by Ciara Daykin
In between weddings this summer, download some knowledge to your Kindle or crack the spine of a traditional paperback… here are some of my favorites to read as a Rockstar Wedding Planner:
- Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk - Learn how a guy working in a liquor store skyrocketed to a multi millionaire using social media to create THE buzz around wine.
- Spiritual Liberation by Michael Bernard Beckwith - One of your favorites from “The Secret” movie shares his journey to spiritual liberation and just what the law of attraction can mean in your life.
- 29 Gifts by Cami Walker- Could you give 29 gifts in 29 days? Cami Walker did and her entire life changed.
- Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy by JJ Virgin – The bride doesn’t have to be the only one sporting hot guns this summer. Check out JJ’s advice on feeling hot and fabulous.
- Prosperity Pie by Sark - Money scare you? Sark makes it fun and manageable by changing your attitude around what it all means.
- The Four Spiritual Pillars of Prosperity by Edwene Gaines – One of the books that completely changed my life. Could you tithe 10% of everything you make? What would happen if you did?
- Smart Women Finish Rich by David Bach – One of the first books I read to help me take the fear out of money and I was only 19 years old! This book helps you set up a plan for your money that’s smart and sassy.
- Leadership Wisdom from the Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma – When I wanted to step up and be a leader I purchased this book and
learned what leadership truly means and what it doesn’t.
- The Conscious Bride by Sheryl Paul – What is a bride really thinking? The transition from single to married is NOT an easy one and if you understand what she’s going through you can help her on this journey.
- Signature Sasha by Sasha Souza – Wedding designer Sasha Souza is fun in real life and her personality jumps off the pages of her new book. Her designs are fresh and offer a twist on what’s hot.
- Purple Cow by Seth Godin – What’s a purple cow you say? Well Seth Godin explains exactly what makes a Purple Cow and how having one or structuring your business to be one is highly profitable.
- Smart Women Know Their Why by Sheri McConnell – Do you know your Why? My friend Sheri McConnell asked me my “Why?” once and it really made me think. Dive into her personal story of hardship and triumph to find your passion and purpose, the necessary foundation for a strong business.
Ciara’s Rockstar Advice
If all you were planning on reading this summer were wedding ceremony programs stop being so lame and pick up some real reading material! There’s always time to grow your mind… and perhaps work on your tan as you do it!
by Ciara Daykin
When I found out I was pregnant with my son I quickly realized that he was due right in the middle of wedding season. But just because I’m having a baby it doesn’t mean my business can stop! Both my husband and I work for the company so our entire household income is dependent upon Firefly Occasions.
Little nerve racking eh?
Well, you could be in a similar situation…
What if you broke your leg? What if there was a death in the family? What if you got the chicken pox?
All of the above could happen and you need to have a back up plan. It doesn’t matter what stage you’re at in your business or your life, it’s important to put these systems into place now:
1) Get Everything Out of Your Head – It’s great that you know everything about the wedding but what if you suddenly couldn’t be there? Could someone else pick up your event binder and take over easily?
2) Make Friends With Other Planners - I have the luxury of having a full team of planners that could take over for me in a pinch. But if you don’t have a staff you need to find another local wedding planner that would be willing to support you in an emergency and vice versa.
3) Have Reliable Vendors to Support You – I always work with vendors that I know I can rely on. If ever I was really stranded I know I could call my photographer or my cake lady even and they would step in until more help arrived. That’s why sometimes the cheapest vendor is not the best.
4) Make Sure You Always Have Enough Help – There’s nothing worse than thinking “I can do all of this myself.” Even on a normal wedding day you probably shouldn’t be doing everything yourself, at least have one assistant. But if it’s a big job and you’re relying on yourself to do a lot of the setup and work think again. What if you broke your leg and couldn’t get up on a ladder but had no one else in line to help you? What if the bride had a mega emergency and you had to tend to her versus setting up her room. Never shortchange yourself when it comes to help. Charge enough so that you can have the staff you need on hand.
Ciara’s Rockstar Wedding Planner Advice
Every good wedding planner should have a back up plan. Life is fun because it’s unexpected! But don’t let the unexpected forever hurt your business. Your reputation is the most important thing and you don’t want to leave a bride hanging because there’s no rescheduling her big day.
