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How Technology Adds Value to Your Planning Business
98 Plays1 month ago
I had an amazing chat with Sara Kincaid, President and COO of Aisle Planner. We talked about how implementing technology in your business can lead to more efficiency, better service, and the ability to charge more.
As a thank you to our listeners, you can try Aisle Planner for 30 days free and 20% off for the first six months with code: Levelupin25
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:02
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.
Amber's Experience and Goals
00:00:21
Speaker
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.
Introduction to Guest Sarah Kincaid
00:01:37
Speaker
Hi friends, today I'm so excited to share a conversation that I had with Sarah Kincaid of IELTS Planner. We talked all about tech and how it can be applied to your wedding planning business. Before we dive in, I want to introduce you to Sarah. She's a 15-year veteran of the event industry and the current IELTS Planner VP of Operations.
00:01:58
Speaker
She has a background in business development and business process optimization. With a passion for helping organizations build equitable and scalable business practices to drive sustainability, Sarah feels fortunate to be able to tap into her events experience to continue to support event pros through IELTS Planner. Let's jump into the
Sarah's Entry into the Event Industry
00:02:16
Speaker
interview.
00:02:16
Speaker
Welcome back to the Business of Wedding Planning podcast, everyone. Today, my guest is Sarah Kincaid from IELTS Planner. Welcome, Sarah. I'm so excited to have you here to talk about technology and wedding planning. Thank you so much, Amber. It's a pleasure. Love your community and so excited to talk with you a little bit further about, yeah, how how we can use technology to kind of elevate our business and and create a more substantial grant.
00:02:43
Speaker
Awesome. So my first question I ask all my guests, what has been your journey through the wedding industry? Usually people, it's not a street like I graduated college and became a wedding planner done. It's winding. And so I find that always interesting.
00:02:57
Speaker
I was actually talking with someone about that recently. I feel like there's so few of us that like there are the people who go specifically for like hospitality management or hotel management. But then it's a very specific career path, right? Most of us yeah land here by accident somehow. So I landed in events 14, gosh, almost 15 years ago now, totally by accident. I had actually quit corporate America and become a personal trainer.
00:03:20
Speaker
and which is kind of what my degree was in, which was sports and kinesiology, and needed something on the side. it So took up a part-time catering gig with a local company and ah pretty quickly thereafter ended up in more of an event management physician with that caterer, then went to a venue did wedding and event planning on the side after seven years of on the ground events moved to a national vendor for weddings and events and two and a half years ago came on as kind of business development for IO Planner has kind of continued to grow and the elevate and maneuver through
00:04:04
Speaker
the industry or through the company here. But yeah, so I've done vendor, wedding planning, event planning, venue ownership, ah catering. It's really been ah quite a fun ride, but I think it gives me such a unique viewpoint of what our community really needs now that I am on the technology side and and working to continue to grow and expand and move forward with Iopiner.
Impact of Technology on Professionalism
00:04:30
Speaker
I love that. And yeah, most of the people I talk to, it's like they've done so much. And so it's it does give such a good perspective of what every individual challenge is. Technology. My audience are the planners launch audience. A lot of them are they're either they're in not like zero to five year stage and they're getting to the point where they're like, OK, my Excel spreadsheets.
00:04:51
Speaker
aren't cutting it anymore. I need to find something, but there are so many options. Can we start by talking about what do you see technology adding in value to a planner's business as it relates to you know where they are in the marketplace?
00:05:10
Speaker
So I think that yeah that it's kind of ah an expansive conversation. i i actually am very I feel very strongly that when you're starting a business, so if you're coming into this business, whether um a planner or another vertical within the wedding industry,
00:05:27
Speaker
You're coming in because you want to make money, right? We do it because we're passionate. We do it because it's something that we love. We do it because we see an opportunity to help. But you're also trying to make money. And so just like when you start your company, you wouldn't start your company without a strategic business strategy. You wouldn't start without your website. You wouldn't start without certain key fundamentals that set your business up for success.
