We often think of organic growth as slow-moving. Actually, that doesn’t have to be the case – especially when you’re starting out as an event host. 

A lot of your success in this endeavor has to do with how you prioritize and concentrate your time, efforts, and attention as a solopreneur or as a business with an incredibly small team. 

Think of yourself as a basketball player running towards a slam-dunk. That player isn’t thinking about whether his shoelaces are tied! He’s got his eye on the hoop. 

In the same way, as revealed in our “Ultimate private event hosting guide for aspiring hosts”, narrow your target and go for gold. 

We recommend you keep your eye on building credibility.  

“But HOW do I begin to build this credibility?” you may ask…

The answer can again be summed up in two words: “Start small.” 

Yes, you read that right; sometimes we can assume that success as an event host means having clients from all over the world and filling 500-seating capacity rooms. Well, although this is a great LONG TERM goal, you don’t want to bite more than you can chew when you’re taking your first few steps. 

In the short term, it’s great to work with the bunch of lovely and interesting people you already know. You’ll be surprised how you can expand upon this group in record time. 

OK, let’s break it down! 

No, no… Not on the dance floor, but in practical terms (you can save the dance floor breakdance for your next event!). Read on if you want to see how focusing on starting small and building credibility can work for you.

1) Your strongest strategy is starting small

The most important thing to remember when expanding your clientele is to not miss any opportunities. Clients are like a rearview mirror: They are often closer than they seem! 

What we mean here is, don’t be afraid to say yes to friends and family, or people you’ve known for years. They can offer you priceless feedback and your events with them can be low risk. 

You can even create mock-up events with family and friends to polish your operations skills and delivery as well as to gather footage for your online portfolio. Seriously, don’t disregard the promotional value of the events you host with family and friends; it’s more than simple practice for the future. 

Mockup events make for great online content and other promotional material. Document these events with attractive photos and videos. The images will be useful for promoting more complex gatherings with new contacts. 

Having said that, you may or may not charge a fee for such events. This really depends on how willing your circles are to pay you in your “trial period” in exchange for their candid participation. At the very least, however, be sure to collect reviews for your Google Business Profile, your website testimonials page, Facebook page, and other places where you and your potential future clients are present. 

Remember that in your development phase as a business owner, although money is very important, information is also highly valuable. So take notes as your close contacts engage with your business! 

Constantly review your own performance as a host after a test event: 

• Were there operational problems? 

• Did you feel like you were in charge? 

• How many complaints arose? 

• What costs could have been avoided? 

• Did you make enough profit or break even? 

• Did you pick the right guests?

• Did your guests feel safe?

• Was the atmosphere lit? 

• Are there suggestions from guests that come up often, event after event? 

• What can you address immediately? 

Of course, the above is a non-exhaustive list of self-auditing questions to help you lay strong foundations as a newbie private event host. Your very first event may be closer to a disaster than anything else. That wouldn’t be the end of the world, though!

Your objective here isn’t to become an overnight superstar event organizer and millionaire. You must have the desire to grow your business acumen, managerial skills, hospitality expertise, and overall personality. 

Grow as a person and as an entrepreneur and your business will grow as well.

So keep auditing and refining your processes until you’re consistently able to answer the above questions positively. 

When the foundations are strong, organic growth can begin! 

Now that you’ve got the first part down (starting small), you’ve taken the first step in building credibility with your clients. When you start by hosting events for the people closest to you, you are doing so with a baseline of trust that’s been built over time.

Read on for more tips to build further credibility through the right tactics and tools.

2) Build credibility

So you’ve been working with a small group of clients who trust you. Amazing! But don’t rest on your laurels. It’s time to tighten up your protocols and pick the right tools —or all-in-one tool— for further efficiency, safety, and security. 

Your goal when hosting these trial events is for the feedback you receive from your attendees to be constructive and to revolve around things like the venue’s amenities, your line-up of activities, performers, and speakers, your choice of appetizers and refreshments, and the decor and overall ambiance.

Your guests should NOT have to be making embarrassing comments about sloppy check-ins, foggy invites, or unclear itineraries. 

Why? Because these are the few factors in the event space that you DO have control over. It’s just not acceptable to allow poor operations to ruin your guests’ experience.

Don’t be or stay in the ranks of “amateur event hosts”. You want to be a professional – and soon an expert – event host, so perform like one! 

3) Use a safe and secure ticketing system

You’re going to thank us for that! The benefits of integrating ticketing into all your events will offer you the operational smoothness and marketing analytics you need to scale up your event business rapidly. 

