Misconceptions of Building a Team: Hint: Large ≠ Success

Discover the unexpected truths behind successful team dynamics in the wedding industry with our special guest, Shane Presley of DJ Shane Entertainment. We're peeling back the layers to reveal why a bigger team doesn't always mean a better business or more success. From the challenges of aligning passion and vision, to the art of impeccable coordination, this episode is an insider's guide to building and nurturing the dream team that will take your wedding planning service to the next level.

Join Krisy Thomas and Laurie Hartwell as they share personal experiences and professional insights on how to manage a wedding professional team effectively. We talk about striking the perfect balance between quality and quantity, the importance of ongoing education, and strategies for avoiding ego clashes that can hinder business growth. You'll hear firsthand accounts of the pressures and triumphs that come with ensuring that every detail of a couple's special day goes off without a hitch.

Finally, we take a candid look at the politics of the wedding industry, and the significance of staying true to your brand's ethos. We discuss the challenge of finding the right team members who embody your vision, and how to handle the hurdles of team classification and compliance without sacrificing your service excellence. Whether you're a seasoned wedding pro or just starting out, this episode is packed with valuable insights to help you build a team that's not just big, but brilliant.

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Transcript

Team Dynamics in Wedding Industry

Speaker 1 0:00

You're listening to the Wedding Pro Podcast brought to you by the CWP Society. Welcome to the Wedding Pro Podcast brought to you by the CWP Society, where wedding planners and pros collaborate to raise the standards in the wedding industry. Cwp Society is also the world's largest membership of wedding professionals and the leading wedding planner and wedding professional certification program. My name is Lori Hartwell and I'm the CEO, and I'm joined by my fabulous vice president, chrissy Thomas, owner of Southern Sparkle Weddings and Events. Hey, chrissy, hi.

Speaker 2 0:41

Lori and hi to all of our listeners. So I just saw a post earlier this week on social media and it said something along the lines of if your booking calendar is already closed this early in the year, then why don't you have a team? The tone was, of course, a lot more condescending. To be quite honest with you, and as an educator, my first thought was well, there is just so much more than just bringing people on board for your business and then opening up your booking calendar with those people. You know there is such a misconception around the topic of having a large team in your wedding business and honestly, lori, I don't think it's being talked enough within our community.

Speaker 1 1:20

I agree with you and you know what we need to do is kind of break down the topic and figure out. I agree with you and you know what we need to do is kind of break down the topic and figure out OK, so why? Why are we hearing a lot of this? Right? And we also want to make sure that we're making it clear that we can't be playing the comparison game, because a lot of people are thinking to themselves having a large team in the past. Chrissy, you've had a large team in the past, and our special guest on today's podcast has had a large team in the past as well. I'd like to introduce to you our very special guest today, and this person has been one of my dearest friends for the last couple a little over two decades now. His name is Shane Presley. He is the owner and DJ of DJ Shane Entertainment and, in my opinion, one of the best DJs on the planet, located down in Florida. Hello, shane, tell everybody a little bit about you and tell everybody about DJ Shane Entertainment.

Speaker 3 2:18

Well, well, thank you for having me Appreciate you. Lori, thank you, I'm DJ Shane from DJ Shane Entertainment. I'm going on business well over 20 years and a team of five DJs plus me now. I've been in business for a long time, specialized in weddings. We do do corporate events in Kingston yet a sweet 16th but we are very blessed that the word of mouth has been out for long enough to where we're booking a year and a half to two years in advance. So you know most corporate events and sweet 16s and stuff, by the time they get to us our calendar has been booked up.

Speaker 1 2:57

So, yeah, there's a reason for that. It's because you are so good at what you do. And listen, shane, I've been, I've planned thousands of weddings over my years and you have by far been one of my favorite DJs to work with, and so it doesn't surprise me at all that you book out a year and a half to two years in advance. Your level of professionalism and the way that you conduct the actual wedding, cocktail hour and reception itself is just magic. I think that's the closest thing I can say. You have really, I guess, in my opinion, that formula that a DJ is supposed to have. You have really perfected that formula, with no downtime, no weird silences, all of the songs being just threaded together seamlessly.

