comes to obtaining a solid event planning education, there’s no better option than to enroll in an accredited, internationally-recognized school! QC Event School, for instance, offers a variety of courses in multiple different areas of professional planning.

The best part? All of our programs can be completed at your own pace and right from the comfort of home!

Plus, our courses aren’t only geared towards those already working within the industry, who are looking to upskill or add additional services to their company. They’ve also been carefully designed for entrepreneurs who want to start their own business, too. In fact, this is why all of our courses offer an entire unit specifically dedicated to business training.

This means that regardless  of your skill level or past experience, you’ll absolutely benefit from the knowledge and expertise offered in QC’s wedding and event planning courses! And once you’ve completed our course(s), you’ll receive an internationally-recognized certification that’ll demonstrate your skills and knowledge as an event planner!

How awesome is that? Talk about taking your resume to the next level!

Step Two: Figure Out What You Want Your Business to Look Like!

Alright, so now that you’ve got your education under your belt, it’s time to start thinking about what you want your business to look like. How will you structure it? How much money are you willing to invest in getting it started up and running smoothly (as well as how long)? Do you eventually want to hire on fellow team members/staff, etc.?

Now is also a great time for some self-reflection! Ask yourself:

  • What kind of events am I really interested in planning and coordinating (i.e., weddings, corporate events, social parties etc.)?
  • How flexible am I when it comes to working evenings and weekends during event season(s)?
  • Do I have enough money saved up to get this business started and support myself while I’m in the beginning stages?
  • How much money do I need/want to make?
  • How many hours am I willing to work per week, month, or year?
  • What are my short-term and long-term goals for the business (i.e., what do you want it to look like a few years down the road)?

Businessman Determine Ideas Writing Working Concept

Your Business Name and Brand

You’ll also want to start thinking up some ideas for your company name! This can be fun AND stressful all at once, so don’t sweat it too much if you’re struggling with how to come up with one. If all else fails, try using an online business name generator. There are lots of great ones out there that can really help jump start the process!

(And once you’ve chosen your business name, don’t forget to get it legally registered. That way, no one else can swoop in and take it from you!)

Lastly, you’ll also want to figure out what you want your brand to be . What do you want your business to look like? How do you want people to perceive it? What kind of vibe(s) are you going for (i.e., fun, elegant, modern etc.)?

Do some research and figure out what would work well with the audience(s) that you’ll be working with! The key is to find something that you feel comfortable with and will allow you to stand out from the crowd.

Step Three: Come Up With a Plan for Your Event Planning Business!

Now that you’ve got your education under your belt, have decided what kind of business you want to start up, AND figured out how it’ll be branded, it’s time for step three! This is where you put your business plan together.

A good business plan will help to outline all the important details about your company. It will include what services you’ll offer, how you’ll market yourselves, what your expenses and revenue will be, as well as who your target audience is. This document can also serve as a roadmap for your business; helping you figure out what your next steps should be as you go forward.

It’s also important to note that banks and other financial institutions often require a business plan from anyone looking to take out a loan for their business. So, think of it as the blueprints for your company!

If you’re having trouble putting together your own, there are lots of great resources online (like this one ) that can help you out.

How to start an event planning business in-post image 5, business plan concept

Step Four: Build Your Event Planning Business Website and Social Media Presence!

Once your business plan is complete, it’s time to start building your website and social media presence! This is where you’ll be able to showcase all of your amazing work, as well as give potential clients a little taste of what they can expect from you.

If you’ve never built a professional website before, or run social media channels for a business, we’ve got some great tips in our blog article, “ How to Get Clients as an Event Planner “, to help you get started!

Just remember that the key here is to make sure your website and social media accounts are up-to-date and reflect the brand that you’ve been working so hard on in step three.

Step Five: Establish How You’ll Get Clients and Market Your Event Planning Business!

From here, it’s time to think about how you’ll actually get customers. How will people know that you’re an event planner – and even more importantly, that they should hire YOU for their next big shindig? Furthermore, what kind of marketing materials will you need to create (e.g., a website, business cards, online ad marketing, social media profiles, etc.)? How often will you need to update these items?

One great way to kick off this step is by creating a list of potential referral partners or affiliates. Do some research and compile a list of wedding venues, catering companies, florists, photographers, and other event service providers in your area that might be interested in working together. You can also meet with these businesses in-person to discuss how you can help each other out!

Online marketing will also be your best friend when it comes to getting your business seen. After all, that’s the point of a website and social media presence!

Establishing a budget for your marketing efforts is always a smart idea. Start this by asking yourself how often you’ll be able to put money towards advertising. Then figure out the answers to these additional questions:

  • How much do you have available each month or quarter?
  • How can this amount help get people interested in what you’re offering?
  • What do you know about SEO (Search Engine Optimization)? Are you willing to learn about it and put in regular efforts to maintain high-ranking SEO for your company?
  • What sort of online marketing are you interested in utilizing? (E.g. paid ads on Google and/or social media, email campaigns, monthly newsletters, etc.)

You might even want to consider a marketing budget at the start of each new year so you have time to plan ahead!

Digital online marketing, Businessman using tablet and analysis sale data graph growth on modern interface icons on strategy, Solution analysis and development contents on global network connection.

Step Six: Start Networking and Getting Real-World Experience as an Event Planner!

Last but certainly not least, it’s time to start networking and getting hands-on experience. This can be done in a variety of ways, such as:

  • Attending industry events and meetups.
  • Participating in online forums or communities related to event planning.
  • Volunteering your time with local charities or non-profit organizations that host events.
  • Offering free consultations to friends or family who are having a party or event soon.
  • Collaborating with other industry experts in your area on a stylized photoshoot , etc.

The more you put yourself out there, the more people will know about your business – and the better your chances of landing some great clients! And don’t forget to network with other event/wedding planners in your area as well. Although they’re technically you’re “competition”, the fact is, there’s always room for more than one planner in the events industry.

If anything, you’ll quickly come to realize that your fellow planners will actually make for some of the greatest friends and allies as you navigate life as an event planning business owner!

In Conclusion…

We hope this article has been helpful in outlining the steps you need to take when starting an event planning business from scratch. Just remember to be patient, do your research, and have fun. After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day… and neither will your business be!

But so long as you follow these 6 steps, you’ll be seeing success in no time. Thanks for reading!

Ready to start an event planning company from the comfort of home? Enroll with QC Event School today , and learn everything you need to know to achieve this goal in as little as 3-6 months!

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how much money is needed to start an event planning business

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How to Start an Event Planning Business

Your Complete Guide to Break Into the Event Planning Business

You love meeting new people, are calm under pressure and brilliant at prioritising tasks. But is the event planning business right for you?

Whether you’re a student looking for advice on how to break into the event planning business or an experienced professional wanting to change tracks, this guide can help guide your way.

Discover the skills, tools, and tactics you need to know before becoming an event planner.

The 7 vital event planning skills

“Event coordinator” was named the 5th most stressful job in 2017 , listed only after jobs that pose a threat to physical safety. It’s easy to see why: the job is fast-paced and demanding. Here’s a list of the skills and personality traits you will need to succeed as an event planner.

1. Project management

Between supplier contracts, ticket sales or RSVPs, there are a lot of moving parts for one event, let alone multiple. And whether you have a large team or you’re doing it alone, organisation and project management are key to ensure nothing slips through the cracks. That means you need to keep your to-do list in order, delegate tasks, and streamline your workflow.

Related: The Event Manager’s Ultimate Guide to Productivity

2. Multi-tasking

To successfully run any event, you need to be able to juggle multiple projects at once. Setting up your marketing, talking to sponsors, and finalising paperwork all happens simultaneously. The best planners have foolproof systems, step-by-step checklists , and handy tech tools.

Related: How to Create a Smooth Event Experience for Everyone

3. Detail orientated

Working in events requires the ability to focus on the big picture while keeping track of all the little details. And if things don’t go according to plan, you always need a plan ‘B’ you can switch to.

To be successful, you need to care about the little things. A misspelt name on your website or poor signage can be the difference between a great event — and one that people don’t take seriously.

4. Problem-solving

Whether it’s tracking down some emergency duct tape or reworking a keynote presentation at the last minute, you have to be resourceful with what you have. No matter how well you plan, something will go wrong . These things will be easier to address if you enjoy planning in advance, and you are good at finding creative solutions to the challenges that arise.

5. Calm under pressure

Your team will look to you for answers to almost everything. In moments of stress, the last thing they need is a shaky leader who makes poor decisions because they’re cracking under the pressure.

Successful event managers stay level-headed and continue to treat everyone with respect, no matter what. The key is to remain cool, calm, and collected when dealing with other people, even if you’re a bundle of nerves inside.

6. Relationship building

The number one quality shared by successful event managers? People skills. You need to be comfortable connecting with suppliers, customers, staff, event attendees and high-level executives. 

To successfully work with this wide range of people, you will need to be able to nimbly resolve conflicts, be a confident but pleasant negotiator, and maintain your sense of humour. You can’t do this all by yourself, so building relationships is key.

7. Negotiation

From supplier contracts to securing quality sponsors, there is a lot of negotiation involved in the daily life of an event creator. You need to be comfortable researching options, haggling with suppliers to bring prices down, and hunting for the best pricing available to you.

How to get event planning experience

It’s not easy tackling your first event without some prior experience. There are some skills event planners can only learn on the ground while helping run an event.

Here are a few ways you can dip your toes in the world of event planning and prepare yourself for your first event.

Volunteer or entry-level positions

Internships and volunteer positions can all help you get enough real-world experience to land your first job. Reach out to events in your area that you admire and see if you can volunteer on their team. Most teams would be grateful for event volunteers , especially on event day.

You can also research job opportunities at universities, businesses, and hospitality organisations for entry-level job openings.

Here’s a list of example entry-level position titles to keep your eye out for:

  • Administrative assistant
  • Catering coordinator
  • Meeting management coordinator
  • Guest relations coordinator
  • Volunteer event coordinator
  • Events associate

Complete an internship

An internship can help provide valuable, hands-on experience, as well as a taste of what event planning will actually be like. Event planning is a stressful job and it’s important when making a switch that you’re doing it with eyes open.

Want more ideas? Here are four additional ways to earn experience:

  • Networking: Join organisations like Meetings Professionals International
  • Conferences: Attend event planning events
  • Start small: Build up your skills by coordinating meetings and forums
  • Find a mentor: This could be someone you worked with before or someone you meet at a conference or networking event

Get an event management certification

There are a number of certifications you can pursue, depending on your interest and the type of events you would like to work on. Going through a course and getting a certification to add to your CV can help improve your skills when starting out. It can also help you to stay current on what’s changing in the industry once you become more established.

Courses include:

  •   Certificate in Event Management
  • Foundation Certificate in Event Management
  • Major Event Management short course

Master the tools of the event planning trade

The best event creators rely on specific tools (some of them free) to help them reclaim time from their busy days. The following four are ones that anyone starting out in events should know about before they tackle the job. If you’re planning to build your own event planning business, this is the technology you’ll be relying on.

Project management software: Basecamp

The OG of project management software, Basecamp combines all the tools your team needs in a single, straightforward package that makes it easier to collaborate, organise, and tackle your work. From to-do lists and real-time group chats to documents and file storage, Basecamp helps you keep staff aligned with workflows that you can set and forget.

Communication software: Slack

Similar to Basecamp, Slack is a project management software that can help your team work together better and get things done. Use it to organise your team conversations in open channels for projects, topics, a team, etc. so everyone has a transparent view of what’s going on. You can also use it to drop in and share files.

Event ticketing and registration software: Eventbrite

Your ticketing and registration software is one of the most important decisions event planners make.

Does it help you and your team streamline their work, or are you still jumping between different programs? Is it freeing you up to apply your expertise to strategy and innovation, or is it holding you back? More importantly, does your boss think that the investment is helping their business grow?

With powerful discovery channels, robust marketing tools, and industry-leading conversion rates, Eventbrite can help you target the most interested event-goers and sell more tickets to your event.

Automation software: Zapier

As an event creator, you’ll find that you do the same tasks over and over again. Zapier is a useful tool that helps you automate those tasks. For example, if you’re using a Google Sheet to keep your event attendees organised, a Zap can log new attendees to the Sheet as they buy tickets through Eventbrite.

How to start an event planning business

Once you get some experience under your belt and feel ready to make the leap into starting your own business, there are a new set of steps to tackle.  Becoming an event planning entrepreneur requires research and time. Here are four vital steps you must take.

1. Create a business plan

Creating a business plan helps you get organised and attract partners, investors, and clients. It’s also a document that will serve as an important touchstone for you as you grow your business. In a nutshell, it’s a document that describes your objectives, your financial forecast, and the strategies for sales and marketing that will support your business to grow.

Tip: Use this business plan as a template for your own event. Check out the post for tips to build your own.

2. Clarify your goals and objectives

The events industry is enormous, and there is definitely a place for your event planning business. Setting your goals and objectives for your business will help you decide which part of the industry you want to go after and how much you want to be earning in two, five, or10 years.

Tip: Make a list of potential clients, including local businesses, people you have worked with previously, and dream accounts. Then, make a plan to approach them .

3. Finalise your budget

There are many small-business expenditures you might not be aware of, from taxes to insurance to licenses. Make sure you do your research , so you know exactly what you’ll need to pay for. Doing so will help you determine the feasibility of your business plan. For example, deciding whether to start your business out of your home or renting an office space.

Tip: Knowing how much money you’ll need coming in will help you determine how much to charge for your services.

4. Acquire necessary licenses and permits

Part of your business plan is mapping out your outgoings, including taxes and fees for licenses and permits. Depending on your location, your local council will have specific laws around types of businesses and the permits each requires. Be sure to do your due diligence in the planning phase on these important details — so you don’t risk paying fines later on!

Tip: Your taxes will get a whole lot more complicated once you set out on your own. Be sure to partner with a tax professional who specialises in the type of business you plan to run.

How to build your event planning business

Now that you know the basics of breaking into the event planning business, learn more about creating your team in Event Staffing: How to Build an All-Star Events Team .

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about the author

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Katie Sawyer

Katie Sawyer is a writer at Eventbrite, where she helps event organizers throw awesome festivals, food and drink bonanzas, and cultural events. You can find her sampling beer, stuffing her face with cookies, and checking out local comedy shows.

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Event Management

How to Start an Event Planning Business from Home

Becki Cross

January 22nd, 2022 at 9:30 AM EST

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

Many Event Planners start out working from home. This can be a great model for setting up an event planning business as it keeps overheads down in those critical early stages of trading and can maximise productivity. If you are considering whether it could work for you and how to make a success of it, here are some things to think about.

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When I set up my Event Management company over 14 years ago I started working from home. It seemed like a natural choice and it meant that instead of worrying about paying expensive office rent in the early stages I could focus on building my business. It worked for me and I worked from home for over a year before outgrowing my home office and renting an office.

Many other Event Planners, Wedding Planning and Freelance Event Managers report the same and find it a workable solution for them – either for the short or the long term. Others just don’t seem able to imagine the realities of working from a home base and I have been quizzed and insulted in equal measures by people trying to understand the intricacies of working from home!

This post is designed to be the ultimate event planning startup kit, for anyone wanting to start their own event management company . These are the chapters you will explore:

8 Compelling Reasons You Should Start an Event Planning Business from Home

A quick guide to setting up your event planning company: follow these easy steps, start now: get your free event planning business plan template, 9 secrets to nail your business name without delay, the no $%^& guide to startup costs for an event planning business, how to create a cash rich event business in 2020, carve out your niche: proven strategy to increase your business earnings, 6 steps to boost your event business’ sales on a tight budget, 100 effective ways to attract more clients and grow your event planning business (when time and money are in short supply).

  • Important Final Advice for All New Event Business Owners

What makes you relevant in 2020? We reviewed 350 event planning job postings to find the skills needed to succeed. Download the free report.

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

Perhaps you are currently employed but want to test the water by starting to develop your own client base and run your own events for people? You may be part of the rise of 5 to 9 entrepreneurs – those that work evenings and weekend to get their own business off the ground.

Or you may have decided that you want to be your own boss and are simply itching to go it alone?

Are you worried that you will struggle or that it will be too big a leap?

Here are eight things to consider if you are looking to start your own Event Planning Business from home.

An Event Planner can work from almost anywhere if you have a laptop, internet and mobile phone. Most important are your personality and event management skills. Starting out by working from home keeps costs lower as renting office space can be a huge outgoing for a fledgling business and you may not wish to be tied into a long-term rental contract from the outset.

Starting from home gives a new business the best possible start during those important early months.

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

Au Revoir Work Commute!

Commuting to work every day can be time-consuming and stressful in terms of both time and travel expenses, and is a part of the day that fills many with dread. By working from home you are not only potentially saving on your monthly travel outlay but you are probably removing the big city temptations which are so easy to fritter away money on (coffee, cake, and other high street temptations). Most important though you become more time rich.

If your daily rush hour commute was an hour each way this gives you the chance to extend the productivity of your working day by a whole two hours (if you want to) in the blink of an eye!

Set up a specific workspace which can be your dedicated work area. Ideally have a room that you can close the door on at the end of the day, rather than being reminded about the mounds of paperwork on your desk and hearing the phone ring after hours!

You can design the space based on your work preferences. Perhaps you want to use a room with a view or perhaps staring at a brick wall would be better for your concentration. Think about what furniture you will need to work – desk, chair, phone, answer machine, shelves/filing cabinet, etc.

Just because you are working from home doesn’t mean you should be any less disciplined. As well as working set office hours some people still choose to dress as if they were still going to an office job every day. In a creative industry such as the event industry, I don’t necessarily agree with this – it makes sense for me to dress more casually on non-client facing days at the office – but do whatever works for you.

When working from home the most frequent questions I used to get asked is “how do you concentrate on working from home with the lure of daytime television?” and “do you work in your pajamas?”

I think people that asked these questions completely missed the whole point that you are WORKING from home. If you are working for yourself it means that if you don’t work, you don’t get paid! It is up to you but no one else is going to pay your salary for you. Furthermore, in my experience running your own business keeps you busy, busy, busy. Organizing events is a time-consuming operation and organizing events and running your own business doesn’t give any time for slacking!

I actually found the opposite in terms of discipline – it is actually hard to switch off and working from home can fudge your work-life balance as the lines are blurred between the two. Whether you struggle to focus or struggle to switch off though discipline has to be key!

One of the things we struggled with as our business grew was storage space. We invested in bigger and better printers, event equipment, marketing materials, banners and so forth, but this investment also takes up space. Furthermore, our regular clients increasingly wanted us to hold some of their materials and branded items between events which put a further strain on storage space.

When event boxes of literature started taking over the lounge every time we had delegate folders to collate ahead of an event we realized it was time to move to a more purpose-built office solution. Perhaps this is less of a problem today when less information is printed and more is presented digitally for events, but nevertheless, it can add up.

Client Meetings

I find that many of our clients prefer us to travel to their offices to meet but if you ever need a space to meet and your home office isn’t large enough/suitable enough there are plenty of coffee shops, hotels and meeting places which offer a convenient place to meet face to face – so this need never be a concern.

Flexibility

One of the biggest perks of working from home is the productivity element. As event deadlines get close hours are often long for an event planner and it is great to feel safe in your own home and able to carry on working for as long as you need to. Likewise, if you have international conference calls across time zones it is convenient to be able to do this from the luxury of your home office.

 Home Working Perks

Don’t forget to update and take out the relevant insurance policies as you should with any business working from a home or office base.

There are however many other perks to working at home too – for example paying no or reduced business rates, tax relief and off-setting a percentage of your household running expenditure through the business. These elements will, of course, vary from country to country so do look into the realities of this before you take the plunge.

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

There are a million and one things to think about if you are considering starting your own event planning business. Whether it is a distant dream or almost a reality, here are 22 steps you need to take to set up a successful event management company.

