From years of working with wedding pros I have come to realise there are 3 common themes when it comes to you holding yourself back.
It's time to smash through those self-limiting beliefs and take action to make your Wedding Business Grow.
This week I am also celebrating the launch of my brand new signature wedding programme - to help you supercharge your wedding business for success. Take a look below:
https://go.beccapountney.com/businessbuilder
Time Management [00:07:46] Becca talks about how to change your mindset around time and make the most of the time you have.
Money Management [00:08:36] Becca suggests dividing your money into business and personal accounts, reinvesting in your business, and making wise investments.
Overcoming Lack of Knowledge [00:15:17] Becca addresses common phrases that hold people back and encourages investing in learning and understanding how to grow a successful small business.
Time [00:16:04] "Knowledge" Becca talks about how to overcome the lack of knowledge in certain areas of your wedding business and how to upskill with an expert.
Time [00:18:34] "Confidence" Becca discusses how lack of confidence can hold you back in your wedding business and shares tips on how to overcome it.
Time [00:22:06] "Wedding Pro Business Builder" Becca introduces her new program, the Wedding Pro Business Builder, which is a step-by-step guide to help wedding business owners with marketing, sales, and profitability.
Mentioned in this episode:
Wedding Pro Business Builder
My signature programme the Wedding Pro Business Builder is LIVE and you will want to take a look at it! Find all the details on the link below: https://go.beccapountney.com/businessbuilder
I'm in such a privileged position that I get to meet so many different
Becca:incredible people in the wedding industry.
Becca:I've met so many of you over the years who either own your own
Becca:wedding business or work in a wedding venue, and the great thing is that
Becca:I can see all of your journeys, and I love seeing your successes.
Becca:But when I see so many different people from those just starting out in the
Becca:wedding industry, to those who've been in the wedding industry a long time,
Becca:I start to see similarities between the things that you struggle with
Becca:and the things that hold you back.
Becca:And today, I wanna share with you three common things that I see holding wedding
Becca:business owners back all of the time.
Becca:I'm gonna share them in today's.
Becca:I am Becca Pountney, wedding business marketing expert, speaker and blogger,
Becca:and you are listening to The Wedding Pros who are Ready to Grow podcast.
Becca:I'm here to share with you actionable tips, strategies, and real life
Becca:examples to help you take your wedding business to the next level.
Becca:If you are an ambitious wedding business owner that wants to take your passion
Becca:and use it to build a profitable, sustainable business doing what you
Becca:love, then you're in the right place.
Becca:Let's get going with today's episode.
Becca:You may have heard it said before that the biggest barrier to success
Becca:in your business is probably you.
Becca:So often it's us that holds ourselves back.
Becca:We're worried about what other people think of us.
Becca:We put in excuses as to why we can't get things done.
Becca:But the clients that I work with who see the greatest success are the people
Becca:who realize this, work out what's holding them back, and then start
Becca:to break through those barriers and.
Becca:The change.
Becca:So today I'm gonna be sharing with you three and maybe a little bonus
Becca:one as well, different things that I see wedding business owners and venue
Becca:workers just like you struggling with in their businesses and why they're
Becca:using them as an excuse to hold them back and how we can then overcome them.
Becca:I'm sure that you struggle with some of these things that I'm gonna share
Becca:with you, and you may find yourself nodding along as I share the struggles.
Becca:So be vulnerable, be honest with yourself, because if we can identify the things
Becca:that holding us back, then we can actually go ahead and make the change.
Becca:So let's get going with number one.
Becca:The first thing that I see holding people back as a barrier to
Becca:their success is lack of time.
Becca:Have you ever said, if only I had more time, if only my life wasn't
Becca:so busy and I had more time, then I could grow my business.
Becca:I want to make all of these changes in my business, but I just don't have the time.
Becca:Time is an excuse that I hear all of the time from so many of
Becca:you, and you may be nodding along as I say some of those phrases.