Speaker 1 3:40

You are so good with the guests at the receptions. You are so good with my clients. You treated my clients like royalty. They felt like they were the only clients you had and they didn't realize that you had like 4,000 that month, right, you treat everybody so special and, honestly, it's just not as common as we would hope we were talking today about teams and how it really just doesn't. Just because you have a big team doesn't mean that you're successful, but a lot of people in their minds. They do that comparison game. Well, that DJ company over there, or that wedding planning company over there. They have all these people, so they must be super successful. But it's a huge headache and there's a lot of responsibility. What has your recent experience been, shane, and?

Speaker 3 4:24

there's a lot of responsibility. What has your recent experience been, shane? You know, a lot of times when I go to conferences, I go to conferences in Jersey and it's the one conference that I like the most the DJ Times Conference and I would go there and meet other DJs like me that own companies with. You know multiple DJs, and I met a guy once that had like 20, 25 DJs and in my mind I'm thinking you know multiple DJs, and I met a guy once that had like 20, 25 DJs and in my mind I'm thinking, you know, at the time, at that time I had like three to four DJs and plus me. So I was like there's just like how do you even fathom that? Because I could barely keep up with what I have now. Right, so my thing of it is that I've noticed it's definitely a rarity If you find somebody who has a large company, if the quality is good with every one of them and this is the problem that people run into, and this is why I don't have 10 DJs and I only have, you know, four or five is because one it's it's hard to find somebody who has your vision.

Speaker 3 5:25

That's number one. And if you start adding a bunch of people. Now you're thinking about the money and not the quality of the service that you're giving. So if I I can listen, I could do 15, 20 DJs if I wanted to, but I'm only going to have three or four or five. That's going to have the it factor of good MC. Look the part, walk the part, know their music, know how to carry their self, know how to get through all the formalities, know how to do everything.

Speaker 3 5:50

And there's so much to a wedding for DJs alone. And I am a firm believer. I would say it right here on this podcast and I'll say to anybody wedding DJs are the hardest to do in the history of DJing. If you're in a club, you're usually playing one style of music, do a shout out to the bartender, you're good to go. But when you're a wedding DJ this is why most club DJs don't become wedding DJs and when they try to become wedding DJs, they want to work for a company like mine or they want to come on and I've brought them on and then I found that the biggest problem I find in most DJs is is that they're not a good MC. If you're not a good MC in the wedding industry, you're never going to make it so.

Speaker 3 6:35

And, for the best way to describe it, if you own a company, as a wedding coordinator, photographer, videographer, dj, it doesn't matter If you planning on adding that extra for different people, because you're, you know, double booking yourself. You're booking it. Then they say, hey, do you do you know someone? And they go, yeah, I have another photographer. Then that books out. Then you're doing another one.

Speaker 3 6:59

Well, number one, if, instead of dealing with the headache, you just need to raise your prices, right, you don't need to have 20 DJs or 10 DJs. Just raise your price. Keep it to the limit of what you can take care of, because too much will now bring your name down, because the core of what you did was amazing, but now you add all these extra people who are not having the eye of the tiger, they don't have the vision, and then your name starts to get demolished because you're thinking more about the money instead of the quality of service that's it, and to me that is why I feel that's the trap chain, uh, that everybody seems to be kind of falling into is I just don't want to turn down business, I want to make sure that I can say yes to everybody.

Speaker 1 7:48

But you'll never be able to say yes to everybody, and so really you have to make sure that the quality is the same as if it was just you all by yourself. And finding other people and I know that I have struggled with it, chrissy has struggled with this finding other people that match your same vibe, that have your same standards, been some of your DJs who I just have absolutely loved so much, like. I remember DJ Latin Lou, I remember DJ Dave, like, but of course they have since probably are they still with you.

