Workshop Updates: NYC, Tennessee and DC

An update on the workshops happening over the next few weeks:

This week I'll be in Manhattan and registration closes tomorrow if you want to sign up.  Some of you have asked if I am planning on doing a workshop in Philadelphia, and I'm not, so this one is probably the closest to you.

Next Thursday, June 4th, I'll be in Knoxville, Tennessee for the workshop.  There won't be one in Nashville, so if you're relatively close, this is the one you'll want to sign up for. 

The week after that (June 10th) I'll be back on the East Coast in Washington DC.  You can sign up for that one here (in August I'll be in Norfolk, Virginia if that one is more convenient for you). 

Here's a sweet note I received via snail mail from wedding photographer Kate Harrison who attended the San Francisco workshop:

Liene, Your San Francisco workshop was AMAZING! It was incredibly comprehensive, approachable and great fun. I can't imagine a better investment for my business presence. Thank you!!

For information on other workshops, you can check out the main website here. The price increases 30 days prior to each workshop, so be sure to sign up ahead of time for the early bird rate. 

How I Got Started as an Entrepreneur

One of the questions I get asked often is how I got started in the industry and if I have any advice on how others can get started. My story is rather unglamorous, but here it is:

Right out of high school I began working at a non-profit organization that did humanitarian aid. The "non-profit" part was no joke - my department had a tiny budget and as a result I did everything: planned events, wrote training curriculum for (and trained) the overseas volunteers, handled all the finances and accounting, worked as a liaison with foreign embassies, etc. On top of that, my boss quit unexpectedly and since there was no time and no money to hire someone new, I was promoted and found myself holding an executive position in an international NGO. I was 19.

Needless to say, I burned out, which is why I am such an advocate of setting limits and boundaries now. Burn out is a slippery slope, and is something you think will happen to other people, but never to you. Well, it can happen to you and it sucks. Big time. Do everything you possibly can to avoid it. How I survived that period of my life I will never know. I chalk it up to copious amounts of coffee and grace, with an emphasis on the latter.

I continued on to plan events in the corporate world and in the private sector. During this time I did weddings for friends; they knew I could do events, and I was happy to use my talents to help them.

I decided that getting paid for my ideas and hard work on weddings might be a good idea, so I looked into starting my own company. I did an exhaustive search online and turned up basically nada. I could find literally nothing that could point me in the right direction on starting a business in the field, so I decided to shelve the idea and continued working in the corporate world.

A few years later I was working as a temp and had dinner with my mom at Olive Garden (I remember I ordered soup because I had my wisdom teeth out earlier that week and it was the first "real" meal I could eat) when she mentioned that I should revisit the idea of owning my own company. That night I went online to the IRS website and registered my EIN. I never went back to the temp job.

So here's what I had when I started: lots of event management experience, a little bit of money in savings, no business plan, no wisdom teeth. Is this the way I would recommend others start? Not exactly, but it is the way it happened for me.

Here's another thing I had: a hatred of cubicles. When I worked in the corporate world, it was for a large company that personified everything in Office Space and The Office, minus the hotness that is John Krasinski. During one of the quarterly meetings, which consisted of everyone gathering like cattle in the cubicle hallways, someone in my department received an award for working there for 25 years. I became immediately depressed and remember thinking "you've come here five, sometimes six, days a week for 25 years? That's your life? No, thank you".

In addition to the hatred of cubicles, I had one of those life-altering experiences that changes your perspective on everything. In my early twenties I dealt with literal paralysis for about two and half years, and most days would wake up and not be able to walk or move my legs at all. Name a medical scan; I've probably had it. This little number had a domino effect on other parts of my life, resulting in losing almost all independence (which for a stubborn, strong-willed Scorpio is the touch of death) and is easily the lowest point of my life to date.

Like I said, that experience greatly shaped my perspective on life and whenever I get scared as an entrepreneur (which is all the time, since we're being real here), I can honestly say "it could be a lot worse". Also, if making a go of this being-my-own-boss-thing doesn't work out, then I'm back to the cubicle and I'm NOT about to let that happen.

