In this episode of Mind Your Wedding Business, Kevin Dennis sits down with Nadine Bozeman, owner of Sweet Francis Sewing Co. and founder of Secrets of a Bridal Seamstress, to discuss one of the biggest challenges facing wedding professionals: creating a successful business without sacrificing your personal life in the process.

Nadine shares how she transitioned from a middle school teacher to a bridal seamstress and business coach, and why so many entrepreneurs find themselves caught in a cycle of overwork, burnout, and the constant pursuit of the next task. She offers practical advice on setting boundaries, identifying priorities, celebrating wins, and creating a business that supports the life you want to live.

The conversation also explores delegation, perfectionism, coaching, work-life harmony, and the importance of regularly stepping back to evaluate what's working and what isn't.

If you've ever felt overwhelmed by your workload, struggled to disconnect from your business, or wondered how to build a sustainable career in the wedding industry, this episode is packed with valuable insights and actionable takeaways.

Nadine Bozeman is the founder of Secrets of a Bridal Seamstress, a podcast and membership community that helps bridal sewists build modern, profitable alterations businesses. After growing her own bridal studio in the Pacific Northwest, Nadine now helps others avoid common business pitfalls and create thriving, sustainable companies.

Highlights:

• Why work-life harmony looks different for every business owner

• Recognizing the signs of burnout before they become overwhelming

• Setting boundaries with clients without sacrificing service

• The importance of celebrating wins and "closing the loop"

• How delegation can reduce stress and increase growth

• Letting go of perfectionism in business

• Creating priorities that align with your personal life

• Building a sustainable business for the long term

Connect with Nadine:

Website

Instagram

Facebook

Connect with Kevin:

Wedding IQ

Fantasy Sound

Instagram

YouTube

TikTok

LinkedIn

All right, folks, welcome to another episode of Mind Your Wedding Business. I'm here with Nadine Bozeman, and she is the host and coach from the Secrets of the Bridal Seamstress podcast and membership. Welcome, Nadine.

Thank you. I'm so excited to be here. Thanks for inviting me.

I'm excited to have you too. And we're going to be talking about the balance without burnout, the art of work-life harmony. And I think so many of us need this talk right now because I'm in the middle of our busiest week of the year and I'm just trying and everybody's like, what's this on Thursday or Friday or what's going on? And I'm like, I am literally living moment by moment right now in my life. yeah, exactly. So I can't tell you what's happening tonight.

Yes.

Right, hour to hour. Yes.

So, ⁓ but Nadine, before we jump into the topic, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how we got you here today?

Yeah. So in 2017, I started my own local business for bridal alterations called Sweet Francis Sewing Co. So that's located here in the Pacific Northwest. Before that, I was a middle school teacher for 10 years. So I knew that was not my forever life. And like a lot of us wedding pros, it's like just one step led to the next. It wasn't my first plan to be a bridal seamstress or be in the wedding world, but

Once I found myself there, I was like, okay, this is where I want to be. Like, I love it. I love working with brides and hearing the details of weddings. feel like, I don't know, it never gets old for me. So I feel like I'm in the right spot knowing that. ⁓ And when I first started the business, you know, I was struggling and then I invested in coaching and online courses and trainings. And I thought, okay, I want to make it easier for the next woman to get to six figures sooner than it took me.

So, Secrets of Bridal Seamstress was first a podcast and then turned into a business membership. And we have members from around the world. We have a couple annual retreats or a couple of retreats each year. And yeah, it's just grown to be a really fulfilling segue from what I've learned in my local business. So I still have a local alteration shop along with the business membership.

wow.

I'm excited to bring this topic to Wedding Pros because I know we all struggle with it. No matter where you are in the business journey, you you kind of have to these little reminders of why are you working in the first place? So, yes.

Yeah, why are we doing this?

So also as a father of a 14-year-old, I commend you for being in middle school for 10 years because ⁓ my daughter is about to get promoted to high school. I don't know how someone can manage being in that life for 10 years. It's amazing. You made it. So anyway.

video.