Speaker 3 8:37

I haven't worked with you in a while, but they've retired. Right Shout out to Latin Lou and DJ Dave, who gave me over 20 years of loyalty. Greatness, amazingness, but both of them just recently retired.

Speaker 1 8:49

Yeah, that's heartbreaking, but I understand because it's a hard job, yeah and so, but they were amazing, amazing. And so you know, like, when, of course I was heartbroken, I tried to get you. Of course I was heartbroken, I tried to get you, but if, if you weren't available, I was. I always know I was going to be in great hands If DJ Latin Lou or DJ Dave, we're going to be able to take care of one of my clients, I knew beyond a shot of a doubt it's going to be, you know, chef's kiss, top notch, wonderful. But we can't guarantee that, and so you have probably had people where you're like okay, I'm going to give you a try, and I know you put people through trials, but it's hard, isn't it?

Speaker 3 9:26

It is very, very hard, because the thing about it is is that it's almost like with any job. They come on, they want to take over the world. They're going to tell me what I want to hear and then I give them the opportunity. It's all great and dandy at first, but then they start going through the motions and what they don't understand is I've been doing this as long as I have. I have three weddings this weekend. So for me personally, I have three weddings this weekend and a total for the weddings that we have this weekend. We have seven weddings and I'm doing three of them.

Speaker 3 9:56

And when I go to each one of these weddings and even my son, who is now 24 and he's DJing as well, but he does more of the club EDC world when he comes with me, they joke about me always saying no, I need you on this one, because this is a big one, this is huge. And they make a joke and I always, they always say dad, you say it's a big one every week or it's huge. This is the problem. The sometimes some people of today is just cut from a different cloth than others. You've got your go-getters who are willing to come out and no matter what, no matter how long you've been doing it. When I go out, if I don't have butterflies, then I'm going to dominate because this is how I eat. So if I don't kill this wedding and they don't walk away and say, oh my God, that was the best wedding ever, If they don't say that, then it's time for me to retire and say, oh my God, that was the best wedding ever.

Speaker 3 10:48

If they don't say that, then it's time for me to retire, Right? So this is the problem Finding people that have pride in their job, finding people that, no matter what goes on in their personal life, they're going to show up and they're going to give 150%, because even 100% is not even enough anymore. You have to not only and let's be honest the DJ part is the easy part. The DJ part is the easy part. I can find a million people to play the hot hits for an hour and a half to two hours, for the clothes and dancing Boom. It's the formality part.

Speaker 1 11:16

It's the end.

Speaker 3 11:17

What to do, and that's what's hard. And then people showing up and saying you know what, this is their day, and I know that sounds cliche, but it's the truth. It's their day and it's a one-time shot. There is no. I messed up or I wasn't on my top of my game that day, because in the world we live in, in 2024, if you don't show up and do what you say you're going to do, people are going to go straight to that computer and they're going to give you your reviews and their people are easy to say exactly how they feel, so wanting to add on a bunch of people. That's great and if you can handle it, my hat's off to you. I salute you. But remember, if you get one bad apple or two bad apples because they don't have the vision, all of years of work, of what you did, everything that you did, goes right down the hill, because now you don't have a 5.0, you got a three point, whatever, as you thought more about the money instead of having the quality and giving yourself the value.

Speaker 1 12:20

Absolutely One hundred percent. And, christine, I find that even in the, you know, from the wedding planning standpoint, it takes one bad apple for it all to go down the drain, all the work that we spent building our reputation, building up our business, getting those five-star reviews. It does not take more than one person and more than one wedding, by the way. One wedding it can completely go down the drain. And I really want wedding professionals and wedding planners who are listening to this podcast to understand that you need to have a very, very solid strategic plan if you're going to be bringing on anyone. First, let me ask Christy Christy, what are some of the things when you're looking for someone to bring on as a wedding planner? What kinds of things are you thinking of that you want to talk to these people about so that you don't get a bad egg?

