By Diana Rowe
If you have visions of becoming an independent meeting and event planner, we have good news for you. Enterprising, savvy planners have been making lemonade out of lemons for years by choosing to go the independent route. During the last decade, the aftereffects of corporate downsizing and restructuring, mergers and acquisitions have left the door wide open for ingenious planners to capture new business that corporations can’t manage on their own nowadays.
Working for yourself carries its own allure: a home office, choosing your own clients, making your own schedule, calling your own shots. If you take the plunge of owning your business, you’ll be in good company. According to 2003 U.S. Census figures, nearly 40,000,000 U.S. residents were either self employed or worked for businesses with fewer than 20 employees during the report year, and non-employer firms were growing faster than firms that had employees. But is owning an independent meeting and event planning business right for you?
Five independent planners tell it like it is: the good, the bad, and the unpleasant — what it takes to own and operate a successful independent meeting and event planning business, including the pros and cons of taking the plunge.
Should I Or Shouldn’t I?
Marilyn J. Hauck, CMP, took the plunge in 1979 as president of The Complete Conference Inc., a Sacramento, CA-based independent meeting planning company. “I’ve seen a lot of meeting planners and wannabees and I can count on one hand those who should own their own business. Many of them love meeting planning, but don’t always consider the business aspects of owning their own independent planning 
company. You have to be a special kind of person to switch back and forth from event planning to budget crunching, she said.
Hauck, who is an instructor for California State University’s meeting planning certification program, continued, “I caution anyone who expresses an interest in the independent planning industry to first do their research. Get a sense of your passion and purpose, how you want to be spending your time. If you’re visualizing the logistics of planning meetings across the country, and instead end up with personnel issues in your lap, then perhaps independent planning might not be meeting your personal or professional objectives.”
Hauck admonishes her students to stay focused. “Too many planners take what business they can get, stretching themselves into arenas that may not showcase their best talents such as when your forte is corporate incentive meetings and you’re asked to run a trade show — two totally different ball games. This is especially difficult to resist when you’re first starting out and trying to build revenue.”
Hauck agrees that it’s difficult to stay perfectly focused, but the payoff is ultimately worth it. “I stayed focused on our conference niche, and each year of our 25 in business, our company grows with new and existing clients,” she noted. “Plus, we’ve been able to expand existing services. It’s all about being strategically smart and concentrating on your strengths.”
Sacrifice Or Reward?
Audra Neurauter from Castle Rock, CO, recently dipped her toes into independent meeting planning for two Denver, CO-based companies — Qwest Communications International Inc. and Smart-Girl. For nearly 10 years, Audra was a successful corporate meeting planner, but when a company-wide downsizing pulled the rug out from under her, she decided to go it alone. A call from her former employer Qwest expedited her venture into independent status.
“I’ve been very fortunate,” explained Neurauter. “I wouldn’t recommend my path to anyone because there are way too many bumps in the road, but being an independent planner definitely has its perks. After doing my time in the corporate world, I really appreciate the benefits of owning my own business, such as managing my own schedule, the financial rewards and flexibility. With a young daughter, it’s especially rewarding to 
have a home office, rather than fighting the rush-hour traffic. I’ve always enjoyed traveling, so the ability to travel to my meeting destinations each time allows me to also see more of the world.”
However, Neurauter said planners desiring their own business are better off not waiting for the axe to fall. “If I had known I was heading toward unemployment, I would have researched and planned more extensively. Research, research, research. Know your market and know your scope and capabilities. Most of all though, make sure this is your passion,” Neurauter advised.
Neurauter recommended that planners maximize every communication and every meeting. “Investing time in meeting new contacts and networking can help propel you at the most interesting and unprepared times. Surround yourself with the right group of individuals — those who are helpful, knowledgeable and challenge you in a positive manner.
“Independent meeting planning is a true solutions-based sell,” Neurauter explained. “Successful independents are fully listening to the customer, comprehending the needs and putting together a timely resolution or meeting that is best for the customer. This IS the art of the job. An independent planner doesn’t just put together the perfect event. We have to understand what the goals and differences are between one client and another or one event and another.