By Ciara Daykin
When I started my company in 2004 I worked at a full time corporate job. I quickly realized the demand of owning and running a service based 
business and that attention to the customers was my number one priority. It didn’t matter if I had someone else who was interested in working with me, if my current customer wasn’t happy then that would result in bad word of mouth and I didn’t want that to happen. One of the first things I did was I got a blackberry. That meant I was able to see emails come through from my clients all the time and if it was urgent I could get right back to them. I then hired a virtual assistant, because while I was working at my corporate job this person could make sure that my tasks were getting done for my current clients and that any issues were being handled right away.
Times Change But Mantras Stay the Same
Now in 2010 things have changed a lot and we have not only a virtual assistant, but a full time in office staff. But my priorities have not changed. Our current clients must be #1. When I was at my corporate job we had a mantra. It was a software company and the mantra made a lot of sense and so I made this the mantra for my wedding planning company as well:
Customer Down Takes Precedent
Over
Customer Development and Research Takes Precedent
Over
Customer Maintenance Takes Precedent
Over
Developing New Customers
Your Bride Needs to Hear From You
That means that if a customer is having an issue…a 911 emergency, then we help that customer right away. Even if it doesn’t seem like an emergency to us, it’s an emergency to them and it’s their perception that we’re concerned with. Most of these emergencies can be calmed with a simple response that you heard them and that you’re working on the issue. Even if you don’t have an update for a customer you need to make sure that you are updating them in these types of situations when they are waiting on an answer- update them that you don’t have the answer but you’re still working on it.
I recently told my staff that this is what makes us different from other wedding and event planners. It is our attention to detail and the way in which we treat our customers. They must be our priority because they are the source of our income.
Ciara’s Rockstar Wedding Planner Advice
You may think that developing new customers is the #1 priority and that it seems odd that it’s at the bottom but a good friend of mine once said “take care of the ones you have.” We are not going to attract any more clients unless we are taking care of the ones we have. God isn’t going to send us more clients unless we make the space for them. That’s why it’s so important that we have systems and processes because they make us more efficient and help us to create space. It doesn’t matter how much we try to attract new customers, we won’t until we’ve made the space in which to accept them. When current clients are happy it attracts new clients that we can make happy too.
By Michele DeKinder-Smith
Every business owner has probably sat back in her chair, eyes closed, imagining what life would be like if she was living her ideal entrepreneurial type. Okay, who are we kidding – you are too busy to be sitting in a chair dreaming! But ev
ery once in awhile, amidst the heavy schedule you are keeping, you do wonder, what could my life be like if I designed my business to perfectly suit me and my family?
Whether you are a “Merry Jane” imagining a full-scale business that still allowed her time freedom, or a “Tenacity Jane” imagining smartly directing a team of people to implement her vision, one thing remains important: know thyself! Women entrepreneurs don’t come in one size, shape, personality, or approach to business – you are unique, and yet, you also share certain experiences, attitudes, challenges, and triumphs with many other women.
A recent study from Jane Out of the Box, an authority on female entrepreneurs, reveals there are five distinct types of women in business. Based on professional market research of more than 2,500 women in business, this study shows that each type of business owner has a unique approach to running a business and therefore each one has a unique combination of needs.
When you learn about who you are as an entrepreneur – and you discover that all of your issues are not yours alone, but in fact, shared with thousands of other women entrepreneurs, relief washes over you, as you realize that you are in the company of many other dynamic women who are feeling just as you are. Your priorities become more clear and you can move forward with greater confidence in your business and in your life. You can personalize a business that will serve you well, both in lifestyle and income, an entrepreneurial venture that is tailor-made for your personal needs, personality, and even, weak spots. Knowing who you are is the first step to changing who you are, if there is anything that isn’t working for you, and if your entrepreneurial life is working well for you, knowing who you are and what you need will help you keep it going!
Here’s a sneak preview of the five Janes we identified in our research. It’s likely that one or more will be singing your name. Taking our assessment online will confirm for you what your intuition tells you. Do these women sound familiar to you?
Merry Jane is a woman business owner who is building a part-time or “flexible time” business that gives her a creative outlet (whether she’s an ad agency consultant or she makes beautiful artwork) that she can manage within specific constraints around her schedule. She may have a day-job, or need to be fully present for family or other pursuits. Representing about 19% of women in business, she realizes she could make more money by working longer hours, but she’s happy with the tradeoff she has made because her business gives her tremendous freedom to work how and when she wants, around her other commitments.
