Latest / Wedding Pros who are ready to grow - with Becca Pountney / Lessons learnt in Cyprus

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Lessons learnt in Cyprus · Wedding Pros who are ready to grow - with Becca Pountney

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  Becca: A few weeks back, I was lucky enough to spend some time in
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  Northern Cyprus as I was invited to speak at the I A D W P Eurasia
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  Destination Wedding Conference.
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  As with all events, there were lots of experiences and things
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  that I learned along the way.
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  So today I'm gonna share with you my experiences of Northern
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  Cyprus and how you can use them to grow your own wedding business.
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  I am Becca Pountney, wedding business marketing expert, speaker and blogger,
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  and you are listening to The Wedding Pros who are Ready to Grow podcast.
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  I'm here to share with you actionable tips, strategies, and real life
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  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
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  and use it to build a profitable, sustainable business doing what you
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  love, then you're in the right place.
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  Let's get going with today's episode.
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  Whenever I travel or go to conferences or have new experiences, it always
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  opens up my mind to new opportunities.
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  I think because we spend so much of our time doing the same things over and
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  over again, whenever we go somewhere different or somewhere new, it just
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  makes our mind think differently, which is why I wanted to share some thoughts
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  with you in today's podcast episode.
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  When I traveled to Cyprus recently, there were loads and loads of
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  things that happened, which just made me think differently or bigger
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  about my business, and I wanted to share them with you as well.
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  Now, I'd never been to Cyprus at all, especially not Northern Cyprus.
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  So I didn't know anything about the country before I left.
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  Now, while I was there, I learned a lot about the political situation and
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  the history of the country, which you can go and read about or watch some
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  documentaries about for yourselves.
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  We're not gonna get into that during the episode today.
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  However, there were lots of things that happened, which just made
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  me think a little bit differently that I wanted to share with you.
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  So the first thing was the importance of knowing your niche.
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  Now, we often talk about that.
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  When it comes to our wedding business or our marketing, we talk about things
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  like ideal clients or knowing who you are talking to because you're
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  not just talking to every couple, but actually when you focus on one kind
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  of couple or one kind of niche, often it gives you a stronger offering.
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  And if you know what that is, then you can really go for it with your
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  marketing and your messaging, and it just makes everything feel better.
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  Now, when I was flying over to Northern Cyprus, you have to fly via Turkey.
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  I couldn't fly there directly, so I flew via Istanbul and then I got an
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  Istanbul flight over to Northern Cyprus.
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  And while I was there, the guy on the shorter flight started chatting
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  to me and it was really interesting having a conversation with him.
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  He was a British guy living in Turkey, and he said to me, do you know why so
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  many people from Turkey, especially Turkish men, go to Northern Cyprus?
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  And I didn't, as I said, I didn't know a whole lot about the country before I
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  left and he said to me, you'll notice as soon as you land in Northern Cyprus,
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  that there are loads and loads of casinos and adverts for casinos everywhere.
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  And now I said, oh, that's funny cuz I did notice there was a casino in
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  the hotel where the events being held.
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  He said to me, the reason that that happens is because Turkish men
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  aren't able to gamble in Turkey.
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  So casinos are not allowed in Turkey currently.
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  They're not allowed to gamble, and therefore if those men or women
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  want to gamble, then they need to go to Northern Cyprus to do it so
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  they can hop on a short haul flight.
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  It's only a less than an hour flight from Istanbul over to Northern Cyprus.
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  And then they can go there for the weekend and they can gamble and
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  spend time and money in the casinos.
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  It's also a great place for them to go on holiday.
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  It's a short haul flight for people in Turkey to go there for a beach holiday.
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  I thought this was really interesting, and as soon as I landed in Northern
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  Cyprus, I saw exactly what he meant.
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  Even within the airport, there were booths and massive signs advertising
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  all of the different casinos.
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  As we drove in our transfer down to our resort, there were signs.
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  Everywhere down the side of the road advertising all of these different
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  casinos with flashing lights and the casino inside the hotel where
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  we were staying was stunning.
