Are You a Natural Party Planner?
By Glory Borgeson
Do you enjoy a great party? Do you get a charge out of planning parties?
Are you:
Efficient?
Organized?
Resourceful?
Professional?
Why not consider starting a party planning business?As with all work-from-home businesses, you'll need to decide ahead how much time per week you can devote to the business, especially if you have children at home. Consider starting small, creating small parties for busy people. Figure out how many parties per month you can reasonably handle (for example, starting small might mean doing 2 to 4 parties per month).
Jan's Story
Jan loved giving parties and loved to cook. She heard many women in her area talk about how they liked to have people over, too, but they were often too stressed out for company. Some of them worked full time or they had a "high maintenance" family. Others just didn't enjoy the cooking and other preparations that go into hosting a party. Most seemed to have the financial means to pay for some help, though.Jan figured she got an idea from these ladies in her town. What if she worked with them to plan the party and to do the cooking and other food preparation? Better yet, what if she cooked the food in the hostess' own bakeware and served the food in the hostess' serving pieces? That way, it would look as if the hostess created the meal herself.
Menus
Jan knew that she needed to have several menus to choose from. She made a list of several items, including meat and other entrees, hot vegetables, salads, breads, appetizers, soups, and desserts. She also created suggested combinations of menus for complete meals that included one of each of these that went well together.
Recipes
Jan figured that she would get requests for various sizes of parties: anything from a small intimate dinner party for four to a large party. So for each recipe, she created a Word document on her PC that included the amount of ingredients needed for various numbers of party guests. At the beginning of the recipe document she included a table. Along the left column of the table, she listed the ingredients. Across the top row, she put the number of people served. Then, in the table she entered the amount of the particular ingredient required for the particular number of servings.
Training
After checking out the party planning industry, Jan knew she might need some additional training and would need to connect with others in the industry. She looked into classes offered at her local community college and classes given through the adult education program through her high school district. She also found a couple organizations to investigate, to see if it would be beneficial for her to join now or to join later.
Associations
Check into the following associations to see if they would be a good fit for you:
#149; The International Special Events Society (ISES),
www.ises.com
Meeting Professionals, Int'l,
www.mpiweb.org
Visit local chapter meetings, if there are any in your area, prior to joining. These groups may or may not be "overkill" for you, as they also are for those business people who plan huge events. But you may find some value in them that would help you in your business. Also, some day you might want to expand your business to full time or take it in another direction, and these associations may be helpful to you as you steer your business into new areas of growth.
Suppliers
Jan soon realized that she needed to find great suppliers in her area for related items and services, such as rental businesses where she (or her hostess) could rent items such as punch bowls, punch fountains, extra chafing dishes, coat racks, tents, etc. She also got to know a couple florists, photographers, and bakery owners. She looked into party supplier businesses where she could find disposable items.
Publications Trade Shows
Jan kept up on what was happening in the party planning and party supply business by subscribing to trade publications. She read Party Paper Retailer (
www.partypaper.com
), Special Events (
www.specialevents.com
), and Event Solutions Magazine (
www.event-solutions.com
). Between the publications and the trade associations, she found out about trade shows, which showcased many vendors and offered seminars. She also looked into party-related trade shows hosted by TransWorld Exhibits, Inc. by visiting their website at
www.transworldexhibits.com
.
Pricing
Jan worked up the cost of each recipe per number of people and entered it on her recipe documents. Then she figured in her time to prepare it, plus some profit, to arrive at a sales price. She made a note in her schedule to re-visit her pricing every summer, and to have her prices effective from September 1st to August 31st.
Types of Parties
Jan was tempted to be a party "generalist", but she knew that could hurt her business more than help it. She needed to select a niche that would work well in her geographical area. Think about the area where you live. For the people who would be most likely to benefit from your services and hire you, what type of parties would they prefer?
Upscale dinner parties and cocktail parties
Children's parties
Theme parties (such as luau, 1950's, Hollywood, etc.)
What other types of parties could be popular in your area?