Starting up an event planning business is not a decision to take lightly. It is a major decision which impacts not only on your life but also on your family and others around you. At the same time, if you are passionate and determined that this is the right direction to take you shouldn’t take no for an answer – go for it!

Although 80% of businesses survive the first year, almost half no longer exist after five years and only one-third make it past their tenth anniversary (source: Bureau of Labor Statistics ). Interestingly, major economic downturns don’t seem to impact the survival rates for new businesses and these stats have remained remarkably consistent over the last two decades.

As one of the one-third of businesses that have survived past the ten-year mark (my event management company was established in 2004), we wanted to create the ultimate useful reference guide to help others take those important first steps to being their own boss.

Starting a new business is definitely not the easy option or a ‘get rich quick’ scheme. It is a high risk, but potentially high reward strategy over the long term.

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

Here are the details and the process you will need to follow before officially launching your event planning company. There are lots of things to think seriously about and we have flagged essential action to take for each step. Read, digest and bookmark this article for a blueprint of how to prepare to launch your business and ensure the best chance of survival.

Gain Varied Event Planning Experience

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

The more event planning experience you have the better the service you are going to be able to offer your clients. This isn’t just limited to event planning skills either, any business skills and experience will make you a more rounded business owner. Jump at any opportunity to get paid or unpaid work experience. Use this to learn the things that work and the things you would do differently.

If necessary teach yourself how to use tools that will benefit you as a small business. Today, many of these programs are available online and there is a wealth of video tutorials and written content to help you learn how to use them.

Be confident in what you have to offer:

  • Before taking the plunge, make sure you have gained lots of event and administration experience and are confident with planning events independently.
  • Identify any gaps in your skillset and work hard to strengthen these areas through paid work or volunteering.
  • If you need to keep costs down, teach yourself core skills that you will need, such as email marketing platforms, survey tools, accounting programs, design systems and website building.

Undertake Market and Competitor Research

The first thing you need to establish is if there is a definite requirement for the services that you want to offer. Instead of just believing it is a good idea you need to do some actual research to confirm this.

This information can be difficult to find and you will need to refer to lots of different sources to try to get a reliable picture. Look into public data, reports and analysis on the web, talk to people and try to undertake a focus group and individual phone calls with those that you are looking to develop relationships with, to determine evidence of a need.

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

Scope out the market through researching:

  • Log the number of competitors there are in your area.
  • Note the similarities and differences in the services they offer, compared to your business idea.
  • Analyze and monitor the number of tenders and opportunities issued for event planning services over a certain time period.
  • Speak to companies who issue these types of opportunities to determine what their frustrations are with the current offering and what is lacking?
  • Calculate how many businesses operate within your target geographical area and business sector.
  • If you can track it down, find national and local figures in terms of expenditure on events. Your local university is often the best opportunity to find out such data if it is not available online.

Identify Your Strengths (and Weaknesses)

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

Consider whether you are looking to offer a broad, full-service event management company or focus specifically on producing a specific type of event or a specific target market. Although it is tempting to try to offer everything to everyone in order to secure the maximum amount of business it may be that this is actually reducing the amount of business you secure by appearing like a “jack of all trades, master of none”.

If you can, focus on your strengths so you can tailor your marketing and all efforts to attract the right type of business from the start. For example, you may decide to specialize in conferences or exhibitions or party planning. Each of these areas is likely to require a different brand and language to attract the right clientele. The key is not to position yourself in too small a niche it is limiting but not trying to do so much that it detracts you from your real passion and focus and puts you outside of your comfort zone.

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

Work out your passion and superpowers:

  • List the core areas where you know you have an edge. This should include the types of events you are most confident and passionate about planning or expert knowledge of an industry or subject.
  • Analyze whether your specialty is broad enough to make a living from or whether you need to go wider.
  • Also, be honest and consider what your weaknesses are. If you have gaps in your skill set and are not confident managing large-scale events in specific areas, be honest with yourself. It is important to consider what you won’t do. Running a music festival requires very different knowledge, contacts and skills than organizing a trade show. If there is a specific genre or size of event that would push you outside of your comfort zone or take you too far away from your true passion you are best to set your limits now.

Understand the Realities of Starting a Business

Think about how you are going to survive as it may take some time before money starts coming into the business and you still need to be able to pay your bills during this period. Many people start their business “on the side” during their free time, evening and weekends, whilst working for somebody else. This will obviously depend on the role you have currently to ensure that you are not in breach of contract – make sure you act ethically and fairly to your current employer.

Discuss your aims with your partner and family to try to prepare everyone for the change of lifestyle and circumstances. Working for yourself isn’t the same as working for an employer. The buck stops with you. You are likely to work the longest hours of your life, working 80 plus hours a week is not unheard of for business owners. Also, no work = no pay. Your salary is directly linked to the amount of profit you can generate.

Take decisive steps to work out a plan:

  • Calculate how much you really need to survive each month and pay your bills.
  • Save as much as possible to sustain you for the short term after you launch your business.
  • Look into alternative income options, such as a part-time job, support from your partner/family or a loan.

What Type of Business is Right for You?

There are many different types of organizations and you need to learn about the different entities to determine which is the right one for you. You might want to be a freelance event planner or to set up a company. The legalities will vary depending on the country you will be operating in too. We recommend that you take advice from experts if you are unsure.

Work out which business entity is right for you:

  • Know your personal liability in terms of different business options in case the business fails
  • Find out the setup costs, process, ongoing administrative commitments and growth potential of different business entities
  • Compare and contrast the tax implications of being a freelancer, compared to running a company

Decide on the Business Name

Think carefully and research your business name as this isn’t something you would want to change after launching. Look for any conflicts, which prevents you from using names already in use. Also, think about abbreviations to avoid any unfortunate shortenings.

Decide on a killer business name:

  • Brainstorm ideas
  • Share the best ideas with people you respect, including family and potential clients to see their reaction
  • Check whether the website and social media profiles are available for your shortlisted names

Within this post, there is a section dedicated to choosing event planning business names and offering further guidance on this.

Create a Business Plan

Creating a business plan is highly recommended to crystallize your aims and intentions for your company. It is a document describing your business objectives, financial forecasts and strategies for sales and marketing.

Opinions on business plans differ in terms of how detailed this should be. Whether you create a lengthy document of 60 pages, a couple of A4 sheets or write it on the back of a beer mat, it will be a good use of your time and enable you to speak more confidently about your plans and identify problems. Certain banks and investors would also need to see this document. It includes financial and marketing planning information, as well as the vision and mission statements for the company.

Information you should include in your business plan:

  • Your Vision for the Company
  • Mission Statement
  • SWOT Analysis
  • Financial Plan
  • Marketing Plan

Keep reading this post as we have a free business plan template for you to download and complete.

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

Think Seriously About Investment and Funding

Is any funding available to you? Certain geographical locations may offer incentives or grants for new businesses, to help them start out, or your college or university may be able to offer support. The traditional route for business investment was always through banks or through an angel or investor, although there are many more opportunities and non-conventional routes available today, such as crowdfunding. You may even be eligible for competitions looking for the best startup idea to secure investment and TV programs such as Shark Tank and Dragon’s Den which give you the chance to pitch your business idea, or at least get some great marketing coverage to tell the world about your product.

Steps to take:

  • If you can you start your business without financial help this is always recommended as loan repayments are one less thing to worry about. Create a cash flow forecast to identify when the shortfalls may occur and if there are alternative ways of handling it, rather than a loan (overdraft, different payment terms with clients, negotiating credit terms, etc).
  • If you do need investment, make a list of all of the options open to you, interest rates, repayment terms, set up time and the pros and cons of each. Include less conventional options, such as crowd funding and pitching your idea on TV
  • Calculate exactly how much you need, what you need it for and when.

Incorporate/Register Your Business

Find out the process for formally registering your company and what information and format are required. This varies from country to country. In the UK, for instance, the government is keen to encourage people to go into business and so they make the process easy to reduce the barriers to starting up. You can complete a simple online form to create a company in less than 20 minutes.

Be prepared to formally start your business:

  • Complete, sign and return the necessary forms
  • Partners, Directors and the Company Secretary will also need to sign and complete the forms, if relevant to the type of business entity you are creating

Design Your Logo and Develop Your Company Brand Identity

When your company name is decided and registered you can start creating your company logo and branding. You might have to live with this for a long time, so make sure you are happy with your corporate identity. Tools and design packages are available if you have the skills to create this yourself, otherwise, a graphic designer should be able to create your company identity for you for a reasonable price. They can also design your stationery and business cards, which can be printed for a small outlay.

Develop your corporate identity:

  • Brand guidelines should be created, detailing the correct use of your logo, font, colors, placement and so forth
  • Consider how your logo will reproduce in different situations, such as reversed and on social media, badges, business cards, websites.
  • You will need your logo in different formats such as .eps, .jpeg and .png.

Set Up Your Website and Social Media Accounts

Check your website domain is available and purchase it when your company name is agreed. It is also worth reserving the handles on social media channels too, even if you don’t yet want to start completing your profile details actively posting from the accounts. Aim for the same handles across all networks for consistency.

Sort out your online presence:

  • Populate your web page and social media channels as soon as you can. Even if it is just a holding page and ’coming soon’ message it lets people know plans are afoot
  • Get friends and family to follow you initially to boost your follower numbers on social
  • Start sharing useful content to start building more organic followers

Protect Your Business Intellectual Property

Protect your brand via trademarks, patents, copyrights, whichever route is relevant to your product or service. Take specialist advice on these matters to ensure that you are protected against theft and plagiarism. Don’t think that it wouldn’t happen to you.

Don’t get caught out:

  • Take legal advice to protect your IP
  • Don’t be afraid of asking people to sign a non-disclosure to protect your IP whenever sharing information and ideas
  • Trust no one

Set Up a Company Bank Account

When your company is registered you will be able to apply for your company bank account. This will need to be done face to face at your bank to verify your identity documents and to sign the relevant paperwork. Choose a bank account that matches your needs, for instance, do you need to deposit cash or take payments by card. If so they will be able to advise the best solutions available to you.

Choose a bank to support your vision:

  • Shortlist banks by thinking about your needs now and in the future. For instance, if you have ambitious growth plans you may want to choose a bank that approves a lot of business loans
  • If you need to visit your bank in person to pay in cash and checks, look at location and opening times
  • Check out the online banking process and if an app is available
  • Ask if you are allocated to a local bank manager or if all contact needs be via a call center

Confirm Your Pricing Strategy and Fee Structure

Thought needs to be given to your pricing and fees so you know how to answer questions about your costs. Although you need to know the specific details of an event project to quote accurately you still need to know your hourly and daily rates and to share them confidently. Consider whether you will quote on a fee basis or a time-charge basis. Other pricing methods you might consider are taking a fee as a percentage of the total event budget and taking a commission on any items booked related to the event. You may also want to offer set packages or have an introductory offer to entice people.

Get your price right:

  • Research your competitors to find out how they charge and an idea of pricing. It can be very difficult to gain this information but if you can get an understanding of how your closest rivals price their services it will be very revealing indeed
  • When you get an inquiry, make sure you ask lots of questions and get all the details you need to understand the project before quoting. Every event is different
  • Create a list of questions to prompt you to ask anyone interested in your services. Take down all the details to enable you to calculate and create a proposal to share with them

Market Your Business Like Crazy to Secure Clients

Try to work on securing some clients and projects before officially launching the business. Having one client already signed up was a great confidence boost when I launched my company and definitely a deciding factor to take the plunge.

Tell as many people as you can about your intentions, including friends and family. Although they may not directly need your services they may know someone else who does.

Perfect Your Elevator Speech

If you answer the question of what you do with “I’m an event planner,” you’re hitting a line drive to first when you could be going for home. Instead answer with something like, “I help medium-sized businesses make indelible impressions on clients and increase revenue through user’s conferences.” Now, I’m listening.

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

People Buy People

It is easy, in business, to overlook the fact that we deal with real human beings. Real people can get lost between numbers, projections, ROI and profit margins, when really they are the most important thing keeping all of us afloat.

The importance of retaining a human connection externally with customers and clients and internally with staff and stakeholders, cannot be overstated. Successful connection is all about conversation, mutual understanding, and appreciation. If you don’t connect with the potential customer you are less likely to win the bid. We need to get personal, get real, and start an authentic dialogue to gain genuine trust.

That’s precisely what makes events so important. Events create the emotional energy behind the sale, the human experience element. And no-one at all, including those in procurement, really choose a logical sales choice. They make emotional ones – buying ideas. People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it, and the only way to truly engage people with that why, is to offer them a direct, human experience of your brand in real life.

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

Arguably, the value of connection has decreased. Online, no real thought or effort has to go into communicating anymore, and it’s the same with the way brands operate online. With an increase in the ease of communication, there’s a decrease in what it actually means – making the individual feel important. Keep this in mind whenever you are creating a proposal, networking or pitching for new business and work hard to develop genuine relationships with your client.

Win favour and get clients before you launch:

  • Start networking, online and offline, and talking to people about your plans ahead of time to see their reaction
  • Create business cards even before it is “official” and connect with useful contacts via LinkedIn
  • Keep a list of potential prospects and be sure to let them know when you have officially launched
  • Perfect and practice your elevator pitch
  • Keep in touch and follow up with warm leads often; share an interesting article, send them a Christmas card. Don’t let them forget that you are ready and waiting

Take Out Relevant Insurances

Make sure that you are covered by the relevant insurances as soon as you start out in business. In the UK, for example, this may include public liability, employers’ liability, and business insurances such as professional indemnity, business and contents insurance. You may also need specific event insurance for different event projects. An insurance broker will be able to advise the specifics you need to consider within the country you operate in.

Protect yourself:

  • Take professional advice on the type of cover that you need
  • Get several quotes
  • Know the estimated costs and process for additional event-specific insurances you/your client may need

Decide on Your Office Location

Think about where you will work from. Do you really need the overheads of an office? Can you start out working from home? As we have already mentioned, there are a lot of benefits from starting out using a home office. Often meetings can take place at the client’s office or in a local coffee shop or hotel anyway so having a plush office is not essential. If you feel that it is really important to have an office consider hot-desking, a shared workspace or incubator unit where you will get to meet other business owners too.

Give it some thought:

  • If you can keep costs down and work from home then this is a wise decision, at least at first
  • If you think you will feel isolated or struggle to focus when working from a home office, look at flexible options for hot-desking and shared spaces which keep costs and contracts to a minimum
  • Compile a list of potential places to meet so you can always suggest a suitable location to a client

Purchase Business Equipment and Tools You Need

Starting an event management company has low barriers to entry as generally, it is a service based role, which relies primarily on your skills as an individual. As long as you have access to a phone, computer and WiFi you should be ready to begin! Notice will be required to install a phone line and WiFi to your chosen location though, so plan ahead for this before your launch date if you need any changes to your home set up.

Make a list:

  • List the essentials you need to start out. Cross off things you would like to have and focus on what you actually need
  • Identify milestones and rewards, such as, when we are paid by our tenth client we will open a bottle of champagne. Little incentives help you to be more aware of your achievements

Later in the post, we talk in more detail about what to do if you are looking to start a business with no money. For an industry like event planning, having little money is not necessarily a roadblock to starting your own business.

Identify People That Can Help You

For the foreseeable future you will probably be working alone, or perhaps working with freelancers on a project by project basis. You won’t have a large team around you, which you may have had in previous employment. Keep lean while you can – paying other people’s salaries is a big responsibility, especially when you are first starting out.

Sites like Upwork are great as they allow you to find temporary staff that have the skills you need and agree a set fee on a project by project basis. You can outsource legal contracts, copywriting, web design, video editing and any task you can think of. You can even hire a virtual assistant to help with administration or handle phone calls.

Locally, try to develop a network of suppliers that you know and trust so you know where to turn to for quotes whenever opportunities arise. Let them know that you are going solo and they may also be able to recommend you for projects they hear about.

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

Think about ways you could work with others for mutual satisfaction and benefit. For instance, a nutritionist might partner with a gym to give her clients a discount, and the gym might have a reciprocal agreement for referrals with the nutritionist. Together they’re getting more clients by offering their clients more value.

Grow your support network:

  • Get to know local vendors so you know who to call on when you need quotes turning around quickly
  • Make a list of freelancers that you can contact and that you may need to work with on larger projects and when you get too busy
  • Get a feel for the type of skills and services you can access online through freelancer sites and the rates charged
  • Identify ways you can work with others to offer your clients more value

Officially Launch Your Business

When all these elements are in place the time has come to officially launch your business. People need to know that you are now open for business. Plan well ahead for this day and try to have clients on board even before your official launch.

The hardest step is getting your first client. With every client that you work with you are building a portfolio of achievements which can help you to gain further business.

Launch with a bang:

  • Re-contact everyone and anyone that you have spoken to during this process and let people know you are now officially open for business.
  • Get on Facebook, target your geographic area, start an ad campaign with $20.
  • Plan the best launch party you will ever plan and invite along potential clients. Show them what they are going to get if they work with you.

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

Stay on Top of Paperwork and Accounting

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

Any business creates a number of administrative duties, such as tax, accounting and legal reporting and requirements. There are a lot of things that need your attention when running a small business, which takes you away from doing what you actually love and are good at – event planning. Take care to stay on top of all paperwork and declarations relevant to your business and the country you operate in. Submit paperwork and accounts in a timely manner before deadlines otherwise you could be subject to fines.

Always cover yourself by having written contracts with all suppliers and vendors and freelancers so that there can be no misunderstandings or liabilities.

Get systems in place:

  • Note key deadlines
  • Create sample contracts
  • Find a simple accounting package to record all financial transactions – and a good accountant
  • Create invoice templates

Develop Your Business Opportunities

Be sure to dedicate plenty of time to developing and growing your business, otherwise, you will find that you complete your first projects and then have no more work on the horizon. Managing cash flow and the peaks and troughs can be difficult as you get to grips with being your own boss.

Think about the next steps for your event planning business:

  • Set up alerts or systematically check websites for relevant opportunities and tenders and get out there to network and meet people
  • Develop template marketing content and wording for proposals so you are ready to respond quickly as you find out about opportunities
  • Refine your pricing structure, fees and charges as you go along
  • It can be very lonely starting out in business so make sure that you have the opportunity to talk to other business owners, compare notes, solve problems and share inspiration
  • Get a business mentor to help guide you through this tricky beginning period

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

When I was considering starting my own event management company I enrolled in a night class which helped me to create my own business plan. The tutors shared a business plan sample layout, as well as general advice and support about taking that important first step into being your own boss. I know how much this helped to focus my efforts on starting up the company and my aims for the future and so I wanted to share with you my own event planning business plan sample.

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

What Makes a Good Business Plan?

There is no right or wrong answers for your business plan, it is unique. You can adapt the layout specific to your requirements. There may be additional information that you want to add in or questions that are not relevant to your business model. Regardless of the specifics you include and how many pages the completed document is, your business plan is what turns your idea into reality.

The most important questions that your business plan needs to address is:

What will make my event management company stand out?

How will my event planning business succeed when so many others fail?

The strongest business plans:

If you don’t have a problem you are solving, you are a minnow in a very large sea. As an event planner you could be rallying against “ho-hum events” or ensure “more revenue, less hassle” for annual conferences. People hire planners because they don’t want to deal with the details. They want the headache to be someone else’s. Demonstrate through your business plan how you will demonstrate this and take those things on so they can get back to business.

What is your value? What do you do differently from other event planners? Know your unique value to a specific type of client and explain it at every chance you get.

Communicate what you want to achieve so that any potential investors can see at a glance what your business idea is, without using any complicated jargon. Your plan doesn’t have to be long but it should establish the vision for your idea, your objectives, how you will deliver the plan and how it will make money.

