Candice (00:00.362)

Before we dive into today's episode, I want to just say this. One of the reasons why I love running my mastermind, Wedding Pro Insiders, is because conversations like today's, the problem that every wedding pro faces after six figures, they happen every single week inside my mastermind. When you hit six figures, you start facing a whole new set of challenges and it can feel like no one else gets it.

Inside WPI, we talk honestly about those challenges and we share what's really working in our businesses today. So as you listen to this episode, I want you to notice where you recognize yourself and imagine what it would feel like to have a whole room of smart, successful, driven women helping you move through all of it.

If that sounds like something that you've been missing, then you'll find the link to apply for Wedding Pro Insiders inside the show notes. And you can go to weddingproinsiders.com to learn more about my one-to-one coaching program for women in the wedding industry, which just so happens to be a business mastermind too. So with that said, let's talk about the problems that every wedding pro faces.

after six figures. You're here to grow a business, but not just any kind of business. You want to grow a profitable business with purpose, a business where you wake up every single day driven to serve your customers and make a difference in your own life. I'm Candace Coppola, published author, business coach, and your guide to building a profitable business with purpose. Join me here every single week

as we explore how to build and grow your business with purpose. Get ready to dig in and have meaningful conversations about the strategies and techniques that will help you build your dream business. This is the power in purpose.

Candice (02:13.698)

Hey there friends, welcome back to the Power and Purpose podcast. It's me, your host Candice, and I have a very, very great episode for you today. We're talking about the problems that pop up at the sixth figure mark in business in the wedding industry. It is such an interesting milestone. So many wedding pros that I talk to usually try to aim for in their business.

You start your business, you move through starting a business, you move through all of the problems and issues that you face as you get your business started. And as your business grows, a whole new set of issues love to pop up as you switch ideal clients and elevate your price and refine your services and try to win back some of your time. And on the road to growing your business, six figures often feels like

one of those bulls eyes that you really want to hit. mean, think about the financial independence that comes along with bringing in six figures of sales in your business. These days, I feel like six figures is the minimum that every wedding bro should be making. Unfortunately, it's not. And I am on a mission to help more women in the wedding industry make more money and get closer to that six figure mark. And as you aim for those

Very sweet six figures. There are new layers of complexity and new layers of competition, new layers and new hurdles that you have to overcome as you near that six figure mark and cross it. Most wedding pros feel like hitting six figures is almost like a finish line.

And unfortunately, it is a great milestone that should be celebrated, but it's also the moment when new and harder problems love to show up. And after hundreds of coaching calls, hundreds of calls, thousands of hours of coaching calls over the last several years, I can tell you that every established wedding pro runs into some of the same ceilings, which we talked a little bit about in last week's episode.

Candice (04:30.498)

They run into the same problems, the same obstacles, the same barriers once they get here. So if you've been thinking, why does my business feel harder now as I'm approaching that six figure mark or as I'm jumping over that mark, why does it feel harder now than when I started? If that's a question that you've been feeling, maybe you didn't even think about that until I just said it. Either way, you're in the right place. We're going to talk about all of that.

in today's episode. In fact, in this episode, I'm pulling back the curtain on the exact struggles that I hear from six and multi six figure wedding pros behind closed doors. I have a lot of access to high performing wedding industry professionals, all walks, not just planners, not just photographers either. And I think I have just a really unique perspective on

what's happening right now in the industry. These aren't rookie mistakes that they're making. They're next level problems that aren't often addressed in things like courses and even podcasts. It can feel hard finding solutions when you get to this level of business because you're juggling multiple things. And it's just not talked about in beginner's guides. And if any of these next level problems that I share with you today sound familiar,

It's because you've outgrown the way that you're running your business. And I hope that I can kind of shine a light or even a magnifying glass on aspects of your business, help you see things a little bit clearer, get you unstuck and maybe get you solving some of these problems before they become bigger. Let's talk about the seven six-figure problems that I see six-figure wedding pros encountering.

trying to navigate also banging their head against the wall. These are things that come up again and again in my one to one coaching calls and our group calls, especially inside wedding pro insiders. And like I mentioned, I have really unique access to these conversations. The first bucket is money and pricing. When you hit seven figures,