But know,

teaching middle school and then coaching adults, there are a lot of similarities, know, and a lot of skills I still use. So just less odors.

I couldn't.

Oh Very true. Very true the other

day. I had to walk in there and say open your window air out this room Yeah, anyway, all right. I get it. All right, so Nadine balance without burnout sounds amazing but for someone in the middle of you know wedding planning or Busy season in life. What does it actually look like in real life?

Yeah. Yeah. Yes.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Well, I think when we first start our business, it's so exciting to be busy. You know, like we can survive off of adrenaline probably for a couple of years because we see like when we take on a project, when we work hard, we get money. And so like our brain is telling us the more you do this, the more money you're going to get, the better you're going to feel. Your confidence is, you know, built and it's like, it feels so good. And so that's why we keep doing it. And then there's a point where we're like, wait a minute.

I haven't seen my friends in 11 months. ⁓ I don't remember eating like real food. You know, we all get to this point, I think, you know, at different times in our business, but there is a point where we have to ask ourselves like, is this sustainable long term? And is this worth the sacrifice for the money? And also, you know, what what goes into this is when we first started business, we don't really know how to price stuff, you know, so we don't.

You

Mm-mm.

know what to charge clients so that we're actually paying ourselves a livable wage, that we can have flexible hours. We don't understand that. We just think the more work we take on, the more money we make, and we're going to be happy. if you're listening and you're in that boat and you're like, yeah, I'm a couple years in and it's been so exciting in this adrenaline rush, but I can't live my life like this. So once you hit that point, I'm here to tell you that nobody else

can create the balance for you. so, Kevin, what did you do before you were in the world of weddings? What was this, first gig?

I'm

gonna be honest with you. I started my business when I was 18 years old. I've been doing this now for a long time, but I yeah, But while I was had my business I was still going to college and I actually worked at like a before and after school daycare and so I was kind of I had like multiple hats, know, cuz you know you start

Wow! Okay.

Yeah.

I started out as a DJ and I never thought I would ever, I was doing it to meet girls. I'll be brutally honest with you. ⁓ I was a little nerdy and the DJ was the one that always had the girls talking to him and that's kind of why I started it, but I didn't realize, by the time I turned 22, I realized, wow, I can actually probably make some money off of doing this. So that's kind of where, but I was juggling multiple hats when they started.

Okay.

Yeah, because

I think a lot of us who come into the world of weddings, we don't start off as entrepreneurs, except unicorns like you. So we're used to having someone else check up on us. Like when I was a teacher, I had an administrator who was checking up on me, like, okay, do you need support? know, like, do you need to take a mental health day? You know, and so when we're working for ourselves, we are the only ones responsible for that. And nobody's going to come in and tell you.

No.

Mm.

You need to go see your friends. You need to make sure that you're eating and like going to the gym, taking care of your body, resting. Like what are you working for? Are you working for the sake of working and making money? Are you building a life? So you have to come to yourself and rescue yourself from all of these extra hours, right? And nobody else is going to do it for you. And I think the sooner that we can realize that, helps us out so much too, because we are responsible. We are responsible.

And what I tell our members in SBS membership is, you know, want to treat yourself the way that if you'd imagine like this dream boss, how would your dream boss treat you? They'd say like, okay, make sure you take, did you take your 15? Okay, do you need to go get a coffee? Maybe just take a little bit of a longer lunch break because you seem kind of stressed today. Or you'd have a boss that encourages you in your work and acknowledges like that was a really tough project, but.

Hmm.

The client was so satisfied. Thanks for really putting in the extra miles. I mean, it sounds kind of cheesy, but it's like we, I feel like we don't always acknowledge that as entrepreneurs, we have to take care of that part of ourselves too. know, like we, maybe you can relate. I always feel like I'm so hard on myself to just do the next thing, do the next thing. So even if there is, you know, a really challenging wedding dress, because I'm a seamstress, that goes out the door.

No.

