If you’ve been planning weddings but now have to make some changes to your business because of life events, or if you want to offer some new services, my tips in today’s Q&A will help you see how you can create new streams of income with your wedding planning skills.
Question
I’m planning to start a family and I’m currently doing wedding planning that takes long hours. I want to be able to do more at home with computer-based work when the time comes. What can I do to still have income and provide help to brides-to-be?
Answer
You’re wise to take a look at other options for making money once you have a child. Computer-based work will not only bring you income when you aren’t available to work long hours with a bride, they will also expand your business and bring extra income if, or when, you decide to return to full service wedding planning.
Here are 5 ways to generate income without leaving your home:
1) Offer consultation services
Offer consultation services that don’t demand that you be on location, for example creating budgets and timelines or recommending venues and vendors. You can partner with another planner to help any brides who want “day of” or full service planning as a result of your consultations. (Make sure your partnership agreement is reviewed by an attorney so you both get compensated fairly.)
2) Sell wedding products
Sell wedding invitations, favors and accessories on your website or blog. Check with your current vendors and see if they allow you to become an associate, affiliate or dealer of their products and find out how you can sell them on your site.
3) Offer classes
Offer webinars to brides to teach them how to set up their budgets, make timelines, select their wedding theme or style, work with wedding vendors, or any other topics that feature your expertise. If you have access to a meeting room, you can also offer workshops in person.
4) Sell advertising
Sell ad space on your blog to wedding vendors such as photographers, caterers, venues, and bridal salons. In order to interest advertisers, you would need a blog that attracts a great deal of traffic.
5) Become a writer
Create ebooks that you sell on your website or blog and Kindle books that you sell on Amazon.com on wedding planning topics that would be of interest your brides.
Be aware that all of these ideas will demand that you do extensive marketing online and/or offline to bring in the number of clients you would need to create a steady income.
There are wedding planners who still do full-service wedding planning when they have young children. It takes a lot of support from a spouse or partner and it demands that you be organized, disciplined and have assistants to help you with your business when you are not available, but it can be done.
And if you have a pressing question about starting or running your wedding planning business, you can send me an email at [email protected]. I will answer them on this blog or in my ezine, “Wedding Planner Tips,” which you can subscribe to here.
