IAM419 – Business Strategist Helps Wedding Planners be Fully Booked

Lindsey is the go-to marketing and business strategist for wedding planners who want to be fully booked with wonderful clients. She provides doable, focused action steps based on her many years as a wedding planner. Lindsey’s work is featured on CNN.com, Style Me Pretty, Brides, The Knot Yours Truly book and more.

• CEO Hack: My morning routine – Drink two glasses of water in the morning
• CEO Nugget: Don't overthink things
• CEO Defined: Leader- managing your team, inspiring them and making an enjoyable work experience

Website: https://lovelydaystrategy.com/

Free mini course – How to stand out in a flooded wedding planner market – https://lovelydaystrategy.com/stand-out-course

Instagram: Instagram.com/lovelydaystrategy
Facebook: Facebook.com/lovelydaystrategy
Twitter: twitter.com/LovelyDayXO
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindseynickel/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/lovelydayeventsxo/

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Transcription

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:29

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I've Lindsey Nickel of Lovely Day Strategies. Lindsey, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Lindsey Nickel 0:40

Awesome, thanks for having me.

Gresham Harkless 0:41

No problem. Super excited to have you on and what I wanted to do was just read a little bit more about Lindsey so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. Lindsey is the go-to marketing and business strategist for wedding planners who want to be fully booked with wonderful clients. She provides doable, focused action steps based on her many years as a wedding planner. Lindsey’s work is featured on CNN.com, Style Me Pretty, Brides, The Knot Yours Truly book, and more. She has two businesses, Lovely Day Strategies and Lovely Day Events. Lindsey, are you ready to speak to the AM CEO community?

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Lindsey Nickel 1:15

I'm ready.

Gresham Harkless 1:16

Awesome. Let's do it. So to kick everything off, I wanted to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story. What led you to start your business?

Lindsey Nickel 1:24

Okay, so my story is twofold since I have two businesses. So when I first started, we did events, which is my wedding planning business, I lived in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. And this was like when I started the business 10 years ago. And if you remember 10 years ago, the economy was not in a great place. So it's not a great place. I was transitioning from ski balm, to what am I going to do next because I don't like the cold that much as it turns out, and people and I were applying for all these jobs like nonprofit stuff. And other people were getting them who had master's degrees and tonnes of experience because the economy was just in such rough shape back then. But I had this amazing mentor.

And I remember it was outside of this place. We booked our haircut and she was showing me her puppy that she just got. And she was like, how did it go with that job that I just applied for? I was like, I didn't get it. And I was feeling pretty crummy. And she's like, why don't you start your own business? We've been talking about it, why don't just do it? So in a very short abbreviated version is how it started. And I just started picking up contract jobs. Like strung them all together. I think it was only like, so back then it was nonprofits that do all events. It wasn't just weddings. And in the second year, I think it was when I hired my first contract wedding planner because I was like this is taking up a lot of time.

So I don't want to be doing this every weekend, but maybe somebody else can help me out. So that's how the wedding started. And then five years ago, we basically suddenly moved after being married only six weeks, my husband had an opportunity to open his own business in Napa, which is where we live now. And I was like, Okay, now I need to expand to expand it. And then a couple of years ago, I realized I've been doing these weddings and wedding planning and people were starting to ask me for advice. It was like I could just make another business of this helping wedding planners figure out the business. And because usually there's super creative wedding planners, and stylists and things like that. But the whole business piece of having a marketing plan, having a bookkeeper, and having a business plan and goals is just not always coming naturally. Yeah, so that is how Lovely Strategy came to be.

Gresham Harkless 3:27

Nice. I definitely appreciate that. Because you definitely achieved mastery of what it is you were doing as a wedding planner. And then you had so many people asking you exactly how you did it. And it's funny when you mentioned that I don't know if you've ever heard of the E Myth. But that's originally what was coming to my head where a lot of times when people start businesses, they're really good at something, but they decide to start a business, but they don't realize that there are so many other aspects of running a business.

