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

Ciara, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today It’s easy to look at a business or industry as an outsider and assume it’s super profitable – but we’ve seen over and over again in our conversation with folks that most industries have factors that make profitability a challenge. What’s biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

As a Wedding/Event Planner a lot goes into one day! A lot of times I have a simple time explaining the design services or the set up cost because people can see those things. When it comes to working with a client for over a year to bring the event to life, many people have a hard time understanding the cost of time and access to a professional. Profitability is difficult, when you’re working in your passion and doing something you love because you want to help everyone. You want to be able to provide your services no matter what. For a while we would take any budget and try to fit into it. In the end we were losing. The biggest challenge is overcoming the hurdle of, our services are a luxury, not a necessity. We’re not fit to service everyone and that’s okay! We’ve met so many other small businesses owners who struggle with this concept when providing a service and not a product. My business is something I love but it often pulls me away from family, I connect with clients consistently up to a year out, planning meetings, professional consultations, traveling, maintaining a staff, professional training and more. We have to take all these things into consideration when deciding our pricing. Since we’ve realized our worth, of course the bookings decrease but the value remains the same and continues to get better! We are committed to providing the absolute best service we can while being profitable, sustainable and growing.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Ciara Jones and I’m the Founder/Principal Coordinator of Leone Events. We are an Event Planning company that specializes in Weddings. We are full service we not only provide planning services but we offer design services and a rental catalog. This vision began when I was younger in my dad’s wedding, I fell in love. I went to college and studied Hospitality Administration with a focus in Event Planning. After spending some time in the Hospitality Industry and truly understanding service I ventured into starting my own business. Planning an Event, especially Weddings can be extremely stressful, time consuming and overwhelming. We step in and allow our clients to enjoy every step of the process. We love to truly get to know our clients and meet their needs. No event is too small, we should always be celebrating ourselves, let us make sure you can show up and just live in the moment!

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

When I first started I was scared. Starting a business is difficult but it’s also scary! When you have a passion for something and you want it to be successful you really have to take a chance on yourself. I had gotten a degree, practiced, planned and done some small events. I decided I was going to start the business, however I still continued to do events for free or next to nothing because I felt like a fraud. It was like how can I be doing this, there are so many people who know more than me, have done more than me, I don’t belong here. This went on for a year of just doubt, tip toeing, and wasting so much time and money. I felt so stressed because I was doing all of the work, clients were happy, but I was seeing none of the rewards. My last event that year my clients and the family gave me raving reviews! They said “You are amazing, you truly aren’t charging enough”. The whole time I felt so good that they appreciated the services but I also felt embarrassed because they were right. They took me more seriously than I had taken myself. That day I knew I had to believe in myself. As scary as it was to jump out on faith, it was scarier to think about where I’d be if I never did. It was a strong pivot for me and I didn’t just “adjust the prices” I decided to invest in myself. I mapped out my goals, what do I truly wanted out of this. I did my research and studied professionals I admired. I got serious about where I wanted to be and everything else fell in line. Am I at my goals yet? No. However, the confidence I have that I will get there is unmatched. I say this to say, starting a business is difficult and scary. However, if you never try, you’ll never know how far you can go. Take a chance on you, believe in you more than anyone else does and just do it!

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

Marketing is not easy! I thought it was just social media post but it is so much more than that. To truly get my company out there I wanted to participate in a Bridal Expo. I had less than $500 in my business account and was hunting for a booking. Many professionals will tell you, it takes money to make money. If I didn’t have any, how was I going to make any! I reached out to the Bridal Expo less than a month away just to find out cost. It was nearly $2,000. I didn’t have it but I knew we needed the exposure. I told my team we were going, no matter what. I tried to get some bookings, put a little down here and there and it was just stacking against me. The night before the due date I didn’t have the final payment. I finally broke down and let everyone know I didn’t have it. To my shock they said “we got you”. Not only did they help book but they also helped get items for us to set up the booth. I learned that day that I had the best team and it’s not a journey alone! We met over 200 people, had over 50 inquires and got so many bookings! You have to put yourself out there, try all forms of marketing and watch the business expand!

Contact Info:

• Website: Leoneevents.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/leone_events
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeoneEvents1

Image Credits
Dangerfield Media Instagram: @dangerfieldmedi