5 Tips to Become a Party Planner
When you start thinking about being a party planner your goal isn’t to make money per se, but to make some cash helping others find solutions and extend their time by hiring someone who can help with the preparations. The question is… do you have a market?
In the party biz, it’s not difficult to fail. To be perfectly frank about it, so many people would rather do a DIY because they can’t afford to hire a party planner. However, no matter how many times the economy fluctuates, one thing is constant in the world general… people only have 24 hours a day.
Unless people plan a party months or even years before the day itself, you can be sure that they will need some help with this or that thing, brainstorming and putting it all together. As long as people are planning parties, you can always find something to do for them, and surprisingly, they’d be more than happy to allocate a certain portion of their party budget to paying you.
With that said, here are 5 of the important tips you need to know if you want to make a living throwing parties for others…
1. Be Creative
A person who wants a party to be perfect needs SOLUTIONS. Give them ideas that will jive with theirs, and be ready with alternative ones if they don’t like the first ideas you came up with. This will require a lot of creativity on your part, and a bottomless well of insight. Your client must see the pros and cons of a party idea from all angles. Remember, they know that hiring a party planner is an expensive way of throwing a party, so you need to deliver.
2. Multi-tasking
When you’re a party planner, you’re bound to be thinking of several things at a time. Make room for all those thoughts and make sure you can handle several things at once. You also must be ready to make full use of your time. In essence, you must always be moving, thinking of ways to better serve your client, and making sure everything is streamlined so that you and your client can finally sit back and watch the perfect party unfold.
3. Research the Competition
The secret to innovation is borrowing an idea and coming up with an improved version. If you can develop a better solution for a party problem, e.g. everyone wants a “green” party and you’ve found a supplier for paper plates that don’t cost much to purchase, you can stay ahead of the competition and dominate that particular party theme.
Have you ever heard of specialized parties? Some people excel in this or that theme, and they’re always called upon to cater to a large number of events because of that expertise. Be intuitive and alert enough to see through the smoke screens and figure out the trade secrets.
4. Continue to Grow
Many people who are just starting out don’t even realize that they have the potential for growth if they invest a portion of their time to studying. You can gain knowledge that other people would be willing and even eager to pay for, such as learning how to sculpt ice statues, arranging flowers and even creating murals. Chances are, there’s a talent in you that could make you rich!
Take time to brainstorm your interests and talents, and you’ll quickly discover that you already have what it takes to take your party planning business farther.
5. Do the Paper Work
Maybe it’s not a lot on paper, but the reality is that the legal procedures to setting up a biz, looking for cheap insurance to cover you and your employees, and making sure your valuable equipment and party planning tools are protected can take up time. Grit your teeth and start the process as soon as you can. You can worry about how to grow your business when you actually have one, on paper.