Becca:Let's just think for a moment because ultimately all of us
Becca:have the same amount of time in a week and a month and in a year.
Becca:In fact, it's not more time that we necessarily need, but actually it's
Becca:considering how we spend that time.
Becca:Now, each and every one of you are gonna be in a very different situation
Becca:when it comes to the time you.
Becca:Perhaps you currently work full-time alongside trying to get your
Becca:wedding business off of the ground.
Becca:Perhaps you work set hours and therefore you can't get everything you want to
Becca:achieve done in the hours that you have.
Becca:Perhaps you've got children or grandchildren that you have to
Becca:factor in because guess what?
Becca:They take up a lot of time.
Becca:Or perhaps you've got elderly parents or a health condition, which means
Becca:that you don't have as much time as other people or what you perceive
Becca:as, as much time as other people.
Becca:I don't know what your personal circumstances are, and I can't possibly
Becca:start to address them, but if you find yourself using time as an excuse, then
Becca:we need to start changing your thinking.
Becca:This is something that I've implemented for myself in my business, and it really
Becca:has made a huge difference to my mindset.
Becca:I started my wedding consultancy business back in 2016 when I was
Becca:pregnant with my second child.
Becca:So I already had a toddler at home.
Becca:I was about to give birth to another child.
Becca:It's not the most ideal time to start a new venture, but that's what happened.
Becca:And while I had two under five year olds, Guess what?
Becca:I didn't have a whole lot of time.
Becca:Now.
Becca:In some ways I had more time because I was on maternity leave.
Becca:I didn't have a job to go to.
Becca:But if you know anything about small children, they take up a lot of time.
Becca:So I had to build my business in the time that I had in the few hours when they
Becca:were napping in the evenings when they were asleep, or in the odd occasion when
Becca:someone else was there to look after them.
Becca:As they grew and started going to preschool and now school.
Becca:The hours that I had during the day started to increase,
Becca:and that meant I didn't have to work so much in the evening.
Becca:Now they're both in school and I suddenly have more time than I've had
Becca:for the whole length of the business.
Becca:But guess what?
Becca:There are days when I still wish I had more time.
Becca:You know what?
Becca:There's never enough time to get all of the things done that we want to
Becca:do, so there's no point looking for time that we just can't possibly find.
Becca:None of us wanna be working all of the hours we need rest.
Becca:We need recuperation time as.
Becca:So if this is you and you struggle with time and you feel like time holds
Becca:you back, I want you to start changing your mindset around this instead of
Becca:always thinking, I wish I had more time, which isn't necessarily possible.
Becca:Instead, I want you to look at your average week and work out where you
Becca:have the time and how much time you.
Becca:Instead of asking for more time, we need to make the most of the time.
Becca:You had, when my children were little, I only had very small snippets of time, and
Becca:so that was really valuable time to me.
Becca:I had to prioritize the things that I was going to do in that short
Becca:snippet of time because if I didn't and I wasted time, guess what?
Becca:I didn't have any time left.
Becca:It also may mean that for some periods of life, you do have to make sacrifices.
Becca:I did have to work more evenings when my children were young, but I
Becca:had the social time while they were at home during the day that I could
Becca:enjoy with them, taking them out for coffees and that kind of thing.
Becca:Whereas in the evening, that was when I had to sit down and work
Becca:not every evening of the week.
Becca:But I did work more evenings than I do now.
Becca:So I want you to look at your average week and look at the time that you.
Becca:We always find time for the things that we want to make time for.
Becca:I recently joined the gym and I told myself I didn't have time to go to
Becca:the gym because I'm too busy working.
Becca:But guess what?
Becca:Now I go to the gym probably three times a week, first thing in the
Becca:morning after I take the kids to school.
Becca:I'm home by 10 o'clock and I'm getting just as much work done.
Becca:I'm more energetic, I'm more proactive, and I'm wasting less time.