Candice (06:51.926)

You don't stop worrying about money and pricing. And if anything, things become more complex because you likely have a team and you're trying to figure out how to balance what's coming in and also what's going out. So a lot of things that I hear at this level are what's the right way for me to raise prices without losing clients. Nod your head.

if you've been experiencing that very question at the time of recording this, we're in September, which means wedding season or the beginning of wedding season for a lot of pros, which means busy season, which means you might be doing work that somebody hired you to do last year. And you're thinking to yourself, how did I get here? How did I quote that price? And how do I never do that again? I'm also hearing

Why does my revenue look good on paper but my profit feels non-existent? On paper, you're bringing in what looks like money that will honestly, let's be honest, this is what you dreamed about bringing in, but your profit isn't there and you're still not paying yourself what you deserve. Maybe you're not paying yourself at all. These are conversations that I hear a lot of six-figure wedding pros having.

There are a lot of questions that people come to me as a coach to seek answers. And there are a lot of different ways to approach pricing and money at this stage of business. A reframe for you here is it's not enough to charge more when you hit this level of business. You have to start looking at pricing and profit and value and how it's all aligned. As your business grows, as expenses grow,

as the team grows, as your expertise, your demand grows, as the market evolves. These are all things that you have to understand and work within the confines of as you get to this phase of business. And it's not easy to make sense of a lot of these things. Often when I work with women in the beginning who have hit this barrier, who are finding themselves in this six figure problem.

Candice (09:14.466)

We have to strip away their offers, their services, their pricing. We have to look at their finances, what they're spending, and we have to start making some changes. One of my favorite things to tell people is the easiest way to make more money is to stop spending so much money. So a lot of times when women join WPI, we look at their expenses, we look at what they've been investing in.

where money is going out. And we ask some tough questions about the value of those things, if we're using them efficiently, if we are maximizing team members, maximizing subscriptions, maximizing tools, maximizing investments. If you are in the thick of dealing with pricing issues and money issues, and at the end of the day, if you look at your revenue and you say on paper, this is exciting, but in reality, I'm

feel like I'm still struggling, then I am trying to shine a light that you need to focus on profit and revenue and pricing and money and find a better way forward. Now, if you don't do this, you're going to risk bringing in over six figures of sales, but still making the same amount that you did back when you started your business. Remember last week I talked about

a ceiling where you keep having the same year over and over again. I don't want you to have that, especially around money. So this is an invitation to get some help here, have somebody come in and look at your business, whether that somebody is me as your coach or speaking to your financial advisor, your accountant, your bookkeeper, all people who should be on your team to support you and looking at profitability and finding a better way forward. Now the next six figure problem

that women come to me with and that I see all the time is marketing and visibility. Just because you hit six figures and you're booking great clients doesn't mean that you're going to stop struggling with marketing and visibility. anything, you might find that it's difficult when everyone is calling themselves luxury or you're competing with everybody who's saying the same things. So a big question that I get asked very often is how do I stand out?

Candice (11:35.918)

when everybody's calling themselves luxury. I mean, it's so easy to be like, I'm a luxury invitation designer. And you're competing against all types of businesses who may not actually be at the caliber you're in. I often hear, how do I keep leads flowing without being chained to my Instagram every day or a change to insert the blank marketing channel that you don't want to be on 24 seven.

marketing invisibility doesn't become easier just because you're making more money. In fact, there's a layer of stress there that we don't often talk about because there's a lot more at risk here. You need more leads. You might even have team members who are booking clients and you need more leads to bring to those team members in order to keep them. So the stakes get higher.

And marketing and visibility can feel a lot harder, especially when your time is being split now between client work, team management, business growth and development, and you have to be the chief marketing officer of your business. becomes more difficult. Scaling visibility isn't easy to do. There's a lot of things you could do, many things that can cost you a lot of money and be a dead end. Things like

if you don't do them well or don't have the right ads manager on your team, all things that I've talked about inside WPI with the women. Scaling visibility means building authority and differentiating yourself. And on a six figure level, this becomes a little harder. And it's no longer about consistency, the volume that you're posting, the amount that you're posting in your marketing.