So my advice for anyone who wants to start in the wedding industry is this:

• Put your fears in perspective. If you try and fail, is it really the worst thing that could happen to you? Probably not.  Your ego might be bruised, but hey, you can still walk.
• Treat your company as a business, not as a job and definitely not as a hobby. 
• Build margin right from the start. You should love your work; you should also love yourself enough to know that anything that ends in "-oholic" is not healthy. Plus, having margin means having room for doors to open and the time available to take on unexpected opportunities.  And the best opportunities often don't wait for your schedule to clear up. 
  
• Think and dream big.  Then dream bigger.  If you can accomplish your dreams on your own, you are not dreaming big enough. 
• You can (and should) learn from anybody and any thing, but spend your money and your time learning from the real experts - people who have accomplished huge things in business and who have a perspective that will help you grow (this doesn't necessarily mean they've been in business longer than you have). 
  
• At some point you will have to take the leap and go out full time.  It's called a leap of faith, not a leap of certainty, for a reason and these leaps are rarely, if ever, comfortable.  I do not necessarily recommend quitting your steady income, but if you wait for the time to be perfect, then you run the risk of winning a cheap gold-colored pin for 25 years of cubicle service.  Perfect does not exist.  

What are your recommendations for people who want to get started in the wedding industry?

Twitter Tips: Follow Fridays

Each Friday on Twitter, something happens called Follow Friday.  Quite simply, Follow Friday is when everyone posts a tweet about people they think you should follow.  Here are three tips to make Follow Friday more effective and to help others find and follow new (or new to them) people they are interested in:

1. Include the reason in the tweet. For example: "My BFF's in real life: @annie @maryjane @sally" or "four business experts @soandso @etc".  Framing your Follow Fridays with some context gives people much more of a compelling reason to check out your recommendations.

2. Try to keep your recommendations to a few people each week.  It can get confusing very quickly when people post long lists seemingly without rhyme or reason.  If your Follow Friday is taking up 3 or 4 tweets, you are including too many people and lessening the chances that others will check out their profiles to see what they're about.  

3. Type the full hashtag: #followfriday or #ff.  Adding spaces in the hashtag won't index it properly.

Have you ever followed people on Twitter because of someone else's Follow Friday recommendation?

Speaking at ABC Los Angeles Event

For those of you in the Los Angeles area, I will be speaking about online media at the Association of Bridal Consultants meeting on June 15th at Andaz in West Hollywood.

This won't be a full blogging bootcamp (the date for the Los Angeles one will be announced soon!), but will be an informative evening, nonetheless. 

You can find more information about the evening here.  Special thanks to Beth Helmstetter and ABC Greater Los Angeles for coordinating the event and inviting me to speak. 

Defining Social Media

Social media is one of those phrases that is thrown around and abused so frequently these days that it is often completely misunderstood, even by those who participate in it.

At its simplest, social media is a conversation. At its most complex, social media is a conversation. And just like with the dynamics of any verbal conversation, there is potential for a broad range of outcomes.

Everything in life is done through some form of conversation and communication, be it online or offline. Multi-million dollar deals are won (and lost) based on a series of conversations.  Wars have been started because of an offense someone took from a spoken word, and peace treaties have been negotiated because of a willingness to communicate in a more humble tone.  Couples even agree to marry each other with two simple words "I do".

Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are not social media. They are tools that help facilitate it, just like Starbucks or another coffee shop can help facilitate verbal, face-to-face conversations. The conversations that happen within those online platforms is the social media.

Where there is opportunity to speak, there is opportunity to be misunderstood, and online media is no exception.  While getting started in social media is as simple as jumping in and starting a conversation or joining one,  committing to it is not easy.   It is risky and you have to give up quite a bit of perceived control (I say perceived because you weren't ever really in control anyway).  Tone can be misinterpreted much more easily via the written word and passive aggressive remarks instantly have a larger audience. Being a hermit, however, is not healthy, either offline or on, and is not a solution to avoiding the important conversations that are happening.   

It's important to note that the platforms used will evolve and be replaced, but the need to communicate with other humans never will. Social media will also never fully replace verbal communication. The days of speaking face-to-face or via telephone aren't going anywhere (though the phone might). The tools will always change; the core need to communicate and connect with each other will not.