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  The only time I've ever seen anything like it was when I was in Las Vegas, it was
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  almost like Northern Cyprus was trying to be a mini Las Vegas with these huge resort
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  style hotels, with these gorgeous casinos, with tables and slots and shows and all
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  of the things that you see in Vegas.
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  Now what I found really interesting about this was that Northern
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  Cyprus clearly know their niche.
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  They know their ideal client.
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  They know who is coming to their country.
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  They know why people in Turkey are gonna be attracted to come
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  to Northern Cyprus on holiday and what's gonna make them spend money.
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  So to help them stand out, they really make the most of that niche, and that's
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  why they've spent a lot of money and a lot of time, and a lot of marketing.
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  Promoting these casinos.
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  It really works for them and it's clear to see as soon as you land in the country
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  that they're going for it full throttle.
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  So what can we learn from this?
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  Well, it's important that we understand our market.
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  We understand what's gonna attract people to us and who we're talking to.
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  When we can get that really clear in our minds, just like they did
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  with these casinos, then it's a lot easier for us to market and we can go.
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  All in on that person.
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  Now, Northern Cyprus could advertise themselves in the same way as all
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  of the other different Mediterranean countries and all of the other
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  different resort style places where you can go and it's sunny and you can
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  sit on a beach, but they understand their market and they've gone for it,
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  and they've built the most beautiful resort hotels with these huge casinos.
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  Like I said, I've never seen anything like it outside of Las Vegas myself, and
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  they've gone all in on the marketing.
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  You need to do the same.
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  In your wedding business.
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  Do you really know who you are speaking to?
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  Do you know who you are aiming your messaging at?
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  Which part of the wedding market are you trying to go for?
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  Where is the gap?
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  Have you done your research?
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  Do you understand your customer base?
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  And do you understand how to reach them and give your U s P
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  so you stand out from the crowd?
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  Okay.
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  The second lesson is also from the man on the plane.
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  Maybe one day he'll discover this podcast and realize I was speaking about him.
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  Now, the second lesson is that sometimes it's not a good idea to
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  listen to everybody else's opinion.
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  We are bombarded with thoughts and opinion all of the time, whether it's
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  just talking to people, meeting strangers, or on the internet, but sometimes it's
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  actually not that helpful to listen to everyone's opinion, especially when it
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  comes to our lives and our business.
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  Sometimes we know better.
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  Now, why am I saying this?
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  Well, Once again, I was talking to the man on the plane and we were talking
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  about how I had to make a transfer in Istanbul and I didn't have very long.
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  He asked me when my transfer was taking off and how long I had, and basically
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  our flight was a little bit late, so my transfer time had been reduced and I think
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  it was only about 45 minutes, and he said to me, You might as well give up now.
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  You're never going to make that connection.
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  Now, I've never met this man before.
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  This is the first time we've met.
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  He explained to me how he lives in Turkey, how he makes these flights really
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  regularly, how he goes through the airport all of the time, and he knows for a fact
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  that there is absolutely no way that I'm going to make my connection and I might as
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  well not even bother, and I might as well start thinking about how I can get another
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  flight to get to my final destination.
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  Now, there was a part of my brain that thought to myself, Hmm,
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  he does this all of the time.
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  He knows this airport better than me.
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  He's perhaps an expert in this field.
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  Maybe he's right.
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  Maybe I am going to miss my next flight.
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  And I started feeling a little bit anxious.
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  And then I thought to myself, if he hadn't said that to me, I would feel
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  confident that I've got absolutely loads of time to get to my next flight.
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  Yes, I'm gonna have to rush.
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  Yes, I'm gonna walk fast.
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  I'm not gonna stop for a coffee or I'm not gonna stop for too long.
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  But actually, no, I think I can make this.
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  So why is this random man's opinion starting to influence me?
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  Well, what happened was I got off the plane, he said to me, good luck.
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  You're never gonna make it.
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  Which was, A, a great parting gift for me.
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  I grabbed my stuff and I walked fast.
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  I didn't run, I walked fast.
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  I looked quickly at where I needed to get to, and I paced it down to
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  the gate and you know what happened?
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  I got there, the gate wasn't open yet.
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  I had time to stop right by the gate and get myself a drink and a snack.
