Are you interested in starting your own business? If you are a fun loving and organized individual a career in party planning may be just around the corner. Finding the perfect business idea and getting it off the ground can be difficult and extremely time consuming.
Party planners help to plan many different types of events. There are some party planners who will focus on certain events, such as birthday parties or weddings. If you are interested in pursing your business to its fullest potential, you may want to familiarize yourself with all planned events. Birthdays, after funeral get-togethers, school events, weddings, reunions, and baby showers are just a few of the events that someone may need help planning.
A party planner will general help organize the whole event; however, it is not uncommon for planners to only plan a portion of it. Your duties will generally depend upon the needs of your clients. As a party planner you may be required to hire and work with the caterers, entertainment, transportation, and be responsible for working on location at off-site events.
Before you officially decided to jump ahead and get your business off the ground, you should do work to ensure that it will be a profitable one. Many businesses become successful and popular if there is not a lot of competition present. You may wish to do some research of local party planning companies. When you are contacting them you should also determine if they only plan specific events and what their rates are. This will allow you to keep your rates within their range.
There are basically three ways in which you can determine what your fees should be. One way is to charge a flat rate. Although a flat rate may seem like a good idea, it is really advised against. If you have a flat rate for all birthday parties, one family may wish to have a birthday party with only twenty guests and another may have over one hundred; therefore, you would have to plan more and should charge more. You may also run into a problem where a client may add duties to your list of things to do, after your charges have been established.
There are some planners who charge their clients based on a percentage of the cost of the party arrangements. Your rate will generally be established after the event has taken place. One of the most common way to charge is by charging an hourly rate. You rate should vary depending on your competition and experience, but most planners will charge around fifty to hundred dollars per hour.
Like any traditional business, you will need an office setup to become organized and keep a client list. Some of the equipment that you may need could be a business phone line, cellular phone, answering machine, fax machine, and a computer. A computer is a quick way to have all of your clients and their party needs on hand; however, if you are able to use a traditional filing system, your start up costs may be reduced by over a thousand dollars. Depending on the amount of equipment that you purchase your start up costs could range from one to ten thousand dollars.
Properly advertising your planning business is a great way to increase your client numbers and profit. Quality advertising may not come easy or cheap; however, it is essential to get your business up and running. Once you have started, you may find that word of mouth is the best way to get new clients. Until that happens, you may want to take out advertisements in the local paper. If you have a vehicle that gets driven around a lot, you may wish to make a sign with your business name, brief description, and contact information. One method that many business owners suggest is by having mini fridge magnets made and hand them out to potential clients with your business fliers.
To have a successful party plan business, you will need to be friendly, organized, outgoing, and be able to handle stress. If you are serious about starting your own party plan business, be sure to contact local and state officials to determine your laws and business license needs. If this business is a goal of yours, it is important that you do not give up until you succeed. Good luck!