It means that you need to start leading with authority, building more authority and figuring out what makes you different in a sea of sameness and what you do. Anybody can take pictures, anybody can print invitations, anybody can plan weddings, anybody can be a live painter at a wedding. What makes you the obvious choice? And it doesn't help when you have that monkey on your back, bills.

Candice (13:54.286)

team members looking to you for work, a lot at risk. The stress level becomes so much higher, which means mistakes become easier to make. And marketing often falls by the wayside as we get busier and busier and busier. We don't put as much effort into our marketing and our business suffers because of it. The next area that wedding pros struggle with at the six figure mark, and I've mentioned this a few times, but

team and also clients. I hear so often, how do I stop being the bottleneck in my business? I am the bottleneck. I am the person that clogs the toilet. I'm the person that clogs every pipe in this business. And you know it's true. You you have a VA, you might have an assistant, you have an associate, you have somebody on your team who's responsible for something in particular, communication, marketing.

and you are the bottleneck. You can't seem to get to them fast enough. You can't seem to keep the engine moving. And this is so common. And it's just because you got kind of one foot in being the person who's still doing that work and one foot out. And it requires a plan. It requires some skills that you need to learn in order to delegate and step back. You need support in unsticking yourself and not being the bottleneck anymore.

often help women navigate what they should delegate first and how to actually let go. mean, there's nothing like building a business with your bare hands, know, blood, sweat, tears, lots of tears, money invested time, your whole essence, your personality is baked into this business, your identity. And then you hire somebody to like come in and do stuff. And it's like, how do I

How do I delegate and what should I give them first? Well, in order to stop being the bottleneck, you need to learn how to delegate and you need to learn how to let go. Another issue that pops up is how do I manage clients who consistently want more than what they paid for? On the road to six figures, I think a lot of wedding pros make the mistake of offering everything they can to land the sale. Raise your hand if you've done this.

Candice (16:20.526)

Keep one hand on the steering wheel if you're driving. Yeah, right? You want to book the clients so badly. You're trying to achieve the goal and you have other reasons too. And so you do what we do in sales, which is like, throw in this and sure we'll do that. And that's what you want. No problem. I can do that too. And you multiply that by 20 clients a year, maybe more, maybe less. And

you have an overwhelming number of people who look to you and want you to do all these things, want you to do more, and maybe they haven't paid for it, or maybe you promised it, but you realize you made a mistake. This is the season in your business when you hit six figures where you need to start understanding your capacity and limits, not as a limitation in the sense of like,

you can't do that. Something must be wrong with you. But it's about learning the capacity and limitations that you have so that you can delegate smartly, sell the right services to the right people, redirect clients who are misbehaving, upsell people on more support, and grow at this stage. comes from clarity in who you are, what you offer, what you deliver, boundaries.

And also trust. Trust in your team, trust in yourself, trust in the support that you've surrounded yourself with. If you're hiring me as your business coach, I'm going to be your advisor, almost like a silent business partner. If you have a community of people, trust that they're also going to help give you good guidance. And you've got to relinquish some control so that you can put your eyes and your attention on the things that are also going wrong.

in your business and that need you, the owner, to be present for. You see, a lot of wedding pros at Six Figures are operating like operators instead of the owner of the business. Ask yourself if you see yourself as the owner or the operator. And there is a distinction between the two. An operator does pretty much everything.

Candice (18:40.12)

They handle all client work. They handle all business backend work. They may have a few people who help here and there, maybe a few hours a week, a few hours a month, but really nothing happens unless the operator operates. An owner is different. An owner isn't focused on every day-to-day task. They don't need to approve everything that is being done. They don't even need to pay attention or even know

about everything that's happening in their business. And at any time they can take a look at things, but they don't need to be involved and invest in everything. Instead, they're focused on the high value tasks that an owner does. They're focused on business development, on business growth, on leading their team, pouring into their team, working on special projects, and yes, doing client work.

but not all the client work. If they're an invitation designer, they don't have to touch every piece of paper and every single task necessary for that paper to then be sent to the client. If they're a photographer, they don't have to touch every task from editing to client meetings, to gathering information, to answering emails, to keeping clients up to date, to their editing queue, to marketing, to shooting the wedding.

