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How to Choose a Professional Membership Organization
23 Plays7 days ago
Check out my conversation with Veronica Foster, president of the Association of Bridal Consultants
Transcript
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Speaker
Are you a wedding planner just starting your business or have you been in the industry for just a few years? Do you want to build a profitable and enjoyable planning business that you're excited about every day? If the answer is yes, then you're in the right place. Welcome to the business of wedding planning podcast.
00:00:21
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I'm your host, Amber Peterson. I was a wedding planner for 10 years, a marketing strategist for service-based businesses, and now the owner of Planner's Lounge. I know what it's like to work so hard as a planner but not see the growth and profit you dream of. I also know that while you can be the most talented planner in your market, if you don't have the business foundation, it will be hard to continue growing.
00:00:45
Speaker
I have seen so many talented planners burn out because they become frustrated with things unrelated to wedding planning, like finances, marketing, team growth, and operations. This is where the Business of Wedding Planning podcast and Planners Lounge come in. Our mission is to help you learn what it takes to build the business of your dreams with simple digital product solutions, educational content, and the support of our free community, the Very Important Planners Lounge, or VIP Lounge for short.
00:01:15
Speaker
I understand what it's like to work in this unique industry while having a lot on your plate. During my time as a planner, I had three daughters, bought and moved to two new homes, and launched two other businesses. I am excited to combine my education, industry experience, and passion to help you reach your business goals.
00:01:37
Speaker
Hi friends, welcome back to the Business of Wedding Planning podcast. Today I am sharing an interview with Veronica Foster, who is the current president of the Association of Bridal Consultants. And we talked all about the importance of professional organizations ah for wedding planners over the course of their careers. Before I take you to the interview, I just wanted to share a little bit of background on Veronica.
00:02:07
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Veronica combines an ability to thrive in intense situations with her love of people and eye for design, to create unique and memorable events for her clients and their guests. Her professional trademarks are her attention to detail, style, and quality, and her ability to tune into her client's vision. She has served the wedding and events industry for 22 years and is a role model to the many aspiring planners who hope to follow her professional path to success.
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She's a master wedding planner, one of only 52 in the world. Veronica began her career in events working in sales and marketing for Dun and Bradstreet. She was the lead coordinator for corporate golf outings, employee trips, trainings, and seminars, and has planned events for 15 to 1500 guests.
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She loves people and is in her element consulting one-on-one as much as she is speaking to a group of peers. Planning personal events allows her to stretch her design talents beyond the confines of the corporate world and to pursue her passion for all things sophisticated and elegant. Veronica's creative work has even been featured in many prominent publications and blogs including The Knot and many more.
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Veronica graduated from the Art Institute of Philadelphia with a degree in fashion merchandising and is a gold sandals certified wedding specialist and gold sandals wedding moon specialist. As an industry veteran, she feels a responsibility to educate and to serve the greater community.
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Her commentary has appeared in Wedding Planner magazine, The Knot, North Carolina, and many more. She previously served as the director of fundraising for Wish Upon a Wedding, a nonprofit organization that provides weddings and vow renewals to couples who face terminal illness or life all-altering circumstances. She also served as state manager for the Association of Bridal Consultants in North Carolina,
00:03:58
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then as director of outreach for the ABC from 2022 to 23 and now as president of ABC. Veronica is committed to operating her business with honesty and integrity and contributes her long-term success to her ability to truly listen to couples while manifesting their dreams into a beautiful reality.
00:04:18
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I really hope you enjoy our interview and let's dive in. Hi everyone and welcome Veronica to the Business of Wedding Planning podcast. I am so glad to have you here and to talk about professional organizations because I am a big believer that you need community around you to have long-term success in this industry. So I'm really happy to have you here to chat all about why it's important to find a great organization to join.
00:04:46
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Well, I am definitely happy to be here. um in Very exciting things going on in the industry today, so. Yay. All right. Well, let's start with a question that I ask all my guests. Can you share a little bit about your journey into and through the wedding industry? How did you get to where you're at today? Sure. So I had a very rough beginning.
