Planning an event can be tiring and stressful but making someone’s dream party come true can leave you feeling a sense of great fulfillment. If you are thinking of building a career on event planning, below are some pros and cons you will need to consider before making the big decision.
Pros
#1. Travel opportunities
Although this might not happen at the very start of your career, but as you go ahead your services might be demanded from people in different locations. Unlike most jobs that are confined to sitting on a desk in an office all day, you get to travel round and see different people and get a lot of exposure.
#2. Meet other people
One major quality that an event planner needs to possess is being friendly. In this job, you get the opportunity to meet diverse groups of people and probably learn their cultures. You get to meet with your clients, suppliers etc.
#3. Job satisfaction
In as much as planning an event can be stressful, planning and completing a successful event brings a feeling of fulfilment. Some events take days and a whole lot of effort to pull it off and sometimes the planners can get really upset. But after seeing that your efforts made someone happy, the feeling of stress will be replaced with joy.
#4. Allows you to be creative
Being an even planner allows you to be creative and use your intuition as much as possible. There are no set rules for all events. For instance you can try arranging flowers your own way, arranging chairs in a way you think will be best etc. It gives you the opportunity to learn from each work and appreciate your creativity.
Cons
#1. Stressful
This job can be really stressful especially if you are handling multiple events at the same time. When planning an event that is a once-in-a-lifetime special occasion for the client, there may be so much pressure on you to get everything perfectly done.
#2. Longer hours
A major disadvantage for event planners is that there are no set working hours. Some events last the whole day, some go till midnight, and some are even on weekends and as the event planner you must be present to ensure that everything goes on smoothly.
#3. Physically demanding
Although this is not the case for all events, there are certain occasions like weddings that will require a lot of moving about, moving chairs, setting the tables etc. it is very tiring and unless you have a lot of staff helping you, you need to be physically fit.
#4. Living up to the clients expectation
The most discouraging con is that no matter how much energy and time you put in an event, your clients might just not be satisfied with your work. Learn from the mistakes you made and get over it as quickly as possible.
#5. Salary
As this depends on the amount of business coming in, for a newbie, the income at first may not be as great and stable as an office desk job. This business thrives on your reputation, brand and network. But the good news is, most single projects pay well to cover periods of dry spells. So as much as you want to be an event planner, know that bringing in business requires you to be a master networker and salesperson.
Even though there are a number of flaws related to this career, it is overall a great career which can be both lucrative and rewarding; not to mention, leaving clients happy means they will be willing to do favors for you.
So If you are an organized and friendly person then you will be just fine.
Thanks for reading this article. Hope it worked its magic.