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Eeek did I do the right thing?? Lessons learnt in Turkey! · Wedding Pros who are ready to grow - with Becca Pountney

0:01
Becca: How often do you do something outside of your comfort zone?
0:04
You know, that feeling when you send an email, raise your prices or try
0:07
something new and immediately think, have I really done the right thing last week?
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I had the absolute honor of speaking at the IAD WP conference in Turkey.
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And despite my many years worth of experience, it was
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still a step outside of my.
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In today's episode, I'm going to be sharing with you.
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The things I learned from my experience in Turkey to inspire you
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and to help you take the next, maybe uncomfortable step in your business.
0:32
I'm Becca Pountney, Wedding business marketing, expert, speaker, and blogger.
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And you're listening to the wedding pros who are ready to grow.
0:40
I'm here to share with you actionable tips, strategies, and real life
0:43
examples to help you take your wedding business to the next level.
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If you are an ambitious wedding business owner that wants to take your passion
0:51
and use it to build a profitable, sustainable business, doing what you
0:54
love, then you're in the right place.
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Let's get going with today's episode.
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I'm going to take you back for a moment back to last Monday, where
1:03
I landed in Turkey stepped outside of the airport and thought to
1:06
myself, what on earth have I done?
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I was so excited about the opportunity to speak at the
1:12
conference, but I was so busy.
1:14
I never really took time to think about what it would mean.
1:17
I've spoken at conferences internationally during lockdown all via zoom.
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I've spoken on stages up and down the UK, but I've never been to another country.
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And.
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On stage what an incredible opportunity.
1:30
But all of a sudden, I thought to myself here I am in Turkey about to
1:34
meet with a whole load of strangers that I don't know in a country that
1:38
I've never been to before with a totally different culture and quite honestly.
1:42
I don't really even travel on my own.
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I've got no husband there.
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I've got no children there.
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Thankfully, I've got my trusty friend, Kwlly Mortimer there, but in that
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moment, I thought to myself, Becca have you made the right decision.
1:54
We all get those moments in our business.
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Don't we, where we do something that takes us outside of our comfort zone.
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And we think to ourselves, what's that with the right thing to do?
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Or am I going to live to regret it?
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Well, I can tell you now.
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And you would have seen if you follow me on Instagram, I had the
2:08
most incredible time in Turkey.
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And in today's episode, I want to share with you all of the things that I learned
2:14
from my experience out there and how you can take those things into your.
2:17
Business.
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You might not be ready to go and speak on stage in Turkey, but that's fine.
2:21
That's not what we're talking about, but there's something to be learned by my
2:25
experiences out in that beautiful country.
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So let's get started.
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My biggest takeaway from Turkey was what an incredible industry.
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We're all so privileged to be.
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Part of the wedding industry is like no other industry.
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We work together as a team to create incredible experiences for our couples for
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that very, very special day of their life.
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And like no other industry.
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We love what we do.
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Don't we we're passionate about weddings and we just love being in that.
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When I was out in Turkey, I met with wedding professionals and travel
2:57
agents and destination wedding specialists from all over the world.
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I met people from Argentina, Mexico, the USA.
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I met people from Oman and India and Latvia.
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It was just the most incredible cultural experience.
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And over those few days, the thing that brought us all together was
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our absolute passion and love for the industry that we work in.
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People from all different races, religions cultures all came together
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to one place to talk about destination weddings and to improve their businesses
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and to learn about that beautiful country of Turkey in that moment, over
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those four days, it didn't matter.
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There was no talk of politics.
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There was no talk of religion or race.
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It was just everyone there for the same reason.
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I felt so incredibly lucky to be part of that experience for people to be together
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and all want the same thing, which is to give their couples the best experience
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and the best destination wedding that they could, it's really important in
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business to find your tribe, to find people with the same ethos as you.
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And last week in Turkey was a reminder to me that there are people that ethos
4:05
across the globe, not just here in the UK.
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Now as in all industries and I'm sure you will have come across them, there
4:13
are people that don't just have this same kind of community vibe about them.
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And some people just don't really get it.
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And that's absolutely fine, but it's so vitally important that.
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Collaboration.
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And that common goal is incredibly important to you.
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You need to find people that share those same values.
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And last week in Turkey, I really did.
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I found people from across the world who spoke all sorts of different languages and
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had all sorts of different backgrounds, all coming together with the same
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purpose they wanted to meet each other.
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They wanted to learn from each other.
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They wanted to give their couples a great experience.
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And it's really important.
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You find people of the same ethos, wherever you are, whether that's
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going to some networking events, connecting people with people online.
