Most people would not pass up an opportunity to make more money. If you have a spacious home, you can turn it into an event venue and earn from that. However, doing that is not as easy as it sounds. You have to put a lot of effort and thought into it. Here is what you need to do if you want to transform your property into a commercial venue that can accommodate corporate meetings and weddings.
Plan the Logistics
Before anything else, you need to map out the basic logistics to get your space up and running. Since you already have the location, all you have to do is enlist engineer and architect services. With that, you get to discuss crucial aspects like water hookups, kitchen placement, power, and HVAC needs. Is your property accessible? Do you need a commercial building contractor to alter anything? How much space does it have for parking? These are some of the questions you need to ask yourself and seek professional advice and help for. While at it, you need to be in the know about all the legalities that come with running such a venue. That means that you need to know about and acquire all the permits you need. For instance, you need to have an open flame permit if you intend to have candles lit.
Pick a Style
Ideally, you would want a blank slate for your even venue but since you will be working with one that is already probably customized, you want to do away with whatever you have going on there. The last thing you want is to impose your style on clients. Imagine a couple wanting to hold a wedding ceremony there and finding décor that doesn’t work with their theme. The least you can do is eliminate what you have so that they have a clean space to work with. If you fail to do this, chances are that you will lose many clients. Now, even as you do away with your décor pieces, think about the colors on your property. If you have dashes of color spread out randomly all over the venue, you may want to take care of that. How do you do that? Well, the best way would be to go for a neutral theme with colors such as white, gray, or beige because they are easy to work with.
Add Amenities
If you want to make the most out of your business, you have to consider providing more than just a space for your clients. Whether upselling or included, add-ons are a great way to add value to your venue. For instance, you may want to have flat-screen TVs to facilitate presentations and videoconferencing. Similarly, services like Wi-Fi offer a great way to improve your venue packages. Aside from that, you may want to put up structures outside to accommodate some events so consider enlisting the services of a truss engineer as well.
Promote The Venue
You cannot expect people to reach out to do business with you if they are not aware that your venue exists. That means that you need to spread the word about it. Promote your business as much as you can by asking everyone you know to refer people or even paying for adverts if your budget allows it. Since social media is a force to reckon with in today’s world, you can also make the most out of it as far as letting the public know what you have to offer. Another thing you can do is to host an open house event where service providers like photographer planners, bands, and caterers get to showcase their services. Potential clients will love that they can get everything they need for their events under one roof.
Plan For The Unexpected
When you hold a pre-launch party for your event venue business, you are bound to face some obstacles, whether you see it coming or not. It could be that some of the events held at your venue are noisy and your neighborhood doesn’t allow that, or that the air conditioning system you have is not designed to cool a crowd in the middle of a summer afternoon. Sometimes, the issue has to do with space. You can spruce up your basement as well to provide additional space whenever you need it. Just ensure that the basement finishing is top-notch. Anticipating such challenges early enough and putting measures in place to counter them will be beneficial for your business. You can even hire a surveying service to do that for you. Before you launch your venue, ensure that you address both the big and the little things both structurally and legally.
Do The Necessary Repairs
You can’t afford to offer a venue that will not impress your clients. So if you need to get an electrician to restore a messed up system, or commercial roofers to repair a damaged roof, go ahead and do it. Chances are that you will lose many existing and potential clients if your venue has nothing to write home about.
Pick a Name
At this point, you are now getting into the fun parts of building your event venue. Coming up with a name for the venue requires you to be creative, so go ham with it. However, as you do that, you want to keep in mind that the name has to be appealing to those you are targeting and stand out. You also do not want to limit yourself. For instance, calling the venue ‘Mary’s Wedding Venues‘ is not a smart choice because then, you will have a hard time convincing clients who want to hold events other than weddings to pick your venue. Anyway, once you narrow down your choices, you want to search the internet to see if any of them are already in use. After that, you want to add something like the city or street name where the venue is located to make it unique.
