Behind The Wedding Business with Katie Sautter of K.S.Otter Events

In this episode we’ll cover:

• How Katie went from 0 bookings to 15 bookings in 1 year
• How she went from engineering to wedding planning
• What she did when she felt lost and confused
• The biggest mistakes Katie made as she grew her wedding planning business
• How she learned how to market and get clients she loves
• How she’s finding new ways to market to get more leads more consistently
• How she’s building relationships with wedding venues
• The surprising way Katie is adjusting her pricing
• How she’s booking clients in Facebook groups
• How she has fallen in love with her wedding planning business
• Why she’s focusing on lead generation right now
• How she’s balancing her business, her full-time job, side projects, and her personal life
• How she makes time for both the business and her life
• The importance of coaching and mentorship
• Why you should use bright, bold language in your marketing

Behind The Wedding Business with Katie Sautter of K.S.Otter Events

0:00:00 – Heidi Thompson

Hello there, my friend, welcome to the podcast. I am your host, Heidi Thompson, and I am here to help wedding professionals of all different kinds attract and book more of the clients you want to work with, as well as build your business in a way that gives you freedom in your life and flexibility, so you’re not working crazy 60 and 80 hour weeks, and I’m really excited for this episode. I like to bring wedding pros on sometimes to talk about their business, what’s going on behind the scenes, so you can feel like you know other people are going through the same sorts of things.

And today you are going to get to know wedding planner Katie Sautter, and Katie has been in business for just over a year. Actually, after we recorded this podcast, she let me know she pretty much has a date where she’s going to be able to quit her day job, which she talks about. You know, trying to figure out and juggle those things during our interview together.

But Katie was one of those people that I knew from the jump, when she joined The Wedding Business Collective, that she was going to have a lot of success with it. And I see these people and I can spot them a mile away because I’ve seen so many people come in and absolutely kill it the way Katie has. She signed up for a challenge I did about a year ago after attending one of my summits, and then decided to join the Wedding Business Collective.

I could tell at the time she joined she was going to get a lot of success quickly and I tell her that during our interview because I saw how practical and what an action taker she was during just that short challenge together and asking for the help that she needed, and she definitely brought that into the Wedding Business Collective so that she could really take off and start booking several weddings.

There were multiple spurts where she, you know she didn’t have any clients, especially in the beginning, and then she would just be able to book several and now she’s working on evening that out, so she has a more consistent flow of leads. But if you are in a position where you’re in a day job, you’re not really sure how you’re going to make that transition or you just want to hear how someone is going from having you know one client and blowing up from there.

Quite frankly, she has done incredibly well in the past year and it has been so cool to see her grow and to get to help her inside the Wedding Business Collective and to see. You know she only had one client when she joined the Wedding Business Collective. She booked five in a month. She booked six in a two-and-a-half-week period. So clearly, what she’s doing is working.

Now we’re just in “Let’s scale this, let’s do more of this” mode. So I’m very, very excited and very proud of Katie because she’s absolutely put in the work and I think you are going to get a lot of inspiration from this interview with her. So let’s go behind the business with Katie Sautter.

Today I’m joined by Katie Sautter, a wedding planner who I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know through working with her in The Wedding Business Collective, and today we are going to take a peek behind her business, her journey and what she has accomplished so far and what she’s learned in the process. So, Katie, welcome. Tell us a little bit about you and your business.

0:04:56 – Katie Sautter
Thank you so much for inviting me on. Yeah, so I am a wedding planner in North Carolina and central North Carolina. And also, just for the record, I am sorry if you hear any weird noises it’s my kitten. She’s very cute. But you know. You know how it is when you’re a pet owner.

0:05:15 – Heidi Thompson
They make noises. She’s a vocal little lady, and that’s fine.

0:05:18 – Katie Sautter
Oh, she’s so sweet. Anyway. So my journey, my business, is now just over a year old, but I’ve been doing this for a while really. So I guess, like my journey, for we’re going to get talking about I don’t know, am I too far ahead already?

0:05:38 – Heidi Thompson
No, go for it.

0:05:39 – Katie Sautter
Right. So my journey is pretty unique, and my journey to being an entrepreneur really started in 2018. I was taking a class.

I was at Boise State University earning my doctorate in material science and engineering, and I was taking this class in project management and engineering, which sounds like a lot, but it was just like how to make a project and how to manage it and like they were talking about like how to be a manager, and I was like you know what I really like this idea of being a leader, and I just didn’t know what to do.

I was just trying to figure out what I really wanted, because you would think that someone who’s earning their doctorate knows what they’re doing, but really the reality is a lot of it was just like I know how to do school really well and I’m just going to procrastinate real life with more school. And so I just kept doing that and this class was like it was really powerful to me, but I chose to do another one.

It was called change management in engineering the following year and this was all about being a change manager. So it was about what actually makes companies succeed and fail and how do their change managers make that impact. How does change in a business stimulate growth? And I got to shadow a CEO and I thought to myself, oh my gosh, is this hard, wow, is this exciting? And so I just remember thinking how do I even begin? And I was boxing myself into science and engineering because that’s what I really knew very well.

