Hobby vs. Career: Transitioning Your Hobby Into a Business

As crazy as the event planning business can be, it can also be a lot of fun. Working with different clients and vendors–along with getting to show off your own creativity–means there is never a dull moment when putting together a special event. But making the leap to becoming one of the 100,000 full-time event pros in the U.S. can be scary, especially when it means giving up your current career to start your own business.

But serving events as a side hustle or even as a hobby can actually cost you money in the long run. In addition, not making the commitment to becoming a full-time pro can also impact the pros who are running their own businesses. How so? Here are a few ways:

You're Charging Super Low Rates

You're not an official pro, so chances are you’re undercharging for your services. In addition, 77.6 percent of event planners are women, and women often have difficulty asking to be paid their worth. Not only are you not being compensated fairly for your time and ideas, but those low prices can bring down the industry and short-change the professionals who do this full-time and have the proper resources.

You're Not Adequately Insured

All business owners need to be properly insured for not only their own interests, but those of the people they do business with (clients, vendors, and any staff you hire for the event). Not having that can put you at personal risk if something goes wrong down the line.

You’re Using a Personal Email & Website

You want to make sure all of the information you have from clients and vendors is safe, which isn’t easy when you’re sending and receiving emails from your personal address. The same goes for a website that is created on one of those free sites or sends payments back and forth from unsecured platforms. Setting up a professional website and email address can help you protect everyone’s data, including your own.

You Don’t Have Business Accounts

Mixing your personal and business expenses can cause problems down the line, especially during tax season. And if a client ever sues you, you don’t want your personal finances to be at risk. Keeping that money separate can give you some additional legal protection.

Jumping Into Full-Time

It’s difficult to hold down two jobs at once, and at a certain point, you will have to make the decision whether you should transition your event hobby into a full-time business. If you decide to jump into the world of events, you should take certain steps, including:

While that might seem like a scary endeavor, there is one resource that can help make the transition smoother: Aisle Planner. Our tools for event pros can help you do everything from find new clients and communicate with existing ones to track expenses and manage the guest experience. We can help you run every aspect of your business! So instead of using (and paying) for multiple organizational platforms, you can do everything you need for your business in one place.