I don't give myself a chance to be like, phew, good job, girl. We got that done. It's like, okay, the next one's coming in and, or the same thing, you know, with my membership. Like we just had a fantastic retreat in Nashville and it was our biggest one yet. And I didn't even want to celebrate it. I was like, okay, that was great. Moving on to the next one. Let's plan the next event. And if I had a really loving boss, they wouldn't treat me like that, you know? So, yeah. So consider yourself, go ahead.

You

No, yeah, that's a good point. no, I'm

going to say I don't think a lot of us celebrate our wins in the wedding industry. So that's, you know, I think you're dead on when you're talking about that.

Yeah, do love like journaling helps me with that, like morning and evening journaling, just to kind of get it out out of my head, write it down and acknowledge it. So talk to yourself about first thinking about what is balance look like for you, because it's going to look different for everybody. And also depending on just where you are in life, like, do you have a family? I don't have kids. So that's not really a factor for me, but I am married and I want my

Yeah.

my work hours to reflect my husband's work hours so we can have weekends together. we love working on yard projects. You want to take a beat to think about what do you want to do outside of work? What do you want your week to look like and feel like? And what do you want to feel like when you drive home every day? Or maybe you work from home. And it's like, when you close your office door, what does that feel like in your body, in your mind?

Mm-hmm.

What are you excited about at the end of the day? Are you excited to like go hang out with your friends or go to dinner or cook dinner? You know, like my husband is the cook between us. So I wish I had those skills, but I get excited to eat dinner with him. But think about like, what are you excited about? Or is it like, gosh, that felt good to get that work done. And I can't wait to just crank out more work tomorrow, you know, ⁓ which is.

Yeah.

Yeah.

good, you want to be driven, but there's more and you want to give yourself the opportunity to think through what do you want or else you're going to go through another week or month or full wedding season. And that turns into years of just plowing through and just kind of becoming this like, you know, I don't know, this like cardboard body that's moving through season to season and not a full person. So I think that's the first step is acknowledging what

Yeah.

you want or what you want it to look like or feel like. And then, how are you going to celebrate? Does that mean, yeah, the journal entries or your quiet mornings before you see clients? Or can you schedule like quarterly CEO getaways or just little, do you do that, Kevin?

Yeah.

So we have not done it, but I actually just listened to a whole podcast about retreats and about doing a monthly retreat, a quarterly retreat, and a yearly retreat where, you know, your monthly is something like, you know, two to three, maybe four hours where it's like a check-in, but it, you know, with no distractions kind of thing. And then your quarterly is, you know, a full day, but not like a travel day, but then

Hmm?

Yearly is where you go away for a day or two, know kind of thing and and just again no distractions No client meetings. No phones. No, you know nothing. It was it was a very interesting and I was like and it's funny I went to the girls in my office I'm like we need to think about something like this because we we will schedule meetings with ourselves Internally and then they get pushed to the side when you know, sh*t something you know Someone hits the shit button, you know, yeah, so

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Mmm.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's

like, Hey, back burner. It's not a priority, you know.

No,

well, it's funny because it is a priority, but it isn't if that may I don't know, you know, yeah, it's just you know, we know we need to do it but there's You know fires burning somewhere else. So

Yes.

yeah. and something that we talk about too is, you know, the idea of closing the loop and it kind of goes back to that acknowledging the wins. But I like the idea of this retreat where you would just reflect on what worked really well this season. What did we, we got that done. Like that felt so good to get that done or like, let's look back on where we were last year and not just the revenue that came in, but

⁓ that's

what were the client experiences like and how was I more present and what projects really lit me up so I can book more like this next season, you know, so that is part of closing the loop. And the opposite of that is leaving the loop open and and moving on to the next season before you celebrate the wins, before you decide I don't want to do that kind of work again or I don't want those hours again. It's kind of like when you have like so many tabs open.

Mm-hmm.

You know, and then the interwebs- doesn't work as fast. All these tabs open, you know, and the same thing, like when you go to bed at night or when we close a wedding season, we know wedding seasons don't like officially close, but you know what I'm saying? you wrap it up, it's like, if all those tabs are still open, how focused can we really be on the next idea or on the next job? You know, so that mindset work is like, we don't talk about it enough, but it's so important.