00:05:52
Speaker
Technology really is part of that. The earlier you adapt technology into your business, the one easier it's going to be because it's a whole lot harder to reinvent something when you're already kind of in the throes of your of your business and working with clients.
00:06:10
Speaker
But it also allows you to kind of really create from the very beginning that platform, that process that you're going to use in creating, elevating, moving your business forward in the industry. So that's kind of the first part. I really like getting in front of that newer audience because the earlier you can establish and adapt technology into your business and write it into your business plan. you know um We hear often technology is too expensive. It's a vital aspect of what you do. It sets you up for success. It is it just needs to be a part of your business plan.
00:06:45
Speaker
And it really isn't that much when you look at all of what it can do for you and how it can elevate your brand. So then going forward to the couples, going forward to the clients, going forward to elevating yourself within the marketplace, having tried and true professional, well-established technology behind you, that tech stack, it does two things.
00:07:10
Speaker
One, it allows you to actually market and elevate your price point within the industry because it gives that air of professionalism, right? Sending someone a Word doc, sending someone an Excel file, sending someone a PDF that they have to download, print, sign, cam scan, get back to you. All of those things are hurdles that you have to, that can sometimes hinder the client relationship. And so working in a technology stack, whatever that stack may be, but finding those resources that really set you up for success, not only prevent present a more professional heir, so you can price yourself higher because you are bringing that technology and say,
00:07:53
Speaker
hey, couple, hey, client, this is, you know, when you work with me, you get to have this back ends planning process where you can see everything that's going on every minute of the day throughout the entire journey of us working together from today through event day. Right. And I've actually had multiple planners tell me like it's the reason they won business over somebody else, because they were like, here's my tech stack. And that air of professionalism that that viewpoint of you're willing to put money into you and your business. So i I am willing to give you money back because I know that you've truly set up your business for success. I think that that's kind of where
00:08:36
Speaker
where you see it, and then you know technology, a backend portal, having the clients be able to like see what they're doing, like it allows you to handle a lot more business because you aren't having the constant back-to-for back and forth emails of where are we, what's going on, how can I help, what do I need to do, you know what what are we doing today, like where are we in this process. so and There's a lot of ways that it could really allocatege elevate the client relationship from the sales process all the way through a bet day.
00:09:05
Speaker
Yeah, something you said jumped out at me and I've had conversations over and over where when we want to the we want to make money, yes, yes, yes. There's like so many conversations I have. There is no shame in wanting to make money. like We don't go, this is not a charity. this is I had a business coach once that said, if you're not making money, it's a hobby.
00:09:24
Speaker
and there's no shame in that. But when you said that you can charge more and you can yeah you you can elevate your prices, but if we're not investing in our businesses, why would we expect couples with a certain budget that we want to book to invest that budget with us? Because it's people are savvy now and they know like what they should be able to expect and every business has every most businesses have some sort of like technology like ease of use and that I think is becoming more an expectation than not having that is might make you stand out in a negative way. It's I love that you said like this is fine to do this from this like jump like this is not like a you have to wait for so many years in business this and it does make it so much easier if you set it up from the start like switching anything midstream is painful.
00:10:18
Speaker
Oh, absolutely. And going back to what you just mentioned, there's, yeah, it's it's investing in your business, showing your clients that you're there for the long haul, right? that you're That you truly take this seriously. And no, we are not in this for charity. We are in this to make money. Like I said, we do it because, especially on the wedding side of the events industry, because we're passionate, because we want to help, because it it it truly does light like our soul on fire, right? But same time, like you're not giving away your time, your energy, your resources, your are knowledge for free, and you should be able to ah charge what you are worth. And so technology helps with that. And we're coming into the tech generation. Most of the clients that you are working with, they are tech, right? They have grown up on tech. They're used to a immediate
00:11:08
Speaker
ah visibility. They're used to not having to wait for things. they are not They don't want to sit down and have coffee with you for three hours and and write up a proposal. like They want technology and they want technology to work and they want it to be fast and they want it to be efficient. and that's That's really important as we move forward, 2025 and beyond, that is who you're dealing with. You're dealing with people who have never not had immediate gratification through technology.
