Candice (00:01.87)

Hey, it's your coach Candice. Have you ever felt like you're doing all the things in your business? You're consuming all the things, you're attending all the summits, you're buying all the courses, you're listening to all the podcasts, you're tweaking, you're learning consistently, you're adjusting, but somehow you're still not moving as fast as you want to. Well, if that's you, and I have a sneaky suspicion, it might be, today we're talking about the advice that I give you if we had just 10 minutes together in a hallway at a conference.

And you pulled me aside and you said, Candice, I'm stuck in my business. I'm not getting the types of clients I want. I'm not getting the number of leads I want. I'm not growing in the direction I want. What should I do? We've got 10 minutes together, maybe even less, because we're in a hallway at a conference. We're rushing in between sessions from one session to the next. What would I tell you to do?

I wanted to record this episode for two reasons. Number one, I'm telling you to get out there and get at a conference, get out from behind your computer, go meet some people, join your local networking group. You never know, you might actually see me in the hallway at a conference this year. So if you do and you do pull me aside, here's what you can expect me to say. But in all seriousness, I get so many DMs from listeners every single day, which I appreciate so much and I read them all and I respond to them all.

and they really do help influence the show. So I appreciate that so much for all of you who've reached out to me over the last several weeks. And I get the same questions over and over. And one big, huge question I get is, Candice, I'm just not booking the way I want. I'm just not in the direction I thought I would be by now. I feel stuck. What should I do? And what I see are very common problems.

common decisions that are being made that actually contribute to this stuffness. So this episode today is for any wedding pro who's like, you know what? I just want to cut to the chase, get some direct advice. What do I do to unstick myself? Let's get into it.

Candice (02:14.52)

Hey there, friend. Welcome back to the Power and Purpose podcast. If you're a returning listener, boy, I'm so glad you're here. Thanks for spending another week with me and inviting me into your world. And if this is the first time you're tuning into the Power and Purpose podcast, of course, let me be the first to say welcome. You certainly did pick a good episode to start with. This is going to be a shank and a cuddle, as I like to call it. And to be fair, we do a lot of shank and cuddles on this podcast.

where I am holding you so tightly, but also delivering some really honest truth that maybe people just don't want to tell you, but you need to hear that is definitely what today's episode is all about. So you picked a really good one to start with. In fact, some of the recent episodes we released so far for the year are excellent. So I would encourage you to go back and listen. I'm actually building off of those episodes in today's episode. So you'll definitely want to.

Go back and listen to those after today. Make sure that you're also following the show so you do not miss when an episode drops. And if this episode hits for you, if you listen to my 10 minutes of shank and cuddling and you're like, girl, that just altered my brain chemistry, or she's so right, I am going to do insert the blank. I want you to do two things. First, I want you to tell me. I want you to take out your phone.

I want you to open up Instagram. want you to DM me, Candace. Coppola. Tell me, tell me what hit for you. Tell me what resonated. Share with me that you liked the episode. And second, I want you to click the share button and share this with a friend in the industry who needs to hear it. Give it to your business bestie. You can even drop it with, I've been telling you this. I've been telling you that you need to do this. And now here's Candace shanking and cuddling you telling you, need to do it too.

So thanks for sharing with a friend and thanks for reaching out to me and sharing with me your thoughts on today's episode. So picture this. You and I were attending the same conference. You see me in the hallway and you're like, shit, there she is. I better pull her aside. I'm pulling her aside. I'm doing it. And you pull me aside and I'm like, my God, hi, how are you? And you say, Candice, I have just, I know you only have a few minutes.

Candice (04:36.312)

But I was really hoping that I could ask you what I should do. I'm feeling really stuck in my business. I'm not a newbie. I've been doing this for a while. And I'm just feeling like I'm not gaining any traction or any momentum. I'm basically in a holding pattern. I'm a plane flying in circles. Nothing is working. I'm doing all the things that people are telling me to do. And I'm just not making any progress. What?

