Running an events business can be very lucrative if you know what you’re doing. There are opportunities for work in a lot of different sectors, for example, you can put on marketing events for businesses, fundraisers for charities, or private parties etc. You can charge a good rate if you’re an expert at putting together events and you can create a very successful business.

It takes a certain type of person to be good at running an events business. You’ll need excellent organizational skills because there are so many different things to juggle at once. Good interpersonal skills are vital as well because you need to deal with lots of different vendors and negotiate prices with them. If you don’t have those skills, you’ll struggle to find success in this business, but even if you do have those skills, that doesn’t mean that you’re guaranteed to make money. There are a lot of different things that you need to get right in order to run a successful events business and beat the competition, as well as some big mistakes that you need to avoid. If you’re looking to set up an events business and you think that event planning might be for you, here are a few important pieces of advice to help you out.

Manage Your Budget In The Beginning

When you’re putting on an event and you’ve got a big vision, it’s easy for the costs to spiral out of control. A lot of people fall into this trap when they’re first starting out because they think that if they put on an amazing, extravagant event, they’ll get more business. That is true and you do need to impress people with your events if you’re going to get more customers, but you also need to make sure that you can keep the business afloat. That’s why it’s important that you run the business on a tight budget to start with. You can still put on great events without spending lots of money, you just need to start small and be realistic about what you can achieve at this point. You should be trying to get the business of huge companies that want big expensive events because you can’t do that yet. Instead, go for the smaller clients and start building a bit of a customer base and a portfolio of your events. Once you start earning a good amount of revenue for these smaller events, you can start using that money to fund larger events and build up the business slowly.

Make Sure You Have A Good Crew

When you’re putting on an event, you need a good crew to help set things up. You need people to put up stages and lights, coordinate security, take tickets on the door, and then pack everything up after the event is over. Efficiency is key if the event is going to run smoothly so it’s absolutely vital that you’ve got a good crew to help you at your events. If you haven’t already, you should look into using Lasso, a great crew app which will help you when you’re trying to source the best people. You can use it to help build contacts and find people with the right expertise. It makes hiring people so much easier and it also has some great features to help you with organizing and scheduling all of these different people so your event goes off without a hitch.

Even though you need to manage your costs during the early stages of the business, it’s important that you don’t try to cut corners with your crew. The best people are going to charge higher rates but you’re going to need that expertise if your business is going to take off, so be prepared to pay more.

Network Effectively

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One of the best ways to find new clients for your event planning business is to network effectively. If you’re focused mainly on business events, you should try to attend other events that people are putting on. While you’re there, you’ll meet a lot of business owners that might potentially need your services in the future. If you can start forging good relationships with these people now and leave them with your contact details, they’ll think of you in the future when they’re planning their own events.

LinkedIn is another great networking tool that you should make use of. The majority of business owners will have a profile on there so it’s a good way to connect with people and reach out to them to see if they require your services. If you can build a strong network online and make your brand known, you’ll find that you get a lot more new clients.

Make Sure You Have The Right Insurance

Insurance is important in any business but it’s especially important when you’re running events. If you put on an event and you’ve got a thousand people attending, you’re responsible for the safety of those people. That means it’s important to check that all of the health and safety regulations have been met and the building is safe etc. but even if you do that, there is always the chance of accident or injury when you have that many people in one place.

If that does happen, there is the chance that somebody might take legal action against you. These kinds of settlements can be very expensive and if you don’t have insurance, you’ll be covering the cost of that yourself. Chances are, you won’t be able to afford that and the business will be forced to close. But if you have insurance, that will cover the legal costs and the payout. You also need to consider the chance that the building itself may be damaged in some way. You’ll be liable for the repairs if that does happen so you need insurance to cover yourself there as well.

Setting up an events business can be tough and a lot of people fail to get it off the ground, but if you follow this advice, you can make yours a success.