00:11:33
Speaker
And it's very important, even if you are an established planner and you've been in the business for 20 years, if you're trying to market and you're trying to grow continue to grow within these new generations, you've got to adapt to what they expect, right? And tech and having a clear, concise, proficient,
00:11:51
Speaker
tech stack is what they're expecting. And secondarily, and I i talked about this sometimes, but like you know we're not in this to give away charity. We're in it to make money. We want to be successful. We want to be that planner who says that they can go and travel and like you know on their event industry income But also, technology allows you to have an actual product that you can sell at the end as well. So it sets you up for success for when you want to get out of the industry. And you now have a tangible item and a tangible business that you can sell for. You can't sell your brain. You can't sell like no one's buying an Excel sheet off of you, right? So like it gives you a again, it also not only does it set you up from the beginning to be able to work efficiently and effectively and
00:12:38
Speaker
professionally, but it also then sets you up for being able to your exit strategy as well.
Technology and Business Scalability
00:12:43
Speaker
Yeah. So my next question kind of ties into that. Technology, I think, can also make hiring a team, growing a team a lot more efficient and then also just those terrible situations that like what ifs like what if you can't be there on the wedding day what if can you talk a little bit about how technology not only helps with like team growth team efficiency but just kind of mitigating some of those situations we hope never happen
00:13:12
Speaker
Absolutely. I think this is, yeah, it's kind of a twofold conversation. First, having technology behind you and set up correctly, right? So I think that's the other part of it. I will be the first to say your tech stack does not, you don't open it. It's not already shiny and pretty and ready to rock and roll. Your tech stack takes work. It takes time because you're truly building out your brand, your company, your process within whatever tech stack you are going to be utilizing.
00:13:37
Speaker
Within like the IO Planner platform, you have the ability to create these custom checklists. What those are are literally workflows for different types of customers, different types of clients, whether it be a full planning, a partial planning, a wedding management client, an 18-month client, a six-month client. you know You can create different workflows of what needs to happen.
00:14:00
Speaker
that truly is your brain being dumped into a checklist with timelines and do-by-dates, what that allows you to do. So going to your secondary question, yeah, we don't have control over what happens to us. That forbid something was to happen and halfway through the event planning process, you aren't there to continue that process.
00:14:21
Speaker
that That technology allows someone else to step in, see exactly what you've done, what needs to happen moving forward, and take a lure pretty much without missing a step. right and There's two aspects there. Sometimes it's unfortunately a ah a disastrous situation where you know it's ah it's a car accident. it's It's something that is truly life altering.
00:14:42
Speaker
Other times it could be, I want to go on vacation and I want to disappear for two weeks and I don't want to have to like be on my email 24 seven while I'm gone. And having those processes leaned up and dialed in, allow one of your other other team members to be able to step in or to say to your client, hey, I'm going on vacation. We sell six months until your wedding date. So like work good. Everything you need to do within the next two weeks while I'm gone.
00:15:06
Speaker
is in your checklist has been assigned to you. Go ahead, keep going. I'll be back and we'll pick up where we left off, right? That's one aspect of it. The second is the efficiency side. Absolutely. It is the hardest thing to do is to start a company, have all of that knowledge locked in your head, and then want to scale and not have the ability to fully communicate that information, right? So, like, scalability growth, our our goal most of us within the industry is to take on more clients, bring on more staff, build our team, get into more of that, like,
00:15:44
Speaker
high-level role where you can take those clients that you really want to take, right? So you take those six high-budget perfect clients for you a year and then you've got a team of two, three, four behind you that are taking everybody else and they're continuing to grow and elevate your brands within the marketplace or the marketplace that you work within.