00:05:12
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As I think a lot of us end up doing, you know, I was in corporate America, got laid off on my birthday. Yeah, it was a bit of a nightmare. And, ah you know, just decided to take a course. You know, I was already planning corporate training programs and things like that. And I liked it, but I just didn't like you know, who I was planning it for. So I think going into the social events was the way that I had decided to go. And so I signed up for a Penn Foster program. And through that, they gave me a free membership to the Association of Product Consultants. And then I attended a meeting. I live in North Carolina, but I drove down to Tennessee because that was the closest one to me, ended up, you know, paying for a membership there. And,
00:06:02
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I've been a member of ABC since 02, so it was it was a little rough, but really the education that ABC offered, the networking, the conferences, the people, you know, really helped me get a leg up on my business.
00:06:20
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you know They taught me some of the right things to do. you know I learned from their stories, the pitfalls and you know how to kind of avoid them. and Then as I started you know incurring my own pitfalls, you teach others how to kind of try and avoid different things because you know times change and you know social media came into play and you know it's just been a long, long 22-year road.
00:06:47
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until I got to a point where You know, I'm just at an age where I don't want to haul, you know, linens in those thick bags anymore. I just don't want to deal with a lot of the, you know, one-on-one and it's new generation, they're young and they're agile and they can lip things. It was time to kind of move out to something different. So I decided that the organization that gave me my career
00:07:20
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was going to be closed or demolished and so I bought it. I took it over and now I get to teach and give back to the wedding industry and so it was definitely a bumpy ride for sure.
00:07:36
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I love, though, that you came to like be taking over the organization that helped you so much. that I think that's a lovely, lovely full circle. You mentioned like that ABC was so instrumental into your career growth. Can you share why you personally feel that joining a professional organization is so important to long-term success?
00:07:58
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Oh, sure. A lot of times, especially when I started my career, there was no Facebook. You know, we didn't do crowdsourcing and all that kind of stuff. So the networking, you know, the meeting, you know, of these young now older women like me and being able to lean on someone and talk to someone about, you know, how you're feeling and what you think it Maybe you have a new ideas or maybe you want to come out with a new trend or write a book. you know Take anything on. Being able to bounce up you know an idea off of somebody in the industry that is experiencing the same things you are is price. and Then the education, not to just from courses, you know whether it's online or in person, but it's the knowledge that each member holds. and When you put a whole bunch of them in a room together,
00:08:47
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You know, a round table at a luncheon is way cost way less than going to a conference. You could actually get quite a bit more out of it. I like that. I know when I started out, I was a bit of an introvert. And so I was like, I'll just do this all on my own. And then it wasn't until I really started connecting with people that I noticed like quicker growth and more bookings, but also just avoiding some of those things that you don't know are going to be road bumps and pitfalls until youre they're happening. It's amazing to have someone be like, okay, watch out for that. This might happen. Like having that person that went before you be able to share with you is really valuable.
00:09:31
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It is. I mean, it's little things even like, hey, I worked with Joe DJ down the road and he was two hours late. So if you already have him booked or, you know, maybe a client's gonna book him, you know, either to tell him a couple hours ahead,
00:09:48
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or just really kind of stay on them or gear them, kind of gently push them another route. but Those kind of things are are really important, ah working with any kind of supplier, whether it's a vendor, a linen rental company, anything. Those types of advice can really help you propel you forward.
00:10:06
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Absolutely. So you touched on education and how important education is. Can you share, how would you advise a planner who is looking at a bunch of different professional organizations and education is important to them? How do they figure out the best opportunity or decipher like the best educational opportunities is within an organization?
00:10:31
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I'll tell you one, it's getting harder and harder to like put a distinction in there. But anytime you join an organization and the education is free, take it. Anytime. Just beware and watch out for those organizations that their education is trying to sell you something.
00:10:52
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but relate it to like when you went to college. If you go to college and you take a class, they're not selling you things while you're learning and that's what you want to do. If there's a pitch at the end or a pass that you need to buy or anything like that, it's not true education. You may get some nuggets from it but education is a consistent influx of information. So you want to make sure that you're getting that value for your money.
