It’s tough for couples to pick all the vendors they need for their wedding. It could be 20, maybe 30 or more. And that means a ton of research to find the right ones. Reviews and other forms of social proof help potential clients cut through the noise and reduce the risk in choosing you over others.

Humans make 35,000 decisions every day. Most of them are made automatically without even thinking. The very small percentage that use conscious thought require lots of energy, and, if too many need to be made, can lead to decision-fatigue.

Tired of running out of hours in the day? Or days in the week? Or months in the year? Katy and I like to say the days are long and the months are short because we always feel like we’re doing so much, but it’s never enough time. In this week’s episode of Own Your Business, I share my insights on how to free up more time to spend on priorities for your company.

If you want a career that lasts - and you love doing it everyday, no matter what time of year - you have to operate with principles for long-term success.

In this week’s episode of Own Your Business, I’ll explore how to create a “place of bliss” in your business.

We all start our companies for different reasons. What’s yours?

Blogging is not dead. In fact, it’s quite alive with your ideal clients. Why? Because when people want answers to their questions, they don’t go to your Home page or your About page or even your services page. That’s for later in the buyer’s journey. When couples are starting out their search for wedding vendors, they’re plugging in questions to Google and scanning the articles that come up. Those articles are almost always posts about specialized topics (aka: blogs).

Instagram is where people go to kill time. Pinterest is the place where they fantasize about a better future. If you want to work with people who dream big - and have budgets to match - it’s time to put out content on Pinterest.

Think SEO is for couples who aren’t your ideal clients? Think again. Potential clients don’t use Google when they’re lost. They use it when they’re starting out, including those who could be the perfect match for your services and price point.

Your network is your safety net when things go wrong and your fishing net to feed your business. So how do you go about building relationships - and capitalizing on them - in a way that feels authentic to you?

It’s impossible to translate the experiences at Engage to someone who didn’t attend. The program is so immersive, and designed around, well, engaging with others at the event. But we can share our biggest takeaways with you. If you missed the New Orleans Summit - or you were there but want my perspective - tune in to this week’s episode.

Let’s be honest: Planner referrals are a necessity if you want to move up in the wedding industry. Not only do they recommend clients, but they typically pay more and offer super interesting projects. But how do you get on a planner’s list in the first place?

Engage is THE luxury wedding community to be a part of - and Katy and I are giving you the BTS of our personal experiences over the past nine years.

Websites are big projects to tackle. What parts take how long? What comes first: Copy or Design? What slows down the process? And how can you speed it up so the project doesn’t drag out for a year or more?

Owning a successful business means you meet your goals on a regular basis. But what if you don’t have any goals? Or they aren’t broken down into milestones? It’s absolutely necessary – and quite simple – to set a destination and create a road map for your revenue.

Here’s a good rule of thumb for referrals: For every year you’ve been serving couples, 10% of your booked business should come from past and current clients.

Remember, the key to sales success is to provide the right information at the right time in the right way. Those who do will unlock the opportunity for your business grow.

We all want to like the people we work with. But have you spent much time thinking about it from the couples’ perspective? Remember: They want to like the people they work with too. It’s not just about how well you can meet their needs on the wedding day.

What’s the best way to present your pricing and packages to potential clients? I see a range of approaches in the wedding industry, from one option to a la carte, and the most popular: base-plus-a-la-carte. But research shows these ways can create push-back and analysis paralysis, among other issues.

A massive challenge every wedding pro faces when selling your services is when and how to share what you do for couples. Sales success comes when you offer the right information at the right time in the right way. The problem is, how do you know what’s the right thing to share and when?