We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dana Allison. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dana below.

Dana, appreciate you joining us today. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

I never planned on being a business owner. We were not an entrepreneurial family, my dad was a janitor and my mom stayed home. My siblings have all worked regular jobs as has most of my extended family. I have always been a little different in that I have worked retail either part-time or full-time for most of my adult life, so I have not had a Monday-Friday job very often and even when I did, I tended to have a second job so working a lot and outside of normal business hours was common for me.

I started my business during one of the times when I had a “normal” job, but I had already been laid off from that job once so I had gone back to school and had a part-time retail job just in case. I finished school and found myself with a little extra time so I thought, why not start this wedding and event planning business I had been thinking about. My boss at the time was a small business owner and although he wasn’t the best businessman, I liked the idea of being my own boss and having more control over my time and hours.

It took me about six years to kind of go full-time with my business but even then I still did venue management for a small venue and wouldn’t have been able to afford to if I hadn’t moved in with my boyfriend and lowered my living expenses. What no one really talks about is how much harder it is to be a SINGLE business owner and to not have the financial support of a spouse if needed. It’s nearly impossible to do unless you have a monster savings to fall back on or are young enough that you are still living with your parents and don’t have much in the way of expenses.

Fast forward almost twelve years into the business and I have been on a roller-coaster of highs and lows. From starting out from practically nothing to huge growth between years 3-5 to the lowest of lows with COVID and the huge boom that followed, it feels like things are slowing down quite a bit again. So much in fact that I was days away from having to lay off my full-time employee before she let me know she got another job.

In all honestly I have been starting to job search again myself because I think I am tired of the fight and the long hours and how hard it is to just turn off the laptop and not think about the business. Being in the wedding and event industry means the final product is happening when you most want to rest, on nights and weekends. I recently turned 50 and need to think about the next 10 years and what I really want to do be doing. Right now I think I would love to have the stability and benefits of a regular job and to just do my business on side for clients when I want to but not because I have to.

Dana, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

As a wedding and event planner, we serve clients who are typically throwing the biggest party they ever have had and need some hep with it. While most people in my profession get into this job because they themselves planned their own wedding and loved it, I am not married and really didn’t even like being a guest at a wedding. I always prefer being busy so I would look for ways to help out at the wedding. Becoming a planner came naturally after that.

We help clients know the unknown when it comes to planning their wedding or event. We ask a ton of questions and think through all of the scenarios ahead of time so when it comes to the day our clients can enjoy and be a guest at their own event. I am proud that we not only have a great reputation with our clients but are well liked and respected in our industry in the Twin Cities. There are a lot of us but it is still a small community so it’s important to have good rapport with not only other vendors we work with but even our own competitors.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

A good reputation the wedding and event industry in my market is so important. Even within our industry here in the Twin Cities, we have some different factions of professionals. Think of it almost like high school where you have your different cliques and groups. It’s not at all in a negative way like it can be in a school, it is just how it is. Like when I was in high school, I float pretty effortlessly between all the groups by just being kind and helpful.

I am at the point in my career that people come up to me and I can’t quite place them rather than vice versa. I always feel bad but I know they wouldn’t be trying to talk to me if I wasn’t well-liked and respected.

Does your business have multiple or supplementary revenue streams (like a ATM machine at a barbershop, etc)?

Along with my wedding planning business I also manage a small venue that brings in a flat monthly income. It has been a valuable learning lesson to my planning business but also has brought me business over the years via some crossover.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://keyedupevents.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/keyedupevents/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/keyedupevents

Image Credits

Jessica Knighton Photography

@jess.knighton on Instagram