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And I hear it all the time where people say, but I reached out to people
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and I had a really bad experience.
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Well, try again, because I promise you, there are people
5:04
out there with the right ethos.
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I really like to run my communities with this ethos myself.
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So if you are part of my Facebook groups, I hope that you do feel that
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welcoming community feel because for me, everyone is of value.
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No one is competition.
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We should all be working to support and help each.
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For those of you wondering how the event actually worked last week in
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Turkey, I'm going to give you a very brief overview of what it looked like
5:30
and why I thought it was so powerful.
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So Monday was arrival day.
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We got there, we had dinner, there was actually a party going on, but I was
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too late on my flight to get to that.
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We slept and we woke up Tuesday morning.
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Now, Tuesday was the conference day.
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That's the day I spoke and there were keynote speakers, like I said,
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from across the world, there were presentations about various countries
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from the ambassadors where they were.
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Countries and why they are great places for destination weddings.
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And then there was other educators like myself, like Kelly talking about how
5:59
people could improve their businesses, build collaborations and things like that.
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So that was a real learning day.
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It was a long day, but everyone was there to learn that night.
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There was a fabulous gala dinner party.
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And then the next day was all about business to business networking.
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So loads of different hotels from across Turkey came down
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to where we were all staying.
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And throughout the morning, you had opportunities to go and meet
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with them to swap cards, to talk about opportunities and in that
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morning and afternoon opportunities.
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You got to meet all sorts of really interesting.
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The one thing that stood out for me, both through the conference and during those
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business to business networking meetings was what an incredible opportunity
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we have for destination weddings.
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Destination weddings may not be something that you've really considered being
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part of your business, or perhaps you've always thought I'd love to
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do a destination wedding, but never really felt like you had the courage
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to do it, or the opportunity to do it.
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Let me tell you, there is a huge opportunity out there for you.
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When I was speaking with these hotels and planners and people from across the world,
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they were crying out for connections in the UK for people to work with in the UK.
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And I know that there would be opportunities for you
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if that's what you want.
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Now this isn't for everybody, but if there's something in you that
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thinks I'd really like to get into this, then let me tell you there's
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an opportunity for you there.
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But if you want it to work, you need to niche because niching matters.
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If you're a wedding planner, for example, you can't just be
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a wedding planner to everyone.
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If you want to specialize in destination weddings to Turkey or destination
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weddings to the U S or the Caribbean or destination weddings in Europe.
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Then become the go-to person for that region, that country,
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that niche learn everything.
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You can make connections with the hotels, write about it, blog
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about it, Instagram about it and become the go-to person in life.
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We make our own opportunities.
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So if you've got a burning desire somewhere in you to make your
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business a destination wedding focused business, then there's absolutely
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a world of possibilities out there.
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But you can't just do it as a little bit on the side.
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It has to be something you focus on as we always say, people buy what they can see.
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So if they can see that you specialize in that area, then you're much more likely
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to get a booking in that area rather than if you're just specializing in everything.
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So niching really matters, but there's a huge opportunity out there.
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Even if you're a photographer, a florist, a cake maker, there are still
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opportunities in destination weddings.
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If you want to take them.
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When I spoke at the national wedding show recently, I spoke to some couples who
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were getting married abroad, and I asked them how they were finding the planning.
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And the biggest thing that came out to me was that they found the venue and the
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catering and everything fine, but they were struggling with how to find the
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right suppliers to work at the wedding.
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They didn't have those connections out there and it was in another country.
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I suggested to them that perhaps they could take people from the UK with
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them and it wasn't even an option they thought about, but that is an option.
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Often these flights can be low cost.
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And if you want to go and take photos of a wedding in Turkey, then just add on
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the cost of the flights, to the price.
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And therefore you can do it.
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If that's you though, you've got to work at this, you've
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got to understand the niche.
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You've got to build those connections.
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When I was talking to the hotels in Turkey, they said there was a lot
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of opportunities where they were happy for people from the UK to come
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over and do photo shoots for them.
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In fact, I got some details from a hotel, which I've passed on to my
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wedding pro members, lounge members of an actual hotel in Turkey.
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That's desperate for a destination styled shoot.
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Those suppliers, if they jump on that opportunity, which many already have, will
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get the opportunity to go out there to get photos, to get the most incredible photos
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of the most incredible location in Turkey that they can use on their social media.
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So they can show, look, I can do destination weddings.
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Now, obviously it's important that you decide whether that's for you or not.
