Going Solo: More Detail, More Fun

By Kendra Handy

Tricia Gleghorn recently took the plunge from staff job to independent contractor. Where many would avoid the challenge, she is learning to thrive as an entrepreneur focused on faith-based events.
Her company, Kairos Events, based in Duluth, Georgia, strives to create opportunities for learning through events. And though the company is young, it has proven to be a true resource for the
faith-based meeting community.

What were you doing before forming your own company?
I was the event coordinator for a company that does training for Christian financial professionals. I moved to Atlanta with Injoy in 1997. Injoy is a Christian leadership development company that does a lot of events. I did event management with them for several years.

Why did you decide to go on your own?
I was working full-time, and I was picking up events on the side. I really loved getting the opportunity to work on some of the bigger events. I didn’t want to say no but it made
me very tired and busy. So I just figured, I’m going to go ahead and give it a try and go for it. I made that change in January.

What are some of the differences that you’ve noticed in working for yourself?
The flexibility is great. I’m a night owl and it works really well for me to be able to work on details and things that don’t require interacting with other people late at night. The steadiness of your income is a change. You have to plan well for what you’re going to receive in income because it’s not a regularly scheduled paycheck like working for a company. And just taking care of all the business details I never had to worry about before like taking minutes for your incorporation meetings and working with an accountant on taxes. You have a new appreciation for what your previous companies and employers had done.

Who are some of your clients that you’ve picked up since starting your business?
I’m working now with Kingdom Advisors, and that’s who I was with before I started my own company. I was able to contract with them to say I will handle their events, but not work with them full-time. That gives me the freedom to go out and look for some other jobs. I’m working with the Fortune Bridge on an event right now.

What kind of impact do you think the uncertain economy has on your meetings?
It’s hard to tell. One thing we try to do is ask, What can we do to minimize risk in putting on new events? For example, I’m doing a relatively small event in Southern California next month. Rather than going to a hotel and trying to secure a ballroom, we found a local place that would let us use their space. It’s still a nice professional building, but it minimizes the impact. If your group is a religious group and doesn’t mind having the event at a local church, that alternative would be agreeable to everyone.

What do you think is the most difficult part about being an independent contractor?
I would say the business side with the accounting and the LLC [Limited Liability Company] requirements—because I had no experience in these areas. I am really excited about the events, not so much about the accounting aspects and so forth, but I’m learning.

What’s the toughest event management problem that you’ve ever dealt with?
I don’t know if one stands out as the worst. I’ve had pretty challenging ones. The great thing is that I’ve really been blessed at work with a lot of great teams, but the one that comes to mind is this one event I did at a brand new property—and I will not do that again!

I’d give a property a few months, at the least, before you schedule an event. At first, we thought it was great to get in a brand new property with a lower rate, but it just didn’t give the organization enough time. They needed the opportunity to work out some kinks before we were in that facility with a meeting and a group. We just had all sorts of things go wrong. The property couldn’t communicate with itself. Some people were on radios, some were on phones, and if one was on the other, you couldn’t get a hold of the other. Just several things were like, ‘Oh boy!’

How do you differentiate your company or your services from other independent meeting planners?
I think it’s kind of the opposite of being a specialist. Having done events for quite a long time in Atlanta, I have a wide variety of events that I have experience with, as well as connections with great groups of people who can help in any facet of an event. If you have an event and you need me to help out with the event’s planning and coordinating, I can take it on because I have a great team of people that I’ve worked with, and they are willing to jump in and help with any of these kinds of events.

How did you come up with the name Kairos Events for your company?
It’s a Greek word, and I actually happened to be taking a Greek class when I was trying to think of a name for my company. There are two words in Greek that mean time: Chronos refers to time sequentially, but Kairos refers to time as an opportunity. So I thought Kairos was a great idea because I wanted to help create opportunities for people’s message that they want to share. I don’t want to be the person up there sharing; that’s not my personality or my goal. But if I can create an environment that makes it conducive to learning, that means I’ve helped create an opportunity.

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