Lessons learnt in the Dominican Republic

So today I'm gonna be talking about that and sharing what I've learned that you can implement into your wedding business. I'm Becca Pountney, wedding business marketing expert, speaker and blogger, and you are listening to The Wedding Pros who are Ready to Grow podcast. I'm here to share with you actionable tips, strategies, and real life examples to help you take your wedding business to the next level.

If you are an ambitious wedding business owner that wants to take your passion and use it to build a profitable, sustainable business doing what you love, then you're in the right place. Let's get going with today's episode. Today I wanna give a little bit of a shout out to some of my incredible Wedding Pro lounge members.

The Wedding Pro Members Lounge is for wedding business owners who want additional support, accountability, and to learn from incredible guest experts and keep on growing in their wedding business. Every month now, each month, we get together for a lounge call where we look back on the previous month, set goals together for the month ahead, and they get the chance to meet each other as well. Now at the start of this, Week's call.

I asked people to share some of their wins from the last month, and I wanted to share some of them with you because I wanna give a shout out to my incredible members. And also I think it's inspiring to hear what other people are doing. So I'm not gonna name them because I didn't ask them if I could do this, but I am gonna shout out some of their wins. So some of my members, one of them was a guest on a podcast and had an absolutely great time.

I had one member who has quoted for a couple with a massive budget, the biggest budget that they've ever done. One of my other members said that the last four consultations they've had were amazing and all with ideal couples. Again, you'll know that if you are looking for certain kinds of couples when you start getting them into your business, you know you're doing the right thing with your marketing and your messaging.

One person returned from a holiday and had two replies to their inquiries, which is always nice when you've had a break. one person had a five star review, someone else said they're nearly fully booked for the week ahead. And finally, one of my members got a huge contract to perform at a TikTok staff event. So shout out to you if you're in the members lounge and you've had an incredible win. I always love to hear about it.

And if you're listening to this and something great's happened in your wedding business from something you've implemented, maybe something you've learned on one of these podcasts, drop me a message at Becca Pountney. I always love to hear from you. And if you're in business and making money and you want additional support and community, you should definitely check out the Wedding Pro members lounge. As well. Just ask me for more information. Okay, let's get onto it then.

The Dominican Republic, oh my goodness. It was the most incredible country I've never been before. Don't know if you have, it was beautiful. I've never seen sea, so crystal blue in all my life. It was stunning. And I hope to be able to go back there on an actual holiday at some point rather than on a work event.

So in this episode today, I just wanna share with you some of the things that happened, some of the things I learned along the way, and hopefully they'll inspire you on your wedding business journey this week.

Now, the first thing I wanna say is I want you to know that you should say yes to opportunities even when they feel a little bit uncomfortable, and even when your head comes in with all the self-limiting beliefs that we tend to have now, I was actually only invited to speak at this event about four weeks before the event itself. So I received out of the blue a letter inviting me to come and be a speaker, in four weeks time.

And my initial thought that popped into my head was, That's a long way, and that's too soon, and it would've been very easy to say no because it's too soon. Well, I actually looked in my diary and the dates that they'd sent me. I did actually have gaps in my diary for those dates, so I was available to make the date. So actually there wasn't really a reason to say no. Being a little bit last minute probably wasn't a reason I had space in my diary.

It was an incredible opportunity that I would've been crazy to turn down. And so despite everything within me saying no, and despite making sure I had 24 hours to think about it before I responded, I said yes. And I'm so glad I did because I would've missed out on so many great experiences. The people I met out there. If you're listening and I met you there, you are amazing. I met so many wonderful, incredible people while I was out there. Everyone was so friendly. I went on my.

Own, which is scary. It is a long way, but people made me feel really welcome. And actually sometimes when you go to these things on your own, you make better connections because you're forced to make friends, you're forced to find people to speak to, and you meet some of the most amazing people as well. So do I have any regrets about going? Absolutely not. Am I glad I said yes to the opportunity? A hundred percent. I really am. No regrets at all. I absolutely loved it. I learned so much.

I met some great people. And I'm sure I'll be working with many of the people I met for the years to come as well. And if that's you, then, thank you for making that such an enjoyable trip and such an enjoyable experience for me. So the lesson learned is that actually sometimes we do need to step back. When something comes our way, an opportunity, and it feels maybe a little bit uncomfortable or our head starts telling us all of the reasons we shouldn't do it, give yourself some space.

And realize that's just your own head, giving you those self-limiting beliefs. And actually why not just say yes, these opportunities don't present themselves all too often. We know that often if you say no to an opportunity, it might not come around again. And if it works and you can do it, then to say yes, don't let confidence hold you back. So that's the first thing. I'm so said. Yes, opportunity. Got opportunity coming up or presenting itself to you over the next month or years.

Think about it and just say yes. Even if it makes you feel uncomfortable, what's the worst that can happen? And you might just find that something amazing happens as well. Okay, my next learning was actually from one of the talks that was given on the first day by a wonderful lady called Lynn.

And she was speaking about lots of different things, but one thing she said really stuck with me and it was a quote, and I'm gonna read the quote to you now, and I think this will resonate with some of you. You will never regret taking the holiday, but you will regret the ones you didn't take. I'm gonna say that again. You will never regret taking the holiday, but you will regret the ones you didn't take.

