The Unstoppable Eventrepreneur™

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

FB private group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/events4anyone

Thursday Mar 23, 2023

What Should You Be Investing in Your Business

Thursday Mar 23, 2023

Have you been wondering what you should be investing in your business? The answer depends on what stage of your business you are in, your strengths and weaknesses, and what you actually want to be doing with your time. Host May Yeo Silvers explains that when you are first starting out, the most important thing to understand is the day to day operations of building and running your business. This means things like bookkeeping, marketing, sales generating activities, and even attending in person networking events and trade shows.

Investing in a business coach is a great way to get started because they can help you decide where to invest your money. Whether you decide to do it alone or get a coach, the majority of your time building your business will be spent on sales generating activities. It is always a good idea to invest in anything that will help to generate leads, such as a photographer for an event portfolio, CRM software for generating sales outreach emails, and a website designer to build a robust website if you do not feel comfortable building one yourself. Once you have leads, you will have to also know how to close them and much of closing leads comes down to mindset. The right coach can help you to develop the business mindset you need to be successful.

In order to build a successful business, you need to be very clear on what is required to keep the business running on the day to day. Think about your skills and what you enjoy doing so that you can figure out where you need to invest your time and money.

Quotes

• “When you're starting your business, you need to understand what goes into the day to day activities.” (3:57-4:03 | May)

• “Building your pipeline, building your leads, building your visibility is your day to day operation.” (5:27-5:33 | May)

• “Buying insurance for your business, that's not an investment. That is what we call the cost of doing business.” (8:11-8:18 | May)

• “Unless you hire a very, very good copywriter who's able to imitate your voice, I strongly suggest you write the content yourself.” (9:37-9:45 | May)

• “When you are able to get leads, that's 50% of the equation. What's the other 50%? You’ve got to know how to close the leads.” (13:04-13:13 | May)

• “Invest in a coach that is able to help you build the mindset that you need to build a business.” (15:24-15:31 | May)

• “When you are at a certain level, your next step is no longer just building the pipeline, because you're still continuously building a pipeline. Now you can actually switch out your focus to building brand visibility, because once you build brand visibility, it will automatically build your pipeline.” (24:00-24:17 | May)

Links

Connect with me at: may@events4anyone.com

Website: events4anyone.com

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

FB private group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/events4anyone

Thursday Mar 16, 2023

One Stop Shop or Niche Down?

Thursday Mar 16, 2023

Are you at the start of your business and trying to decide whether to niche down or be a one stop shop? Host May Yeo Silvers suggests not making a decision right away, but instead, trying everything first to figure out what your passion is. Unless you already know what you do or do not like doing for event planning, you may want to consider being open to doing different type of events and decorations (for event designer and decorator) to have an idea what your REAL passion is after doing these events.

You may be very passionate and want to do it all, but consider that this may not be a sustainable path. If you are creating everything from flower arrangements to balloon arches and have a lot of hands-on activities, it may be difficult to maintain everything. Even if you enjoy doing it all, it will make your business harder to scale and cause you to risk burnout. You don’t have to do it all to still be a one stop shop. Decide what you will keep your hands on and then hire vendors to provide auxiliary services.

To determine your niche, you may have to experience planning and executing different events at least a few times before you say YES or NEVER AGAIN. If you find yourself enjoying lots of different niches, really consider whether it is a sustainable path for you to be involved in everything.

Quotes

• “When you're first starting the business, I would say don't be so quick to want to niche down until you have tried it all to know what your passion is.” (5:36-5:48 | May)

• “You may not agree that you want to niche down to only doing one thing, because you have interest in every single thing. So I would suggest that if that's the path that you want to take, considering that it may not be sustainable.” (13:07-13:28 | May)

• “If you go through the process of elimination and you still can't eliminate anything, just try it.” (16:40-16:46 | May)

• “You can still be a production house or a one stop shop, but you don't have to do every single part yourself.” (22:58-23:04 | May)

Links

Connect with me at: may@events4anyone.com

Website: events4anyone.com

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

FB private group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/events4anyone

Thursday Mar 09, 2023

Should I Lower My Fees?