00:11:22
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Yeah, so just for anyone listening, I see it online all the time. I myself have like, it's like, oh, I'll sign up for this, you know, webinar or something, and there might be a cost to it, a small cost, or it's free. But at the end, you can expect that you're going to be offered a program or something like that. And for what, just so I'm clear, if you join an organization and you're paying to be in an organization, the education inside of that should be as a part of your your fee that you're already paying. Okay. you can Yeah. For sure. You know, a lot of those programs, like they are very, very good at dangling that carrot and giving you just enough, but then then you have to kind of worry, you know, is this money worth
00:12:12
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getting the carrot that they tangled, like what is it? Whereas, you know, any of the larger associations are going to offer that education at no cost.
00:12:24
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And then you don't have to worry about you know spending money on the back end. Right. That makes a lot of sense. Okay. And so my next question is, like you just said, there are a lot of different organizations. How would you recommend going out ah about figuring out which is the best fit for a planner who's maybe never been a part of an organization and they're just trying to find the right one?
00:12:48
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Sure. Well, you know, you mentioned introvert. I am most definitely an introvert. It was a little hard at first, you know, you go around and you do meetings at, you know, the ones that are local to you and see how, you know, how you feel in each one, you know, is somebody coming up to you? Are they saying hello? Are they welcoming you in? Do they, you know, maybe provide education during the luncheon?
00:13:15
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you know, for you or are they, do it what opportunities do they have that fit in your niche? There are associations out there just for like haters, just for wedding planners and DJs. You know, is that what you're looking for or are you looking for, like we have a lot of members in ABC that are vendors that are looking to do business with planners.
00:13:39
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So just getting a plan in place before you go and you know do your initial visit to each one is is really important because each one will give you something different and it's okay to have multiple memberships.
00:13:54
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I know I've held at least two to three different association memberships throughout my career. Yeah, I like that you mentioned that. I think that I know when I was a planner, I had national organization memberships and then I had a couple very local, like local to down to like the county that I planned wedding it weddings in, definitely it is not like, oh, I can only be in one. it's It's finding the ones that are really going to serve your business well. And also, I think, especially with like local, is is the organization full of people that serve a totally different client than you, that you're not going to be able to refer them business well, they're not going to be able to refer you business, that kind of thing, like making sure that you're aligning yourself with the right people. And you mentioned this like within your niche, like that are serving a similar client. Otherwise, you could really fill your calendar with networking events and you want to make sure that those are beneficial in some way to your business.
00:14:57
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That's right. You should always have some sort of return on investment, you know, even with meetings, you know, how how are your relationships, you know, in that, and not just, you know, friendships, but when they call them vendorships, friendships with vendors, you know, you want to make sure that you have those at place, but still be able to meet other people too.
00:15:20
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So we have a couple that are down in my area and you know, it's not what I'm looking to do. So, you know, you just got to kind of find your home. Absolutely. I love that. As I mentioned in your bio and we've talked a little bit about here, you are heavily involved with ABC or the president of the organization and you touched on like the benefits you received throughout your career.
00:15:45
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What do you think right now if some you could say were like the biggest benefits that your members are receiving from being a part of ABC?
00:15:56
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Yeah, we get a lot of new members wanting to make money. So that is probably our biggest draw. And it's not just so much booking, weddings, but it's on the back end. So we do have like a room block and travel program that's highly used. You know, it's a great service to offer clients. You make a good chunk of change on the back end. So that's probably the the biggest interest. But I think what keeps them as a member is the education and the networking pieces. So we do you know webinars every month, both you know business-related and then travel-related. And then we have state managers that do local networking group meetings, which is really great all across the country in the Caribbean, Latin America, and Asia. So we're all over the place. Wherever you want to go, who just get on plane. Come on, let's go.
00:16:55
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That's very cool. Yeah, the travel piece is great. You know, room blocks where wedding planners that do more local weddings are great. They earn, you know, 10% commission off of each hotel room block that the wedding guest book. And it's a really, really simple, like four step process. So we've simplified it down for everyone. So, you know, they're getting, well, we're sending out checks every two weeks.