Should I do?

I would say, girl, I got you. I got 10 minutes. Let's go. The first thing I'd tell you is that you need to make decisions a whole lot faster. You are actually not stuck. You are hesitating. You are delaying. And overthinking in your business is one of the most expensive things that you can do. So instead of overthinking and instead of hesitating,

you need to make decisions faster. The good news is most decisions are actually reversible. If you hire somebody and it doesn't work out, okay. If you decide to raise your price and it doesn't work out, okay. You can reverse the decisions that you make. Nothing is set in stone. But part of the reason why you are in this situation and feeling this way is because you are delaying decision making. And I've seen this on coaching calls.

for the last decade. What happens is when you have a breakthrough, it is usually because you decide to do something. You've heard me say on the podcast, action creates clarity. If you are feeling stuck, it's because you are hesitating, you are procrastinating. The best thing you can do is take action. Because when you do, things will become clearer.

Candice (06:32.898)

The next thing I'd tell you is you probably need to raise your price. So many wedding pros are stuck because they are not charging enough money. Under pricing creates a lot of resentment, but when you price yourself properly and when you price yourself at a premium for your market, that also creates congruence in your business.

I mean, think about it. If your price is too low, it's going to create an element of mistrust for your market. Think about somebody you reached out to to hire, and the pricing just felt too good to be true. You thought to yourself, hmm, this is something that's not adding up. I guarantee, from the premium perspective of your clients, that is probably happening to you. Now, I've always said the easiest way to make more money is to stop spending it. So let's clap for that.

The second easiest way to make more money is to actually raise your price. Now you cannot market yourself as elevated in our industry if you're pricing yourself from scarcity and fear. So raise your prices. The third thing I tell you is that you need to focus your positioning down. You need to narrow your niche. The broader you are, the harder you're going to have to work. The broader your market,

the harder you have to work. When you are specific, when you know who you serve, when you have your ICA and your niche dialed in, you suddenly become a magnet for those people. There will come a point in your business where you will realize not everyone is your client. And guess what? That is powerful. Listen to that. Because the sea of sameness in the wedding industry right now is

Very real, and we've talked about this in my state of the industry address. If you want to stand out, if you want to make more money, if you want to book better clients, you need to narrow your positioning. The next thing I tell you is that you need to stop building new things. A tendency when we're stuck is to keep recalibrating and fixing things behind the scenes when actually we need to make decisions.

Candice (08:50.208)

You don't need another service. You don't need a new website. You don't need another brand shoot. You don't need to rebrand your business. God forbid you don't need another system. You don't need to switch from HoneyBook to Zdub's Auto or whatever, you know, is, is you think you need to do. You don't need another Canva document. You don't need to tweak your welcome guide. You don't need to tweak your pricing deck outside of raising your price. When we do this, we are procrastinating, but we're doing it.

And we're disguising it as innovating, as recalibrating, as restructuring. That is not what you need. You need to stop building new things. They are not going to solve your problems. Instead, you need to go deeper. You need to optimize what's already working. You need to refine, elevate, strengthen. And I wrote this in capital letters. You need to simplify.

I guarantee that things in your business have just gotten too complicated. And that is part of the reason why you are feeling stuck. Simplification is the antidote to complication. Quote me on that. And no, Chad GBT did not write that for me. That just came straight from my brain. Stop building new things. Simplify, refine, elevate, strengthen.

The next thing I'd tell you is, this might be controversial, but you need to stop buying shit. Another course is not going to solve your problems. Another template is not going to make you feel more competent. Hiring a business coach is not going to give you all the answers. The thing about consumption is it feels productive. When we add it to the cart, when we buy the course, we get this immediate relief. thinking, my gosh, my problem is almost solved.