They don't have to deal with every single task, just the client facing tasks that they're needed for. Think about that interview with Taylor Swift that she did, that podcast interview on Travis Kelsey's brother's podcast. Don't throw tomatoes at me. I don't know the guy's name. I'm not a Swiftie, okay, but I'm slowly becoming one because I think she's super fascinating. And she won me over when she talked about how she's able to produce

such incredible music and a tour and all the things that Taylor Swift has done, Swifty or not, you can appreciate what this woman has accomplished, okay? What this young woman has accomplished. I mean, to be able to buy back all her music and to own the rights to her music, that in and of itself is such a fucking bad ass move. Think about Taylor Swift and think about what she said in that podcast. I don't know if you've seen the clip, but I'll summarize. I'll do my best to summarize. She says, I focus

Candice (21:04.622)

my all my time and my effort on doing the things that I'm good at. That's writing music and singing music. That is what she spends all her time doing. She has the right people in the right places to worry about everything else. Now we're not operating with a billion dollar budget. Okay. So we don't have Taylor Swift money and that whole adage, you know, Beyonce has 24 hours in a day too.

Yes, but they also have help and support to get things done. But there's something powerful in that analogy. Imagine if you could be the Taylor Swift of what you do and you could focus on the things in your business that only the owner can focus on. What that would unlock for you. What it could unlock for your clients, what it could unlock for your industry. There's something there and it's not impossible to unlock. It's not

easy to unlock. Otherwise, we would all unlock it and you wouldn't need someone like me to help you figure it out. You would just figure it out and we'd all be doing it. And so it wouldn't be cool. There'd be something else we'd all be striving for, right? You need to start thinking about your business like an owner and not an operator, especially when you hit the six figure mark, because now business is different.

You don't need to hustle for every single thing. You don't need to do every single thing in your business and you shouldn't be doing every single thing. Otherwise you will stay right where you are stuck. You need help and support to unlock the next level of your business. Now the next bucket of problems that wedding pros face at this six figure mark after team and clients is systems and operations, a big one.

I have helped so many women fine tune their systems and we're still fine tuning it, right? Because every time you fix a weak link, another link in the chain by nature of physics becomes the weakest link. So we're always tweaking. But I hear so often my systems worked when I had 10 clients, but I mean, now it's not working for me anymore. Everything lives in my head. It's exhausting. I want to hire somebody, but I don't have any systems in place.

Candice (23:18.13)

I'm the keeper of all the keys. Only I can unlock all the doors. And then when the doors are unlocked, only I know the way, only I know how to use all the equipment in the room. I mean, can you imagine if a restaurant owner opened a restaurant and that person was the sole person who knew how to operate the cash register, the stove, the toilet, the dishwasher, the hostess stand, the linens, the table settings, the refrigerator? I mean,

food would not get cooked, people would not eat at that restaurant. And yeah, that's exactly what you're doing. Your systems and your operations may have worked at a smaller number of clients or for a different client subset, but now that you're working with higher value clients or you may have team members, things need to change. What got you here is not gonna get you there. What got you this business, your operations, your systems, your mindset, your marketing, the people, the things,

It often doesn't get you to the next level. You need to operate differently and actually be surrounded by people who are operating at a different level too. think that has a big part to do with this. And it's one of the things that I love most about having a coaching mastermind where I'm coaching you one-on-one, but you also have people who are at the level you aspire to be at your level or maybe a step or two behind that you can help. You need better systems at six figures.

And systems are what's going to clear up and free up creativity for you. Allow you to go from operator to owner. Allow you to scale. You can't scale without systems. I mean, you can build a business and get to six figures with bootstrap systems, with red tape systems, but you can't go beyond that number winging it every day or letting everything live in your head. And I got to be honest, and this is a little tough love. This is a little shank and a little cuddle. This is your own doing here.

You have designed it to be this way. You can design it to be differently. You just need the right support and you need to make the choice. You actually just need to commit that you're going to change things up, but you've made it this way. This is a problem of your making. And don't you love that? Don't you love that where you're like, yeah, I did this to myself. Great.

