Happy New Year From WeddingIQ!
It's here, it's here! I know I'm not alone in being glad to put 2015 behind me, and to prepare for a fantastic year for my business and my life in 2016.
We're taking the day off from blogging today, but we'll be back on Monday with our first post on our January content theme: marketing your wedding business! We're so excited to bring you lots of great resources to support you in creating a successful, sustainable wedding business that you love.
In the meantime, feel free to check out the launch of my brand-new online learning site, Authentic Boss, which goes live at noon EST today! Authentic Boss features e-courses, workbooks, e-books and more, all on working and living with authenticity. I truly believe your business will be infinitely better when it reflects your values, style, and story - you'll attract the right clients, you'll feel more connected to your work, and you'll enjoy your success that much more!
I'm kicking things off with just a few learning products to start, but more will be rolled out in the coming weeks. I really pour my heart and soul into all of the content I create, and I feel really great about its quality - I want it to make a big difference for you!
In that spirit, I'm happy to offer something special to WeddingIQ readers: enjoy an exclusive discount of 20% off anything in the shop, all throughout launch week (January 1-7, 2016)! Use promo code WIQ0101 at checkout!
Kyle and I wish you all a very Happy New Year! We'll catch you next week, wedding pros!
If there's one thing I know to be true in business (and in life), it's that nothing is ever constant. By their very nature, businesses are dynamic, and we all need to be mindful of that if we want them to thrive. We, as business owners, have to be willing to face the reality of what we've built, something that's often easier said than done.
(Editor's Note: Today on the blog, we welcome the return of frequent guest contributor Jennifer Taylor of Taylor'd Events! Read more about Jennifer at the end of the post!)
The wedding industry is filled with conferences, tradeshows and other educational workshops at both local and national levels. Most of them can be tempting to sign up for, but realistically, you canβt attend every single one due to time and financial commitments.
The question is β how do you determine which will be the best experience and provide you with the most return on investment?
(Editor's Note: The talented Fabrice Orlando of Cocoon Events Group is back on our blog today, offering his advice on how to get un-stuck and find inspiration again in your wedding business. Read more about Fabrice at the end of the post!)
Even the most creative wedding professionals find themselves uninspired at times, so donβt be ashamed or discouraged if you find yourself staring blankly at your computer.
While weβve all been there, there are plenty of ways to get your creativity going and pull yourself out of a funk. Although it may seem logical to scroll through some top wedding blogs or flip through magazines for ideas, that process can actually add to the frustration, as youβll end up seeing all of the gorgeous details that have already been done.
Here on WeddingIQ, we've always been passionate advocates for what's truly in business - beyond the pretty Instagram snaps, the glamorous branding, the cheerful small talk at networking events. And what's more real, honestly, than realizing your business just isn't keeping up?
Starting a wedding business is such a whirlwind of excitement, and if you've got that perfect combination of skill, connections, and pure luck (which really isn't so much luck as good timing and good market conditions), your business can take off quickly. At least, that's what happened with my primary business. My former partner and I happened to launch it at a time when our region desperately needed upscale, polished, non-cheesy DJs, and we benefited tremendously from the fact that many of our would-be competitors were still embodying the bad DJ stereotype.
Perhaps youβve gone to school, taken classes or gotten a certification. You may have worked as an assistant, apprenticed with someone or worked your way up through a company. If you learned the hard way, you just launched a website, purchased the necessary tools and figured it out along the way. Whatever method brought you to the place you are now, you gained useful knowledge regarding your particular service or product and consider yourself skilled enough to offer it to clientsβ¦for money.
There are so many schools, conferences, retreats and online courses that will teach you the specific techniques of your trade. But what about the mental acuity that goes into running your business and preparing for those intense wedding and event days. Letβs face it being a great chef, videographer or limo driver isnβt enough. You need to prepare hundreds of gourmet meals in record time, create stunning imagery among dozens of guests with cameras and transport loud, excited wedding parties to multiple destinations. Not to mention possessing a congenial and even pleasant attitude while performing these tasks. This is the aspect of our career that is the most taxing. So how do you prepare for the intensity of the weekend? Here are my suggestions for getting in the zone mentally so you can handle whatever comes your way.
Couples: "Weβd love to meet with you on the weekend to plan our weekend wedding that only happens on one weekend of our entire lives."
You: "Iβd love to meet with you sometime during the week because I work almost every weekend on weddings that occur only on the weekend."
I kid, but the struggle is real, for you and for your potential clients. You may not work every weekend or every day of the weekend, but letβs face it, you might want a weekend off every once in awhile or to recover from a long day by relaxing. Itβs difficult to schedule meetings in this 9-to-5 (and exceedingly 9-to-9) culture when your business hours are slightly more ambiguous or the opposite of most of society's schedule. You also donβt want to fall in the trap of working seven days a week just to appease your clients, or neglect to schedule time off so you can recharge and get back to the grind the following week.
(Editor's Note: Friend of WeddingIQ and frequent guest contributor Jennifer Taylor of Taylor'd Events is back today, sharing some insights on different types of leadership within a wedding business. Read more about Jennifer at the end of the post!)
If you work in the event industry, you probably donβt need anyone to tell you how many moving pieces it takes to put on a successful wedding. With that said, the way you handle those pieces speaks a lot to your work style and can have a major effect on the final result.
With so many details to keep track of, it can be fairly easy to micro-manage. Who knows your job better than you? While itβs certainly important to make sure everything falls into just the right place, there is a time and place to take a step back and let the day flow naturally.
Throughout this month, we've written about all kinds of things related to being more productive and effective in your wedding business, from creating systems and workflows to taking baby steps toward outsourcing.
If you truly want your business to be successful, however, there's something important you need to do that doesn't involve taking more on or getting more done. Rather, it's a major mindset shift that absolutely has to take place if you want to grow and thrive. It involves letting go.
(Editor's Note: Today we welcome our friend and colleague Meghan Ely of OFD Consulting, with a fantastic piece on whether work/life balance is actually an achievable thing in the wedding biz. Read more about Meghan at the end of the post!)
Ah, the ever-coveted work/life balance. From my experience, most people tend to lean towards one side or the other β rarely is it a 50/50 split. In the event industry, it can be especially difficult to prioritize your time as weβre often dealing with weddings and events on the weekends and weeknights.