Speaker 2 13:11

I think similar to Shane. My standards are so high because I've worked really hard to build my reputation. So, first things first is are you going to be able to meet those expectations that my clients have of a Southern Sparkle wedding planner? And to me that's going to be a planner who is kind, who can plan with grace, who is going to recommend and only work with the top wedding professionals in my area, who is going to be able to respond back to emails in a timely manner, Like all of those things are expected to emails in a timely manner, Like all of those things are expected of me as a wedding planner.

Finding and Training Dream Team Members

Speaker 2 13:40

So, therefore, if someone's hiring you because it's under my umbrella, of my company, you have to be the same way that I am Essentially like. I basically want a carbon copy of me, but obviously I want them to have their own personality and be able to do their own thing, but at the same time, I know that I have built this reputation based on how I do business. So those are the things that I look for is someone who's similar to me. What Shane said has that same vision that I had, because that vision, my goals and what I executed with my business is what has made me be the success I am today, and if you can't match those, then I can't have you on my team. I don't. I don't really care about booking that client unless I'm going to be able to book a client with someone who is just like me.

Speaker 1 14:23

I have to be able to trust that you're going to show up. I have to trust that you are going to be able to do exactly what you say that you're going to do. I have to trust that you're going to be able to do it right. I have to trust a lot of things and it's so difficult to even make sure that that's going to happen. I would say, even after I retired from planning weddings and I went full time doing nothing but being the CEO of the CWP society, finding you was. You know, it's like that. This is going to be hard to find a duplicate version of me, someone who shares my same passion, who shows up, who does not allow kind of what Shane was saying that doesn't matter what's going on in their personal life, they show up. If I get sick or something's going on in my personal life, I have to show up anyway. And it's hard to find people that you can bring onto your team that feel just as passionately for your company. And you know, and that's that's hard.

Speaker 3 15:24

For the first time I was on the other end of the fence, you know, three a month ago when my daughter got married and I was father of the bride and I had never been on that side. I'd never gone to rehearsals DJs don't go to rehearsals. I've never been a part of making sure people are flying in and being part of the family and you know all this background stuff and I'm like, oh my gosh, I have a whole new respect for wedding coordinators because you guys are not only dealing with the day of, but you're dealing with months and year that's prepping up to the big day. So there's so much responsibility, not only doing your part but then on the day of unfolding it, making sure the wedding festivals are there. Everybody's doing what they're supposed to be doing. It's a lot of work.

Speaker 3 16:02

And then, in the DJ's perspective, I've just found that hard to lose Dave and Lou, because they were so dedicated for over 20 years and blessings to both of them. And then I'm now. It's funny we're even talking about this subject because I'm now in the process of hiring new people and I have a guy with me right now that's only been with me for maybe a year and he knows, when I brought him on, I already knew he was an established DJ. I just needed to mold him a little bit because a lot of DJs are cookie cutter. They go in, they do what they got to do, but no one has ever corrected them or saying, hey, if you try this, you'll get this result, and if you say this, you'll get this result Right. And it's the same thing with wedding coordinators too. Some of them who don't take your class, they get into the cookie cutter mode and they think that what they're doing is the right way, and sometimes hearing it from other people and different ideas is always going to better you. It's the same thing with dj.

Speaker 3 17:04

Biggest problem with djs up to date if any djs will listen to me, they will agree if they've been doing this long enough the ego. It's easy to get this big ego even me. I fight it myself sometimes because I get stuck in my ways. But I also need to understand that there's other people that are doing their job. So I have to do my job and in the end the dream team comes together and then everybody's happy. At the end of the day, word of mouth's your best advertisement, because they're going to tell their friends and family, and then it just becomes a revolving thing of years and years of success.

Speaker 1 17:39

Exactly right, and you have worked with so many wedding coordinators over the years. Shane, you and I work together at least a hundred times. Right now you've worked with other coordinators and you were saying to me before you know, in our pre-show leading up to this podcast of, I've worked with a lot of people and I can tell which ones are certified through you and which ones aren't.

Speaker 2 18:01

Right.

Speaker 1 18:01

Can you elaborate on that and kind of help people understand?