Candice (25:40.206)

The beauty of that is you can get yourself out of it. mean, you can change it. You can make the change necessary in order to have a different outcome. And you deserve to have a different outcome. At this level, you need to start documenting your systems. You need to stop being the bottleneck. Now, the next bucket that I often see wedding pros at the six figure

level operating with with problems is creativity and innovation. And this is something that we just don't talk about enough. You get to six figures and you think, yeah, I did it and now I'm burnt out and I'm tired and I don't feel inspired. I am not excited as I used to be about the work. I hear sometimes I feel stuck doing the same wedding over and over again. You know what wedding I'm talking about already. You're like, yep.

I work at that venue like eight times a year and I'm really sick of it. Like no offense to the venue, no offense to the clients. They're all very sweet, but it's just not, it's not challenging me. It's not getting me excited. Or maybe it's a certain style of wedding, you know? At one point I was like, I cannot do another blush pink wedding. Like I cannot physically do it. Please do not ask me for blush peonies and blush garden roses. Like I cannot do it.

I want to do something that I want to do like a goth wedding just to like cleanse myself. So I get it. I often hear too, I feel like I'm not an artist anymore. I used to feel like an artist, but now I feel like I'm just taking orders from people. Now part of this is the newness of starting a business and the newness of planning something for the first time or photographing at a venue the first time or doing a certain design for the first time.

That newness, we've got that new girl energy about ourselves and we're creating something for the first time, of course, there's a lot of energy. And then fast forward four years later and you're doing it for the 15th time, sure, it's not going to feel as exciting, but when you multiply that season over season over season, no wonder you're feeling stuck, like you're not innovating. And unfortunately, people are hiring you to produce the same wedding over and over because that's what you're using for your marketing.

Candice (28:00.046)

I also think there's something here about capacity. So we've identified the newness wears away like any relationship, the newness wears off. And then you also have the fact that this is what you're known for. So people are coming to you and they're like, yeah, about that blush pink wedding at this venue that you've done a hundred times. I want that. And you're like, great. But also we have to talk about capacity because creativity requires capacity.

Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, my favorite artist of all time, Picasso. None of them had an environment in which they were so overloaded like we are. They were like the Taylor Swift. Their life's work was dedicated to creating. And it often took them years, sometimes decades to finish something. But I think they understood capacity.

and that creativity requires capacity. For you, if we were to fast forward into the modern era, you need more capacity in your business. You can't be the operator forever. You can't be doing all the things. And without systems and boundaries, there's really no room to innovate, unfortunately. I know this intimately myself because I recently went through this cycle. About a year ago, I was feeling this way.

And I had to make some pretty big changes in my business in order to get the capacity to innovate and create. And I'm so glad I did it because on the other side, I'm creating something totally new, which I've launched very successfully for brand new wedding planners. It's called the wedding planning business blueprint. And I'm feeling so good about it. But ask me two years ago when I had the idea, I didn't have the capacity. I had to create the capacity for myself to create and innovate.

You need the same. Incapacity comes from systems, boundaries, team members. Imagine if you could take 20 % of the work that you do and somebody else could manage it for you. How would that feel physically to you in your body? How would it feel in your mind? How would it feel creatively for you? I thought you would feel great. And as your coach, I'd tell you, let's not rush to fill that with something.

Candice (30:25.474)

Let's enjoy the room. Let's go on a trip. Let's get your nails done. Let's cut your hair. Let's go shopping. And then let's talk about creating. Let's give you a little break. You you need like a honeymoon phase where you just like have 20 % more time. But eventually we can look to fill that time with creativity. And what you might find is that naturally you just begin to create better because you have more capacity.

to think about new ideas for your clients. You get to launch something fun like I did. You get to create designs or explore a new style of photography or art that you just did not have time for because your nervous system, your brain, your body, your inbox was overwhelmed. Now the next bucket of problems, the second to last I think we are, is visibility and influence. I often hear I want to be known as the go-to in my market.

I want people when they get engaged to think of me. I want to be the person that everybody wants to work with. I want to be the top. And I got to tell you, I don't blame you. You should be the fricking top. As hard as you work, as talented as you are, why aren't you number one? And I also hear, how do I start getting published more? How do I start speaking about my work? I want to speak. I want to speak at conferences. I want to be on a podcast. I want to fricking speak at engage.