Thursday Mar 09, 2023

Have you been considering lowering your fees? Host May Yeo Silvers suggests that if you want to lower your fees, you can, but it can quickly become a habit that causes you to devalue your worth. The better route would be to slowly raise your fees so that you do not shock your pre-existing clients and can build your self-worth over time.

If you start out charging say $50 and then you try for a huge price increase all at once, you will likely lose some of your current clients who were unprepared for that change. You may also struggle to book at that higher cost initially and that can reinforce limiting beliefs about your self-worth. Instead of hiking your rate up a ton all at once, raise it slowly over time and inform your pre-existing clients of the coming changes. By raising your rates slowly, you will retain more of your clients and be more likely to get more new bookings at the higher rate which will raise your confidence level. This way you won’t need to consider lowering your fees, because you never raised them unsustainably high in the first place.

There will always be someone willing to pay whatever rate you wish to charge. If you want to lower your fees, that is your right. However, if you raise your fees slowly and build your self-worth, you may not ever need to lower your fees in the first place, because you will be booking clients consistently.

Quotes

• “You have to be mindful when you're raising your fees whether it makes sense to do it in a short period of time with such a big chunk.” (2:44-2:53 | May)

• “Stand firm because in a sales conversation. Whoever has the biggest conviction is going to win.” (3:17-3:22 | May)

• “There will always be someone who's going to pay that price at whatever price you charge.” (7:24-7:28 | May)

• “At the end of the day, should you lower your fees? Yes you can. But just know that it will become a habit. And if you're okay with that, that's okay because it's your business. But I would rather that you raise your fees slowly.” (13:11-13:24 | May)

Links

Connect with me at: may@events4anyone.com

Website: events4anyone.com

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

FB private group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/events4anyone

Thursday Mar 02, 2023

Attract Your Ideal Client By Doing This

Thursday Mar 02, 2023

Have you been attracting the wrong type of clients instead of ones who are aligned with your style of working? Host May Yeo Silvers suggests that the underlying issue may lie in a lack of honesty between yourself and a prospective client.

If you are typically a people-pleaser, it may be more difficult for you to say no to a potential client even if your intuition is telling you upfront that they will not be a good fit. You may hesitate to set expectations and honor your own boundaries in favor of trying to work and communicate in the way the client prefers. Ultimately, this does both yourself and that client a disservice, because neither of you are well-aligned. To attract your ideal client, be upfront and honest about your style of working and communicating, and encourage your clients to be honest with you about their desired working style and expectations.

By qualifying that you and a potential client are a match before ever getting into rates or contracts, you create an environment of authenticity and honesty. This also helps you to honor your own boundaries and not agree to take on a client for the wrong reasons such as people-pleasing or monetary need.

Quotes

• “What went wrong was in that sales conversation nobody was being honest.” (6:07-6:13 | May)

• “You are the leader in the sales consultation and you need to lead the conversation by creating an environment that your potential client can be themself to tell you how they want things done.” (6:28-6:45 | May)

• “I basically set the boundaries and expectations at the very beginning.” (9:35-9:38 | May)

• “Before I drop my fee, I want to know whether I like this person.” (12:53-12:57 | May)

• “A lot of entrepreneurs, not just event planners, who said that they are not attracting the ideal client, it's because they're not being honest. They are not being honest with themself of what they want. They are also not being honest with their clients, and they are also not encouraging their clients to be honest with them.” (15:16-15:39 | May)

Links

Connect with me at: may@events4anyone.com

Website: events4anyone.com

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

FB private group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/events4anyone

Thursday Feb 23, 2023

The REAL Reason Why Your Clients Hire You

Thursday Feb 23, 2023

Do you understand why your past and potential clients choose to hire you? According to host May Yeo Silvers, this is a question that every event planner needs to have an answer to because it can help you get more business in the future.

