Candice (00:02.392)

Today we're talking about some of the bold shifts that wedding pros are making right now that are actually working strategies. They're implementing things they're doing big changes. They're making bold ideas. They're implementing that are having a great impact on everything from their sales to their brand to even their health and their wellness. And I'm excited to share with you today, 10 specific bold shifts.

that high achieving wedding pros are making that are actually working. Hey there friends, welcome back to the Power and Purpose podcast. It's your host Candice. I'm so glad you're here. We have a very great episode lined up for you today. It is almost off season for so many wedding pros, a time where you get to hibernate on your couch. Maybe you go into your editing cave. If you're a photographer, if you're a planner, you're in your planning cave. Either way, you're not stepping foot into a wedding for a while.

I know that's not the case for many who live in the South, the United States and in other locations, but for a large majority of people, this is a time where you slow down and reflect. And I wanted to give you an episode that was positive, that pointed in a few different directions that you could take as you rest and reflect on your season this year, but also set your sights for 2026 and start asking yourself questions like, what do I want for next year?

Where do I want my business to be next year? What types of clients do I want to work with? Maybe your calendar is looking a little bit light for 2026. See that as a blessing, not a curse. But either way, as you begin to reflect back on your season and look toward the new year, I want to point you in a few different directions. I want to give you some options of things that you can experiment with, try, focus on, so that you too can achieve your goals for next year.

Now as a business coach, I have a really unique vantage point. Well, I'm not planning weddings anymore. And some days I'm sad about that. Most days I'm not. But some days I'm like, oh man, I wish I could plan another wedding. But then I'm like, do I really want to do that? No. But I love that you want to do it. all seriousness though, I may not be.

Candice (02:22.734)

planning weddings anymore, but I do have a really unique vantage point. I actually get to see the wedding industry from a few different sides. And today I'm sharing with you two sides of the industry that I get to see that you don't get to see. And the first is a real zoomed out version of what's going on because I have hundreds of students at varying stages of business, at different income levels, but not just that, they offer different services. They're not just all planners or photographers.

I get to see a zoomed out view of what's really happening in the wedding industry. And I get to hear from hundreds of students throughout the year. And that allows me to actually look at some common threads between what's happening across the industry, across different art forms within the industry, different service levels and niches. That is so valuable because I'm able to help you see patterns.

in what's working, what's not working, problems and issues people are having, so that you, feel less alone, but B, so that you can look at your business and see if you're falling into some of these patterns too, and then point to some solutions that can help you change it. So outside of seeing common threads across the industry, I also get to zoom in and work with people on their business in a really intimate way. And I do this with my private clients, my private coaching clients inside my mastermind.

wedding pro insiders. I work with about 45 women throughout the year and I'm all in on their business. And so I'm almost like a business partner. I'm definitely an advisor, a guide, but I'm almost like I'm a partner in their business. And I get to see things that most people never get to see. I get to see, you know, the strategies that we're talking about actually from when the idea is born all the way until execution and then the results that they get.

I work intimately with them and have conversations about all types of topics relating to their business. And it's through this intimate work of being ingrained in their business that I'm able to see how strategies play out on a daily basis in business. And that gives me a really unique vantage point. And again, this is a cross modality. So photographers, planners, invitation designers, and it's really so fascinating. And I love being able to zoom in and then zoom out.

Candice (04:41.646)

I just have so much data and information and that's what I'm going to share with you today. I am going to share with you some bold strategies that women and people are making in their business that are actually paying off. They're seeing results in their sales. They're seeing results in brand awareness and equity in their brand. They're seeing results in marketing in their systems and processes. And then also in other aspects of business in life, they're making changes to their calendar, their schedule, how they do things to free up time.

They're thinking differently. They're making some mindset shifts and all of this is leading to better business, lighter business, more money, better clients, better services, things feeling more in alignment, which is something we talk about so much inside wedding pro insiders. And I talk about with you here too, on the podcast. My hope is, is that you'll listen to this menu of options that I'm going to share with you today and feel inspired to pick at least one that you want to work on.

more closely during your off season. And if that off season is happening soon, well, awesome. Then you're going to have a little bit of momentum and a fire under you to tackle this sooner rather than later and not put it off. So let's talk about the 10 bold shifts high achieving wedding pros are making right now that are actually working. And I want to also just state that

While some of these strategies are working, that doesn't mean that they're running absolutely perfect businesses. The fun part about business, and this is the game of business, is that as soon as you solve one puzzle, another emerges. So I don't want you even for a second thinking that every single scenario I talk about is a utopia of business.

