If you love creating unforgettable and amazing experiences for people, and have a knack for logistics, you might just be the perfect candidate to be an entertainment entrepreneur! Starting an events-based business comes with its own unique set of challenges, but it is definitely a worthy endeavor if you put the right pieces in place.
You get to bring joy to people’s lives and create moments they’ll remember and talk about forever. Whether you want your business to be based on weddings and parties, corporate events, or pop-up restaurants, you can succeed at a high level.
On the front end, an events business seems like it’s all fun and games and having a good time, but the people who work to make these events possible know that it’s anything but. For an event to be a really good time for guests and attendees, a lot of hard work goes into it, from the planning to the personnel to how the event is executed.
If you’re looking to build a business around amazing experiences, what considerations do you need to make? Here are a few.
Location
One of the biggest factors that will impact the success or failure of an event is your location, and the space you choose to set up in. Whether you choose to rent a physical brick and mortar space, or get creative with pop-up restaurant tents, you need to find a location that creates a strong ambience, and makes people feel like they are somewhere special. Location also includes how the space is decorated. Nowadays, one of the things that really sets an event space up for success is being as Instagrammable as possible. You have to think about how distinctly photogenic the space is so that when people take photos in them and post it, people will start recognizing it and want to come there too.
Safety, Safety, Safety
The recent tragic happenings at the Astroworld festival in Houston, Texas are a sad reminder of the fact that safety can’t and shouldn’t be overlooked. No matter what, the safety of the people who come to your event comes first, and if people are attending your event, they are trusting you to keep them safe. Safety starts in the planning phase, making sure that you don’t invite too many people, making sure that the event space and facilities won’t lead to overcrowding, and having measures in place in case of an emergency. There are many considerations that need to be made – from making sure you have the resources to afford a quality safety team, having things like security cameras, to protecting people from the elements. As the event owner you also have to put some thought into planning and financially providing for different things that might happen. Remember that for the duration of your event, the people who attend are under your care. It’s not just your responsibility to make sure they have a good time, you also have to make sure they are also safe and protected. Reputation matters, and you want to be known as the kind of location and venue that people will be in good hands at.
Talent and Staff
One of the most important parts of running an entertainment business is the talent, your staff, the people who will actually help you execute the vision you have for the experience you want to create. You need to hire dependable, reliable people who are good at what they do, and care about the guests and attendees as much as you do, because that makes all the difference to how successful you’re going to be. Your hiring process shouldn’t just be about filling gaps in your business, it’s about truly partnering with people who are passionate about people, and giving them an amazing experience.
Marketing
The events and entertainment industry is one of the most competitive fields out there, and even if you have a really good idea or a great event, if you don’t market it, no one will really ever know that it exists. If you’re going to start your business, you certainly have to make a considerable investment into putting it out there. There are many ways you can put yourself out there, including social media marketing, influencer marketing or traditional channels like TV, billboards and radio. The point is, you need a way to get your business in front of your target market so that they can see it, talk about it and become clients and customers. It’s impossible to run and grow a successful business without making this investment.