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Some people, the traveling just isn't possible for some people, they just
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don't want to travel and they're happy with the UK, but if you've got this
10:00
burning desire inside you, that you would actually like to do more of that, then
10:03
there absolutely is the possibility.
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Don't wait for it to come to you in life.
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You have to make your own opportunities.
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And if you want to get into destination weddings, decide where
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you want to specialize in and start building the connections.
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Also connect with the IAD WP.
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It's a great organization with people across the world who
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specialize in exactly these things.
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So go take a look at them as well.
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We've already talked about the great ethos and collaborative
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feel about how I felt last week.
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And it was a great reminder to me that there is no such thing
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as competition collaboration is.
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Whatever it is that you do in the industry, stop feeling like people
10:44
around you are, your competition it's not a great mindset anyway, and actually
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there's enough work and enough weddings out there for each and every one of you.
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So stop panicking about the competition and realize how much you can learn from
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people who do exactly the same thing.
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While I was out in Turkey?
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I was with my good friend and colleague Kelly Mortimer now on paper, me and
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Kelly do exactly the same kind of things.
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Yes.
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We have our different strengths and yes, we have slightly different packages
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and things that we do, but essentially we're both marketing a very similar.
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However, I don't see Kelly as competition.
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I love Kelly to pieces.
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I think we can learn a lot from each other and we help and
11:25
support each other along the way.
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When we're out in Turkey, people asked us if we work for the same
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business and were confused when we explained that no, actually in the
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UK, we're kind of competition, but we don't see it as competition.
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We see it as a collaboration, we collaborate on projects such
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as our wedding business retreat.
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And then on other things, we do things ourselves.
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So stop seeing other people that do the same thing.
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As you, as competition, see them as an opportunity for collaboration,
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you can learn so much from the people that do the same thing as you.
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Why?
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Because they understand your business.
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You can talk to them about things like how they're finding the cost
12:01
of flowers at the moment, or how.
12:03
Decorated the last cake that they did or how they transport their cake to the
12:06
venue or all those different things.
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You can talk to them about the insurances they have and how they're marketing.
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And if you see that as a collaborative effort, rather than competition, well,
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what happened is all of your businesses will get stronger rather than feeling like
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you've got to hide away and not let anyone see what you're doing and keep this big
12:25
secret there's enough work out there for.
12:28
The thing that makes you unique in your business is you.
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So there could be two florists doing exactly the same thing, selling exactly
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the same packages at the exact same price, but one of you will get the job because
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the bride or the groom, or whoever is just vibes with you more, they like you
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more, they get on with you more, they just understand your personality better.
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And that's how life.
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So have a think about your current network.
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Are you connected with anyone who does exactly the same thing or
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something very similar to you?
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And if they do think about how you think about that person, do you
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see them as some kind of threat or direct competition to your business?
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Or do you see them as an ally?
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Someone you can learn from someone you can grow.
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If you don't have any connections about people who do the same thing
13:10
as you, then I urge you to find them, remember what I said at the beginning,
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not everyone will have that view.
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And so they may be a little bit less than forthcoming about making that
13:20
collaboration, but there will be people out there who do have that same ethos.
13:24
Again, go into my Facebook group, wedding pros who are ready to
13:27
grow and post in there, say.
13:29
Do this, and I'd love to find other people that do the same to collaborate
13:32
with or to talk with, or to jump on a zoom with, and very quickly that will
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sift out the people who aren't interested in that, to those who have that kind
13:40
of ethos and want to work together.
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So go ahead and make sure you've got friends and colleagues
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who do exactly the same thing.
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Right at the start of the podcast, I talked about what it feels like
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when you make a decision to do something in your business, that
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feels a little bit uncomfortable.
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And how, when I landed in Turkey, I had that feeling myself.
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What on earth have I done?
14:01
Now?
14:01
You will have noticed from the rest of the podcast so far that
14:04
I had an incredible experience.
14:05
I don't regret it for a moment.
14:07
It was the most wonderful time.
14:09
So why did I get that?
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Well, I've come to learn in business and you may have experienced this too,
14:15
that in order to move your business forward and to make progress, you have
14:19
to have these moments of stepping outside your comfort zone and doing something
14:23
that makes you feel uncomfortable.
14:25
And often when you do something that feels uncomfortable, that's a good thing.
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It's a step to show.
14:30
You've pushed yourself to do the next thing.
14:33
We can stay in our comfort zone, but nothing will ever change.
14:36
If we want to make change, we want to move forward.
14:38
We want to try new things.
14:39
There has to come a time when we step outside and get that horrible,
14:43
uncomfortable feeling that moment in your stomach where you think,
14:46
have I done the right thing?
