INSPIRATION by Preston Bailey
Event Solutions welcomes industry icon Preston Bailey who has agreed to join the team and will pen an article for each issue titled “Dear Preston.” This is the first installment from this esteemed industry leader.
Hello! Welcome to my first “Dear Preston” column. I am thrilled to be joining the Event Solutions team. It’s an honor to be writing for a magazine that I have long respected as an invaluable resource in our industry, and I hope to be able to make my own small contribution here in these pages. But I have no intention of doing it alone. (Sorry, folks!)
As the lovely readers of my blog know, I’m a huge fan of community. And when I’m lucky enough to meet young designers, planners and other vendors who are just beginning their careers, I always tell them that they must never underestimate the power of their peers and the event industry community.
It is my hope that this column will foster supportive and inspirational conversations. How, you ask? Well, that’s where you come in. I want to use your concerns and questions. But this advice column is perhaps a little different from the ones you’ve read in other magazines. Because while I completely understand wanting to address practical concerns and the nitty-gritty details of your daily work, I want the subjects we tackle here to apply to all of us—designers, florists, planners, DJs, photographers, bakers, everyone!
In each column, I want to take a long, hard look at some of the big issues we face. In other words, I’m interested in the gray area of our business; the questions that aren’t so easily answered and that may in fact have more than one answer. Did I mention I like a challenge?
Send me your tough questions. Don’t hold back! Do you have a hard time connecting with your clients? Are you passionate about your work but terrified of dealing with money? Do you wish you had a mentor but are unsure how to go about finding one? Are you feeling overwhelmed trying to build your business and wondering what happened to your personal life? Whatever it is, let’s fix it.
And, please, in addition to questions, I hope you’ll also send me your feedback. Tell me if you don’t like the way I’ve answered a question or if you want to share another perspective. We’re in this together, folks!
Preston is waiting for your questions! Send them today to preston@event-solutions.com
Click here to check out his blog!