So it didn’t occur to me until later on to start my business in wedding planning, because that seems really wildly off for someone with my background, and I was like I should give this a shot, right, I have so much education in this. So what happened was I planned an event because I just really wanted to. I planned like the space themed STEM gala in 2019 and like 164 people showed up and I fell so in love with it. That was the first time anyone had ever raised their glasses. An entire room of people raised their glasses and said to Katie, and I was like this is it? Um? And then I I kind of um. It was like, but I but I’m a scientist.

I didn’t realize that being an event planner could be a career, and so I ended up going to Chicago and working at the Argonne National Lab there. That’s where I met and fell in love with my husband. And then I found a job in North Carolina, which is where I am now, and I was like gee, this thing, this engineering thing, it’s just not stimulating me, it’s not doesn’t spark the kind of joy, and once I got engaged, I mean I feel like that’s like every wedding planner story. It’s like they got engaged. I mean I feel like that’s like every wedding planner’s story.

It’s like they got engaged and they planned their wedding and they loved it. But I didn’t even finish planning my wedding. When I started my business, I was like, no, I remember how much I had been, I’d loved planning events. I mean, I planned several after that STEM gala, at least until 2020 wrecked everything, and I was like I missed it. I missed it so badly. And so then I started my business. I really had no idea what I was doing.

0:09:36 – Heidi Thompson
So that’s kind of a big shift. That’s a huge shift. I get it. I mean, my background is in political science. Doesn’t make any sense, but that is a big shift. But I love that, like you stumble into something and you’re like, oh my god, this is it hey, I think like that.

0:09:57 – Katie Sautter
You know, life is not linear. I think like people don’t talk about that nearly enough. Um, I just took on my third job now I just took on a tutoring position as a student and she’s like in high school. And she’s like I’m supposed to know what I need to do. And I’m like in high school no way, oh, it’s crazy. I think that’s nuts the amount of pressure we put on kids to know what they already want to do. Yeah.

0:10:28 – Heidi Thompson
And it takes. It takes a journey, it takes exploration, and I think that’s cool that you allowed yourself to do that.

0:10:35 – Katie Sautter
Yeah, I definitely know that I have people who think I’m crazy, and I think my dad is very nervous. He was. He was so proud of me, you know, for being that entrepreneur, that that engineer, and now I’ve got to show him that I can be a boss babe, um, while doing, uh, entrepreneurship as well.

0:11:01 – Heidi Thompson
So what was that like in the beginning, when you first started? And it was like, okay, I got to figure this out.

0:11:09 – Katie Sautter
Honestly, it was very lost and confused. I had joined Jamie Wolfer’s union network. It was like that gets you up and running. I think that that’s actually really her class is really awesome as a wedding planner and that it really helped me realize Sorry, there was a huge crash, that’s the cat. The union network really helped me to kind of find out exactly what a wedding planner did and it helped kind of get me onto my feet. It got me, it helped me brainstorm my business name, which is KS Otter Events, which I don’t even think I mentioned. It’s just a play on my name, Katie Sautter, KS Otter and Otter is made for life. So it’s kind of I know. So it’s just, it’s a cute little play on my last name. But yes, where was I going with this?

0:12:10 – Heidi Thompson
So you joined Jamie’s union network to kind of learn how to do all of this and I know you said you were feeling kind of confused like what are you supposed to do exactly?

0:12:25 – Katie Sautter
Yeah, yeah, that was very much the feeling, because it really doesn’t go into marketing and I mean there’s there’s some points where I made a lot of mistakes, um, through her class, um, and I would on almost say I mean I don’t like I love Jamie, but there was a point where it was like I kind of made, I think, a mistake, um because of her class, and so like I bought a photo booth in my second month of business because she was going hardcore into it and I was like, oh my god, maybe this will help me and, um, I don’t recommend that yeah, I think commitment.

In the beginning, I swear, was like that seems like a good idea. And then it was like no, actually I was trying. I was like, well, people would want to hire someone with all of the things, right, um, and so, yeah, that was the biggest mistake I’ve made so far. Um, cause I also don’t know how to market it, um, as part of my wedding planning business and um, that’s been a bit rough, so I’ve only had a couple inquiries for it in total, um, and it’s like that, might, I might keep it, you know, um, but for right now, it’s it’s not making, it’s, it’s not paying itself back. Let’s just go with that.

0:13:43 – Heidi Thompson
And that makes sense, like I get where you come from on that.

0:13:46 – Katie Sautter
That does make logical sense, like, okay, you know we can expand and sell more things, well, the problem that I had at that point was that I was getting too far ahead, because she was talking about affiliate marketing and, of course, like, if you get into Jamie Wolfer’s class, you’ll find out everything is an affiliate through her and so a lot of it is sponsored.

And like again, I’m not trying to say anything bad about Jamie, she’s wonderful, um, but I found myself, like, after all of it, frustrated, um, because there were cheaper, better options, but I was so excited to get into it, um, and that that made it very hard, um, cause I just wanted to leave my job.

0:14:44 – Heidi Thompson
So bad, I was willing to throw money to make money and it was not always successful there, which is a very valuable lesson, not just for yourself, but for everyone, and we’ve all been there and we’ve all done that and, yeah, that’s okay.

Like it happens, we do it, we learn from it. That’s how we Like it happens, we do it, we learn from it. That’s how we, you know, go forward and improve a challenge. I did about standing out, and I think that was maybe, as we’re recording this, a little less than a year ago. Is that how we first came in contact?

