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How To Start An Event Decoration Business In Nigeria: Guide To Success In Events Decorating Business

GUIDE TO STARTING A SUCCESSFUL EVENT DECORATING BUSINESS IN NIGERIA
Events decoration is one of the best and most lucrative businesses to go into because there is a huge demand for decoration services but only very few people have training to do it. This is a line of work that even graduates can go into to earn a living because there is high demand for it year round. However, like any other business, it requires a lot of strategizing, planning, training and wisdom to do. Many people go into the business without proper information and crash before they actually start to gain from it. In this day and time when youths are not employed, going into business is a great way to be independent and events decoration is one of the businesses that can earn you a full time living. In order to succeed in this business, you need proper guidance so in this article, we will discuss decoration as a business, how it works, the requirements and how to start a thriving and successful events decoration business in Nigeria.
Steps to success in events decoration business in Nigeria
Get required training
Events planning like any other business requires knowledge of how to do decorations with your hands. You may have a natural ability to decorate and be fond of it but you need professional training to fine tune those skills. Such training can be done by working alongside people who are established in the business and have more experience than you. By working with them and assisting, you will get to learn and become better at doing decorations in your own unique style so that you stand out. You may also want to go to a decoration school. Even if it doesn’t add anything to your skills, the certificate you obtain will be evidence that you have undergone proper training and clients will be more comfortable working with you.
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Be an expert
There are many types of events decoration and each one presents its own challenges. They are birthday decoration, wedding decoration, conference decoration, corporate decoration etc. pick one of them and learn to master it so that you will become a professional in the area. Clients are more comfortable dealing with an expert in a particular field than dealing with a general decorator. Between an expert in cancer treatment and a general doctor who do you think a cancer patient will be more comfortable with? Of course the expert. Therefore choose one field and master it so that you will be a consultant in that area and you will have a much higher chance of being successful.
Develop a business plan
After you have acquired necessary skills and become an expert, it is time to establish your business. But the first step in establishing your own business is to develop a business plan. A business plan is a written plan on the details of your business including how you intend to start the business, where to site it, how to raise capital and how you intend to profit from it. If these things are not well thought out then chances are the business will not succeed therefore it is important to have a business plan. You may contact professional business plan writers for their service to make sure you get it right.
Get your capital
Every business requires capital although the cost of starting an event planning business is quite low. On the average you will need a maximum of #400,000 to get started but you don’t need to buy everything from day one so you will need much less. Get your capital that you intend to use for the business so that you can start buying materials and also rent an office if your budget permits that. You can start without an office or start in someone’s office or just keep your stuff at home. Eventually you will have enough money to get a place of your own. So get your capital form wherever you plan to get it from. It could be a bank, a cooperative or your savings for the project.
Buy your materials
Once you have obtained your capital, it is time to buy the stuff you will need for work. For a start you should have your decoration fabrics and tools you will need like scissors, tapes, stakes etc. Start with the basic things a decorator must have and work your way up from there. You will eventually be able to buy every tiny little thing and improve the quality of you service.
Employ staff
Events decoration can be quite laborious so you are going to need help, not only from paid staff but you can have apprentices as well to work with you. This will go a long way to reduce your stress as you will be giving instructions on what to do mostly. Whenever there is work for you to do you will inform them ahead of time so that they can participate in the whole process and eventually you can leave the whole work to them and go for another and you will be able to take two jobs in one day since your team can handle the decoration without you around. This is how you will eventually expand your network and continue to grow and attract more clients. Look for some really dedicated people and employ them to help you.
Establish an identity
For you to get clients, you need to have evidence of work you have done before. This is the first thing they will ask for-samples! Therefore it is necessary to have sample for your clients. How do you do that? Render free services at events of friends and family just to be able to use it as a reference. This is important because if your work is good, guests will see it and approach you on their own without invitation and for those who have not seen your work but you were recommended to them, have pictures of your previous decorations to show them as evidence that you have done the work before. This will make them more comfortable and allow them to see your style and possibly choose from one of the decorations in the past. Make sure you do this otherwise clients will think you don’t have any experience. You may also show them your professional certificate from a decoration school which will add greatly to your chance of succeeding.
Get clients through networks
Now that you have evidence of previous work and have established an identity, a portfolio, it is time to start making some money. Your first clients will probably come from recommendations of other people who work in the events industry. These should be people who are established and well known in their areas of expertise. When such people recommend you the clients will quickly work with you so it is important to establish vital professional relationships that will help to sell you. Do not work in isolation because this will slow you down. The more connections you have the better so meet as many key people in the industry as you can and show them what you can do. You will be surprised how much they can contribute to your success.
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Market your business
You have skills, have previous experience and important relationships to help you get clients. Another way to get clients is through marketing. Thank God for social media such a Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You should create a Facebook page for your business and encourage people to like it. All those pictures from the voluntary service you rendered, put them there and people visiting the page will see them. If they like your work, they will contact you and ask you to decorate at their events. Social media is one of the best ways to market and advertise these days so use it well to your success.
How Lucrative Is Event Decoration Business In Nigeria
You can earn huge money from events decoration, all it takes is style and quality. Most events decorators earn millions in a year depending on their connections, quality of work and popularity. There is actually no limit to your earnings only factors such as number of jobs you get. With hard work and dedication, you can start earning a lot in a short time so do everything necessary to make you known and patronized.
Possible challenges
Like any other business, events decoration will definitely have some challenges such as uncertainty of clients demands, high competition especially if you are starting from scratch, lack of money to buy decoration materials when needed and clients can only make full payments after the project is completed. Therefore it is important to have alternative sources of income to back you up because that is how the business is ran.
Events decoration just like any other business needs time to grow. The earning potential also grows with time so if it seems the business is taking too long to reward you, do not be discouraged because everyone even the big shots in the business went through that stage but they made it eventually and your case will not be different. You will need to be very determined to succeed and keep pressing on without giving up to really start to enjoy the fruit of your labour. I hope this article helps and I wish you good luck with setting up your business.

Oyebade Bukola
May 14, 2019 at 6:57 PM
Very educative thank you
AmakA
March 6, 2020 at 1:59 AM
Thanks for the advice
Nwankwo patience
April 23, 2020 at 12:46 PM
Very encouraging and educating, thanks for the tips.
Faith Peters
September 28, 2022 at 12:31 PM
Very enlightening. Thank you