00:16:03
Speaker
It is so much easier if you already have an entire process locked in on technology. It allows you to be efficient. It allows you to up. ah It allows you to onboard quickly. It allows them to come in and know what they need to do. So from that standpoint, it's huge. And then we'll go back to what I mentioned about.
00:16:22
Speaker
Your client knows what's next. They don't have to ask the questions. I mean, I can't even tell you, you know, 15 years ago when I got into this industry and dealing with clients and, you know, not having these tech stacks behind us and the number of the amount of time and energy and effort spent in responding to emails ah about or phone calls about where are we? What's going on? You're working with for a lot of these couples, within especially within the wedding side, you're working with a substantial amount of money for them. It's very personal. it's They want to know exactly what's happening. I think that that it allows you to be more efficient because you don't have all of that. They know what they know where they are. They can they have a
00:17:05
Speaker
full visibility into what's happening with their um event, where are they're sitting with their budget, where they are as far as like they their tasks and the actual like event creation, the the event timeline as far as like moving forward to the event date. So so many aspects there. Efficiency, yeah we think about it from ah a personal standpoint. like How much more efficient is it now that you can just text someone, hey, where are you versus having to like get on a call and it'd be a 15-minute conversation?
00:17:33
Speaker
That's just what technology is for. It's about elevating. It's about creating efficiency. It's about creating more strategic communication and opportunity to engage without actually having to be like personal face to face one on one. Not saying that that's a like you still need those aspects in the industry and you still need those aspects with your clients. But technology can help to reduce the amount of time you have to do back and forth.
00:17:56
Speaker
Yeah. And I feel like, I mean, I know, I think I'm in a generation where like I got my first email address in high school. So like I was right on that cusp of like, sort of not, technology was not a big thing, but then it suddenly was. And I know that like my nephew who got married last year, it's like, they didn't want to have to make phone calls. They didn't want to like,
00:18:18
Speaker
It's not like yeah there's like the generations we're serving now, they're not dying to pick up the phone and talk to you. There's a way that they can easily find out what's going on or see what's going on without having to send an email and do all that. It's like like its i don't know it's so interesting to me how every generation changes. And i I completely agree that I think there is this expectation that if it's not there,
00:18:43
Speaker
it becomes a hindrance to booking you. And yeah, i the other thing that you mentioned that we just wrapped up a whole series on hiring, and that is a big bottleneck when people go to hire, is they're like, how am I going to teach them like my processes and all of that? So I just want to reiterate, like imagine all your processes are already in your tech stack and you can just show them that. And they it's not like you're having to sit down and like write out a handbook and write out get everything out of your brain. It already exists.
00:19:12
Speaker
And so it's not only great for your clients, it's great for that those team members that you're bringing on. Yeah, exactly. I mean, you've basically outlined your entire business process within a tech platform system. It is a fully integrated, encased, in one location, full set of SOPs, right? Which, yeah. um No, absolutely. It's It makes your life easier. It makes your employees life easier. It makes your clients life easier. And yeah, like you said, I mean, very different generations. Like I say, it you know, i I think I was probably a junior or senior in high school when like, AOLIM came out. Like, you know, when we got
00:19:53
Speaker
you know, the initial emails and, you know, dial-up, the wonderful dial-up sound. But today, I mean, five-year-olds are going to school with a laptop from kindergarten forward. Like, my four-year-old nephews and nieces text their friends video or be in their little smartwatch that's pre-programmed for the three kids that they, like, spend time with in the neighborhood. Like,
00:20:17
Speaker
They're just so, ah technology isn't even, it's not even an oddity. Like it is such a, it is just how they do life now. my kids don't understand like the radio. like They're like, wait, you can't go back? And I'm like, no, it's gone. We we listened, it's gone. So I think it's this is not something... I feel like there' is it there can be a mindset of like, well, this is the way I've always done it and it's fine, it's worked, but it's like technology is not going anywhere. It's just going to get more sophisticated and the expectation will just continue to grow. And
00:20:50
Speaker
Embracing it well when you can is the way to go. and i did want to just You mentioned like that things are customizable usually within these platforms. For a planner who has been doing things with spreadsheets and Google Docs and all of that,
00:21:05
Speaker
I just want to like reiterate, like this is not a like throw out everything and starts from scratch. you can Whatever platform you choose, you get to customize it. You get to take your your expertise and put that into that. It's not a like, well, now I have to do it a totally different way type situation.
