Are You Ready?
Want to start an event management company? Wish to earn those great bucks. But first make sure, where you are heading to. You are heading into event planning business where you will need solid social networking and business development skills to survive. Your success in this business will depend upon, not only on your experience and knowledge level but also on your contacts (public relations), negotiating, marketing and entrepreneur skills. Here I should assume that you have been working in the event industry (or sales or marketing industry) for the last couple of years (at least 2 years) and that now you are confident you can find clients for yourself.

Just like in any other business, there are certain skills which you must have in you, if you wish to succeed in the event planning business:

1. You manage people effectively and get the job done.
2. You know how to manage time and prioritize your tasks.
3. You can find new and innovative ways to solve problems.
4. You are good in decision making. You first evaluate your options and then decide.
5. You know how to talk to clients and close sales.
6. You have the ability to sell your ideas.
7. You have the ability to market your services.
8. You know how to manage cash flows and keep track of financial transactions.
9. You understand team formation.
10. You have leadership qualities.
11. You know how to motivate yourself and others.
12. You have strong analytical ability and eye for detail.

If you wish to excel in the event management field at as faster pace, then get certified. There are many event planning certification which can prove helpful in becoming a certified event planner. Such event management certificates demonstrate competitive distinction and that you have the skills, knowledge, experience and ability to plan and manage a successful event.

Following are good ideas to start an event management company:

Step 1: Decide the services you wish to sell. A service is something which is intangible like: wedding planning, party planning, organizing music concerts, fashion shows, conducting MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) etc. Choose those services in which you have a strong hold, in which you have majority of your experience and expertise and which can generate maximum revenue for you. Don't try to be jack of all trades and sell all event planning services one can think of. If majority of your experience is in wedding planning, then wedding planning is best for you. Don't try to get into corporate meetings, just because the market is better. Corporate meetings are different from the weddings in terms of planning, implementation and evaluation. In fact every event is planned, executed and evaluated differently and therefore you can't organize all type of events.

Step 2: Do market research, competitor's analysis and SWOT analysis.

Market Research for Event Management Company

Market means your target audience i.e. people who may be interested in your events. It also includes those clients who may be interested in hiring your event management services. If your target audience are least interested in the type of event you organize, then you won't get any audience. Say you want to organize a rock concert in the country of Oman. But people there are least interested in such type of events. It means there is no market for your event in that country. If you organize the event there, it will fail for sure. Similarly if you wish to organize a Christmas Carnival in an area where majority of people are Muslims, then you can't expect many footsteps. Therefore it is very important that you find out in advance who are your target audience (i.e. their age group, sex, qualification, profession, lifestyle, income, liking, disliking, customs, religions, traditions etc), where there live and what are their desires and expectations from your event. To do market research you will have to do survey in the area (town/city/state/country) where you wish to organize the event. If you wish to open a wedding planning company and there are hardly two or three weddings in a year in your area, then selling such type of services is not commercially viable.

Competitors' Analysis

Find out who are your competitors. Where they live? What are their employee base (i.e. number of employees), client base (i.e. number of clients), market value (i.e. what is their reputation in the market), market share (i.e. how much business they have occupied) and turnover (i.e. annual sales)? How many events they organize in a year? Why people attend their events? What so special about their events? How they get clients and sponsors for their events? All this will help you in developing a better business plan for your event management company.