On the surface, it is easy to assume that your clients have hired you for their convenience. And while this may be the case for some people, always trying to sell to the surface level needs of your customers is not a sustainable way to generate business. If you focus just on price, you will always be able to be easily out bid. If you want to form a real business relationship with your clients, you need to focus on identifying the one thing that you can give them that is unique to you and your business.

When you stop trying to sell your services just for their price, and you shift your focus to addressing BEYOND the surface needs of your clients, you will be able to close more sales calls and bring in high-end clients that will appreciate your expertise and work.

Quotes

• “The problem with a lot of event planners that is blocking them from going to the next level is they are selling to the surface needs of their potential client. Which is, ‘I help you save time and money and I have the expertise to do this.’” (02:58-03:20 | May)

• "There are always people who object to the price. Even though the potential client may not have the time nor the expertise to do what they say they want for the events, once they are quoted the price, immediately time becomes an abundance for them.” (03:32-03:54 | May)

• “You will never win when it comes to price bidding because there will always be somebody who's more than willing to charge less than you in order to win the business.” (04:48-05:00 | May)

• “As a consumer, it's easy for us to find comparable items to compare. But what is the one thing that a potential client can’t find anywhere else? You. You are the most precious, rarest commodity. You are selling a unique experience.” (11:11-11:27 | May)

• “I don’t convince anyone to work with me. I show them my value. I show them that they can trust me” (12:10-12:20 | May)

Links

Connect with me at: may@events4anyone.com

Website: events4anyone.com

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

FB private group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/events4anyone

Thursday Feb 16, 2023

Do You Have the “Right” Expectations for Your Business?

Thursday Feb 16, 2023

You love actually doing events, but lately you are feeling less passionate and excited about actually running your business. Does that sound familiar? This is very normal and does not mean that you are not cut out for doing events. Your passion for events has not wavered, however, taking care of the business side is new and can be very stressful. In today’s episode, host May Yeo Silvers shares her own experience of burnout for running a business and how to keep things running when you don’t feel like doing it.

Consistency is extremely important when you are running a business, especially in the beginning when you are still making a name for yourself. You do not always have to be running everything at 1000%. In fact, you’re likely to burn out if you try to do that. Instead, if you feel your passion waning, allow yourself some grace to take a step back and only do the bare minimum of keeping your business running.

Not everyone enjoys running a business. You got into event planning, because you love actually doing events. Not necessarily because you love all the administrative tasks that go into keeping a business running profitably. To get back the passion for your ‘why’, take a step back whenever you need to instead of pushing yourself and risking burnout.

Quotes

• “The why is still there, but the passion for running the business is simmering.” (7:09-7:15 | May)

• “You are cut out to do events. Never ever forget that.” (7:42-7:46 | May)

• “If you don't have the passion to build the business, at least tolerate it and keep it at simmer.” (13:24-13:30 | May)

• “Give yourself some grace, that it’s okay to step away. It’s okay to step away and not do anything about the business when you don’t feel like it.” (13:37-13:48 | May)

Links

Connect with me at: may@events4anyone.com

Website: events4anyone.com

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

FB private group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/events4anyone

Thursday Feb 09, 2023

What Does a Venue Coordinator Do Versus a Day of Coordinator

Thursday Feb 09, 2023

When planning events, there is a common misconception that the venue coordinator and the day-of event coordinator are the same person. In reality, the venue coordinator is much too busy with their own tasks to have time to be your client’s helper. In today’s episode, host May Yeo Silvers discusses the difference between the responsibilities of a venue coordinator and a day of coordinator.

Say you have clients who hired you to plan a wedding, but they did not hire you to do the day of coordination on their wedding day. They are mistakenly expecting the venue coordinator to be functioning as a day of coordinator as well, which can lead to a lot of disappointment and confusion at the event. A venue coordinator will be making sure things are running smoothly with the kitchen, the bar, and the rest of the staff, so they will not typically have time to help with much else. Make sure your clients are very specific about putting everything the venue agrees to handle in the written contract so that there are no surprises on the big day.