And it's not just the creative things you love to do. And there's accounting, there's planning out things, there's marketing, there's getting clients, there's making sure the clients pay, and there are so many things that are involved that we sometimes forget.

Lindsey Nickel 4:02

Totally like I would say at the end of the year when I evaluate all my numbers. And so every day I keep track of how long I do things. So literally, I have a timer right now that's running with saying like, Okay, you worked on one of those podcasts, it took this long and the next day you start the timer. So at the end of the year, I can see how much time I spent in each category of marketing, bookkeeping, and finance. And in my wedding planning business, I would say when that was full on only thing I would spend only about 25 to 33 third of the time actually planning weddings, equal to that about 25 to 30% was marketing just getting my name out there meeting people talking to people who maybe needed what we were looking for a wedding planner. Still, maybe I was going to be their wedding planner.

Maybe it wasn't so it's I think people are really surprised like one of my pieces of advice if someone's like, I want to be a wedding planner, I'm gonna start my own wedding planning business or maybe they're gonna like break off from whoever they work for. Like, think about do you love planning weddings or do you love being a wedding florist, or whatever wedding skill you have, if so, go find an amazing boss to work for. And that will be your job all the time. Because when you own the business, you're doing exactly what you just said, like 25% doing that 25% marketing, then you have managing people, finances, and everything. So it's funny how things evolved like that.

Gresham Harkless 5:21

Yeah, it is funny how that works. And I appreciate you bringing light to that because I hear that a lot too, especially with a lot of creatives around the graphic design and things like that. It's like I really love making logos or making flyers. So I want to start my own business. And you realize Okay, well, I have to go get clients. Okay, that's one thing. So I'm not going to be doing the logos because I don't have any clients to do the logo, then I have to get paid. And then there are all these things you don't think about that make running a business?

Lindsey Nickel 5:46

Yeah, totally. It's, I think, surprising for a lot of people. And then one part that I found intimidating when I had a team was I had to get all these people paid, I had to bring in the business to pay all these people who are counting on this paycheck. So I think that at least for me, it was like that's a huge responsibility. Yeah. I don't think that's something people don't think about.

Gresham Harkless 6:08

Yeah, it's a little bit easier when you're dependent on it. But when you have a team that also has families and stuff that are dependent on it, it's a different level of responsibility, for sure. So definitely, yeah, I know you touched on it a little bit. Can you tell us a little bit more about your business, tell us how you're serving the clients you're working with.

Lindsey Nickel 6:22

Yeah, so with Lovely Day Strategy, I sell one-to-one coaching. So that's basically working directly with me, and I do it usually in in one-hour blocks, I recommend people do it once a month. So you can have your coach coaching. And then after the coaching, usually I like to have people and with doable, actionable things that they can accomplish next steps they can do for the next four weeks, let's say and then the next month they have their next session was Okay, what did you do? How did it go? Okay, let's tweak that, or like, Have you thought about this, if you thought about that.

So that's the main thing that I'm focused on at the moment. And then I also sell one-to-one or sell courses online. Sorry. So we'll be rolling out one again, it's called Wedding Sales Simplified and Eight Steps. So it really breaks down because I feel like it's so easy to overthink every little piece. And you can do really to simplify things. It's much easier and faster to get clients and attract clients and get them to pay your prices rather than saying like, Oh, well, I found someone on Craigslist, that'll do it for half that, well, there's a reason it's half the price. And they're advertising on Craigslist. So we're going to be selling that course, again, I think at the end of the year, and then rolling out some more robust courses next year.

Gresham Harkless 7:29

Yeah, absolutely. I love it. Because a lot of times, you get what you pay for. But again, with somebody who doesn't know exactly how to even begin with event planning is great to have those cheat sheets for maybe lack of a better term, whether it be a course, or maybe a coaching call to tap into your expertise so that you get a leg up on starting your own business.