Because I'd be lying to you if that were the case. And I hate when podcasters and educators paint rosy pictures, but they don't also share with you the real struggle behind the rosy picture. And you know, I'm always going to keep it real, but today I am painting a little bit of a rosy picture because all of these things are actually working to the benefit of the women I coach and the women I get to support. So first I want to talk to you about how women are prioritizing their energy in this season.

Candice (07:06.004)

Many of the women that I work with right now are evaluating where they're placing their energy in their business. They've realized that they cannot be the person doing all the things. And they also realize that they need to start doing things differently and reserving energy for CEO stuff, for business development. And so they're making changes to how they spend their time, but also how they manage their energy.

And it's been so fascinating to watch this process because it's a little different for everyone. But some things that are coming up are obviously they're looking to hire. And that has been such a great conversation to have. Identifying the right roles in their business, trying to find the right people for those roles, even taking a small step in delegating or hiring one person has been a huge shift for them. And of course, you've got all the mental gymnastics about,

How do I pay this person? So working through all of that, but through identifying aspects of their business that they no longer have energy for, they've started to evaluate all aspects of their business and ask that question. And what they're finding is that maybe they are operating in systems that are outdated or doing things in ways that are not thoughtful for a team. They are restructuring their calendar and their time.

putting more boundaries around how they schedule meetings, how they interface with clients, and where they might do that. They are creating CEO days in their calendar and honoring that time for very specific CEO related tasks, whether that's reviewing marketing strategies or reviewing their finances, their sales numbers. And they're also making the most concerted effort to protect their creative energy.

which has been a big topic actually inside WPI recently. And I think it's trickled here into the podcast. It's something I'm thinking about and trust me, when I'm working on things in my business, it makes it into the ears of my private clients as well, because it's on my mind. But protecting your creative energy is something that I don't think we, we spend enough time trying to figure out how to do. We're go, go, go.

Candice (09:32.788)

Lots of tasks need to be done and we don't realize how fragile creativity is, especially when we're putting our creative time in a pressure cooker and we have got a lot of pressure, a lot of stress, and we've got a lot to get done in a small amount of time. We don't feel as creative and no wonder why, right? So the women in my mastermind and the women that I've been coaching are prioritizing their energy and they are

not just saying no to stuff. We'll talk about that in a second, but they're not just saying no to stuff. They're also limiting access to them, changing how they schedule things and where they spend their time. And I think the belief shift that has occurred here for many of them is I'm most valuable when I protect my time and energy.

And so I would say to you the same, you are most valuable when you protect your time and energy. So looking into a new year soon and looking into an opportunity to call forward some change here for yourself. If you're feeling like you're running ragged or you never have enough time to be the owner of your business, I would say to you, how are you going to protect your time and energy? Because you are most valuable when you protect.

The next shift that is working for women right now is they're investing pretty heavily in visibility and the assets that come along with visibility. So let me give you a couple of examples. They're elevating their websites. They're going through rebrands. They're doing very elevated on brand brand shoots. And we've talked about this many times on the podcast and you know, I love a good rebrand.

I love a good rebrand in business and Housewives. I love a good rebrand when somebody does it well and they come out and they've got a new personality. It's like I've apologized for all my sins. If we were in Housewives, you would have went on your apology tour season and you would have shown up as a more self-aware human being.

Candice (11:53.614)

In business though, we do go through seasons and changes and we do outgrow some of the outfits that we've been wearing and the identities that we carry around. And what I've noticed at least over the last year is the women in my mastermind who we have both decided that they do need to adjust their website, rebrand and really invest back in their business in those aspects. They've noticed some really amazing shit.

in their business. From calling in higher value clients to sending out some of their biggest proposals ever, having their highest sales months, sales days, sales quarters. It's been really fantastic to watch. And it is a process, which is something that I want you to know. In one of our mastermind chats recently, I asked everybody who had recently rebranded in the last year,

to talk about it and to share how long it took before they started noticing results from the rebrand. And here's what some of those ladies shared. They shared that it took about six months for the rebrand, once it was live, to really start to kick in, for things to really start to change, for them to see a noticeable change. And that's realistic. think one thing I wish was

website designers and brand designers communicated better to their clients during the process is that at first it's a whole process to rebrand into your website. But then there's a process after it launches where it takes time for everyone to catch up to you. It takes time for everybody to catch up to the new version of your business, including leads and clients.

And six months is actually a pretty realistic timeframe to wait until after you've rebranded to start to see results. And the results have been fantastic for so many of these ladies. mean, the results are minor in some instances where, you know, they just feel better about putting themselves out there. That's actually a major result when you really think about it. And then you go to major results where, you know, one woman had a hundred thousand dollar sales.

