Behind the beauty, glamour and wonderful atmosphere created to the pleasure of guests, there are people putting adequate effort to make the event work out as planned.
If you need a business that would always bring in cash almost every week, event planning is suitable for that purpose.
Event planning involves more than just planning and organizing events. It deals with music, colors, talks, decoration. It just means everything working out together perfectly.
Corporate retreats, product launches, weddings and many more events need the presence of an event planner.
Even in economic downturns, companies will still have product launches and people will still have to do weddings, so you get to make money all the time.
The need for event planning/hosting services rarely diminishes, it is steadily increasing in demand.
The most interesting part is that you can start with very little capital.
All you need is determination, networking and creativity. Here are tips you need start an event planning business.
How to Become a Good Event Planner in Nigeria
Organizing events generally can be tasking, this is because it involves a lot of logistics. In advanced countries, this may not be all that challenging because they are more in an organized society, however, in Nigeria, the task of organizing social events is very challenging due to the fact that we have not developed the habit of contracting events planners.
Most people neglect the business of event planning due to the fact that they lack the knowledge of how to successfully make money out of it.
Below are the tips on how to operate or manage an event planning business in Nigeria and make more money from it.
Acquire Training
There is need to acquire training as this will guide you on how to organize different occasions.
Formal education is very important here as good communication skills are highly needed. There are schools that specialize in event planning in Nigeria.
Attend any of them so as to acquire the basics of successful event planning.
Contact an Expert
One can also acquire the basic knowledge of how to become a successful event planner if he/she is always close to experts in the business.
Being close here entails you assist them in organizing and executing events.
When you have participated in planning events many times, you will be familiar with what it takes to organize different events.
Start Event Planning Business
Test your capability by planning smaller events voluntarily. Such events include birthday parties, welcome parties, and farewell parties and so on.
The experiences gathered in the process will guide you on how to organize bigger events.
Document your Plans
Ensure you have copies of plans and pictures of organized events as this will help you in further planning of similar events.
Find out People’s Perception
After you have planned and executed an event, always find out what people say about the event you plan. If their response is positive, keep it up but if it is negative, try to ascertain the areas where you failed and make amends.
Work out a Niche
Since you are not the only one in the business, you need to find out what others are doing and then improve on them. This no doubt will give you an edge over competitors.
Register your Business
Responsible people in the society including government and its agencies like entrusting contracts in the hands of registered corporate businesses. Register your event planning business and pay your dues as it will pave way for you to make more money in the business.
Advertise your Event Planning Business
Communicate to people about your planning business. If you belong to meetings and organizations, seize the opportunity to advertise your planning business to them. Today internet offers you great opportunity to market your events business than ever before.
Specialize in an Area
You can also specialize in a particular area such as wedding, traditional marriage and many related others as people would most likely patronize one who specializes in a particular area than those who claim to be general planners.
Register your Business
Registering your business in Nigeria is very important. You don’t want the government officials closing down your business after creating a brand for yourself.
Businesses are registered with Corporate Affairs Commission (C.A.C) head on to their website to start the registration process immediately.
Network
Working with established event planner as a volunteer gives you an exposure and the chance to meet clients of your own.
Getting familiar with people from different walks of life will help you to interact well and make them understand what you can offer.
Create a good relationship with new vendors to work with and help them to plan their budget for their events.
Here are ways you can also network;
Gather information about vendors and their addresses
Contact your vendor to remind them of upcoming events you want to help them plan for
Always be fast to adopt the trend
You need to be among the first to introduce a trend than struggling with competitors over trend introduced by some other person.
Although the majority of Nigerians still make use of the committee of friends in event planning, the trend is gradually changing as many now patronize event planners.
Some persons who are interested in taking a career in event planning will be successful, if the guidelines above are followed.