Because time freedom and creative stretch are so important to Merry Jane, she must make thorough examinations of other potential entrepreneurial types before making a change. Most Merry Jane business owners reported high levels of satisfaction with their companies, although most also said they would like to attract new clients and increase their income.
Accidental Jane is a successful, confident business owner who never actually set out to start a business. Instead, she may have decided to start a business due to frustration with her job or a layoff and then she decided to use her business and personal contacts to strike out on her own. Or, she may have started making something that served her own unmet needs and found other customers with the same need, giving birth to a business. Although Accidental Jane may sometimes struggle with prioritizingAbout 18% of all women business owners fit the Accidental Jane profile. what she needs to do next in her business, she enjoys what she does and is making good money.
Many Accidental Jane business owners eventually evolve into one of the other entrepreneurial types. However, many run successful businesses as Accidental Jane for years, fulfilled by their work without being overwhelmed by it. Accidental Jane enjoys her freedom, and her biggest challenges include maintaining an even workload and keeping the workload at a manageable level.
Go Jane Go is a woman who is passionate about her work and provides excellent service, so she has plenty of clients – so much so, she’s struggling to keep up with demand. At 14% of women in business, she may be a classic overachiever, taking on volunteer opportunities as well, because she’s eager to make an impact on the world and she often struggles to say no. Because she wants to say yes to so many people, she may even be in denial about how many hours she actually works during the course of a week. As a result, she may be running herself ragged and feeling guilty about neglecting herself and others who are important to her.
Of all the five entrepreneurial types, Go Jane Go is undoubtedly the busiest, with more than a quarter of those interviewed reporting working more than 50 hours per week. Consequently, Go Jane Go business owners also take home the largest personal income. They often report feeling stressed and overwhelmed, but revel in being the best at what they do and being of service to others.
Tenacity Jane is the entrepreneur whose business is not performing to her expectations right now–particularly financially. This is the single largest group of female entrepreneurs, so women in this group shouldn’t feel bad about their circumstances, nor should they feel alone. Many others are having similar experiences, for a variety of reasons. Slower-than-budgeted revenue growth after starting the business, lack of knowledge in one or more areas of business management, and industry or economic downturns all can result in lower-than-desired financial results.
Although she may be struggling with the finances, Tenacity Jane’s passion is undeniable. She believes in the business she’s building and works hard to be profitable. As a result, she may feel stressed, overwhelmed, and worried at times. She may also be putting in more hours than she’d like but she’s determined to do what she needs to do to succeed. This can be a time of great personal and professional growth and the very successful, highly profitable business owners we’ve interviewed often say they have walked in Tenacity Jane’s shoes and that the lessons they learned from that period were incredibly valuable.
Jane Dough is an entrepreneur who enjoys running her business and generally, she makes a nice living. She is comfortable and determined in buying and selling, which may be why she’s five times more likely than the average female business owner to hit the million dollar mark. Jane Dough is clear in her priorities and may be intentionally and actively growing an asset-based or legacy business. It is estimated that 18% of women entrepreneurs fall in the category of Jane Dough.
Although Jane Dough is what Jane Out of the Box researchers refer to as “a natural born entrepreneur,” she is not without her challenges. Although, on average, her personal income is slightly less than Go Jane Go’s, Jane Dough’s business income is the highest of all the five types. She works long hours, manages a team of people, and spends more time running her business and strategizing than she does “doing the work.”
Interested in learning more about the five Jane types and which Jane you are? Ciara and I recently had a 1-hour phone call in which we discussed all of the Janes. And we also have put together audio clips that discuss each Jane type in depth. You can find the call and the clips by clicking here.
By Ciara Daykin
Whenever I participate in the Bridal Fair I always have other planners asking me- “was it worth it?” The simple answer is yes but I can tell you that it’s not just what you do at the fair but it’s what you do afterwards that makes the fair worth it.
Here are 4 tips for maximizing your Bridal Fair investment:
- Create A Great, Showstopping Booth- Even if they’re not giving out an award make sure your booth stands out. You want your booth to resonate with your target bride so that she stops by. It also shows other wedding vendors that you’re playing a bigger game and that can mean more referrals.