Hehehehehe ⁓

No, I know what saying.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No, I agree. we're in Northern California and we do weddings year round here and we have venues with indoor ceremony space. So in the winter we're doing weddings, you know, year round. With that said, this is the time of year where all the outdoor venues start coming online and therefore that's why, you know, this is my busiest week in the entire year, And we're, we're really stressed.

Mm. Yeah.

Hmm,

it, so how do you,

You know, like we talked about the retreats earlier. How do you find the time to close the loop or to, you you go to a conference and you learn all these great ideas, but then you never implement them? How do we find the time?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah,

well, so it's funny, I was just having this conversation with the girlfriend because I'm currently in a musical and if you've ever been in a musical, it's like, it's, yeah.

wow. That's a lot of work. My kids have done that.

It's stressful.

goodness it's the I mean it's the best and so I haven't been in one since ⁓ my last show was March 2020 like right before COVID and so my husband was like you need to be another show because that was such a big part of my life for so long and and I still perform I'm a soprano soloist like that's another random side thing

Okay. wow.

Yeah.

And so those gigs come up every once in a while, but a musical is obviously more time to like you're having to commit. And so we have tech week next week and we open a weekends. Yes. And so it's a lot. And so was talking to my girlfriends and she's like, how do you have the time? And again, like what I said earlier, like nobody's clearing my schedule for me or nobody's like, you know, oh, here's four hours extra every night that you're just gonna, you know,

No Tech Weeks, hell.

have a period calendar. You have to make that decision of what the priority is going to be and then everything else will get done. So whether your priority is to have your reading time, you have novels that you want to read at night or you want to have a dinner party with friends every week or host whatever, whatever your priority is and what is truly most important to you, that has to be number one and the work will get done.

Do tech week.

And there's that saying where if you want something to get done, ask a busy person. Because it's like, you know, you can get stuff done. So when you think, to give you a visual, if you can imagine a big, a huge glass mason jar, and you have big rocks and pebbles and sand, I think you probably know what I'm, we're in love with this, we probably love this, ⁓ you gotta fill all this in the jar. And so if you put in the sand first,

Yeah. Yeah.

the sand's gonna take up all the space. And so then there's no room for the big rocks or the pebbles or whatever. You wanna put in the jar like the most important thing, right? So that's gonna be different for everybody, but you put in those big rocks first and then you gotta give it a little shake. You can add some pebbles, give it a shake. The pebbles will settle. You can add sand and then you even have room for water. If you've seen this in a youth group skit or whatever.

Mm-hmm.

There's always room for water to go on top or whatever. And it's like, focus, we hyper-focus on the little things like, okay, the emails are like these little things that either we could delegate to others or that simply do not need to be done or that could be streamlined with some like CRM or whatever. they are, in today's day and age, there are so many resources available to us to help.

Yeah.

Yeah.

just delegate so that we're doing the most important things and we can focus on those big rocks in our mason jar of life. And for me, like right now, the musical is one of my big rocks. I, it's so fulfilling for me. And when I feel healthy and I'm having fun and I'm building friendships and I'm feeling creative and it's like, I can go to rehearsal and like not think about work. It is so cathartic. And then I show up better.

Yeah.

next day at work because I'm not, you know, stressed at night. So take time to, again, this goes back to that like retreat mindset, take time to like give yourself the chance to think about what you truly want to do or what those big items are for you and you have to protect them like your life depends on it. And what's exciting is it'll vary depending on where you are in life. And because you run your own business,

Your business can look different year to year. I tell my ⁓ clients that I coach, some years you just take on the simple hem and bustle and straps and you can just crank those babies out because you want to make the money and you have young kids or you have other bigger things happening in your life. Then there are other years where you're like, want to take on these historical costumesque.

Yeah.

bridal gowns or I want to feel so creatively fulfilled in my work. So I'm going to take on these big projects and it varies year to year. Your creativity may need to be poured into something else. Like for me, really, the music piece is something that I've been missing so much. this year it's like, that takes priority. Like I had a big gig last month and then the musical and then I want to be pursuing that more. So the clients that I took on this year, super predictable.

