We were lucky to catch up with Bettina Benizri recently and have shared our conversation below.
Bettina, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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?
This is an interesting topic that’s a lot more diverse than many can imagine. It’s not as simple as a yes or no question and it’s something that is hard to describe if you’re not a business owner but i’ll try to do my very best starting from the beginning.
The generation I was born into had a little bit of a different ideology behind the modern day “career choice.” We had a small pool of “successful” career paths to pick from and we all felt a little push into a direction that would not necessarily fit our ideal life choice but most of us followed those paths anyway thinking it would lead to immediate riches.
As we grew older, these riches weren’t appearing because the main careers forced upon us had too many applicants and not enough jobs because of course everyone was applying for the same job. Luckily, at the same time, the internet was expanding and becoming a huge source of knowledge, especially the “how to” sections online. We all quickly realized that there are a lot more entrepreneurship opportunities with the rise of the internet especially for those not finding their way in the 9-5 office environment. I was one of those people.
Working in an office environment every single day was not feeling like a right fit for me. There would be days that I wouldn’t see the sun at all because my office didn’t have any windows and I had to arrive so early that the sun was not out yet. So I started researching other job opportunities that would lead a lifestyle that I chose to live.
I started off working in the DJ/Entertainment industry assisting a start up company. I assisted with working on its business development, procuring venue relations, and securing sales during the week while working every weekend with every wedding planner that would allow me to assist with their wedding days. With countless hours on the internet and years of hard work, I started a business that quickly grew as my presence grew on social media.
In the beginning of Busy Bee’s Events, I took on every single wedding by myself and made sure every one of my clients were so happy that it didn’t matter the cost. It didn’t matter the countless holidays, birthdays, weekends I missed, it didn’t matter that my life revolved around work, all that mattered was ensuring my clients happiness as I built my business.
After almost seven years, I am proud to admit that we have over six full time employees and fourteen part time employees! Busy Bee’s Events plans multiple weddings over the weekends, ensuring every single one of them is taken care of by one of our amazing Busy Bee Wedding Planners.
As I tell all of my Busy Bee clients, I have literally dedicated my life to this business (think actual blood, sweat, and tears) and I would never promote a Busy Bee planner to plan a Busy Bee wedding unless I am one hundred percent confident of their planning abilities. And honestly, one of my happiest moments of being a business owner, is being part of the incredible journey of training amazing individuals into becoming incredible wedding planners. That is something that I truly cherish.
BUT just like they say, with success comes sacrifices and A LOT of sacrifices had to be made in order to be here today as a successful business owner. I’ve traded the 9-5 job to a 8am to 2am lifestyle. There isn’t a such thing as a “weekend” and during season, we’re lucky if we have just ONE day off. Building boundaries is essential as a business owner but in the beginning of a business, especially in the wedding industry, a lot of the work is based on pure emotions and circumstances. And sometimes the mix of the two creates huge problems that we can only fix if we act right away to fix them and it’s usually on our days off.
The question is, am I happy as a business owner? The answer is yes but it does come with a cost. A lot of people really want to get into this industry because they saw a movie or two and it looks “fun.” And it is “fun” but it’s also very serious with very small details that CANNOT be missed. A lot of people don’t realize what it truly takes to be part of this wedding world but honestly once you’re in it and you understand all of the aspects, then it is truly magical.
And another amazing part of being a business owner, is the constant need to grow the business, which is the most exciting part (at least for myself). For example, Busy Bee’s Events quickly booked up every weekend this year and next, which is great but I really wanted to still help those I couldn’t technically book, but how?
I started off with my Instagram segment #trafficjamtuesdays where I give free advice every week on my social to those wedding couples that need assistance and it’s been a huge hit! I get messages all of the time about how it’s been so helpful and how they would not have known this information otherwise. So then I was wondering what more can I do?
Currently, I am finalizing my ebook that will be the first in the wedding industry to launch! It’s purpose is to help those starting to plan their wedding and guide those who are searching for answers that are pretty misleading on the internet. This ebook will be the first of its kind in this industry and it’s not meant to replace a wedding planner but rather educate those who are trying to plan their wedding. Unfortunately there isn’t a “wedding police” to monitor wedding information online so there are a lot of wedding traps that are very common for wedding couples to fall into. This eventually leads into great distress, especially for the wedding budget. Thus why I felt the need to help in more ways than one, que this ebook!! If you’d like to learn more information, please check out our website
www.busybeesevents.com
In conclusion, despite all of the consistent ups and downs of a solo-preneur, my career path as a business owner has been so much more fulfilling than I could ever imagine. Building a company from the ground up has been truly an adventure and I cannot wait for the future!!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
My name is Bettina Benizri and I am a full service wedding and event planner located in South Florida. In the beginning of my journey, I started a full service wedding planning agency that specialized in treating each wedding and event as if it was our own. We make planning events easy as we are part of the process every step of the way. What separates us from the rest is that we not only provide a planner, we also provide: a personal shopper, a negotiator, an organizer, an accountant, a budget analyst, and even a friend all wonderfully wrapped into one event planner.
And over the years, as Busy Bee’s grew in popularity, my entrepreneur soul wanted to get involved with more opportunities and so I decided to partner in a bar/lounge located in Fort Lauderdale, called The Hub Spark. Being part of a team that owns a bar is truly a journey especially when COVID-19 impacted our sales but to see us flourish after such hard times has truly been an amazing opportunity to be a part of. Over the pandemic, I also assisted opening other businesses that range from e-commerce to curated Farmers Markets. Truly the world is our oyster and we can honestly be part of anything we dream of.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
When the pandemic hit, I felt like the world just stopped. Everyone stopped what they were doing and stayed home wondering when will this mania end. All industries were affected by the pandemic but the hospitality industry was especially affected. Hotels were one of the first businesses to furlough a majority of their employees that included people who worked there for over 30 years. Couples planning their weddings completely stopped what they were doing and wanted to postpone their wedding 2-3 times. Corporations cancelled all of their corporate events in efforts to keep everyone safe. Busy Bee’s Events had over forty two postponements which of course was completely understandable as there was a pandemic and everyone had to be safe but it was a huge hit on the business.
I was stuck and not knowing what to do as the event world was inevitably on pause so I pivoted. I created micro wedding packages that included streaming services. I started another business focused on e-commerce. I did everything I could do to keep my mind off of worries of the world and staying at home being safe. I worked on building my social media and building my brand. No matter what’s going on with the world, we have to keep moving forward and still look at what is the next step and to me, that was working on things that I could not work on during wedding season.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
Always, always, always prioritize your team first. I always try to speak to each of my team members and always ask for honesty. When a team member is struggling with something, I always try to speak to them about explain things through. It is so important to me to have an open stream of communication and making sure you’re team is aligned with the business goals.
Contact Info:
- Website: Busy Bee’s Events
- Instagram: @busybeesevents
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/busybeesevents/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/busybeesevents
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/busy_bee_we
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnKOJ9xDC9v02t6IaAFF9nQ
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/busy-bees-events-boca-raton
Image Credits
Starfish Studios Photography – http://www.starfishstudiosfl.com/ Masson Liang Photography – https://www.massonliang.com/ Evan R Photographer – https://evanrphotography.com/ Emily Harris Photography – http://www.intimatebridalportraits.com/