Candice (14:09.43)

sales month. So, and this is all in making shifts and tweaks to her business. And she hasn't even really fully rebranded yet. I'm telling her like, we got to do this girl. We need, we need to do this. And she's got the pieces in motion, but she hasn't fully done it, but she's had one of her best sales months in history and a hundred thousand dollar sales month is like a big deal. so all this to say,

This might be the time where you need to think about investing in your visibility assets. And you really need to ask yourself, is your website, is your brand, are the images of you doing your job, are they accurately reflecting where you're heading next year, where you want to be? One of the best pieces of business advice I ever got was from a financial advisor. And I've told this story many times, but I'd love to tell it again because I feel like everybody needs a reminder.

He was so kind to meet with me as I was starting my business Jubilee events and I met with him in his office and it was, he did totally complimentary for free and he talked to me about my business and he said something to me, which was, no matter what you do, no matter the types of clients or the weddings you want to plan, make sure you start your business where you want to eventually be. Because a lot of people make a mistake of launching a business, doing work for free just to get

some money on the books and a portfolio, and they think that that is what they're going to use to leverage to get million dollar jobs. And he was basically talking about contractors that he worked with, which is the closest experience he had to a wedding planner, which is actually kind of close. And he said, you know, they want to do, you know, high end renovations in Greenwich, but they're starting off with small little decks and patios here in our town, which is Nagata.

And it becomes very difficult to transition when the work you have isn't the work you want. So make sure you start your business with the work you want. And I did just that. I raised my price when I went home. I reevaluated my branding and my assets. And I think I did a pretty good job. I'll forever be indebted to that person. I wish I remembered his name. I wish I could actually call him up right now and thank him and quote him properly. But unfortunately, I don't know who he was.

Candice (16:31.918)

But going back to the point about you and investing in your visibility assets, I share that story because I want you to take a look at your visibility assets right now. And I want you to ask yourself, do these assets help me look like the leader I already am? And are they going to lead the types of clients I want and the business I want in the new year? If the answer to that is no, then you have some

more questions to ask yourself. And it's likely time for you to invest in a rebrand and invest in elevating those assets, especially in saturated times where we have so many photographers, planners, imitation designers, which I love. think it's fantastic. Entrepreneurship should be something everybody gets the chance at. But with a lot of competition and saturation comes difficulty in standing out.

And the women in my mastermind are not taking any chances when it comes to standing out. They're inventing terms for what they do. They're creating new words in the dictionary, which I'm not going to share here because I want to make sure that one of them is trademarking that. So I'm just going to keep what I mean to myself. But all this to say, and I hate to be super, you know, weird about that.

So, mean, let me give you an example. They're coming up with new ways to describe what they do. They're creating almost movements when it comes to design and their photography style and how they speak about their services. That's what I mean. And so if we know that this is paying off for people and if you know that this is something you need to do, then it sounds to me like in your off season, you should spend some time elevating your visibility assets.

And one great thing about having a coach alongside you to do this is they're going to be your second set of eyes as you are reviewing anything your copywriter, your logo designer, your website designer brings you, at least as far as I'm concerned. And that really helps to make sure that the final product is better than what you paid for or better than what we expected. The third thing that women are doing right now

Candice (18:56.748)

that is really paying off is stepping into thought leadership. And it's been so wonderful to see women who have incredible experience in business, step into podcasts, speaking, education, and they don't all want to have a course or anything like that, but more so about owning their expertise and feeling purpose to share that with an up and coming photographer or

an invitation designer who's trying to figure out how to be profitable. They enjoy talking about business and business for them has become fun and exciting, not something that they feel like they can't figure out. And so they're feeling energized about elevating their voice. And the belief shift here is like, I'm not just a planner. I'm not just a photographer. I'm also shaping the industry.

with my thoughts and my ideas, my opinions, my designs, my style, my aesthetic. And so why can't I step into that thought leadership and share my ideas and have those ideas create more ideas and continue to shape the industry in positive ways. It's been so wonderful to see them launch podcasts, launch their own coaching programs, which I'm such a full supporter of.

I love helping women do that. Also love letting you know if that is something that you are qualified to do and giving you the courage and the confidence to share your knowledge. But it's been so fascinating to watch. And the truth is, is there are so many people out there who need to listen to your podcast or listen to your ideas on something, whether that is hospitality, branding, working with clients, money.

I mean, you're really good at something in your business. And it's about time you started sharing that, even if it's just sharing it thoughtfully on your business account without doing the whole podcast speaking junket tour. And what has happened here and some of the results out of this is that it's elevated and boosted their original brand, their business.

Candice (21:17.428)

It has elevated them into thought leadership territory, which naturally people start paying attention to what you say when you elevate yourself there. It has led to incredible opportunities to speak on stages, on podcasts, and they have started to monetize it in some scenarios. Not everybody wants to monetize it. Some people do. And it's been great to see that added revenue stream be added to their business.