The Importance of Wedding Coordination

Speaker 3 18:05

Well, the thing about it is is that when you take the class and they go through you, not only are they learning from you, but they're learning from other people too, in different areas, because all different markets are coming together to sponge and learn and make their business more creative, more different, because, example, I've learned from DJs in other states. Now, obviously, if somebody's right down the street, I'm not going to try to learn something different that they're doing, because then I'll be mimicking them in the same area. My ultimate goal is to do what I do, so I'm different. And then what happens is is that I'll ask these wedding coordinators hey, how you doing? I mean, obviously I talked to them a little bit before. Due to all you wedding coordinators out there, you should be contacting your DJ and going over things before instead of the day of, and talk to me about the timeline and the order of events or just introducing yourself that I've never worked with you before. I'm telling you right now that's a red flag. If you have not contacted me, they are not certified through you. That right there, right off the bat, tells me and I already know that on the day of, I'm going to have issues, because communication is everything. Yes, because she or he could be on one way. She's already made the timeline, the order of events. Then I go and meet with the bride and groom and then I've got a timeline and order of events Right.

Speaker 3 19:32

The game changer is where two people come together and then what will end up happening is she might know something or he might know something that I don't know, that the bride forgot to tell me. So now she's saying hey, let's cut the cake here because of this. I go okay, cool, that sounds great. So we work together as a team. Then she never worked with me before. Believe it or not, I still do the napkin game before dinner. And she's like hey, what's this interactive thing you're doing? So it's like, once we connect on the day of, it's flawless. But when I show up the day of never called me, this is the first time I've met them. And then what's even crazier is I've showed up at weddings and never even knew they had a wedding coordinator.

Speaker 1 20:17

I can't with any of that Listen that could be a whole nother podcast.

Speaker 1 20:26

I think we're going to have to bring you on and we need to talk about that stuff, because I feel like this is see, I don't get to hear all of those things. I get text messages over the last 15 years from you. Shane, or sometimes Lou will text me and say, hey, I worked. I worked with a certified wedding planner. I knew it was a certified wedding planner because they contacted me ahead of time. They sent me such a beautiful and detailed timeline ahead of time. They worked with it and it's just so funny Like you guys tell me all the good stuff but I don't get to hear all this meaty.

Speaker 3 20:54

We always want to. We could always talk about the bad, but we definitely want to end it on a positive note. But the fact is, is that, believe it or not, it's out there. I see it every week, every week. I could tell you some horror stories, but then but? But on the opposite end, I could tell you some really positive stories where wedding coordinators have literally saved the day.

Speaker 3 21:19

You know, come in and do it and, honestly, there's been weddings that I've done that if the wedding coordinator wasn't there, I don't know, and even with my years of experience, I needed that extra person to help me through the process. Example if you have a bride that's very detailed, or they're doing a pretty much a production, they want this song played at this time, that song at this time, this that that you know, instead of your regular intro first dance, toast, blessing, food, brother, father, good mom, bouquet, garter, cake, like the regular. They got 10 things. She walking into this song, and then he walks into that song. And I'm speaking from experience, because I just did a wedding like that and they had a wedding coordinator.

Speaker 3 22:03

I could tell you, at the end of the day, I walked up to her and I said listen, you are going places in life. You are, you have the it factor. You are going to make it. You are amazing. Thank you so much. 100,000%. I even told her we need to work together on this one and I and she did call me, so she's probably certified through you. She was amazing and this is what it's all about. What a coordinator.

Speaker 1 22:31

And collaborating with each other and making sure that we're all on the same team, because this is not a one person show, this is the team that we have to be thinking about. We have to all know each other's next step. And I felt like for the longest time when we worked together. You know, you and I worked together so often too, because once you find a great DJ, it's really hard to find anybody else, so you just stick with it. Really hard to find anybody else, so you just stick with it, and so. But do you remember, like back in the day, when all it took was I would just look at you and, in my face, just made one thing and you were like yep, I got it. I understand, we had to say zero words to one another.

