On Saturday, May 14, Andrew and I attended an all day entrepreneurial seminar hosted by SCORE, www.scorekc.org. SCORE is a national organization with local chapters whose mission is to provide resources and expertise to maximize the success of existing and emerging small businesses.
Andrew has been "advising" me that I should start my own event planning business for awhile now and I think I am finally ready to start moving in that direction, but I do not just want to jump into something without knowing what the hell I am doing. In comes SCORE.
SCORE hosts a series of seminars that teach you about how to properly start your business, market it, and fund it. This first seminar was all about what you have to do to get ready to even think about starting your business, which mainly entails doing competitor research, figuring out your target market, and being able to sell yourself.
Andrew is already an entrepreneur and owns his businesses, but walked away feeling like he learned from this seminar and I feel like as long as you can walk away from something learning one new thing, it was a success. He also was there to support me in my potential future.
I will continue to work full time regardless of what happens with this idea/business. I love what I do and just want to be able to expand my horizons, if possible, on the side. My full time job will always come first.
My target market will start out in weddings and parties. Since I already do corporate events/meetings in my full time job, I wanted to break out and do something different. My services will include numerous options including full on event planning to a la carte options.
Andrew is also beginning a new cheerleading competition company on which I will consult, so it is going to be an interesting couple of years for us both to get our ideas off the ground.
I am very blessed to have a partner who truly believes in my intelligence, expertise, and skills in event planning, as well as many other things. Not many people have the opportunity to really put their dreams out their and realize them. Many people also do not have someone to stand by their side and help them through it.
I am also blessed to have a partner who is extremely creative and driven to go out and grab his goals and dreams. While I am afraid of failure, he believes failure cannot exist if you truly want something bad enough. He amazes me everyday with his excitement, tenacity, and shear will power to make things happen.
