We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Hailey Mignone a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hailey, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

When I first sat down and decided to start my own business, I knew I had to come up with a business name. I wanted my business name to be something easy to remember and also make sense with what the business does. When thinking about the business – being an event bartender, I thought, why not play word shuffle on the words bartender and event. Instead of being “The Event Bartender” I thought to myself, “The EventTender”…. Snap! There it was. I loved it. It made sense & I never heard of it! I looked it up, it hadn’t been used before… until now. Now I am, The EventTender. Your favorite event bartender! 🥂

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.

For those who have not heard of The EventTender yet, we do event and wedding bartending. As of right now, I provide bartending service, extra bartenders (if needed), bar and grocery list planning, my own bar tools, as well as a laminated bar menu that I bring with me the day of the event. I decided to start my business after I graduated Austin Peay State University with my degree in business and psychology (2022). I also have years of experience working as a bartender in the restaurant industry. Once I had my daughter and began to think about going back to work, all I could think about was how much I missed what I love doing… bartending!
I knew with my education and background, the goal of starting this business was very realistic for me. I just had to believe in myself and press the green light to make it happen!
The first year of being in business as The EventTender has been much more successful than I had expected.
I feel that what sets The EventTender apart from others with same service is that I provide a personalized experience to each of my clients. Reaching all their needs and expectations, to the best of my ability.
I want my clients and followers to know that when you choose The EventTender to take care of your bar needs on your special day, you will not be disappointed! I take pride in my service and make sure that all my clients are satisfied.
As a fellow bride-to-be, I can completely understand the stress of planning an event and wedding. I try to help eliminate that stress for my clients and make the day a breeze with a deliciously shaken up drink and no mess to clean up after!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Building your audience on social media can be a very intimidating goal. When you begin to announce yourself and your business on social media, you want to find those other like-minded people that will help build you. When I started, I started on Facebook. Facebook for me is really how I got out there. I joined many different groups, like “everything wedding middle TN”, “girl with a business”, and several other groups with like-minded people who I can relate to, learn from, network with, or offer my service to!
You have to be active on your socials and try to post often so others will see your consistency.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

When I started out creating my business and building my clients trust, It was definitely a rollercoaster of emotions. Some days you feel so proud and see your business growing yet other days you get knocked down by the hidden costs and cancellations. I realized to get serious, I was going to have to get insurance for my business because as a business owner, you need to be covered! I, especially serving alcohol, needed that. When I checked into it the cost was much higher than expected. I was unsure in that moment if I would profit enough to even pay for this insurance every month, but I did it. I took a risk, accepted the agreement to pay for it and just prayed my business would become successful enough.
Well, as I worked hard and put myself out there, I booked nearly triple of what I expected in my first year of business and am now booking into my second year!
I believed in myself and my skill while learning from all the bumps that came up and continue to arise in my journey as a business owner.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/the_eventtender?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086515113862&mibextid=LQQJ4d