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

Sharon, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Sharon Kim, and I am the owner of “with love, sharon, LLC” based in Los Angeles, California. I am an event designer, planner, and coordinator who specializes in weddings.

I began working on events at church, helping out and serving on event planning teams. I’ve been told that I’m very creative and gifted in admin, but I never really thought too much of it. I honestly just enjoyed decorating and making sure things run well. It eventually led to the opportunity to help friends with their weddings. It was a familiar, yet different experience, and I loved it. I loved hearing the different love stories and witnessing how God brings people together. In fact, I loved it so much that I began to learn how to plan and coordinate events under established wedding planners.

When 2020 arrived with a whirlwind of COVID, I was laid off twice in the span of a year. Because of that, I leaned into my love of events, and started “with love, sharon, LLC” in 2021. I am a big believer that events cannot be just about the logistics and aesthetics (though both are extremely important), it must also be thoughtful and “always designed with love”. For all events I help design and plan, I make it a point to make sure there is something personal and customized to the client. Weddings are still my favorite events to design and plan, and it has become a large part of my consultation meeting with clients to hear their story, and discuss how we can tell it through different aspects of their wedding.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

To be completely honest, I do not recommend anyone to fund their business the way I did. I had nothing but my savings and unemployment benefits, and I was living in the heart of Los Angeles, CA. I needed money, yet I knew I didn’t want to look into finding another job that could likely lay me off in the near future; especially with the uncertainty of the tech industry at the time, I wasn’t sure I could put myself through getting laid off a third time in the span of a year.

I am sure many people would roll their eyes at this, but I prayed. I asked God to bless my business endeavors, took a deep breath, and submitted my payment and paperwork for starting an LLC. From there, I continued to take money out of my savings to pay for a website and insurance.

I worked hard to get my website set up as quickly as possible, so that once my LLC licensing came in, I would be able to start sharing about my services. That process took about two weeks, and from there, I began reaching out on different forums to couples looking for wedding services.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

I think that the best way I’ve seen in growing my clientele is to be kind and hardworking. I have had a lot of clients recommend my services to their friends, simply because they enjoyed working with me. Likewise, other vendors have also reached out to me about their friends’ and family’s needs because they trusted me to take good care of them.

We’d love to hear about a time you helped a customer really get an amazing result through their work with you.

When I was just starting out, I had this one amazing client experience that helped me jumpstart the rest of my business. At the time, I was living off my savings to pay for the essentials, I didn’t have the budget to have fancy ads. Instead, I ended up going through wedding forums on Facebook and Reddit to respond to couples seeking wedding services.

One of the clients that I reached out to happened to be living across the nation in Florida, but wanted to host a wedding in California for family. I was personally very touched by how the couple wanted to share their marriage and wedding with loved ones, despite the obstacle of distance. Their vision was very clear: they wanted to share about God’s goodness in their lives and marriage, especially to the family members who were not yet believers. It aligned so well with why I began working in the wedding industry, so I knew that I wanted to be a part of making their vision come to life. Due to their distance from their venue, it meant I had to be extra diligent in helping make sure everything was “right”, from venue accommodations to florals, food tasting, photography and videography, decor pieces, coordinating with the pastor, and translating for family members; I was able to help my couple make sure it was all set for their arrival.

To be completely honest, I didn’t really earn much money for this wedding. The couple already had a wedding in Florida, so I worked with them to make sure they stayed within their projected budget for their wedding in California. I was just starting out at the time and didn’t have a very big portfolio, so I was more than willing to give them a large discount. The venue itself was about 60 miles away from where I lived (during a time when gas prices peaked at around $7), and I drove multiple times to the venue site to help make sure the planning process was going well. I also purchased a lot of things for the couple, so that they could have decorations for their special day. That being said, I think what I earned was far greater.

Firstly, I earned a friend and an advocate. Even months after the wedding, I saw the bride on Facebook forums telling other couples that she had a fantastic experience with me, and to reach out. And even beyond getting referrals and building up my portfolio, this wedding helped me build and structure my business. Because this wedding built up my inventory so much, I was able to start renting items out to my couples as another source of revenue. Also, because the venue did not provide as much florals as the couple hoped, I also got to learn more about flowers and how to build floral pieces. I am definitely not a professional by any measure, but I was able to begin offering my amateur services as a budget option for my couples who wouldn’t be able to afford florals otherwise.

I honestly couldn’t have built out my business the way it has been if it weren’t for this one Facebook comment that led to an unlikely client from Florida. I love that I was able to do what I love to help someone, and that in turn, they have been such a blessing to my business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.withlovesharon.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/withlove.sharon

Image Credits
Christine Li Photography