Create a Website
Creating a website for your business sounds like doing too much, but the sooner you create an online presence, the higher your chances of having your competitors beat you to it, and the sooner you will get clients. The best part is that you do not have to have a load of content on the site. A simple interface can be created by getting free online templates on platforms such as Squarespace or WordPress. After that, you want to open social media pages on platforms like Instagram and Facebook. You can be sure that many people will be reaching out to book with you after this.
Determine Venue Specs
Now that you have the website set up, you want to keep in mind that visitors will mostly be interested in renting your space to hold events. In that regard, you want to have as much information about your venue as possible. Figure out specifics like how many tables and chairs the venue can fit and what you can offer in terms of the bar setup and onsite catering. You also want to mention where the venue is located, what its parking situation is like, and how many rooms you have available for rent. Of course, you can throw in some fun facts about what makes your venue special and different from the rest.
Have The Property Photographed
It cannot be overemphasized how much you need to provide details about your venue and pictures speak volumes. Your potential clients need to see what they are looking at when they rent the space from you. As such, you want to take high-quality pictures or hire a photographer to do it for you and upload them to your website and social media pages. This also makes you look credible in an online world where people are not afraid to lie.
Hire a Qualified Team
As you may have probably thought, it would be hard to manage your business single-handedly. You cannot handle job listings and conduct job listings at the same time, right after you open your business. That is too much for one person, don’t you think?
To that effect, you want to recruit qualified staff to ensure that your business runs seamlessly. For instance, you need someone to handle the accounting part of it while another handles the hospitality part. If you are not conversant with social media either, you may want to hire someone to handle your pages.
Think About Cost-Effectiveness
You are likely to invest a lot in your event space both in the exterior and interior. Therefore, you want to cut costs wherever you can. For instance, you can have your clients come with their utensils and lines for their events. If you have to offer the same, look for cost-effective options that are durable and don’t cost much. That way, even if your plates and cups are broken, you will not feel the pinch of replacing them.
Offer Competitive Pricing
Granted, you are in business and your main aim is to make a profit but you do not have to charge ridiculously for your venue. It is important to offer competitive prices, especially when you are starting because you have no reviews to back up your venue. Ask around or check online to find out how much your competitors are charging for the same service you are offering. To attract more clients, you can even offer an introductory rate and discounts for your clients.
Be Willing to Negotiate
When it comes to business, you have to be flexible, otherwise, you won’t last long in the market. You see, there are probably several homeowners in your area who are providing the same services you intend to offer, and just like you, they want to make profits. That means that they will be flexible whenever they need to be. For instance, you want to be open for negotiations about the rates of your venue when clients want to rent for a few hours instead of an entire day. Having a fixed rate in such a case will only serve to push your clients away and you don’t want that, do you?
Seek Advice
Irrespective of how much you think you know, or how prepared you think you are, when it comes to renting out your property for events, you will hit obstacles at some point. When that happens, you want to have one or two knowledgeable and experienced people in the business to guide you. Have an experienced event professional on speed dial or have them over to your house for a cup of coffee and ask for tips and guidance. Sure, it is a fast-paced industry but if you are relentless enough, you will find someone to hold your hand as you navigate your business.
This is invaluable when it comes to fixing issues and getting inspiration for your business.
Beautify the Venue
You need to keep your venue looking good all the time because that is how you attract clients. Therefore, you may want to get construction equipment rental to make your property look appealing and concrete services to spruce up your driveway.
Involve the Community
Your business is your own, but it wouldn’t hurt to involve the community. That way, you will have the community’s backup and support whenever you need it. For instance, a neighbor won’t hesitate to call the police if burglars try to break into your property when you are not around.
While at it, you also want to give back to the community whenever you can and engage in CSR whenever you can.
If you are thinking of ways to utilize your property and even earning from it, turning it into an event venue can be worth your while. Remember to keep your venue clean as well so feel free to outsource janitor services as well.