The 3 Core Strategies I Used to Scale My Wedding Planning Business Sustainably

There’s a difference between scaling your business and scaling your business sustainably.

Especially when your a few years into your wedding planning business you’ll feel the pressure to scale up and prove that you’re making a year-round profit.

The three or four years into your business is when managing growth feels tough. There is so much valuable information out there for wedding pros who are just starting out. But for those who are trying to level up after the beginner phase is over, not so much.

If I were to look back and think of the efforts that led to sustainable growth 13 years later in the wedding industry., I would narrow it down to three core strategies: 

Strategic Hiring and Outsourcing

This was is a given but sometimes it’s a hard pill to swallow. In the beginning, you want to feel like you can do all the things, and you might even feel like if you’re failing if you can’t handle all the things. Don’t believe it for one second!

Once I let go and understood there were just some things in my business that were way above my paygrade or outside of my zone of genius, I had to let it go and let it go fast. Hiring people to come in and do those dreadful tasks I hated doing is when I noticed serious growth. 

I’m an ideas person. I love coming up with ideas and that’s where I thrive the most.  Ultimately, I had to learn to value my time as the CEO. And that meant spending my time doing things only I could do and more importantly, tasks that would really love the needle. 

Spending the Most Time and Effort on Needle-Moving Tasks

This goes back to not doing all the things all the time for all the people. It’s understanding what things in your business can actually make a difference and putting most of your effort there.

You cannot possibly be on LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Clubhouse, emails, blogs, be at events, still go to networkers, build a team and still be a human.

Unless you have a large team to manage all those things, showing up in all the places will take time.

When you’re a solopreneur, you have to take a good look at your business and really dissect what efforts are moving the needle. What platforms are most of your business coming from? Even though you’re eager to do all the things, you’ll have to let go of the efforts that aren’t making a difference in your business (at least for now.)

For instance, one of those efforts that I have to let go of for now is YouTube. I desperately want to be on YouTube. I want to create YouTube-specific content and I want it to be great.

However, it is not a needle mover in my business right now, no matter what we do over there. Since I have a limited capacity to do great things on YouTube, it’s not a place I can continue my efforts at the moment and I’ll have to put it on the backburner.

Now one day, I’ll come back to it when I have a team that’s running like a well-oiled machine, but right now, it’s not a priority.

For you, think about what efforts are making money for you right now. Do it really really well, eventually poss it off to someone else, and take on the next thing. 

Practice Intentional Goal Setting

I know this sounds broad, but stick with me here. If you want to understand how to scale your business, you have to know what does a scaled business look like to you. Or more importantly, what do you really want out of your scaled business? 

Otherwise, it will feel like you’re on a hamster wheel going nowhere, and that doesn’t feel good to anyone. Once you have a goal you have to hit, then you break it down into a SMART goal (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, & Timely).

Maybe a goal for you this year is to go from making $60,000 to making $100,000 in revenue for the year. I want to go from $60,000 to $100,000 in revenue in 2021. Is this a goal that is attainable in this season of your business? What does that look like revenue-wise every quarter? 

What benchmarks are you giving yourself to track your progress? I say all the time that a goal without a plan is just a dream.
Writing a plan on paper get you more eager to take it on! 

Give Yourself Wins Along the Way

Don’t forget to plan for your small wins! Whether it’s hiring on a new team member or booking another couple through Instagram, these small wins matter! If you don’t set an end date on your goals or outlining what it looks like to scale, you’ll always be in this abyss of constant hustle and always wanting more.

 Eventually, you’ll burn out really fast that way. Have a reasonable plan for what growth looks like to you every year, measure your wins, and always put an end date. Fill me in with all the great things happening in your business this year by sharing in the comments some of your wins! Scaling looks different to everyone so let’s celebrate every example of success!