That said, online communication is not a fad and social media isn't one of those things that was fun while it lasted. It is another form of talking with others, and it will only continue to grow. While Facebook has jumped the shark and Twitter is beginning to swim in some dangerous waters, social media is here to stay. If you're not willing to adapt and participate in the two way conversations online media enables, your business will suffer.

Houston and NYC Blogging Workshops

Just a reminder that the Blogging Bootcamps for Houston and Manhattan are coming up this month.  Houston is next week, on May 20th and NYC is May 27th.  One of my favorite parts of the workshop (and I feel most beneficial) is the breakout sessions, which wouldn't be able to happen if I just presented this material online.  If you want to attend, be sure to sign up soon!

Thanks to everyone who came to the workshops in Atlanta and Orlando last week!  I wish I had more time to chat with each person.  Here's a group shot from the Orlando workshop that took place at the lovely (and after a cancelled flight and late night substitute plane, a very cozy and welcoming) Celebration Hotel:

You can see more photos and read Becka's recap on The Studio 222 blog.



photos courtesy Studio 222

5 Mistakes Companies Make When Pitching Wedding Bloggers

As the author of a popular wedding blog and a wedding planner, I get a lot of pitches from vendors trying to get their products featured on my blog or their services listed on my preferred vendors list.  The same mistakes are made by the vendors pitching to both, so while this post will be about how to better pitch to wedding bloggers, you may benefit by keeping some of these points in mind while talking to wedding planners, too.

Please keep in mind that many wedding bloggers receive a ton of blog post requests every day. Part of the reason why it may seem hard to get their attention is because of the simple fact that there are so many people vying for the same attention.  It's not an impossible task, however.  Everyone has to start somewhere, and after all, you won't have anything worth having in life if you never ask for it.  Knowing how to ask is half the battle.  Here are some of the top mistakes people making when pitching to wedding bloggers:

Name Dropping
More than once I've received blog pitches with "we're the favorite product of So and So's Wedding Blog" as the reason I should blog about the product as well.  While this may be well-intentioned, it comes across to the author as "if it's good enough for them, it's certainly good enough for your inferior blog". Comparing the person you are trying to pitch to another blogger is not the way to get your talents written about.  Same goes when pitching a wedding planner. 

Getting Their Name Wrong
Check, double check and triple check before sending out your email.  If you are copying and pasting a form email to 500 different wedding bloggers (and please don't), make sure you've changed the salutation to the current recipient's name.  I receive emails all the time addressed to other wedding bloggers and they almost always get automatically deleted.

Ignoring Their Requests
Many bloggers have a policies page or a blurb somewhere on the front page of their blog telling you how to contact them and for what.  Read it.  And then follow their instructions.  Assuming you're the exception to their "no phone calls, please" request will not get you very far. 

Not Reading Their Blog
Reading the blog you're pitching seems like a no brainer, right? You'd be surprised at the number of emails I receive that say something to the effect of "Since I know you feature beautiful real weddings, we'd love for you to feature this one".  And then attached are twenty full-res uncompressed photos that eat up my inbox space.  Blog pitch fail.  I know immediately that the person requesting the promotion has never given my blog more than a two second glance.  I say this because I do not feature real weddings - my wedding blog is focused on practical advice from a professional's perspective.  Find out what the blog you're requesting coverage from is about and then pitch accordingly.

Sending To Every Email Address You Can Find
While there are other people who work for my company and their emails can be found online, it is not okay to email every address you can find in the hopes one of them lands in front of the blog's editor.  Don't annoy us by sending us all the same email - we do talk to each other.  While you may reach different people with my company, for several bloggers, the different email addresses all go to one person.  The emails are different for their administrative organizational use, not for you to blanket all of them with a product pitch.

As I mentioned earlier, it's not an impossible task, and we do want fresh content and fun finds to write about. By keeping some of these things in mind when you pitch, you'll increase your chances of getting written about.

5 Points to Help You Twitter More Effectively

The great thing about Twitter is that there are no hard and fast rules of how to use it (aside from the terms of agreement).  There are however, some things that you can do to improve your tweeting so that your thoughts don't get lost in 140 character translation.

1. Telling the world to DM you with their thoughts on a subject doesn't work.  It's not that it's just annoying to read (although it is), it also won't work because of Twitter's functionality.  If you are not personally following someone, they cannot DM you.  So if you say "In search of a good limo rental company in Texas. Know of any? DM me", then the only people who can send you a direct message are people you are already following.  If you really want feedback, let people reply to you publicly or include an email address for them to reach you at. 