“The dedication, the time and money, and of course, the commitment will be trying,” acknowledged Neurauter. “In the end, if you love what you do, your own meeting planning business won’t be a sacrifice but a reward.”
Leap Of Faith
Some planners, such as Jennifer Arends, CEO of the Minnetonka, MN-based Triad Conferences Inc., embark on a proactive path when faced with corporate downsizing. “As corporate planner for Lawson Software (St. Paul, MN), I had always secretly wanted to own my own business,” said Arends. “In 2000 when many software companies were only surviving by restructuring, I knew this was the perfect opportunity. With support from Lawson’s son (vice president of marketing), we presented the plan to the board utilizing their current meeting budget to 100 percent outsource their meeting department to us. It was a leap of faith, and after sitting at my desk for just 30 minutes, the board’s response came back — a resounding yes! We were off and running as Triad Conferences Inc., but the only catch was we had to be out by the end of the corporate fiscal year, just two weeks away.”
Arends said she had no idea that her typically hectic work week would escalate into barely time to eat and sleep. “Within two weeks, we did all those things most new business owners take years to plan from creating a business plan to securing our first client to opening bank accounts. That was seven years ago 
when I walked out of the board meeting with my first client taking the current meeting department’s staff with us, and now we have a dozen plus contracts with up to 30 employees.”
With that many employees, making payroll is constantly on Arend’s mind. “Even though Triad continues to progressively increase its client base, my employees and their families count on me for their well-being. Now that we’ve grown, I have to consider the bigger financial picture in every decision I make,” she said.
“The ability to be selective about who we take on as a client,” said Arends, “is one of the perks to this business. When I was a corporate meeting planner, I had no choice and no input to, for example, arrange a meeting for 60 with all PowerPoint presentations. Now if a job doesn’t interest me, I don’t have to take it. Instead I focus on building long-term clients, and relish the thought that when we chose them, they also chose us. I’m able to participate in a variety of projects from conferences to incentives trips, and I love being able to travel.”
On the flip side, Arends hinted that it’s not all roses and smooth sailing. “Up front, independent planners should expect to log in an extraordinary amount of time to get the business up and running. The hardest thing for me was not being home for my family when they needed me. In fact, I kept a pillow and blanket in my office and frequently took my cell phone to bed with me. An independent planning business is just that — a business. As glamorous as it might look, it is a detail-oriented job that requires a lot of passion for the meeting industry, and will result in sore feet from pounding the pavement and walking the hotels and conference centers,” she concluded.
The Pros And Cons Of Family-Owned
Scott Andryk is the executive vice president of client services for the Caledonia, WI-based Meetings & Incentives, a family-owned business that was founded in 1967.
“The biggest challenge we faced from the beginning was trying to be everything to everybody,” related Andryk. “Initially, we handled everything including retail and leisure business, and expanded to all facets of travel including corporate day-to-day travel. After many years of trying to compete with everybody, we felt that we wanted more opportunities to differentiate ourselves and our services, so we sold all other aspects of the business, except for the meeting division and started over in the early ’90s with fewer than 10 employees who exclusively handled meeting and incentive travel.”
Andryk noted that another challenge was dealing with the perceptions concerning a family-owned business. “When our family roots are discovered, many large corporations immediately assume we’re small, and might be incapable of handling Fortune 500 companies’ meetings or events. Yes, we are family-owned, small by some standards with just under 100 employees, so we had to prove that we were more than capable of handling their business on each and every event. When we’re given the opportunity we know we can deliver, and the proof is in the retention of our impressive client list over the years, which includes many leading Fortune 500s.”
Andryk added that a benefit of working for a family-owned company is that planners have a feeling of independence and the benefit of familial support. “Our family-based culture helps us retain employees and 
customers at a rate unheard of in this industry. For example, Jean (Neider) might be president of our company, but when there’s work to be done, she’s flying around the ballroom helping to refresh it with the rest of the employees. We all have a vested interested in our business, and we all love what we do.”
