Own Your Business

When someone asks how business is going, what do you say? And how much of it is true?

Kate Turner is the founder and creative director of Kate and Company Events, a Midwest planning and design firm going on 17 years, and a co-founder of Landlocked Luxury. In this episode, Sam and Kate get honest about her worst year in business, what rock bottom looked like, and how she rebuilt a company that's financially healthier today than it was during the post-COVID boom.

You'll learn:

• Why tracking every client dollar means nothing if you skip your own books

• How to quiet the inner critic that turns one bad year into total failure

• What it looks like to lean on your network when business gets hard

• The truth about how being open with peers can turn into real revenue

When does “someday” finally show up? And what are you giving up while you wait for it?

KT Merry has spent nearly 20 years photographing luxury destination weddings and editorials around the world, and she now helps photographers and filmmakers build their businesses through her education work. In this episode, Sam and KT talk about building a life alongside the business: turning down a contracted wedding for the first time, stepping into a new seven-year cycle of her career, and making room for the horses and conservation work she put off for years.

You’ll learn:

• Why your calendar and checkbook tell the truth about what you value

• How to decide when a personal commitment outranks a big wedding

• What comparing yourself to peers costs when you only see a tenth of the story

• The truth about booking fewer weddings and expecting more free time

Ask most wedding pros what makes a business luxury, and you'll hear about budgets, guest counts, and the names in their portfolio. Ask Jason Rhee, and he'll tell you to watch how they treat the waiter.

On the State of the Industry panel in September, Jason said the wedding industry has lost the plot on luxury. In this episode, Sam and Jason talk about why kindness disappears at the top, the elitism that shuts newcomers out, and why every vendor and staff member on the job deserves the same care as the couple paying the bill.

You'll learn:

• Why luxury is measured by how you treat people

• How elitism at the top pushes newcomers out of the industry

• How overgiving turns into resentment, and what that means for your pricing

• The truth about who gets the call when the big budgets come in

Your next couple has studied your work, your website, and your Instagram before you ever know they exist. Will they find enough to reach out?

Daria Neretina started as a wedding planner in Russia 18 years ago and built Wed Vibes Media to give wedding creatives a bigger voice. Alina Krupenina brings a career in consumer marketing for brands like Nutella and Nescafé. In this episode, Sam, Daria, and Alina break down how Gen Z couples research and choose their vendors, and what wedding pros need to show on social media to make the shortlist.

You'll learn:

• Why Gen Z couples treat their wedding as an identity purchase

• How to turn a finished wedding into a story people will watch

• What to share about yourself, and what to leave out

• The two posts every wedding pro should publish first

What does it take to build a business that doesn't need you in every room?

In this episode, Sam sits down with Josh Spiegel, founder and CCO of Birch Event Design, a luxury event design and production company he's built over twenty years. Josh talks through growing a one-man operation into a team of forty, the identity crisis that came with hiring a CEO to run the company he started, and what it really took to let go of control without losing what made the business work.

You'll learn:

• Why hiring a CEO felt like an identity crisis for Josh, and how he worked through it

• How to scale luxury work without cloning yourself ten times over

• What separates founders who let go of control from those who burn out holding on

• The mindset shift from chasing recognition to building real competence

Why isn't a beautiful portfolio booking clients the way it used to?

In this episode, Sam sits down with Anja Winikka, CEO and founder of the Freeda Network, a company that places established wedding industry business owners into small, confidential peer groups for ongoing support. Anja has spent over twenty years in the wedding industry and has a front row seat to the conversations business owners are having behind closed doors. She and Sam dig into why AI has made polished portfolios table stakes, and what's replaced them as the real reason couples choose who to hire.

You'll learn:

• Why couples are comparing pricing and vendor notes with their friends before they ever call you

• How showing your pricing logic builds more trust than a perfect photo gallery

• What separates business owners who thrive from those stuck chasing likes and content

• Why peer community, not more content, is becoming the real competitive edge

You could have the best portfolio in your market and still watch your calendar sit half empty this year. It’s no longer about how good your work is, it’s about how good your word is. That’s right: It’s all about trust right now.

In this episode, Sam sits down with five wedding pros for the fourth annual State of the Industry panel: a planner, a photographer, a designer, a DJ, and a peer network founder who spends her month inside confidential rooms with established business owners. Unscripted, unrehearsed, and more honest than most conversations in this industry get.