2. The use of this symbol: | can be confusing when read on a phone because it looks like the letter 'I' when read on a twitter phone app.  Since the majority of Twitter users do read their updates via phone, you may want to consider how your tweets are coming across visually.

3. Consider your audience when you update.  If you're updating with tips for wedding planning, but the majority of your followers are wedding vendors and not brides, who are you really helping with your information?

4. If you are Twittering under your company name do not lock your profile.  This immediately puts up a mental wall and anyone who sees it subconsciously assumes you have something to hide. Your updates do still get copied and pasted elsewhere anyway, so it is still not totally private.  If your profile is locked, then be sure you have it under your personal name and not your business name.

5. If you want to create a link on Twitter, you can save room by shrinking it (HootSuite and Tweetdeck have built in functionality for this) or by preceding it with the www.  For example, www.onlinemediaexpert.com will turn into a link on Twitter even without the http:// in front of it. 

What are some of the things you think Twitterers could do to improve their communication?

New Focus for The Smart Planner (And a New Name!)

In February, Sean Low, a business consultant to creative professionals, called me to discuss the future of The Smart Planner.  This past Friday, I met with him and Rebecca Grinnals of Engaging Concepts to hammer out the details.  Things are changing for The Smart Planner and I couldn't be more excited about where it is headed.

Allow me to back up for a second.

Since 2006, I have been writing a wedding blog to complement my wedding planning company, Blue Orchid Designs.  I opened the doors to that company after spending several years in event planning for the non-profit and corporate sectors.  While I had the resume to back my art and professional work, I didn't have a large start up budget, or even a medium-sized one for that matter, to market my company with. Pricey advertising - either in print or online - wasn't in the cards for me at the time, and the blog was an inexpensive way to connect with people and keep them informed about my company. 

A few months later, in early 2007, I was surprised to receive an email from a senior editor at a prestigious national wedding magazine telling me that she reads my blog every day and encouraging me to keep at it.  I realized several things right then: a) that the blog had potential to open doors and give me a voice to an audience that, through traditional means, would take years and large amounts of money and connections to get in front of, b) that the way bridal conversations are conducted was changing and was no longer primarily "top down" and c) that I seriously needed to get my act together and put a strategy in place rather than just blog from the hip. 

In less than three years, the Blue Orchid Blog has generated over $18 million for the Phoenix area.  I knew the number would be large, but when I sat down to do the math, I was blown away.  Also, in less than three years, the way engaged couples shop for their wedding vendors and ideas has completely changed. It has gone from a few print magazines dictating bridal trends to bloggers posting fresh ideas only to find them show up in print several months later (and usually uncredited). 

So what does all this mean? It means the focus of The Smart Planner is changing.  I will now primarily be writing about how to leverage social media for your business, and more specifically, for any business in the wedding and event industry.  Quite frankly, it's what I know best. I have built a successful wedding planning company by primarily using online marketing strategies, and most of them at little to no financial cost. 

The fact of the matter is that social media is constantly evolving, which means that your online media plan has to evolve as well.  It's not enough to be on Facebook (in fact, Facebook is now five years old and jumped the shark some time last year, but that is a post for another day) and while Twitter is popular right now, it won't be forever. Knowing how to create a social media strategy for your business that can adapt with the increasing speed of change is crucial to your company today.  I am going to be helping you do just that.

The Smart Planner will also be getting a new name to reflect the new focus (stay tuned for that!) and I will no longer be blogging about how to have a smart wedding planning business. All previous posts will stay in the archives so that you can still have access to them and if you're subscribed to The Smart Planner for that reason, there are now other wedding business blogs on that subject that can fill that void.  However, I hope you'll stay, because I really believe that this new focus will help you in your business even more.

Thank you to all of you for your support for The Smart Planner thus far. I look forward to continuing to help your business grow in a more focused way. 

xxox.