Becca:So sometimes it's a mindset.
Becca:So sit down, work out how much time you've got in the week and when that time is, and
Becca:then start to put tasks against that time.
Becca:Start with the most important tasks are things that are gonna
Becca:bring you money into your business.
Becca:Then look at the building tasks, the things that are gonna help you.
Becca:Build going forward.
Becca:So for example, if you wanna rebrand or look at your website,
Becca:then that seems like a big job.
Becca:So it becomes overwhelming.
Becca:But if we think, well, I'm just gonna work on it one hour a week for the
Becca:next six weeks, all of a sudden you've got six hours of work on that website.
Becca:The other thing to consider if time is always your excuse, is maybe you need
Becca:to look to outsource some of the tasks.
Becca:There was once a stage when I wanted to move all of my information from
Becca:one piece of software to another.
Becca:The amount of time that was gonna take me was overwhelming, and there was no way I
Becca:was gonna fit it into my busy schedule.
Becca:So in that instance, it was actually much better for me to spend some money and pay
Becca:someone else for their time to do that task and manually move the data over.
Becca:I'm so thankful I did because I could use that time that I saved to bring in other
Becca:income into the business doing things that I need to be doing rather than some
Becca:tasks that I just don't have time for.
Becca:So if time is your problem, I want you to redefine how you look.
Becca:Stop.
Becca:Keep saying you need more time because that might not be possible, but look
Becca:at the time you have and make sure you're being really productive with it.
Becca:Don't waste time and remember, you will always find time for the
Becca:things you want to find time for.
Becca:Okay, let's go on to barrier number two.
Becca:The second barrier I see to people trying to build their
Becca:business for success is money.
Becca:Perhaps some of these things resonate with you.
Becca:If only I had more money, then I could invest in training, then
Becca:I could get a brand new website.
Becca:If only I had some money, then I could make more money in my business.
Becca:I would be successful.
Becca:Money is a touchy subject and one that I don't really like talking about a
Becca:whole lot, but sometimes we need to.
Becca:If you are always wishing you had more money in your business, guess what?
Becca:Once again, it's not like a tree where money grows on it, just like time.
Becca:We can't necessarily get more of it just by wishing it.
Becca:However, we do need to redefine the way that we look at
Becca:money inside of our business.
Becca:The first thing I want to ask you is how do you sort out your
Becca:money in your own situation?
Becca:Again, this is gonna be different for each and every person, but my preferred
Becca:method and what you really should be doing if you're running a business and
Becca:not a hobby, is dividing your money.
Becca:Therefore, you have business money, and then you have your personal money
Becca:and you work that out as you go.
Becca:If you're inside of a job, the business money is separate
Becca:to the money you get paid.
Becca:So why don't we treat it like that in our business?
Becca:When I work with clients and people go through my Wedding Pro, business Builder
Becca:program, we look in depth at money.
Becca:I suggest you have a separate account for your business, have a business
Becca:bank account where all of your business transactions go in and out of that.
Becca:And then you pay yourself out of that account into your personal account.
Becca:So either each month you pay yourself an amount or you pay
Becca:yourself a percentage based on the weddings that you have booked.
Becca:But you pay yourself regularly out of your business account,
Becca:into your personal account.
Becca:Now, when that money lands in your personal account, that's
Becca:now your money to do with what you want in your personal life.
Becca:Whether that's paying the mortgage, going on holiday, buying yourself something new.
Becca:I don't know how finances work in your home, but the business money is separate.
Becca:So once you've taken some money out to pay yourself for those lovely personal.
Becca:You should be keeping some money in that business account for tax purposes, ready
Becca:to pay your tax bill, but also so you can start reinvesting into your business.
Becca:Businesses grow when we reinvest into them.
Becca:You shouldn't be taking everything out for profit.
Becca:You should be reinvesting in marketing, on branding.