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

Know Their Market and Do Market Research

If you understand your market and the competition, you have a better chance of understanding the business need out there and how your business can position itself. Be clear about your target market Who will you be selling to? Why are you different to your competitors?

Are Realistic with Figures

It is difficult to be accurate and the numbers in the finance section can be scary but it is important to try to be realistic. If your business isn’t going to make money it is best to know now so you can refine your ideas into a viable business proposition. Likewise you need to identify how you will make a profit and the anticipated timescales for this. A strong financial business plan will be essential if you need to secure loans and investment, as well as a tool to keep you focused.

Revisit the Business Plan and Goals Regularly

Your business plan should be a working document, particularly in the important first stages of starting out in business. The process of thinking about and creating your plan is what will give you a competitive edge. Check back and revisit your plan regularly. Let the plan grow with you and your business to keep you on the right path.

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

Download the event management business plan PDF below and create your own bespoke action plan for your startup.

Do you want to add this PDF business plan template to your own website? If so email [email protected] .

How to Set Up an Event Management Company from Home [Video]

Picking a name for your new business venture is highly important, as you want to get it right and select an epic company name that encapsulates your vision for the business. Deciding on event planning business names may be one of the final decisions you make, as working through your business plan will help you to define the vision of your new entity and therefore impact on the name.

Choose the right company name and ensure that your message and ethos are successfully catchy and well marketed and memorable for the right reasons.

Demand Attention

It’s ok to be different. Look at what your competitors are called and make sure that you don’t come up with a variation that could be confusing. Being outlandish or weird can actually benefit you when choosing a company name because they are more memorable, attendees will start talking about it and they will want to know the story behind it!

On the other hand, don’t push the boundaries too far if you want people to get your name right. I have lost count of the number of times we get referred to as Northern Events, as Events Northern is not the natural way of saying it.

Make It Snappy

Not only is a short and snappy name easier to remember and recall but it can make branding, marketing and signage a lot easier to accommodate as well. Shorter names that stick in people’s head are some of the best options that you can choose. Shorter names pack more of a punch.

Be Laser Focused

Are there gaps in your current event niche that aren’t being catered for that you can get across with your company name? Do some market research just for naming, as this can help you with marketing and focusing your demographic further down the line.

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

Embody Your Ethos

Know and understand what you want to get across to potential clients before you start and try to embody that in the name. Also, remember that it is your message and style that makes your business unique, and that will help to put a creative spin on your business name.

Although it is hard, try to think long-term in terms of your name as you never know where your company will take you. This is something I have learned from experience as, at the start, Events Northern was always focused on events in the North of the UK, so the business name was ideal for our core focus. Over the years though, our business opportunities have become more varied and we do more national and international work, which isn’t just focused on the geographical North. Although this hasn’t held us back, it is also difficult to quantify the number of clients that have not picked up the phone and contacted us because of our name.

Seek the Truth

It can be very easy to be blinkered when you are deciding on something you are so passionate and invested in so asking for other’s opinions can be an asset, especially if you can’t narrow down your options to confirm the definitive name. Crowdsourcing allows you to get a view from real people; whether it is your family and friends or a focus group you can pick up on things you wouldn’t have even thought of and get a different viewpoint. Gathering impartial data and suggestions can also give you inspiration to evolve your ideas further. It is also a way to check for abbreviations or potential initial errors in the name that you can fix now rather than not noticing until further down the line.

The name is important, but telling yourself that over and over again will usually only lead to one thing, writer’s block and then you aren’t getting anywhere. For many people, it is not easy to come up with something creative and original within 5 minutes so these things take time, and most often you will have an “ah ha” moment when you least expect it. If you are struggling to get any ideas out, get a piece of paper and a pen (old school style) and free write for 5 minutes, write whatever comes into your head, literally everything; chicken, ghost, house, rain, whatever pops into your head and it can help to free up your creativity to get through writer’s block.

Expand Your Vocab

Creating a play on words is effective but you need the knowledge to do this, so pick up a dictionary or thesaurus and help to expand your vocabulary. You can use it to find synonyms of other words or expand your adjectives.

Triple Check Availability

This is the techy bit, check that the URLs and legal rights are available, nothing worse than coming up with the best name ever to find it is actually an obscure blog or failing company that you can’t use the domain name for. In some countries, there will also be restrictions on using certain names together which could lead to infringing copyright or naming patents.

If you are dead set on a name but have found someone else has the domain that you want, you can always contact them and ask them to sell it to you because while big brands and names won’t, there could be older websites or retired bloggers that would be happy to sell up and make a little money on the website they had 10 years ago, plus it can’t hurt to ask.

When you are set on a name also check the social media platforms to aim for consistency across the board.

Think Performance

Google can be a useful marketing tool to spread the word about your business but it is much harder to use if you have a lot of competition. Choose names that aren’t as popular, that don’t have common words in them or that make them specific to certain locations such as; Bonnaroo or The Kentucky Derby as these are more unique and you’ll find yourself higher on the search engine pages from the get-go.

A common question that we get asked is “how much money do you need to start an event management company?” The good news is that the answer in most cases is not much!

Starting an event management company generally has low set up costs compared to many other types of business. The essential equipment/elements you will need are:

  • A computer or laptop
  • WiFi access
  • Desk (or table) and chair

Things that will help but are not essential include:

  • Website (recommended)
  • Access to a printer
  • Answerphone/answer service
  • A vehicle (it is difficult to use public transport when you have event equipment to transport and need to be on site at 5.30 am)
  • Business cards

You may already even own/have access to these items. If not, all of these things should be easily within reach.

How to Start an Event Management Company with Little or No Money (Yes it is possible!)

When you are starting out in business (and even when you are established!) you should do everything you can to minimize expenditure. When you work for yourself it is true that every penny counts.

Absolute Essentials (Things you Can’t Skimp on) When Starting an Event Planning Business

If you have no money you can still start an event planning business, so long as you can start making money fast. Let’s talk through how you can start your business if you really have zero money, in terms of the essentials and the nice-to-haves we just identified.

  • A computer or laptop – more than ever before people own laptops and computers. Although it would be nice to have the latest PC or Mac, as long as you can access the internet, emails and basic programs, that is all you need. If you don’t have your own machine you will need to beg, borrow or steal one somehow. Consider a second-hand device or refurbished model if need be.
  • Phone – whether it is a cell phone, landline or VOIP phone system you need some way of calling out and ensuring that people can get hold of you. You probably already have some method of communication but consider increasing your inclusive call, text and data allowance if you find you are using it a lot more than before.
  • WiFi access – if you don’t have WiFi at home there are plenty of coffee shops and public spaces that offer it for free. And they can provide you with a table) and chair too if you need one.
  • Insurance – this is important and not something you can skimp on, but make sure that you get multiple quotes so you can choose the most cost-effective options. Be honest with your broker. Don’t exaggerate your business activities and turnover as it only means that you will pay more for your policy. Provide the facts and know that if and when your circumstances change you can alter your insurance cover. Request monthly payment plans, rather than annual policies.

How To Access Things You Need for Starting an Event Planning Business (Even When You Have No Money)

  • Website –  most domain names can be purchased for a few dollars unless they are in high demand, but through your research, you can avoid those. There are lots of free and low-cost website builders out there too, allowing you to create a simple website or holding page, without any web building skills. Alternatively set up a company page on LinkedIn or Facebook and refer people to there instead.
  • Printer – if you have fully embraced the digital age this one will not worry you but being able to print things you need can be useful to prepare for important meetings and live events alike. Of course, local libraries and print shops can print things for you, for next to nothing, without having to buy a printer.
  • A vehicle – being able to drive and having access to a reliable vehicle are things every self-sufficient event planner will need. If you don’t own your own vehicle consider hiring a car or a van specifically for event periods/
  • Business cards – business cards cost next to nothing nowadays and you can even design and proof them yourself online and have them delivered to you. Alternatively, create a digital business card or connect with people via LinkedIn instead.

5 Genius Ways To Quickly Inject Money Into Your New Business

If you are starting out and desperately need to bring some money in, there can be four ways to access funds quickly:

  • Have clients ready and waiting – this is the preferable and most organic and least scary way of starting out as a solopreneur. If you can have clients and projects ready and waiting for you as soon as you launch your event planning business it makes the transition from paid employment to business owner much less traumatic. This is the best way to avoid sleepless nights.
  • Register on virtual work sites – register your event planning, business admin and other skills onto freelance sites, such as Upwork. This allows you to bid and accept work around your other commitments.
  • Register with an agency and let contacts know you are available – registering for event work through an agency and letting event agency colleagues know you are on the market for event work can be a useful way to be in an event environment, following instructions from someone else and getting paid for it. Just because you are the boss, don’t think that working the registration desks at someone else’s event is below you.
  • Take paid work in a different field – consider taking on a part-time job where the hours and convenience can work around your new business. It might be in an unrelated field but at least having some income coming in can be one less thing to worry about.
  • Loan – it might be that you need to investigate a short-term loan, either from the bank or borrowed from friends and family.

Owning your own event freelancing or small business can feel like feast or famine when it comes to work, which means that managing cash flow can be a big challenge. Some days you’re turning it away because you don’t have the bandwidth and other times you’re worrying about having no projects lined up and how you are going to pay the bills.

Operating your own event planning business is wonderfully fulfilling but it also means you’re on the hook to market yourself while busy performing event services. You need to keep the flow of clients coming in. For so many freelancers and sole proprietors, it can feel like boom or bust. If that’s the case, one of the most important things you can do for your business is evening out that cash flow.

Balancing out your cash flow is one of the best things you can do for your long-term success as an event freelancer or small business professional. It’s a challenge but can be done if you look for the right kind of client and nurture that person and relationship. Here are a few ideas on how you can even out your cash flow problems and work peaks and troughs.

Startup Problems: Too Much Work and Too Many Clients

We get it. The last thing you want to do as an event professional who has feast or famine times is to turn away work. It feels almost painful when you know a few weeks or months from now, you’ll really need the income. But you also likely know that you can’t run yourself ragged forever. It affects your health and means you could be pulled in so many different directions that all of your clients feel the lack of attention. This will make it next to impossible to get good referrals from them so you certainly don’t want to do this. Instead…

Create an Event Co-op

Until you build a roster of recurring clients who keep you busy year-round, you will have hills and valleys, dearth and surfeit. In order to level that out, one of the things you can do is work with other event planners in a referral group. Just as a physician will provide a patient with a referral to another physician, you can do this with a group of event managers. Select a group of professionals you believe in and can trust. Remember, you’re telling clients and potential clients that these event profs are as good as you are. Make sure you’re not giving a bad referral.

You also want to ensure that this sort of relationship works for you too. If you’re referring clients to them, you’re hoping they will do the same for you when the opportunity presents itself. Make this clear.

You can also use the group to help increase your staff. If you’re afraid of losing the client altogether, take the client on and then work with your group to cover some of the other functions you don’t have time for. Pay them accordingly.

Let Them Go (for a fee)

This is a similar idea to the one above. If you don’t have time to take on the client, refer them to someone else but request a finder’s fee. While this is not customary in event planning, it’s not uncommon in other industries and a hungry event planner may be willing to give you a small fee for the referral.

If you find yourself doing this often and there’s a market for this type of service in your network, you may discover that you have a new business.

Set Up a Referral Plan

If you have several happy clients, now is the time to create a formal referral program. Ask happy clients to refer you to others in their network or tell your clients that you are accepting new clients for events in a stipulated time frame (like Spring of 2018). This helps you book up your calendar in advance, rewards your clients for the referrals, and creates scarcity when they see how far in advance you are booked. This drives people to book you early or ask for other suggestions, which can help you work your referral group as mentioned above.

Startup Problems: Balancing Out Cash Flow When You Have Too Little Coming In

Even the best event profs can have problems with a steady flow of clients. Whether it’s due to a cyclical economy or being new in town, you’ll likely face a lack of clients at some point. When you do, here are a few things that can help make up for it.

Hire a Virtual Assistant

With feast or famine, you can’t exactly hire someone. What would happen during the famine? But you also can’t grow your business without hiring someone. What should you do?

In this case of plenty, consider hiring a virtual assistant to allow you to bring in more work. You can hire them on a contingency system where they work on projects when you have the work. When you don’t they go back to serving other clients. There’s no long-term contract and you needn’t worry about paying them when you don’t have projects.

A virtual assistant is a safe way to take on additional work that will help you grow without taking the risk of another full-time, permanent employee. You can task them with researching potential new clients too, to hopefully help even out your flow of work..

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

If you want to get your name out there in an area where you don’t have much of a reputation, consider volunteering on an event or in an activity that would give you exposure to your ideal client. Work hard and make an impression and your new network of people met through volunteering may just hire you. Don’t push your business on them. Simply look for ways in which to be helpful.

Get Clients with Recurring Events to Book Early

While it may not help you get paid any earlier, this tip can help you get your calendar booked early so you can worry less. And if you require a downpayment to hold the spot, you can get a little revenue coming in before the event. If you have clients with recurring events, give them an incentive to book you early. You’ll have peace of mind and you can pass along a small discount or financial incentive for them to get on your books for next year’s event this year.

Ask Your Network

If your event business is new or struggling, the easiest and least expensive way to grow it is through referral marketing. You never know who you know. Don’t assume your friends and family have no use for your services. Ask them if they need any help. Sometimes, someone has taken on more than they can handle and they need someone to finish the project. Other times, they have someone in their network who needs help with an event.

Most people would be willing to hire an event planner that a good friend referred them to, so get happy clients and attendees to talk about you. Our friends know us and know what we like. They wouldn’t steer us in the wrong direction. But it may surprise you to know that people will even make hiring and buying decisions based on reviews by people they don’t know. According to a study from Ogilvy, Google and TNS, 74% of consumers identify word-of-mouth as a key influence in their purchasing decision.

According to the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, one offline word-of-mouth impression drives sales at least 5x more than a paid mention does. Paid advertising may not be in your budget anyway if you’re just starting out but it’s reassuring to know it’s not the most effective way to reach your audience anyway.

Give those referring you all the information they need to make sharing it with their network easy. Make sure to thank them when they do and offer them a referral fee or thank you card or gift for their assistance if work materializes as a result. You can even offer a friends and family discount or free consultation.

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

Join a Group

Join a group and get to know other people. In-person networking groups like your local chamber of commerce and others as well as virtual groups on LinkedIn and Facebook allow you to make connections with your ideal clients and other professionals who can help expand your network.

When you join a group, don’t hit them immediately with how desperate you are for a new client. Instead, look for opportunities to be of assistance and connect them to the people they want to meet or need help with. If you become a resource for others, they are likely to become a resource for you as well because they will begin to know, like, and trust you.

Become a Subject Matter Expert

As mentioned above, becoming a resource for people is a good way to get hired. That’s why becoming a subject matter expert is paramount to getting clients year-round. If you can become the noted expert in an area, book speaking engagements, publish about topics of interest to your ideal audience, write a book (or an ebook), post on sites offering your assistance or answering questions, following others on social media and joining in on chats and other discussions, you can quickly become known for your insights. When you do, people will approach you to work for them. This means less time spent needing to market your services.

Know one more benefit to becoming a subject matter expert? You can increase your pricing, which is another good way to improve cash flow.

Sell Something

Going off of the subject matter expert advice, look for ways you can expand your offerings and sell something. As an event professional, you are exchanging your time for money. You can make a very good career doing so but you can also exhaust yourself chasing the money and working the hours because you want more of it (to make up for times when clients are few and far between).

An ideal way to balance out cash flow is to produce something that can earn you money without you being involved. For instance, a book, product, or even a course can bring in revenue without an additional investment of your time. You invest initially in its creation because you do so on spec. Most likely you will not be paid to create it. But once it’s created, the revenue possibilities aren’t limited by the hours in the day. People can buy it (and pay you) even while you’re sleeping.

Offer a Smaller Service

You likely serve a particular audience and you’ve decided what they will pay. By setting your prices you have chosen to work with a client of a specified means or revenue. That leaves others out and that’s okay when it comes to booking events.

But a way to get more clients is by going into another market. This could mean taking on another niche or dropping your price. If you’re not interested in doing either of these things, try offering smaller consulting services. This would entail shorter stints, less work on your part, and a wider audience base. For instance, you can offer “day-of” event manager work on events. Some corporate people plan the events and then realize they don’t have time to manage them or need additional support. Or some people just want a plan they can follow. Their limited budgets may prevent them from hiring a full-time planner. You can fill that need.

Improve Your Existing Cash Flow

To improve cash flow, either get more clients, raise prices on your services, or change how you collect the money. For instance, adding a payment plan for large events that would bring in a smaller amount each month preceding the event would help, as would requiring a down payment to hold the date and another partial payment when they see your first plan or some other accepted milestone. Your final payment may be diminished but spreading out the payments would bring some stability to the cash flow.

Put on Your Own Events

Instead of waiting for clients to come to you, think about opportunities you can make a start on right away. You probably have event ideas which could be financially viable, so why not do them yourself? Of course, there is risk involved and investment needs to be secured but it can also potentially give you the biggest returns. You can start small and build the event year-on-year. Consider options such as crowdfunding to test the viability of the idea and reduce your financial risk. Look for in-kind sponsorship, partners, funding opportunities and ticketing to balance the budget.

Winning Out-of-Town Business

If business is really slow, think about if you need to widen your catchment area to look for clients a little further afield. Of course, the convenience factor drops and the travel time and expense increases when you are working out-of-town but if the demand for services is high elsewhere new contracts can be negotiated to cover these factors. Setting travel budgets and fees can feel a little overwhelming in the beginning, but they can still profitable course of action.

Know your worth. It’s non-negotiable. The only exception to that is if you have a potential client who will open up doors for you. In that sense being flexible in your pricing may just be the cost of doing business.

Getting Contracts Approved Faster

Winning a new contract should be a cause for celebration but it can soon turn to frustration when your client’s board or legal team are causing unnecessary hold-ups to the progress of the project (and the first invoice being issued).

Of course, people get busy. Email inboxes become overwhelmingly full. Forgetting to sign your contract isn’t a personal slight but it simply may have fallen off of their to-do list. Politely remind them every few days. Make sure the reminder that you set for the day before the deadline has a much more urgent tone.

If you’re worried about sounding pushy with these reminders, word each differently. But start with something along the lines of, “Just checking in to see if you had any questions about the contract. I’m eager to get started.” or “ Wanted to see if you needed anything further from me in order to get the finalized signatures. Please let me know.” Then as the deadline approaches, add more urgency and personalize the subject line.

Businesses need to know who they serve and what problem they solve. Building your event business is critical to paying the bills but if you’re selecting the wrong clients, numbers won’t matter. Attract the right clients and you’ll create a business you love. Attract the wrong ones and you might not be in business much longer.

A successful event business is about more than just numbers. Yes, numbers make the difference between a red balance sheet and one that’s in the black but there’s more to building an event business than just getting people who will pay you money. If getting bookings for events was all that mattered, everyone would be in business for themselves.

However, having the right type of client is as important as having projects that pay the bills because without good clients, you’re more likely to return to working for someone else. The wrong kind of client can be one heck of a headache so you want to make sure you attract the kind that you enjoy working with.

Don’t Try to be Everything to Everyone

You cannot please everyone, and trying to offer event planning services to everyone, no matter what their brief is, means that you are missing out on specializing on your strengths and developing your specific area of expertise.

Newbie event professionals who want to eat often take anything that comes their way, whether it’s the kind of work they want or not. They also try to be all things to all people because they worry that if they segment their marketing or target a particular niche, they’ll miss out on work. The opposite is true. You can’t market to everyone without weakening your message. Most people think choosing a niche is limiting. It’s not. It’s called specializing and specialists are worth a lot more than generalists. Ask a neurosurgeon. Selecting a niche to focus on can be the wisest move you make.