Lindsey Nickel 7:50

Yeah, totally. We have a blog too. And I even have a blog post, it's one of the first ones I did was the three things to know, for total newbies or something like that. Because I think a lot of people and they're exploring, what do I want to do, or we hear a lot of times people either say, I got married, and I had a lot of times I'm planning my own wedding. And now I think I want to be a wedding planner. And those are like two totally different things being your own plan, and being someone else's client are totally different. And so that's like one camp of people that we see inquiring about jobs or whatever.

And then the other camp we see are people who just graduated college, I've been out of college for a while, but it seems like they offer degrees, not just in hospitality now. But specifically, event planning and event management. So those people are always really eager. My advice to them is always to to get experience like it's much more than what you see in the classroom, even if you're shadowing people get experience either as an intern or as an assistant or go work for a catering company. Because at a catering company, you can do multiple events with them and really be in the trenches and see what is happening, like, actually behind those closed doors. When they're like cooking the food and all the vendors are back. They're like, Oh my gosh, we have 100 things going on.

Gresham Harkless 9:00

Exactly. Now that makes perfect sense. And then that might be that brings me to what might be your answer. But definitely let me know. I was gonna ask you for your secret sauce. Like the thing that you feel kind of distinguishes you and sets you apart and makes you unique.

Lindsey Nickel 9:11

Yeah, so I would say definitely a good experience. Since I've been doing this for 10 years, someday this is like on my Sunday bucket list. I'm going to write a book and it's going to be all of the crazy things that happen at people's wedding.

Gresham Harkless 9:23

You should do a movie.

Lindsey Nickel 9:26

I hope so, it would be amazing. Just whenever you're going to a party or something like what do you do if I'm a wedding planner? And they'll say, what's the craziest thing that has ever happened? Where do I even begin? So many ridiculous things, one someone had just brought up that I forgot about, tell us again about the time you had to ride the gondola in the lightning storm. So long story short, the power went out at the venue it was the top of the power that didn't go out. Sorry.

We're at the top of a ski resort at the gondola people up there and they kick people back down. It's the only way to get up and down but a lightning storm was coming in. So we had to end the event 30 minutes early and evacuate everybody. And I was like well One of the last people down and just writing down in the gondola, pitch black whitening going off everywhere. I was like, Oh my God, what happens if the gondola Mark gets hit by lightning? Nobody doesn't hear.

Gresham Harkless 10:09

Right. That's super scary. Well, you put that in the reasons why you may not want to do that when your wedding event planners are for sure.

Lindsey Nickel 10:18

Yeah, exactly. So that'll be a blog post idea.

Gresham Harkless 10:20

So well, awesome. I appreciate you sharing that with us. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit. And I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app, a book, or a habit that you have. But what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Lindsey Nickel 10:32

I would say my morning routine. So I really am a creature of habit, which I think a lot of people are and it really just helps for consistency in each day. So in the morning, I'm leisurely getting up. But I read this online somewhere. But I always drink two big glasses of water in the morning. And I used to put lemon and I know sometimes people do that I'll do smoothies or tea or just like whatever to get hydrated from the night before from sleeping. And that really seems to be a great way to start today. And then food. I know it's so cliche when people say breakfast is the most important meal. But I feel like the day goes by so fast, it's so important to start with a delicious breakfast or eat something, and then start into the day.

Gresham Harkless 11:10

I appreciate that. And I want to ask you for now what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice. Or if you can happen to a time machine. What would you tell your younger business self?

Lindsey Nickel 11:21

Okay, this is a good question. So I would tell my younger business off like 10 years- don't overthink things. It's so easy to research, research, and research. And if you're a planning-minded like I am, I just wanna plan out everything and have a checklist for everything. And then I want to make the website and then tweak the website and then adjust the wording on my Instagram bio. And it's so easy, just stay on that cycle of Oh, just a little bit more. Let me just do this or have room to think about this for five days before I hit publish, or I'm gonna review these numbers one more time, but just don't overthink things. Just go for it. It's that phrase Done is better than perfect. And now I've found that since I've been doing this for a long time.