How do I begin building my personal brand and identity outside of my business that I can leverage? Because the truth is at this stage of business, you've learned a lot and you probably have a lot of people who are coming to you and being like, how do you teach me how you did that? And secretly inside you're feeling like.

I'm still figuring it out, but you don't tell them that. You're like, sure. But secretly, you're not really sure if you're qualified to. I want you to know you are qualified to share your experiences for sure. But you're wondering, how do I get published? I want to be in Vogue. I want to be in these magazines. I want to get picked for, know, Loverly's top 10 photographers in the world. And at this level of business, you're so busy.

Candice (32:34.434)

that it's hard to make time for authority building, but you have to make time for authority building. And unfortunately, authority isn't waiting to be discovered, okay? You're not Cindy Crawford and 16 years old at a cafe and here comes some awesome producer who discovers you and then poof, like you're the greatest supermodel in the world. That doesn't happen very often. In fact, the stakes are high, competition is high. You know, I think about the Rihanna story, which is so incredible. She was discovered here in Barbados by a music producer.

singing at church. Fun fact, the music producer that discovered her was my private client when I was a planner. So I have like the inside scoop. Well, his wife was my private client, I should say. And she is a hoot. Loved her as a private client. We got along so well. But back to the story. I had to name drop. Back to the story. Rihanna was discovered in Barbados, right? And the odds, the likelihood of her being discovered by someone

is very small, even though his wife is actually from, she's a Bajan, she's from Barbados. They discovered her, they brought her to their home. She lived with them. He worked with her, introduced her to Jay-Z and well, you know, through her hard work, which trust me, Rihanna works incredibly hard. She has an amazing work ethic. She's an incredible entrepreneur. She's built an empire. Nobody's coming for you to find you, to discover you.

You have to build in this day and age authority for yourself. And so we fast forward and look at people like Cardi B, who wasn't going to sit down and wait for somebody to discover her. She was going to make a name for herself, whatever it took. Lover or hater. I personally stan Cardi B. I think she's just my speed. She had to make a name for herself. And that's the day and age that we live in. You have to do the same.

you have to learn how to get more visible and how to build visibility strategically at this level. Nobody's coming for you. As Mel Robbins says, nobody's coming to save you, girl. Nobody's coming to discover you. You have to discover yourself and then you've got to put yourself out there. And if you are already at capacity in every place in your business, of course, you're not going to have time or energy to focus on influence, becoming a brand name, becoming recognized.

Candice (34:54.648)

But it's important at this stage, especially if you want to ascend upwards. To a counterpoint, there are a lot of wedding pros out there that you've never heard of, and they're doing work that you could only dream of doing. I made a comment about the Bezos wedding, and the planners for that wedding are planners you've probably never heard of. And so they don't need to be out here building authority to make a name for yourself, but those are the minority.

Authorities in different forms. You know, you can have public authority or you can have private authority in the circles of people in the know. I don't know about you, but I'd rather have private authority in the circles of the people in the know who can hire me. And there are several extremely successful people in the industry who are not very forward public facing, but who have the most dynamic companies and work with

very high value clients. So it's up to you and what route you want to take, but you got to pick a lane girl. And there are two strategies there, one for public, one for private. The next and final bucket of problems is the CEO identity and lifestyle. And I have alluded to this owner versus operator. And at this level, six figures, I often hear, what if I don't like what I've built? What if I don't love my business anymore?

How do I step into being a CEO without losing my connection to my clients, without spending a lot of money on team members, and without creating a whole set of new problems for myself? Can I really scale without sacrificing more of my weekends, my peace, my lifestyle, my health, my relationships, my role as a parent, my role as a partner? Can I have a social life? Can I even meet somebody if I don't have a partner?

These are all questions that I hear. Building a six-figure business, getting to this market, getting close to it. Some of you might be close, not quite there. You've sacrificed a lot. And you have to ask yourself, am I willing to sacrifice, continuing to sacrifice the same things or do I want to do things differently? Hitting six figures is more than just revenue. It's about evolving to the next version of yourself.