As personalization increases, niching will become an expectation much in the same way physicians select a specialty. Yes, some people will still be in general practice but those in high demand will specialize.

In a niche, you will be expected to:

  • Know your niche and keep up with its needs
  • Understand the specific needs and requirements of your clients
  • Participate in the social media platforms of the niche
  • Expand your niche as interests expand
  • Market to your niche
  • Cultivate a referral culture in your event planning business

Refine Your Marketing Messaging

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

Determine who you want to work with and speak only to them. Once you know what you want and who you work well with, cast narrow not wide. Focus in on your ideal and turn away those who don’t fit it. Everyone will be happier in the long run.

When you personalize your marketing to a specified group of people, they will feel you are speaking just to them and will appreciate the personalized attention. You’ll then get to work with the type of client you want in the area you want. By doing so you begin to make a name for yourself among your ideal client type and they’ll share your information with their like-minded friends and peers, attracting even more of your ideal client.

Saying Yes to the Wrong Client, Means Saying No to the Right One

You only have so many hours in your day. Every project and client you choose, takes your time. If you say yes to one that isn’t your ideal, you’re taking the spot away from someone who is, and that someone could be the next email you receive. Pass on clients who aren’t your ideal. When you get your marketing refined to target your ideal client, you won’t need to worry about the others. You’ll receive a better referral and review if they’re in your ideal category because your services will shine.

But still, many businesses hesitate to narrow down prospects because they worry that means less potential clients. It does from a numbers perspective but it doesn’t matter. Let’s take a look at keywords to understand this concept. You can take a keyword and by using analytics tools see just how often someone searched for that term. In pay per click, some terms are more expensive than others to place for because they are popular searches. But that doesn’t speak to their value. In order to decide whether that’s something you want to pay for or not, you want to look at conversion rate. If there are only 1,200 searches of that term per year, but a large percentage convert, then you would be wise to buy for that term.

The same is true for niches. There may not be as many people looking for them but if those who are looking, are serious clients, that’s all you care about. You don’t want thousands of inquiries who want RFPs only to vanish in the night. You want people to self-select before they ask you to give of your most precious commodity – time.

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

Fire the Mr. and Ms. Wrong Client

If you’ve already taken on clients who were not your ideal, finish up those events and walk away. It’s easy to agree to do another job for your less-than-ideal clients instead of worrying about where your next client will come. If you feel that pressure, resist and understand that taking on the wrong clients means that you’re going to end up with more of the wrong clients as they refer you to their peers. Think of the referral business like high school cliques. Jocks are generally friends with jocks and nerds with nerds. If you want to do business with nerds, don’t ask the jocks for referrals.

Be Brave and Get Known for Your Event Planning Niche:

  • Say no and walk away to clients you know are not a good fit. It may sound like suicide but you need to focus on getting to the right people
  • Trust your gut instinct more often
  • At the end of each project determine whether you should work for the client again. If it isn’t right, be brave and walk away

New Research Reveals the Most Effective Strategies Event Planners Use To Get More Clients

In January 2018 we conducted one of the largest pieces of event planning research ever completed. With 2,400 contacts and over 1,000 respondents. If you would like a copy of this research to publish it on your website, you can request it here:  State of the Event Industry Research 2018 .

45% of the event planners we surveyed told us that they have more clients than 12 months ago. 43% have the same amount and 12% have fewer clients. The outlook for the industry is looking positive overall.

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

We asked event planners their most effective strategies to find new clients and the top strategy was networking face to face (66%), followed by social media (45%).

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

In order to be successful in your event planning business, you need to learn to prioritize leads to understand who to spend your time with and who to let go. Since you can’t get a refund on precious time, you’re hurting your business if you waste time on the wrong people.

One of the most critical things you can do for the success of your event planning business, outside of pricing, is understanding the leads process. If you don’t, there’s a good chance you’ll either waste your time on someone who will never become a client or you’ll ignore someone who could be very good for your business.

If you’re unfamiliar with lead screening and prioritizing, it’s time you learn all about it. Here are the basics you need to know.

The Basics of Lead Prioritization

Prioritizing leads will not only help you spend time with the most worthwhile prospects, it will also increase your revenue because more of your time will be spent with those who are able to make a difference to your checking account.

Know Your Ideal Client

There is no way to prioritize a lead effectively if you don’t know who you want to work with. As we have already covered, you should identify your ideal client, otherwise, it makes it next to impossible to be effective in your lead generation. Select a niche to serve, or at least identify your ideal demographic. Do you want to work only high-end events or do you love family-oriented get-togethers? Or maybe there’s an industry you know well. Whatever it is, sketch out who your ideal client is and what they struggle with.

Know Where You Excel

Another way of narrowing down who it is you want to work with is knowing what you’re good at. If you are a whiz at last-minute soirees or you host amazing destination events, decide whether that’s something you want to specialize in.

Now that you know who you want to serve, you can go into prioritizing how to work the leads.

Attend to Inbound Leads First

While this is common sense, some event planners still forget this basic advice. Always work inbound leads first. These are people who have reached out to you. Most event planners understand the priority behind a contact form but fail to see that there are other inbound lead types. These could be people who stopped by at your booth at a show, asked you a question via social media or downloaded material from your website.

No matter how they approached you, the follow-up is critical. Check in with them periodically to see if you can be of service. Use drip marketing or a newsletter to stay in touch and remain top of mind so that when they need an event planner, they think of you.

Prioritize the Clicks

If you send out any sort of cold messaging via email or a newsletter, follow up with those who have clicked on any of these materials. If the person is someone who started as an inbound lead where they contacted you and were then added to a list, they take priority. Otherwise, anyone who clicks on your email or newsletter content deserves a polite, how can I help you? or would you like additional information/content? contact.

No one clicks out of kindness. If they click, they have some interest in you, your services, or your content. Ideally, you would have technology in place that could keep track of their activity history and you could analyze it for patterns. For instance, do they seem to click on a particular topic like corporate events? Then consider touching base and offering them your corporate events guide.

This will position you as an industry expert, understanding of their needs, helpful, and a resource to turn to for assistance. All of these things will bring them back when it is time for them to make a decision about their event.

Stalk Website Visitors

Assuming they have downloaded content from you in the past or are on your email list, you can track every time they visit your site (if you’ve invested in the technology to do so). Pay particular interest in what they’re downloading and the pages they’re visiting.

When you contact them to see if you can be of service, offer them a piece of content that is in line with their interests. Just make sure it’s not something they’ve already downloaded.

Pick Up the Phone

If you have absolutely no potential clients reaching out to you, it’s time to do some research and find events that may be a good fit for your services. You can contact businesses directly (for corporate events), inquire with other vendors on potential partnerships, or market yourself on social media, to name a few.

However you decide to do your own cold calling (or approaching), make sure you have your ideal client information at your fingertips. You do not want to approach someone just for the sake of getting more contacts in. Make sure they are good contacts and would make good clients and a good fit. Otherwise, you are wasting your time and theirs.

But what if you don’t have any of the technology set up? What if you just want to know how to prioritize leads that are all coming in the same way such as through a contact form? Keep reading.

Prioritizing Same Type Leads

Let’s assume all of your contacts are coming in the same way and you’re wondering how to prioritize and screen them so you’re not wasting your time with leads that won’t convert. The first way to help you prioritize is to create a contact form that tells you what you need to know before contacting them. These things include:

  • The nature of the contact such as question, availability, pricing, etc.
  • If it’s a question, allow them to type it in a notes section. If it’s availability, prompt them to add a desired date and size of the event. If it’s a pricing inquiry, ask them for all the details that go into your pricing analysis. That way you don’t have to contact them to get the basic information to answer their question. You already have it and can skip right to providing a response.
  • Their name and contact information such as company name, phone number, email address, etc.
  • Their budget. If you only work on events with a budget in a specified range, make this a must-answer question. It’s better to know ahead of time, even if it means some people drop off, than it is to spend your time with a person who isn’t your ideal client.
  • Type of event.

Remember that ideal client list you made and the demographics you laid out? Use that to prioritize incoming leads or contact forms. Ask yourself the following questions:

  • Is this person in my ideal demographic?
  • Is the type of event they’re interested in something I like to do?
  • Does their budget match my ideal event?
  • Will I gain exposure or networking benefits from being involved with this event? In some instances, you may decide to override your ideal client, budget, or event specifications because of the people you’ll meet or the exposure you’ll receive. This may be true of a philanthropic benefit, for instance.
  • Is there the potential for repeat business? Maybe they’re not your ideal budget but the repeat business involved in a recurring event may bring them closer to your ideal in the long run.

Content, Conversion, and the Sales Funnel

It’s important to talk about conversion, the sales funnel, and lead nurturing. Selecting an event planner is not the same thing as going into a store and buying a loaf of bread. When you want bread, you walk into the store and buy it. There’s very little comparison shopping done. A quick scan of the shelves and that’s it.

On the other hand, there could be a very long sales cycle in selecting the perfect person to plan an event. The client could also be mid-cycle, meaning they don’t need a planner now but anticipate the need for one in the future.

This process of selection is often depicted as a funnel. A funnel starts with a wide mouth. If you’re marketing your services, you’re likely casting a wide net. (Although, hopefully not an immense one. You should be personalizing your campaigns based on your ideal client.)

Entice with Content

At this stage, people don’t know you or your business very well so you provide them with introductory materials based on their needs.

After digesting these materials, some people will decide you are not a good fit for their event. This decision is usually based on preliminary qualifications like budget and industry specialization. This elimination is okay because you don’t want to work with just anyone.

Is This The Start of Something Special?

Next, people now know a little bit about you and have decided you can handle their event but do they want you to? This part of the process is all about personalization and making connections. They have options when it comes to event planners. At this stage, they’re ensuring you are someone they want to work with.

Again, some people will decide you are not a good fit for them now that they’ve gotten to know you better. Maybe your personality and theirs don’t jive. Maybe they’ve found someone who knows a little more about their industry. Whatever the reason, don’t worry about it. This works both ways as you may decide you have no interest in working with them either.

It’s a Match!

The last part of the sales funnel is the narrowest. The potential client knows you can do their event, they like you well enough to give you the opportunity, and now they’re just narrowing it down to a decision. Remember, that decision could mean your competition or it could just as easily mean forgoing an event planner altogether and doing it on their own.

At this stage addressing their needs is more important than ever. If you can provide a much deeper connection and understanding of their goals, they are more likely to select you.

So what moves people down the funnel? It’s not gravity. It’s a thing called nurturing.

You Can Do It

This is why prioritizing potential clients and leads is so important. The sales process requires a natural sloughing off of potential clients. Because of this, you don’t want to spend any extra time with prospects that won’t become clients. You want to recognize the potential of becoming a client as early as possible and spend your time with those people. If you spend your time with tire kickers who never convert to sales, you’re losing money.

Identify your ideal client so you can recognize them when they fill out a contact form or call you. Know the right questions to ask to identify them as such and don’t be afraid to say goodbye to those who aren’t an ideal fit. For those who are a good fit but aren’t ready to make a decision, nurture them until they are. Be a resource and you become a valuable ally.

Be a Client Magnet:

  • Use the tools detailed earlier to recognize your ideal client early in the sales cycle.
  • Provide them with helpful information to assist them in making a decision.
  • Stay in contact with them, acting as a resource.
  • Pay attention to how they are interacting with you.
  • Reach out to them on social media and share content that you believe they will find helpful. Share their content as well.
  • Have many resources on your website that are suited to all stages of the sales funnel so they can self-identify and continue their desire to find an event planner with your help.
  • Use a drip campaign or a newsletter to stay in contact with them as they make a decision.
  • Solve a problem for them.

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

One of the most common questions we get asked at EventMB is how to get more clients. Whether you are a self-employed event planner or an ambitious CEO, clients are the lifeblood of the business. It seems to be a lot harder nowadays too since people are tuning out advertising. But it’s not hopeless. The good news is that many of the ways you can reach new clients are free (or inexpensive) to you, outside of the time it costs to perform them. Whether you are introvert or extrovert, there are plenty of ways to land new clients. Knowing your ideal client will help you recognize them when you see them. It will also help you understand which tips on this list will help you the most. Here is the biggest list of tips to attract more event planning clients and grow your event planning business.

The event industry is a service industry and event planning is a service which means:

no clients = no business.

You need clients to survive and we all want to gain profitable event clients. Here is a bumper list of ways you can improve your client magnet potential while business is slow.

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

Create Happy Clients and then Ask for Referrals The primary thing you need to do, is to create happy clients and attendees. Without them, there won’t be any referrals even if you beg and plead – at least not the kind you want to be published. Find ways to delight and excite your attendees and clients as the basis for creating a referral plan. Once you have people who think you’re amazing, you can begin creating opportunities for them to share their love of your work.

Gain More Reviews of Your Services You want to make it as easy as possible for people to review your services so when you ask them to review your work, either refer them directly to the website that you’d like them to post the review on (such as LinkedIn or Facebook) or tell them you plan on posting it to your website and then get it up there as soon as they give it to you. This will make them feel proud to see their review on a site and will also give them something to refer people to in order to learn more about what you do and how you do it.

Get Reviews and Testimonials from the Right People Event planners can benefit from reviews from clients and attendees. But you can also receive persuasive reviews from vendors and people in the industry you’ve worked with. Anyone who has worked with you and benefited from your level of professionalism is a good ask. If you volunteered your services for an event, you can use them too.

There’s no easier way to get that review than to ask for it. Help them understand that you depend on word-of-mouth as a small business and it means a lot to you. There are very few people who will say no to an impassioned, yet humble, request. Just make sure you don’t ask when you’re delivering the bill. No one is in the mood for that.

Ask for Introductions and Pass it Forward This is one of the most awkward things for most event planners. It feels forced, but if you are confident in your services you should feel like you are giving each one of your clients an opportunity to help one of their acquaintances out by referring them to you.

Unless you ask you won’t receive. Always ensure that you “pass it forward” yourself too. If you bring business to your clients they will be eager to return the goodwill.

Be Yourself Be yourself, unless that self is standoffish and shy. In that case, be the opposite. But seriously, let the clients get to know you and open up to them. Don’t be just an event planner. Be THEIR event planner by connecting with them and caring about their lives as well. Someone who does more than just the service you hire them for is someone you want to refer to others.

People want to be helpful and refer others, but they won’t do it for just a mediocre experience. They want to shine in front of their friends and peers. If they have a great experience with you, they’ll gladly share, knowing they’re doing a service for their friends as well by introducing you.

Referral Incentives If you are struggling with natural referrals from busy previous clients then it may be beneficial to add a little more incentive. Offer your existing clients money off or discounts if they refer a friend and they are more likely to recommend you if they are getting something in return. For long-term clients or contracts, you could also offer discounted rates to their new referral as part of a loyalty scheme. The options for this are quite broad because you could base the incentives on the amount of work that they bring in and you may find that you need to do little else once this gets the ball rolling.

Know Your Demographic It is important to fully understand who you are trying to attract, what their preferences are and the best way to contact them. You will be looking to market your services in completely different ways if your demographic is 18-24 year olds compared to 50-60 year olds. Think about technology and social media, as well as more traditional marketing channels such as newspapers, leaflets and business networking.

Online Q&A Create a YouTube video or Facebook Live session where you answer frequent questions about your services so that people can put a face to the brand and make a more informed choice about picking you. You could simply sit and discuss topics that you have been asked (low/no budget) or you could invest in creating something which really shows off your brand and image if you have a little budget to play with.

Make a Package Bundling together various services can help to create a bigger sense of value to your client. Think about offering a simple package to entice more customers. Think carefully about what is and isn’t included though to ensure there is no misunderstanding. What opportunities are there to upsell the package?

Creative Sponsorship Sponsorship can help you increase your brand awareness and improve interaction with potential clients if done correctly. Sometimes you need to speculate to accumulate. Make sure you choose opportunities that are relevant to your audience and get creative so that you stand out from the crowd by showing why clients should pick you! As an event planner you might want to offer in-kind sponsorship – where you offer your services pro bono to run an event or a specific element such as the VIP lounge (instead of giving a financial payment). In return, you are listed and promoted as the sponsor and gain the perks that that brings.

Video Adverts Fewer people are watching live TV now and many are recording and skipping past the adverts. Not that TV adverts were probably ever within your budget anyway! Instead, make a video advert and share it via your social media accounts to your followers and potential clients. You could also use the video as a welcome or explanation of services when you get an inquiry. This is an effective way of showing off some of your projects and is much more engaging than an introductory email. Give it a go to see the difference in your client conversion rate.

Become a Guest Speaker As an eventprof you have a lot of expertise and experience that others want to hear. Some of the best ways of showing what you do is to discuss it and show them exactly how competent you are. Attend events as a guest speaker and you can discuss the problems that your services fix and deal with! The key here is to offer value within the talk itself, give good advice on the day and encourage potential clients to come to talk to you afterwards. Your professional knowledge is that carrot enticing people to come and strike up a conversation with you.

Host a Giveaway Everybody loves free stuff, and hosting quality and interesting giveaways is a quick way to get people involved and aware of your brand. It goes without saying that the more valuable and desirable the prize the more awareness and potential leads you will get but it is important that when using giveaways to attract clients, that you make the prize relevant to the services you’re offering. For example, you could offer taster sessions, event workshops or some of your services for free so clients know what they are getting and you know those that are entering are the “right” people.

Make Use of Trade Shows If you have the budget to participate, a trade show can be great for networking success, brand positioning and sales. Exhibitions bring buyers and sellers from your industry, or local area, together which means you have a good chance to meet long-term potential clients. Try to be innovative, stand out from the crowd and draw attendees to your exhibition stand to better your chances. Most importantly though make sure that you follow up on any promising leads promptly after the event, otherwise, your investment will be worthless.

Create Your Own Leads Sometimes clients are not always forthcoming and you need to proactively go out there and find them yourself. One of the ways to do this is to use platforms that have a lot of business information about people, for example, LinkedIn. You can see the company’s that you want to appeal to and their HR, PR or management department representatives and contact them directly for a more personal and innovative approach. This also helps to connect you to similar people that may help your business too, for example, new suppliers.

Hashtags There is a plethora of information on social media and it can be hard to get noticed without having to pay for adverts or to get your message out. Using popular and relevant hashtags on social media can be an easy way to get in front of potential new clients. Twitter chats can be a great opportunity and some chats are based on geographical location while others are based on different expert topic areas and interests. Keep your content and hashtags relevant and you might find that a retweet or share turns into a bigger opportunity. Resist the urge to do the hard sell on social media though. Focus on being genuine and striking up real conversations and relationships.

Business Cards Whether you still favor traditional paper business cards or have gone digital make sure you always have your details to hand for easy sharing. With more and more people storing their cards on their phone they are less likely to take and keep a business card, so have both options available if you can. Include social media details as well as traditional methods of contact.

Creative Partnerships Do you have a non-competing business that would work well with your own? Approach them to create great package rates that help you both. You can offer to refer to one another with paid incentives for referrals or even special rates of advertising in their shop or website. Clients want to know that they can get everything fairly easily and joining forces with other businesses helps to add value that can benefit everyone.

Talk About Your Business Every day let people know about your business and services. You would be surprised how little other people pay attention to your life, do your friends and family know and understand what you do? Would they recommend you? Getting clients can sometimes start at home by building your network outwards. There is a lot of event and client potential there, so make sure that you are the first person who pops into their mind in the circles they move in.

Business Deals Promotional offers and deals can get new clients in the door to show off your products or services and get them hooked. Some of the more successful deals prompt new clients into action straight away such as “limited time only” or deal limits such as “free consultation to the first 5 people to call/email”. This gives them more incentive to act and creates more of a buzz for new potential clients.