Meet the Planners :: Candice Dowling

Name: Candice Dowling

Location: Connecticut

Company Name: Jubilee Events

Number of Years in Business: About a year and a half

Website: eventjubilee.com

Blog: eventjubilee.com/blog

How did you get started in wedding planning? 
It was something that I’ve always wanted to do, and studied art and design in college. I worked in business for about two years and grew to really dislike my job. I was at a turning point in my life when I lost my job – I knew that it was “now or never,” and if I wanted to make my dream a reality, I needed to take the leap and start my own business. I haven’t looked back since.

If you had to start over what one thing would you do differently? 
I would have started sooner. Let me repeat that: I would have started sooner! To all you out there with the same desire to begin doing for yourself – there is no time like now. Don’t wait. Sure, it is scary. Sure, there is a ton of uncertainty. And of course it is a TREMENDOUS amount of work, but in the end, the gains outweigh the sacrifice.

What's your favorite item in your emergency kit? 
Safety pins and double-sided tape. Although my arsenal of Tylenol, Advil, Aspirin, and Midol does come into play at every event!

What is the best piece of business advice you've ever received? 
I’ve received so much business advice, from colleagues, friends, family, and other professionals. When I began my business I was determined to absorb as much information as possible and spent almost six months developing my brand and the backend of Jubilee Events. One of the first books I read was The E-Myth by Michael Gerber, and while it is a challenging read, I found that its message became the foundation of my business. Gerber says that the reason why most small businesses fail is because owners tend to work in their business and not on their business. To me it was a powerful message. Yes, I am an event planner, but I am also a small business owner. I spend equal time dedicated to both.

Which two people (past or present) would you have as guests at a dinner party and why? 
Pablo Picasso and Betty Friedan. I chose Pablo Picasso because he is my favorite artist. I studied him pretty intensely in college and developed a love affair with his work. I admire how he used art to serve a higher, political and humanitarian purpose. Betty Friedan is one of my personal heroes and I would love to talk with her. I keep my copy of the Mystique on my desk and find as I get older I understand it more and more.

What are your three favorite blogs besides thesmartplanner.com? 
Simply Stated by Real Simple Magazine, Southern Weddings Magazine, and Style Me Pretty

Tech Resources for Your Business

If you're new to The Smart Planner, here are some previous posts that feature different gadgets and tech services to help you in your wedding planning business:

Online Backup for Your Computer (As someone who has gone through a few hard drive failures and lived to tell about it, I recommend backing up your data online and not just on an external hard drive.)

Business Phone Service that Fits Your Work Style (If you are giving out your personal cell phone number as your business line, you need this instead.)

Laws for Email Newsletters (Yes, there are actual laws that go along with sending newsletters via email and ignorance of them won't get you off the hook.)

What are some of your favorite tech resources you use to make your company more efficient?

Motivational Monday :: Being Busy

"The feeling of being hurried is not usually the result of living a full life and having no time. It is on the contrary born of a vague fear that we are wasting our life. When we do not do the one thing we ought to do, we have no time for anything else - we are the busiest people in the world."
- Eric Hoffer

Blogging Bootcamp Reviews

I've received some great feedback about The Smart Planner Bogging Bootcamps and I wanted to share some of it here.

On a personal note, I want to give credit where credit is due and let you all know that these workshops are really the brainchild of my friend Mary of the Scottsdale-based wedding videography company, My Wedding Film. She pushed me (ahem, lovingly nagged me may be a better description) for over a year to do the first workshop in Phoenix, and then it grew from there.  I am really fortunate to have friends in my life who are willing to share their big ideas and vision for people other than themselves so unselfishly and I hope to be able to bless others in that way as well. Here is a shot of Mary from the first Blogging Bootcamp in Phoenix (photo by Stuart Thurlkill):

It has been fun to see where the wedding industry is at in each city and to see how similar we all are.  While the curriculum for each workshop is the same, each bootcamp has been different from each other in the way the groups interact and in the specific content they are interested in.  For example, the Chicago class was well ahead of the curve when it came to being Twitter-savvy and all things micro-blogging, and the San Francisco class was fluent in the geek speak during the session on digging into Google Analytics and developing SEO strategies.

