If you’re anything like me, you started your wedding planning business because you LOVE planning weddings! The pretty details, the big smiles and being part of a family’s MOST important day!!

But it doesn’t take long to realize it takes a lot more than a love for events to build a successful wedding business. You want a stable income, you want security, you want to work less than 7 days a week, and you want to NOT feel stressed out all the time! I hear you friend! I see you. I WAS you.

Today, I’m breaking down the top 5 things that are killing your wedding business and the strategies to take you to the next level!

1. You’re wearing ALL THE HATS. In the beginning, it’s really the only way unless you’re a tech startup with tons of VC money. But your mission within the first year of being in business should be to grow enough to hire some help. A VA (virtual assistant), a bookeeper, a social media intern, an administrative assistant, whatever you need the most help with but help will be necessary for growth!

2. You don’t know your worth. This may be the hardest thing to learn when you’re first starting out but it’s so important to growing your business. Since you will have very little overhead, it’s easy to give free advice to friends, provide complimentary or very low cost services to people you know and more. But you have a valuable skill that your clients need so know your worth….then add tax!

3. You don’t have boundaries. So often I hear wedding industry owners tell me how exhausted they are and I get it. We work 14 hour event days, we try to be available in the evenings when our clients aren’t working and we take texts and calls late at night. But it’s not sustainable long term and not fair to our families. Let your clients know from the very first meeting what your available hours are, how they can best reach you and stick to it. If a client texts your cell phone during bedtime, copy it, paste it into an email to yourself and respond that you’ll get back to them when you’re in the office tomorrow. If you’re honest up front about your response time, when your clients can reach you and how, it will make for a healthy relationship as you plan their big day!
*Pro tip: I always tell my clients that starting the week of their wedding they can call or text me anytime and I will answer. But prior to that week, all other issues can be handled during normal hours!

4. You don’t know your numbers. This is a big one! Do you know how much it costs you to service each of your packages? In the service industry, we have very few hard costs and it can be tough to figure out what to charge. But it’s imperative to know what your hourly wage is so you can know if how many events you can take and what your annual earning potential is.

5. You’re not all in. Most wedding businesses start out as a side hustle and that’s great! But you have to have an all in date. The longer you keep your full time job as a security blanket, the longer you will only dabble in building your business! Set a date, set a financial goal to match it and go. all. in!

So now that you know the top killers of your business and how to fix them, what are you waiting for?? Get out there and be amazing!