Industry Relationships and Teamwork Challenges

Speaker 1 23:08

You know and we did that with our photographer. You know you, it was just a good, wonderful feeling. But I feel like today, in today's market, wedding planners and DJs and photographers and Baker, they're not talking anymore, shane.

Speaker 3 23:23

Well, the thing about it is is that you know and this is the sad part of the industry at what hurts my heart and soul is that two people are more involved into the politics instead of getting involved with people that they can have to their heart and soul, that they know that if I show up, that person knows what I think, I know what they think, and that's where the dream team comes into place.

Speaker 3 23:47

Too many people are out for themselves instead of being out for the community of the industry.

Speaker 3 23:53

You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 23:54

I've got too many people in this area that are working in other areas, which is not a problem, but you know, you got to think of your area first and you got to put yourself around people that think like you, dreaming like you, and when you have those people which I had those people every once in a while I had those people that when I know I show up and I've got the right people around me or it's the right venue, that I know that they're flawless and on point, I know that today's gonna be a good day, but then when I go to a venue or I go, I work with certain people, um, I know that I have to watch my back, because I have to be careful on everything that I do, because they're going to be dropping the ball on certain things that other people should be doing.

Speaker 3 24:47

And uh, I just and that's when I go into the DJ Shane old school mode, to where I'm going to do what I do and at the end of the day I'm going to kill this, you know, and yeah, and then you know, and then I get myself in trouble sometimes.

Speaker 1 25:05

Yeah, I know, I know, I remember, but you know what's interesting is, you know, you kind of bring up a good point, because we're not always guaranteed that we're. You know, a DJ can't always guarantee that you're going to be working with the amazing wedding pros right Now. If you have a team member of yours, like a DJ, shane Entertainment DJ and will you know, and this is why you have to be so careful you know is will they be able to pull the old school DJ Shane way. They're dealing with bad people as well. So that's why I know a lot of people are saying have a big team, make sure that you're booking as many people as possible, because that's the only way that you can succeed and the only way that and I feel like it's just one big, gigantic lie- it is, Well, it's it's.

Speaker 3 25:54

And again, I'm not taking away from people Like I know the people in New York city. I know a couple of DJs in Miami. There they got that big city thing going, They've got plenty of DJs and if it works for them, that's great and that they're successful can say what you want at the beginning, but the ending result is the ultimate experience, which means that what you say and what you unfold on the day of the truth will come out. So not given what you say, eventually they're going to write about you. It's going to happen. So you can add on as many as you want, but as long as you can handle it. Again, I salute you, but for me I think I got too many now.

Speaker 1 26:41

Yeah, no, I understand, and that's that's exactly where I think a lot of wedding planners are, because they're not even realizing to like for wedding planners, we've always had contractors, shane, and now the IRS is kind of starting to kind of, you know, really take more of a deeper look and saying, you know, but you're telling them what to do, you're telling them, you're kind of directing them.

Speaker 1 27:04

So that is not an independent contractor, that is an employee. So now wedding planners are going to are, they're starting to kind of look at the the space and go, ok, well, maybe I do need to make my team a little smaller, because I can't have 8 000 contractors out there, because I am controlling them and if it works like a duck walks like a duck, sounds like a duck, it's probably a duck. So you know, we have to be careful with those things, and so we. I feel like it's just important that, yes, if it works for you, great Okay, like you were saying. But what no one seems to be talking about is what could go wrong and how to handle those situations. When you do get a bad egg on your team, what do you do when you get the bad egg? How do you mitigate that problem to where it does not blow up your entire company.

Speaker 3 27:54

All right. Well, I'm going to say this. Here's the thing. If anybody out there is wanting to go huge, fine, go it. But I will say this If you cannot keep it together, you don't pick the right people that have the vision that you have. Eventually you will be forced to go back small, because the people that are not doing what they're supposed to be doing is going to start hitting your name, and when your name starts to go there, you're going to just naturally start going back to where you started, which, in reality, you should have just stayed right where you were.