0:15:37 – Katie Sautter
I think it was something like that. Yeah, I thought it was through the Wedding Summit series.

0:15:43 – Heidi Thompson
Oh, you know what it might have been. And then it led to that there’s so many touch points, it’s so hard to know it’s for fair yeah. So at that point for you was your biggest struggle the marketing side of things?

0:16:09 – Katie Sautter
Yeah, I think at that point what I just really didn’t know was how to move forward at all. Um, and that included marketing. So I had only gotten one client, and when I had entered your class on The Wedding Business Collective, I had only had one client and that has since changed um with, I think, within um within a month.

So I like hard poured your class and within a month, um, I had pretty much completely undone and redid everything on my website, on my social media and I made a push on, uh, mostly Facebook um, because that was where I had gotten my first couple and I had gotten another five clients.

0:17:07 – Heidi Thompson
I distinctly remember this and you don’t know this, but when I first saw you join The Wedding Business Collective and I had seen you, you know, in that challenge and I had seen like your commitment to doing what you need to do to get the results that you want I was like she’s got this she doesn’t run with it.

0:17:28 – Katie Sautter
And then you did yes and um, I am happy to report like in the last two and a half weeks or so, I booked another 6. So it’s like it’s really exciting. Um, I still distinctly remember that point. It was like in like April or May, and I remember like reaching out to one of my planner friends and being like, hey, is it inquiry season? She was no, it’s not. And that’s when I knew it was working.

0:18:08 – Heidi Thompson
What do you feel like changed for you?

0:18:14 – Katie Sautter
Well, honestly, like I think, like the structure that you had, I had never heard of a lot of these concepts. What I hadn’t really considered was that perhaps I already knew how to plan a wedding, but what I didn’t know how to do was run a business, and I think that what your class was about was how to run a business, because you can gain experience doing, doing, and, and that client work is fundamental, um, but when you don’t know how to run a business, it’s gonna fall apart. I think you need you need that, that foundation, um, to run.

0:19:05 – Heidi Thompson
I totally agree with you and I find that most wedding professionals I encounter are excellent at their craft, whatever it is, whether it’s planning or photography or being a DJ, whatever it is. They are usually so good at their craft whether they realize just how good they are or not. But the thing they’re not good at is running the business, marketing, and they feel like, well, I’m really good at my craft, I should be able to book weddings, but there’s this huge gap where they just don’t know how to do that piece. And it’s not a judgment on how good you are or anything like that, it’s just a different skill set.

0:19:57 – Katie Sautter
Right, and I think it’s fine if you don’t feel like scaling too, because for me, I’m like I need this so that I can do this. I need this so that I can do this full time, um, cause I, I love this, um, and this is what. What I want to be doing, um, I want to be reaching that point, um, where I am self-sufficient and, and, and I think for everyone that’s some sort of different amount of money, and, but for me I’m like I need this, like yesterday.

0:20:37 – Heidi Thompson
That’s funny. Right before we got on and started recording this, I was just on a call with another member and we were having the same conversation around the impatience of just entrepreneurship and it’s like I want it and I want it yesterday.

0:20:55 – Katie Sautter
That is so true.

0:20:58 – Heidi Thompson
So if you feel that way and you’re listening to this know that we all also feel that way. It’s not just going on in your head, it’s like super, super normal for us. And I think you know, especially when you have your eye on something like replacing a full-time income or being able to step down to part-time or like whatever that thing is for you, it can feel like, come on, I just want to get to it already, but everything that you do in the process to getting there is so important to the long-term sustainability for your business yeah, I think that is absolutely true.

0:21:44 – Katie Sautter
The patience really gets to me because, because I’m not a very patient person

0:21:57 – Heidi Thompson
Well, tell us, you know, how has your business changed since that initial point? You know you had one client when you joined The Wedding Business Collective. Where are you at now? Where are you at in terms of where you want to be?

0:22:07 – Katie Sautter
Right. So I feel like inquiries are still inconsistent. So, even though I just said I just got six in the two and a half weeks, but really I still have phases where nothing is coming in Um, and so for me, that’s, I’m, I’m finding new ways of marketing. Right now I’m marketing um by physically going to tour venuesand, and just trying to meet these venue owners, the venue managers, finding out, finding out, like, what they actually need and what are their biggest gripes with planners, um.

So if I like, if I were a different um, a different kind of vendor, I might be like what is your biggest gripe with my, my industry? So for me, I go and I ask what is their biggest gripe with planners and coordinators? Um, and, and that seems to really be effective, and so that’s that’s. I’ve already been added onto two preferred vendors lists, um in in the last month actually, um, and that’s really exciting. But yeah, I feel like I’ve deviated from the question.

0:23:26 – Heidi Thompson
No, that’s really interesting Because, like you said, I think your line of thinking here is really important to highlight for people listening. So you’re bringing in more leads now, but you’re finding that it’s a little bit inconsistent and you want to adjust that. So you found, like, the specific thing you want to adjust and you’re using different ways to market to try to make that more sustainable, and the way that you’ve chosen to do that is building relationships with venues, and the way that you’ve chosen to do that is building relationships with venues. I think that process of thinking is really important for anyone listening to hear, because it can feel so daunting Like what should I do?

