Wedding Industry Insider Podcast

WII 122: Diana Ganz on Her Approach to Growing a Successful Business

If you think your business isn’t big enough to create change, then catch the lessons from today’s guest. With her business partner, she disrupted an industry and brought in over 20  million dollars in revenue last year.

Diana Ganz is the Co-founder of SuitShop, the premiere destination for affordable, size-and gender-inclusive, and yours-to-keep suiting. A graduate of MIT’s Sloan School of Management, Diana teamed up with her childhood friend and fashion design guru Jeanne Foley to give couples a better option for their wedding attire. Launched as The Groomsman Suit in 2016, they rebranded as SuitShop to also include non-binary and women’s suits. Ultimately, SuitShop lets consumers purchase a quality, well-fitting suit for a price that’s less, or at least comparable, to the costs of traditional tux rentals. With virtual appointments as well as five showrooms, SuitShop is revolutionizing the purchase of suits and tuxedos for everyone. 

In this episode, Diana shares how SuitShop grew from an apartment launch to a multi-million dollar business. Specifically, she breaks down the business approach that has fueled SuitShop’s success.

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Wedding Industry Insider Podcast

WII 121: Master Your Budget with Cash Flow Management Tips from Danielle Hendon

According to this guest, if you’re a business owner who’s stressed about your budget or cash flow, then you’re not alone.  In fact, she’s sharing her expert tips about what you should do now in order to budget effectively.

Danielle Hendon is the founder and owner of 4 Corners CFO, LLC. Using her 10+ years in corporate finance/accounting, Danielle helps bring the benefit of “big business” financial analysis to entrepreneurs on a scale that fits their company and budget. Additionally, she has experience helping clients in the wedding industry improve their financial management.  

In this episode, Danielle talks about understanding and cushioning your cash flow so that you can effectively manage your budget throughout the entire year.

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Wedding Industry Insider Podcast

WII 114: Use These Resources to Take Control of Your Financial Reality

Dread dealing with your finances? Fear that becoming debt-free is impossible, or feel unsure about where you’re at? If you can relate, then tune in to this episode to get a better way of managing your financial reality.

Bree Carroll is the Owner of B Carroll Events, a full-service wedding and event planning agency based in Bossier City, Louisiana.  With a background in civil engineering, Bree combines her strategic problem-solving skills with intentional planning in order to create transformational experiences. In her work she helps other influential women achieve their goals while securing financial stability. Additionally, she is the Founder of Military Marriage Day and the host of the Hearts & Stripes Podcast. B Carroll Events has been featured by BRIDES, SUCCESS, and Military Families Magazine, among others. 

In this episode Bree talks about the best things you can do to get intentional about your current and future finances.

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Wedding Industry Insider Podcast

WII 111: Brian Green Breaks Down How to Build Your Brand

If you want to build your brand, then you must get strategic about the messaging that you’re putting out in the universe. 

So get started now with key lessons from this episode’s esteemed guest!

Brian Green is the Chief Event Architect and Creative Visionary of By BrianGreen, which provides award-winning custom wedding and event planning services in the Atlanta area and around the globe. With over 20 years of international events experience, Brian previously served as a Diplomat for Barbados and holds both Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) and Certified in Meeting Management (CMM) certifications. His work is widely recognized and featured in countless industry-leading publications. Brian is also a Mentor for The Knot Wedding Wire (TKWW), which in 2022 named him a TKWW WeddingPro Educator. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board for the National Society of Black Wedding & Event Professionals and is working on his first book.

In this episode, Brian shares the first things that you must do to build your brand while you steal back your joy in running your business.

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Wedding Industry Insider Podcast

WII 110: Add Online Wedding Rentals to Offer Your Clients More – with Marie Kubin

Do you love wedding décor? Or enjoy creating both the layout and the look of floor plans? If your answer is yes, then don’t miss this episode! Because today’s guest is all about rentals, especially in terms of what it means for your event planning business. 

Marie Kubin is the owner of Rent My Wedding, a nationwide wedding rental company. A former attorney, Marie launched Rent My Wedding in 2011 after struggling to find affordable, convenient, and easy décor items for her own wedding. Since then, Rent My Wedding has grown to offer packages including everything from lighting and uplighting to backdrops, photo booths, and more. Now the largest online event rental company in the U.S., it has also earned the most 5-star reviews in the event industry.

In this episode, Marie details how she started her business and shares practices that can help you grow yours. In particular, she offers an opportunity for you to stand out as a planner and earn additional income through Rent My Wedding.

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Wedding Industry Insider Podcast

WII 109: The Marketing Secret to Use in Your Messaging – with Kate Storey

Today’s guest first joined us in Episode 79 to share 4 steps to increase website conversions. Now, she’s back to help you create and market your unique story.

Kate Storey and her husband Nick are co-owners of Book More Brides, a marketing firm that specializes in helping wedding planners attract and book their ideal client couples. Kate is a digital marketing specialist, copywriter, and social media expert. Additionally, she is the host of The Book More Brides Podcast

In this episode, Kate breaks down the common problems with messaging. These include sounding like competitors, which leads customers to go by price, and presenting product details rather than emotional needs. Specifically, she illustrates why knowing your story is what makes your marketing efforts work without being forced. Read More “WII 109: The Marketing Secret to Use in Your Messaging – with Kate Storey”

Wedding Industry Insider Podcast

WII 106: Gain Control of Your Business One SOP at a Time, with Irene Tyndale

To gain control of your business, you need to map out your standard operating procedures (SOPs). Today’s guest explains where you can start.