Like, okay, what can I delegate to my assistant? Great, she's gonna do all this kind of sewing, know, she'll help the others and then I'll, like, think ahead of what you want and you have the freedom to literally make your business what you want it to be. And it does not have to feel or look the same year to year. You have the freedom to make that choice, but it goes back to making a decision before you start booking the clients. What do you want the year to look like?

Yeah.

before you start saying yes to all these inquiries because then you're just at the mercy of whoever you pre-booked. And then you have to, those become your big rocks because you've taken on these big projects and everything else in your life, you're just having to fill in between. So just thinking of what you want to prioritize and then prioritize it. And don't forget that you are the one in control of that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, and it's that saying that you hear is like, are you running your business or is your business running you, you know, kind of thing. And it goes back to everything you just said, you know, like how you prioritize everything, I think determines the outcome of that, you know, whether the business is running you or you're running it. So, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yes.

Yeah, yes, exactly. And

there's time for the business to run you. Like I said, at the very beginning of your business when it's like, adrenaline is just pushing you forward and it's thrilling. Like I still remember like my first couple of years when I was still teaching and then I was like sewing as a side hustle. And I was so honored to like for the late night sewing because this is growing, you know? Now I'm like, oh my gosh, you can't keep me at work after 6 p.m., you know?

Yeah.

Yeah.

No,

I know what you're saying. No, I was the same way. I used to bring home, before I had kids and was a little league coach and on the little league board and did all these other things outside of work. Like I would bring homework and you know, like, okay, kids are down and or you know, when they were younger and I'd start jumping back in and do an email and I just I can't do it anymore. It just I need time to decompress and just, you know, get through the, you know, get through the day and tackle the top handful of things that I need to get through. So

Yeah.

Yeah,

exactly. And I think another resource too is get plugged into some kind of coaching program membership where you are talking with others of how they're doing it better. You want to be in circles where people are doing it better than you are, you know, because yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, you really do. Yeah,

you really do. I had the honor of being the national WIPA president for two different terms. So for four years. And so I got to travel the country and go to all the different WIPA meetings and different things. But that's where I really built that relationship with people. I was not their competitor. I was come in, I was representing the association. But you were able to go in and talk to someone that does what I do.

Hmm.

in New York or Atlanta or somewhere outside the area and just get ideas. And I can give them ideas. that was the greatest education I ever got out of being in the industry, was just being able to talk to people that are not your competitors, you're friendly with them. So yeah, it was a long way.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah. And like

when I was teaching, I felt so supported like during lunch when I was having lunch with other teachers and like, oh my gosh, you have the same kid. Their parents never respond to emails or whatever. Like, and because then, know, like you're not alone in those feelings and it's not you. And a lot of us, you know, we work alone or we manage our own teams and we don't have somebody else to like check. Yeah, yeah. We don't have a lunch. We don't have like a water.

the lunch.

whatever the water cooler or whatever to talk around. So getting in the room with others who have systems that are working better than you and then you can give back to and share but isolation I think is so common in the wedding industry and that leads to burnout because you just don't even know who to ask for help and you just assume like this is the norm.

Yeah.

Yeah, I can relate to the lunchroom because my wife was a teacher for 10 years and kind of retired when we had kids. And so now she subs at our kids elementary school. around lunchtime at the elementary school, my phone starts blowing up with, this teacher said this and that one said, you know, like, just like, my, I can relate. I can relate to what, yeah, I'm like, I can almost count on it like clockwork. I'm about to get a bunch of text messages around 11.45.

Okay.

Yeah, that's so funny. It's like

like a group therapy session, you know, that's what it was. Yeah.

Oh really? Yeah, it really is. So, all right.

So,

all right. For like business owners like juggling, you know, work, family, life, is there like a mind shift that they can immediately do to reduce stress? You know, something they can, like that instant gratification kind of thing.

