Starting up a Business

MissCharmin

Im looking to start up a Hen Party Planning Business, where i can organise and plan the party for the group at an affordable price.
I just need ideas where to start, i have ideas on packages and offers etc but its more help in the legal and getting a business of the ground where i need the help.
All ideas/tips and advice would be greatly appreciated.

mneylon

Are you going to be operating as a sole trader or LTD?

Have you got an accountant?

If you are planning on trading as anything other than your given name ie. you want to be known as "cool wedding planners" instead of "John / Jane Doe" you'll need to register a business name with the CRO (at a minimum)

Do you have prospective clients?

Do you have a unique selling point?

Who is your target market? (No I don't really want you to answer that, but you should know the answer or have an idea of the answer)

How are you going to market the business?

Do you have a budget for advertising / marketing / PR?

You might also want to speak to your local bank manager about setting up a new business.
If you're starting out as a sole trader then you could be tempted to just use your personal bank account - that's probably not a good idea.

And keep records of ALL expenditure - receipts, invoices, everything ..

While you might not be able to write off / claim all your expenses trying to find receipts months later is a pain in the neck.

Also, if you're working from home you will be able to write off a part of your electricity bill and other utilities as a business expense
Revenue has some guidance that might help:
http://www.revenue.ie/en/business/running/registering-tax.html

And you should also talk to your local enterprise board (or whatever they're calling themselves these days)

HTH

Michele

terryhobdell

Please go to your Local Enterprise Office every County has one they will help you give you courses to go on hold your hand through set up stage. Best of luck.

jimmii

They will have a start your own business course which will cover all the basics you need to know to get up and running.

rankingelite

Galway county council had a start your own business course that was excellent..

pedronomix

there was a link "local enterprise .ie" posted here recently that might help you!

IrishLad2012

MissCharmin wrote: »

Im looking to start up a Hen Party Planning Business, where i can organise and plan the party for the group at an affordable price.
I just need ideas where to start, i have ideas on packages and offers etc but its more help in the legal and getting a business of the ground where i need the help.
All ideas/tips and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Just a few tips and a bit of advice.

• Have you worked in this industry?
• Have you secured a unique domain name for your website?(essential for a business like this)

Google Kate Hyde, she owns HenParty/Stag Party.ie, she was Dragons Den in 2009, she seems to be doing well but I would imagine she would have a large market share built up by now, can you take on an established business like this? Advertising will be your biggest obstacle and costly expense from the outset, if people don't know who you are or what you do, you will struggle.

From my own experience of organising the brothers stag, we had contacted Stag Party.ie and they were giving up a package as follows:

• Day pass to Paintballing
• Finger Food afterwards in a local pub
• Accommodation(shared apartment)
• Free Shots in a pub
• Entry to a Nightclub

All of the above was priced at €89 per person, so we decided to book all of the above by ourselves(without StagParty.ie), it ended up costing us €80 per person. So using this as an example, there was 20 of us, had we booked through StagParty.ie they would have made €9 per person on us, which is €180 on our group(which would be the average size for a Stag Party).

Not trying to dampen your idea here but just looking at the business, very low margins. I would like to wish you the best of luck with your venture and hope my advice has helped.

Buttercake

One thing that I cant stand is when people use websites or businesses to scope out packages and then book it all themselves separately.

It takes a lot of work for someone to put together deals/packages etc, managing their business, advertising and dealing with end users and then the venues/hotels etc to make sure everyone is playing ball.

of course there should be some commission for doing all the work. The old example of going into a shop trying out an camera, asking all the questions, getting the advice then buying it online.

IrishLad2012

Buttercake wrote: »

One thing that I cant stand is when people use websites or businesses to scope out packages and then book it all themselves separately.

I agree completely with you that anyone who does this service should be rewarded. The point I was making to the OP was that the margin in this business isn't great. Some consumers will book through a website and save themselves the hassle but also remember what the OP is doing, is something that anybody can do. The OP has to find a USP, whether is be the way they organise your Hen/Stag for you, or maybe the domain name they choose, if it something that people automatically think of when booking a hen party.