The hardships in a family-owned independent planning business are no different from going it alone, Andryk explained. “Long hours, wearing many hats, and trying to distance the office from the family life. Yes, the latter is sometimes difficult to do at family reunions, but we’ve also discovered that the family culture extends itself into our company. Our employees stay because we understand the importance of family. This also carries over to our customers whom we service differently and more personally than corporate America. We don’t have to wait for shareholders, stockholders or a board of directors to make important decisions in our day-to-day operations. We can always do what’s in the best interest of that customer — without exception.”
Andryk’s final caveat: Don’t burn any bridges. “The longer you’ve been in the business, the more you appreciate relationships. We are successful because we appreciate how important each person is (or might be) to our business,” he said.
Difficult Decisions Ahead
Jody Wallace is president and CEO of the Brielle, NJ-based EMC Meeting Solutions, a full-service meeting management company. Wallace, who has a solid background in hotel operations and conference center sales and marketing, forewarned that the hardest part of starting your own business is leaving the security of the corporate world. “Even when I anticipated technology changing the role of the meeting planning department,” recalled Wallace, “it was a difficult decision to leave the steady paycheck, paid vacation and benefits. Yet I knew with a child on the way, I could no longer do the rush-hour drive and 12-hour days away from my family.”
Sometimes circumstances beyond one’s control come into play. The debut of Wallace’s company in 2001 was interrupted by 9/11. “It was a tragic time for everyone,” said Wallace, “and honestly, we didn’t have time to think of the impact on our business. Our first concern is, and always will be, our client. We just wanted to make everything was as right as possible, as did hundreds of other independent and corporate meeting planners during that tragic event.”
Without the encouragement of her partner, Wallace said that might have been the end of her journey in the independent planning business. However, her partner continued to back her and their company, so they moved forward. What did she learn? “That having your own business is as risky as it is satisfying,” said Wallace. “The more people told me that this wasn’t a good idea, the more energized I became. Even when I’m competing against the big boys, initially it’s quite intimidating, but I plug my way through, spend the extra time to personalize the presentation, and then make it the best possible presentation.
“When I am awarded the contract over some of the bigger third-party companies,” continued Wallace, “the risk is definitely worth the reward. Yes, I’ve given up some corporate benefits like uninterrupted vacations and steady paychecks, but the personal self-satisfaction I get each time I wrap up an event or a meeting is thousands of times better than anything I’ve ever experienced previously because now I’m doing it for my own company.”
Relationship Building
A good working relationship is vital between an independent planner and the client.
“We signed on with Jody Wallace at EMC Meeting Solutions as her first client,” said Susie Anderson, director of operations services at Turner Construction Company’s Orlando, FL, office. Turner Construction is the nation’s leading general builder with a nationwide network of offices and more than 5,500 employees. Anderson is one of five Turner employees strategically placed throughout the U.S., and all five utilize EMC Meeting Solutions to manage more than 175 meetings, which include between 12 and 100 attendees.
Anderson explained why they hired an independent meeting planner: “We spent far too much time nailing down meeting locations and venues. For example, we might need a program in Seattle, but we aren’t located there. After we did our research, that meant we still had to do our homework: travel to Seattle, do site inspections, meet vendors, negotiate contracts, etc. It was simply taking too much of our time especially considering our background wasn’t meeting planning (although we learned quickly). We preferred to make better use of our time and focus on the content of our corporate training meetings rather than the logistics of meeting planning.
“Enter Jody Wallace and EMC,” said Anderson. “Jody brought to our business relationship her extensive knowledge, experience and connections in the meeting industry. She knew what we needed to make our meetings successful, and she shared her expertise with us magically creating the perfect meeting each time, so we didn’t have to waste our time on the little details — making sure there was water on the table or the room temperature was comfortable. Of course, it takes awhile to develop that relationship, but once you feel comfortable and confident with your independent planner, the wait is worth it.
“Since EMC has assumed the planning of all our meetings,” said Anderson, “I walk into the hotel, confident that all the little details are in place. This confidence allows me to focus on the training, the core of my job, and I let the professional meeting planner do her job.” C&IT