Your clients should not assume that the venue coordinator will be serving as a day of coordinator for an event. This is often not the case, and unless it is explicitly written into the contract, the venue coordinator will not be expecting to act as your client’s personal helper.

Quotes

• “I know of many venues, high end venues especially, that make it mandatory for the client who’s having an event at their venue to have a pointed person who is the helper for the client.” (02:42-03:00 | May)

• “You have to tell your potential client, ‘Go ask the venue if they're doing all these things’. If they say yes, make sure that they put it on the contract.” (12:04-12:12 | May)

• “You must have a helper on that day and your helper is supposed to do everything that the hotel does not do, or the venue does not do.” (15:02-15:10 | May)

• “You as a planner need to understand what the venue coordinator does.” (15:20-15:24 | May)

Links

Connect with me at: may@events4anyone.com

Website: events4anyone.com

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

FB private group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/events4anyone

Thursday Feb 02, 2023

Productivity Hack for 2023

Thursday Feb 02, 2023

If you think about time with a scarcity mindset, you will always struggle to have enough of it. Instead, you should try to approach time management with an abundance mindset. In today’s episode, host May Yeo Silvers shares one of her most effective productivity hacks for getting more accomplished by being more intentional with your time.

Think about how much time it actually takes to do a task. Write down everything you want to do for yourself, others, around the house, for work and estimate the time each task will take to complete as accurately as you can. For tasks that you are unfamiliar with, put down a longer estimate at first and then time yourself to get a better understanding of how long it takes. Then, whenever you find yourself with gaps of time, even if they are only two or five minutes long, choose a task on your list that can fill in that gap.

By being more intentional about how you use your time, even small gaps throughout your day, you can really increase your productivity. Instead of just scrolling mindlessly on your phone when you have a gap in your day, choose to use that time more wisely. You will be surprised how much you can accomplish when you are mindful of your time.

Quotes

• “Do you have a scarcity mindset about time, that there is never enough time? Or do you have an abundance mindset?” (3:37-3:45 | May)

• “Identify what you can do in your personal life, and in your business, or in your career, that is going to help you move you along.” (5:38-5:48 | May)

• “When you start identifying how much you can do, what are the things you can do in those gaps, you become highly efficient.” (11:04-11:12 | May)

• “Every single thing that you do in life, not just in your business, you should have an idea how long it takes for you to do that. That's how you're able to do proper planning to avoid disappointment.” (12:27-12:39 | May)

Links

Connect with me at: may@events4anyone.com

Website: events4anyone.com

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

FB private group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/events4anyone

Thursday Jan 26, 2023

What It Really Means to Own a Business

Thursday Jan 26, 2023

Owning a business can be a dream, but it can also be a nightmare. In today’s episode, host May Yeo Silvers breaks down what it really means to own a business without shying away from the uglier truths.

Entrepreneurship provides amazing opportunities for reaching your goals, but it also is not for everyone. You may have a lot of passion for the service or product you want to provide, but you also need to have a similar amount of passion for the business side of things. You will need to run payroll, social media, marketing, hiring and firing, and everything else that makes a business actually run.

Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart and requires a lot of time and effort to really be successful. Before opening the doors to your business, really consider all the aspects that owning a business entails.

Quotes

• “When you're building a business, there are some big moments that are going to be super ugly, and very uncomfortable. And if you're thinking to start a business, I want you to go all in with your eyes and your ears and your mind and your heart wide open, so you don't feel that you're blindsided.” (2:11-2:39 | May)

• “Welcome to entrepreneurship where there are highs of the highest and lows of the lowest. And the lowest will rip you apart if you do not have the aptitude.” (4:06-4:19 | May)

• “In order to have a successful business, you not only have to love what you're offering, you also have to love what you have to do for business.” (10:15-10:29 | May)

• “Your business can't grow without you growing first. So you need to be the one leading the business and not let the business push you.” (21:56-22:06 | May)

Links

Connect with me at: may@events4anyone.com

Website: events4anyone.com