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  I even had time to sit down, use the bathroom, and then
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  comfortably get on my flight.
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  So what's the message here for us?
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  Well, it's that not everybody's opinion.
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  Needs to be listened to.
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  If I'd have listened to that man's opinion, if I'd have assumed that he was
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  the expert and not gone with my own gut, I might have given up before I even started.
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  I might not have tried to get that flight.
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  I might have just realized, oh, I'm never gonna get it, and just given
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  up and tried to rebook another one.
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  I could have walked slowly.
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  I could have been defeatist, but thankfully I didn't listen to his
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  opinion because I knew in my gut that I had time and I was gonna try
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  and make every effort to get there.
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  So I ignored it and I got there with plenty of time to spare.
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  Now, it might not be a flight for you, but often people like to give
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  us their opinions about our business.
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  They might say, yeah, you shouldn't do that.
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  You shouldn't charge that.
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  You shouldn't do it that way.
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  You need to do it this way.
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  That doesn't work.
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  And while it's good to get expert opinion, while it's good to listen
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  to other people's opinion, and sometimes it's good to make change, not
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  everybody's opinion is always valid.
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  And if you know in your gut there's a reason why you do what
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  you do and it's working for you.
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  Then you don't have to listen to everyone else's opinion.
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  People have opinions on everything.
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  This is particularly important when it comes to people having an opinion that
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  don't really understand the market.
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  Perhaps your friends and family have an opinion on your business,
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  but they don't really know.
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  They're not your ideal customer.
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  They don't understand how your business works, so why are you
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  letting their opinions influence you?
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  Next time someone gives you an opinion or tells you something's not gonna
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  work or tells you it's impossible, I want you to remember the man on
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  the plane telling me that it was impossible for me to get my flight.
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  Cuz guess what?
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  He was wrong.
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  He may have lived in Turkey, he may have done that a million
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  times, but he was wrong.
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  I got my flight.
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  I had plenty of time and I'm glad I didn't listen to him.
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  Okay, let's go onto my third lesson learned in Northern Cyprus.
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  Now, this third one is from the conference itself.
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  Over the two days, we heard some incredible speakers.
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  There were panels, there were people from all around the world
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  at this event, and there were people talking about what they did.
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  And as part of that, quite often, if it was a wedding planner or an
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  event designer, they would show.
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  Imagery as part of their presentations or as the intro
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  to their presentation or talk.
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  And there was a couple of people who spoke and shared images and.
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  I was blown away by the images that they showed on the screen.
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  These weddings were humongous.
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  They were clearly million pound weddings.
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  The floral design, just the sheer scale of some of these weddings,
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  thousands of people attending, some of them, just huge on a scale that we
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  just don't often see here in the uk.
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  It was absolutely insane and I was.
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  Blown away and thought, wow, these people who are showing
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  these videos must be incredible.
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  They must be amazing planners.
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  They must be having the best clients.
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  They must be charging a fortune.
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  People must pay them thousands and thousands of pounds.
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  And then I thought to myself, Actually know anything about these people,
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  know anything about their business.
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  I'm making all of these assumptions and all of these conclusions
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  based on one thing, their imagery.
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  Now, when they got up to speak, they weren't necessarily the best
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  speakers, but they clearly knew what they were talking about.
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  But really what made them so impressive was the images and the
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  videos they showed of their work.
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  And it got me thinking.
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  Images are so, so important for you in your business and in your marketing.
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  If I can come to those conclusions by just seeing a few videos and
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  a few images, then those are the conclusions that people are gonna come
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  to when they come to your Instagram, to your Facebook, to your website.
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  If you wanna charge your worth, if you wanna blow people away,
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  then you need to spend money on.
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  Imagery.
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  You need to have incredible photos of the work you want to be doing.
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  You need to create style shoots or be part of style shoots.
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  You need to invest in brand or product photography to showcase your
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  products, your services, in a way that's gonna make people go, wow.
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  If you wanna command a higher price tag, if you wanna reach the more luxury end
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  of the market or the bigger budgets.
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  If you want to be above where you are now, then I highly recommend that you
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  invest in some really, really good.