00:17:20
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That's very cool. And I do think when you mentioned like the making more money. I remember when I was first starting out, I took a like in person, like one day training from a wedding planner here in Washington. And she talked about to be long term profitable in the wedding industry. It's good to find different ways to get more of the pie of like the wedding. And so like being able to offer something that's a simple add on like a room block or travel that you have this couple's trust already and so why wouldn't you want to make things even easier for them? And so I like that there's that opportunity within your organization because I i think that we we all live in this industry where it's like really busy and then you're like, yikes, like well what's going on for the next couple of months? That's a really nice way to add to that bottom line.
00:18:12
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you i think I believe you guys have a conference coming up this fall. Can you share just kind of what's upcoming for you for ABC that might be interesting to our listeners?
00:18:23
Speaker
Yeah, World of Weddings is our annual conference. I am really excited about this year. So I just have a slightly different format. It is November 11th through the 13th in St. Louis, Missouri. So it's had a great historical hotel, the Union Station. And we do Money Making Monday.
00:18:47
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So that's all of our travel and room block stuff. We do have a financial person coming to teach you how to manage finances, and record your business finances. We have a tax advisor coming in with a bunch of information. Money Making Monday is always very popular.
00:19:05
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And then Tuesday and Wednesday and is our our educational sessions. day Tuesday night, we're doing an implementation night. So everything that you learned during the day, ah the speakers are going to be there and walk you through how to start setting it up.
00:19:22
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One of the feedback that some of the feedback that we got was that they got a ton of information and it was great but then you get home and it's back to real life and don't get the time to put things in place.
00:19:37
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So we're going to create that environment, order some pizzas, you know, do some laid back and get some work done while we're there. And then we have our gala, ah which a great gala Wednesday night. So we always do heavily themed lunches, breakfast and closing ceremonies. Always, you know, but very gorgeous.
00:20:00
Speaker
We did um ah Winter Wonderland in Miami as a luncheon one year and had snow coming down on us while we ate. So it was we do quite a bit. So it's it's it's a learning experience and hopefully it and inspires people to go back and you know, create beautiful weddings after. I love that. And I love the implementation night because I cannot tell you the notebooks full of notes that I have found as I have cleaned out my office over the years. I'm like, huh, never cracked that open again after that conference. So I love that you have time set aside for people to actually begin working.
00:20:37
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Yeah, I think it'll help because I did the same thing, tick notebooks and notebooks and then, you know, nothing. You get so inspired at events like that. And then, but yes, you come home and you have your actual clients, your family, your ah obligations that are like, oh, I can't just focus on this all the time. That's right.
00:20:56
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Can you share, where can people find you online, and if they're interested in membership in ABC, how do they go about doing that? Sure. You can find us at abcweddingplanner.com. We are on all social media channels also. A, B, C, S, O, C. You know, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and now TikTok.
00:21:21
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But you can always on our website click that little join button. It gives you some options there whether you're a planner or a vendor. Once you join we send you an introductory email and then we'll walk you through the program. So we we do earn designations as you you know years go by or you know as you submit weddings and take education. We do also include a give back you know to your community and industry in there.
00:21:48
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and two and then you earn up until you get to master wedding planner. So it's a great program. It kind of standardizes everything for everyone and gives you something to look forward to. Very cool. And I will link to everything in the show notes. So if anyone listening is interested, just please go down and click that.
00:22:09
Speaker
Veronica, thank you so much for taking time to chat with me. I am such an advocate of joining organizations, networking. I think above any other marketing activity you can do, making connections within the industry and continuing your education are some of the most important just because those connections are what helps sustain our businesses year over year. It's not the social media posts. It's not, you know,
00:22:36
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Those things are important, but the connections that we make with other people in the industry are just long-term gold. That's right. I think that's the most important part too. It's what's going to give you a leg up over the other people in your area for sure. Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for spending time with me today. And yeah, I i hope your event goes amazingly and I can't wait to see some pictures of your themed gala.
00:23:05
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great Great. Well, maybe next year we'll get you to come out with us. I would love that. I would love that. All right. Thank you so much, Veronica. No problem. You take care.