Speaker 1 28:26

Right, that is it, and that I think, think that right there, shane is. That's why I called you this morning. I, you're such a good sport, you're such a good sport. I literally called you two minutes before we get on this podcast Cause I'm like, I just feel like Shane would add so much good, positive information for this. And we called you like, do you feel like being on a podcast? And you're like, yeah, sure, whatever so, but I wanted to hear it from your perspective, not just from a wedding planner's perspective. But I know what you've gone through, but I probably don't know half of what you've gone through.

Speaker 3 29:01

I know the surface level. Again, I know you're short on time. There's so much to talk about, but I will tell you to all those wedding professionals out there plug, I'll go anywhere in the United States. What, what.

Speaker 1 29:15

And he's worth it. Honestly, dj Shane is worth it. He's worth every single red cent. So here's what I can say. I just appreciate you, shane. I appreciate you sending us in like just sharing with us all that you've gone through and also giving some really valuable advice to all of our listeners. I could not appreciate you more. So thank you for being here. You are the very best. And thank you for being one of my dearest friends for and not just friends, but my friend or like you know what I mean. Like we've been, we've been through the trenches together, you and I, but I appreciate you on every level.

Speaker 3 29:57

Both of you, ladies, and thank you for having me on, and you know me, call me.

Speaker 1 29:59

I'm a yapper. I'll talk all day. I love having you here. We're going to have to have you back because we've enjoyed your company so very, very much, but have yourself a really great day, Shane. Thank you All right, so you know. To kind of sum up, Chrissy, what are your thoughts here as far as some takeaways and some pieces of advice that you want to leave wedding planners and wedding professionals with?

Speaker 2 30:18

I mean I think Shane just dropped some. There were so many drop the mic moments there. But to sum it up, is that it's not just that blanket statement of oh, my calendar's closed, I want to make more money, let me book a team. There's a lot more thought that needs to go into it and, like Shane said, one of the biggest things that you want to consider is the reputation that you've built and who you're going to put your star next to, because once you bring those people on, they are a representation of you and your company.

Speaker 2 30:46

There's so much more to your team, your reputation, what you're putting out there in the industry, than just being able to book client after client after client. So keep that in mind. Like Shane said, it's not all about that mighty dollar. It shouldn't be In our industry. It should not be about, you know, making sure that you're booking all these clients to make the most money. You have to consider the quality of service that you're putting out there and that also brings your team. What quality of services are your team members that you want to bring onto your team putting out there as well?

Speaker 1 31:17

And you need to figure out what you can handle how much time if you're also in the trenches with your team. How much time can you dedicate to supervising and making sure that everything that your team is doing is accurate? Because, as a from a wedding planners point of view, um, we don't work just day ups, right, we work. We we're with our clients, with all of those we have. There's approximately 5,000 details every wedding. We're dealing with those all the way leading up to this wedding. So can you trust that team that you have to actually take care of every single aspect and to do it well and it can go?

Speaker 2 31:56

wrong very quickly, and you still have to. As the owner of your company, your hands have to be all in that. Still so, now that's time. Do you, like you said, lord? Do you even have the time to keep your hands on the pulse of everything that's going on within your company? And if you don't, if right now you're drowning just with your workload.

Speaker 2 32:15

I'm going to it's just going to bring in more work for you. It's not that easy solution of I want more business, I want more work, I want, you know, higher income. You're still going to have to put in a lot more work, so just keep that in mind too.

Speaker 1 32:32

I think that that is probably the part that nobody actually ever says or tells anybody like build your team, grow your team, but they're not telling you how much work kind of goes into it. So maybe it would work better if you were willing or wanting to maybe step back and not be as busy of a planner as you once were and you want to just now kind of hand it over to the team. First you need to make sure that you are classifying your workers properly. The difference between an employer and an independent contractor is very different and every state has their own laws. So you want to make sure that you are not breaking any laws with your state and especially with the IRS. So you want to kind of look at that first. But maybe, if you're deciding to step back and you want to kind of hand over the reins, maybe you can spend that time supervising everybody. Maybe that's where your role kind of like evolves into.