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  Imagery.
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  I don't know if the people that I heard speaking on stage while I was in Cyprus
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  were as good as their images looked.
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  I'm sure they were, but it wasn't what they said that spoke to me.
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  It was the photos and the video footage they showed on the screen.
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  Now, I understand it's difficult to get good images, but I really would
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  urge you to think about it as a budget priority for your business,
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  especially if you're looking to up-level your brand and your business.
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  The other thing that works really well is if you are going to be at a wedding,
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  maybe you're a florist or a venue stylist and it's in an incredible location and
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  the photos really matter to you, why not take a photographer of your own along
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  with you to take photos of you doing the setup to take photos of your work?
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  In that venue or take video footage of you putting it together.
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  So you are guaranteed to have some incredible footage.
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  Now, you will need to get permission, usually from the couple.
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  You may need to get permission from their own photographer and videographer
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  and explain why you're doing it.
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  But if you take your own person to do it, you are guaranteed to get great
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  footage of yourself and of your work, rather than relying on the photographer
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  for the wedding, remembering to send you something or getting the images you need.
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  Don't lose the opportunity if you are gonna be doing a wedding this
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  season and an incredible venue that's right up there for your ideal client.
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  If you're gonna be doing big installations or things that are gonna make people
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  go, wow, be sure to get amazing photos or video footage of it by taking
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  someone with you to do it for you.
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  An image speaks a thousand words.
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  We know that.
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  So why are we not prioritizing it in our business?
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  Okay.
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  The fourth thing that I learned while I was in Cyprus was that actually you
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  need to be confident in who you are and what you do and what your U S P is.
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  Now, you will know that there are hundreds of other people
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  that do the same thing as you.
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  If you are a wedding florist in your area, I'm sure there's loads of
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  other florist, there's loads of other photographers, DJs, there's loads of
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  other wedding planners, and sometimes we can feel like we're in a crowded market.
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  Now.
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  First of all, I want to remind you that there is enough work to go round.
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  There are hundreds and hundreds of weddings happening every
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  week in your area, and you couldn't possibly do them all.
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  So never feel like there's not enough work to go round because there is.
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  But also, I want to challenge you in the podcast today to think a little bit.
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  Differently about yourself and stop thinking of yourself as just another
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  wedding planner or just another wedding florist, but think about
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  what your USPS are, how you can stand out in the market, and how you can
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  set yourself apart from the crowd.
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  And two people on stage in Northern Cyprus that really caught my attention
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  when they described themselves to the crowd and explained what they do.
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  The first was Rui, who I absolutely love.
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  We met last year in Turkey at another conference, and he is just fabulous.
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  He is.
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  By all intents and purposes, a wedding planner on paper.
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  However, he doesn't describe himself in that way.
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  When he talks about what he does, he markets himself as a wedding creator.
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  I absolutely love this.
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  This tiny change on words is really important because as he explains,
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  he's not just planning someone's day, he's creating an experience, he's
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  creating the perfect setting, he's creating their love story, and I love
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  how confident he is in this term.
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  Why he.
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  Calls himself that and how much it stands out and why he can explain
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  himself to couples or to people on stage and it resonates with them so much.
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  I absolutely love the term wedding creator.
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  The other one was zamashka.
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  I dunno if I've said that right, who was an incredible magician,
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  illusionist that I saw on stage a couple of times during the event.
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  He was incredible.
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  I loved what he did.
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  I loved how.
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  Amazing.
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  It was, it blew my mind, and I hope that I get to work with him or see
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  him at another event very soon.
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  Now, to all intents and purposes, again, you would call him a magician,
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  maybe an illusionist, but how he described himself was this an
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  exclusive mystery producer, once again, so out of the box, so different.
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  And when I spoke to him about it, he said, well, I'm not just a magician.
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  I create mystery.
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  I'm very different to other people.
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  My work is exclusive.
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  I dunno other people who do the same things as me.
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  I produce a mystery.
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  I produce an event, especially for your day, which is gonna be
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  different to everyone else's.
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  Once again, it stood out from the crowd.
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  It was very memorable for me as well, and I just loved his
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  way of thinking differently.