That really shows a series of decisions that you made to fill a gap that you’re seeing, decisions that you made to fill a gap that you’re seeing, and that’s a really important thing to be able to do to see, like, okay, the issue isn’t that I’m not getting leads. The issue is that I would like it to be more sustainable. What are some ways I can do that? Okay, what are, like, the practical steps and getting down to okay, what are, like the actual actions I can take in a given week to do that? That’s what produces results.

0:24:52 – Katie Sautter
Yeah, no, exactly that. So your business is tough.

0:24:59 – Heidi Thompson
Actually, tell me where you’re at in terms of how many bookings do you have now? Over this, you know pretty much one-year period.

0:25:10 – Katie Sautter
We’ve known each other oh, for the one year, okay, yeah, so I think, um, my right, so I have 10 in front of me right now. For the next year, um, that’s great. And in the in in the last, within the last year. So this is my first year in business I’ve had sorry, I’m counting. No, that’s okay, I think it’s five. Um, it’s five now. So two I assisted and then three I actually have coordinated. Oh, and then I had my own wedding. I don’t know if that counts, but I did plan that.

0:25:49 – Heidi Thompson
So about 15 ish, would you say?

0:25:56 – Katie Sautter
Yeah, 15 within the last year, um, and I feel like that’s more than I anticipated, so I’m really happy with that that’s always exciting when you surpass that I didn’t surpass the money.  I got some advice recently that I am new and charging what I’m worth doesn’t actually mean what it means to other people, which has been kind of interesting. Tell me more about that is.

So I now have a coach and she’s been telling me like through her trainings and stuff, like you are worth that eventually, and so it’s. It’s not that you’re necessarily worth something right away. Um, and so I have reduced my prices for coordination for the year 2024. So obviously that’s not um like we’re nearing the end of 2024 and that but it really helps me to build my portfolio just to do that alone. So it’s like not charging what you’re actually worth up front.

It has been helpful in getting some of the initial leads and so I don’t I don’t want anyone to feel disheartened by that, because this is actually part of the plan. Um, it’s, it really is. It’s planning, it’s not and I don’t feel disheartened by it, Like I did um at the very beginning, like I feel in control this time. Um, yes, I reduced my prices. It’s a heavy discount compared to what I want to be charging, but I feel like for me, where I am actually at in business, people will start to see my worth through my actual work and so I will be able to charge those prices next year and that’s kind of the line of thinking and then I will be able to succeed at that, and that is at least the plan.

0:28:05 – Heidi Thompson
That is a really interesting perspective to hear, because I know a lot of people have a lot of feels about pricing in general. It just can be awkward and I know sometimes we can feel like, oh, I got to like come out of the gate, you know, really high, or I have to come out of the gate really low. I don’t think any of those is necessarily right or wrong. It really depends. But the way you’re describing this is you took a very, very engineer’s approach to planning out. Okay, like, what are we doing here, where are we going, what’s the long-term plan and what is the you know easiest way for me to get there, to get that momentum?

And sometimes that means reducing your price. That doesn’t mean anything, it just means you’re reducing your price. But if you’re doing it for planned reasons, if you’re doing it for strategic reasons, I think that’s great. If you’re not doing it out of I’m scared, I’m in a desperation mode, I think that can be a really great move and I can tell just by the way you talk about it. There’s a confidence of like, no, I’m doing this so that I can do this and it makes sense.

0:29:28 – Katie Sautter
Yeah, I mean, it’s just a different goal. So the goal was not to make the money, the goal was to get the portfolio and the experience, and reducing the price ends up being worth the goal for those things and that’s something that I have learned the hard way this year. Like, well, I am worth this. And then it’s like, well, maybe I’m not. I’m not until I can get that portfolio and to get the experience needed. And I mean I’m still attracting amazing couples. They’re just, they’re more on the budget end and doing things.

I’m doing a lot of DIY. I set up oh boy, I set up so much DIY last weekend. It was a lot. I don’t know how many pumpkins I moved, but they were heavy and they were many. And my goal is that’s not the goal, that is not the end goal, but the couple was really, really sweet and I have already used, like your testimonial template to reach out to them and they were basically like, thank you, we’ll get to this soon, kind of thing. So I’ll have to follow up, of course, but it’s just, it’s planning right? Yeah, it’s a strategic approach.

Right. It’s not necessarily about getting all of that money right up front. It’s very much strategically just trying to get that portfolio and the experience right away.

0:31:07 – Heidi Thompson
I’m curious. So you mentioned you’re working more on building relationships with venues. What marketing channels are you using now to book clients?

0:31:21 – Katie Sautter
So it’s still mostly Facebook right now. That’s the main one. I’ve started to track a bit, and right now, my highest conversion is referrals. It has a 100% conversion rate. Referrals, it has a 100% conversion rate. Nice, and that right now, though, is like one of one, which is why it’s 100% Right. So the math is friendly there, but the next best one that I have is Facebook, and then, after that, it would be Google, and then so far the least friendly would be wedding expos, and I’ve had zero from other channels. So I’m on Zola, I’m on Instagram, but I’ve not seen success with those yet.

0:32:05 – Heidi Thompson
Okay, cool, that’s it. I always think it’s so interesting to hear, because everybody I ask has a different answer to this question, and it really goes to show that there’s no one right thing. It really depends on you. It depends on your business, depends on the kind of clients you’re trying to book. There are infinite ways to do it, but the way that works for you may be different than someone else, and that’s totally fine may be different than someone else, and that’s totally fine.

