How to Become an Professional Event Planner

Are you a highly organized individual? Do you love to take the reins when a party or wedding comes up and find yourself doing most of if not all the planning? Do your friends and family come to you for help when they are planning a party or other special occasion? If so then becoming a professional event planner may be up your alley.

Being an event planner is a highly rewarding way to own your own business and put your planning skills to work. To become an event planner you should be proficient in organization, have some sense of accounting, and also know about marketing. If you don't know all of these things fear not.

There are college degrees in the area of event planning but attaining one is not mandatory to break into the business. There are many courses that different schools offer that will give a certificate in event planning. At these schools you will learn things such as marketing and networking, different types of event planning to get into, and how to present yourself and your business in a professional manner.

Your start up cost will all depend on what type of event planner you want to be. If you plan on having catering as part of your business for example you will need a full kitchen. These types of things can often be outsourced, but it is important to pick an area that you will focus your business plan on. Do you want to do weddings, parties, corporate events or a combination of two or more?

No matter what area you decide you want to focus on you will need a few items. You will need at the very least, a cell phone, a laptop computer, business cards, stationary, and an ad in your local Yellow Pages. You will want to be sure that anything of correspondence such as your business cards, e-mails, and stationary displays you logo.

Being an event planner is no different from any other business when it comes to growth. Joining the local Chamber of Commerce will give you the opportunity to network with other business members in the community and can be a great place to get a few jobs. Word of mouth is always important, but is extremely important in the early stages. The better services you provide in your event planning the more referrals you will get.

Once you have successfully planned some events and have a little extra money to spare for advertising, a good direct mailing to your target audience is always a good idea. You can also do an e-mail marketing campaign with relative ease. Having a website designed is always a great idea and can be filled with information on your company such as pricing and what types of event you cover.

But the most important factor in your event planning business is you. You have to be professional, courteous, and above all else organized. Being an event planner can take some time to perfect, but with a little bit of schooling and a lot of hard work and dedication you too can claim your piece of a business that boasts billions of dollars in revenues every year.