What were these small businesses thinking?

Anna Pohl
Day Planners, Bradenton
Startup costs: "Very little." Her main expenses were for insurance, attorney fees and marketing.

Event-Planning Business: Wedding Bills

As the recession deepened in the fall of 2008, Anna Pohl left the catering and event-planning job she'd had for seven years to start her own event-planning business. Pohl reckoned that, good times or bad, people still would get married — and would still spend to get help in planning a big life moment. Pohl kept another full-time job as she built the wedding consultant business on the side. Now full time, she does about two dozen weddings a year, specializing in "destination weddings" on the Gulf. "We attract people from all over the world. It's a bargain," she says.

Pohl runs her business out of her Bradenton home. She draws many of her customers through the internet and says blogging is a crucial part of business development. She offers planning for other kinds of events, from bar mitzvahs to fundraisers and corporate parties. She also teaches event planning at the State College of Florida and is a regular contributor to Nuovo Bride magazine. "There's nothing more rewarding than helping someone in that moment of their life that's really important to them," she says.

[Photo: Jeanne Ciasullo]

Tags: Florida Small Business