- In person and Online Attention- We always take a ton of pictures of our booth because it’s not just the people who notice you in person that you want to impress but you want to leverage EVERYTHING that you do so that means tweeting and facebooking like crazy about your participation in a Bridal Fair. That way even if brides aren’t there they are taking notice of the splash you’re making.
Build Your List- Bridal Fairs are the best way to build your list. I always give out my free report and have brides sign up to receive it via email and then later they get my ezine. This follow up is crucial and makes the difference between getting business post fair and not.- Make Genuine Connections- Yes we live in an online world and it’s important to market online (you know I believe in that) but it’s also important to have some face time with engaged couples and to make a connection with them. Brides and grooms come to these shows seeking answers and as a wedding planner, you have lots of them. Really listen to what their needs are and suggest how you can help them. We take appointment bookings right there at our booth and are busy in the weeks post fair with interviews.
Ciara’s Rockstar Wedding Planner Advice
Bridal Fairs are fantastic for wedding planners to participate in. It’s a great way to build your list and get noticed. I personally love the networking we get to do with other vendors as it’s great to see them outside of a wedding and reconnect. Bridal Fairs can be extremely profitable but you need to make sure you have all your marketing materials and your strategy aligned before you take the plunge. At Rockstar Wedding Planner LIVE this year I’ll be creating a Bridal Fair booth to show you the optimal setup and I’ll also be providing each attendee with a package of sample marketing collateral that you should be giving out at the fair AND sharing my follow up plan with everyone in attendance. This is a GREAT reason to attend Rockstar Wedding Planner LIVE, because just one hit off your next Bridal Fair more than pays for your attendance at Rockstar Wedding Planner LIVE. Click here to secure your ticket.
Ciara Daykin is the Rockstar Wedding Planner. She is an award-winning event planner and CEO of Firefly Occasions Inc. with offices in both Canada and the United States.
Ciara has devised a system for creating and maintaining a successful event planning business. She shares her knowledge with other planners through her Rockstar Wedding Planner coaching programs and various speaking engagements.
By Ciara Daykin
Working as a wedding planner, often means long hours in front of the computer and on the phone. Maybe it’s a little space set up in the kitchen, a spare bedroom, the den, or an actual office space. But when you look away from your computer screen, what do you see?
It’s important for a wedding planner to be surrounded by inspiration. That’s why I wanted to share with you some of the décor I’ve added to my office to boost my inspiration level. When you’re working long hours planning a wedding, trying to come up with ways to attract new brides, or figuring out what to blog about it’s completely necessary for you to have little items around you that remind you why you’re doing the work you’re doing, why it’s important, and encouragement to take leaps forward.
Here are some items in my office that give me inspiration:
“Your venture will be a success”- I love the Seattle airport and there I found this cute little mirror surrounded by glass tiles and framing a small slip of paper that is actually from a fortune cookie and it says “your venture will be a success.” I love to look in that mirror and accept that fortune as my truth.- Lope De Vega quote- I have a small black print with pink lettering with the quote “What Are You Waiting For?” from Lope de Vega. This always catches my eye when I’m procrastinating or trying to make a decision.
- Success Plaque- My aunt lives in Ireland and years ago when I was starting university she sent me a little plaque with a poem on it about success. This little plaque has followed me across the country and to each of my jobs since university and it always reminds me just what it takes to strive for success.
Audrey Hepburn- I’m a big fan of Audrey Hepburn. I love how classy and stylish she was yet simple and sophisticated. I have two books that profile her life and both have amazing pictures of her on the front cover and I love looking over and being reminded to do each task in my day with an air of class and sophistication, just like Audrey.- Wedding photos- I like to have my own wedding photos in my office. This is what got me
started in this business and fed my love for all things wedding. It’s also a business that’s afforded my husband and I to work together and as a husband and wife working together, well you can imagine, we don’t always agree. So I like to have our wedding photos around to remind us that love has been the basis of our relationship and this business. I also have one of my Gramma and Simon’s with us on our wedding day. They’ve both since passed and I like to be reminded of our guardian angels who I can always talk to during my day.
- Butterflies- As a kid I was really shy and not very popular (actually I was bullied quite badly). I didn’t like to stand out or take risks. But I’ve grown a lot since then. My aunt in Toronto compares it to a butterfly that’s come out of a cocoon. That I had to go through those trials to be the beautiful butterfly I am today.