Yeah, well, I love writing lists and I feel like if you're an entrepreneur, you gotta love writing lists, you know? So write a list of all the things that you did this week, like to the, you know, like the emails that you sent or like whatever you did and then take a highlighter or circle the things that could be done by somebody else. We are, I remember feeling so afraid to to hire help, you know what I mean? Or like, I don't have the money for that, but.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

that is something is going to be sacrificed, whether it's a little bit of money upfront, if you're going to be paying for help or, you know, your sanity. So think about like what could be done by someone else that you can train and trust so that you don't have to think about it. And then look at that list and look at like, wow, this week I'd have so many extra hours if I didn't have to do all those things that I just circled, you know. And even if you don't hire someone that week, you are training your brain to rethink this

Yeah.

full work week that you create for yourself that doesn't need to be as difficult as it's feeling right now. So maybe have that be a habit for like the end of the day for a few weeks. Write down everything that you did and then just acknowledge what could be done by someone else. And then you're telling yourself, I can let go, someone else can do this. Maybe not as good as me, but they can still do it. No kidding. They can do it probably better than you because that will be their only job.

No,

as opposed to you, who you have all these things juggling in your mind. It really does come down to ego. And I hate to say that, but I know that's what it was for me. It's like, nobody else could sew like me or nobody else could write this email like me. It's like, actually they can and they can do it better. And I don't need to be doing all this. So I think releasing these tasks is the first step, because the alternative is to continue to do every single thing by yourself. And it won't.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'll be excellent. can't. I'll be excellent.

Yeah, that makes sense. All right, so we haven't really touched on boundaries. can someone set boundaries with clients or with staff or with, I guess, without making them feel like they're not taking care of them? So we did that many years ago. now, I do client meetings on these days. Tuesday is an internal day. Wednesday is the day that we do a lot.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

You know, so we've kind of set days and therefore we've kind of set boundaries. Does that help?

I so, yeah. And it's all about how you present the boundaries. Like you can be a jerk about it or you can be loving. And so I remember having a coach who, this was a while ago, she had very clear boundaries and she kind of prided herself on protecting herself and how we should do the same thing. But I just felt really small and I felt like I was totally inconveniencing her whenever I was asking something. So I'm very sensitive to that feeling. However, like with my clients and also like with my

Okay.

Yeah.

members, you know, there's just, again, it's going to be different for each listener and what the boundaries will be like. But for my, like my phone number, I don't even have a public phone for my local shop. Like don't call me. Don't text me. don't, I've no, no, like there's, you know, ⁓ yeah, it's like, cause I feel like I'm just always on my phone anyway. So it's like, that's last thing I want is for any. Yeah. That work or get a work phone. No.

That's a boundary.

So everything for me is just go to the inquiry form. Even if I have clients reaching out on Instagram, I'll say, oh my gosh, so happy to hear from you, congratulations, whatever. Head to the inquiry form and I just funnel them always to the inquiry form. I know that other people say like, you need to respond in the DMs, engage in the DMs, but I know I cannot keep up with all that, so I just send them to the inquiry form, whatever. I mean, that's just like a little example.

But it goes back to, again, taking time to think about what you want your life to look like or what you want your day to look like and whatever doesn't fit in that, it's okay. I think as long as you're communicating those boundaries lovingly and like with compassion, you, because you know that you can serve these people better when you have boundaries in place. And that's where your voice is coming from. Instead of like, don't bother me, this is my day off. Or like, who said you could text me?

Yeah.

You know what mean? Like responding with compassion because you know you can serve them better if this is how you communicate or whatever.

Yeah, well, there was a planner, or not a planner. There was a wedding service provider in our local market, and on their voicemail, if you're calling on a Monday, am recu... It was just like, whoa, girl.

Like it's like sometimes it's like, you, do people have any filter or like, do you have any friends that could tell you like, this is weird, you know? So if maybe you can set boundaries and like ask, again, goes back to the resource of having like peers to help you. How does this come across? Does this come across kind and is, you know, like boundaries help both parties, you know, if they're done well.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

All right, so I'm stressed out, been going, you know, going 100 miles an hour. What should someone do if they're like feeling completely overwhelmed with everything, you know, without shutting down? Yeah, well, no, like, you know, without shutting down or, you know, like what, or quitting, you know?

