LAUNCHED!  Check out our two new courses:

courses.andreaeppolito.com

Get 50% Off through July 31st with the code LAUNCH50!

I believe in peer to peer education, and that online courses are the way of the future.  They allow us to learn at our own pace by other industry professionals, and we are able to tailor our learning to our own very specific needs at a very specific time.  We truly specialize in what we want, how we want, because we own the process.

We have launched two online educational courses. The Business Blueprint for Wedding Planners is a 4 hour crash course designed for the aspiring to new wedding planner who needs to solidify a strong business practice, while the Wedding Planner Masterclass is for established businesses that want to grow and evolve.

As someone who believes that you LEARN when you TEACH, what did I get from this? Well, first of all, my husband and I are rediscovering ourselves in the new dynamics of our relationship, which is exciting and interesting all at once. And on the business side, I have learned a lot about the care and feeding of your email list.

RECAP:

Qualifying real clients vs crazies.  When working with the 1%, some of the numbers and budgets we hear sound unreal, and yet they are absolutely legitimate.  How do you qualify the real clients and separate out the crazies?

This week I received 4 leads:  two have very attractive 6 figure budgets, one was not a fit, and one came in with a 7 figure budget.

One 6 figure client signed.  One has a conference call.  One went away, and the alleged 7 figure client took me and a local, well respected casino property on a ride…

So how do you qualify a real client vs a crazy?  How do you manage the business you have while you go after the business you want?   When working with budgets that seem unreal, how do you qualify a client and segment out the crazies?

WANT TO CONNECT:

www.andreaeppolito.com

YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/user/AndreaEppolitoEvents

WEBSITE:  www.andreaeppolito.com

INSTAGRAM:  www.instagram.com/andreaeppolito

The Engage Luxury Wedding Summit is the height of inspiration and education in our industry. Today, I am heading to my 10th Engage and looking back on the last 9 that I have been lucky enough to attend.  Every year, twice a year, this conference changes my business, and changes my life.  I love these people and am beyond excited to be heading out to The Bahamas for 5 days of Wedding Pro fun!

Andy Kushner is the Tim Ferris of the wedding industry.  Through his podcast, The Wedding Biz, Andy interviews the most prolific thought leaders in the wedding industry, providing education and inspiration to the next generation.  His background in event entertainment has allowed him the opportunity to witness our industry in operations first hand, and his unique perspective on how the wedding and event industry operates allows him to tell great stories.  

In this episode, Andy shares with me some of the best practices he has learned from planners and producers, and while he doesn't quite let the entire announcement slip, he does hint at big things to come for himself, his guests, and our industry.

If you would like to learn more about Andy, you can follow him at https://theweddingbiz.com/ or https://www.kushnerentertainment.com/.  Andy is also on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/weddingbizshow/.

And as always...you can find me at www.andreaeppolito.com and socially everywhere @andreaeppolito.

BIG ANNOUNCEMENTS on the podcast today!  As you know, last month my husband Tony Fisher rejoined Andrea Eppolito Events full time.  Tony is my partner in business and in life, and this has been a dream of mine.  He is NOT a wedding planner or an event designer.  Instead, Tony is taking over the business side of things, growing the brand, and developing the other areas of the industry we work in.  And with that, we have three BIG announcements and are super excited to introduce you to....

The Wedding Editorialist, our sister company which produces magazines dedicated to one couple or company at a time.  Check it out at www.weddingeditorialist.com

We have a book coming out this fall!  This has been a labor of love and a dream of mine for years, and knowing that in just a few months I will be able to pick up an actual book and share my work with the world is extraordinarily exciting.  This is a love letter to LAs Vegas and to the industry which has given me so much.

We are launching an educational program!  I love mentoring, coaching, and consulting.  It gives me an opportunity to use muscles and skills that I don't get to use with my couples.  I limit my coaching business in the same way that I limit the number of couples that I work with, and yet I really believe that education is the answer to nearly every problem we have.  I have invested over $150,000 in my own education post-college, and every dime was worth it.  Yet I understand that not everyone has the ability to travel the world attending conferences, to work with coaches and think tanks, or to take adjunct courses.

Every day I receive countless DMs, emails, and requests from business and aspiring planners that are asking for guidance or advice.  I do my best to answer everyone, and yet I know that it is impossible.  Which is why we have a Facebook Group, live classes, this podcast, and a series of online courses being developed that will help deliver blueprints and ideas to other businesses and creatives.  These online courses will allow people to work at their own pace, and they can go back to the content time and time again.  As their businesses grow we will add new courses and seminars, ensuring that there is always a safe place people can go to learn.  And for those who still want one to one sessions, I will be taking on 2 new clients for 2019 and opening the books for 2020 in November.

All of the new projects we are working on are going to be available to you at www.andreaeppolito.com - ensuring that Andrea Eppolito Events will stay wedding and couple centric.  

Hello, hello my friends!  Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to Sean Low, the founder of the BBC Collective.  The BBC is a think tank that allows creative business owners to come together and discuss the status of our industry, the problems that we face, and the opportunity to simply do better business and better art.

I adore Sean.  He is cerebral, he is in your face, he is brilliant, and he is utterly unapologetic in being who he is.  Sean moderates our group every week, and he has been instrumental in helping me put my business in perspective so that I can do what I love to do; which is make the world a more beautiful place. 

Check out the BBC Collectie Here:

https://thebbccollective.com/

Email [email protected]

As a designer, I sometimes struggle with the production part of watching what I see in my head come to life.  There is this risk associated with creating something very specific for a couple.  Watching my partners actually bring forth the image can be scary, and when all of the pieces are scattered there can be a moment of "Oh my God, what have I done?  I hate it!!!"  As it comes together, I find that I hate it less.  Then, I hate it much less, and less, and less...Until I love it.  

How can I avoid this anxiety?  Should I?  At what point does the gap between my design and the reality keep me sharp and on my toes, and at what point does it hinder me?

To watch a quick BTS video of an actual demo, and to hear my client talk about how important it is for her to understand the design, watch here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxFXe4YXKFE

And to learn more about The BBC Collective and the think tank that helps me shape my thoughts, visit https://thebbccollective.com.

Responsibility has been on my mind a lot lately.  How does responsibility translate into contracts?  Do we use them to CYA or to tell a story?    What is our actual responsibility to our clients vs the imaginary and legal ones we impose on ourselves?  When it comes to vendors, what do we take responsibility for?  How can we be responsible for vendors that we don't select?  Is there a difference between fault and responsibility?  Does it matter?

For additional information, consider this alternate resource:

https://instrktiv.com/en/blog/usability/customer-journey/

This week I received a thank you note that was so moving, because the couple truly understood what mattered.  We produced this wedding in less than 5 months by making very important and intentional decisions that were meant to tell a story.  In the end, the couple's appreciation went far beyond, "It was so beautiful" and straight to the heart of why I do what I do, which is to communicate, to add beauty, and to celebrate a life well lived.

What is our responsibility to one another as professionals, in terms of information? And what is the most respectful way to use the information we obtain?

I recently planned an ultra-luxe wedding, and decided to ask all of the partners involved to participate in a pre- and post- wedding evaluation of themselves and each other.  While I have yet to received feedback from the teams we worked with, I did my own Q&A and the results were utterly enlightening.