Becca:You should be investing in training, all of these things which are gonna help bring
Becca:more money into the business as you go.
Becca:Now once you keep your money separate and start managing it well, you won't
Becca:feel like it's hard to pay for things out of your business because you feel
Becca:like you're taking away from your personal money because they are separate.
Becca:You need to be reinvesting in your business if you
Becca:want your business to grow.
Becca:Now when I talk about investing in either training programs or
Becca:equipment or software, you do need to make wise investments.
Becca:Think about how you're gonna see a return on that investment.
Becca:Now, that's not always a direct return on an investment.
Becca:So for example, if you were going to a wedding show and it cost you a hundred
Becca:pounds to have a stand, you would want to make sure that you are gonna get at least
Becca:a hundred pounds worth of bookings back into the business in order to pay for it.
Becca:That's fairly straightforward to.
Becca:However, if you are, for example, starting a podcast for the wedding
Becca:industry for brides and grooms, you're gonna have to invest in equipment.
Becca:Now, you are then gonna have to invest time in creating that
Becca:podcast, and you might not see a direct return on investment.
Becca:Straight away.
Becca:But you will see a return on the way your credibility builds and the way more
Becca:people find out about you, or more people start recommending you to their couples
Becca:because you've got a name for yourself.
Becca:It's not so easy to see the return on investment, but there will be one and
Becca:you need to work out what that is.
Becca:So every time you look to make an investment into your business, be
Becca:that training equipment new branding.
Becca:A new marketing strategy, think about it, sit down, work out.
Becca:Is it a wise investment.
Becca:One question I always ask when people are thinking about investing in a program
Becca:with me is for your situation, which again, is gonna be different for everyone.
Becca:How many wedding bookings do you need to bring in in order
Becca:to pay back that investment?
Becca:It is an investment and not a cost, because when you invest,
Becca:it should make you more money.
Becca:So for example, if you were gonna take my Wedding Pro Business Builder program
Becca:for 447 pounds, how many wedding bookings would you need to bring back into your
Becca:business in a lifetime to pay for it?
Becca:For some of you, it may only be one.
Becca:For some of you, it may be two, three or four, depending on your.
Becca:Then you need to think, will I learn what I need to learn in this program?
Becca:Will it help me bring in those additional bookings?
Becca:Now I want to say, yes, it will, because if you put in the work and you do the
Becca:action, you should see a huge return on your investment, not just the money
Becca:that you spent on the program, but that money again and again and again.
Becca:Every single year because you're improving your business marketing,
Becca:you're improving your branding, you're improving your knowledge, and therefore
Becca:your business is growing and becoming more successful and more profitable.
Becca:So you see, all of a sudden it's not taking money away from your business.
Becca:You are reinvesting your into your business to make more money in the future.
Becca:So make sure when you're thinking about money, you are thinking of it as an
Becca:investment, not a cost, but you are being wise about where you choose to spend it.
Becca:In business, you have to speculate to accumulate.
Becca:That's how business works.
Becca:We're lucky in the wedding industry quite often we don't have huge outlays.
Becca:Imagine if you are starting a shop, you would have to outlay on the
Becca:building, on the website, on the branding, on all of the products
Becca:before you even get a customer.
Becca:We're lucky in the wedding industry cuz often people pay before.
Becca:We have to spend a huge amount.
Becca:The other thing I want you to think about when it comes to spending money
Becca:on something like business training, because I know this is a sticking
Becca:point for some people, is if you wanna learn how to do a job properly,
Becca:you have to invest in learning from someone who knows how to do it well.
Becca:If you want to become a doctor or a lawyer or an engineer, you invest thousands
Becca:of pounds in going to university.
Becca:Why to learn how to do that job well.
Becca:So if you want to have a successful small business, Why are you not
Becca:wanting to invest in learning and understanding how to do that?
Becca:Well, it's the same thing.
Becca:Okay.
Becca:We've covered off time.
Becca:We've covered off money.