00:21:22
Speaker
and we'll talk I talked to some when I'm trying to kind of acknowledge, it's it's very interesting because technology, like I said, you're buying a framework. like That's what you're paying for. it's It's a framework to help you set yourself up for success. It's not the actual like tool. You're not getting like this already pre-created thing that you can just like jump into, right? It takes time. And you just mentioned like business coaching.
00:21:45
Speaker
Think of it that way, right? Like if you were to sit down with a business coach and say, hey, I'm ready to step up. I'm ready to elevate my business. I'm ready to take it to the next level. The business coaches and then handing you back a like full pathway to success, right? They're helping you understand what you need to do, but you still have to put it in the work. You still have to do it. You have to anything the investment in the time investment on the front end is going to pay off 10, 20, 100 fold on the back ends. You have to understand that, but you also have to understand that like it's going to take time. It is a new process. You are learning something new. You have to be willing to sit down and put in the work in order to get the success out of it.
00:22:28
Speaker
Okay, that segues perfectly into my next question. how do you If you're a planner listening to this and you're thinking, okay, I do think that I need to do this for my business, how do you decide when is the right time?
When to Integrate Technology?
00:22:41
Speaker
Because we all know that there are busy times of the year. There's times where we're like, okay, I have less to do. What's the time that you're how So, I guess I have two questions. When in your business is it like, okay, this is the time to consider this, and then when like logistically do you recommend people take on this project of adding this new technology to their theirre planning business?
00:23:05
Speaker
Again, like I mentioned at the very beginning, the time is yesterday. like you know Ideally, the time is the day you decide you're starting a company. You also look at your tech stack and you build out a tech stack and you build out your company with those tech stacks in mind. right That is perfect situation scenario. Now, most of us don't do that. We're starting kind of bootstrap style. we're starting We're just trying to figure out what we're going to do.
00:23:30
Speaker
So, the ideal time to start is today, always, right? Like, the longer you put it off, the more behind you get. However, we do have times of the year depending on the location you're in, depending on the type of event if you do, like, if you're in market or if you're doing destination, etc. There are different times of the year where we just are busier, right?
00:23:54
Speaker
Anytime you take something on during a super, super busy time, the year for you of your business, you're going to end up in a more frustrated conversation. Taking on work when you already have too much work to do is never an ideal conversation, right? Although, yes, the time to start tech is yesterday, is like immediately. Be smart, right? You wouldn't put your like, you wouldn't go out and you wouldn't make a a huge purchase or commit to doing something big and time intensive during a month where you know like you've already got a full plate. So think logically there too. For most of us, the end of the year, which is engagement season, is also our slower season. You might have a few weddings that go towards, you know, the Halloween wedding or like the the Christmas New Year style wedding. But for most of us, November, December, January are pretty light when it comes to the number of events we're doing now. It's also the time when people are like, I'm burned out. I just came off of 15 events in September and October. I just want to do nothing. But you are running a business. Every minute that you have available to you, you should be utilizing to go back, look at the the year before. What did you do this year? how what what What worked well? What didn't work well? Use it as your time to fully like
00:25:26
Speaker
break down your business process, your strategy, your tech, your what you're doing, and then how you can set yourself up for better success than the following year, right? It's also the time of year that you're looking at your pricing and like, how am I going to elevate my pricing for the next year?