0:32:37 – Katie Sautter
And I do want to mention, like it’s, Facebook groups, not Facebook as a whole, because what I’m doing is just kind of mindlessly scrolling Facebook groups and looking for the keywords coordinator and planner Um, I don’t often have to search them. Now my algorithm knows me and it’s like it puts them right at the top.

So the moment I opened Facebook, it’s like here’s a person and if you can get that boom fast, you’re going to be at the top of their list, and so that has actually given me about an 18% conversion rate, which is very good. I think that’s very good. Yeah, I would say so. So I mean, I guess 18% is the number that actually inquire from Facebook. So it’s still not like world’s best. And I am improving on sales I’m getting better at sales call. So that is huge. Actually it’s. It’s a lot of a lot of my statistics are just me learning how to do sales, which is something I was never taught in school.

0:33:43 – Heidi Thompson
We all have to learn that and I think the sales and the marketing are two of the hardest things for people, especially when you start a creative business, because you start it to do the thing you want to do, you know, not because you want to run a business.

0:34:01 – Katie Sautter
I don’t know what this is. Maybe this is controversial, but the more I’m doing this, the more I love the business and the less I’m into the actual planning, which like not to say that I don’t also love that, but I freaking love my business.

0:34:17 – Heidi Thompson
I love that. No, that’s so cool to hear, and I think I mean not to put words in your mouth, but I think that probably comes from a place of having figured a lot of this stuff out and be like, okay, like I can do this.

0:34:33 – Katie Sautter
It’s that, it’s definitely that, but it’s also very much just a love of building, like you’re growing something. You made this. This came from your heart and your soul.

0:34:47 – Heidi Thompson
That is when you think about it like that. That is pretty incredible.

0:34:52 – Katie Sautter
Like I think a lot of people feel like when they make a business correct me if I’m wrong I feel like a lot of people are like oh, I made this thing. This is like what I poured like a huge chunk of time into to make happen, cause it takes a lot of time to get that stuff up and running, so it’s something to be proud of.

0:35:15 – Heidi Thompson
I agree with you. I love the business side of it, but that’s what I’m all about, so of course I would. So that’s interesting to hear that you’re like falling in love with that side of things and that it is this thing. I feel like a lot of people see it as this thing you have to continually do, but I look at it as more like it’s a thing you get to continually do, Like you get to garden, you get to grow something, you get to try things and see what works, and to me that’s exciting.

0:35:52 – Katie Sautter
Yeah exactly and that’s. It’s just like you artfully created this brand, this image, this, this look, and you’ve created something that makes you money, that feeds you, that roofs, roofs you, and feeds your cats. It’s beautiful really. I’m like, yeah, maybe it’s like a lot like money. Don’t get me wrong, money terrifies me. I’m still intimidated by my bank account. I don’t open it up nearly enough, as most business owners probably do, but it’s still like I just love the process of the building and making it happen.

0:36:39 – Heidi Thompson
That is so cool. I love hearing that and I know when you started your business, the goal was okay, I’m going to move out of my job or I’m going to move part time. How is that going for you and how are you balancing those things?

0:37:00 – Katie Sautter
Yeah, so right now I’m still working my full-time job and I’m apparently a tutor now and I have a YouTube channel.

0:37:11 – Heidi Thompson
Typical entrepreneur stuff just starting a million things, I get it.

0:37:15 – Katie Sautter
I know, because I love all of the things, like I love teaching, I love my clients, I love the business, I love my YouTube channel. Oh, my gosh, I love my YouTube channel, even though it’s not doing a lot right now, but it’s like these things are fun to me, yeah, where I want to be. Well, the one thing that’s not fun is my full-time job. I mean, I get very frustrated by it and I think what I’m just realizing is I just don’t want to be someone else’s employee. I very much want to be my own boss and make my own time, which is going to be busy, but it’s like, if I need a day off, I want a day off, like right now.

I actually don’t think I’m getting Christmas off and it’s bothering me and so, but the only reason, like there’s a few reasons why I’m still here and it’s because I did lower my prices, um to meet those goals right now, um, my business is still like I feel like it’s just taken off, um, like it’s a plane. It has just left the ground. So it’s not at cruising level right now and I feel like by spring, I’m hoping that I can be at cruising level to be able to be able to pay rent is really the big one for me right now rent and food, and so those, those are that’s what I’m doing right now.

I need leads, I need lead generation. That is my primary focus, my primary goal, um. I’ve put almost all my other goals to the side right now just to focus on generating leads and um and taking care of my clients, of course, um, course.

0:39:14 – Heidi Thompson
And then I’m hoping that’s very smart, because that’s the thing you need to get from, like you said just post takeoff to cruising altitude. You need that lead flow and focusing on that one thing is a hell of a lot easier than focusing, quote unquote. Focusing on that and like 87 other things that you’re trying to do in the business.

0:39:40 – Katie Sautter
It’s so true and you know it’s funny. Through you I found The One Thing. I forget who it’s by, but that’s a book. Oh my God, I think that has changed my entire perspective on everything. To anyone listening, read or listen to that book, The One Thing so good. Anyway, where was I going with this?

