Your Wedding Planning Business: Preparing for 2012

 

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If you are like Lisa and I, you spend the month of December out holiday shopping for your loved ones, attended family gatherings and holiday parties, making appearances at gift exchanges, having a blast checking out or participating in ugly sweater parties and cooking, cooking, cooking. December is certainly a busy month. To make it even crazier, wedding season has come to a slow crawl and we are spending money but not bringing in a whole heck of a lot!

Am I right? Right.  So what do you do in the lull between engagement season and booking season? Here are eight ways to ring in the New Year. Afterall, 2012 is the year we are going to become the wedding planners we always wanted to be.

1. RELAX, RELATE, RELEASE: It is so important that you take time out for sanity after the holiday hoopla. This is a great time for reflection and growth. Prepare yourself by getting in a place of positivity. Meditate, pray, do yoga, sit at the ocean...whatever it is that takes you to that zen place. It is important to prepare your business for the New Year so that when engagement season closes and booking season is in full swing you can hit the ground running.
2. A LITTLE REFLECTION GOES A LONG WAY: Consider the year behind you. Celebrate successes, document failures and review lessons learned. There is a lot to reflect on over the past 12 months of business. It's important to reflect on how projects went, what relationships were built and how company performance was.  Learn from each of these so you can continue doing what you're doing well in 2012 or adjust things to learn from 2011.
3. TAKE CARE OF YOUR EMPLOYEES AND INTERNS: This includes your day-of assistants, the guys who help you with set up and strike and the gentleman who was kind enough to drive that truck for you when you needed to deliver items to your client's wedding.  Valuable employees, interns and assistants are often difficult to come by. And it is definitely a better investment to take care of your good employees than to hire and train new ones. Perhaps a monetary thank you. How about some recognition or an extra day off to spend with their loved ones. These people have done so much for you, your company and have contributed to your success - take care of them and show them they are appreciated.
4. REMEMBER YOUR CLIENTS: You've planned weddings and events... you have clients. Like employees, great clients are sometimes not easy to come by. Go out of your way to express your gratitude for your clients. These are the people who will send additional business your way by word of mouth. Don't allow another moment to go by without doing something to tell them thank you for being who they are.
5. REVIEW YOUR PAST CLIENTS: Review your clients from 2011 and previous years.  Are there clients that you loved doing business with? On the other side of the coin, there may be clients that you worked with that may not be a good fit moving forward. Determine the thing you liked (and disliked) to adjust the client profile moving forward.
6. HIRE AN ACCOUNTANT! I know taxes are boring to many of us. However, it is important to work with your accountant on tax planning.  Perhaps, you can benefit from making a few business equipment or supply purchases.
7. DEVELOP S.M.A.R.T. GOALS: Set new goals and revisit current ones. Create goals that are S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely). Nothing like hitting and exceeding a goal you set a few months prior. Don't forget to create an implementation plan for achieving your new goals. We will go over S.M.A.R.T. goals in the next post.
8. PLAN FOR THE NEXT 12 MONTHS: Budget, budget, budget. We stress this to our clients all of the time but how many of you have a budget plan in place for your business over the next 12 months?  Prepare a 2012 budget. If you're looking to hire this year, include this in your budget.  This will serve as a roadmap and something to refer back to before any extraneous spending. Don't forget to budget in activities to keep the morale and work-life balance high as well as rewarding your employees and assistants.

And without sounding vainglorious, I want to also encourage you to attend Backstage Bridal Pro Academy. There is never a better time to invest in your wedding planning business than in the New Year. With the payment plans we have, a minimal investment will get you started and on your way to THE best educational experience out there for anyone who wants to learn more about being better at working with brides, managing their vision and handling the logistics of wedding day.  Register TODAY! We can't wait to meet you!