- My University Degree- Well it cost me a lot of money that little piece of paper, but I sure am proud of it. I have a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Culture with a Major in Leisure and Tourism from the University of Calgary (it’s the same major as Van Wilder my husband always jokes). But it’s where I got my start in events and have a lot of great memories. I love learning and always continue to do so.
Thank you card- It’s always nice to see these around me because I love to reminisce about past clients and how much fun it was to work with them. I also love seeing their words of gratitude because it fuels my energy to work on the next wedding.- Hilarious pictures and sayings- I love a good laugh. If you meet me in person you’ll get to know that I love a good joke and have an infectious laugh. So I have a pin board with pictures of nuns jumping in the waves, a big dog eating a wedding cake while the couple is outside getting married, and pictures of Simon and I being silly in a photo booth. Life is short and sometimes you just need a good laugh.
- Feng Shui- My good friend Katie Weber of Red Lotus Letter turned me onto Feng Shui and I’ve organized my office (and my entire house actually) based on the principles I’ve learned from her and I’ve noticed a big difference.
So what’s in your office?
Ciara’s Rockstar Wedding Planner Advice
Even if you don’t have your own dedicated office you can still surround yourself with inspiration. Fun candles, picture frames, momentos from your travels. It’s important to constantly be inspired. Sometimes being a wedding planner can be lonely and that can get you down. By surrounding yourself with beauty and items filled with wonderful memories you surround yourself with fantastic energy. That fantastic energy changes the way you work and the type of clients you attract. Try making your office more inspirational and see what happens. Leave a comment below and tell me what inspires you in your office!
By Ciara Daykin
Very early on in my journey as a wedding planner I realized that this was what I wanted to do full time. Of course at the time I had a full time job and I was getting paid very well but it wasn’t my passion and I wasn’t happy.
One day I got so frustrated that I couldn’t spend more time planning weddings that I up and quit my job out of the blue and registered for a course to get my real estate license. I thought, I’ll sell BIG houses, make BIG commissions and that will pay the bills. And since no one will be telling me what to do I can work on my wedding planning business anytime I like.
Ha!
Let me say that again…. Ha!
Wow… was I ever naïve. I quickly and I mean quickly was completely overwhelmed, broke, begging for my old job back and then working 3 jobs (wedding planning, real estate and an oil and gas software marketing) because I’d made so many commitments that weren’t aligned with my passion and my purpose.
I didn’t think that I could have a full time, well paying wedding planning career until I realized that I couldn’t have anything BUT just that.
God didn’t want me to be an oil and gas software marketer. He didn’t put me on the Earth to be a real estate agent. I am and from an early age with Bridal Barbie, have always been, a Wedding Planner.
I shifted the way I was thinking and took the following steps to align my life with my passion and my purpose:
- I Created an Exit Strategy- What you focus on grows and I was so overwhelmed I couldn’t focus on anything but being overwhelmed so guess what? I just kept getting more and more overwhelmed. When I shifted my focus to my exit plan it sped up and I was able to exit both jobs quicker than I’d originally planned.
I Invested in Myself- I knew that in order to be a full time wedding planner I would need to figure out why I wasn’t attracting more brides or the high end ones? I took the marketing skills and experience I already had and gave them a boost by investing in sales, marketing and mindset courses and mastermind groups that completely changed my life. My path became so clear and I was able to create systems and implement them into my business and soon I had my first $10,000 full service wedding planning client.- I Believed That I Could Do It & That I Was Worth It- I would be nowhere without the shift that occurred in my mindset. I was actually an incredibly negative person and I pushed away a lot of opportunities because I didn’t feel worthy. But I realized that the only person I was hurting was myself, and with the help of my mentor I shifted my mindset to be one of complete faith in my abilities. I am a person who takes leaps of faith knowing that the net will appear and it always does because I am following my true path.
Ciara’s Rockstar Wedding Planner Advice
If you want to be a Rockstar Wedding Planner then you need to look at the way you’re living your life. Are you aligned with your true passion and purpose? Because whatever you put your attention toward grows. If you’re constantly focusing on how much debt you have, that will grow. If you’re obsessing over how nothing ever goes your way, well guess what, that isn’t going to change anytime soon. If you’re frustrated and angry that your competition is making changes in their business that you’d already thought of but didn’t do yet, then that will keep happening and the anger and frustration will grow but your business won’t.