0:40:07 – Heidi Thompson
I just love that you’re focusing on lead gen and, like you said, to be able to get to where you want to be. That is what you need to focus on right now. It’s not all these other things that you could be doing. It’s being able to know. I think knowing what you need to focus on is difficult for a lot of people, but you know what you need to focus on and you’re doing it. You’re taking very specific actions and I know that you go through our 90 day planning and the wedding business collective and break these down into steps that you can actually take.

So you have a full-time job, you have a YouTube channel, you’re tutoring and you have a wedding business, and you’re still able to do it because you’re focusing on the most important thing.

0:40:58 – Katie Sautter
Yeah, I think. I mean I think right now it’s it’s lucky that I don’t have kids. I feel like if I had kids I would have to reorganize my priorities, but definitely I’m very busy.

0:41:13 – Heidi Thompson
How much time are you spending on the business in a given week, would you say?

0:41:20 – Katie Sautter
Oh, you know, I hadn’t really thought of it like that.

0:41:23 – Heidi Thompson
Um, kind of hard to ballpark. But I’m just curious.

0:41:26 – Katie Sautter
It’s also hard because I can kind of you know, um, I can kind of sometimes get away with doing it, um, during the day, during the weekday, um, but right now, I mean it’s been so busy lately right now at my job that, like I, my, I have to focus on that. But right now I’m waking up and I’m pretty much going straight to the business seven 30 in the morning.

Sometimes I go to the gym, also go to the gym, um, and I get to my nine five Um, I’m there. I will often have meetings for my business during my lunch break, so that’s an extra hour, so that’s at least five hours a day, for, but not every day has that, but I do like do the things that I would do for my business in my lunch hour, um, and then after work, um, I pretty much have meetings, um meetings, or I have a plan that I need to get done today, cause that is, that is a glass ball and if I break it, um, it’s not going to be good. So I know that I have glass balls and rubber balls and juggling those, and this is something I learned in your class too.

It’s like I can let go of the Instagram reel that I need to get done, but that could be Sunday. I could do that Sunday, but, like, right now, what I need to get done is this timeline for this couple that is next, uh, in two Saturdays from now. Like I need to get this done cause we’re about to have a meeting, um, so it’s like, yeah, it’s a little bit of all of that, but yeah, the amount of time I mean. Like sometimes my husband comes to me at like eight, 30 and is like hey, are you hungry? Do you want dinner? I like poor Tony, my husband Tony, um, and then on Fridays I do set aside time. I block off Fridays so that I can spend time, go out for a drink with him, get some barbecue or something, and then just watch a movie.

0:43:35 – Heidi Thompson
I love that you’re prioritizing both your business and your life. That’s so important.

0:43:42 – Katie Sautter
Well, I need the gym. I need the gym, I need sleep, I need my husband. I freaking love that man. He’s fantastic. So I need to focus on those things because, at the end of the day, that’s what I have, um is my body, my mind and my community. Um, but, like, in order to nourish those things, long term are my goals, um, I have to focus on those as well, um, and my business is part of that I meet a lot of people who are very self-sacrificial, like that’s their toxic trait, and it’s so easy to like throw yourself away in the pursuit of growing the business.

0:44:37 – Heidi Thompson
But it’s also very short-sighted because, like you said, all you have is your body, your mind, your relationships. If you don’t take care of those things, it’s all going to come crumbling down.

0:44:50 – Katie Sautter
Honestly, that’s the number one priority. That’s the number one priority. It’s taking care of me and a very anxious person. I probably have undiagnosed ADHD. You might’ve noticed this meeting where I’m like wait, what was I talking about? Um? But it’s still. Like you know, you got to take care of that mind, that body, that soul, otherwise, what else are you fighting for?

0:45:33 – Heidi Thompson
Yeah, none of this is going to work without it, right? It all crumbles yeah, it really does, and it happens fast too yeah, that I’ve definitely experienced that. Yeah, same here. So you’ve been in business for a little over a year. You’ve been in the Wedding Business Collective for a chunk of that. You’ve been with us for quite a while. What do you wish you knew when you first started that you know now?

0:46:11 – Katie Sautter
Oh, um, stop worrying about affiliate marketing, um, and start focusing on leads. Don’t spend the money on that photo booth. Basically, just like be careful about, like be intentional about where you’re spending your money.

And it has taken me until, like it took me until June of this year to figure this out. Currently I am an engineer, so I have a lucrative job, which is a. It’s a nice cushy job that I hate, um, and, and it’s allowed me to play a little without too many repercussions, but it’s still putting me back by spending that money. So throwing money at email marketing or at the photo booth or whatever else is not necessarily going to make your business boom. It’s really the groundwork that is going to help you.

I wish that I had started making actual relationships with venues sooner, and someone had like recommended this to me, I think Tom. I don’t know how to pronounce his last name Tom Cheldnik. He’s from the Knot, oh, okay, yeah, I had had a conversation with him back in March and he was like, yeah, make venue relationships.

And I like heard him, but I also kind of feel like that went in through one ear and out the other and I wish I had heard him harder because I did not done it as much as I should have. Um, and so I wish what I wish that I had done was focus in building those relationships early on and I mean I’m still early on and I’m figuring that out now, but it’s it’s just. I wish that I had found your, your class sooner also, but I also wish that I had had that mentoring the. Maybe you don’t need to spend that money right now, but I also wish that I had had that mentoring fee. Maybe you don’t need to spend that money right now.