Quit!

Yes. Just remember that this, it's always just a season. know, I even I feel like I have a good grasp on things now, you know, but still sometimes there are seasons where it's like, this is a tough week. And like you were just saying, you're in the middle of your busiest week and it's normal to have ups and downs and seasons. But I think too, as long as you know that it's a season and

Okay.

If you think about it you're like, no, this isn't a season, this is how I live my life all year long. Okay, then let's go back and revisit the tools that we've already talked about in today's episode. ⁓ like give yourself the, again, like that freedom to make changes. I think so much of the feeling of like stuck and overwhelmed is because there's a voice that's telling us owning a business has to be really hard.

Yeah.

So I am like a martyr to my brand. And it's like, if I don't work this hard or feel this overwhelmed, but I'm doing something wrong and I'm not successful, you know, because that, and then there's, that's a whole nother episode of, you know, what success looks like. I have like currently, ⁓ well, this has been like the past few years. My schedule is I'll have a week that's client facing. So I'll have all my fittings and appointments in one week. And then I have a week off.

Yeah. yeah.

So that week off we know isn't really a week off. That's when like we're actually doing the sewing work. I'm doing podcasting stuff. I'm focusing on my membership. But that helps me keep the balance and it's not really ⁓ like conventional, you know, but it works for me. And so giving yourself, I think the freedom to think outside the box and you can make a drastic shift to your schedule or to your boundaries or.

your goals because if you're feeling a sense of overwhelm, like I'm gonna crumble and you don't see an end in sight, then something does need to change. If you feel like, gosh, I'm gonna just fall apart, Monday will feel different because I know my schedule's so different. That's different, you know?

Yeah.

Yeah.

you

I'm sorry.

Yeah, well, Washington had the same. know exactly what happened.

Yeah.

California

and New York and a couple other states were very very locked down. But it was that fall that we were doing weddings, we had them every day of the week and if you went back 47 days from Thanksgiving, so go back that way, we had at least one wedding every day and multiple and some days multiples and I just kept thinking to myself because we were going to Hawaii for Thanksgiving and I was just like okay that's my you know that I'm looking forward to.

Mm-hmm.

And then.

Ha!

This is this I get to go to Hawaii, you know and at the time that was gonna be our first time back to Hawaii because Hawaii was locked down just like everything else. Yeah, so I just and that's so sometimes you just need that I feel like that motivation like like you were saying Monday will feel different or this day looking ahead this will get better. I'm gonna take a whole day off on this day because of everything else that's been going on and you know, just like looking ahead having something to look forward to I think helps.

yeah.

Right.

Okay.

Yeah. Yeah.

Right, and just knowing like this isn't how I permanently feel. But then if it is how you permanently feel, then that's a different conversation. But yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Do you think there's any certain expectations people should let go of in order to protect their time and energy? Like maybe you mentioned hiring a staff member or maybe hiring a virtual assistant. You were talking about email, or is it something that you just simply don't like to do?

Mm-hmm.

think it's going to require some type of upleveling. So that's either going to look like you hire out and or you raise your prices, you change your packages. Something does need to change because the way your business looks when you first start it should not be how it looks and operates 10 years down the road. And I think when we just get in the habit of like, this is how it feels and this is how I experienced it, we don't realize that it's not normal for it not to morph.

Okay.

Mm.

Mm.

or evolve down the road. you need to recognize that. Something does need to change. You need to let go of something, add something. But if you're at that level, instead of thinking about it as like, great, well now I need to pay somebody else, money needs to go out the door, you're up-leveling. You're graduating to the next level, and that's exciting, and it's proof of your growth. And if you choose not to do that,

Yeah.

Yeah.

you're not going to be growing, you know.

Yeah.

Well, and I think a lot of us in the wedding industry, it's just in talking to so many people, we are so bad at, we're so against DIY anything, but yet we DIY, yeah, we are, but we DIY our business. We'll go out and we'll make our own website or we'll go out and we're, yeah.

