Transcript of Short 48 – You Did It!

The Wedding Pro CEO SHORTS are quick, bite-sized episodes are meant to inspire you as you build the business you’re dreaming of! 

[00:00:00] Brandee Gaar: We want to change our industry. We don’t want to be known as an industry that’s just overworked and overwhelmed all the time anymore. 

[00:00:08] Brandee Gaar: Hey, they’re CEOs. Welcome back to the last short of 2022 of the Wedding Pro CEO podcast. My name is Brandee Gaar and I’m on a mission to help you, the wedding industry entrepreneur, to build a profitable wedding business that you actually love. 

[00:00:27] Brandee Gaar: I cannot believe that I’m saying that this is the last short of the year.

[00:00:31] Brandee Gaar: Doesn’t feel like it just flew by? It absolutely does to me it feels a little bit overwhelming, but it’s also always this excitement of a fresh start that we get anytime a new year is starting. Right? 

[00:00:44] Brandee Gaar: And so on today’s episode, I wanna do a little exercise with you that I did with my CEO Mastermind students a few weeks ago, and I wanna talk about your year in review.

[00:00:55] Brandee Gaar: What does that mean? 

[00:00:56] Brandee Gaar: Well, a lot of times we will set goals in [00:01:00] January, right? If you were part of my goal setting workshop back in January, or you listen to a myriad of episodes on this podcast. I talk a lot about goals in January and setting goals. So hopefully you did those and you wrote them down somewhere, but if you’re like about 60% of the world, you probably wrote them down, got super excited about them for about 30 days, and then lost them or put them in a drawer somewhere, right?

[00:01:22] Brandee Gaar: In my CEO mastermind group, I actually had everyone’s goals written down from when we did our goal setting workshop back in January, and I knew what everyone in the group had written down for goals. 

[00:01:34] Brandee Gaar: We always write down a financial goal. A team goal for their business and a personal goal. Okay. So I had all of these already written down and it was really interesting when everyone came to the call to hear how many people thought that they hadn’t met any of their goals. 

[00:01:50] Brandee Gaar: They were like, I don’t know. I feel like I set some crazy goals and I don’t, I don’t think I actually achieved any of them. 

[00:01:58] Brandee Gaar: And there’s one student [00:02:00] in particular, she literally said this to me right, as soon as she got on the call, she was like, I didn’t achieve any of my goals. I know I didn’t. I’m super frustrated with myself. It just feels like the year’s been really challenging.

[00:02:09] Brandee Gaar: So we started with her and I got her goals out and we started ticking through them I think she accomplished two of the three, which was mind blowing. And for her, you could just see her smile. It was just like giant across the screen. the reason for that is because often we just get bogged down with all the things that are coming at us as entrepreneurs, right?

[00:02:29] Brandee Gaar: Like there’s so many things that come at you over and over and you forget to look back and see, all that you accomplished in that year, in addition to the two things that she did accomplish of her three goals, she actually had a lot of other wins as well that she’d never even set as a goal, but life, right?

[00:02:51] Brandee Gaar: Life gave her some other opportunities that she was absolutely able to take advantage of. And so once we went through those. Her whole demeanor changed. 

[00:02:59] Brandee Gaar: [00:03:00] And as you’re going into a new year, it’s so important to do a year in review, not only to assess if you met your goals or if you had any goals that you fell short on, and if you still wanna achieve that one, but also to think about, what were the things that weren’t even a goal? They weren’t even on your radar at this time last year, but you were able to, take advantage of some really cool opportunities throughout the year. We forget about those so often, and so it’s important to give yourself this win. Okay? 

[00:03:32] Brandee Gaar: So I want you to do this exercise as well.

[00:03:35] Brandee Gaar: If you know where your goals are, if you wrote them down somewhere in your computer, you wrote them in your remarkable, you put ’em on a whiteboard, something. If you made those goals and you wrote them down and you know where they are, I want you to get them out. 

[00:03:48] Brandee Gaar: And I want you to look and see did you achieve it?

[00:03:51] Brandee Gaar: Did you come close to achieving it, or did it become a goal that you actually didn’t want to do anymore, like it didn’t align with you anymore, and why? 

[00:03:59] Brandee Gaar: [00:04:00] So I want you to look at that. 

[00:04:01] Brandee Gaar: The next thing I want you to do is really think back through your whole year, and this will take some thought. 

[00:04:06] Brandee Gaar: I did it and I’m gonna share some of mine with you.

[00:04:09] Brandee Gaar: It actually took me a lot more thought than I thought it would but once I really sat down and I went through the calendar and I was like, okay, what did we do in January? What was that month like? 

[00:04:18] Brandee Gaar: February, March, I started to realize, oh my word, like there were so many things that we did that were not on a goal board anywhere. Opportunities came our way and we were able to implement and take advantage of these things. And so now looking at the list, I’m like, wow. Right?