0:48:34 – Heidi Thompson
Maybe that’s a later thing. Yeah, it’s hard, especially in the beginning, to know like, okay, I know I need to take all of these steps, but I have no freaking clue what order to take them, in, which ones matter, which ones don’t matter. It’s very hard to decipher that and that’s why, you know, in the collective I always direct people through a certain path, because there are things that matter more than other things.

Like it’s, none of them are equal and, like you said, for right now in your business, lead generation is the most important thing. All of the other activities are not equal to that, so they don’t deserve the same time, the same money, the same attention that you know.

A lot of us just kind of divide our attention equally between a million different things and then feel like we’re not making any progress because we’re not focusing on the important things. So I totally get where you’re coming from. I find that with most people I work with, most wedding pros that join The Wedding Business Collective are uncertain about the steps and the order of the steps, and I think that’s something that is overlooked. I feel like we feel like everybody else has that figured out, but I can tell you from talking to a lot of wedding professionals that most people absolutely do struggle with that.

0:50:08 – Katie Sautter
Yeah, I think that’s something that a coach or a mentor such as yourself is really helpful for, um, because you don’t know what you don’t know, which is like. I always hated that phrase in school, Um, but I used it to to ace my exams because you don’t know what you don’t know. So write down what you do. But if there is a helpful teacher or guide along the way who has already made all those mistakes, who knows how to get there from where you are, that’s everything that is worth its weight in gold.

0:50:42 – Heidi Thompson
Yeah, I totally agree. It’s why I invest in coaching and mentoring myself because we’re so close to our own businesses. You can’t see the things directly in front of you until someone else is like, hey, just do that thing. You’re like, oh my God, why didn’t I see it?

0:50:58 – Katie Sautter
It’s so true, I love a good slap, slap, you know Right, it’s like hey, don’t do that, like what? What do you mean?

0:51:12 – Heidi Thompson
So I’m curious what you would say to a wedding pro who’s listening to this, who is struggling to book their ideal clients, being in the position you are now. Having learned what you learned, what would you say to that person?

0:51:32 – Katie Sautter
Oh gosh, I feel like there’s so many things. Um, I think so far especially after taking your course and like digesting every single bit of information that you’ve taught me, I mean I’ve been able to find ideal clients even when I’m discounting my low prices. I just had an amazing couple last weekend. I freaking loved them and the photographer had like one of those little. It looked like a Nintendo Switch but it was like in her hair freaking that hairpin whatever that was, I don’t know. But I’m like this is the team, this is the culture that I love, because I love little non-traditional.

Um, you know, I think like what I would tell someone is look at your own personality, look at what you love to be around and realize maybe not everyone is your ideal client, but those that are of certain traits and focusing on those traits and who you are and what you love in those traits can really be helpful in fine-tuning your messaging in those traits can really be helpful in fine-tuning your messaging um both on your website and your social media.

Be you at the end of the day. Um, I personally I don’t believe in like professionalism is great, but I also don’t believe in professionalism and maybe that’s just my brand. Um, I feel that, at the end of the day, who you want to bring to your table is going to be. I feel like, at the end of the day, your ideal client is going to be someone you want to work with, and that sounds really broad and that could sound really broad. But who are they actually at the end of the day?

Um, what do they love? Who? Who do they love? Um, are they? Do they? Do they love dogs? Are they dog people? Are they cat people? Do they just love animals? These seem like such simple, stupid questions at the end of the day, but kind of like writing a novel. When you sit down to write a novel, you build out a character, you build out people and that avatar.

What I wish I had known at the very beginning I thought that was such a stupid concept, but what I wish I had known is that I do want to work with people who have my kind of energy, who have my kind of spirit, and that really helps because so far all I’ve done is attract those people and to make sure that that is in every single bit of your marketing, from Google, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, your website. It needs to be crystal clear that that is who you want in your entire business.

0:54:34 – Heidi Thompson
I totally agree with you and I think, more now than ever in this industry, it is so important that people see themselves in your business and that they see, oh, like you’re my person if I’m this kind of person, whereas this person is who I want to work with if I’m that kind of person.

I think for a long time in the wedding industry people have been very broad and I see a lot of people struggling right now because they’re still very broad and I remember you know you working on that like first top part of your website, getting really crystal clear on your messaging and who is that exact person to where.

When that person lands on that website, it is such a quick oh yes moment that they don’t continue searching and I think that’s something a lot of people don’t think about as the purpose for why we want to stand out to our ideal clients. It’s not just to be different to our ideal clients, it’s not just to be different, it’s to make them basically put you into a separate category. It’s like that’s the person I really want to work with. If I can’t work with them, then I guess I could work with these other people and I have seen that in your business to be a very powerful thing.

0:56:04 – Katie Sautter
Yes, I think you can be too specific though. Yes, I think you can be too specific, though I definitely think I was a little too specific at first. I took the assignment very seriously, very bright, and there can be a lot of great-sounding words that are very neutral. So when you do your marketing, definitely think about the words. Is is this bright, is this moody?

Maybe if you’re going you’re a photographer, you’re thinking moody or, and, and you know, maybe there’s like some mysteriousness to it or something. Um, but is that is mysterious? A good word? It’s kind of like the difference between weird, odd, and strange. Like you know that if someone is calling you strange, that’s bad, um, but if they’re calling you weird, that’s probably a good thing, um, if they’re calling you odd, they just haven’t figured you out yet, um, like as a human being, and so that’s. I’m sorry, that’s totally a meme I saw somewhere, but um, I love that.

