We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kaushay Ford a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Kaushay, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How do you think about vacations as a business owner? Do you take them and if so, how? If you don’t, why not?
Yes, and no! I’ve found that since starting a business, I take a lot of trips, but not necessarily vacations. It’s very unlikely that I’m truly unplugging from work when I’m on trips. My husband and I try to travel internationally at least once per year and domestically two to three times to see family and be tourists! But, I’ve never truly taken a vacation where I wasn’t still working.
I remember being in London in 2019 when I was working for an events venue and setting aside 2-3 hours every night to respond to emails even though I had taken PTO hours for the duration of the trip. Even as the owner of my business now, when I traveled to Dubai last summer for a vacation, I remember being on calls at 2:00AM Dubai time in order to be on inquiry calls with clients.
So, do I travel? Do I take trips? Absolutely! But do I really take vacations, no; there always seems to be a bit of work that can’t be fully set aside.
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
I am the owner of a wedding and event planning company, Kaushay & Co. Events! I’d been working in the events industry for about 7 years when I felt that it was time to start planning weddings and events under my own brand instead of working for someone else. That realization came in 2021 when we were still in the midst of the pandemic, and it was really scary, but after taking some time off, I made the jump!
As a company, we plan and design all sorts of events from weddings to corporate galas to non-profit fundraising and more! We’re able to take someones initial vision and build on it to create beautiful and enjoyable events for couples, families, and companies.
As event planners, a lot of what we do is problem solving! Sometimes that looks like finding a creative solution to present something new during the planning process and other times it looks like fixing something in a pinch on event day. As a company though, we’ve been told time and time again by our clients that they are impressed with our ability to pivot when needed and the way we keep a calm demeanor when unexpected problems arise. Of all the things that we do, knowing that we’re able to provide that level of service is something I’m very proud of.
Any advice for managing a team?
When I started Kaushay & Co. Events, I knew that I didn’t want to do the solopreneur thing and that I really wanted to build a team. Right now, our team consists of myself and 7 others. My team helps with event planning, social media, and blogging and they are truly incredible.
For me, managing a team really comes down to three things: setting clear expectations, open communication, and building a community. When we set clear expectations, it helps everybody to have a benchmark of what is expected. It makes it much easier to make corrections and it makes it easier to reward people for their successes. Ultimately, I would say, it take the ambiguity out of what success looks like. Having open communication is really helpful too because it provides for constructive feedback from the boss to employees and the other way around.
Lastly, and for me this really speaks to maintaining high morale, building a community with your team is so important. Our team works entirely remote, so we have meetings twice a month that focus on training, but allow us all to get to learn more about how we work together professionally. Additionally, we plan company gatherings for 3 – 4 times a year that are meant to be more fun and less work-related. As a boss, I feel its my responsibility to provide the opportunities to build a work community and then let the team dictate what that looks like.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
I think a lot of people don’t realize that being an event planner can be so creative! For me, it isn’t just about planning, I’m also designing entire events from the ground up and building props and designing stationery to really create an experience and not just plan an event.
And for me that’s the most rewarding part of being a creative. Getting to see the smiles on people’s faces when they see our work; seeing a few sketches and photo collages turn into an experience that hundreds of people get to be a part of is incredible. That feeling is completely unmatched.
So, I guess the rewarding part to me is less about creating things and more about creating moments. If something that I’ve created or designed can lead to a beautiful moment that people will remember forever, that’s what makes it so rewarding.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kaushay.co/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kaushay.co/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kaushay.co
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/kaushay-and-company-events-lehi?osq=Kaushay
Image Credits
Lauren Zufelt Photography, Jackie Siggard Photo Video, Shay Martin Photo Film, Cecilia Harvard Photography, Trevor Christensen, Branson Maxwell Photography