Becca:So what's the third thing that is holding you back right now?
Becca:The third thing that I see holding people back all of the time is lack of knowledge.
Becca:Maybe some of these phrases resonate with you.
Becca:If only I understood how to use Instagram and the reels feature, then
Becca:I'd be reaching more people and more people would be coming to my business.
Becca:If only I understood marketing, I just don't really understand it.
Becca:I dunno how to do it and therefore I'm not doing it well and I dunno where to
Becca:spend my money, and therefore I just don't have the knowledge in order to grow my.
Becca:I am rubbish at sales.
Becca:I don't understand how to sell.
Becca:I feel awkward when I'm trying to sell, and therefore I just don't make the
Becca:sales cause I crumble at the last minute.
Becca:Or perhaps you wish you were more technical, you understood how to
Becca:build a website, how to create an amazing brand, how to set up an email
Becca:list, and all of the things that you've heard are gonna help people.
Becca:You feel like you don't have the technical knowledge to make them happen.
Becca:Lack of knowledge, again, is an excuse I hear all of the time and maybe a
Becca:reason why you are not getting as far in your business as you want to.
Becca:I want to say to you, it's okay not to know everything.
Becca:Nobody knows everything and lack of knowledge is totally normal.
Becca:However, we don't wanna use it as a barrier to success.
Becca:In fact, it should propel us on to want to understand, get more
Becca:knowledge and grow our businesses.
Becca:We don't know how to do everything.
Becca:I recently put a post on my Instagram page all about the
Becca:things I don't know how to do.
Becca:For example, I'm rubbish growing flowers or even having flowers in
Becca:my house, keeping them alive, and definitely not flower arranging.
Becca:I can take an average photo, but I'm not a professional photographer.
Becca:I cannot bake a cake.
Becca:My baking skills are horrendous.
Becca:But there are some things I do know how to do really well, like teaching
Becca:you how to sell, teaching you how to market your wedding business.
Becca:These are things I have experience in and have taught hundreds of
Becca:wedding business owners previously before you, how to do them well.
Becca:Now you are probably incredible at what you do.
Becca:In fact, I know you are.
Becca:You are an amazing organizer, an amazing planner, an amazing florist, an amazing
Becca:cake maker, an incredible celebrant dj.
Becca:The list goes on, but perhaps you lack in the area of marketing and sales
Becca:knowledge, and that's okay as well.
Becca:But instead of using it as an excuse, this is your wake up call
Becca:that you need to learn how to do it.
Becca:Now, listening to this podcast is a great start because there's loads of
Becca:different little bits of information to help you on here grow your business.
Becca:If there's an area of business you struggle with, then it's
Becca:time you got help with it.
Becca:One thing lots of my clients struggle with is finance, which is why I work
Becca:hard in my program to help you understand the financial side of your business,
Becca:the spreadsheets, the profitability, because there's no point running a
Becca:business if you're not making money.
Becca:That's why an accountant is such a good investment because they are.
Becca:Experts in the financial side of your business and doing your tax return and
Becca:making sure you pay the right amount and not too much and not too little.
Becca:They are the experts.
Becca:It's okay for you not to know everything, so stop using knowledge as
Becca:an excuse to stop you in your business.
Becca:Instead, understand where your weaknesses are and look to upskill in
Becca:those areas with an expert who knows exactly what they're talking about.
Becca:This is gonna help you grow and thrive, and it's gonna
Becca:help your business immensely.
Becca:Okay.
Becca:Let's recap then.
Becca:The three things that I think are holding you back in your wedding
Becca:business right now, and perhaps you resonate with all three of them.
Becca:The first one is time.
Becca:You feel like you don't have enough time.
Becca:The second one is money, if only you had more money.
Becca:And the third one is knowledge.
Becca:Now, I said at the beginning I was gonna throw in a little bonus one as
Becca:well, and that's because I think there's one thing that can tie all of these
Becca:things together and hold you back.