0:57:18 – Heidi Thompson
No, I love that. It’s like we all have those things like oh is, am I quirky or am I strange? Like well, very different.

0:57:27 – Katie Sautter
Yeah, you don’t want to be strange.

0:57:31 – Heidi Thompson
That is such an interesting point about the language that you’re using and I think too often in a very visual industry we rely on the images to sell us, but at the end of the day, you need to be sold by words.

0:57:47 – Katie Sautter
Yeah, they need to be positive, they need to like, um, like, what I used to have was something very neutral and I got no inquiries isn’t that interesting, like if you take a neutral approach, it just doesn’t land right and what I didn’t realize was, like the neutral that I had sounded positive to me, but it was very hyper-specific.

It was like um for couples, it was something along the lines for nature-loving couples who want, um, I don’t know an enchanted forest wedding or a cozy mountain. I don’t know an enchanted forest wedding or a cozy mountain wedding and, like, I love the concept of those things but at the end of the day, like nature loving is actually a very neutral word and that sounds like a positive word.

What is it? If you want to be bright and bold, those are simple, much more impactful, much more positive words, because people like bright, they like bold, they like vibrant, or no one likes the word muted either.

0:59:10 – Heidi Thompson
Maybe I’m wrong, but maybe that’s my personal bias, but you know it’s separate. I think it’s a, it’s just a thing of if you don’t stand for anything, nothing stands out and it just falls flat and it falls into that neutral territory. And that neutral territory is dangerous because nobody really cares and they’re not going to choose you over someone else and ultimately, that’s what we need them to do right and it’s like is that actually what I want?

0:59:36 – Katie Sautter
Yeah, it’s like you want to capture just enough people um more bright, more energetic. Um, that is has very much helped me.

0:59:59 – Heidi Thompson
That is so helpful. Thank you so much for sharing that. That’s really interesting and I hadn’t thought about it in that way, but I think I completely agree with you there and it has clearly made a difference for you.

1:00:13 – Katie Sautter
Oh yeah, that’s for sure. I think you know words have meaning to them. I had a friend she’s actually she’s 96. I have this friend who’s like quite old and, um, she has, every once in a while she stops me and is like are you sure that’s that word that you just said is what it means?

And it’ll be like I can’t even think of a word right now, but it she’ll. She’ll question me on what I think a word means and I think some of it’s generational, like how she used the word when she was um my age was not is not how I use the word nowadays, um and I think like that has also been a kind of a perspective I’ve taken back to this um and being like what does this word actually means to people?

1:01:07 – Heidi Thompson
Yeah, that’s a really interesting perspective and I mean you’ve proven it to work. By appealing more to that bright, bold, positive language, You’ve attracted more of the exact people you want to work with.

1:01:22 – Katie Sautter
Yeah, I definitely have. I have a lot more weirdos lining up to be with me and I freaking love it have.

1:01:30 – Heidi Thompson
I have a lot more weirdos lining up to be with me and I freaking love it. I love that so much. Katie, I could talk to you all day about business, but I won’t keep you. If people want to get in contact with you, what is the best way for them to do that?

1:01:43 – Katie Sautter
Yeah, so if you could follow me on Instagram at KSOtterEvents, and otter is spelled like the animal, that is it, that’s like my whole handle, and then I am KSOtterEvents on Facebook and then if you need to email me, it would be hello at KSOtterEvents.com. I’m open to starting a conversation. I love getting to know people in this business. This has been an overwhelmingly positive industry and I love it so much. I would be happy to share.

1:02:19 – Heidi Thompson
I love hearing that so much and thank you for being so open and willing to give us a peek behind your business open and willing to give us a peek behind your business.

1:02:30 – Katie Sautter
Yeah, absolutely. It was such a pleasure being on here. I would come on here anytime for you, Heidi.

1:02:35 – Heidi Thompson
If you are in a position, like Katie was, where you don’t know how to get more leads, how to get more leads sustainably, and how to book more weddings, I want to invite you to join us inside of The Wedding Business Collective.

You can go to www.theweddingbusinesscollective.com to get all the information, but it is the exact program that Katie went through and is still a part of, and it’s going to walk you through creating that perfect fit marketing plan, so you know exactly what it is you need to do to attract and book more of those perfect fit clients.

I would love to hear what you learned from this episode. Shoot me a DM on Instagram. I am @evolveyourweddingbusiness and I can’t wait to hear from you over there. I will speak to you again very soon.

About Katie Sautter

Katie Sautter is a wedding planner with an unusual background. Originally destined for a life of academia, she found herself deeply unhappy working in the science and engineering field she chose (she learned that it’s a lot more fun learning about science than working in it!). Motivated to be her own boss, she finally made the leap of faith in herself and started her wedding planning business. Maybe people think she’s crazy, but this change has never felt so right to her. Life is rarely linear, and neither will this path be to success.

Website: www.ksotterevents.com
Instagram: @ksotterevents

Links & Resources:

The Wedding Business Collective
The One Thing
Download my Testimonials That Sell templates
The Lazy Girl’s Guide To Marketing Your Wedding Business

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