Hidden Gems: Meet TeNeil Hartley of TeNeil Hartley Events

Today we’d like to introduce you to TeNeil Hartley.

Hi TeNeil, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I have been working in the event industry since my senior year of college when I took an event internship for Big Brothers/Big Sisters. After college, I was fortunate enough to continue my event and hospitality career by working for some incredible organizations at amazing venues, including a large event center in California, the Telluride Conference Center, Red Rocks Parks & Amphitheatre, and Coors Field. I had the pleasure of working my way up from a private event manager, to director of sales for events, to a director of operations.

Being able to work in such iconic venues with incredible mentors allowed me to gain truly invaluable insights and knowledge in every aspect of the event and hospitality industry. In 2013, while still working my full-time job, I started working as a contract event planner for a small, local non-profit that needed assistance with its annual fundraiser. I truly never intended for this to lead me to own a full-time event planning business, but in 2017 I made the leap to full-time business ownership. My business looked different in 2017, consisting primarily of working with non-profit clients and assisting them with planning their fundraising events, including not only handling all the logistics for the events, but marketing and communication for a few of the events as well. I loved how rewarding the work was in helping these incredible non-profits raise money for such important causes. At the time I was doing less than five weddings a year.

It seems everything changes in time, and in 2018 I chose to move, and effectively my business, to the mountains of Colorado in gorgeous Grand Lake. I still kept a presence in Highlands Ranch and the Denver area, where I started my business. With this change, my business was reinvented, and weddings became a much larger part of my business. We still do non-profit and corporate events, which I absolutely love, as well as venue consulting, but in 2022 we had 30+ weddings. In 2023, I have been lucky enough to be able to hire Kayleigh from seasonal assistant to year-round to help us continue to elevate and grow the business. In 2023, we have scaled back the number of weddings we are taking to allow for a more high-touch experience and time to focus again on non-profit and corporate events. Our new website will launch this summer in July of 2023! Our Name and logo will not change, but we are excited to showcase our updated brand, which will better reflect what we shine at now!

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I would love to speak to a business owner who has had an “easy road”. Do they exist? I know that I was 100% unprepared for how hard small business owners would be. I often mention this to my husband, who is also a business owner, and he agrees with me, so I know I am not the only one. There were many struggles. In the beginning, it was the uncertainty of giving up my steady paycheck at my day job to follow a dream; a dream that I had no idea would actually work out. Then there are the struggles of learning how to run a business, from managing the business finances, having the correct insurance, keeping accurate records for taxes, setting up and filing payroll and so much more. There never seems to be enough time to work in your business (client meetings, emails, running events) while simultaneously keeping up with the office work.

Then there was COVID, which hit the event and hospitality industry particularly hard. Having to cancel or move over 90% of your business in a matter of months and watching revenue simply disappear overnight, left me humbled, heartbroken, and exhausted. Thankfully we came roaring back in 2021, but that had its own set of challenges with squeezing 2 years’ worth of weddings and events into one year. Neither 2020 nor 2021 are years I would like to repeat in my business. Another challenge that I feel often gets overlooked and is a true struggle of small business ownership, is not losing yourself to your business.

It is easy to fall into the hustle trap: if I just work harder, more hours, and every day, the business will be successful, and I will be successful. This leaves you no time to enjoy the life you are building. I have to remind myself often that my business is not my “baby” and that the people in my life have to be #1 for my life to be full. I fully anticipate there will be more struggles and challenges, those that are within my control and those that are not. However, on tough days when I think of not having my business, I cannot envision what else I would want to be doing and the thought seems preposterous.

As you know, we’re big fans of TeNeil Hartley Events. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
TeNeil Hartley Events is a small event planning company that serves all of Colorado from the Front Range to the Western slope and everywhere in between. We specialize in planning weddings, non-profit events, and small corporate events. For weddings, we offer either full-service wedding planning and design or wedding management for ALL couples. We are known for being logistics fanatics, meaning we love timelines and floorplans and manage day-of event logistics with ease, never showing the stress of the challenges that arise. We are most proud of the feedback we get from clients saying they love our honesty and our ability to always help them feel calm again when the planning process seems overwhelming or stressful. Events truly are all about relationships and creating an event that fosters those relationships.

When I think about what sets us apart, aside from the client relationship, it is often my knowledge of how all aspects of events work. I didn’t start out as an event planner; I started out managing events in a venue and working with catering. My insider knowledge of these very important functions of an event, the venue and catering, allows me to work better with these vendors and head off issues long before they arise.

What does success mean to you?
Success to me would be operating a business that isn’t just profitable but continues to be recommended by my peers in the industry and past clients and fosters the careers of aspiring event planners while allowing me time to enjoy life with my loved ones. I don’t aim to be “the best” in the industry, instead, I aspire to be the best for my clients.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://teneilhartleyevents.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teneilhartleyevents/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TeNeilHartleyEvents
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/teneilhartleyevents/

Image Credits
Hip Photo, Tayler Carlisle Photography, All Digital Photo, Sweet Justice Photography, Jackie Cooper Photography, and ML Hobby Photo