So I wonder for you, if you're in a position to start stepping into thought leadership, and you don't have to be an educator per se, but you could be a thought leader in the industry, sharing your opinions on the current state of weddings, the cost of weddings, style of weddings, what couples should prioritize, stepping into that and elevating your voice is going to elevate your business.

And on the other side of that are so many opportunities that maybe you haven't allowed yourself to really think about yet. Next big strategy that's working right now is saying a bigger yes to things by saying no to a lot. One trend that I've noticed in my mastermind is the desire to not

say yes to every opportunity anymore. And to not say yes to every client, to not say yes to every styled shoot request, to not say yes to all the things that pop in your inbox all the time, whether it be clients, vendors, et cetera. So we just talked about stepping into thought leadership and more opportunities, and now we're talking about saying no more. And things that

the women in my mastermind are saying no to are things that are out of alignment, whether that be services that no longer serve them, they're declining clients, they're saying no to things that don't have an ROI or that have not paid off for them historically in the past. And they're feeling really good about saying no to those things. And by sweeping away...

Candice (23:32.202)

services that don't work anymore, pricing models that don't work anymore, even team members that no longer fit the dynamic of the business. And especially saying no to clients that don't fit the profile anymore. They have invited in more good. Saying no is hard because we feel like we're supposed to say yes to everything. And when you start a business, you really should be saying yes to a lot.

So I don't want to discourage anybody who's getting started listening today to say no to opportunities that are actually going to carry you places. But when you've been in business a while, you start to resent having to participate in a ton of things that you know do not bring you clients. Whether that's the bridal show you keep saying yes to because you know the person who runs it.

or the styled shoot for the planner that you love working with, but you're just kind of done doing styled shoots. But also on the flip side, saying yes to clients who really are not the right fit for you anymore, but you're kind of stuck because it's money, right? And when you start a business, you have to say yes to everything to get started. But there comes a point where you really should start saying no. Saying no doesn't feel right.

We want to make everybody happy. want to help everybody. And we don't want to say no to cash. But if the money and if the clients and if the opportunities are not fitting where you're heading, then you're just going to keep yourself stuck in the same place and go to resent those opportunities, those clients and those scenarios even more. So I'm inviting you to start thinking about.

what you want to say no to, what's not serving you anymore, what's out of alignment for you. And a lot of this may boil down to the actual services you're offering right now. You might be offering way too much, doing way too much, staying way too long at a wedding and doing way too much. And it just isn't working anymore. It worked for you once. It was a great idea back in the day.

Candice (25:53.654)

It helps you get here, but it's not going to help you get there. And it's important that we check in with ourselves at least once a year, but I would like for you to check in with yourself more often than that, twice a year at minimum. And ask yourself, is what I'm doing in my business, are my services, my clients, my team, is everything still working for me? Is this still feeling good?

Is it an alignment or does something need to change? And to do that before shit starts falling apart, including you, before you have to go into your burnout cave and disappear for six months because your nervous system is overextended. So the results from saying no for many of these women,

has actually been getting closer to the things that they do want, if not starting to achieve the things they want. Saying no to bad clients and then good clients finding their way in and getting booked by the right people. Saying no to services and just cutting out services that just do not work for them anymore, that people are not asking for, or that are hard or difficult or just do not serve. And then getting booked by getting services booked that they actually want to do.

which translates into general wellbeing, overall happiness, delight, nothing better than getting paid a nice fat check for doing something you actually like doing. So a belief shift here for you is that every no in your business in this season can create room for the right yes. And I want you to think about what you want for your business in the new year.

Maybe what you want for right this second and then ask yourself, what do I need to start saying no to, allow space for that to happen? What do you need to start saying no to, to open up space in your office, on your hard drive, in your day to day, in your mornings, afternoons and evenings, in your weeks, in your months, space.

Candice (28:14.368)

is probably something you desperately need in order to think, in order to solve, in order to create, to grow. And if you don't give yourself the space, then how are you going to make those changes?

in a pressure cooker. we already in example number one, we already determined that a pressure cooker is not a place to grow a business. So there's something that you need to begin saying no to. And I'm inviting you to examine that, to think about that, to pull that thread, to ask yourself, and maybe start saying no to that thing to invite room to create the next version of your business.