Candice (37:15.084)

and your business and designing a business that supports it. It doesn't have to always be this way. Now, I can't promise you that you're not going to have seasons where you're stressed out. I mean, you run a business. part for the course. It happens. There's nobody in the world who is running a successful business in a utopia. And if they are, they're selling something to you and they're lying. Okay. There's no utopia. There's no heaven business level unlock.

that you get to through a course or a $20,000 coaching program. But there is a balance and a shift that you can make. And we have to acknowledge that the person who started your business and the person even up until yesterday may not be the same person listening to this podcast, may not be the same person that you are today. And so that means that you want different things, your lifestyle changes.

What you want out of a business, what you want it to do for you changes, your priorities change, your version of success changes, the clients you want to work with changes, your money needs change, all of those things change. And unless you can acknowledge the shift that's happening, you're gonna stay stuck in your business. You've got to evolve into the next version of your business and yourself. And believe it or not, there is something on the other side that's better. It's not perfect, but it's better. And I have evolved my business almost

every year that I've owned it in the last seven to eight years. I speak about all of this, not just because I've mentored hundreds of people. I've had thousands of hours worth of coaching calls and conversations, but also because this is my lived experience too. I've been here. I've faced all these problems as a planner and then also as a coach too. If you think that I have it all figured out for myself, you're wrong.

I sometimes have to eat my own dog food or take my own medicine too. It's why I have a coach because I need perspective as well. need somebody to help me get unstuck. But I can confidently say that you can design a better business and hitting six figures, you don't have to sacrifice your sanity, your time. You don't have to sacrifice your life and you don't have to continue to sacrifice in order to maintain. It can actually work less and make

Candice (39:32.014)

more. You can. am living proof of that. If you heard yourself in even one of these that I shared today, I first really like you to reach out to me on a DM and Instagram and share with me resonated with you. Even if you've never spoken to me before, just reach out to me. I'm a real person. I answer my DMs. I'm real. I'm not just hearing your earbuds. I'm a real person. really want to help you and I really want to know.

level of business you're operating, which one of these really spoke to you? Where are you feeling stuck? Is it money and pricing, marketing and visibility, team and clients, systems and ops? Is it creativity and innovation, visibility and influence, or owner versus operator? Tell me, I'm extremely curious. But if you've heard yourself in one of these, I want you to know like you're not alone here.

These are not signs that you're failing. They're not signs that something's wrong with you. They're not signs that you can't overcome these obstacles. They're signals. They're signals that you've outgrown, maybe your systems, your mindset, your business, your old strategies. And it's actually a good thing, even though it doesn't feel like it. know, friction, problems. We don't look at problems and think, a problem is a good thing.

Occasionally we're like, that's a good problem to have. wow, you've got 10 weddings booked for next year already. That's a good problem to have. These signals are good things. And it means that you're ready to lead differently in your business. It means that you're ready for a change. It means that you are ready to face some of the obstacles that you're confronted with right now. You have this chance to make a pivot. You have this chance to do something different.

And inside my mastermind, wedding pro insiders, these are the exact conversations that we're having every single day. Every single day, we talk about all these things because these are next level problems that affect every wedding pro, photographer, invitation designer, and we've got all different types of wedding pros inside WPI. This isn't, we don't just serve, I don't do surface level. As you know in the podcast, I like to go deep on something.

Candice (41:44.598)

And so we go deep on these topics as they apply to you. Real issues that keep you stuck, that keep you up at night, that are limiting your growth. And the beauty is that you don't just get my perspective in the mastermind, you get an entire room of very smart, successful women who are either navigating the same challenges, have already navigated the challenges, will be navigating the challenges, and they're willing to share what worked for them. It's a hive mind.

You know, I've been a part of a few masterminds over the years and I'm currently in one that I absolutely love. I'm surrounded by really smart, really driven, incredible business owners in all different industries. So I get to meet people, not just in the wedding industry, but who are serving clients for so many different industries. And I I learn so much by listening and I get motivated.

by the hive mentality. I see what's possible for other people. I want to try that too, where I feel more confident in what I'm experimenting with or trying. It has been a game changer. I have access to my coach who I can ask any question in the world, mindset, strategy, you know, I can cry, I can complain. And then I have a group of people that I listen to and learn from and that I can also share my experience. I would love for you to learn more about WPI and allow me and my community to help you through

these six figure challenges. So if you're nodding right now and you're like, is me, let this be a signal to you. Okay. I'm sending out a beacon. I'm calling to you that you do not have to solve six figure problems on your own. And there's likely not a course or anything out there that's going to teach you how to overcome these problems. What you really need is a coach.