Long-term Pricing A lot of your business may be one-off or short-term event projects but include a long-term incentive into your pricing structure to encourage your clients to think ahead and keep them coming back. This could be an improvement on rates for next time as a loyalty bonus, or offering a long term service such as managing and updating their event social media channels for their event for 12 months when the next project is confirmed. It is easier to keep a client than recruit new ones each time so this could be a winning strategy.

Online Help Increase awareness for event consultancy and management services by helping others online to answer questions. Using sites such as Quora or Clarity can allow you to create a profile to showcase to potential leads that you know what you are talking about. You can offer your services to provide consultations or resolve questions for users which increases brand awareness and proves you know what you are talking about. You can also improve your profile with portfolio elements and add reviews from previous users you have helped to improve your status and make you more reputable. If you fill out your complete profile with all of your services and previous history it will make users more likely to come to you.

Get Personal On a daily basis, people have their inboxes and phones flooded with ads, cold calls, spam and junk and they can spot it a mile away. If you are working on a client lead then do your research, treat every client like a VIP and you are less likely to be added to the SPAM folder. Know your audience and it will foster a long-term relationship rather than seeing you as “just another brand”.

Press Releases Get some press.

With the increase of technology, eventprofs often overlook sending out press releases but this is a missed opportunity to secure local or national media coverage. If you have something newsworthy create a press release and send it out to the right channels.

It’s important to know, the press won’t think you landing a big client is newsworthy, but if you can, share the story in a frame that interests them (like event planner gives back to cancer patients through hosting events they missed due to illness), they might just cover it.

Press Opportunities Follow the #journorequest and #PRrequest hashtags on Twitter for opportunities to share your expertise with journalists writing specific features.

Help a Reporter Out Register on specialist sites such as HARO (Help a Reporter Out) to enable you to provide insight and put yourself forward as a reliable source to secure yourself media coverage. Getting a quote in a major newspaper goes a long way to establishing yourself as an expert in your industry. It is important to remember not to underestimate the power of traditional press and the kudos and reach they bring when looking for new clients.

Brand Ambassadors Another opportunity for event planners to consider is blogs and websites that are read and respected by your target audience. Perhaps you could submit a guest post offering some top tips or be featured with an interview. High traffic blogs may offer sponsored posts, reviews, banner ads and other opportunities.

Associations Join an association and get to know other event planners.

Join a chamber of commerce or networking organization In-person networking groups allow you to make connections with your ideal clients and other professionals who can help expand your network. You never know who you might meet.

Create relationships with business organizations Volunteer for your local chamber. They throw a lot of events. They could just end up hiring you or if not, giving you a great referral.

Volunteer for a non-profit Volunteering allows you to give back, gain more experience and potentially find opportunities for paid work in the future.

Partner with other event vendors Can you offer a package with an AV company, event stylist or other vendor that compliments your event planning services? By working together you can add value and involve partners that can market the package to their own networks.

Follow-up with past clients Check in regularly with past clients. You never know what ideas it could spark or how often it leads someone to say “I was thinking about contacting you about an idea I have…”

Ask if they are in need of your services, could refer you to a friend, or write/record a testimonial for you on your services.

Work with Venues Contact local venues and get on their preferred partners list.

Plan an Event to Show off your Skills If you want to attract more corporate clients set up a free business networking event to show off what you can do and bring together people who may want to talk to you.

Be a Mentor Just because someone is on the lower rung of the career ladder does not mean they are lacking in connections. Just don’t make your business the only reason you’re mentoring.

Partner with large event planning firms Large players in the industry will often pass on projects that are too small or don’t fit their ideal client spec. Ask them if they might refer them to you instead.

Make Proactive Approaches Contact companies with user conferences and ask them if they’ve thought of outsourcing the work. Be ready to break down the costs of doing so.

Industry events Go to trade shows or conferences that your ideal customer would attend then network like crazy.

Co-working Opportunities Contact your local co-working space. A lot of budding entrepreneurs have a need for event planners on a freelance basis. The co-working space itself may need one.

Free Consultations Offer a free consultation or a 15-minute planning walk-through of suggestions. Sometimes people just need to be pointed in the right direction and realizing the enormity of planning an event and their lack of experience might just get you the job.

Meet Small Business Owners Network with other event planners. Independent business can be filled with ups and downs when it comes to clients. Sometimes you have so many you need to turn them away, other times you wish you had some. Partnering with other event planners allows for recommendations in the case of overflow situations and vacations. Be prepared to do the same for them – pass on extra business when you get to that point.

Create a Course Create a course on UDEMY to showcase your planning skills.

Affiliate Marketing and Incentives Offer a referral bonus for past clients who refer you to new ones. Create an affiliate program with other vendors, software providers, or venues. Give free new client consultations to existing clients to give out to friends and colleagues.

Become an Official Event Partner If you have a large corporate client, inquire about how other departments in that company handle their events. Ask to be introduced to people who might benefit from your services. Look for ways to save the company money by becoming their “official” event planner.

One-stop-shop Connect with technology providers in the event planning space. This may seem like a far stretch but as companies are trying to differentiate themselves from others, they may want to become a one-stop shop for their customers. If a customer approaches them about software and also finds they need event planning, that company may be in a position to give them your name.

Get Known Contact companies with internal event planners and see if they are ever in need of short-term, consultant solutions. For instance, their event planner may be out on maternity leave and you could fill in. They may not think they need that sort of assistance but then a surgery or other temporary work issue comes up and guess who they’re calling?

Go Live Go live on Facebook. This video creation option expands your reach and you’re able to connect with people who may not usually see your content.

Speak at Business Events Speak at the chamber or other organizations whose audience could be comprised of people who would be interested in hiring an event planner. You most likely won’t be able to pitch your own services but the exposure presents you as an expert. They will likely mention your business in the intro or at the end. Ideally, your contact info would be provided so that people can follow up with questions.

Create a Follow Up List Don’t give up on leads. If someone contacts you for more information but doesn’t respond when you give it to them, reach out periodically with help and resources. They may still need you but have been too busy to respond.

Identify Ideal Clients Search connections of your past clients on LinkedIn that would fit your ideal client profile. Either ask your client for an introduction or reach out directly and mention you’ve worked with X in the past.

Build your LinkedIn Profile Rework your LinkedIn profile to detail the types of events you specialize in. If you turn up in searches more often, you’ll get more leads.

Thought Leadership Post industry thought leadership pieces that attract attention. Be controversial.

The Business Story Rewrite your website to include your story.

Email Signature Invite people to book their event with you on your email signature.

LinkedIn Groups Participate in LinkedIn groups for your industry niche. Do not sell your services, just ask questions, comment and be helpful to get noticed.

Get Social Create social media profiles on sites that cater to your ideal client. Post actively on these sites with helpful information and not sales messaging.

Paid Social Media Ads Run a social media paid ad campaign.

Retargeting Use Google retargeting to bring visitors back to your website.

Website Redesign Redesign your website with a fresher look.

Blogging Create a blog and post to it on a regular basis.

LinkedIn Pulse Post to LinkedIn Pulse.

Ebook Write an ebook, downloadable checklist, and/or a playbook for a successful event. Make it available on your website as a free download.

FAQs Create a FAQs page on your website using valuable keywords.

Tracking Get technology that helps you understand who has visited your website and where they went. Then create a content strategy based on what you see them doing.

Checklist Create an interactive checklist to help people plan different types of events and host it on your website.

Online Community Start an online community that fits your niche. For instance, companies that host events may need resources to help them do it. Be helpful and when they decide there’s no value in doing it in-house anymore, they’ll think of you.

Guest Blog Guest blog on a site that will be read by your ideal demographic.

Local Search Results Improve your SEO organically or through paid options. Just make sure that you are concentrating on local search if that’s who you work with.

Email Marketing Create a cold email campaign of people who employ event planners in your niche.

Social Search Search on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to see who is asking about hiring an event planner.

Google Alerts Create a Google alert or use Mention to find people talking about keywords that matter to you.

Pinterest Create Pinterest boards as portfolios for your work or to capture your event visions. When people contact you, they have an easy way to see your past events.

Reviews Check out your reviews on review sites. If you have an office, you may have reviews. Make sure you know what’s out there. Respond to everyone who leaves you a review, even if the review is less than stellar.

Facebook Reviews Ask former clients to leave you a star rating on your business Facebook page.

Use Your Personal Network Share your business content with your friends and family on Facebook. Often people don’t realize what we do. When they know, they may bless you with referrals.

Different Service Levels Create multiple levels of service for potential clients. In economic downturns, people may not host as many parties or events. You need to safeguard yourself against these economic ups and downs by creating something even those with small budgets could use. This could be a product like an ebook on how to plan an event on a budget or offering a consultation-only service where you tell them how to do it in a consultative role but are not involved in the actual planning. These low-end budget clients may eventually convert to full-cost paying clients when the economy picks back up. But if they don’t you have found a source of revenue that requires very little effort on your part.

Drip Marketing Launch a drip marketing campaign to nurture leads until they are ready to make a decision.

Handwritten Note Take up the art of the handwritten note. Use them for thank you’s, introductions, referrals, and more. Your communication is bound to stand out.

Industry Article Write an article for an industry magazine, one that will be in the hands of your ideal customer.

SlideShare Create a SlideShare deck. SlideShare has a wide audience. Sharing your content there is another way to position yourself as a thought leader and expert in event planning.

Case Studies Create a case study of work you’ve done with past clients. Don’t just share how you made them feel but what you did for them from a number’s perspective. Use stats and revenue whenever possible but ensure your client is okay with airing those stats.

Gain Respect from Peers Share others content. When someone shares your content, you get notified of it. The next thing you do is visit that person’s page or profile. It’s a good way to get them to pay attention to you, if only for a minute.

Comment Along those same lines, comment on their content. This will help you build a relationship with them.

Round-up Posts Create a round-up post and include the content from someone you want to build a better relationship with. They’ll appreciate the share.

Opinion Piece Give your opinion on a blog post someone else wrote. Don’t be contrary but giving your view (or supporting theirs by adding to it) can help create a relationship between you and the author. When selecting the blog post, it’s best to choose a post written by someone who you would love to have as a client.

Creative Business Cards Have a business card that stands out. Whether you design it to stand out or it serves another purpose like a USB card or a business card that contains flowers seeds, find a way to stand out from the competition. This is a good idea because potential clients want to know an event planner is creative. A creative card will get their attention and make them believe that you can create a memorable event for them.

Work on Your Ideal Client Personas Work on your ideal client personas and then rework your marketing message to better appeal to your ideal client.

Network Online and Off Join a networking group, in person or virtual, preferably both. Be helpful, don’t sell.

Increase Your Digital Marketing You must have a professional website, social media presence (don’t forget the visual sites like Pinterest and Instagram), and a blog. These are no longer optional. They act as a front desk/receptionist even when you’re not “in” the office.

Provide Resources Create downloadable resources for clients and potential clients. If you’re worried people will use the resource instead of your services, you’re not providing enough value. Make these resources free for the cost of an email.

Build Your List Using the step above as well as subscribers to your blog and visitors to your site, give people the opportunity to stay connected with you through a newsletter. This will keep you top of mind and build your reputation in the industry.

Do Guest Posts or Podcast Interviews There are plenty of fledgling blogs and podcasts. People are always looking for content and guests. You won’t get paid but it will help get your name out there. Just make sure that you agree to do these things only for blogs and podcasts that appeal to your ideal client.

Participate on Social Media “Participate” does not mean drip (only) your content. Participation means active conversation. Yes, content is good but interactions are what will bring new clients to your virtual doorstep. Try participating in Twitter chats and reading other people’s blogs and commenting meaningfully on them. Remember that ideal client? Find them on social media and get to know them.

Always Follow Up Most people fall flat in this area so it’s easy to stand out. Follow up on referrals, comments, events, compliments, suggestions, contact forms, and any form of communication.

Client Feedback Surveys

Use post-event surveys not only as a way to improve but also as a way of engaging clients and creating a source for testimonials.

Educational Content

Create content that helps your client whilst presenting yourself as an expert in the field. Become your clients’ go-to for anything related to events.

Competitor Analysis

Use competitor whitespace analysis to work out what makes you different from your clients and focus on selling the things you can do that they can’t.

Highlight Innovation

Look for opportunities to highlight where you’ve used innovation to the benefit of clients. This shows that your finger is on the pulse and you have the necessary experience to put new ideas to work.

Send a Thoughtful Gift If you really want to make an impression with someone you want to work with send them a small gift. It doesn’t have to be anything flash, but ideally something thoughtful that they will appreciate. Of course, it doesn’t guarantee they will award you a contract but it guarantees that you are memorable to them.

Important Final Advice for All New Business Owners

One of the best things about being a business owner is that you don’t have to answer to anyone. Unfortunately, one of the worst things about owning your own event company is, also, that you don’t have to answer to anyone. Why? Because there is no one to stop you from getting in your own way.

When you work for a boss, and she sees you spending too much time on floor plans, which she can have her assistant do, and not enough time on meeting new clients, which is your top priority, she can haul you into her office and set you straight. “I don’t care how much you like doing floor plans,” she says, “the company needs you out in front of clients.”

But when you’re the boss, there’s no one to call you out and deliver the tough love message. And so, without any oversight, you spend even more time on floor plans than you would with a boss looking over your shoulder. When you wonder at the end of the year why your business didn’t make more money, despite all the successful events and happy clients, there’s a decent chance this is the reason.

Companies that have been successful at breaking into higher and higher levels of growth tend to be very good at policing how they allocate their time, particularly the time of the senior people. Too often, however, business owners gravitate to their comfort zone, which is usually not where your company needs you to be.

That’s the Entrepreneur’s Dilemma: the freedom from having a boss which is so enticing can also be the roadblock to your company’s growth.

How Do You Get Around This?

The first step is understanding where your company needs you the most. A good rule of thumb is listing the various tasks that need to be done, and assigning an hourly rate for what you’d have to pay someone on the outside to do that work. You as the owner should be spending the bulk of your time at the highest level tasks, whether it’s sales or design or managing your team. The lower items should be delegated to someone who can do them at a much lower rate.

Be Accountable

The next step is acknowledging that many people find it quite hard to police themselves, so you need an outside force. A mentor or consultant can help with this, but an often overlooked resource is your own staff. Whether it’s your partner (if you have one) or your assistant (or virtual assistant), enlist them in your efforts. Tell them, “I need to be focusing on the following areas to best grow the company. If you see me spending time on another area, and you’ve got it under control, let me know, as a polite reminder.”

Sounds goofy?

Maybe, but I’ve done it and it works.

In the beginning, people were hesitant to say anything, but I would catch them fidgeting and ask them what was going on. They’d respond, “Um, you remember when you told us to tell you when you were involved in one of those things that are not on your top priority list, and we should tell you when we have it under control? Well, um, we’ve kind of got this under control.”

There are only so many hours in the day, and before you think about borrowing or raising money to expand, make sure that your time is allocated to the highest possible uses that benefit the company. As strategies for growth go, this is the low-hanging fruit.

IN CONCLUSION

Starting an event planning business can be daunting and overwhelming as there are a lot of things to think about and decisions to make. If after reading this post you are just as passionate and determined as before then we encourage you to follow your dream and don’t look back.

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

We hope that you are feeling inspired now you have 100 new ways to get more clients but the trick is, of course, keeping them and making sure they stay loyal. Ultimately, focus on doing a good job, offering a great service and experience to your clients and they will come back again and again and recommend you to others too.

Now onto you:

  • Do you have a tip to make this page better? Or an idea to add to the idea engine for how to attract more business? Send an email to [email protected] .
  • Do you have more tips and advice to add about starting an event planning business ? Comment below.
  • Do you have a colleague who may benefit from reading this page? Share it with them.

How to Plan for Attendees with Dietary Requirements

Vegan, gluten-free, paleo, and nut allergies are just some of the dietary requirements that event professionals should be aware of.

Healthy looking salad served in a wooden bowl

When Tragedy Strikes at Events

The CEO of the software company Vistex died after falling 20 feet to the stage with approximately 700 audience members watching. Accidents happen. Do you have contingency plans in place?

Blurred night-time image of ambulance driving through a city

The Latest Best Practices for Outdoor Activities and Events

Outdoor activities and events are more popular than ever, but this means more pressure to avoid the pitfalls that can come with large crowds. Safety and sustainability are paramount. Here are three best practices to ensure a foolproof checklist for outdoor activities.

As part of a responsible outdoor activity at the White Stallion Ranch, three people ride on horseback in the Arizona desert, with a cacti and low-range mountains visible in the background.

3 Ways to Take Incentive Travel From Transactional to Transformational

Today’s incentive travelers want more than just a free trip — they demand deep, meaningful experiences that are good for the planet and food for the soul. Here are three ways incentive destinations can help travelers connect not just with each other but also with their purpose and place in the world.

As part of a transformation incentive travel experience in New Zealand, three men trek through a dense rainforest with beams of misty light shining down on them.

Poll: Skift Meetings Summit Participants Vote on What Defines Event Excellence

What turns a good event into a transformative experience? We showcased some of the best events of 2023 at our virtual summit and asked event professionals in attendance about what they’re doing to change their own approaches to building a community.

Three people are seen having a thoughtful discussion between leaves that are out of focus in the foreground. Two men are facing the camera, and a woman is seen from behind.

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How to start a party and event planning business

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

Our experts

Written and reviewed by:.

As the nation emerged from the COVID pandemic, desperate to reconnect in person, party and events planning became a multi-billion-pound industry with plenty of demand across the UK.

Now, amid a cost of living crisis, there are a few emerging issues that new business owners need to stay aware of. Rising inflation means corporate clients are working to stricter budgets, while consumers won't be as easily convinced to part with their hard-earned money. That means the most successful event planning firms will be the ones that can offer a truly incredible and unique experience that stands out from rivals.

Luckily, with a clear concept, effective marketing and a few key transferable skills, you’ll maximise your chances of beating out the competition and finding success. That's where our experts come in.

We have been helping businesses to set up across tons of sectors, and we understand the challenges and opportunities that are ahead in the events industry. So put the champagne on ice for now, and read on to learn more about the costs, considerations and benefits involved in becoming an event or party planner.

At Startups.co.uk, we're here to help small UK businesses to get started, grow and succeed. We have helpful resources for helping new businesses get off the ground – you can use the tool below to get started today.

What Does Your Business Need Help With?

This article will cover:

Case study: above & beyond solutions, define your event planning business idea, conduct market research, come up with an event company name, develop your business plan, come up with a pricing strategy, understand the requirements, start promoting your event planning start-up, find suppliers and build contacts.

What does the future of the industry look like?

In order to combat the banning of in-person meetings, the events industry had partly pivoted towards online. The new fashion for virtual events has forever changed the way organisations will host and engage with their audience.

That's not to say virtual events are here to stay. Given the option, most attendees will want to go to a physical event – as most of us have been ‘Zoomed' out by pandemic working.

But digital events are a growing new branch in the sector which you should keep an eye on to ensure you stay ahead of the market and your competition.

Flexible working is also accelerating the trend. Corporate events will need to consider their employees that are still isolating and working from home. This means your business will need to provide online, offline, and  hybrid events solutions.

What COVID-19 rules do event planning firms need to follow?

From August 2021, all COVID-19 safety rules and regulations were fully lifted, which means that you don't legally need to require any specific safety measures from customers or staff members if you're planning to host events.

However, cultural changes have still taken place, including a new understanding about the spread of germs that public places can influence.

There are still some basic safety requirements that help to make your event attendees feel safe, such as:

  • Spaced out seating for social distancing
  • Hand sanitiser stations
  • Increased cleaning and disinfecting rota
  • Optional mask wearing

You could consider keeping these rules in place to help returning customers feel more at ease.

Sam Stockmans, founder of the newly found events services company Above & Beyond Solutions, has always had a passion for the industry.