If you have dreams of being a great wedding planner then it is time to step into your greatness and live a life filled with your passion and purpose by aligning your life with your true goals.
Ciara Daykin is the Rockstar Wedding Planner. She is an award-winning event planner and CEO of Firefly Occasions Inc. with offices in both Canada and the United States.
Ciara has devised a system for creating and maintaining a successful event planning business. She shares her knowledge with other planners through her Rockstar Wedding Planner coaching programs and various speaking engagements.
On my free call last week I got some feedback saying, “I can’t believe you support kickbacks.” I was actually quite surprised because you see, I don’t. But I did talk about affiliate commissions, which are quite different.
A kickback is a commission that you get from a vendor for referring them. As a wedding planner that could be quite tempting since a big part of our job is referring vendors. But there are a couple of reasons that I don’t follow the kick back model:
- I want my client to feel like I’m giving them the best referral for their personality, style and budget. I don’t want my referral being jaded by a percentage. I love meeting new vendors and exploring new options. My portfolio gets better and better because I recommend new and interesting vendors whom I’ve met on my travels who have cool new ideas for my brides. If I recommend the same people over and over again because I get a commission, all my weddings would look the same.
- When my client is given a price for a service or a product, which is then delivered, I want them to feel like they got great value. If a commission is tacked on by a vendor to the regular price the bride doesn’t know this. If regular price is $400 but they are charged $500 because a planner is getting a commission, they are expecting a $500 value whereas the vendor is only providing a $400 value. And that makes everyone look bad. This point was also made by famous cake designer, Silvia Weinstock, at a Engage 09. She said that she had a planner add a commission onto her cake without her knowing it and the bride was disappointed because the amount she paid was not representative of the product she received. Don’t you think that planner looked bad?
If a vendor offers me a discount for my client or a commission I’d rather give my client the discount. A big reason brides hire planners is to help them get discounts. It’s so much better when brides walk away feeling like they’ve saved money working with you versus spent more.
But I do work with affiliate commissions for things I recommend online or post as ads on my blog or my ezine. There are a lot of great wedding based companies that have affiliate programs. You get a commission if a bride clicks through from your site and makes a purchase online. Most of the time, you never meet or talk to this bride, and honestly, she’s rarely a client. It’s just a random bride looking through your website, she finds something of interest, clicks through and makes an online purchase and you get a cheque in the mail.
This is a format bloggers have been using for a long time with Google pay per click ads. If you don’t have a very busy blog then you’re not going to support yourself using Google pay per click ads but it doesn’t hurt to have banners for supporting products that your readers would be interested in. Here are some great examples for the wedding industry:
These are all places where you can sign up for an affiliate account and place a banner on your website, blog or ezine and reap the benefits of brides making purchases. The content you provide is what attracts these potential buyers. Eventually if your blog or ezine is popular enough you could sell ads, which would make you more money than the affiliate commissions you’d earn through the pay per click model.
I hope that this clarifies my feelings on kickbacks versus affiliate commissions. I’d love to see what your thoughts/ comments are on this philosophy.
By Ciara Daykin
I was watching Jay Leno’s new show and he was talking to Miley Cyrus via satellite and he asked her if she wasn’t in show business, what would she want to be? Her answer? A wedding planner. While Miley Cyrus will probably never be a real life wedding planner it got me thinking that I should offer her some advice on how to be a successful wedding planner, just in case (psst you can use this advice too even if you’ve been in the biz longer than Miley’s been singing).
So You Wanna Be a Wedding Planner?
When you decide to be a wedding planner it often is something that you fall into. You plan your own wedding and love it, you plan other events and one day a wedding falls in your lap, or you help out a friend for their wedding and things progress from there. But after your big début into wedding planning you’ve got to set up your business for success if you’re going to make this your career.
Here are 5 tips for setting up a foundation for a successful wedding planning career:
1) Dive Into the Industry- It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in the wedding planning industry it is crucial to be surrounded by your people. Whether it’s attending yearly conferences put on by industry associations, diving into a wedding planning workshop, or joining a wedding planner’s twitter chat group you’ve got to be involved. Other wedding professionals are your people and you can learn valuable lessons from them and the experiences they can share with you.
2) Learn As Much As You Can From the Experts- Whether you’re reading Preston Bailey’s books from cover to cover or participating in a Rockstar Wedding Planner coaching call you need to be learning from the experts. Learn from those in the industry who have great ideas in regards to décor, color and trends, but don’t forget to learn from those in the industry with great business and marketing skills as well. You need a good balance of both to make it in this world.