00:25:43
Speaker
you know, before you get those new clients that are coming in January through March after engagement season. So be strategic about when you truly can give it the time and energy necessary to make sure you're setting yourself up for success.
00:25:59
Speaker
but Yeah, look at the whole thing. Look at your company many as a whole. Look at, okay, this was working, this wasn't. I spent way too much time on email this year. How do I like mitigate that? right I need to bring on a new team member. How do I make sure I'm set up for success for that? I want to elevate my prices. I want to get into the next threshold of clientele. What do I need to do to successfully be able to raise my prices and not have people go, what more am I getting? Right. Or like all of those things come into play when you're making that decision. And then, yeah like I said, just making sure you have the time, the energy, the resources to be able to really sit down. It's like it it's a setting up a business or a tech stack effectively is is truly, you know,
00:26:47
Speaker
tens of hours of time. like it's not It's not going to take you an hour or two. It's going to take you time to do it successfully. But also, it's then going to help so exponentially. And i we here at Planners Lounge, we're big proponents of like the year-end review. And really, like before you start planning your next year, because I know me personally, like it's very enticing to like turn the page and be like, what are my goals? and But it's you can't effectively set goals and make plans if you haven't looked back at like what did work, what didn't work, that kind of thing. And if you found yourself like there were frustration points during your busy season that had to do with your processes or, you know, you found yourself writing the same emails over and over again, like that to me is like huge like flags that there's something that I need to change. Maybe there's a tool that I can incorporate something like that before you
00:27:41
Speaker
set your last season on the shelf, like just sit down and like brain dump like what could be different? What could be what went great? like What do I want it more of and what do I want less of? And yes, 100%. I am notorious for biting off more than I can chew.
00:27:56
Speaker
and did It's very easy, I think, when you do that to be really excited about something and then it's like, this is very overwhelming. And I know for myself, then i'll I'll push it away even more. And I think that when you do that, especially when you're investing in something, then you're like, well, I'm just wasting money. And it's like, this is not a waste of money. You just have to be in the right frame of mind and have the time to really make it what it needs to be for your business.
00:28:23
Speaker
Absolutely. Yeah. And remember that like business should always be about growth, right? Like no matter who you are, if you are brand new starting out or you are, you know, Mindy Weiss, like it doesn't matter. There's always growth opportunity within your business. There's always opportunity for reflection and for enhancement and for sorry. Well, that was me.
00:28:43
Speaker
um ah um and growth within your company. And then, yeah, like you know being mindful of ah your time and it is important to do, but it also is important to to create that balance.
Selecting the Right Technology Tools
00:29:01
Speaker
so My next question is, there are so many technology options out there. And just for planners, like just different planning platforms, there are so many. So how do you advise people to determine what's best for their business?
00:29:18
Speaker
First and foremost, almost every platform out there provides some kind of trial period, right? You have the ability to go out, you have the ability to mess around with it, you have the ability to play with it and figure out if it's something that works for you. There are. There are specifically on the sales lead management side, like there are eight and of them, right? So like there's so many. And then from the planning side, there are a few where one of two that's like a full project management system, but then there are a ton of other technologies that are like single entities within that tech stack, right timelines or four pins or budget budget management or communications, that kind of thing. So you want to really make sure that what you're doing makes sense for you from a budget standpoint, from a time standpoint, from a resources standpoint standpoint. What do you need to really focus on to set your business up for success? And then use the resources out there to learn more about them too.
00:30:13
Speaker
Like we, so for Isle Planner, we once a month do a group orientation webinar. It's 30 minutes and it's just going through and seeing what does the platform really do? Like who who are we? What can it do for you for your business so that you're going into it that first day?