“Everyones first nightclub experience is daunting, and I could feel that amongst my friends when we started going out. I wanted to put on parties and make it a more comfortable experience for everyone, so I started by organising 16+ nightclub events.

“I love the events planning industry, that ability to create moments for others through an event you are organising, there is no feeling like it.”

After dabbling in the nightclub events scene, Stockmans went on to organising exhibitions across Europe, before he decided to go it alone with his own venture, Above & Beyond Solutions.

In terms of the biggest challenges he's faced in his near 15 year career in the industry, Stockmans said:

“The biggest challenge is definitely standing out. There are so many competitors in the events industry space. You need to have a USP and you need to be able to sell it confidently.

“For us at Above, our USP is the level of service people receive. My team is made up of highly experienced professionals and creatives.”

And when asked about anything he wish he'd known before he started in the industry, Stockmans said:

“I wish I'd been less arrogant. I made mistakes in my younger years in the industry because I got ahead of myself.

Attitude is everything in this industry, and it will do any entrepreneur wonders to remember that, as the last thing you want is to burn bridges with other companies in the space that you will be frequently collaborating with.”

When it comes to starting an events company, you’ll first need to decide on the type of events services you want to offer.

Would you like to offer the full event planning service, organising every aspect of an event from inception to execution? Or would you rather focus on one or two particular skill sets? For example:

  • Event decorating
  • Corporate entertainment management
  • Event promotion
  • Catering (find out more in our guide about starting your own catering business )

It’s also key that you decide on the type of events you want to work on. In your early days, you’ll find it easier to market yourself clearly, attract customers and build the right skills and experience if you have a niche.

Events can be classified into four broad categories based on their purposes and objectives:

  • Personal events , such as weddings, birthday parties and family celebrations
  • Organisational events , such as commercial, political and charitable events, conferences and product launches
  • Leisure events , such as sports events and concerts
  • Cultural events , such as ceremonial, religious, art or heritage events

It’s advisable to pick a niche that you’re familiar with and already have a little experience in. If you come from a corporate background, for example, you may have a clearer understanding of what a successful conference looks like than a successful art festival. Remember, you can always take on more specialties as your business grows in size.

Tristan Johnson, founder of TYPE , which provides networking events “that enhance wellbeing and that millenials can afford”, believes drawing on your own experience of the events market as a consumer is a good idea, she says:

“As a young millennial entering the competitive job market fresh out of university, making valuable connections to progress my career was really difficult. Either I’d attend networking events that weren’t relevant for me or find myself spending far too much money. After chatting with a few friends who felt the same, our business model was created.”

NB: If you’d like to become a wedding planner, be sure to also check out our guide to starting a wedding planning business .

Bear in mind that, once you’ve come up with a concept, you should always test it to make sure it has a good chance of succeeding in the market. To do this, you’ll need to…

It’s really important that you understand both your target audience and your competition before you decide how to reach out to potential customers, settle on a pricing structure or – in short – do anything else.

Market research will help you to understand:

  • Who your competitors are
  • How you can differentiate yourself from them
  • How much demand there is for your particular event planning service
  • The type of people who are most likely to want/need your service
  • How much your target customers will be prepared to pay for your events, and whether you can make a healthy profit from this

To answer these questions, try:

Researching the competition online

Often a simple Google search will show you who the events businesses in your local area are, but the ONS, the FSB and the British Chambers of Commerce also hold more specific, publicly accessible information about different businesses.

Try to find out how your competitors operate, how big they are, who their customers are, how much they charge, and what their USPs are. Think about how you can bring something different to the table in order to compete.

Running an online survey

Online surveys are fairly cheap to set up, and you can also take to Facebook and LinkedIn to run questionnaires.

Ask people what they would expect from your events planning service, the budget they would have to spend on an event such as yours, how often they’d use you, what would make them want to use you, and anything else you want to know.

Holding focus groups

Essentially a face-to-face version of an online survey, a focus group gives you the opportunity to discuss your business with potential customers.

As well as asking the above questions, you can also talk more specifically about your own business, asking what they think of your concept and branding, and share ideas.

As fun a task as choosing a name for your party planning business may seem, it’s not something to be taken lightly.

Your name is the first thing most customers will hear about you, and so it’s important that it accurately represents what they can expect from your services. Plus, it needs to be something you’re proud to shout from the rooftops.

To come up with a name, try these tips:

  • Think of the type of events you want to plan and the style of service you’ll aim to deliver. Write down every word that springs to mind – no matter how obvious or abstract. The more, the better. Then single out your favourite words and explore them. Do they have synonyms that are better? How does it sound when you combine them in different ways?
  • Consider your own name. Can you name the business after yourself?
  • If you’d like your business to be one that doesn’t take itself too seriously, try thinking up event-related puns or phrases you might be able to use as a name. Just try not to be too cheesy!
  • Think about existing events planning businesses whose names you really like. Take inspiration from what makes them so great – but make sure you don’t simply copy them.

When it comes to coming up with a name, simplicity is key.

On the concept of coming up with a name, Stockmans says:

“Keep it simple, catchy, and memorable. Keep the name strong and simple, the strapline mission statement simple and the branding clear.”

If the name you choose doesn’t make it obvious that you’re an events planner – if you’ve picked a rather abstract word, for example, or are using your name – we’d advise adding a tagline. For example: Joe Bloggs – Party Planning.

Remember, your event planning business’ name should be:

  • Easy to spell and pronounce.
  • Original, and as unique as possible.
  • A good representation of the services you’re offering (don’t go for something jokey and fun if you’ll be planning serious corporate events, for instance).
  • Appealing to your audience. Ask target customers (whether through friends and family, an online survey or a focus group) for their honest opinion of your name.

Once you’ve settled on a name, you’ll need to check that it’s available – you can do this using the Companies House Register – and also check that it’s free to be used as a domain name for your website: for example, www.joebloggs.co.uk. It’s best to register your domain name as soon as possible.

If your chosen name is available, you’ll need to officially register it as your company’s name .

Your business' name will tie inextricably into your business’ branding as a whole. Its tone will be the starting point for how you design your logo, website, marketing materials and messages, social media posts and more – all together, this should convey the tone and purpose of your business.

Bourlet suggests that you create clear guidelines for targeting your specific target audience with your branding.

Getting professional help

Consulting a graphic designer may help when it comes to creating a logo and other visual assets. Finding yourself a graphic designer is a good creative opinion allows you to brainstorm with an expert third-party.

TYPE founder Johnston says:

“Once you have completed an in-depth persona analysis, ensure all of your work is aiming towards these individuals to gain the greatest results. Building out strong brand guidelines is critical, involving how you deliver your content, the tone of voice, the colour code used on the site and in all branding, and the persona you will be targeting with your marketing.

“Studies have shown our attention span is shortening so branding must be easily consumable, easy on the eye and fitting to your personal brand, be it premium, fun, colourful or sleek.”

A business plan is an important document that takes its reader through every aspect of a business – including how it will run, plans for how it will progress, and forecasts of what it will achieve in the future.

As well as something potential investors and banks will want to see, writing a business plan will give you the opportunity to break down and plan every aspect of your business step-by step – including details of your business model and pricing structure, a marketing strategy, plans for hiring staff in the future and those oft-daunting financial predictions.

Another great way to organise your business plan is to use a project management software. These sophisticated tools are aimed at delegation and multi-project management, and can help you stay on top of deadlines as you design your dream events business.

Check out our  free online comparison tool  to learn more about the providers available and their top deals and discounts.

A crucial part of your business model, to plan your pricing you’ll first need to decide whether you want to charge:

  • A flat fee for the whole service
  • An hourly rate for the time you spend working on the event
  • Commission-based prices

You should use what you’ve learnt from members of your target audience and your competitors to decide on which of these you’ll choose, along with the actual prices you’ll charge.

Remember, while your prices should be attractive to your target customer, they must also cover the operating expenses you spend on planning the event, while still leaving room for a healthy profit for you.

Work out how much it’ll cost you to put on an event based on your plans and ideal suppliers, and see whether you’d still get a decent margin based on what customers want to pay.

That being said, making sure you're giving your clients value for money is crucial.

Don't be afraid to adjust your offering if your pricing seems unreasonable. It may be that you need to re-evaluate how much you’re able to spend on pulling together the event or how many services you can offer as part of your package.

Qualifications

You certainly don’t need a formal education in events and party organising before becoming a party planner.

However, if you would like to study events management, you can:

  • Research your local colleges and universities, or online facilities like the Open University, to see whether they offer something that suits you.
  • Look into specialist event institutions. Event Academy , for example, offers four accredited event management courses which you can choose to undertake online or on a physical premises in London.

Or, as an alternative to studying, you can always build up your events experience (if you don't have any) by volunteering to help out at local events. This will give you a practical insight into the many cogs that form a single event, and you might be surprised at the level of graft involved!

Regulations

Follow this checklist to make sure you’re operating your business legitimately and without fear of costly legal problems:

✓ Obtain licenses

The licenses you need to operate your business legally will be down to your local authority or council (get in touch with them to find out which licenses you need) and also the venues at which you'll be holding events.

✓ Register as a sole trader

Unless you want to set up a limited company (though most start-ups don’t begin life this way), you’ll need to register as a sole trader with HMRC, and understand the tax implications of this.

✓ Set up a business banking account

This, plus you’ll need to get an accounting and cashflow system in order so you can easily manage invoices and outgoings. It’s a good idea to hire an accountant to help you out in the early stages.

✓ Prepare to take payments

Alongside your business bank account you’ll also need a merchant account. After a client pays you, their money will be held in your merchant account until it is approved by the client’s bank, at which point it moves into your business account – so it’s crucial you have one.

✓ Get yourself insured

You’ll need public liability insurance and professional indemnity insurance , plus employers’ liability insurance if you’re going to hire employees.

You might also need buildings and contents insurance if you keep expensive equipment at home or in an office, and vehicle insurance for any vans you use to transport materials to and from venues.

✓ Brush up on your health and safety

While the venues you hold events in will likely have their own set of generic health and safety regulations, it’s vital that you carry out your own risk assessments in advance of your events, detailing the hazards and controls for each.

So, learn how to write risk assessments and consider everything from trips, heavy loads and electric shocks to structural security and food hygiene.

Of course, it’s easy to blame the venue if something goes wrong – but it’ll still reflect very poorly on you if you’ve failed to recognise and manage a risk.

Now you’re ready to get going, it’s time to show your business to the public (and encourage them to use your stellar event-planning services). Alongside traditional techniques such as leaflet drops and putting advertisements in your local paper, you’ll want to try the following…

Set up a website

Having a website is vital for any small business. It’s a place to explain everything you offer, show off your previous projects, list your pricing packages and display your contact details.

It’s also an opportunity to prove that, even though your business is new, you’re a professional who knows exactly what they’re doing. So you’ll need to make sure your site is sleek and professionally-designed, with no spelling mistakes (an erroneous, dated website is a surefire way to turn off potential clients).

Unless you’re a web designer yourself, you’ll want to go with one of the two options:

  • Hire a freelance web designer to build your site for you. The benefit of this is that you’ll have an expert to discuss ideas with, but you may find that your designer charges for any changes you’d like them to make in the future.
  • Use a website building platform . These are often low-cost, and will likely give you more control over your site and a clearer understanding of how it works. Wix , GoDaddy and Weebly are popular options.

Your website should be in-keeping with your branding and appealing to your target customer, and you should adopt SEO best practice to make sure it ranks well when people search Google for a local events business.

If you need a hand setting up a website, be sure to check out our review of the top 5 web design companies in London .

Tom Bourlet of brands Fizzbox.com , which offers group activities and experiences for any event, and stag and hen party organisers The Stag Company and Hen Heaven, says:

“It is important to understand what terms you are targeting, the competition you are up against and what you can afford to spend on PPC (pay-per-click).

“When starting a new business, you can’t rely on organic or direct traffic, therefore PPC will be pivotal, and there will be a turning point where it goes from experimentation to profitable. For this reason, you need to ensure you have the funding to put into the ads, while working on the SEO and UX of the website.”

Websites are a great way to attract and retain customers, as they allow you to build a larger audience base from across the UK.

Read our guide to the  top 7 website builders for small businesses , to learn more about the benefits and methods to making your own online page.

Use social media

Social media is massive and if you’re not on board with the digital world then you will fall flat on your face. Get a good digital marketing plan in place with social media leading the charge.

With social media, you can get the word out about your business for free, sharing details of your services, special offers and – with your clients’ permission – images of your events to give potential customers an idea of what you can deliver.

In particular, Pinterest can be a goldmine for party and events planners. The image-based platform centering on inspiration and idea-sharing, Pinterest is the place to find people looking for ‘inspo' for their next big bash – and show them what you can do.

You might also find Facebook's groups valuable. Brides-to-be, for example, are increasingly joining locally-focused Facebook groups in which they can discuss and recommend local caterers, boutiques, planning services and more. Try joining up to relevant groups and sharing a tailored special offer with members.

Of course, there's no point in spending energy and resources maximising your Pinterest and Facebook profiles if your target market don't spend a lot of time on them.

Instagram is integral to many businesses success, be sure to check out our extensive how to use Instagram for business guide for everything you need to know.

Send emails

Sending engaging marketing emails to both customers and those who have expressed an interest in your services is an excellent way to communicate with the public, sharing updates and special offers, encouraging engagement with your business and keeping interest high.

A CRM (customer relationship management) system will help to streamline this process by personalising emails to make customers more inclined to read them, automating email sends, collating customer data and more.

Attend fairs and exhibitions

Some events, such as weddings, often have regular fairs and trade shows where small businesses like suppliers and party planners can host a stall and show off their products and services to visitors.

This is a great way to get your service in front of the people who need it. Furthermore, chatting face-to-face with potential customers will give you a unique opportunity to explain what you can offer to them specifically. Plus, they’re more likely to remember you if they’ve had a friendly and promising conversation with you.

Make sure, though, that you have professional business cards and leaflets printed so you can give them something to remember you by.

Try cross promotions

Seek out other small businesses in the events industry and see whether you can partner with them to create a promotional offer that you’ll both benefit from.

For example, a local independent caterers and offer a discount from both yours and the caterer’s prices to those who use your services and select that caterer.

As the old adage goes, it’s not what you know but who you know that counts. When it comes to events planning, what you know is obviously crucial – but you’ll also find having a portfolio of industry contacts very useful.

Of course, finding the right suppliers for each event will mean carefully considering your client’s wishes and budget. But building relationships with reliable suppliers will give you options right off the bat, saving you time – provided they fit the requirements.

If you’d like to plan weddings, for example, having contacts at catering companies, local venues, entertainment providers, et cetera will prove handy. If you’re specialising in corporate events, you may need to find contacts at banner printing companies, potential sponsors and more.

Here are a few ways to start building up that contacts book:

  • Visit online event supplier databases . Alive Network , for example, lists thousands of UK event entertainers and suppliers along with reviews and prices.
  • If your competitors run public events, see if you can attend them. Make a note of who they’ve used as a caterer, venue, equipment supplier etc. If any suppliers or sponsors are present, get talking to them and ask for their details.
  • Attend trade shows, seminars and exhibitions where suppliers will be showcasing their offerings. 
  • Join local events groups on social media , where professionals share details of the companies they’ve worked with. Be proactive, joining in with discussions and asking for opinions.
  • Use your personal network . Use LinkedIn to the full as well, make new connections daily and interact with them if only to simply introduce yourself.

As you build your network and liaise with suppliers and customers, you may want to consider getting a business mobile to separate your business dealings from personal calls (more information on our page on business mobile phone contracts .

What's next?

The party and events planning market is hugely competitive, but with the tips, tricks and tools in this guide, you’ll set yourself up with the best chance of success.

Want to get started on building your business now? The first step to opening any business is sourcing finance. O ur  free online comparison tool  can help you to compare the best business loan providers across the UK, and get refreshingly honest quotes for early-stage finance.

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Setting up an Event Planning Business

All you need to know about starting and running your business.

In this article

What is an Event Planning Business?

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the events industry in the UK was worth an impressive £42.3 billion. Although the industry took a huge hit during the pandemic, the revival of the industry and the huge increase in the number of events has resulted in a quick recovery, making now a great time to set up an event planning business.

An event planning business entails planning, coordinating and managing events such as:

  • Conventions and exhibitions.
  • Corporate events, such as seminars, workshops and tradeshows.
  • Religious ceremonies, such as christenings and bar mitzvahs.
  • Virtual events.
  • Fundraising and charity events.
  • Festivals, fairs and music events.
  • Sporting events.
  • Pop-up events.
  • Outdoor events.
  • Organised events, such as parades.
  • Social events.

You could choose to specialise in one type of event, such as weddings, focus on events set in a particular location (by partnering with a venue or venues) or organise a variety of event types, depending on your clients’ specifications.

Some event planning businesses are made up of multiple event planners. Alternatively, you could choose to be the sole event planner in your business.

As a professional event planner, you will be involved in planning events, usually from start to finish.

Your responsibilities can be extensive, and may include:

  • Meeting with clients.
  • Creating a budget.
  • Establishing a timeline.
  • Finding and reserving an appropriate venue.
  • Planning a menu.
  • Selecting or contacting attendees.
  • Arranging activities, entertainment or speakers.
  • Arranging transport and/or accommodation.
  • Making arrangements with contractors, such as for food, drinks and entertainment.
  • Communicating with on-site staff.
  • Acquiring the relevant permits and licences.
  • Arranging the programme and coordinating timings.
  • Arranging equipment, facilities and decorations.
  • Managing risks.
  • Handling payments and invoices.
  • Setting up on the day.

In order to plan the events as smoothly as possible, many event planning businesses partner with other businesses and contractors. This ensures you always use companies that you know provide a good service and are reliable.

To be a successful event planner, there are certain characteristics you will need to have. In particular, good organisational skills and good communication skills are key to the success of your business.

As events do not always go to plan, you will also need to be able to think on your feet, have creative problem-solving skills and not panic under pressure. A flair for business and a true passion for what you do is also necessary for the success of your business.

Types of Customers

Determining your typical customer base is an important step when starting up an event planning business.

Your typical customer base will depend on several factors:

The types of events you plan:

If you choose to specialise in a particular type of events, such as wedding planning or corporate events, this will significantly impact your typical customer base. Determining the type of event you plan to organise can help you to determine your typical customers, your branding, and your marketing and advertising strategies.

The services you offer:

Are you going to organise the entire event, meaning you will need to offer a variety of services, or will you specialise in specific services? Some of the most popular services offered by event planners include venue sourcing and hiring, organising catering, venue decoration and event promotion. The service you offer will appeal to specific customers.

Your pricing strategy:

Your pricing should reflect your services, the level of planning you do, and the types of events you will plan. Some customers will be looking for a budget-friendly event planner, whereas others will prefer a high-end more luxurious event planner. The types of events you plan and how long they will take will have a significant impact on your pricing strategy. For example, planning an annual music festival is likely to be much more time-consuming and have a significantly higher price point compared to planning an anniversary party.

Your location:

Many event planners focus on a particular area. For example, if you are based in London, you will likely primarily plan events within the city. This can impact the types of customers you are likely to attract.

Event Cartoon

Equipment You Will Need

Your equipment requirements can vary, depending on several factors:

  • The type of events you plan.
  • Whether you work with external contractors and companies.
  • Whether you choose to rent or buy the equipment.
  • Whether providing equipment is included in the services you offer.

Below is an extensive list of the equipment that may be required by an event planning business. Consult the list to help you determine what equipment your business requires.

A laptop is an essential piece of equipment for your event planning business. The portability allows you to transport your laptop to every event you attend. If you hire additional event planners or other staff, they will need their own laptops. Mid-range laptops usually begin at £500, up to £3,000 for a high specification laptop.