Yeah, I thought we are! We're like so crappy!

That is so true.

That's where I think when you mention upleveling, that's where it is. You got to let go and hire the professionals to do their jobs.

Yeah.

Yeah. And it's funny because I was the DIY bride and I was like on a very strict budget and I was like, I can do this myself. And now it's like, that is not my ideal client, you know, but, and I knew that from the jump was, okay, I am not my ideal client. But that's so funny. And I see it so often when women join the membership, they've tried to do all that kind of stuff. And then they're like, okay, this isn't working. So I need help from somebody else.

Mm-hmm.

But once you open yourself up to that, it's just kind of like even that visual of opening like your palms up for help or, I'm gonna, and it's also kind of like a sacrifice. Like, okay, I'm gonna take fewer clients with higher tickets. it's something does need to be given, but just think about what you're opening yourself up to, like even in that like physical movement, you know what I mean? Of giving something up.

Yeah.

Yeah, no, it's funny too because we back to the DIY we just did a wedding where it was for us a very expensive they spent a lot of money with us but we were the most expensive thing at the wedding like they they felt that what we provided the chandeliers the drapery all that that was that was their big spend and they DIY'd everything else you know what I'm saying so that and I've seen that happen to where they spent tons of money on a photographer but yet everything you know so I think

Thank you.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yes. Yeah.

every client is different and that's hard navigating all that kind of wonderful stuff. Now do you think we like to be perfect in the wedding industry? Do you think perfectionism contributes to burnout, especially during the wedding season? Okay.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, totally. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, it goes back to the ego thing. Like

we, it needs to be perfect and we're the only ones who can do it perfectly. You know, it kind of goes hand in hand.

Yeah.

Yeah, it really does. So,

all right. So I think we've gone through it. I don't think we've anything, I really do. It was always an excuse. ⁓ So I just kind of want to wrap up. If there's what's one small change like a wedding business owner can make that will make a big impact on reducing stress during

Yeah.

No, we got some good tools out there guys. So I have no excuses if you're burnt out. Okay. ⁓

you know, their busy season.

Ooh, I do love journaling. And I know it's an extra thing to do, but it gives yourself the opportunity to get things out of your head and onto paper. It's kind of like the release, you know? Yes. So like your morning should kind of be, you can be writing about what you want to do that day or what you want the day to look like, feel like how you want to experience it. And then at the end of the day, don't write your to-do list for tomorrow, but celebrate what already happened this day. You know, like

Okay.

Like a brain dump. Yeah.

that's a...

And why not? Why not write your to-do list? I'm just curious now.

it goes back to closing the loop. So now at the end of the day, you're closing that loop, closing those tabs, and then the next day is a fresh start. But if you're writing down your should do list, I don't know, I'm going to bed thinking about what I have to do tomorrow and not recognizing what's already been done.

Okay. Okay.

and you're not celebrating your wins, which is something we don't do in the wedding industry.

Exactly.

So get a couple journals. Yeah.

That's

a good idea. And actually, Apple has a new app on their phone. You can journal right in your, and it'll document it. Okay, all right, write it. Okay. Don't listen to Kevin. All right. All right, so Nadine, how can folks ⁓ find you, connect with you?

No, no, no, no, you need to write it. You need to old school. You gotta feel the paper. Use the pen, okay?

Yeah, well, Secrets of a Bridal Seamstress podcast is on all podcast streaming platforms. You can reach out to me on Instagram with the same handle, @SecretsofaBridalSeamstress. But yeah, I would love to connect with wedding pros about this topic or others.

All right, folks.

And we'll have all of Nadine's information in our weekly email that goes out, and as well as in all the show notes as well. So Nadine, I can't thank you enough for being here. It was a great topic, very timely for me to be talking about. Yeah, no, that's what I keep looking at. The end is near. anyway.

The end is near, okay?

And folks, I just want to remind everyone, hit the like and subscribe button, and we'll see you next time on another episode of Mind Your Wedding Business. We'll see you next time, folks.