Here is some of the feedback people have shared on twitter, blog posts and emails as well as some photos of the workshops:

So I had such a fun weekend in Seattle, and it was so great to finally meet many of the ladies I'd been talking with online! It was especially nice to finally meet Liene Stevens in person, and she put on a great class. If you're an event professional out there, I would highly recommend you attend one of her workshops . . . it was worth every penny!
- Brandi, Weddings by Soiree in Boise Idaho, Seattle workshop

Photo of one of the breakout sessions during the Chicago workshop (photo by Rick Aguilar Studios, who was also kind enough to open his space up for us to use for the day):

Blogging Bootcamp was fabulous! I've already gained more subscribers to the blog since implementing ideas from the bootcamp. Worth it!
- Daniela, Bella Signature Design in Seattle, Seattle workshop

Liene must have seen my last post on Feb 20 about bringing her Blogging Bootcamp to Chicago, because this past Tuesday I had the privilege of learning from one of the best in the wedding biz, Liene Stevens of Blue Orchid Designs, aka The Smart Planner. She  knows what she is talking about, and I truly admire her and her success at such a young age . . . Anyway, I can’t give away all the strategy she shared with us since people are paying good money for her blogging advice, but the one thing she engrained in my mind is that “consistency is key.” So obvious and yet . . . that, my friends, has been the downfall of my little blog!
- Charlene, Sweetchic Events Inc in Chicago, Chicago workshop

A photo of Charlene, myself and Natalie from I Heart Peonies at the Chicago workshop (photo from Charlene's blog):

Thanks for having today's workshop. I had a lot of takeaways and I'm super excited to get going on making my blog better!
 - Amy, Ardent Photography in Wisconsin, Chicago workshop

Some of the attendees from the Chicago workshop either listening intently or thinking about the amazing lunch that was catered by Designed Cuisine (photo by Rick Aguilar Studios):

If you can go to The Smart Planner's Blogging Bootcamp, do! My site stats have already improved so much.
- Alison, Aviva Events in Cincinnati, Columbus workshop

If you're interested in attending, these are the workshops coming up in May: Atlanta at The Bridal Bar and Orlando at The Celebration Hotel this Wednesday and Thursday (registration closes on Monday, so sign up soon if you're in those areas), Houston on May 20th and then Manhattan on May 27th.  You can see a full list of the workshops in the sidebar of The Smart Planner blog or by visiting The Smart Planner Workshops website.

Hope to see you at one of them!

Meet the Planners :: Meagan Gilpatrick

Name: Meagan Gilpatrick

Location: Maine

Company Name: Maine Seasons Events

Number of Years in Business: Nine

Website: maineseasonsevents.com

How did you get started in wedding planning? 
After having worked in the fields of restaurant management, arts, customer service, sales management, human resources and retail management, I became engaged and embarked on a planning journey that led me to start my own wedding and event planning company. While planning my own wedding, I ran into so many obstacles that I hadn't anticipated. After my wedding, which was much of a do -it -yourself event, friends and others started asking me to help them plan, design, consult and coordinate their weddings. Requests came in to create floral arrangements, venue and ceremony decor, make bride's maids attire and even bake their cakes. All of which I did unofficially until I decided to leave my corporate job and focus full time on what I learned makes me the most content and utilizes my experiences, skills, talents and interests: planning and designing weddings and events.

If you had to start over what one thing would you do differently? 
I would have consulted with those who have paved the road ahead of me - talked fearlessly with other planners. I assumed there was a large amount of competition and I didn't know a lot about the industry when I started, I only knew how to create a creative and unique event while taking great personal care of my clients. In hindsight I would have reached out for guidance in those early months.

What's your favorite item in your emergency kit? 
I have to choose two items: candle lighter and sewing kit.

What is the best piece of business advice you've ever received? 
A former employer, friend and mentor taught me, "Identify what you want to have, do and be, and let those values guide your decisions." That one sentence has guided me out of many a foggy days.

Which two people (past or present) would you have as guests at a dinner party and why? 
I would invite my paternal Grandfather, because his wisdom, wit, honesty and kindness envelope everyone he meets. Secondly, I would invite Amy Butler for her creativity, liveliness and style.

What are your three favorite blogs besides thesmartplanner.com?

1. Snippet and Ink:  for color and style inspiration and to see events from around the country.

2. Sharyn Peavey Photography: so I can see what Sharyn has been up to and gaze at her sumptuous photos!

3. Samantha Warren Weddings: for Sam's candor, honesty and insight.