A desktop monitor

This can be plugged into your laptop for times when you need a bigger screen, such as when creating and viewing large spreadsheets, project plans and floor plans. It also gives you the option to work multi-screen, which can be beneficial if you are planning more than one event at the same time. Desktop monitors start at approximately £100.

Mobile phones

You will need a business mobile phone that can be used for contacting clients, replying to emails and accessing event information. Each member of staff will need their own mobile phone. Mobile phones usually range from £200 to £1,500.

A website is essential for an event planning business. Your website will be a key advertising tool. You can showcase your previous work and provide your contact information, business information and pricing. Your website can also act as your sales platform. You can set up your website yourself or pay to have it set up by a professional.

Backups and storage

Backing up all your data and previous work is recommended in case your computer is lost or broken. You can choose external hard drives or cloud storage. You may need to pay a one-off cost or a monthly or annual fee.

You may need to print off invoices, seating plans, permits, stage passes, schedules and other essential information. A printer can cost as little as £40, although you may opt for a more expensive, higher specification printer to ensure your items look professional.

Any personal information about your clients and other businesses needs to be disposed of correctly. This helps to protect sensitive data and ensures your business operates in line with data protection laws. A shredder can be purchased for as little as £20.

Some office furniture you may require includes desks, chairs and secure filing cabinets. The amount of furniture you will need will depend on whether you operate your business from an office or other workspace or whether your business is run from home.

Business cards

These can be used for advertising purposes. You can give them to potential clients and other businesses you partner with or leave them at locations and venues you host events at. Business cards are a fairly affordable marketing tool and can cost between £15 and £200 for 500. The price can vary depending on the material used, the quality of the finish, and the design.

Many event venues may be inaccessible by public transport. Even if a venue is accessible, having a vehicle will help to save you time on travel. If you need to transport any equipment to the events, your vehicle will need to be large enough to store it. The cost of a vehicle varies depending on the make and model and whether it is a new or used vehicle.

Extension cords and outlet cords

It’s recommended to always keep spare cords with you in case you ever arrive at a venue and find there aren’t enough cords, or the plugs aren’t where they need to be.

A first aid kit

Even though venues should have their own first aid kit, carrying a first aid kit with you is recommended in case any accidents or injuries occur. A fully stocked first aid kit can be purchased for as little as £10.

Event Planning

Typical Pricing

Being aware of the typical costs associated with setting up and running an event planning business can help you to better plan your business.

Your expected costs will vary depending on the size of your business and the types of events you plan.

Consult the list below for the approximate costs associated with an event planning business:

The cost of equipment can vary based on how much equipment you require. The bigger your event planning business is, the more equipment you will require. You may choose to purchase less equipment initially and expand your equipment as your business grows. Purchasing equipment could cost between £1,000 and £30,000.

Some event planners operate their businesses from an office or other premises. An office could be beneficial to your business if you hire other employees or need to conduct in-person meetings. If you choose to rent your premises, rental costs are usually calculated per square metre and can range significantly, from £500 to £15,000 per square metre annually, depending on your location.

Branding can help you to establish your business’s identity and set you apart from your competition. Branding could include creating your business’s visual identity, a logo, your business name, and creating your business’s website. You can hire a professional to help you with branding or do some of the work yourself. Branding can cost between £500 and £10,000, depending on the amount of branding you require.

Marketing and advertising

Marketing and advertising are essential ways to attract clients and grow your business. To ensure your event planning business attracts clients and earns an income, you must invest in marketing and advertising. It is recommended that you spend between 1% and 3% of your annual turnover on marketing. For example, if your annual turnover is £50,000, it is recommended you spend between £500 and £1,500 per year on marketing. You may need to invest more money in advertising and marketing when you first set up your business, in order to ensure your business is well-known and potential clients are aware of you.

Maintaining, repairing and replacing equipment

Repairs, maintenance and replacements are ongoing costs you will need to factor into your budget. Maintaining equipment and ensuring it is used correctly can extend its life, but repairs and replacements are still inevitable.

Running costs

The running costs associated with your event planning business could include electricity, gas, water and council tax. If you utilise a vehicle, you will also need to incorporate costs such as petrol, MOTs, services and insurance.

You may initially operate your business independently and then hire staff as your business grows. You could hire staff as permanent employees or as independent freelancers. If you hire staff permanently, you will need to pay them at least the national minimum wage of £9.50 per hour and account for other expenses such as holiday pay, sick pay and maternity/paternity pay.

Business insurance

Some of the insurance you may need for your event planning business includes:

  • Public Liability Insurance.
  • Property Insurance.
  • Event Cancellation Coverage.
  • Professional Indemnity Insurance.
  • Employers’ Liability Insurance.
  • Equipment Cover.

Once you have calculated the typical costs associated with setting up and running your event planning business, you can then determine your pricing policy.

On average, event planners charge between 10% and 20% of an event’s total cost. This means your earnings will depend on the scale and budget of the events you plan. For example, if an event you plan has a budget of £50,000, your fees will be between £5,000 and £10,000.

When calculating your pricing policy, you must decide whether to:

  • Charge a percentage of the event’s budget.
  • Charge a flat fee for your services.
  • Charge an hourly rate.
  • Charge based on commission.

Safely Running an Event Planning Business

It can be more difficult to ensure that your events are run safely and safety procedures are implemented when your venue, contractors and staff change for every event.

Many safety considerations will be the responsibility of the venue. However, to protect your business and your clients, you should ensure that every venue and independent contractor is properly implementing safety measures.

Some safety procedures your event planning business should follow include:

Ensure events are properly staffed

Ensuring events you plan have the correct staffing levels is an important way of ensuring your clients’ and guests’ safety. Consider how many guests will be attending and the types of responsibilities your staff will have when calculating your necessary staffing levels.

Ensure cleaning procedures and policies are implemented

Every venue will have different cleaning policies and ensuring they are effective and followed properly before and during the event will be one of your responsibilities. Ask the venues to provide you with their cleaning policies and review them in advance.

Ensure staff have health and safety training

This can help to ensure safe practices at all times, even if you are not present. Every venue will have different training requirements for its staff, and if your hire outside contractors, their training may also differ. Using staff that have undergone training on Fire Safety, COSHH Awareness, Electrical Safety Awareness, and Covid-19 Awareness can help to ensure your events are run safely.

Planning Events

Pay attention to noise hazards

Noise levels can sometimes be high in an event planning business, especially if loud music is played. Manage noise hazards and make sure you are aware if noise levels are too high. If you or your staff regularly attend loud events, purchasing noise-cancelling headphones can help to protect you from harm.

Keep records

You should keep up-to-date records of any risk assessments, health and safety policies, staff training, and equipment maintenance. You should also record any accidents or injuries that take place.

Implement emergency procedures

Each venue should already have implemented emergency procedures. Familiarise yourself with the procedures, provide a copy of them to your clients and ensure they are correctly displayed for guests to see. Emergency procedures could apply to fires, floods, explosions, chemical spills and terrorist incidents.

Request a copy of any licences

Requesting licences from venues, contractors and companies can help to protect your business. Ensure you only partner with companies and individuals who are properly licensed and request a copy of these licences so you can determine their validity.

Legal Requirements

Ensuring you comply with all legal requirements can help to protect you, your business and your clients.

Some legal requirements will be the responsibility of the venue where you are holding the event. However, as the event planner, you should ensure you check that they are complying with legal requirements.

When setting up and running your event planning business, some of the legal requirements you should be aware of are:

Comply with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act (DPA)

You must comply with both pieces of legislation when storing or sharing personal information. You must also apply for a Notification to Process Personal Data Licence. You can apply for this licence with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) . If you use a CCTV system or process personal information such as payroll information or client accounts and records, you will need to apply for a licence with the ICO and renew your registration every year.

Ensure venues have a Premises Licence

Any venue that you use for an event must have a Premises Licence. This licence is a requirement for any venue that holds licensable activities. This licence covers selling and supplying alcohol, regulated entertainment and late-night food or drink. The venues must also have a Designated Premises Supervisor who has a Personal Licence.

Ensure all events challenge underage drinking

It is against the law to serve alcohol to those under 18 years old in the UK. Events you manage must request to see ID for any individuals you believe are underage. Adopting the Challenge 25 policy by requesting ID for any individual who looks younger than 25 can help to prevent your business from mistakenly serving alcohol to an underage person.

Carry out risk assessments

You should identify any potential hazards and risks and how these can be reduced or eliminated. You should consider hazards related to manual handling activities, electrical and gas safety, food, entertainment, fireworks and any temporary structures. You will need to do new risk assessments for every event you plan.

As part of your risk assessment, you should:

  • Identify hazards.
  • Determine who could be at risk.
  • Evaluate any potential risks.
  • Implement relevant safety measures.
  • Record the results of the risk assessment.
  • Review the risk assessment regularly.

Comply with the Equality Act 2010 and ensure you have disability provisions

The Equality Act promotes equality for people who are disabled and ensures they are protected from discrimination. You must comply with the Act and meet all legal requirements regarding disability provisions. Consider physical accessibility, such as wheelchair access and disabled toilets, and event accessibility, such as large print event programmes, hearing loops, captioning and the welcoming of guide dogs.

Comply with safety checks regarding temporary electrical equipment

If any of the events you manage require you to temporarily install any electrical equipment, such as lighting, speakers, stage constructions or generators, you may need to apply for a certificate of permission and ensure the person who is installing the equipment has the correct qualifications.

Ensure fire safety

Some of your fire safety requirements as an event planner include:

  • Conducting fire safety risk assessments.
  • Having a recorded evacuation plan.
  • Reviewing your risk assessment and evacuation plan regularly.
  • Conducting fire drills.
  • Ensuring escape routes are unobstructed.

Comply with the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992

Manual handling regulations can help to protect you, your employees, and any external workers or contractors from sustaining an injury or illness as a result of manual handling tasks. The regulations apply to the lifting or moving of any objects, bending down and reaching high and repetitive movements.

Comply with the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) 2013

RIDDOR states that you must report all injuries, diseases and dangerous events that occur when your business is operating. Reports must be made to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) using an appropriate recording document.

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974

If you employ any staff as part of your business, you will need to comply with the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act. This Act lays out the duties of all employers in the UK in regard to ensuring the health, safety and welfare of everyone in your workplace. As you are the business owner, you will be responsible for protecting the health and safety of your employees and any clients or guests.

Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) 2002

COSHH is the law that states that you (the business owner) must control any substances that could be potentially hazardous to health. You must assess, control and reduce any risks or potential hazards and protect individuals from harm.

Implement health and safety policies

Health and safety policies are legally required for all businesses in the UK. You should have policies in place that protect your clients, event guests and any employees or contractors. Your policies should also include fire safety procedures and emergency procedures.

Have the correct insurance

Although some types of insurance are only recommended for your business, other types are legally required. All event planners in the UK must have Public Liability Insurance and Employers’ Liability Insurance.

Register your business

You must register your business with HMRC before you begin operating. You can register as a sole trader or as a limited company. You will need to register your business name and any other relevant information.

Register for self-assessment tax

This allows you to calculate and pay your own taxes each year. You will need to track your finances every month and submit any expenses as part of your tax assessment.

Meeting Event

Positives of Owning an Event Planning Business

Starting up an event planning business can be extremely rewarding in many ways.

Some positives associated with owning this type of business include:

Varied work

An event planning business will never be boring. You can plan a variety of events and every event is likely to be different. You will be working with different clients at different venues and will be doing different tasks every day. Even if you are working on an event for a long period of time, you will still be working at a varied pace and involved in different organisational aspects, depending on what phase of planning you are at.

Meet interesting people

You will meet a huge variety of people, from clients to event guests, entertainers, speakers and other business owners. If you enjoy meeting new people, this can be a great positive.

Grow your network

You will have contact with many different venues, businesses, contractors and companies in your line of work. This allows you to grow your network and gain valuable industry insight. You could even choose to form connections and partnerships with businesses and contractors to help you grow your event planning business and coordinate events more smoothly.

It can be fun

As part of your role, you may be required to attend events, tour different venues, audition entertainers and plan catering. This can be enjoyable and fun.

Choose the events you plan

You will have the power to choose your own clients. You can specialise in specific events that you enjoy the most or are more profitable and only take on clients who you believe you will have a positive working relationship with.

Choose your working hours

As a self-employed business owner, you will be able to choose how little or often you work. You can operate as a full-time event planner or only work part time. If you plan a holiday or need some time off, you can decline any events that would overlap. Planning your own working hours is one of the biggest pros of being self-employed.

It’s a growing industry

Events are on the rise and event planners are becoming more and more popular. Now is a great time to set up an event planning business with lots of opportunities for your business to grow and become successful.

Low start-up costs

Compared to many other businesses, an event planning business has few start-up costs. This makes it easier to set up your business and will allow you to launch it more quickly. Low start-up costs also enable you to begin making a profit faster.

Rewarding work

Planning someone’s dream event and seeing events succeed can be extremely rewarding. Your clients are likely to be very grateful and may even recommend you to their friends and family or offer you repeat business. Not only can this be financially rewarding but knowing that you are doing your job well can be personally rewarding.

Unlimited income potential

Event planning businesses can be extremely lucrative. Depending on the size and complexity of the events you plan, you can charge your clients high prices and earn high profits. You could also expand your business by hiring additional event planners, allowing you to further maximise your profits.

Gain exposure and experience

Event planning is a great industry to gain exposure in. Planning a high profile or successful event can help your business to become well-known and open doors to other events. Other businesses who work within the industry may also recommend you, allowing you to expand your client base and your business.

Work within your local community

Many event planners operate within their local area, for convenience. Not only will this allow you to source local products and utilise local businesses, but it also allows you to make connections within your local community. This can benefit both your personal and professional life.

Baby Shower Event

Negatives of Owning an Event Planning Business

Setting up a business can be difficult and demanding. Not being aware of the potential cons or the difficulties you may face can make it more difficult for your business to succeed.

Some of the potential cons you may experience when setting up and running an event planning business are:

Unsociable hours

As an event planner, you will be expected to work long hours. Many of the events you plan will take place in the evening and at weekends. Many events are also more popular over Christmas and during the summer, meaning you may not be able to take time off or go on holiday during these times. Even if you don’t attend the events, you will need to be available in case there are any problems or issues.

It can be stressful

Event planners have a lot of responsibility and will have to coordinate with a lot of people at the same time. If a problem occurs, as the event coordinator, both the client and other professionals are likely to hold you responsible. This can have a negative impact on your business and create additional stress for you.

It can be tiring

Event planning can be both physically and mentally demanding. On the day of an event, you may be involved in physical activities such as lifting and carrying and may be on your feet for a lot of the day. You may also work long days if you are setting up and overseeing the event. Even in the lead up to the event, the number of responsibilities you have can be mentally demanding.

Some clients may be difficult

Some clients may have a lot of demands and expect too much from you. They may be demanding and difficult to deal with, and as the event planner you will be the one they expect to deal with their issues. Keeping your clients, the guests and staff and contractors happy can be difficult to manage.

The industry is heavily affected by the economy

In periods of recession, economic downturn or situations such as the Covid-19 pandemic, event planning is one of the hardest-hit industries. You may experience periods where you are unable to work or make enough profit to finance your business.

Work can be inconsistent

Certain times of the year, such as Christmas and the summer, are likely to be busier. This could mean you experience other times of the year when you have little or no work. This can make it very difficult to predict your income and plan your outgoings. If you hire staff, inconsistent work can be detrimental to your business, as you will still be expected to pay your staff, regardless of how little work you have.

Experience is usually required

Starting up an event planning business from scratch can be very difficult, especially if you have no previous experience. In order for your business to succeed, you may need to first work within the industry, volunteer at other businesses and make industry connections.

A lot of travel

Even if you work locally, your job will still require a lot of travel, especially if you are touring different venues and visiting different clients and contractors. This can be both time-consuming and expensive.

Planning Your Event Planning Business

A business plan is a great tool for ensuring your business’s success. A business plan can help you to plan each stage of your business, create an effective strategy for growth, calculate your finances and predict your profits.

Your business plan should include information such as:

  • Your company information.
  • Your company description.
  • The event planning services you will provide.
  • Your branding, marketing and advertising plan.
  • The structure of your business.
  • The operational plan for your business.
  • The financial plan for your business.

When planning your business, there are some important considerations you should make:

What type of events will you plan?

Will you specialise in one type of event or offer event planning for a variety of events. Making this distinction is the first step to setting up your business and can help you determine your target customer base and your pricing policy.

What services will you provide?

Event planners can be involved in a huge number of services, from finding the venue and entertainment, to handling the finances. Determine which services you are realistically able to provide and consider whether you can partner with other companies or contractors for the remaining services.

Who will your typical clientele be?

Once you have determined the types of events you will plan and the services you will offer, you can then determine your typical customer base. Knowing your typical clientele can help you to plan your advertising and marketing strategy and how to make your business most attractive to prospective customers.

Will you hire other staff?

You could hire other event planners, enabling you to plan multiple events at one time, or hire other staff, such as hospitality staff and photographers. You may choose to run your business without other staff initially and then hire employees as your business grows.

What are your equipment requirements?

Consult the list above to help you determine your equipment requirements. You will need to decide what equipment you require and research which equipment will be provided or hired by other sources. Consider the services you will provide, the types of events you will plan, your budget, and your clients’ needs when determining your equipment requirements.

Consider your local competition

Are there other event planning businesses in your local area or ones specialising in the same niche as you? If so, consider their pricing, the services they offer, their branding, marketing and advertising strategies and what they do well.

What are your start-up costs and running costs?

Consult the list above to help you calculate your start-up costs and running costs. Being aware of your approximate costs allows you to determine how you will finance your business and when you are likely to start making a profit. It can also help you to determine your pricing strategy.

What is your pricing strategy?

Once you have calculated your start-up costs and running costs, you can then calculate your pricing strategy. Consider your location, equipment, experience and the event you will plan when determining your pricing.

What are your business objectives?

Planning your event planning business and creating a one-year, three-year and five-year plan can be pivotal to the success and growth of your business. Having clear business objectives and a business plan can make your business more likely to succeed.

Your business objectives should be SMART:

  • S = Specific
  • M = Measurable
  • A = Achievable
  • R = Realistic
  • T = Time-bound

Have you complied with all legal requirements?

Consult the list of legal requirements above to check you have complied with all requirements and regulations and that all your paperwork is accurate. Failure to comply with legal requirements could have a detrimental effect on your business or could result in a fine, the forced closure of your business or, in serious cases, prosecution.

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How To Start An Event Planning Business

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how much money is needed to start an event planning business

If you have a passion for logistics and organization, and the ability to network and promote yourself effectively, you may have a future in the event planning industry.

You don’t need any special training or education. Although if you have a degree in hospitality, event planning or tourism, it can add weight to your credentials. You can also get certified as a special events or meeting planner, as well as read books to get a handle on event planning basics.

It will help if you enjoy thinking creatively to create a desired ambiance or impression, liaise and negotiate with suppliers, solve problems and work with a budget. If you have the time management, marketing, and organizational skills for event planning, you can start up the business with relatively little capital and equipment.

How Big Is The Event Planning Industry?

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

Entrepreneur reports that people around the globe spend $500 billion every year on special events.

Why Starting An Event Planning Business Now Is A Good Idea 

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

There are no shortage of birthdays, anniversaries, reunions, weddings, graduations, parades, fairs, conferences, meetings, product launches, political rallies, fashion shows, memorials and civic events in need of a savvy planner to oversee the logistics, organization and myriad details that go into making an event run smoothly. More and more businesses are hiring outside services to plan their events. The profit margins for event planners have risen from 15 to around 40 percent in the last few years.