Speaker 1 33:24

But a lot of times that's not what's happening in a wedding planner's mind. They're thinking to themselves I want to keep my level of weddings, but I want other wedding planners to kind of come in and take the same amount of weddings I've got right now, and you know that can. If. If it is already tough for you, like you said, just imagine what it's going to be like when you have more people to supervise and don't think to yourself well then, I just won't supervise them, I'll just have to trust them.

Speaker 2 33:52

Well, that's what Shane mentioned, that beautiful five-star rating you got. If you aren't supervising them, that can quickly go from five to three. Yeah, very quick. All the time it happens. All the time you know that people don't think about when you're wanting to keep your same workload but then have your other planners take on weddings also. If y'all are booking weddings on the same weekend and let's say that lead planner gets sick but you have a wedding that weekend, what's going to happen?

Speaker 1 34:19

yeah, what's happening? Who's going to fill it?

Speaker 2 34:22

who's going to fill exactly someone has to, or, if not, you're going to cancel that contract and then again the floodgates open for those negative reviews. It's just those are those things that we have to consider, that that blanket statement that I saw on social media. It honestly made me so mad because there's so much more that goes into it and because I know social media is that comparison game. You're an immediate reaction to some. Most people have been like oh crap, you're right, I need a team, let me, let me get a team, instead of really look within my business, see what I need, see if I can handle it, see if legally I can take this on and then go there. But that blanket statement of you your calendar's closed, get a team literally made me red inside.

Speaker 1 35:08

Well, and I think it probably makes you right inside too, because of one of the things that comes to my mind is not every personality is a means that they should lead a team. They're not. They're not not everybody's built for this, and so you've got to really make sure that that alone is at least looked at, because it is not. This is not an easy thing to lead or to be the boss of someone else. Even though most wedding planners are good at delegating and telling people what they need and where to go and why to do it, it's a totally different beast when someone's working for you and you're going to have to tell them no, I need you to stop doing it this way. You need to start doing it this way. You did wrong here. I need to do it right over here.

Speaker 1 35:53

It's hard. It's a hard thing because nobody likes to be put in that position. So you just need to make sure that you have the right personality, because you also don't want to be the kind of leader who is condescending to your team when they make a mistake or talks down to them or shames them in any way. You have to be careful that you're not that kind of person, because there are those people as well. There is a beautiful magic balance when it comes to being someone's boss, because you have to have the right amount of empathy, the right amount of strength, the right amount of firmness, the right amount of everything, because you can't be all just their friend or all just their boss. It is, there is a beautiful in-between that you have to find, and not everybody has that, so it is very, very difficult.

Speaker 1 36:40

So there's like Chrissy is saying you guys, there's a million things that you have to look at, and just when you see things on social media, that makes you second guess whether or not you're doing something right. I want you to then jump on a call with a reputable source or you know, like if you were a part of the CWP society organization, because we have free pro memberships, you have access to both Chrissy and I where those monthly workshops. You would be able to ask like hey, so I saw this, what do you think about this? We can just give you advice, because our job as educators is different than just posting some random statement on a social media platform. We take our advice very, very seriously. There's a heavy responsibility that comes with Chrissy and I's job. So we, because we have to see every angle, every perspective.

Speaker 1 37:33

So it's very, very important that, if you're listening to this, if you need just some backup to kind of have somebody to throw ideas up against the wall to see if they stick and if they're worth sticking, join the CWP Society, because on those, those workshops, those monthly workshops for our free pros, if you're a premium or a certified member, then you would get those weekly workshops we would always be available to you for you to bounce ideas off of. So thank you all for listening to the Wedding Pro Podcast. If you're not yet a member of the CWP Society, we would love to welcome you into our amazing and loving family. All you have to do is go to our website. The website address is cwpsocietycom, and that's where you can learn more and how you can join for free. I hope all of you have a really great day though. Thanks, chrissy.

Speaker 2 38:25

Bye, lori, thank you.