When I started my first business in the event industry back in 2004, one of my biggest goals was to “create an expression of who my couples were.” Looking back at my invitation design firm, I am still proud of the moments when my clients saw their invitations and exclaimed, “You totally got us!” It is an incredible feeling to translate a person’s vision or personality into a tangible visual representation, especially when it is connected to a celebration or milestone. I loved working closely with my clients (and their planners) to make unique stationery that set the tone and added richness, personality, and depth to their events.
But I’ve got to be honest with you— that incredible feeling and love for my work alone did not pay the bills. And sadly, that is the case for many creatives who work in the event industry. They work hard (often too hard) but don’t have a lot to show for it. Not because they are bad at their craft— they may be the best florist in their region or the greatest musician for miles. Unfortunately, however, excellence does not always go hand-in-hand with profitability.
When you’re creating one-of-a-kind art for events, there aren’t a lot of margins. There isn’t room for do-overs. You don’t have the time onsite or the extra money lying around to experiment. You’ve got to deliver your best and do whatever it takes to make it work in the moment. Even if you’re servicing a luxury clientele, profit margins can be razor thin. No matter how amazing you are at making beautiful celebrations, financial success for event industry creative pros is the brass ring.
Enter the Event Rental Business.
While other businesses in our industry struggle to profit from their creative endeavors, Event Rental Businesses have some marked advantages in the space.
Inventory is An Asset, Not a Liability
As an Event Rental Business, when you purchase Items to rent in your collection, you get to hold on to them. Your inventory is rented again and again. Each time you rent out pieces of your collection, you bring in more revenue. For other pros like florists or planners, purchasing Items for an event might only be a liability. They may purchase a floral arch or flatware for a particular client and intend to use it again for a future event, but often end up storing those items indefinitely without profit. As a Rental Business, those specific, client-requested purchases won’t collect dust on a shelf, but may add revenue and value to your collection.
Additionally, as a Rental Business, even when Items are no longer useful in your collection, you can often sell them or donate them for a charitable write-off.
Unlimited Potential to Scale
While a wedding planner or photographer can only service one wedding at a time (unless they hire associates), your rentals can be in more than one place at a time. Depending on the scope and breadth of your collection, you aren’t limited to only working one event each weekend. With an Event Rental Business, you can serve five, ten, twenty, or even more events simultaneously. Your pieces make you money. No matter how they got to the event (delivery, will-call, third party, etc.), your rentals are generating revenue for you.
Not only can your pieces make money for you all over town at once; they also make money without you personally being involved. Every ongoing aspect of an Event Rental Business can be performed by employees. Delivery Crew, Salespeople, and event On-site Stylists can be hired. Because your pieces don’t require you personally to handle them, you can even run an Event Rental Business remotely or over multiple locations.
Event Rental Businesses are more scalable than any other specialty in the event industry.
Not Solely Dependent on Your Creative Energy
A common challenge creative pros in the event industry face is the ability to produce consistent work. Whether they have trouble training staff members to duplicate their particular style or artistic eye, or just get burned out themselves, making dependable art week-in and week-out over years is difficult.
However, with an Event Rental Business, your creativity gets to continue to make you money over longer stretches of time. You can concentrate on curating and intentionally buying just the right pieces for your collection. Once you’ve painstakingly chosen or made the pieces, they will continue to generate revenue for you. While a florist might have a genius installation at a gala and get some great photos out of the deal, they can’t continue to make money from their successful execution. In contrast, an Event Rental Business that creates incredible pieces for a killer event gets the win at that event and then gets to continue to reap the benefits for dozens or hundreds of events to come.
While some creative pros find it unsatisfying to reuse items or implement the same idea a second time, as an Event Rental Business, you don’t have to get your creative adrenaline high solely from your own work. Revenue and joy come from seeing how other artists use your pieces in their creations at events to come. Your creativity gets to live on, fuels the work of others, and gets new life at every event.
Uses Unskilled Labor
Event Rental Businesses also have incredible power to create jobs. Because most warehouse work and delivery jobs don’t require skilled labor, Event Rental Businesses can hire, train, and even mentor people from marginalized populations. Individuals with barriers to employment can find experience, education, and even dignity in the work they get to do with an Event Rental Business. They are, after all, creating the very spaces and stuff of our culture— weddings and celebrations.
Cake bakers, caterers, and florists have a need for employees with more training or higher skill, so they don’t have the same opportunities to empower individuals with jobs. As an Event Rental Business, you can change someone’s life with a job.
Event Rentals Aren’t All Rosy
To be sure there are some barriers and downsides to owning an Event Rental Business. Getting started in Event Rentals requires more capital upfront than many service-based event businesses like photography or planning. Purchasing and storing inventory before your first event occurs poses a greater risk than other areas of the event industry.
Additionally, most Event Rental Businesses require trucks (and drivers) for delivery. While you can rent trucks or hire third-parties to fulfill this service, most one-woman-shops need at least some additional wheels and muscles in order to execute their orders. You’ll have the expense of trucks and employees sooner than you might in another area of the event industry.
Seasonality can also have a negative impact on Event Rental Businesses. While all event businesses in a particular region might experience a time of year that is slower than others, many of the service-based event businesses are able to reduce their expenses to almost nothing in their off-season. Event Rental Businesses have to maintain their storage space, hold on to their collection, and perhaps even keep on valuable employees through lean months and therefore must plan for those months ahead of time.
Looking for Profit? Turn to Event Rentals
Whether event pros are looking to add an additional revenue stream to their existing services, start a second brand within the industry, or are transitioning from their initial business, Event Rentals can be a lucrative avenue to pursue. At RW Elephant, we’ve seen many florists-turned-rental-business-owners. We have venues who have added rentals to their offerings. We have planners who now do rentals exclusively. We have caterers. We have DMCs. These seasoned event pros are wise. They see that Event Rental Businesses have the potential for long-term stability, sustainability, and profit.