Irene Tyndale is the Founder and CEO of Irene Tyndale Weddings & Events, an award-winning and full-service boutique event planning firm based in Atlanta. With a background in corporate event planning, Irene has over 20 years of industry experience. Her work has been featured in publications such as Modern Luxury and B Collective. Additionally, she is a leading industry speaker, author, coach, and educator.

In this episode, Irene challenges you to gain control of your business. Specifically, she highlights the importance of building relationships that later yield invaluable referrals, getting clear about the details of your procedures, and knowing your goals.

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Wedding Industry Insider Podcast

WII 104: Stick Your Foot in the Door Before it Shuts – with Megan Gillikin

Imagine that you not only quit your job but also took out a small business loan. In addition to that, you’ve only been married for 3 weeks. And then you learn the business you bought is basically sinking. What do you do? Today’s guest made a choice:

“I decided that I was committed to figuring it out, even though the fear of failure and the fear of unknown and the fear of never getting out from underneath the reputation – those fears were super, super strong.”

Megan Gillikin is the founder and owner of The Planner’s Vault, an educational resource and community-based network for wedding planners. She is also the host of the Weddings for Real podcast as well as an industry educator and speaker. Additionally, she is the owner of A Southern Soiree, a wedding and event planning company that she rebranded and revitalized after purchasing it in 2010.

In this episode, Megan shares about the lessons she gained from purchasing and rebranding an existing wedding planning business. Specifically, she talks about how she uses the experience to now help other wedding planners achieve their business goals.

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Wedding Industry Biz

3 Workflows to Automate in Your Event Business

Automation this, automation that. We often hear automation touted as the be-all and end-all, but many event pros excitedly sign up for software like Zapier or IFTTT only to realize they don’t know what to automate. When you’ve been in business for so long, your usual routines and processes are just par for the course. Your manual workflows become muscle memory, so you might not even realize that there are easier options.

But with technology rapidly evolving, there are many solutions at your fingertips — you just need to know where to look. And while your first thought may be to head over to Google, your starting place is actually right inside your business.

Here are three key business workflows to automate and how they will free up your bandwidth for work that fills you up.

Sales Workflow

To be clear, you can’t put your whole sales process on autopilot. Prospective clients still expect to meet with a human, so there’s no getting around that. However, there are plenty of transactional touchpoints you don’t have to handle on your own! For instance, if a contract hasn’t been signed, there’s no need for you to open up your inbox and write a follow-up email. Instead, see if your contract software allows for automated follow-up emails and let it do the heavy lifting for you.

Outline your sales workflow and identify any steps that don’t require a human touch. Perhaps your email marketing platform can auto-drip a welcome campaign to every new inquiry. Maybe you can set up a payment schedule template in your invoicing software to send invoices whether you’re at your desk or on the go. Use the tools you have or find new software to support your needs!

Client Onboarding Workflow

New clients come with lots of questions and even more backend to-dos, but that doesn’t mean it’s all on you. You can likely leverage tools you already have—like your website, CRM, or email platform—to save valuable time and treat clients to a consistently impressive onboarding experience.

Think about the steps of your onboarding workflow. What is the first thing that happens after they sign your contract and pay the deposit? Do you send a welcome guide in an email? Is there a kickoff call involved? You can automate most of these steps! 

Don’t worry if none of your systems allow for trigger-based automated emails. You can still leverage good old-fashioned Gmail to save time! Find the emails you send the most and save them as templates in your inbox, so you never have to rewrite them over and over. You can also pre-schedule emails, allowing you to batch a whole set of emails at once. It’s not 100% automated, but it will save you time and energy!

Invoicing Workflow

Nobody likes manual invoicing, but even worse is having to chase down outstanding payments. So don’t do it! Look for invoicing software that supports payment schedules, so you can set it and forget it. Clients will receive invoices like clockwork, and if they’d like, they can even set up auto-payments so nobody has to think about it.

Better yet, find a system that allows for automated reminders. No more awkward email reminders every few days – let the software handle that for you! A streamlined invoicing workflow lets you step away from admin and helps your clients pay quickly and more reliably, so it’s one of the best things you can do for your event business.

Beyond these three workflows, there are likely plenty of other small tasks you can simplify to save more time in your day. And rest assured, once you set up a few automations, you’ll start noticing other tasks you don’t need to do so you can continue offloading all of that unnecessary work! 

 

Elizabeth Sheils is the co-founder of Rock Paper Coin, the first software platform to bring together wedding planners, couples, and vendors into one system for managing and paying contracts and invoices. Elizabeth is also a lead wedding planner with award-winning firm Bridal Bliss, where she manages the Seattle team. In addition to recognition by Special Events in its Top 25 Event Pros to Watch series, she also earned a spot in The BizBash 500 for 2021.