You'll learn:

• Why trust replaced portfolio as the thing that books weddings right now

• How to tell if a couple is pre-sold or pre-skeptical before you say a word

• Why the wedding industry’s lost the plot over the past few years

• The real reason some businesses are thriving while others slowly struggle

Most discovery calls get through the checklist but never reach the truth. In this episode, Sam and Katy break down why a discovery call is where you guide a couple to discover what they want, not where you pitch, and walk through the specific open-ended question to ask for seven different vendor categories.

You'll learn:

• Why couples often don't know what they need until the right question surfaces it

• The difference between an open-ended and a closed question, and why it matters on a sales call

• Specific questions to ask couples if you're a photographer, planner, florist, or videographer

• How to turn a couple's answer into a pitch, without ever sounding like one

Two quick newsflashes:

AI is changing how couples search. A new generation of buyers is changing what they expect. And a flood of new business owners is changing who you're competing against. Shift how you do business, or watch your traction slip away.

If you're feeling like you're flying blind — you're not alone. But you can't afford to wait and see what happens next.

So here’s the second PSA: If you love this podcast, then push pause on it and go sign up for our annual State of the Industry panel on Monday, September 14th at 12pm ET. Don't worry, I'll wait. Now, seriously — push pause and go to our Instagram @ideactionconsulting and sign up through the link in our profile. 

Okay, good, now that you're back. I'm sitting down with five of the savviest people in this industry — Anja Winikka, Kate Turner, Jason Rhee, Malike Adigun, and KT Merry — to talk about what's really going on in 2026, and what's coming in 2027.

Hard truths. Honest conversation. No sugarcoating.

And it's free. It's virtual. So put on your stretchy pants, pour yourself something — coffee, wine, no judgment, depends on the time of day — and sign up now.

Every wedding business owner wonders if they're the only one struggling with something. They're not. In this episode, Sam pulls ten real, fully anonymized questions from client calls over the last two weeks, and he and Katy talk through each one live, tying it back to a New York Times piece on why the most successful people ask for help instead of grinding through alone.

You'll learn:

• Why the same handful of problems show up across almost every wedding business

• What to do when you're ready to level up but not sure a rebrand is the answer

• How to know if a rate increase backfired because of unclear signals, not price

• What business owners wish someone had told them before a big life or market change

Two quick newsflashes:

AI is changing how couples search. A new generation of buyers is changing what they expect. And a flood of new business owners is changing who you're competing against. Shift how you do business, or watch your traction slip away.

If you're feeling like you're flying blind — you're not alone. But you can't afford to wait and see what happens next.

So here’s the second PSA: If you love this podcast, then push pause on it and go sign up for our annual State of the Industry panel on Monday, September 14th at 12pm ET. Don't worry, I'll wait. Now, seriously — push pause and go to our Instagram @ideactionconsulting and sign up through the link in our profile. 

Okay, good, now that you're back. I'm sitting down with five of the savviest people in this industry — Anja Winikka, Kate Turner, Jason Rhee, Malike Adigun, and KT Merry — to talk about what's really going on in 2026, and what's coming in 2027.

Hard truths. Honest conversation. No sugarcoating.

And it's free. It's virtual. So put on your stretchy pants, pour yourself something — coffee, wine, no judgment, depends on the time of day — and sign up now.

Sam set a trap for an AI chatbot: a series of wedding questions he already knew it would get wrong, just to see how wrong. The answers were bad enough to bring straight to the show. In this episode, Sam and Katy break down real AI responses couples are getting right now, and what that misinformation does before a couple ever picks up the phone.

You'll learn:

• Why couples are asking AI instead of Googling, and what changed

• The real dollar figures AI gave for a Napa wedding, and how far off they were

• How AI's overconfident answers set couples up for a bad first conversation

• Two places vendors can leverage to correct the misinformation

Two quick newsflashes: AI is changing how couples search. A new generation of buyers is changing what they expect. And a flood of new business owners is changing who you're competing against. Shift how you do business, or watch your traction slip away.

If you're feeling like you're flying blind — you're not alone. But you can't afford to wait and see what happens next.

So here’s the second PSA: If you love this podcast, then push pause on it and go sign up for our annual State of the Industry panel on Monday, September 14th at 12pm ET. Don't worry, I'll wait. Now, seriously — push pause and go to our Instagram @ideactionconsulting and sign up through the link in our profile. 

Okay, good, now that you're back. I'm sitting down with five of the savviest people in this industry — Anja Winikka, Kate Turner, Jason Rhee, Malike Adigun, and KT Merry — to talk about what's really going on in 2026, and what's coming in 2027.

Hard truths. Honest conversation. No sugarcoating.

And it's free. It's virtual. So put on your stretchy pants, pour yourself something — coffee, wine, no judgment, depends on the time of day — and sign up now.