The next big shift and bold shift that I'm seeing working for women right now in the wedding industry is media authority. Several women have made a very focused and concerted effort to prioritize press and PR. They're not waiting for their weddings to get picked up. They're not waiting for somebody to reach out and be like, we'd to feature your wedding. They are.

strategically going after press features, either hiring PR agents, working with someone, doing it on their own, which both options are fine, by the way. A PR agent is going to get you much faster results, although they can't guarantee those results, but they'll get you much quicker results based on their contacts and connections. But I also want you to realize that you can make contacts and connections on your own.

but it costs equal amounts of money. So you'll have to determine which route you'd prefer to take. Do it yourself and spend the money going to things like Engage or going to events where these contacts are, or hiring a PR agent and leveraging their relationships. But regardless, what I'm noticing is that the women who are not playing small anymore and who are going after elevating their brand and getting featured,

Candice (30:28.694)

are noticing results from those features. They're noticing new opportunities. They're noticing higher value clients. They're noticing better brand awareness and authority in their brand, which then translates into so many different things. And this is more than just paying for.

media, which by the way is totally fine to do. We have a whole episode coming up next on that. So stay tuned. I might ruffle some feathers, but listen, bitch, if you want to put your name in Vogue and pay five grand to do it, do it. Who cares? Who cares about that? But I'm going to save all that energy for next week because I have big thoughts on it.

All this to say, you got to do what's right for you. And I think it's about time that you, if you're shy and have been shy in putting your name out there or shy about sharing your work with press, that you get unshy and really start to claim your authority in this industry, your thought leadership, and start pressing your voice out there and get featured. In fact, there have been several women in my mastermind who are, I like to think of them as like,

the most determined women ever. When they're like, I'm going to be an in style magazine. They're like, okay, what do I need to do? Who do I need to talk to? What kind of, I will work for free on a wedding to get in this magazine to elevate my brand. And yes, that has also happened. Not all circumstances, but some. When you are able to align your business with press, you siphon off the trust

the prestige, and yes, you get traffic too, but you siphon off the press and prestige that Vogue and Town & Country and Martha have, and you align your business alongside of that. And that gives you instant credibility boost. We're in a unique scenario in the wedding industry where trust has eroded. Prices have risen in some markets beyond what is potentially reasonable. Customers are

Candice (32:48.792)

can do a lot themselves, whether you want to admit it or not, and whether we want to say that's not my client, and I agree, they're not. But with AI, they're going to be able to do a lot of planning and a lot of research on their own. So when they're looking for someone to work with and at the budgets that we desire to operate in, having authority is going to put you out front. And having media authority is going to differentiate you from

the competition. So one thing that I want you to do in this off season is tell yourself as many times as you need to, my voice deserves to be in bigger rooms. Your work, your voice, your thoughts, your ideas deserve to be in bigger rooms. You deserve to have your work featured. Whether it's an Instagram account or printed in a magazine or in a book, I don't care what it is.

But you deserve to have that feature. And the more that you can press forward and align yourself with brands, like the brands I just mentioned, the more people are going to take notice of your work, even if you have to pay for it. And there's no shame in paying for it. But I'll explain more about that next week. I really think that as we move into a new year, new clients, new energy,

It's going to be harder and harder to stand out. And media authority is one of those ways to absolutely do it. The next bold move is redefining leadership inside their business. What does it mean to be the owner of my business instead of the operator? What does it mean to be the leader of my company? And

For many women, this is the first time that they're looking at their business a little bit differently. They're looking at their business not as this baby that they have built and spent a lot of money on. They're looking at their business as an asset. An asset maybe they'd want to sell one day, an asset that can actually work for them without them having to do all the work. And so examples here are hiring,

Candice (35:11.128)

They're systemizing, you know, I mean, it's not just, you know, email templates kind of systemizing. mean, they're, they're deeply reviewing their business systems and they're making huge overhauls and changes. Balancing automation with personalization. They're really getting in there and streamlining things and simplifying things so that as a business, it can operate without them.

It can operate in spite of them sometimes. And so this means they're leaning into a more visionary role for their business. And the results from this are multiple. I mean, they're going from baking the cakes, booking the clients, delivering the cakes, cleaning the kitchen, to booking the clients, putting the finishing touches on the cake, escorting it to the venue.

and the rest of their business operations are running in the background. And so this is a belief shift for you, especially if you feel like you're the cake baker who does everything, whose hand touches everything. It might be time for you to evaluate how you're spending your time, because your business is not going to scale and grow at that level.

And so the belief shift you need to have is I don't have to do everything to be indispensable. I don't have to do everything in my business. I can hire people. I can build a business that can sustain salaries. I can build a business that can sustain a salary for me, including my team. And I don't have to do everything to be indispensable.

For so many of you, you are really at the cusp of making this shift. And I'm inviting you to step over and put two feet into redefining leadership inside your business and to start thinking about your role as an owner of the business and not just the person operating. You can't be the Wizard of Oz.