Buttercake

The hen&stag company will negotiate a % with the pub/venues/go karting etc for promoting their services so what may seem 9€ as the margin, they will have this plus + an additional percentage from the business itself; monthly fee, annual charge or some %.

If a business is able to bring x number of hens and stags every weekend to a venue as part of their deals, they will negotiate percentages from standard list pricing. If they venue doesn't agree they can easily go somewhere else.

IrishLad2012

Buttercake wrote: »

The hen&stag company will negotiate a % with the pub/venues/go karting etc for promoting their services so what may seem 9€ as the margin, they will have this plus + an additional percentage from the business itself; monthly fee, annual charge or some %.

If a business is able to bring x number of hens and stags every weekend to a venue as part of their deals, they will negotiate percentages from standard list pricing. If they venue doesn't agree they can easily go somewhere else.

I have no doubt this is the case but I would imagine this is what Kate Hyde(HenParty.ie) is already doing. I am not saying it is impossible to compete with HenParty.ie but it would be expensive with regards to advertising and I do feel that without a unique domain name, things would be even harder. If the OP goes to these pubs/clubs and says I will do it for less percentage, would this be sustainable?

Also remember a lot of people seen HenParty.ie on Dragons Den and that was better than any ad campaign, currently they are the top listed company on Google when searching for Hen Parties.

The OP has got to ask themselves what I am going to do that is different to what is already being done?

I could set up a social network site tomorrow but what are my chances that it would rival Facebook?

Graham

IrishLad2012 wrote: »

I have no doubt this is the case but I would imagine this is what Kate Hyde(HenParty.ie) is already doing. I am not saying it is impossible to compete with HenParty.ie but it would be expensive with regards to advertising and I do feel that without a unique domain name, things would be even harder. If the OP goes to these pubs/clubs and says I will do it for less percentage, would this be sustainable?

Also remember a lot of people seen HenParty.ie on Dragons Den and that was better than any ad campaign, currently they are the top listed company on Google when searching for Hen Parties.

The OP has got to ask themselves what I am going to do that is different to what is already being done?

I could set up a social network site tomorrow but what are my chances that it would rival Facebook?

There's rather a large gap in market penetration between Facebook and a small .ie operation that featured on Dragons Den (that I'd never heard of). I can't imagine the Dragons Den demographic is particularly aligned with the OP's target market.

If the OP is serious about making a go of this, I wouldn't suggest she spend too much time worrying about the 'competitions' domain name or current Google rankings.

A USP is good advice though, a me-too operation in any market is always going to find it hard going.

MissCharmin

Wow! Thank you all for this, alot there for me to think on.

I know Kate very well, i actually do work with her on certain projects! Mainly why im thinking of doing it is, i manage bookings already for parties but im the last in the chain of command shall we say when the money gets paid out, so im trying to elimate all ahead of me for doing the same work as i am already!

Ive working within this industry for around 6 years now and i think i have one or 2 things that puts me above the others, but as you say it is the money at the end of it! Most do go an organise themselves so i would need to find a way round that.

Thank you all again, lots for me to think on and work on!

Buttercake

MissCharmin wrote: »

Most do go an organise themselves so i would need to find a way round that.

that's the trick and a key to success will be negotiation. It's the same with travel agents or any other type of agency, you need partnerships.

When you negotiate with partners, you should be asking for their ground floor, cost price there is no point selling at their list prices and adding a commission.

Especially around things like entry fees..entry to a club? for 10 girls? you should be getting this all for free.. Entry fees should be your margin. Horse racing place down in kilkenny charges €15 entry!! just to get in the door and everyone ends up spending their money on bets, drink and food there.

Hotel room: Public price~€50, to you €45
Club Entry + Shots: Public price~€20, to you €10/Free?!
Finger food: Public price~€20, to you €10

Public total: €90, you also sell for €90 and make €25 (hypothetical figures of course)

So if they do bother to book it all themselves, you wont necessarily lose out, its the way it is, price will dictate everything.

You'll need to monitor this by placing fake direct enquiries with the partners to make sure they are not offering discounts or the same price that you are getting it at..

Best of luck.