Whether that coaches me or someone else you align with will be your choice. And you also would benefit from being in the room with other people who match your ambition. The link to apply for my mastermind because applications are currently open for the fall season are in the show notes, but you can also go to weddingproinsiders.com. And on that page, I share with you more details about WPI. You'll see some images from our recent in-person mastermind retreat. I go into some of the details in case you want to hear about

Candice (44:07.918)

what you receive over a year in working with me, the access you get, some of the core features of the program, because this isn't an unstructured thing. There's structure to it. I'm leading a group of women in growing their business at all different phases and all different aspects of the wedding industry, but there's a lot of structure here. I think one of the biggest compliments we get is I feel so supported. There's a lot of structure. I'm never worried about what we're doing. You're always giving me

what I need to hear when I need to hear it. So you'll learn more on that page about what's included and details about our retreat. We have two in-person retreats a year here in my home in Barbados. If you want to hear more about that, I did a whole podcast episode talking about the retreat, which I'll link in the show notes. listen, go get the details about WPI. Go read the testimonials of this program. Go see some of the faces of the women

who are in this program right now, some of which have been in it for five years. Okay. And that's not to say it doesn't work. That's to say it works so well that they don't want to leave. Like they don't want to do business without this community because it's so critical to their success. Go and read all of that and click the link to apply. I would love to read your application. I would love to hear from you. I'd love to examine your business. I'd love to jump on a call and talk to you about

some of these next level problems that you're experiencing and how I can help you untangle and support you in these problems. And I'd love to talk about whether WPI is the right fit. Now, a couple things. This program only opens a couple times a year. We actually kind of have a rolling enrollment, but the deal is somebody has to graduate from the program, which does not happen often. In fact, most women renew their mastermind experience for three years, some even more.

So that means that there's usually one, two spots to jump in and to secure your place. So we have limited spots available. At the time of recording this, I think I have two spots left and I'm leaving the doors open and applications open until I find all the right women who are meant for this program that I want to support. But there is a bit of a capacity problem because I can't support everybody.

Candice (46:24.8)

The amount of time and effort that I put in to this group is exceeding what I think any business coach in this space does. And I can say that full stop. The majority of my time on a daily basis is actually spent with these women. Just like you spend the majority of your time working with your clients, I do too. And I love it, which means I only have space for 40 people. And once we hit those numbers, we...

cannot allow anybody else in because I don't have the capacity for it. And I believe in maintaining the amazing reputation we have in this program and the results that we get people. So all that to say, this is your signal to come and apply. And let's talk about your next level problems, how we can overcome them as you're approaching six figures or for those of you who are over six figures. If you're new to the industry, if you are operating and you have not

hit 50K, 60, 70, 80, wedding pro insiders is something to put on your bucket list. Okay. If you haven't hit that in gross sales in your business just yet, about 70K, it's something to put on your business bucket list. But if you have gotten over that hurdle, if you're just there, I want to invite you to apply. Heck, I want you to apply regardless. Let's talk, but this is next level strategy for next level.

business owners. And it's a room where you're with your peers, which I think is super important for you to know. Because not every mastermind, not every coaching experience delivers that. And I know this because I've been a part of a couple where I felt like I was the most advanced person. There's nothing wrong with that. You're going to find women more advanced than you in this mastermind. And that's a good thing. So the link to apply to Wedding Pro and Setters is inside the show notes. I'd love to hear from you and I'd love to support you in these next level problems.

One thing you can expect outside of WPI is for us to continue to have conversations around these next level problems on this podcast. All right, friend, I'm wishing you a win this week. I'm rooting for you. Thanks for tuning into today's episode of the Power and Purpose. I want to remind you there's so much power in your purpose and I'll see you next week. Thanks so much for tuning in to this week's episode of the Power and Purpose podcast.

Candice (48:40.502)

If you enjoyed the show, be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode and consider leaving a review. Head over to powerinpurposepodcast.com to access all of the resources and links mentioned in today's episode. That's powerinpurposepodcast.com. I'll see you next time.