Just putting stuff out there is already 1000 times ahead of most people who are just thinking about it or saying someday. And especially these days, like social media, everything has such a short lifespan, even if there's a typo in something or it's not the greatest picture of you that day, honestly will probably be lost in the internet shuffle after 24 hours, obviously, you can repurpose that content, but don't overthink it, just put it out there, see how it goes? And then adjusting?

Gresham Harkless 12:28

Yeah, absolutely. And sometimes we can beat ourselves out when it may not be a million-dollar, photo or whatever. But it actually is really, really good. But we beat ourselves up so much because we had a vision of it being that million-dollar wedding, but still is really, really good. And we still don't put it out. So definitely, let's not beat ourselves up. And definitely put it out because that is better than perfect, as you said. So I appreciate that. So now I want to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is a definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different, quote-unquote, CEOs on this show. So Lindsey, what does being a CEO mean to you? To me,

Lindsey Nickel 12:58

Being a CEO is all about being a leader. And I think anybody who was most of us has worked for other people, and a lot of CEOs are now CEOs himself, it's really being a leader and being able to manage your team. And if you're in the wedding industry, and if your wedding planner, you're not just managing your specific employees or contractors, but it's a whole vendor team you work with, and you have to be a leader to them, like can't be Bossy Pants to them. A lot of wedding vendors get a bad rap for being not so nice or in your face, or just super bossy, or too high energy. So really being a leader to like inspires people to work harder, rallies them keeps everybody on the same page, and keeps everybody motivated just like making it an enjoyable work experience. All around.

Gresham Harkless 13:38

Yeah, absolutely. And I love that, you honed in on that leadership word, because I think a lot of times when you are the leader, you also are empowering the people that are around you and the people that are on the team. So sometimes, like you said, a lot of times, some of the best leaders are actually not the best at their craft. Sometimes they can hire other people in they're comfortable in their skin, so to speak, that they can bring those people on that do the floor arrangement better or maybe, have the agenda perfectly planned out, but they understand identify those strengths and they bring all those people together, which really makes them special. So I appreciate that perspective.

Lindsey Nickel 14:08

Yeah, definitely. I think that's something that people also learn over time to delegate. So part of being a really good co-leader is realizing like okay, bookkeeping is really time-consuming. And personally, I don't like bookkeeping. So that was one of the first things that I hired a professional bookkeeper, and just took it off my plate to free up that time. So I think another good thing for a leader, like I said, it's like figure out what you can delegate and what your strengths are, so that you can really focus on leading your team and being, I guess, the ringleader of the circus, like keeping everybody in touch and moving the vision forward but building your team so that everybody can be successful.

Gresham Harkless 14:43

Absolutely, absolutely. ringleader of the circus. I like that. I like that visual. So, Lindsey, I truly appreciate your time. What I want to do is pass you the mic so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know and then of course, how best they can get a hold of you and find out about all the awesome things you're working on.

Lindsey Nickel 14:59

That's really it, I know we're going into the fall on holiday. So just want to make sure everybody you know takes time to take care of themselves. Because that's something I think a lot of times CEOs like, we're all into hustling and go, go, go. So now the policy or just take time to like, enjoy. And in whatever you like to do yoga, eat out, sleep, make sure you have time to do that. And then the best way to find us is on Instagram and all you want to pull up Instagram. So we're at Lovely Day Strategy for the coaching business and at Lovely Day Events, for all things, wedding planning, and beautiful wedding inspiration.

And then we have a freebie for people. And it's a free online course. It's a mini course. It's called How to Stand Out in a Flooded Wedding Planner Market. And you can find it at lovelydaystrategy.com/stand-out-course. So stand out course. And I hope you guys like it so far people are really liking it because one of the things I hear a lot is there are so many wedding planners in my market. Like I've been doing this for so long. How do I stand out from all these new people and all that stuff? So that's why we created that.

Gresham Harkless 16:07

Nice. Well, I definitely appreciate that for helping people tap into their own secret sauce and be able to tell people exactly what their secret sauce is especially, is even more important, but we will make sure to have all those links in the show notes as well. But, Lindsey, thank you so much for your time and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Outro 16:22

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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