Candice (37:24.726)

You can't run the whole theme park. mean, God bless him. He was doing a good job, but you also notice he wasn't doing that great of a job. mean, shit was slipping through the cracks, you know? All we had to do was follow the yellow brick road. He had a lot of shit. He had to get done. So listen, you cannot be the wizard of Oz here. You do need to start thinking bigger in your business and realizing what your role is. If you want to scale, if you want to make more money.

if you want to have your time back, which are all things I know you desire. Maybe some more than others. Maybe you have bigger priorities one over the other. But if you want to grow your business in all directions, you need to hire and reevaluate how you're doing things. And you need to step into leadership of your business. You call the shots and leadership is hard.

I'll tell you, being a leader in your business is a lot easier when you have a business coach who you can safely ask questions of to help build your leadership role in your business. That I know for sure. I am so grateful for all the coaches I've had over the years who have helped me build my role as a leader and who will continue to help me be a good leader. So, invitation here for you to think about your business, your role inside of it, and if you are ready to...

shift some things around, simplify things, adjust, do a big overhaul of something and to start hiring people to help you so that you don't have to do everything anymore. The results of which are more time, more money, better clients. Now there are here also some new problems that emerge. And if you didn't listen to my episode recently about the six figure problems that happened to six figure entrepreneurs.

Go and listen because a lot of those problems stem from scaling. What happens when we scale? So be in mind, just keep that in mind as you redefine leadership in your business. The next is women are creating better pricing structures for themselves. And they have increased their price. Some have done it slowly and strategically. Others have made larger jumps.

Candice (39:52.278)

And we've evaluated what makes sense based on their business model and their clientele. But many of them face the same fears you do in price adjustment. And many of them hesitated for a long time in adjusting their price. And all of them have seen incredible results from increasing their price, even if it was just by a little bit. And many of them raise their rates slowly.

methodically and meticulously, which is an excellent strategy because it helps you get comfortable with your price and you're able to test, test, test in small increments as you build your price up. Not only are they adjusting their pricing structures, they're also designing more premium packages for clients. And the beauty about premium packages is that

The more premium the package, the less it includes. It's like when you go to a restaurant, right? Like you go to an all you can eat buffet and there's everything you could possibly want. You go to a fine dining restaurant, everything's all a cart. But it's been beautiful to witness the reduction of service in their packages and the level of price that it has been raised to to make it more premium. And it's working. People are buying it.

They're having, again, their highest sales years, weeks, months, quarters, days, six figure sales months, six figure sales quarters. And it's been fascinating and wildly awesome to see. Not every price increase had immediate results, but one thing that they all did was they stayed the course. And that is so hard to do in business.

It is so hard to stay the course. How many times have you raised your price and lowered your rate almost instantly when somebody said no, or when you were nervous that they were going to say no, they didn't even say no yet. How often have you tried something and after one rejection or one no, you decided that it's not going to work and you reverted back to your old way of doing something. I'm willing to bet at least once, but probably more than that. Staying the course is hard.

Candice (42:18.55)

Staying the course after you rebrand and you have to wait some time for that to kick in is hard. Staying the course and being a visionary for your business and paying employees before the revenue catches up to their roles is hard. Staying the course and claiming media authority and getting rejections before you get a yes is hard. But staying the course is necessary.

especially as you make changes in your business and especially around your pricing and your services. I should have made this its own line, so this is a mini side quest, but an important one nonetheless. I want you to start implementing strategies and staying the course long enough for them to pay off. And I know you're gonna ask me Candace, how long should I give my pricing? How long should I give my restructure of my services before I know that they're working or not? I.

think you can tell in as little as 90 days whether the shifts you made are positive or negative. In some instances, it might be a little bit shorter than that. It depends on the shifts you're making. But you've got to give yourself at least 90 days to see how it plays out and to see how it works before you revert back to the old ways of doing things. So I'm inviting you to shift your belief around your pricing and your premium services.

And remind yourself that your revenue should grow with the clients that are growing in your business, not against it. The next big shift that has been paying off is these women are not waiting to be invited to events, they're creating events. Whether it is networking events, retreats, workshops, VIP experiences, it's been so wonderful to see these women

Create in-person events. Some of them are creating holiday events for vendors that they work with. Others are creating in-person multi-day events, workshops, retreats. And talk about authority building. Talk about taking a giant risk and a leap. But it has been so fantastic to watch. And I've talked about this a few times actually on the podcast.