00:30:29
Speaker
with more clarity into like how to set yourself up for success. right But we're all out there for that. ah it's It's really going to be about how working efficiently, I will say, you know having having something that is under one log in is much easier for you and for the client versus the client having to log into two or three or four different platforms in order to do what they need to do with you during the planning process, but that doesn't mean that that might not be the better pathway for you and your clients. so That's a hard one to say because everyone's different. Everyone's got a different need stack when it comes to their tech stack. so
00:31:08
Speaker
Really think think it through, do your homework, um go through, listen to resources, play around with the different products, ask questions. you know I think that there are so many communities out there, Planners Lounge being one of them. You guys have an entire community of people who have gone through, who have used a lot of these products, right? Ask like, hey, what worked best for you? What did you love? What challenges can I expect in utilizing that technology? you know Use your resources.
00:31:38
Speaker
not we aren't inventing the wheel like it's all been done before you know this isn't no and nobody's coming out and like doing it for the first time here so like do your research do do your due diligence um but but use your resources too i think so many of us we we grew up in this like era where asking for help meant that you were like weak or you weren't smart enough or you were in some way failing we and we have a really big help like a version, right? But it's the help is there for you, so make sure you are taking advantage of it. If someone offers you ah like a demo or an hour setup call to like answer questions.
00:32:24
Speaker
say yes, like take advantage of those things. like it's It's only going to help you and mitigate your frustration and ensure that the money you're spending, you're getting what you should be getting out of it.
00:32:38
Speaker
Absolutely. I love that answer. And I i do feel like there's there's a perception, I think, among wedding planners a lot of times where it's like, if I ask, then I'm like i'm i am like asking a competitor or something like that. But I feel like there are so many good communities and not just Planners Lounge. There are so many where people want to help. like i mean we the more successful wedding planners there are out there, the more it elevates the role within the wedding planning process for couples. And so, yes, reach out to people. I know that when I'm passionate about something or I really love something, I love to talk about it. And so, yeah, ask the people around you and
00:33:21
Speaker
you know, when you're doing that year in review, like what are the things that really stand out like art, you know, and if it's like, I know that, you know, my timelines could be way better, well, then that's something you really want to make sure that whatever you're looking at has a good aspect of that. So really considering and And I know, I mean, I have shiny object syndrome. Sometimes it's like, Oh, this one, I'll try this one. And then it's like, if I don't get it right away, then I'm like, well, I'll try to this one. So it's, I also think like, don't, if you're frustrated, ask, ask the, ask the platform. I mean, I know most platforms like they've got amazing FAQs and help and all of that. Like.
00:33:58
Speaker
We spend a lot of time and energy on our our backend help desk. Every tech company, it is something that there is a lot of time energy resources spent on making sure that theyre The answer is available to you right without having to talk to someone. if If you don't want to talk to people, I get it. like but you know yeah Use that help desk. Make sure you you ping the help bot and ask and it'll shoot you over an article that tells you exactly how to do what you're what you want to do. right so Yeah, absolutely. and i don' I agree with you completely. that that The wedding industry specifically. like
00:34:37
Speaker
We're all in it together. And there's always this conversation of how do we continue to elevate the industry. But at the same time, people are so like, I don't want to give away my trades. It's it's not a trade secret. We all do the same thing. yeah Like, sir.
00:34:52
Speaker
So like yeah like and i mean i gosh i mean I've done national business development, I've worked with planners all over the country, and I feel like almost every la like location market that you're in outside of these big national like support groups There's like a local Facebook group for like, you know, Denver planners, like Denver wedding planners group, right? where And like, that's the entire point of it is to like all work together to make the industry better for everyone.
00:35:24
Speaker
Absolutely. I love that. Okay. So to wrap up, ah this has been such a good conversation and I know you and I could talk about this forever, but can you share a little bit about if people are interested in IELTS Planner, like how do they go about learning more, connecting with you guys, what would be their next steps?
