by Amy Ferrone
If you had told me a year ago that I would be working right now, let alone at an event planning company, I would have said you were crazy. I haven’t “worked” per se, in almost 8 years. Oh, I’ve worked, but I just have not been paid for it! I spent the past 8 years raising my three sons (cue the theme music!). Little did I know that all of the challenges that I faced during this time would hone my organizational and communication skills to such a degree that when the opportunity to join Ginger Donnan Events presented itself, I was ready!
When you have preemie twin boys that need to be fed every 3 hours, and it takes an hour to feed and change them, and you need to monitor who is wetting and dirtying their diapers, you find a way to get organized. For me, it was this special notepad that was designed to track all of these things – I wrote everything down! Couple that with extreme sleep deprivation, and I found myself trying to write things down in the middle of the night in the pitch dark that didn’t even occur. My sisters still make fun of me for that, but I did learn that my brain works best when I am as organized as possible. Write it down and it won’t be forgotten.
Several years later (and one miracle baby brother coming 18 months after the twins), I was still not “working,” but became involved in a number of activities for my boys. I am the Treasurer for the elementary school’s PTA, a Den Leader for the Cub Scouts, and I oversee/manage the boys’ homework and sporting and art activities – it all takes planning and organization!! Not to mention creativity and efficiency.
I have also been keeping busy over the years with volunteer work, most importantly running The George McDermott Memorial for 10 years. After my father passed away, my sisters and I wanted to honor our Dad’s name in a meaningful way, so we started a memorial sports outing once a year. First it was a golf tournament and picnic, then it morphed into softball and a picnic. It was a great deal of work (managing mailing lists, tee time organization, menu planning, scheduling kids activities), but well worth it in terms of results. We had 150+ family and friends attend each year, and were able to raise more than $85K for the John Wayne Cancer Institute in my Dad’s name.
As Treasurer of a Parent Teacher Association chapter at an elementary school, I’ve heard it all. “Oh good, your husband’s an accountant, he can help you” and “You’re not afraid of numbers and money?” were two of my favorites as I began to do the daily finances for a school’s annual budget of $50K. Here’s what I found works as you handle the inflows and outflows of dozens of events throughout the year: communicate properly the details of making deposits and check requests. Repeat them constantly, to anyone who will listen. Help those who won’t listen. Count everything several times. Write everything down (by now I’ve graduated to spreadsheets, but for my money, nothing beats a paper and pen!), stay organized and focused, and everything will go smoothly.
And much to my surprise, when all my boys are in school for a full day, I discovered that event planning requires, among other things: organization, communication, planning, and creative thinking, all skills I have been acquiring and honing over the past six years. Thanks to Ginger, who took a chance on a coming-back-into-the-workforce-Mom, I am able to put these skills into practice in planning events.