Except guess what? You don't do anything with it. You watch a module or two, or maybe you just keep putting it off. You think, I'll get to that later. I'll get to that later. It feels productive, but it actually isn't. Implementation creates results. The women I coach, they implement. They do. They learn, and they do. That is what you need to do. So if you have unfinished programs sitting in some portal somewhere on your computer that you bought, a Summit

Candice (11:12.406)

which videos you never watched. You don't need another one, sister. I'm sorry you don't. You need to start taking action. Action creates clarity. Stop buying shit. Stop hiring people. Stop rebranding. Stop creating another website. Stop buying another course. This coming from somebody who has a mastermind, a membership, a course. Now, my stuff ain't shit, so I feel very confident that you can buy my stuff.

But either way, it's not going to solve your problems. The implementation from those things will. Remember that the next time you see an ad or the next time you have that burning desire to solve a problem and you think buying something will be the antidote, it's not. The next thing I'd tell you is that your marketing sucks.

hate to be the one to tell you this, this is where the shank comes in, but you need to start marketing your business better. If you're playing it safe, if you are watering down your ideas, if you are inconsistent, that there in and of itself is a big part of your problem. And I think that you have to work on establishing your voice, creating a safe place for yourself to share. And you need to start marketing with an opinion.

If nobody disagrees with you, then nobody agrees with you either. Remember what I said about being specific and narrowing your position. We don't want to be for everybody. That's the point. You need to market with a strong point of view. This is a non-negotiable. So many of you have reached out to me and said, Candice, message received. But one last time, at least for this week.

going to tell you that you need to start marketing with a strong opinion.

Candice (13:20.94)

final thing I tell you is that you need to start leading like you already belong. It's time for you to stop auditioning. It's time for you to stop softening or dimming your expertise. I know you have opinions on things. I know you have skills and an expertise. You don't need to ask for permission to share it and to show up in our industry and to take up space.

Confidence is something that we build through taking small steps and seeing ourself follow through. So if you're lacking confidence and putting yourself out there and showing up and signing up for that conference and putting yourself out there in a bigger way, I need you to know that you will build confidence through taking action. I think confidence is demonstrated through being decisive. We need

more decisive leaders who are willing to stand up for their niche, for their expertise, and to lead in our industry, to be a leading and guiding voice. And I'm asking you to stand up and to do that, to not shrink yourself in a small corner, to not just keep being behind the scenes. You will remain invisible if you do that. So I want you to start leading like you already belong.

You don't need to ask for permission for any seat at any table. You are invited and where you feel like you're not, I'm asking you to show up and invite yourself.

All right, time's up. It's time for our next session. And so those are some of the things that I would tell you if you pulled me aside and said, Candice, I need some advice. I'm stuck and I don't know what to do. You don't need more education. You don't need more ideas. You don't need more time. You're never going to get more time. You need to make decisions quicker. You need to set stronger standards for yourself. And you need a little bit more courage to put yourself out there.

Candice (15:29.612)

Now, I want you to know that growth does not happen because you listen to a podcast. Unfortunately, that's not how growth in business and unsticking yourself works. It's not because you listen to a podcast, including this one. It's not because of course you buy a course or you hire a business coach. It happens because you implement something that you hear and that you learn. So even one shift, whether it is making a decision faster this week, adjusting your price,

narrowing your niche, it can completely change the trajectory of your year and your business. before we wrap up, I want you to pause for just a second and think what's one piece of advice that Candice gave me today that made me a little uncomfortable.

That is the work I want you to do. And if you want deeper support applying this to your business, you know there are so many different ways that we can work together. And all those ways are listed in the show notes. But start here. Start with one move. Remember, action creates clarity. Thank you so much for spending your time with me today. I don't take it lightly. I hope that in that 10-minute blurb, I was able to give you some really strong advice.

We're gonna lighten things up a little bit next week. The shanks and the cuddles will return, but we're gonna take a little break. I know you need a little breathing room, so I'm gonna give it to you. I'll see you next week. I wanna remind you there's so much power in your purpose. See you then.