[00:04:35] Brandee Gaar: And not only does it make me feel accomplished and realize that we actually have done so much more than it feels like we did this year, it also gives me that energy for next year to say, well, if I could achieve all of that, this year.

[00:04:47] Brandee Gaar: then why would I not be able to do that next year? Right? 

[00:04:50] Brandee Gaar: Okay. So I’m gonna share some of mine with you, and what I want you guys to do is I want you to write yours down. 

[00:04:55] Brandee Gaar: It doesn’t have to be fancy, a scratch sheet of paper. 

[00:04:57] Brandee Gaar: And I want you to come into the Wedding Pro [00:05:00] CEO community. We’re on Facebook.

[00:05:01] Brandee Gaar: I’ll put a link in the show notes below. 

[00:05:03] Brandee Gaar: And I’m gonna make a post about what your goals are. What your year and review was, and I want you to come share your wins with us. I want you to just tell us whatever you want to.

[00:05:13] Brandee Gaar: 1, 7, 14 things that was something that you accomplished this year, whether you set it on a goal board or not, because I wanna celebrate each other like 2022 was no joke.

[00:05:23] Brandee Gaar: So to get your creative juices flowing, here are a few of the things that I’ll share with you of accomplishments that we had this year, and I’ll tell you which ones were goals and which ones weren’t. Okay?

[00:05:32] Brandee Gaar: The first one was we started doing two episodes a week, two podcast episodes every single week. 

[00:05:38] Brandee Gaar: This was a goal. 

[00:05:39] Brandee Gaar: We had set this goal last quarter of 2021, and we had said, We are gonna start publishing two episodes a week. It felt so daunting. I thought, there’s no way we’re gonna actually be able to do this.

[00:05:51] Brandee Gaar: It feels overwhelming. But we did it and it was amazing and we put a plan in place and we have not missed a single Thursday short [00:06:00] except for the month that we took off in August. We have not missed a single Thursday short this entire year, and it’s been awesome.

[00:06:06] Brandee Gaar: They’re either bite sized edu education or I’m kind of coming here and just sharing my heart with you. Like I literally just stand in front of the camera and start talking.

[00:06:12] Brandee Gaar: So the Thursday shorts have been, amazing. Okay,? 

[00:06:15] Brandee Gaar: So Thursday shorts was a goal and we accomplished it. 

[00:06:19] Brandee Gaar: Another one is that we changed the name of the podcast, back in May. On May 5th. We changed the name of this podcast. It used to be the She Who Dares podcast. we came up with that name randomly because it happened to be what was on my shirt the day I did my brand shoot. I know. 

[00:06:37] Brandee Gaar: And. Then we decided to change it. 

[00:06:40] Brandee Gaar: We, my husband and I invested in a podcast coach back in May because we felt like we needed some help with really getting these episodes out to make the most impact on the most wedding professionals as possible. 

[00:06:52] Brandee Gaar: We hired a podcast coach and his very first suggestion was to change the name of the podcast.

Which accomplished goal this year gave you the most satisfaction? Share that and tag me on Instagram!

[00:06:57] Brandee Gaar: And we did. We did. We [00:07:00] implemented it. It was not easy. We had a ton going on that month, but we did it. 

[00:07:04] Brandee Gaar: And I can say that wasn’t a goal, but it was a huge opportunity. Leading to another goal, right? 

[00:07:10] Brandee Gaar: Our goal was to double the downloads on this podcast from last year. We wanted to double the number of listens that we had in 2021. In 2022. 

[00:07:19] Brandee Gaar: I think changing the name had a lot to do with that. That was not something that was on our goal board, but doubling the downloads were, and I’m happy to say we have almost, four times our podcast downloads, from 2021 to 2022. 

[00:07:35] Brandee Gaar: Which is mind blowing and has everything to do with the fact that you guys show up every single week, that you listen and you take action on the episodes, that you share it with other wedding professionals.

[00:07:47] Brandee Gaar: And I cannot say enough how thankful I am, how grateful we are to you for continuing to do that because, it helps us to make such a much larger impact on our industry. So thank you for that! 

[00:07:59] Brandee Gaar: [00:08:00] Four times. So we crushed that goal. 

[00:08:03] Brandee Gaar:  The next one is we started a Facebook group. So I swore, I, I, when I tell you as of May 1st, I was like, I will never start a Facebook group, ever.

[00:08:11] Brandee Gaar: I’m never gonna start a Facebook group. And then we started a Facebook group. 

[00:08:15] Brandee Gaar: Why? Because our podcast Coach told us that we should, and it would help us to build community. And to be honest, it’s been one of my favorite things to pour into this year. I absolutely love having that community over there on Facebook.

[00:08:26] Brandee Gaar: You can drop down into the show notes below and click the link to join it if you’re not already in there. 

[00:08:31] Brandee Gaar: It’s a great place for you to ask questions either from an episode that you heard or something you saw me say on Instagram or just to get advice from other wedding pros who are billing their businesses just like you.

