Own Your Business

Want to know what I’ve learned looking at hundreds of wedding pros’ offerings and pricing?

Most people are doing it wrong. And unfortunately, it’s costing you business - both in clients lost and money left on the table.

Here’s the good news: I’ve got insights to share with you today that will help convert more couples and get them to feel comfortable paying higher prices for your services.

In today’s episode of Own Your Business, I share:

- How I got my start practicing choice architecture at The Olive Garden

- What behavioral economics has to say about package and pricing design, and

- Three keys to sharing your pricing to make it easy for people to say yes

Enjoy the show today!

Let me ask a question that most wedding pros I know can’t answer:

What’s your exit strategy? 

Here’s another one: 

What’s your growth strategy?

And let’s be clear: Charging more is NOT a growth strategy. Yes, getting couples to pay higher prices is part of success. But at some point you’ll hit a ceiling with how much people are willing to pay.

Real growth - and most exit plans - are built on your ability to get others to do the work you’re currently doing now. 

It’s the old adage that the first thing you should do when you get a new job is find a way to replace yourself. That’s because you can’t grow your career if you don’t get a promotion.

But how do you do that if you’re the owner of the business? That’s what I talk about today with Eatherley Shultz, the Owner of Floressence Flowers out of Asheville, North Carolina. 

Eatherley and I started working together back in 2018 after we met on a walk along the Bow River in Banff, Canada. She’d already achieved solid success with her business, but not she wanted less. 

Yes, you heard me correctly: Less. Not more.

Less stress.

Less chaos and confusion.

Less time doing all the things her clients needed her company to do.

Less turnover with her team.

And so many other things.

Tune into today’s podcast to hear Eatherley’s story, which is a triumphant one, about how she got out of her own way to let the team reach its full potential - and give her a sense of fulfillment that was more impactful than any big price tag she’s put on an invoice.

Because when you reach a certain level of success, it’s not about how to charge more for your services. It’s about how to get more from your company.

We all want more ideal clients. But how do you get more of them to land in your inbox?

It’s not magic. But it’s also not as simple as cold-DMing planners and upgrading your branding.

In this episode Katy and I talk about:

- What goes into an ideal client avatar

- How you can communicate messages to trigger ideal clients

- Why some messages connect and others don’t

Stay tuned. You won’t want to miss this short deep-dive that gives you a blueprint for getting better inquiries and bigger budgets.

PLANNERS: Here's a link for our advanced training program to book more full-service clients at higher prices.

www.breakthroughweddingplanning.com

Scarcity is a powerful persuasive tool. But it’s also a dangerous one, because when used too often or with too heavy of a hand it can backfire - and kill a deal faster than you can say, actually there’s not really an expiration on the proposal I sent you.

In today’s episode, I’ll share with you:

- Ways you might be using scarcity without even knowing it

- How it impacts buyers positively and negatively

- What buyer type sees huge value in hard-to-get services, and

- The two buyer types who shut down when you use scarcity to urge the sale

This is powerful stuff. I hope you tune in all the way through. You might have to listen twice, it's that nuanced.

Do you ever feel like you have 28 hours of things to do every day? Yeah, me too. 

In fact, I recently read about a mindset called “time poor,” which I suffer very badly from. It’s awful. I never feel like I have enough time. 

And to top it all off, I still feel guilty for not putting enough time into the things that matter to me. Just the other day, I started work at 700am and felt awful, like I was playing hookie with my day. 

Over the past 100+ episodes, we’ve devoted a total of ZERO to time management. And many of you are in the thick of it, because September and October are the two busiest months for weddings. So…it’s a perfect chance to bring in my time management guru, Katy Taylor Jacobson, to talk about:

- How to pick the big rocks to put on your calendar

- Missteps even the best make when planning out their time

- The next big move you can make to create more space for the important things in work and life

No one spends more time with couples getting married than full-service wedding planners. They’re in the mix of it all, including:

- Budget conversations between couples and with their parents

- Mulling over how to pick what vendors

- What are their priorities for the wedding

- How they feel about each aspect of the experience

And so. much. more.

Which means if you want to know what’s going on in the mind of today’s couple you go to the planners because they know the most.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t like to waste time guessing about things, especially when it’s so easy to simply know something by asking others or looking it up. Who’s got time for trial and error? Or the stress that goes with faking it till you make it?

So this week, I’m sharing a replay of a conversation I hosted last week with three top wedding planners, Caitlin Fulton Kuchemba, Megan Gillikin and Liz McKellar, to get their take on:

- Vendor referrals and how NOT to approach planners

- What couples want for their weddings in 2024

- How you can stand out in a crowded marketplace

- Why planning timelines are all over the place

- Value shifts from Millennials to Gen Z

Buckle up. It’s a candid, real, and honest conversation about what works and doesn’t work anymore post-pandemic.

People ask me all the time what to expect for the upcoming season. Will inquiries be up? Down? Should I plan for it to be slower or busier? 
The short answer is unless we face another pandemic, the new normal is likely to be business as usual. Here’s what I mean by that: Go back to what you were dealing with in 2018 and 2019. THAT is what it will be like for the rest of 2023 and throughout 2024.
Basically, you’ve got to stand out from the crowd to get enough inquiries from the right kinds of couples, and then you need to convert them with excellent sales skills. Simple right? Ha!
So today, I’m bringing in copywriting ringer and my better half in business and life, Katy Taylor Jacobson, to share with you ways to cut through the noise and connect with you best buyers.
Enjoy the conversation.

Katy and I may get a lot of the spotlight when it comes to our company, but it’s not just us doing the Good Work of helping business professionals reach their goals. Oh no, we’ve got an entire team working behind the scenes and directly with clients to make the magic happen. We’re currently at seven full-time team members, and we’re looking to bring back our eighth this fall. 

I thought it’d be fun to have our senior copywriter join me today for a conversation about what it’s like to work on website projects for our company. What our clients learn during the experience. How they apply new insights to their business. What surprises them as they bring their website to life.

Lauren Bryan has a lot to share after working on nearly 100 copywriting projects these past few years. I know you’ll learn more than a few things from her over the next half hour.

Do you remember that app Clubhouse? The one that had that brief two or three months in the spotlight over the 2021 winter? I loved that app. Maybe you did too, and it might be the reason you’re listening to this podcast in the first place. It certainly was my inspiration.

One of the best things that came from my time on Clubhouse was a long-lasting relationship with John Bunn and Nick Miller, two videographers who run How to Film Weddings. John reached out after a Clubhouse binge I went on back in January 2021, and the three of us hit it off right away.

I’ve been a guest on  their podcast several times, presented in their mastermind four times, and gave a talk at their last retreat. We’ve also done an advanced group coaching program called Momentum specifically for videographers, so if you’re interested in signing up for the next one this winter, reach out.

But today, we’re turning the tables and bringing Nick and John on MY podcast to share their own business journeys as videographers. Because in addition to offering advice to their community, they’ve brought me on as a business coach and our copywriters as the wordsmiths for their websites. 

Videographers, pay attention. But so should anyone who wants to elevate their business to charge more, feel proud of what you promote, and know with 100% confidence you’re doing the right things with your company. 

This is the story of how you can work less and make more in the real world.

It’s hard to get it all done as a business owner. We often spend too much time as an employee of our company rather than the CEO. This weekend’s wedding is filled with fires you have to put out, but it takes away your opportunity to plan out next year’s success.

In this episode of Own Your Business, I’ll walk you through:

- Four different areas of your business that require months of work before you see rewards

- Three things you can do today to put a plan in place for future goals

- And the #1 thing you’ve got to do if you want to raise your prices for next year