Candice (44:37.294)

I've loved helping them think through this. I've loved helping them launch these things. And by help, I mean guide. Of course, they do all the hard work. I'm just there to be a guide and be a support system. And their businesses have grown from these events. Their confidence has grown. Their leadership skills have grown. Visibility has grown. And so I want you to start thinking about the impact that you can create beyond weddings.

you to think about the impact that you can have on your local vendor community and how connecting people together in our industry can become a huge asset for your business and for you.

not just to bring more business to you or to raise your brand awareness, but also how that might support your needs in making friends, finding your people, getting out of your day-to-day work and doing something different, experiencing something for the first time alongside the people you're bringing together, all of that.

can feel extremely refreshing and re-energizing for your business. And if you've had a long season, if you've had a long few seasons, if you are repeating the same season over and over, something that I talked about in a previous podcast episode, I think it was the ceiling episode, if you just keep having the same season over and over again, you need a little momentum, you need a little shakeup. And planning events like this and attending them as well,

can really help give you some renewed creative spirit. So start thinking about the impact that you can create beyond weddings. And if that's something that you want to do, whether attending some of these things or creating them for your own audience. Next big shift is a lot of these women are moving from generic style systems to more signature frameworks.

Candice (46:48.396)

And this has been fantastic to watch as well, especially on the creative side. So they're developing signature processes. They're developing signature methods and how they approach things, whether that is photography, design, invitations, flowers. And there's something about having a signature way of doing something that attracts people to you.

First of all, it shows that you are not just a kind of copy and paste wedding vendor that you think for yourself. It shows a level of expertise to be able to say, is my signature method. You know, if you go to the gym, you hire a personal trainer and they take you through exercises. Great. If they take you through signature exercises that they've developed to help you achieve the results that you want, which trainer are you going to pick?

Are you going to pick the person who does the same exercise as maybe, but just doesn't have a signature way of doing them? Or are you going to pick the person who's developed a signature method to help you get the results you want? You're going to pick that person. That's who you're going to pick. It's a no brainer. Even if it's more expensive, you're going to pick that person because first of all, curiosity makes you say, what is the signature method? I want a signature method.

I want to do something other, I want to have something other people don't have. I want a shortcut. I want to do this the right way. I don't want to waste my time. And wedding clients are thinking similarly, slightly different because they're not working out, they're planning a wedding. But what could a signature method do for your business? A signature planning method, a signature design method, a signature client experience. What could that do for your business? And how could that change and shape the way you talk?

about your work, the way you talk about your approach to things. The truth is, is you probably have a signature method. You're just not advertising it. You're just not owning it or developing it further. So I'm inviting you to think about this, to think about what's my signature way of doing something. What's the way that I do it that's really the only way?

Candice (49:10.882)

that it should be done. And why does somebody need your method versus the generic trainer at the gym? Final big, bold shift is going back to those visibility assets and the women are rebranding their business, but they're doing it really loudly. And this has been so fantastic to see them step into their personality.

step into unconventional branding for weddings to really think about their brand and their business as this entity, as this living, breathing thing that has feelings and emotions and opinions and a style and a personality and cultivating that. Cultivating that through color and messaging, marketing, how they show up.

what they say, what they don't say anymore. When we start a business, we follow what we see. It's like children, as they grow up, they pay attention to the adults around them and they mimic, they mirror their classmates, their cousins, their siblings, adults, that's their environment, so they mirror it. When we start a business, we do the same. We mirror what we see in our environment. So we often gravitate towards

similar branding styles, similar messaging styles. But there comes a point in our business where we have sort of this fork in the road and we have to decide if we want to continue to look like everyone else and be the brand in the wedding industry that is unrecognizable or if we want to embrace who we are, embrace our style.

and do things differently. Nobody's saying you have to go paint neon colors all over your brand and do something totally off the wall unless that's you. What I am saying is you have an opportunity to embrace your ideas, what you think looks cool, what you think is going to attract the right people to you instead of being influenced by what everybody else is doing.

Candice (51:40.888)

We're influenced by influencers. tell us what to wear, what greens to buy to have optimal health. They tell us how to style our hair, what jewelry we should buy, how we should decorate our house. And in the wedding industry, we're influenced by what everyone else is doing. And we can choose to either reject that and do do it in a way that feels good to us, or we can choose to follow that and blend in. And I think so many people are

at this pivotal moment in their business. know, brand designers need to send me checks after this episode, I think. I feel like I am gonna have you guys running to bold brand designers and being like, I need a whole new makeover. And so tell them I referred you, please. Tell them you listen to this podcast and that they should reach out to me and let me know. But in all seriousness, I think you are, so many of you are at this stage of business.

where you really need to start owning your style, your thoughts, your opinions, and not looking to outside people to validate what you think is cool, what you think is good, what you think is awesome and pretty and interesting and weird. So many of the

wedding pros you follow that you deeply admire because it feels like they do things at their own pace. They march to their own drummer. The reason why you like them so much is because they are living their personality out loud and they are not looking to others to validate what they're doing. They are putting it out there and it's a risk and not everybody's going to like it.

but that's a risk they're willing to take. What ends up happening is the industry starts copying them, right? Starts copying their brand, their website, their messaging. Think about how many people have copied somebody like Jenna Kutcher. Think about how many people have copied her website, her marketing, her everything. And there's a reason for that. And it's because

Candice (54:04.629)

She.

leads her brand by her personality and her ideas, at least last time I checked. And so people naturally rushed in to copy. I want you to build a brand that's copied, not a brand that you copy. And you might not even realize you do that. Now the women in my mastermind who are rebranding boldly are showing up a lot differently. And they're taking up space now.