Becca:And it's the one that all of us struggle with all of the time, and that's.
Becca:Confidence.
Becca:Perhaps this resonates with you.
Becca:You just don't feel confident in your business.
Becca:Maybe you've got people around you that have told you it's not possible
Becca:to make money doing that, or, well, it's just a little job on the side.
Becca:It's not a proper business.
Becca:Those things are just not true, but they knock our confidence and suddenly
Becca:make us believe that we can't do it.
Becca:Well, I want to tell you right here, right now, you absolutely can do it.
Becca:I'm passionate about showing you that you can have a profitable.
Becca:Business, doing what you love, it is possible.
Becca:I'm sure you're incredible at what you do, and you may lack a little bit of
Becca:confidence, but you need to look at your work and realize it's amazing and
Becca:people are willing to pay for it, and you absolutely should be making money from it.
Becca:You may not feel confident in your marketing.
Becca:You may not feel confident putting your face on social media, but these
Becca:are things you can learn about and you can grow in confidence over time.
Becca:Sometimes you've just gotta give it a go, or sometimes you just need someone
Becca:to help you to be accountable for and to encourage you to go out there and do it.
Becca:I recently had a client who was struggling with the idea of putting
Becca:her face out on social media.
Becca:She was worried about what people would think of her.
Becca:She was worried about whether people would think she was too old, and she
Becca:messaged me to ask me my thoughts on it because I work with her as a client.
Becca:And I responded to her saying People would love to see you.
Becca:Age is not a barrier to business.
Becca:In fact, if anything, it's gonna help people trust you and realize
Becca:you've got great experience.
Becca:And ultimately people just wanna know you are good at what you do, which you are.
Becca:And they want to know, like, and trust you.
Becca:You want to see their face.
Becca:Now, she was really brave.
Becca:She took action and she put her face on her social media channel.
Becca:And guess what?
Becca:People loved.
Becca:Her engagement and interaction doubled double.
Becca:The people like the posts on Facebook and Instagram that they did normally.
Becca:She just didn't have the confidence and she changed that.
Becca:She got the accountability.
Becca:She went out there, she tried it, she did it, and she got the results.
Becca:Don't let confidence hold you back.
Becca:You absolutely can be unapologetically you.
Becca:Go out there.
Becca:Be yourself.
Becca:Tell the world how amazing you are at what you do, and be confident
Becca:in the prices that you charge.
Becca:I'm here for you each and every step of the way as well.
Becca:If you need some encouragement, drop into my Instagram inbox and I'll give
Becca:you all of the encouragement about why you and your work is amazing.
Becca:As we draw this episode to a close, I just want you to spend a couple of minutes
Becca:maybe with a piece of paper thinking about what it is that's holding you back.
Becca:Which of these things are barriers to you in your business, and how can you
Becca:start smashing those barriers down?
Becca:So much of it is in our mindset.
Becca:What can you change in your mindset in order to break through and start seeing.
Becca:If you need help in any of these areas, if you're thinking, yep, I wish I had
Becca:some more understanding of marketing.
Becca:I don't really know how to take my business forward.
Becca:I'm not profitable and I wish I was, I don't understand how to price and
Becca:sort out the numbers, then guess what?
Becca:You're in the right place.
Becca:Check out my brand new program, the Wedding Pro Business Builder.
Becca:This has been a year in the making and it's for you.
Becca:Easy, step by step guide that you can follow through in your own time,
Becca:which is gonna take you through all of these things and give you the
Becca:knowledge that you are struggling with.
Becca:I'm gonna help you with your marketing, help you with your sales, and help
Becca:you create that profitable wedding business, doing what you love.
Becca:All of the details are in the show notes, or if you've got questions,
Becca:again, drop into my inbox on Instagram and I'm more than happy to chat with.
Becca:Go out there, smash down some barriers, and I'll see you next week.