Getting Started
Once Jan checked with her county and state for any regulations for caterers and talked with her insurance agent about the type of insurance she would need, she decided to host some parties of her own and invite people over who would either be in the market for her services or who would be likely to talk about her business to others. Her parties showcased her new business and her creative talent. She also had simple brochures and business cards available for everyone who attended.
She decided to do three different types of parties in her home to give people a good idea of party options. She needed to see where peoples' interests would be before deciding on her niche.
Next, Jan asked three busy friends if she could do a party for each of them, without charging them for her services. They would plan it together and the hostess would pay for the food and supplies. The hostess also agreed to tell her guests that Jan was the party planner for her party, to promote Jan during the party, and to give each guest Jan's brochure and business card. This gave her the practice she needed for doing the parties and catering for other people. She told all three friends that she needed to do one upscale party for 4 to 6 people, one upscale cocktail party for a large group, and one fun theme party. Each friend hosted one of those parties. Jan created everything from great invitations to the food and beverages to the decorations (for the theme party) and atmosphere (lighting, candles, tablescapes, music, etc.).
Jan took photos at the parties hosted at her home and at her friends' homes. She put the pictures in a small portfolio. That way she could show prospective customers what her party tables, buffets, decorations, and atmospheres looked like in peoples' homes. She also included samples of the invitations in her portfolio.
More Marketing
Next, Jan spent time finding out about upscale charity fundraisers in her area, because she knew that the women attending these events tend to give a lot of parties and would be likely to hire her. She wanted to advertise in the charities' program booklets. For many of these booklets, they could use her business card at their lowest advertising fee. (Because of this, she made certain that her business card had sufficient information on the front of the card that made it clear what she did as a party planner and caterer.) For a couple charity events, she donated an "in-home dinner party for 4" for auction or raffle. Those events gave her an additional listing in their booklets and the attendees of those charity events were exactly in her target market.
Meetings with Clients Paperwork
When working with a client, Jan found that she needed to meet with them at least two times prior to the event. She tried to schedule these meetings either while her children were in school, or, for customers who worked during the day, she scheduled meetings in the evenings or on Saturday mornings when her husband could stay with their children. Other than those meetings, she used the telephone, fax, and e-mail to communicate with customers.
Once a client agreed to book a party, Jan wrote an agreement which included the date, time, and address of the party, the items and services she would provide (i.e. the menu, supplies, etc.), if she would pick up any serving pieces prior to the event from the client and when, the time she would arrive at the party location, the total price, the amount of deposit due, the amount of balance due on the day of the party, and any other details particular to the party.
Jan's Party Planning Business
Jan received a great response to the parties she created both at her home and at her friends' homes. She also started to make a name for herself in her community. She knew this would be a word-of-mouth business and made certain that people would talk about her new business to others. She let other parents know (at her kids' schools and sporting events) what she was doing, as well as people at her place of worship. She also talked about it at her health club. Her friends were very helpful, too, as they talked about her new business to their relatives and acquaintances. Some friends even kept a small inventory of her brochures and business cards to give out.
Before long, Jan was handling the amount of parties she wanted in order to put in between 15 and 25 hours per week. At first, it took her longer to do certain tasks. After a while, she shortened the amount of time she needed to spend on most tasks as she became more familiar with what was required for each party. When her children are older, she plans to grow her business. For now, the pace suits her just fine.
Your Party Planning Business
Are you ready to plan your party planning business? Do some up-front brainstorming. What do you think would go over well in your community? Who are the busy people who would like to have more parties, but their schedule just doesn't allow them to create time for planning and hosting a party on their own?Print out this article and start a "to do" list of all the things you need to do to get started. Then prioritize the list. In what order are you going to tackle the items on your "to do" list? What things can you do at the same time?
And, please, send me some pictures of your first few parties!
Glory Borgeson is a small business consultant and coach who loves to work with clients by phone from her Chicago-area home office. She works with clients individually, and is also planning to hold teleclasses on the details of starting a home-based business. Please contact her by e-mail at
glory.borgeson@borgesonconsulting.com
for more information about your home-based business. Permission granted for use on DrLaura.com
