From a young age, Angel McLaughlin
has had a passion for party planning. Her summer birthday always coincided with
a large family reunion each year.
By middle school the Bordentown,
N.J. resident recalls watching her mother plan three different weddings.
“I think that’s where it really
took off for me,” McLaughlin said of her dream to start an event and party
planning business. “I started to do little events for family, for myself.”
Years later, while working in
banking in 2014, the perpetual planner planted the seeds for her
yet-to-be-started business by reserving the business name, Website domain and toll-free
phone number. By 2018, McLaughlin resigned from her banking job to take her
party and event planning business full-time. She launched Dreams of Themes in 2018 in conjunction with a brick-and-mortar store in
Willingboro, N.J.
“The store was set up to try to get
foot traffic because I was so new to the business,” she said. “It was a great
learning experience.”
Amid COVID-19, her landlord closed
the building where her store was located in 2020.
“I didn’t stop,” McLaughlin said.
“What I did was transition from a physical presence to more of an online
presence.”
She
continued serving clients in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York and, in
fact, has been busier than ever. Dreams of Themes offers customizable services,
including party planning, balloon delivery, party décor setup and breakdown.
While birthday celebrations make up the bulk of the events, McLaughlin is
excited to have added weddings, graduations, and book-signing events to her
services this year.
At the start of 2021, McLaughlin
reached out to SCORE Bucks County for insight in taking her business to the
next level. She began mentoring with Krishna Akella, whose more than 25 years
expertise in business strategy and planning helped in creating a one-page
business summary, a business plan and competitive analysis. Through monthly
mentoring sessions, Akella also answered questions as they arose and provided
much-needed input on packaging and streamlining of services, as well as hiring.
“From day one I felt very
comfortable discussing with him some of my questions,” McLaughlin said. “A lot
of the takeaways that I’ve implemented have really had an impact. Every call
there’s a perspective that he offers that I hadn’t thought about.”
In addition to mentoring with
Akella, McLaughlin participated in a dozen SCORE webinars. With guidance from
the workshops and from Akella, she successfully booked events for every month
of 2021, strengthened her online presence and this spring planned an Easter
Bunny appearance at a South Jersey shopping mall. The mall has asked Dreams of
Themes to plan another character appearance, but McLaughlin said she first
needs to hire staff to undertake additional event planning opportunities.
Akella said her motivation will
keep the positive momentum going.
“Angel is a self-starter,” Akella
said. “She is highly self-disciplined and determined to make her own dreams
come true through ‘Dreams of Themes.’”
About SCORE
Since 1964, SCORE has helped more
than 11 million aspiring entrepreneurs. Each year, SCORE
provides small business mentoring and workshops to more than 375,000
new and growing small businesses.?With 50 members across the county, SCORE Bucks?County?provides over 1,500 free mentoring services annually
to local small business owners through one-on-one counseling and
small business seminars. To stay up to date on news and happenings, join
SCORE Bucks County’s email list. Text SCOREBUCKS to 22828.
