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

Olivia, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

Success takes pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone.

You don’t walk into success – it comes from making conscious decisions that will make you uncomfortable, sometimes unhappy for a time and discontent with not knowing what the future holds. A quote I look at every day is this: Personal growth lies within the unknown, courage permits you to explore this space.

It can be overwhelming to walk into a space as an event producer and know that you will be navigating the day of sometimes over 200 people, surrounded by high stress and big emotions. This thought used to intimidate me until I began to reminded myself that that feeling of discomfort will only improve my confidence and skills to become more honed in everytime. I have to choose not to back down from situations that daunt me and I have found that has pushed me further in my career.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am the owner and lead producer of Olivia Jeane Creative, an event planning company in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

I have worked in the event planning industry for eight years and started my own business over the past three years.

My focus is to process ideas and visions from my clients and execute them for their event day. Olivia Jeane Creative really prioritizes a personal touch to each event – we get to know our clients and create friendships where clients can lean on us for not only coordination and design of their event, but consulting on all aspects they encounter.

We also enjoy making connections between vendors and our clients – we make personalized referrals based upon our clients values, wishes and overall vibe.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I’ve gained a lot of clients through word of mouth and highlighting reviews from past clients. My personal touch of taking the time to learn more about my client’s personal lives creates a stronger foundation where my clients feel like they are working with and being directed by a good friend.

I think this extra step really solidifies clients confidence with our brand and services.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

It’s really important to stay organized with your thoughts and to stay calm. Event planning is simply project management for a live event – project management being something that is applicable in so many different businesses. For any successful project, you need to know how to delegate in a clear way and know who to delegate tasks to based on strengths and weaknesses.

If team members feel the confidence in themselves utilizing their own skillset, morale will be higher.

Contact Info:

• Website: oliviajeanecreative.com
• Instagram: @oliviajeanecreative
• Linkedin: Olivia Chadwick

Image Credits
Nicole Haley Photography, Kari Paine Photography, Lola Grace Photography