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  Both of these men had the confidence to set themselves apart from their peers.
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  They know what they do, they know what makes 'em different to everyone else, and
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  they're not afraid to explain it away.
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  So I wanna challenge you.
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  Do you know who you're talking to?
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  You?
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  Are you clear in your U S P?
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  Is there a way you could think differently about what you do or
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  describe yourself differently?
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  So you are not just another wedding florist, just another wedding dj,
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  but you're something that's gonna sparkle and shine and be memorable.
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  I absolutely love how they describe themselves, and if you come up
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  with some good things and ideas for yourself, I'd love to know them too.
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  Drop me a message and let me know.
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  Okay.
• 17:35
  That brings me on then to my final lesson learnt in Northern Cyprus,
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  and I think this one is a huge one.
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  There is money in weddings.
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  When we were there, I heard talks from all sorts of different
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  people, panel discussions from all sorts of different people.
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  And there was one thing that was said, and it was kind of just dropped
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  into discussion and it just made me sit back and think, did he really
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  just say that they were talking about a wedding that he'd planned?
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  Uh, it was an Indian wedding, so it was a huge wedding and it was
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  a destination wedding as well.
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  And he said, The budget for this wedding is a hundred million.
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  And then he carried on with the rest of his sentence and it stopped me in
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  my tracks because I realized, did he really just say that the budget for
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  this wedding was a hundred million?
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  And not only did he just say that, did he say that as if it was just a
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  totally normal thing to say, like any of us would say, yeah, I just went
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  to the shop and bought some milk.
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  It was two pounds.
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  It really blew my mind to think that there are people out there spending
• 18:31
  a hundred million dollars on a wedding as if it's totally normal.
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  Now, I don't know how you feel about this ethically, I don't wanna get
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  into that discussion, but the point is, there is money in weddings.
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  Now, I'm not saying that there's lots of people out there with huge
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  budgets like that for weddings, but the wedding industry, Is a place where
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  there is a lot of money to be found.
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  So if you feel like owning a wedding business isn't a good idea because
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  there's not a lot of money in it, well then I would challenge you to get out
• 18:58
  there, think bigger, think differently, and realize there are a lot of people
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  out there willing to spend a lot of money on the biggest day of their life.
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  And even if you wouldn't spend that kind of money on your own wedding day,
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  it doesn't mean that other people don't Often we're held back in our beliefs by
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  our own money mindset, so we feel like, well, we don't spend a lot of money
• 19:17
  on our weddings, so why would anyone else, well, I can tell you for a fact,
• 19:22
  there are people out there spending thousands, hundreds of thousands.
• 19:26
  Millions of pounds around the world on their wedding days.
• 19:30
  So the next time you think there's no money in weddings,
• 19:33
  you need to think again.
• 19:34
  You need to think bigger.
• 19:35
  You need to look in different places and realize actually there are people
• 19:38
  out there willing to spend their money, and sometimes it's our own
• 19:41
  money mindset that holds us back.
• 19:44
  It absolutely blew my mind to hear that number banded about
• 19:49
  as if it was totally normal.
• 19:51
  It is normal for some people, it might not be normal for us, but you need to realize
• 19:55
  that there is money to be had in weddings.
• 19:57
  If you wanna up your prices, you are going to attract a different kind
• 20:00
  of person, but there are people out there willing to pay your prices.
• 20:04
  It's about finding them, it's about marketing to them, and it's about
• 20:07
  blowing them away with that incredible.
• 20:10
  Imagery.
• 20:11
  If you wanna be inspired, you need to go listen to podcasts.
• 20:13
  You need to go to conferences and hear people talking in this way to help
• 20:17
  you realize it absolutely is possible.
• 20:22
  I had such a great time at the event in Northern Cyprus, and I
• 20:25
  hope that some of those lessons that I've shared with you help you along
• 20:29
  the way in a couple of weeks time.
• 20:31
  I'm off to speak at another event in the Dominican Republic, and I'm sure
• 20:35
  that there'll be lots more lessons to be learned there too, which I'll be sharing
• 20:38
  with you on the podcast very soon.
• 20:40
  I'll see you next week.