Adèle McLay Successful Entrepreneurs' Stories : Meet Rachelle Harte

Rachelle Harte
Managing Director, Lollipop Events

Rachelle unexpectedly found herself leaving a corporate job she loved, having been with the same company for 18 years. This change in circumstance due to the need to support a family member with severe ill health meant Rachelle needed to consider her part-time employment options. After researching the market, she decided to establish an events business that focused on planning and project managing children’s parties, building up a reputation in that niche before moving into other event management areas. That strategy worked, as Rachelle has been an entrepreneur for over 11 years and owns a highly successful events management business, Lollipop Events.

When establishing her business, Rachelle’s initial concerns were how she differentiated herself from the local competition, and her ability to manage her business while only being able to work part-time. As a highly focused service oriented person, she wanted her business to quickly stand out in the market by growing its reputation in its niche so she could then move into a broader range of events management, so balancing her personal and work commitments was a challenge.

In the past Rachelle relied on advertising for growing her business, but in the end found advertising was not offering an effective return on investment. In recent years Rachelle has enjoyed business growth through referral marketing and collaboration. She joined a local business networking group, BNI, and that involvement has enabled her to widen her network base, support other businesses to be successful, and substantially grow her own business.
Strongly branding her business has also been a key decision for Rachelle, so that Lollipop Events is now recognised as a major events management business in South East London and beyond.

A key lesson Rachelle has learnt along her entrepreneurial pathway is that she cannot do everything herself (as much as she wants to). As a young entrepreneur, she found she was good at most things, but she continues to force herself to enlist the help and support of other professionals who complement her business, often in a mentoring way, and as a result they have helped her to grow and sustain her business for the future.

Rachelle’s advice to budding entrepreneurs is:

1) Make sure everyone knows about your new venture and plans and ask them to spread the word.

2) Have a plan for what you want to achieve and keep focused on the plan. What are you here for? Where are you going? How are you going to get there?

3) Get up a little earlier each day. Even 15 minutes can make a real difference to how much you can get done when the phone is not ringing.

4) Ask for help! You will be surprised how much others want to support your success.

Rachelle’s business plan includes substantially growing her corporate customer base over the next three to five years. A key area of business growth for Lollipop Events will continue to be working with local government on the regeneration of town centres in the United Kingdom, something Rachelle and her team are passionate about supporting.

Rachelle truly believes she is living her dream as an entrepreneur. She is working in an industry she loves, supporting customers to achieve their business and personal goals when hosting their event; and her company continues to substantially grow and is highly profitable.

Adèle’s Note:
I had the pleasure of interviewing Rachelle Harte for my book: BIG Profits – 12 Strategies To Substantially Grow YOUR Business Profits, in which Rachelle features.

Rachelle is a focused, determined and very successful business woman who goes out of her way to support other businesses to achieve the success they are seeking, and in return she has built a substantial events management business herself. I have known Rachelle for several years, and have thoroughly enjoyed hearing of her ongoing business successes, and how she supports others towards their own success. Having had the privilege of using the services of Lollipop Events to manage an event of my own, I know firsthand how committed Rachelle and her team are to ensuring their clients achieve the outcomes they are seeking for their events; they definitely go beyond the call of duty in their work, and I am sure this attention to service delivery has played a major role in the success of Rachelle’s business.

You can listen to the original Interview with Rachelle Harte here:

To connect with Rachelle Harte:
W: www.lollipopevents.co.uk

Adèle hosts an interview series entitled:

• Successful Entrepreneurs’ Stories : Adèle McLay Interviews…..
• Business Success Tips : Adèle McLay Interviews …..

…where she interviews successful entrepreneurs from around the world, asking them to share their entrepreneurial stories, and other business ‘subject matter experts’ who share business success tips. If you would like to be part of Adèle’s success community and receive the interviews and much more directly to your inbox, please click here.

Listen to more Successful Entrepreneurs and be inspired in the Successful Entrepreneurs’ Stories: Adèle McLay Interviews….. YouTube and Podcast series:

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