Tis the season for thinking about how you’re going to improve & grow your wedding business next year. It’s a special time of year where introspection seems to be boundless so take advantage of that and make some plans around what you’ll improve and how you’ll do it. In this post, I’ve got some advice and resources to help you improve 5 big areas of your business.

Improve your mindset

Let’s start at ground zero. Your mindset is often overlooked but it’s incredibly important, especially for business owners. Your business, and your ability to grow it, is only as good as your mindset. Your mindset has the power to sabotage everything you’re working toward or propel you forward.

So what things in your mindset do you need to reexamine? I covered 6 of the most common ones I see (and that I’ve experienced personally) in this post and it tackles big things like failure, fear & expectations. I also had Shannon DePalma on the podcast to talk about all things mindset in business and it was awesome!

Learning how to deal with bipolar disorder has forced me to get up close and personal with my mindset and honestly, that’s a big reason why I’ve developed the mindset I have. I didn’t really have a choice. I could view this thing that was thrust upon me as a weakness and allow it to take me down or change my mindset and use it as a strength. Now not everyone gets put in that position, which is why I’m including this reminder to look at your own mindset and where you can improve it. You can read about what being bipolar has taught me about business right here.

So, where could your mindset use some improving? Maybe it’s around imposter syndrome or money mindset. Maybe it’s self-sabotage (which most of us do at some point). The first step to improving your mindset is recognizing that it needs work.

Improve your client systems

When you’re busy working with clients do things work like a well-oiled machine or is it a whirlwind where you’re forgetting things and wasting time searching for them when you realize you had this other thing that needs your attention that pulls you in a completely different direction? If your client systems aren’t streamlined you’re adding unnecessary stress onto yourself and delivering a less-than-great experience to your clients.

So what are you supposed to do?

Well, there are 2 pieces to this: creating the systems/processes themselves and tools to make them easier to manage. If you need help creating your systems & processes, listen to this podcast episode all about how to simplify and streamline your business with systems. Inside The Wedding Business Collective, you’ll find a great systems course with the fabulous Heather Crabtree, a course all about a system for getting more referrals, and a course for making yourself more productive with systems. You can start a free 10 day trial to The Wedding Business Collective right here!

If you need some tools to help you out, I’ve got some recommendations for you:

Aisle Planner

This one is specifically for wedding planners. Aisle Planner is a genius design, planning and collaboration tool for wedding planners. If you aren’t managing your projects, to do’s, customers and everything else involved in planning a wedding in one place, you are going to be in a constant state of disorganization and panic. That’s no way to work or live.

Aisle Planner was created by a wedding planner for wedding planners and it’s not only efficient and easy to use, it’s also beautiful. You can even invite your couples to collaborate with you so that everything really is in one place. No more lost emails or scribbled notes on napkins.

You can get 25% off of your first 3 months of Aisle Planner if you use the promo code “heidi”. I’m friends with the creator of the tool and she has been on the podcast and she wants to hook you guys up. Click here to find out more about Aisle Planner.

Honeybook

HoneyBook helps you automate those time-consuming admin tasks from pipeline management, to payment reminders and scheduling. It also allows you to book clients faster and easier with templates, online payments and digital signatures on your contracts. Click here to find out more about HoneyBook.

….because the only people who ever thought faxing documents would be part of life beyond the 1980s were in Back To The Future, and even they make fun of it now.

Calendly

Ohhh how I love this tool! You know those “When works for you?” back and forth emails when you’re trying to schedule a time to meet? Those take up lots of time and there are much easier ways to schedule meetings & appointments.

You can list times available and allow people to book, use Calendly. It’s clean, simple and super user-friendly. I’ve used both their free and paid plans and they’re both excellent and super easy to use. Click here to find out more about Calendly right here.

Improve your productivity & time management

Do you ever feel like there just aren’t enough hours in the day? Or week? Or month? You’re not alone. I hear this ALL THE TIME from wedding professionals.

The good news is that it doesn’t have to be like this. There is a lot you can do to improve your productivity and your time management (ad cut your stress level) and I’ve got lots of resources for you:

• One Simple System That Can Change Your Business & Your Life
• Get Your Time Back & Redefine Busy with Bryan Caporicci
• How Working With A Virtual Assistant Can Help Your Business with Kellie Daab
• How To Juggle A Job & A Wedding Business
• You’re Not Too Busy, You’re Just Not Organizing Your Tasks Properly

Are you ready to get super productive? Check out the Your Most Productive Week Ever course inside The Wedding Business Collective.

Improve your money management

How do you feel about your money management? Do you feel totally on top of it? Totally disconnected? Somewhere in between? No matter where you fall there are always ways to improve your money management.

One thing I’ve implemented to keep better tabs on my money is a weekly check-in with my bookkeeping tool (Wave), my membership metrics tool for The Wedding Business Collective (ChartMogul), and my personal finance tool (Personal Capital). This short check-in lets me know for certain if I’m on track or if I need to make some changes. It also gives me a good picture of my cash flow which is something that is so easy to lose track of. I use the Profit First method of managing my money which I can HIGHLY recommend. I interviewed the creator of Profit First in this episode of the podcast.

Need some more education on the business finances front? Sage Wedding Pros has a great Accounting 101 course for wedding professionals that will help you understand your business finances. And if you need help with taxes, I can highly recommend Melissa Whaley, my magical tax unicorn, who makes the process super easy for me and saves me money.

I’ve covered all sorts of aspects of business finances on the podcast, because this stuff matters! Here are the podcast episodes (and one blog post) that will help you out most with your money:

• Managing Your Money & Dealing With Irregular Income with Carrie Smith
• Reaching Budget Nerdvana & Raising Prices with Mark Butler
• Smart Money Moves For Wedding Professionals With Mary Beth Storjohann
• Are You Making Any Money? With Marley Majcher
• Financial Freedom for Wedding Professionals with Ashley Feinstein Gerstley
• Is Your Money Mindset Keeping You Broke & Unhappy?

Improve your marketing

How is your marketing working for you? Are you attracting your ideal client and getting enough leads and sales? If so, nice work! If not, you’re not alone!

You’re probably nailing the tactics—like posting on social media and showing up at wedding shows—but you’re missing the overarching strategy, which is the blueprint for your business. If you find yourself muttering to yourself, “I don’t understand why this isn’t working…”, you probably need a blueprint.

You would never hand someone a toolbox and ask them to build a house without a strategy or plan, right? You’re struggling because the tools—like blogging, updating your website, posting on social media, attending wedding shows, etc—are simply NOT enough.

Repeat. The tools are NOT enough.

The tools will not double your business and help you move the needle.

The blueprint will grow your business and make an impact.

The blueprint is your strategic plan, which is a MUST for any business.

Of course, a blueprint is no magic pill. You won’t be suddenly farting rainbows and riding unicorns. You will know what to do in order to attract and book more clients, but even then you’ll run into speed bumps along the way. And that’s where The Wedding Business Collective comes in…

The Wedding Business Collective is basically everything you need to build your wedding business in one place and it’s a must for you if you want to:

• Book more clients
• Attract perfect clients to your website
• Turn your conversations into sales
• Make more money in your business
• Stop pulling your hair out because nothing seems to be working

Click here to take a peek inside The Wedding Business Collective and start your free trial!

Happy New Year and I look forward to supporting you as you grow next year!