Joining IELTS Planner's Tech Sessions
00:35:44
Speaker
Absolutely. so As I mentioned, we do do a monthly group orientation. It's just you sign up. We have 250 spots available on every single one. so um and If you aren't able to make it and you sign up, we'll send you the recording right after. You can sign up either by ah via our Instagram, which is at aisleplanner. Very symbol right there pinned at the top you can go ahead it'll link you through and it's a bit link within our business at the top so you can do that you can also go to the website and just reach out ping us say hey interested in learning more but I need ah I need some help I need some guidance can I set up a call with someone one of our team members will absolutely get back to you if you just go to like aisleplanner.com
00:36:23
Speaker
And you've got resources, right? So Planners Lounge, like we offer a great discount with Planners Lounge. I'm actually in celebration of this podcast and coming into the end of the year. And what is your strategic growth time period, I'm actually going to up the the value of that discount that you get through Planner's Flutter Lounge. So um if you go in and sign up before the end of the year, we'll actually extend the discount. So instead of 25% off of three months, I'll actually extend it to it's 20% off of six months. So you're getting so much time to like dig in, really like get yourself set up for success while getting that little bit of relief when it comes to the cost as well. Lots of ways to go about it. Like I said, we're on IG, we're on Facebook. Once you are, once you sign up for IELTS Planner, once you're a subscriber, you can also join our Facebook group, which is We Are IELTS Planners. And there are tons of resources that go out there. It's a great community for like, how do I do this? Or I'm stuck on this? Or does anybody have like a good idea or like a good like workaround for this particular thing, et cetera?
00:37:35
Speaker
I love that. And thank you so much for extending that to our community. I i see posts within the community where people are discussing like IELTS planner. And if you are new to it and you're in the planners launch community, there are people using it. Reach out to them, ask questions. And I will link to all of these within the show notes. If you're listening to this, you can just click directly and connect with IELTS planner. But yes, the end of the year, use this time to dig in and see if there's something there that can help you have an even smoother next season, just because i and the technology, I know it is daunting to people who have not done anything besides like using their spreadsheets and all of that. and But it's so worth it, I think, in the long run. And there's no way that more people will not expect that this will be a standard among wedding planners. you know it's It's just impossible. So this is a good time to do it.
00:38:32
Speaker
There's that old adage of like stepping over dollars to pick up pennies. Right. Like that is kind of think of that from a time perspective. Yes, it's going to take time today. But by by investing that time, you are going to save so much time, energy on like moving forward.
00:38:51
Speaker
And allow yourself to be more scalable, to actually grow, to to do better resource allocation to your company, to create a more viable, more revenue-focused business. I mean, again, going back, that is what we are here for, y'all. We are not here to like give away our time and our resources. We are here to make money.
00:39:12
Speaker
And I, again, to a ah business coach that I had, she always said, just because you can something do something doesn't mean you should. And just because you can do everything with, you know, bootstrapping with the lowest cost thing, it doesn't mean you should. And time is finite. We can always make more money. We cannot make more time. And so our time is our most valuable resource. So if there's anything that will help you get more of it, then do it. um Absolutely. like Absolutely. like Well, thank you so much, Sarah, for being with us today. This was so helpful. And like I said, everything will be linked in the show notes. And so I really encourage you guys to go check out Isle Planner, check out all the platforms, do your research just like Sarah said. You know you're getting the right product for you, but it's a necessity. It's not a like, maybe I'll do it, maybe I won't. It's something that at some point it becomes a must have.
00:40:08
Speaker
I think that's a good, I think that's a good final takeaway is technology is no longer a that would be nice or like, you know, like, it I mean, it truly is. It's expected by your clients. It is a necessity. It is the only way that you're going to be successful. All right. Well, let's leave it there. Thank you so much, Sarah. It's always a pleasure to talk to you. And yeah, if you're listening to this and you have any questions, you know, leave comments, reach out to IL Planner, reach out to Planner's Lounge. We are all here to support you. Absolutely. Thank you so much, Amber. It was an absolute absolute pleasure. And everyone have a great balance of the year. Absolutely.