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Like I said before, for you, that might be deciding to raise your prices
14:52
and thinking, is anyone going to book, or if I become too expensive
14:56
more often than not, is that feeling that worry, that stops us doing it.
14:59
But when we actually go ahead and do the thing, raise our prices and people book,
15:03
we think why don't we do this three years?
15:07
I've had those moments.
15:08
So often in my business from just starting my first networking events
15:13
to even starting this podcast, I put off doing this podcast for a
15:16
year because of that same feeling.
15:19
Will anyone listen to it?
15:20
Will it be interesting?
15:22
Will I be able to get it out there?
15:23
Will I be able to understand the tech?
15:25
It feels very uncomfortable.
15:27
Therefore, I shouldn't do it now.
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11 episodes in, I absolutely love doing this podcast and the feedback
15:34
I've had from you is amazing.
15:36
And I know that you enjoy it as well.
15:39
Cheeky little plug, if you haven't rated it yet, why not?
15:41
Go ahead and give me a five star rating that really, really does help me.
15:46
But the point is you have to get uncomfortable in your business.
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So ask yourself for a second.
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When was the last time you felt that uncomfortable feeling?
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And if you haven't felt it for a while, then perhaps you need to do something
15:58
to step outside your comfort zone.
16:01
Perhaps it's you need to take part in a styled shoot.
16:03
Perhaps you need to go live on your Instagram or put your
16:07
face on your Instagram stories.
16:09
Perhaps you've been wanting to do a podcast or a magazine article or a
16:12
blog post for a while, but you just think no one will be interested.
16:16
Perhaps you want to get into speaking or doing more videos for brides and
16:20
grooms or even educating like I do.
16:22
And you just keep putting it off.
16:24
Perhaps, like we talked about earlier, you want to get into destination
16:27
weddings, but you're just frightened about taking that step and niching down.
16:30
It feels scary.
16:32
Maybe it's time for you to raise your prices because you're just not
16:35
earning what you deserve, but you feel frightened that no one will book you.
16:39
Let me tell you, they will, you have to have the confidence to take
16:43
that step, have that uncomfortable feeling in your stomach and then
16:47
push through it and realize what's on the other side is even better.
16:51
There was a moment where my brain told me to get back on that
16:54
plane and get back to the UK.
16:56
And if I'd had done that, I'd have missed out on those huge opportunities
16:59
of meeting those incredible people and learning so much, as well as having the
17:03
opportunity and the privilege to speak on stage about the power of connections
17:07
to a room of 200 international.
17:11
Don't be afraid of that feeling.
17:13
It's a great thing to feel, even though it feels a little
17:15
bit uncomfortable at the time.
17:17
And if you haven't felt that for a while, then maybe that's a sign.
17:20
You need to push yourself to do something different.
17:23
The final thing I want to share from my experience in Turkey is a reminder to.
17:28
Stop comparing yourself to other people.
17:31
You can only compare yourself to yourself each and every one
17:35
of us is on a different journey.
17:37
Again, speaking, even to the other speakers out in Turkey about their own
17:41
experiences, their background, their journey to getting to that stage in Turkey
17:45
each and every one of them was incredibly.
17:48
Every single one of you is on your own journey.
17:51
And the biggest thing we can do to destroy that journey is to look
17:55
side to side and compare ourselves to other people is very easy to do.
18:00
Isn't it, especially in the social media age that we live in, we look at
18:04
other people's Instagram, perfect lives and perfect businesses and think how
18:08
come they're getting that opportunity.
18:10
I want to be doing a wedding like that.
18:12
I want to be getting more inquiries like they are.
18:14
I want to be getting the opportunities to be interviewed on a podcast.
18:18
I want to be doing this.
18:19
I want to be doing that.
18:21
What you forget is that they're on their own journey.
18:23
Perhaps six months ago, they were feeling the same thing.
18:26
Perhaps three years ago, they were feeling the same thing.
18:29
And now when they look back, they can see how far they've.
18:32
We can't compare ourselves to other people because they're all on their own journey.
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The only person you can compare yourself to is you.
18:40
So in this moment, I just want you to reflect back.
18:44
Think about that moment when you started your wedding business, perhaps
18:47
it was recently, perhaps it was many years ago when you first started, how
18:53
proud would your former self be of the person and the business you have today?
18:59
Most people in life don't even have the courage to start a business, let
19:03
alone to push on to make it successful.
19:06
It's much more comfortable to stay in an office job.
19:08
Isn't it?