3) Create A Positive Environment- Tell naysayers to take a back seat. If you want to be a wedding planner then you go girl! (or guy!) Or if you’ve been doing this for awhile and want to step up your game then honey, let’s see you strap on those 4” hot pink stilettos and jump into the game. If you’re going to make it in any business venture you have to keep your mindset in check, that means get away from negative energy and surround yourself with encouragement, positive affirmations and energy boosting visualizations.
4) Figure Out Your Niche- So if Miley was going to be a wedding planner I’d tell her she better find a niche. For her maybe it’d be planning weddings for up and coming young Hollywood post Disney couples. But for you, you’ve got to find a niche because just having an engagement ring is not enough of a qualification. I know my exact flavor and the more I write to her and design my business around attracting her, the more I see her show up in my office.
5) Treat It Like A Business Not a Hobby- If you want to play J. Lo. and strap on a fanny pack and play dress up at a friend’s wedding then fine, but if you wanna get serious then that means treating this venture like a business not a hobby. If you want to be a full time wedding planner then you’ve got to set up an actual business, participate in the industry, support your fellow wedding professionals and create an exit strategy to get out of your corporate job. Most importantly you need a plan, you need to have a vision for where you want this company to go and you’ve got to act as the “Chief Entrepreneurial Officer” in charge of leading the business on that journey.
Miley the Next J. Lo?
Whether you’re just starting out in the wedding planning business or a seasoned pro the above tips can help you grow in success as a wedding planner. Just like the great band Journey says, “Don’t Stop Believing.” If this is your dream it is attainable just take action.
As for Miley, I think it’s too soon to see a remake of our favorite movie “The Wedding Planner.”
Love this article? Don’t forget to register for my free call “5 Ways to Renovate Your Wedding Planning Business and Earn More Money Without Exhaustion, Frustration and Worry”.
I’ve been really focused on growing my business and getting more and more high end brides. And it’s working! Great news…. BUT…..
There’s always a BUT….
There are brides that love my style, love how we plan events but because my prices have gone up they can’t afford to hire me as their wedding planner. These are brides that are ready to buy and it makes me really sad to turn them away. So after listening to photographer Laura Novak at a recent conference I thought she was on to something. Laura was in the same position as me as a photographer. As she grew so did her prices but it didn’t mean she wasn’t still attracting clients that would be great to work with but who just couldn’t reach her fee. She was busy enough so she created a second division to her company where she could refer these couples. They’d receive the Laura Novak photography style and treatment because she’d trained these associates and she wouldn’t lose out on the business. Brilliant!
So I applied this to my business and quickly came up with Simon and I running the Haute Couture division and an associate planner running the Pret a Porter division. They still become a client of Firefly and get access to our private collection of décor, our cool templates and spreadsheets, design ideas and our associates are trained in the Firefly Occasions style but at a fraction of the cost. It’s a total win win!
Could you do this in your business?
This is a great tactic to try while everyone is moaning over the economy. Could you create a second tier in your business so that you personally don’t have to lower your prices but brides and grooms could still gain access to your company’s style by working with an associate planner?
Another thought is- if people aren’t buying right now it means you’ve got to do a bit of renovations to your programs or packages. Maybe you promote coaching brides through their wedding planning rather than full service. It’s less of a cost for them but it also takes up less of your time and after talking to you on the phone for a year don’t you think you could upsell them to day of coordination?
What about tossing out some budget bride packages? Get some local vendors together and figure out how you could combine your services and give the bride a sweeter deal. That helps everyone out!
You need to think… How can I renovate my wedding planning?
And this idea is good to use all the time. I think it’s important that you give your business a little reno from time to time. Think about that boutique in your town that’s been there for 25 years without a paint job and the same mannequins in the window. It’s not very exciting and it probably wouldn’t attract today’s fashionista… It needs a little facelift to bring it up with the times and get people interested again.
Ciara’s Rockstar Wedding Planner Advice
How can you renovate your business? Are there some new programs or packages that you could create to spark some new interest? Are you loosing money by not having services for different levels of brides? Is there an area of your market that you’ve thought about tapping into but hesitated? Now is the time. Why not spiffy up your business right now and jump up to the next level?
