As the new year gets rolling, focusing on the basics is essential for wedding pros to grow their business. One very basic skill for all of us, especially entrepreneurs, is refocusing our work-life balance. As pros, we're great at managing our clients, but from the never ending emails and meetings to a jam-packed wedding weekend, how well do you manage you?
Plan Ahead
In looking at the big picture of your wedding and event calendar, one of the most significant challenges is taking vacation time. In my own life, with a husband who works a Monday through Friday job with a considerable amount of annual vacation, we have to schedule way in advance to keep the peace. With a booking cycle for weddings occasionally being 18 months, we blocked vacation time a year and a half out. Look at your offseason, put a week on the calendar, and LEAVE IT! Don't move it to suit a possible booking. You and your family come first. Be sure to look at the industry conferences and get those on the calendar as well. Continuing education is an important part of your work-life balance.
Did you know? If there’s an Aisle Planner feature that truly epitomizes the cohesive, intuitive nature of our platform, it’s our auto-syncing calendar. When you add hard due dates to any checklist items or add payment due dates to an invoice, that information will automatically sync to your Aisle Planner calendar (which you can also setup to sync to your personal online calendar). Learn how to do that on our Help Center here.
Set Boundaries
As a couple with no kids, setting boundaries for my business was huge! I can't imagine how vital it would be with kids and multiple activities going on. For me, I started by scheduling two nights a week for evening appointments. I made sure to take into account the nights local associations typically hosted events before coordinating my calendar. Before you know it, every time the phone rings people will want to reschedule. One of the toughest lessons I had to learn was that it's okay to be strict on your available evenings. This is what'll keep you sane!
Family Time
For ages, I'd tell couples to pick one night a week and have a date night with no talk of weddings or planning. It didn't matter whether they sat home and ordered takeout or went out for a night on the town—as long as they didn't talk about their wedding! The same advice applies to wedding pros. We can talk about weddings 24/7, so I understand all too well how important it is for self-preservation to focus on talking about your other interests.
You Time
Taking time for yourself helps you reset and refocus your energy. This will assist you as a professional and help your business grow. Whether you try taking yoga classes or join a book club (anything but wedding books!) or booking yourself regular massages, putting yourself first is an investment in your professional success. From devoting time into your continuing education, personal development, and relationship, this start of the new year is a valuable time to look at your work-life balance.
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