How to Balance Your Wedding Business alongside Your Job
Many wedding business owners share the common experience of juggling the demands of both their couples and a corporate job. Whether this is a deliberate choice, stemming from the desire to test the waters before committing to their business full time or whether they are just starting out, managing a full or even part time workload alongside your couples calls for some strategic planning. Today, we wanted to share some advice to help you navigate running your business when you have another job and achieve some balance in your wedding business.
Be Clear About Your Availability
You should always keep on top of, and be good at communicating your availability (yes, boundaries matter) but this takes on special importance when you are balancing engaged couples alongside the responsibilities of your job...and can sometimes feel like a pressure cooker.
Couples often contact you look for or expecting a quick reply - and that can be challenging to fulfil when you are in scheduled calls, meetings or work for the day. In addition to communicating your working hours in person to your clients, mention what your response times are, alongside including response times and working hours in your email signature or automatic email response and in your contracts too. You may prefer to also think about any in person meetings your wedding industry role may require, such as venue visits, mock ups or run-throughs and plan these further in advance since most of these will be done during the week whilst the venues and suppliers have events at weekends.
Top Tip: Frame your limited availability in a positive light. Use language like "Here are my available hours" instead of focusing on any limitations.
Have a Process
Having a repeatable system alongside templates is one of the biggest gifts you can do for yourself - even if you have already taken your business full time!
Templating ensures you have a consistent client experience and can ensure nothing gets forgotten - especially important when you have more on your plate than most. Rely on handy business tools available to schedule your social media, emails and any marketing. Anything you do more than once in your business and especially anything regularly should have a process or a template to streamline your business and save you time. Whether its something as simple as some social media templates, prewritten blogs or canned emails or prewritten proposals, having a system to fall back on or some templates to save you time will pay you back 10 x over. Whether you buy them already pre done or you make your own - you'll get your investment back 10 x over and use them countless times, saving you much needed time.
Build a Trustworthy Network
The other thing you can do your future self will thank you for is building out your list of contacts. Ask for recommendations from other suppliers, attend networking events or even ask for some mentorship from others who've been in your position or join a coaching programme.
Having a list of trusted people will save you scrambling to find people when you are already pressed for time.
Create a Distinct Workspace and Schedule
Designating a dedicated workspace for your wedding business, even within the confines of your home, can significantly enhance your productivity and mental focus. Set up a well-organised area where you can immerse yourself in wedding-business-related tasks without the distractions of your job, household or other distractions.
It's equally important to establish a structured schedule too. Define specific time blocks for working on your wedding business, aligning them with your most productive hours. This practice not only helps you allocate time efficiently but also prevents burnout by ensuring you have designated moments to recharge and switch between roles.
Katie Lyth and Roxy Bond are wedding business coaches based in the UK. They help wedding businesses of all sizes scale their business and reach six figures and beyond without any of the burnout.
They also host The WedPro Podcast. a leading educational and business podcast for businesses within the wedding industry.
When they aren't hosting one of their wedding business only networking events, creating templates and content for their membership or coaching their incredible wedding business clients you'll find them spending time with their children and partners, on long walks or in front of some new Netflix addiction.
You can find out more about The Wedding Business Hub and Katie and Roxy by heading to:
Grab your Wedcon 2023 ticket whilst you have the chance!
This year, Wedcon is bigger and better than ever - with an amazing line-up and equally impressive gorgeous wedding venue in Kent, we've planned a day for your wedding business that will propel your business forward and give you the know-how to get you there too.
With a mix of networking and expert speaker talks and workshops you'll leave Wedcon motivated for the year and wedding season ahead and with the knowledge to book more of the clients you love.
Check out our speaker line up and plans for the day here. Be quick - spaces are extremely limited this year and we always have a sell-out event.
Wedcon is for all types of wedding businesses no matter how long you've been in business, from photographers, planners, venue stylists, entertainers, florists, cake makers, make up artists, celebrants and more... If you work in weddings Wedcon is the exclusive event for you.
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