They're taking up space in the feed. They're taking up space at industry events. They're taking up space in the industry. They're commanding attention. And guess what happens when you get attention? You get clients. Guess what happens when you get attention? You get opportunities. What used to be scary, like reaching out to a photographer who is super cool and maybe photograph like some celebrities' wedding, is still a little scary. But that photographer's like, I've been meaning to reach out to you. And then suddenly now,

you realize that people actually are paying attention to what you're doing. People do actually want to work with you, and your brand is getting noticed by the right people, and it's working. I want the same for you. So now in this off season, you have an opportunity to make some changes and shifts in your business, whether you want to rebrand boldly or maybe you want to figure out what you should start saying no to.

so you can make space and room for better yeses. Maybe you want to step into thought leadership, media authority, or being the owner of your business. You've got a couple of months where you can actually make good progress on these things. You don't have to go into your hole and hibernate and hide and be burnt out. Although, yes, you can, you know.

Candice (56:01.474)

hang out on the couch a little bit more while you're building, rebuilding your empire. But if there's one thing I don't want you to do from now until April, it is crash and burn and disappear.

I need you to find your footing. I need you to evaluate your business and make decisions that will help you make changes that are gonna have a huge impact on the person you become next year, on the clients you serve, on the space you take up in this industry, on your bank account, potentially on the relationships you have in your life, in your day-to-day life, the bandwidth you have to have a hobby.

to enjoy your work, to enjoy life outside of work. All these things can begin to stack on top of each other. But not if you crawl in to those ratty pajamas and you don't leave the house for seven days and you are in your off season hole. So you have a choice to make. And I hope that you'll choose wisely to step up. First of all, be the leader your business needs.

and start evaluating what needs to change in your business. For some of you, this might be overwhelming and you might be like, holy shit, I have a lot to work on.

We all do, and that's okay. You just gotta pick one thing and start in one place. For others, you might realize, well, this isn't half that bad. All right, I've got a couple of things. Maybe I wanna redefine my services. What Candice was saying was speaking to me. I wanna evaluate this. I wanna shift some things up.

Candice (57:53.198)

Either way, you're going to notice results if you start putting in the work. And that's what I'm calling you to do. Don't spend your off season stuck in a black hole. Pull yourself out, let's get to work, let's get some things done so that 2026 profitable, 2026 enjoyable, 2026 motivating, life changing.

Candice (58:22.254)

That's the type of year I want you to have, but you won't have it unless you're willing to make some shifts. So I think what sets high achieving women apart is this. It's their willingness to disrupt old habits. It's their willingness to say, you know what? I'm sick and tired of this shit. I got to do something different. I am going to just do something different. Test, test ideas.

and trust their own leadership, not look for outside validation, not even validation from your coach, trust your own leadership and your ability to problem solve, to understand yourself, your clients and your business. So which of these 10 shifts do you need to make this year? I'd love to hear feedback from you. Jump into my DMs, tell me what you think.

What resonated? I've heard from so many people about that ceilings episode, which was fantastic. I just loved hearing feedback from you. You're like, you totally described where I'm at or this one ceiling really resonated. That's where I'm at. I would love to hear what, which one of these shifts do you think you need to make? Maybe there's a combination of a few. Maybe there's just one. Maybe you're like, girl, my shit is so crazy. I got to do them all. And just a reminder, if you're craving support to make any of these moves, that's exactly what I do inside my.

mastermind with my one-on-one clients. So you can DM me, you can click the link in the show notes to sign up for the wait list and learn more about the program and when we have an available spot. All right, screenshot this episode, tag me, tell me which one of the 10 shifts you're making, send it to your business BFF, send it to one of your colleagues, send it to somebody sneakily that you know needs to make one of these shifts because they're making your job hard. And you know if they would just get their shit together, they'd be awesome.

Send them my way. I'll get them in tip-top shape. All right, friends, I'm so proud of you and the progress that you've made this year. And I'm delighted to support you here on the show and in all the other ways. I'd love to work with you. If you'd like to learn more about Wedding Pro Insiders, go to weddingproinsiders.com, sign up for the wait list. We'll let you know when there's available spot to join us. All right, friends, have a great rest of your week. I want to remind you there's so much power in your purpose, and I'll see you next time.