Event Planning Business Facts

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

Here are some facts and figures about the event planning business you should consider:

Event Planning Business Startup Costs

Rent: $0 – $2,300

Equipment: $5,000 – $17,000

Inventory: $0 – $500

Licenses and Taxes: $250 – $350

Communications: $100 – $250

Payroll: $0 – $4,000

Advertising & Promotion: $500 – $2,000

Legal Fees & Accounting: $650 – $1,500

1 st Quarter Insurance: $800 – $1,500

Miscellaneous: $750 – $1,500

Total Startup Cost: $8,050 – $31,110

 how much do event planners make.

An event planning service can gross between $85,000 to $250,000 per year depending on the structure of the business.

How much do event planners charge?

The size and complexity of events vary widely, so generally event planners calculate the cost of all the materials and services for any given event and then tack on a 10 to 20 percent markup as a service fee.

How do event planners find customers?

Social media and networking in the community, yellow pages, and a professional business web page. Your target markets include hotels, resorts, non-profits, conventions, country clubs, theme parks as well as brides, Fortune 500 companies, universities, and colleges.

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

What skills are required?

Creativity, communication, organizational and time management skills, passion for budgeting, planning and negotiating, ability to network and coordinate with suppliers and service providers for an event, a cool head under pressure, and ability to think and solve problems on the go.

What do I need to operate an event planning business?

Computer, printer, telephone, fax machine, business license, a basic stock of common party supplies, a truck or a van, social media accounts for the business, a professional website and a portfolio of your work.

Event Planning  Business Ideas

Effective promotion is the key to your success and social media is gold when it comes to promoting your event planning business and landing event contracts. Use it for more than promotion, though. If you leverage your social media presence as a way to make connections and build a solid following, people are more likely to think of you and give you a call when they have an event to plan.

When you first start out in event planning, specialize on one type of event and master it. Charity balls, proms, and corporate galas are the spectacular end of the spectrum while meetings and conventions fall on the comparatively simple and straightforward end of the spectrum. Don’t try to do it all at once. On the other hand, seasoned event planner Liz King says diversification of services is important to the success of a small company. Add services one at a time as you gain experience.

how much money is needed to start an event planning business

Are catering services included?

Offering outdoor/indoor venue options.

Struggling with what to name your event planning business? Here are a few ideas:

Related Content

Event Planning by Judy Allen

Top Magazines and Publications for Event Planners

Special Events.com

Event Manager Blog

Top 15 Event Planning Blogs, Are You Following Them?

Entrepreneur: How to Start an Event Planning Service

Event Manager Blog: How to Start an Event Planning Business from Home

The Work at Home Woman: Event Planning

Small Biz Trends: How to Start an Event Planning Business

Small Biz Trends: 42 Tips For Producing A Memorable Small Business Event

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How to start a small business at home in 2024

Blair Travers

Sierra Campbell

Sierra Campbell

“Verified by an expert” means that this article has been thoroughly reviewed and evaluated for accuracy.

Published 8:07 a.m. UTC Feb. 16, 2024

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Starting a small business at home can help you turn your passions, skills or ideas into financial prosperity. There are some unique perks and challenges to consider when deciding to start a home-based business. 

You’ll also want to have a solid plan and follow some key steps to get your business off on the right foot. It’s helpful to know where you can find ideas, answers to your questions and other resources you need to run an at-home business successfully.

Should you start a business at home?

There are many factors to consider when deciding to start a small business at home. On the one hand, it’s important to make sure there is demand for your business. On the other hand, you want to be able to handle the amount of business you receive. Gauging things like demand, profit margins and the ability to scale your business early on can help you avoid trouble down the road.

Across the country, at-home businesses make up a large portion of small businesses. C.E. “Tee” Rowe is the president and CEO of America’s Small Business Development Centers (SBDC), which provides free or low-cost support for small businesses in partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration. “Here at America’s SBDC, we have seen an uptick in home-based businesses that started during the pandemic but continues to date,” said Rowe. 

Pros of a home business

Here are some key benefits to starting a business at home:

  • Increased flexibility: Set your own hours, freeing you up for other commitments as needed.
  • Less commuting: Save time and money by skipping the drive to work.
  • Comfortable work environment: Design your workspace how you want it. After all, it is your home.
  • Money-saving perks: Pay lower startup costs compared to larger businesses by avoiding costs like renting retail or office space. Take advantage of tax breaks for at-home businesses.
  • Reduce risk: Protect yourself by limiting your liability and avoiding the cost and risk of maintaining commercial space.
  • Rewards for your hard work: Work hard for your business, and your business reaps the benefits instead of some other employer.

Cons of a home business

These are some of the disadvantages of starting a business at home:

  • Limited space: You give up part of your home, and even then, you may still need more space for your business.
  • Distracting work environment: Crying babies, barking dogs and loud neighbors can all be distracting when running a business at home.
  • Professional boundaries: Some people may feel awkward about meeting to discuss business at your home or a public location.
  • Increased mental health risks: Running a home business can feel isolating for some. A lack of social interaction, time outside, work-life balance or effective time management can also threaten mental health.
  • Growth restrictive: If your home-based business scales too rapidly, you may outgrow your workspace quickly. In this situation, success creates a problem for home businesses to solve.
  • Increased costs: Whether you’re paying new employee salaries or wages or forking over more money for higher utility bills, you may feel the financial squeeze.

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7 steps to start a home business

After considering the pros and cons, does the idea of taking the reins and starting a home business appeal to you? You’re not alone. 

“When we work with individuals seeking to start a home-based business, it is frequently based on a desire to control their own circumstance and success, which are great reasons, but it always needs to be thought out carefully,” Rowe explained.

Planning is key. From creating a business plan and determining your business structure to securing funding and setting your marketing strategy, there’s a lot to think through. Follow the steps below to get on the right track to starting a small business at home.

1. Find your niche

Plenty of successful at-home businesses arise from emotion: a passion to do what you love, a frustration with the status quo or excitement to seize on a timely opportunity.

If you’re struggling to find your niche, ask yourself:

  • What do you love to do that others may find challenging?
  • What is a need that no business currently has the right solution for?
  • What are you good at? What do people ask for your help with?
  • What high-demand skills or services do you have to offer?

2. Draft a business plan

Having a business plan is essential for running your business effectively. As Rowe pointed out, “Every business needs a solid, comprehensive plan to guide them to success. That plan needs to focus on skills, finance, revenue and marketing.”

A business plan outlines the direction of the business — its goals, strategies, structure, ways of measuring success and plans for dealing with things like change and risk. Simply put, it’s the roadmap to success for your business.

When creating your business plan, include key sections such as an executive summary, a business description, market analysis and financial projections. For more on what to cover, check out this step-by-step guide to drafting a business plan .

3. Select a business structure

According to the IRS, the most common business structures are sole proprietorships, partnerships , corporations and limited liability companies (LLC) . Each business structure comes with its own set of operational, legal, financial and tax considerations. 

A sole proprietorship is a business owned and operated by a single individual, while a partnership is jointly owned by two or more individuals who share responsibilities. 

In contrast, corporations — like C corporations and S corporations — are independent legal entities. C corporations limit shareholder liability but are highly complex. S corporations feature pass-through taxation, distributing income (and losses) to shareholders.

While sole proprietorship is a common structure for just starting out, LLC is another popular option for at-home businesses. It combines elements of a corporation and a partnership, offering limited liability to its members and the flexibility of pass-through taxation. Members of an LLC can choose to be taxed as a sole proprietorship, partnership, C corporation or S corporation.

4. Register your business and get an EIN

After you choose a business structure, you’ll need to register your business with state and federal governments. Select a business name , pay fees and provide required documents, which vary by state.

After getting registered with your state, you can then apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS. Once you’re approved, you’ll receive this unique nine-digit number that is essential for all sorts of business purposes, from filing your taxes to hiring employees. 

Not all businesses need an EIN, such as sole proprietors and single-member LLCs with no employees.

5. Get any required licenses and permits

Depending on your industry and federal, state and local requirements, you may also need to obtain licenses and permits for your business. 

Here are some examples of licenses and permits you may need, depending on your business:

  • Occupational, professional or trade licenses.
  • Online business permits.
  • Sales tax permits.
  • Health department permits.
  • Safety permits.
  • Home-based child care licenses.
  • Zoning, signage, environmental and other permits to operate an at-home business, as required by local government, HOA or deed restrictions.

6. Obtain funding for your business

Many owners fund their businesses using their own savings. Self-funding is a viable choice if you can get up and running without much money, can come up with the needed funding from your own accounts or can ask for help from family or friends. 

You can also apply for a business loan . Banks will likely want to see a rock-solid business plan, strong financial projections, good personal and/or business credit history and any collateral you’ll use for your loan. If you are a good candidate for lending, make sure that shows in your application so that you can get the best funding and terms for your business.

If you don’t have much personal or business credit history, it may be easier to get a business credit card . This gives you benefits like payment flexibility, credit card rewards and essential early or emergency spending power. It will also help your business establish or strengthen its credit so you can get favorable terms on future loans and other credit.

7. Launch and market your business

You’ve planned out your business, defined its structure and gotten your business registered, licensed, permitted and even paid for. Now it’s showtime. For many who seek to start a small business at home, the launch is the most exciting part of the journey. You are now ready to conduct business.

It’s also important to get others excited about your small business — and keep them engaged. Here are some of the most common marketing strategies for small home-based businesses:

  • Social media marketing: Reach potential customers on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X (formerly Twitter) by sharing engaging content and updates.
  • Business website: More than just a place to sell your products or services online, your business website should help users find what they want to meet their needs. It should also help achieve business objectives by offering features like payment services or e-commerce functionality .
  • Advertising: Platforms such as search engines and social media can help you reach your target audience.
  • Content marketing: Write blog posts, produce videos or create helpful graphics to explain what your business offers and to establish trust and authority.
  • Email marketing: To keep business coming back, build an email list to communicate using promotions, newsletters and updates.
  • Word of mouth: In the early stages, many small home-based businesses rely on word of mouth. You can also ask for customer reviews on platforms like Google and Yelp.

Weigh the costs and benefits when deciding on your marketing plan, so you choose what’s best for your business.

Top home business ideas

Check out these home business ideas to find the right fit for you:

  • Retail: Sell products you make — including crafts and customized gifts — or resell products you get for less than what you pay for them.
  • Case-based services: Open up an in-home daycare, provide home-based care for adults or even take care of pets by offering pet sitting and mobile grooming.
  • Events: Plan weddings and events. Create the perfect look as a makeup artist or stylist. Play music in a band or take your place on the 1s and 2s as a DJ.
  • Art and creative services: Capture the moment as a photographer, or maybe you’d rather bring your vision to life as an artist. More of a words person? Write, edit or translate content. 
  • Education: Teach the next generation how to do math, play an instrument or learn a new language. Provide adults with specialized training in arts and crafts, life coaching or test preparation.
  • Health and wellness: Become a personal trainer to get people in the best shape of their lives or a mental health counselor to help them find their inner peace.
  • Home and real estate: Transform homes by organizing, decorating or even staging. Produce virtual home tours for real estate agents, or become a realtor yourself.

Resources to start a business

For more resources and guidance on how to start a small business at home, check out these guides and articles:

  • Follow our step-by-step guide on how to start a business from the ground up.
  • Learn how to start an LLC if that’s your chosen business structure.
  • Discover how to start a business with no money so funding doesn’t hold you back.
  • Skip the overhead that comes with brick-and-mortar stores and find out how to start an online business .
  • Explore options to accept payments online and start making money in your sleep.
  • Find the cheapest payroll services to pay your employees and contractors.
  • Build a successful business by attracting loyal, repeat customers. 

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

The cost of starting a business at home varies widely and depends on several factors. Some businesses, including sole proprietorships, can get away with paying little to no money to start their business. Other home-based businesses, including those with manufacturing or inventory expenses, could have considerably higher startup costs.

Yes, you can use your home address to register a business. However, you’ll want to make sure that usage does not go against local laws, HOA bylaws or property covenants. It’s also a good idea to check with your mortgage and homeowners insurance companies to make sure that running a business out of your home does not introduce unforeseen headaches.

Blueprint is an independent publisher and comparison service, not an investment advisor. The information provided is for educational purposes only and we encourage you to seek personalized advice from qualified professionals regarding specific financial decisions. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Blueprint has an advertiser disclosure policy . The opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Blueprint editorial staff alone. Blueprint adheres to strict editorial integrity standards. The information is accurate as of the publish date, but always check the provider’s website for the most current information.

Blair Travers

Blair Travers is a business writer and content strategist with over a decade of experience breaking down complex problems to help businesses move forward with confidence. He brings a wide range of technology, banking and retail expertise. Blair enjoys helping businesses figure out complex processes and make choices that are right for them. His work has been published in U.S. News & World Report and Carfax.

Sierra Campbell is a small business editor for USA Today Blueprint. She specializes in writing, editing and fact-checking content centered around helping businesses. She has worked as a digital content and show producer for several local TV stations, an editor for U.S. News & World Report and a freelance writer and editor for many companies. Sierra prides herself in delivering accurate and up-to-date information to readers. Her expertise includes credit card processing companies, e-commerce platforms, payroll software, accounting software and virtual private networks (VPNs). She also owns Editing by Sierra, where she offers editing services to writers of all backgrounds, including self-published and traditionally published authors.

How to start a small business: A step-by-step guide

How to start a small business: A step-by-step guide

Business Eric Rosenberg

IMAGES

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COMMENTS

  1. Your Step-by-Step Guide to Starting an Event Planning Service

    Step 2: Choose your target market. Next, do market research and pick the target market you want to work for. For instance, if you want to primarily work with weddings, you need to research that ...

  2. How Much Does It Cost To Start an Event Planning Business?

    All in all, you should budget for at least $1000 in business formation expenses when starting your event planning business. PRO TIP: You can save a lot of money on business formation expenses by forming your LLC or corporation online! Two common resources for this are Incfile and LegalZoom. 2. Equipment + Supply Expenses

  3. How to Start an Event Planning Business: 8 Vital Steps

    To establish your own limited liability company, you'll need to register with the state where you do business, which usually costs a little under $300. LLCs offer their owners more protection than sole proprietorships in case the business fails.

  4. How to Start an Event Planning Business in 8 Steps in 2023

    1. Perform Market Research Successful businesses put their customers first. These entities focus on what the market wants or needs, and create products to fill that gap. But understanding exactly what your clients desire doesn't just happen. This is where market research comes in.

  5. How to Start an Event Planning Business in 2024: Step-by-Step Guide

    Build a Core Team Marketing to Spread the Word 1. Conduct Industry and Market Research All businesses have competition - that's what keeps the market in balance.So it is necessary to conduct thorough research of the market to identify your competitors and the current trends.

  6. 6 To-Dos Before Starting an Event Planning Business

    When starting your party planning business, your marketing budget may be 30% or more of your business expenses. Does that seem like a lot? Think about all the things you'll need: A website for your business Flyers and other printed info Digital marketing and online ads Expenses to travel to events for networking Don't leave anything out!

  7. How to Start an Event Planning Business

    STEP 1: Plan your business A clear plan is essential for success as an entrepreneur. It will help you map out the specifics of your business and discover some unknowns. A few important topics to consider are: What will you name your business? What are the startup and ongoing costs? Who is your target market? How much can you charge customers?

  8. How Much Does It Cost To Start An Event Planning Business?

    The estimated cost range is between $600 and $5,000, with the average cost being $3,500. The estimated monthly cost of running an event planning business is between $200 and $2,000, with the average monthly cost being $1,000. There are a few ways to save money when starting an event planning business, such as starting your business part-time ...

  9. How to Start an Event Management Business: The Guide

    Get Started Free Step 2: Research certifications. The Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that demand for event managers will grow an additional 11% by the time we reach 2026. With such a positive industry outlook, it's good to find new ways to stand out amongst the competition as new event planners enter the market in coming years.

  10. How to start an event planning business

    Step 3: Write a business plan. Writing a business plan is the next step to start a party planning business. Your business plan is a detailed guide outlining your business structure, what it offers, how it operates, its long- and short-term goals, and some crucial financial information. Your business plan will not only help your business grow ...

  11. How to Start an Event Planning Business in 2024

    Fast Facts Investment range $2,050 - $7,100 Revenue potential $100,000 - $400,000 p.a. Time to build 0 - 3 months Profit potential $70,000 - $160,000 p.a. Industry trend Growing Commitment Flexible Some people thrive on planning events such as wedding receptions, parties, or banquets, but others find it an arduous task.

  12. The Do's and Don'ts When Starting an Event Planning Business

    Create a Detailed Business Plan. A business plan is an essential first step to creating your event planning business. It serves as the ultimate guide for your business and can be used to communicate your goals to investors. A business plan includes the operational plan, financial plan, and overall objective of your business.

  13. Event Planning Business Plan Template & Guide [Updated 2024]

    Why You Need a Business Plan for Your Event Planning Company. If you're looking to start an event planner business or grow your existing one you need a business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the growth of your event planning business to improve your chances of success.

  14. How to Start An Event Planning Business From Scratch

    Frequently Asked Questions: How Much Does It Cost to Start an Event Planning Business? First thing's first: you need to have an idea of the money required to build an event planning business. The cost of starting your business can vary, depending on a number of factors - such as the size of your company and the services you want to offer.

  15. How to Start an Event Venue: The 6-Step Guide

    1. Do your research Before starting an enterprise, it is important you educate yourself on the challenges and requirements needed to be successful. The same is true when trying to determine...

  16. Guide to Starting an Event Venue Business

    Make sure you design your services, location and customer experience based on who these customers will be and what they'll need. For example, you don't want to build a luxury events business in an area where residents are looking for middle-of-the-road prices. 3. Take care of the business legalities.

  17. How to Start an Event Planning Business that Turns a Profit

    To make money right off the bat you need to: Have established connections. Have a proven plan. Be a go-getter. Work long hours. Have a defined niche and target market. And you can't miss out on ANY of those requirements.

  18. How to Start an Event Planning Business

    2. Clarify your goals and objectives. The events industry is enormous, and there is definitely a place for your event planning business. Setting your goals and objectives for your business will help you decide which part of the industry you want to go after and how much you want to be earning in two, five, or10 years.

  19. How to Start an Event Planning Business from Home

    January 22nd, 2022 at 9:30 AM EST Skift Take Many Event Planners start out working from home. This can be a great model for setting up an event planning business as it keeps overheads...

  20. How to Start a Wedding Planning Business

    Step 3: Write a detailed business plan. If you're starting a wedding planning business, hopefully, you're already a good planner and this step should come naturally to you. You'll need to write a ...

  21. How to start a party and event planning business

    Updated on 14 December 2022 As the nation emerged from the COVID pandemic, desperate to reconnect in person, party and events planning became a multi-billion-pound industry with plenty of demand across the UK. Now, amid a cost of living crisis, there are a few emerging issues that new business owners need to stay aware of.

  22. How to Start an Event Planning Business

    Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the events industry in the UK was worth an impressive £42.3 billion. Although the industry took a huge hit during the pandemic, the revival of the industry and the huge increase in the number of events has resulted in a quick recovery, making now a great time to set up an event planning business.

  23. How To Start An Event Planning Business

    Event Planning Business Facts. Here are some facts and figures about the event planning business you should consider: Event Planning Business Startup Costs. Rent: $0 - $2,300. Equipment: $5,000 - $17,000. Inventory: $0 - $500. Licenses and Taxes: $250 - $350. Communications: $100 - $250. Payroll: $0 - $4,000. Advertising & Promotion ...

  24. How to Start a Small Business at Home in 2024

    4. Register your business and get an EIN. After you choose a business structure, you'll need to register your business with state and federal governments. Select a business name, pay fees and ...

  25. Sole Proprietor Business Insurance: Costs And Types You Need

    The average cost for professional liability insurance for sole proprietors is $61 per month and workers compensation costs an average of $45 per month. Your sole proprietorship business insurance ...