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

Hi KERLINE, thanks for joining us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

It has been said that “self-belief and hard work will always earn you success.” While these words are true, so much more is involved. I think in addition to believing in yourself and putting in the work, one must have the support of family and friends, remain in constant prayer for direction and blessings, and by elevating all necessary skills to increase knowledge by continuing education. Additionally, collaborating and consulting with other professionals and experts in my field helps as well.

My family and friends have been a great support in helping me get my business off the ground. It truly is a blessing to have reliable supporters who really are rooting for you to be successful and are willing to help you reach your goals and vision in any way possible. Loved ones willing to help is really the game changer in reaching success. My husband has been my biggest supporter. Not only does he give emotional support while I’m working long weekends, he pitches in and does a lot of the “heavy lifting” and building. Friends have also physically helped and promoted my business-which I appreciate so much. I am blessed to have such support.

As a woman of God, I firmly believe, “ask not, want not.” I have asked God for help from everything to if I should start a business to praying for a successful event. I remain in constant prayer daily and have seen the positive results of such.

Lastly, I think, to stay successful, even after everything else has been achieved, continuing to hone the necessary skills for my business is an absolute must. I have taken numerous classes and collaborated with the best in the field to elevate my business and offerings for my clients. Keeping abreast of cutting-edge techniques and trends makes for successful events and happy clients-something I am happy to deliver!

KERLINE, 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?

I have been in the event industry for more than 15 years. I love to entertain and to make others happy, so I realized that I could use my natural gifts and launched My Elegant Party. I offer full event design and decor. I help clients plan their vision for parties and events, offer suggestions and help them problem solve through budgeting, venue selection and more. My goal of being the lead event design and decor company in the Metro Detroit area is coming to fruition and my company has expanded to providing event rentals to clients and other event professionals. I am most proud that I have a 5-star client rating and have earned the respect and adoration of my peers and others within the event industry. I am dedicated to the success of my business and have invested in my education as a designer by way of the W.O.W Academy, the Institute of Wedding, and Event Design (IWED), and I completed floral training with the TOP PIC Collective’s floral design intensive. Most recently, I participated in the Tweak Your Biz Conference Revenue Retreat.

I would like my clients to know that I am consistently and constantly elevating my brand to deliver the best for their events. When they invest in my services, they should be confident that I have also invested in my services to deliver cutting-edge elegance for each and every event

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

The best source of new clients for me is from referrals and social media. I get many of my new clients from my former clients referring to their friends and families. I also get new clients from social media. I love social media, more specifically Instagram. I am surprised just how many new clients have contacted me because they saw something from my social media page.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I have grown my page from 700 followers at the beginning of this year to 6500 followers by creating Reels and showing my audience my decor process. They get to see set by step room creations, floral or balloon creations. This process, I believe, has been a great source of new clients! My advice would be: Show your process to your audience. Use time-elapsed videos to show your creations. Don’t be afraid to be in the videos that you post. They love to see the face behind the business. Use trending sounds when creating your Reels and other content. Post stories and have fun.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.myelegantparty.com
• Instagram: @myelegantparty
• Facebook: My Elegant Party and My Elegant Party LLC
• Other: TikTok myelegantparty

Image Credits
Intervol_media