Hi Donnaysia,

Many event planners are self-employed. For this career, there are a few steps I would recommend taking:

Nicole M. recommends the following next steps:

• Speak to event planners and find out how they got started in their careers Save
• Take a few basic business, accounting, and marketing courses to help you prepare your business plan Save
• Explore a certification, such as those outlined in this article: https://whova.com/blog/event-planning-certificate/ Save
• Build your portfolio. Offer to plan family and friend's events for free. Take lots of good photos so you have proof on what you can do! Save
• Take on an unpaid internship with an event planner to learn on the job Save

Event planning is as fast or slow a process as your lead time allows. What I mean by this is that the time it takes to plan an event will expand into however much time there is prior to an event. Some events are planned for years in advance, others are pulled together in just a few weeks, or even days. Starting to plan an event earlier will give more opportunities for saving money, for finding/hiring the exact venues and vendors you want, etc. It allows more time for being thoughtful and creative. It also gives you the opportunity to spend much more time on a single event. On the flip side, if you have only a few weeks to get an event planned, you need to be very strategic in your approach. You have to quickly plot out what needs to be handled first (probably confirming a venue, then doing your event invitations), then you can focus on items such as catering, a/v, decor and more.