THE SIGNAL NEWSPAPER
Wednesday June 13, 2007
By Reina V. Slutske- Signal Business Writer
Takin it ToThey walked through industrial centers handing out fliers, e-mailed numerous Chambers of Commerce and recruited a number of vendors. Yet the boyfriend-girlfriend team of Nels Jensen Jr. and Kristen Brown have only just begun their event planning business, KN Event Management. "Even if it's just the two of us, we can handle it," Jensen said. They met while they were both working at the Hyatt Valencia, where Brown helped set up events that took place at the hotel. Although they would both leave the Hyatt, and Jensen would go on to work for the Kern County Fire Department, they would both help out with the weddings of their friends and families, followed by actually planning them. It was a skill they found that they had in abundance. "People suggested we should start a business because we do very good work," Jensen said. After two years of assisting with events, they decided to take it to the next level and begin their business. From Santa Barbara to San Diego, they have begun winning clients, such as the Tunnels to Towers benefit in San Diego, and have started proposals for others, such as New Leash on Life. They even planned a picnic for Jensen's fire station. For them, it's important to please the client and be as involved as the client wants them to be. This can range from overseeing the day of the wedding to planning an entire event. "There are so many things you don't think about until the last minute," Brown said. They have also divided up the responsibilities for the planning of events: Jensen is mainly responsible for correspondence, while Brown focuses her attention on the event work, which ranges from corporate parties and fundraising events to weddings and bar and bat mitzvahs. Meanwhile, they have vendors they've partnered with to work for them as preferred vendors, ranging from photographers and deejays to makeup artists. However, with their deals, they make sure to have the vendors offer a special discount, so they can pass on the discount to their clients. It is one of the ways that hiring an event planner can be cost-effective - especially in the case of KN Event Management, as it's a smaller business. Just as Jensen and Brown have been ambitious in their marketing, they have also been ambitious about the goals of their business. Their goal for the year is to have two events per month and gain two more a month each year. Also, the two hope to be able to have employees working for them, and also to be able to produce annual events for companies. "We're making sure that everything's being done, and done well," Brown said.
For more information on KN Event Management, go to www.
kneventmanagement.com Copyright:The Signal
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