It really shouldn’t take forever to compile RSVPs, collect partial or full payments, securely verify and check in your guests, or process refunds (if applicable). It’s a waste of time for both you and your guests. 

Time is money, they say. And money disputes are arguably the most time-sucking and uncomfortable kind of disputes.

On this note, the ticketing app you use can make all the difference when it comes to streamlining your operations and building credibility with your customers. 

If you’re doing free or low-cost events for friends and family, you’ll want to practice using an event ticketing app that has low platform fees, zero-fee transactions for in-app purchases, and where sign up is free forever. 

Another element of ticketing credibility is to allow your guests to get the most value for their dollar when attending your events. As you can see, your credibility grows with your business if you use the right technology. 

It’s not easy for anyone to give out money for a service, a product, or a provider that they haven’t thoroughly tried or tested. Likewise, it’s not very comfortable to ask for people’s money in such circumstances because, well, what do you have to show for?

Not to worry, though. To cancel out any fears within your guestlist regarding giving them value for money indeed, you may want to use Pay2Stay. 

Here’s why: 

Firstly, with the Pay2Stay event ticketing app, you keep up to 95% of your ticket sales revenue. This way, you can maintain competitive pricing as a newbie. 

Secondly, you can offer your guests payment flexibility through time-based, flat rate, or hybrid (flat rate and time-based) ticket pricing options.

Time-based and hybrid are great options when looking to expand your guestlist as they reduce the burden of commitment for your attendees.

When you’re selling them spots to your event, your guests won’t have to doubt your word and credibility. They can check out and get refunded for unspent time. They will know that the system has them covered when it comes to offering them value for money, or getting a refund if your event… well… sucked. 🙃

So even if some of your events don’t always go according to plan or some guests are obliged to check out early for other reasons, Pay2Stay’s transparent, secure, and automated refund system will help restore your customer ratings. Such incidents may even help you build a great reputation — one where people view you as a person with integrity. 

You may not want to dive into this scary scenario, but imagine an event of yours where everything goes down the drain:

Your caterer never shows up, your guest speaker or live performer is late, and only half of your RSVPs show up. 

What then?

Well, at least everyone who attends this less-than-stellar gathering won’t have anything bad to say about receiving fair and instant refunds. And that’s all because of your careful ticketing app selection. Your event may flop, and still your level of credibility and trust with your guests will rise. 

No more sloppy invites!

Bluntly put, you have no business requesting for people’s attention and participation if your event lacks either or both of the following two things:

• Basic event information 

• The right invitation approach

Let’s unpack what we mean here by “sloppy invites”. 

4) Make itineraries so clear you can see your reflection!

Look, guests aren’t in your head. They don’t know what you’ve planned for that party, exclusive getaway, or workshop that YOU want THEM to attend at all costs. 

Spamming them with texts, reminding them every day that they need to spend some bucks and take a chunk of their precious time to attend your event won’t get them to lift a single finger. 

As an event host, you are not entitled to guest attendance. You need to work for it strategically. 

One of the best uses of your limited time is making an event itinerary that is as close to the real experience as possible. Your guests should never be taken by surprise in the wrong way: miscommunicated dress code, missing menu items, a sudden change in venue, you name it. 

Be meticulous! It will pay off in more ways than you know.

Customer experience comes first so put yourself in your potential guests’ shoes and be clear about your offering so they can decide in seconds if your event is their cup of tea.

Now, Pay2Stay is BIG on helping you to defend and showcase the uniqueness of your offering. From the flyer to the description, don’t miss the opportunity to get your invitees hooked.

5) Streamline your invites

The other thing you want to do is to properly segment your ticket types and RSVP policies.

🤔 Are you offering discounts?

🤔 Are you allowing +1s?

🤔 Are you limiting the number of +1s that a main contact on your guest list can invite? 

The Pay2Stay app enables you to automate this via the events code section, so you can avoid ugly altercations at the door – as you should!

Now that all is said and done, there’s one piece of advice left for you, champ:

Don’t be another “Florida woman”. Please, don’t! 😩😂

Ready, set, PLAN!

Feel excited about using these tactics to grow your clients faster than a spaceship taking off for the moon? 

We know that starting a private event hosting business is full of surprises, but we hope that after reading what we’ve shared, you have seen that there are ways to hedge the amount of surprises you encounter as a host. 

Furthermore, if you’ve already scored all the points above, you may be ready to start hosting medium-sized events and confidently sell high-end tickets. Well, almost!

All the best jumping from amateurism to industry-standard know-how and scaling up your event hosting venture like a pro!