19:09
It's hard being self-employed.
19:11
Yes, it's fun.
19:11
And it has its benefits, but it's difficult.
19:14
We have to take risks every day and we have to make decisions all of the time.
19:19
I guarantee if you look back on your own personal journey, you
19:23
will be proud of how far you've.
19:25
So instead of looking around at other people and thinking, I wish
19:28
I had what they had, stop it and start thinking about what you want
19:33
to achieve next in your journey.
19:34
Take it one step at a time, set yourself a goal.
19:37
Perhaps you want to get a 50% increase on wedding bookings for next year,
19:41
based on what you've got this year.
19:43
It doesn't matter whether this year you've only got one or
19:45
whether you've got 10 weddings.
19:47
If you want a 50% increase, then go for it for the year.
19:50
After it's much better to have one wedding this year and five weddings next.
19:54
It doesn't matter if someone else has got 35 weddings, that's their journey.
19:59
They might spend 10 years building that up.
20:02
You make the difference in your business.
20:04
So you can only set yourself goals against yourself.
20:07
So look back at how far you've come since you started that business.
20:11
And now think about what you want for the future.
20:14
The other thing that destroys this journey on this path for us is that
20:18
imposter syndrome is feeling like we're not good enough to achieve it.
20:21
So therefore what's the point of even trying now I'm not perfect.
20:26
It's easy for me to talk about these things, but I struggle
20:28
with them myself in my own.
20:31
In my industry for a long time, I've looked across at other
20:34
speakers and thought, why do they get all the opportunities?
20:37
I wish I'd get the opportunity to speak on stages in all these different countries.
20:42
I wish they'd asked me to be part of this and it's easy to
20:45
compare yourself and think, well, maybe I'm just not good enough.
20:48
Maybe they don't like me.
20:49
Maybe they don't want me.
20:51
And then that imposter syndrome starts to kick in, it happens to all
20:55
of us, even for me out in Turkey.
20:57
I absolutely loved my experience.
20:59
I loved speaking on stage and having the honor of sharing my message with everyone.
21:04
But as soon as I get off that stage, I think to myself, did anyone like it?
21:08
Was it good?
21:09
Would anyone invite me back?
21:10
Would I ever get asked to speak again or did I not make the grade?
21:13
And that imposter syndrome starts to wear us down and make us feel like.
21:17
Up, but it's important.
21:19
We take those voices out of our head.
21:22
I'm proud of the fact that I got invited to speak on that stage in Turkey because
21:26
Becca from a year ago, two years ago, three years ago, five years ago would have
21:31
absolutely dreamed of that opportunity.
21:34
And I almost had to pinch myself when I was out there that I'd come so far
21:38
from speaking on social media, in a little barn in Hertfordshire to being
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onstage in front of 200 international wedding professionals in Turkey.
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What an incredible.
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And we can only compare our journey to ourselves.
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I don't know what's next for me on my journey.
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I don't know what's next for you, but keep pressing on, keep believing
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on yourself and stop letting comparisonitis and imposter syndrome.
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Get in the way of what you want to achieve.
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I believe anything is possible.
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If you set your mind.
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And you work towards it.
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The doors will open.
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Doors will close, but if you know what you want to achieve, you
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can compare yourself to yourself.
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So take 30 seconds now.
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So just be proud of the journey that you've come on to look back on your
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achievements and not keep looking forward to the next thing, but just
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think, yeah, I've done quite a lot over the last year, five years, 10 years.
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And now here's what I want to do next.
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Turkey was an incredible experience.
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If you ever get the opportunity to go on one of these events for the IADWP or
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any other kind of organization, even if it feels slightly out of your comfort
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zone, I urge you take that leap, take that step because the connections you
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make and the experience is well worth it.
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We have this incredible international community of other wedding industry
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professionals and educators.
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That we just don't even know exists and it's out there for the taking.
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I hope you've enjoyed hearing about what I've learned in Turkey.
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And I really hope that there's something in there that you can take away to
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inspire you on your own business journey.
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If destination weddings is something you want to understand more about and you
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need to reach out to me, get me in the Facebook group, wedding pros who are ready
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to grow, or drop me a DM on Instagram.
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I'd more than happy talk to you about it and talk to you more about my experiences.
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I'll see you next time.
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One thing I love about the wedding industry is the other amazing
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people you get to work with.
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If you want to meet like-minded wedding pros, just like you, then
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why not join my free Facebook community wedding pros, who are ready
23:42
to come meet some new connections.
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Hang out with me and hopefully learn some new things too,
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just search for us on Facebook.