My inspiration, my princess…my daughter, Meredith
I’m going to talk a little off topic of wedding planning because I am so proud to have launched my very first e-book just this week! The Secrets To Starting a Profitable and Successful Children’s Party Planning Business was a logic choice for me when I originally decided on the topic of this e-book. The number one question customers and friends always asked was, “How did you start this business?” Back in 2006, I was renting space in a children’s boutique in the Texas hill country where I sold baby items and dancewear for kids. I was a stay-at-home mom, but I have always had that entrepreneurial spirit all my life. After my daughter was born and there were complications at birth, I eventually quit my full-time job so I could spend more time with her doing therapies, teaching her, taking her to doctor visits, music classes, gym time, and whatever else I could do for her. I had to learn everything I could in the special needs field and become her advocate. I bought a monogramming machine and started making baby items which led me into that boutique.
One day, I noticed there was an empty space in the boutique and I asked the owner what she was going to do with that space. She told me that she was thinking of having girls come into the store and have tea parties and celebrate birthdays there. That is what gave me the idea initially, but my idea was to go to the customer’s party location and host parties there myself. I started searching online and found a company in California that was selling their business and I ended up purchasing it from them. It didn’t have everything I needed but a nice portion. I did learn that I needed so much more and started researching extensively trying to find the best deals at the highest quality. I wanted to set myself apart from the competition and have my parties very detailed and upscale, but at an affordable price to the customer.
This way of thinking along with my excellent customer service were essential for the success of my business year after year. I became the top provider for princess parties in my area and as my business grew my party options did as well. I first launched the princess party theme, which has always been my number one party option. Shortly after, I added glamour parties, spa parties, fairy parties, stuff-a-bear parties, Girl Scout program parties, Mops’ teas, baby showers, and lastly, the Glam-To-Go Mobile party option.
It was so rewarding to see all these girls so excited to meet a princess and when they said to their mom, “Can I have a party just like his?” It put a smile on my face. I truly loved my job!
You won’t believe this, but I actually hosted the parties all by myself when I first started. That entailed packing for the party, setting it up, hosting it, cleaning it up and then cleaning it more when I got home. When I finally did hire an assistant I told myself, “Why didn’t I do this long ago!” You need help! Trust me.
So, getting back to my daughter. This job was perfect for my needs at the time. I was with her working from home during the week and then went to the parties on the weekends while my husband was home. It started off as a great part-time job. As she got older and most everything I could do for her was in place, I had more time that I could spend in the business so I expanded. I hired more employees and I had enough party items where I could do two parties at one time. Doing the princess visits worked well, too. I just had to purchase more costumes. I was doing anywhere from 3-5 parties a weekend then. This job really is what you put into it. At the end, I had hosted over 850 parties!
You can make a lot of money and in my e-book I go into detail about all my secrets that I learned as I started and grew my business. All the hardwork is done for you and I tell you step-by-step what you need to do with the minimal amount of money to start and run this business. I give you money making ideas that I implemented and also ideas for your marketing plan. I knew exactly where I needed to advertise for the least amount of money to get the leads you want.
If you have been thinking of starting your own children’s party planning business this is the e-book for you. I focused on general business practices you need to know and then went into detail on my princess party option. In my next e-book I will go into detail on my other party options I had. I am working on it right now and can’t wait to share it with you.
If you would like to purchase this e-book please go to my e-book page on my website and click on the buy button. If you need a one-on-one consultation about your business please feel free to contact me for more information. I would love to help you! Trudy Scott, 210-595-9263 or Trudy@RoyaltyEventsPlanning.com.
For this post, I decided to open up more on a personal level and reflect on 2014. I would say my emotions were all over the place. I started the year off strong with my previous company, Royal Tea Princess Parties – a children’s party planning company, but knew it was time for me to pass the torch on to someone else which was a sad moment for me. I had been doing it for 9 years and it was a struggle juggling this business along with my current business, Royalty Event Parties, and my day-to-day stuff that goes on in my personal life. Let me back track just a little….
I began my