[00:08:41] Brandee Gaar: So we started the Wedding Pro CEO community back in May and it was not something that was on my goal board clearly, cuz I told you I would never do it, but we did and it’s amazing. 

[00:08:51] Brandee Gaar: Another one is that we took a two week vacation to Hawaii. 

[00:08:55] Brandee Gaar: This was a bucket list trip for my family.

[00:08:58] Brandee Gaar: We’ve wanted to do it for a long [00:09:00] time. It’s an expensive trip, so we had to plan accordingly. 

[00:09:03] Brandee Gaar: And why do I share this one with you? 

[00:09:06] Brandee Gaar: Because as entrepreneurs, we’re also humans, and I always ask all of my students to make not only their professional goals, but also personal goals because it’s so important that we understand that our family wants to understand the fruits of our labor as well. 

[00:09:21] Brandee Gaar: We need to have goals, personal goals. They don’t have to be a two week vacation. They can be that. You wanna be able to, you know, take one weekend off a month, they can be that you wanna start paying yourself more, whatever that is. 

[00:09:32] Brandee Gaar: But my goal was to go to Hawaii for two weeks, which we did, and I will say it was everything I’ve ever dreamed of and more, and was 100% worth the effort to get there. 

[00:09:43] Brandee Gaar: The next one is I spoke at six engagements this year. 

[00:09:46] Brandee Gaar: Six different groups had me come and speak, and I got to impact so many people face to face. 

[00:09:52] Brandee Gaar: I love this podcast so much. I love that I get to come into your ears, but there is something magical about connecting with people, [00:10:00] face-to-face, like I absolutely love it! 

[00:10:03] Brandee Gaar: One of the speaking engagements that I got to do was Wedding MBA.

[00:10:07] Brandee Gaar: So many of you were there. There were over a thousand people in the audience, which is mind blowing, and something I would’ve never put on a goal board years ago. 

[00:10:17] Brandee Gaar: Speaking at Wedding MBA was something I put on my goal board when I very first became a speaker and coach. I did it for the first time last year.

[00:10:25] Brandee Gaar: I’d say There was about 150 people in the room that I spoke in, and I went again this year. There was over a thousand people in the room. It was mind blowing and something I was super, super honored to get to do, and I hope that I continue to get to impact so many wedding professionals in that way in the future.

[00:10:42] Brandee Gaar:  And the last one was that I hosted a Summit. I hosted a Summit! 

[00:10:48] Brandee Gaar: And that feels crazy because it was on our goal board, but not actually in December. 

[00:10:55] Brandee Gaar: It didn’t make it to our goal board until January. And that was when one of my students [00:11:00] asked if I would ever consider hosting my own in-person event, whatever kind that was.

[00:11:06] Brandee Gaar: And she asked would I consider doing it? And she would love to come instead of promoting, um, some of the other events that I was promoting that I would be at. She was like, would you consider just doing your own? And I was kind of like, I don’t. I don’t know. 

[00:11:20] Brandee Gaar: And we decided to do it. So In January we decided, yes, we’re gonna do it.

[00:11:24] Brandee Gaar: If you go back and listen to the, it’s called New Year, new Goals, the first episode of 2022. I talked about the Summit and the fact that I was like, I know we’re gonna have one. I don’t know anything else about it. I didn’t know the date. I didn’t know the hotel. I didn’t know the speakers or the sponsors or literally anything.

[00:11:42] Brandee Gaar: I was just like, we’re just gonna do it. 

[00:11:43] Brandee Gaar: And kind of going back to what I talked about last week in last week’s short about taking action, the difference between whether I was actually gonna succeed at having a summit or fail at having a summit was, I put everything I had into that Summit, everything. I loved it all on the floor.

[00:11:59] Brandee Gaar: And [00:12:00] it was so successful that we are almost sold out for this year’s Summit. 

[00:12:05] Brandee Gaar: That’s a testament to you guys showing up. Again, it’s a testament to so many of you showing up and saying, yes, we wanna do the work.

[00:12:13] Brandee Gaar: We want to change our industry. We don’t want to be known as an industry that’s just overworked and overwhelmed all the time anymore. 

[00:12:21] Brandee Gaar: We want to understand how to build a profitable business that does not require our constant oversight, that doesn’t require 24 hour workdays, that doesn’t require seven days a week.

[00:12:31] Brandee Gaar: That’s what we want and that’s what we deserve to have. And so it’s a testament to you continuing to show up and to learn how to build that type of business so that you can love the business that you’ve built. 

[00:12:42] Brandee Gaar: Okay, so those are mine. Come over to the Wedding Pro CEO community and share your wins with me.

[00:12:47] Brandee Gaar: Whether it was a goal that you crushed or something that came your way throughout the year. I wanna know and I wanna celebrate with you, so please come over to the community and share your wins with me, and I will see you in [00:13:00] 2023. Have an awesome new year!

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