Vendor of the Week: Color Pop Events

“You can’t just jump with no planning, but you also can’t wait for THE perfect moment because you will be waiting forever.” Leah Weinberg, the brave babe behind Color Pop Events, shares with us some wonderfully wise words on following your passion. She had the courage to leave her job as an attorney to start her own business in event planning, never stopping to look back. Leah takes her organizational skills from the legal life and weaves them within her innate creativity, leading to a unique and impressive company. It was an honor to work with Leah at the 2nd New York NotWedding, and we can’t wait to see what’s up her sleeve at the 3rd New York NotWedding.

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Describe your personality in one sentence or less.
I would describe myself as colorful, quirky, insanely organized, considerate, and creative.

Tell us a little bit about your life pre- Color Pop Events and how you made the transition to your life as we know it.
There’s a phrase people use to describe attorneys who have left the practice of law—they call them “recovering attorneys.”  As of the end of July, I am proud to call myself a recovering attorney, because that means I can focus all of my attention on Color Pop Events.  I was a commercial real estate attorney for almost nine years, but always wanted to own my own business.  Every time I was leaving one of my law jobs, I would brainstorm ideas for businesses to start up, and event planning was something I came back to time and time again.  It’s the perfect mix of my super-organized type A personality that loves all things spreadsheets and my creative side, which was getting little use as an attorney.  After designing and planning my own wedding in 2012, I knew that event planning was what I was made to do.  So I started by taking an online course in event planning and Color Pop Events was born in September 2013.  For the last year, I worked on Color Pop in my spare time and finally decided this past summer, that it was something I needed to do, and was ready to do, full time.

Share one tidbit of advice for small business owners.
Although it’s not the most glamorous part of owning a small business, it definitely pays to build a solid foundation for your business.  That means determining the correct type of entity for the business (limited liability, partnership, etc.), getting proper insurance in place, and working with an attorney to prepare a form service contract to use with your clients that offers you the most protection.

What are you most proud of and why?
I am most proud of the fact that I had the courage to make the leap and start my own business.  It is definitely terrifying, but it is so exciting and exhilarating at the same time.  Don’t get me wrong, you can’t just jump with no planning, but you also can’t wait for THE perfect moment because you will be waiting forever.