Now, I wrote this down straight into my notebook during the session because that really resonated with me. I think as entrepreneurs. We are so often our own worst enemies. We're maybe chasing after success, whatever our version of success is. The world tells us that working really hard and earning more and more and more money is the definition of success, which isn't necessarily true, and we can put a lot of pressure on ourselves to work really hard and to work more hours than we want to.

And I speak to so many of you that say, oh, we haven't got time to go on holiday, or, I don't wanna take time out of the business to take a day off, cuz my to-do list will just get longer. Actually, it's so, so important that we do take the break, that we do take the holidays, that we do go on a spa day or go out for coffee sometimes with a friend instead of tackling that to-do list. Now obviously we need to have a balance, but actually taking a break is a win. Taking a holiday is a good thing.

It helps us be more productive and what I find when I take a holiday is that it gives me that head space to think about new ideas because I'm not in the moment. I'm relaxed. I'm having fun with my family, and it's definitely true. That quote, you never regret taking the holiday. I've never been on a holiday and thought. I wish I hadn't been on this holiday, and I've really lived that this year with my family.

We went, on holiday in May, and we've actually booked to go away again in August because actually we had such an amazing time. We're so relaxed, and if we can take the holiday, why not? Take it. I take most of the summer holidays off myself anyway, because I have the kids at home and I have to work with them. Now, I know I could work really hard all summer holidays and maybe bring in some more money into the business, but actually it's not always about that for me.

So, I want you to reflect on that. If you are the person that never takes the break, never takes the holiday, feels like they've gotta keep on working harder and harder and harder to earn more and more money, and that they kind of punishing yourself and not taking a break, then take a look at your diary and put some time in for you, your family. You will never regret taking the holiday. You'll regret the ones you didn't. Take. Love that.

Thank you for sharing that quote, Lynn, if you are listening. Okay. The next learning number three that I had while I was out in the Caribbean was actually from one of the lovely people I met. I met her on the first night. And one of the flaws in my personality, especially when I go to events like this, is when people start talking to me about their business. I can't help but just get super over involved and start doing a little bit of coaching or teaching in those conversations.

So they think they're there for a nice, relaxing drink, and then they get talking to me and probably instantly regret it, or maybe not. I don't know. It's definitely something that I struggle with because sometimes I think maybe I should just keep quiet and let them talk about their business. Anyway, on the first night at the drinks, I met this lovely girl. We had a wonderful chat about her business.

And I was doing my usual thing of doing loads of posts and popping them on Instagram and doing little Instagram stories. And so we started chatting about posting on Instagram and I asked her about her own Instagram, can I follow you on Instagram? Can I tag you on Instagram? And she was like, oh, I don't really do social media very much for my business. I don't really do Instagram at all. I hardly ever post.

Now you can imagine my response was Why on earth, not like why, like you're at this amazing event. You are in the Dominican Republic. There is so much to talk about. Don't tell me you haven't got any content to share. You can take photos of everything that's happening here and share on your social media. It's really good for your business. It's really good for your visibility. And yeah, basically the poor person got a huge talk from me and we had a good conversation about it.

But when I got to the heart of the reason, and I think again, this will resonate with some of you, the reason that she wasn't posting on social media was not because she didn't have content. It was actually because she felt a bit cringy. And she said she felt like she was showing off and she felt like she didn't wanna post because people didn't wanna hear what she had to say and actually like, why did she need to be doing that? And she'd rather stay silent.

Now we had a really interesting conversation and as I said, I get over involved and I challenged her to reset her mindset and stop thinking and worrying so much about herself. And start thinking about her followers. So, as I say, quite frequently when it comes to business, I think we should always have an attitude of service. So I encouraged her to think about her social media platforms differently. Stop thinking about, oh no, I'm just really cringey. No one wants to hear from me.

I'm gonna embarrass myself. What's everyone gonna think? But instead, turn that around and think, okay, who are my potential customers? Who's following me on social media? And how is what I'm doing, going to serve them. How am I helping them solve a problem today? How am I encouraging them or inspiring them in what they're doing today?

Now she worked in travel, so I said to her, well, if I was going on a trip to the Dominican Republic, for example, and you were sharing really great insights about the places I should eat, the things I should do, the weather, the hotels, what's really great, why I should pack, all of those things are amazingly helpful for someone that's never been there before. And actually, It's a real service. I'm not looking at that content thinking, oh, here she goes again.

Don't like keep seeing her popping up on social. What I'm actually thinking is, this is really helpful. Thank you for posting this. Please post more of it. So when we start changing our thinking and realizing, okay, this isn't actually about us, it's about the people that are following us and about how we are able to serve them, help them, help them grow, and obviously as part of that remain more visible.

The other thing I explained to her was the attitude of service towards the other people that were hosting the event. So we were talking about posting about the event itself and how she didn't wanna look like she was showing off to people about being in the Caribbean. So, Now, obviously this gave me a little pang of guilt for a second cuz there's me just posting left, right, and center about being there.

And then I said to her, well this is why I do it, because actually I'm serving the people who have put this event on. We're in the Caribbean. Yes. And it's amazing, but there are some staff who have worked incredibly hard. So number one, put the event on. Number two, the hotel that's hosting it, the chefs that have spent. Hours making the most incredible food displays, the photographers, all of the florist decor, or the people who are involved in making that event happen.

Actually, it would be a disservice for me not to share their work with the world, not to say thank you, not to say, wow, look at this incredible food display at this hotel. Look at the amazing floral decorations, that this event has. Pulled together. Look at the incredible speakers who have come all this way to share their knowledge with us.

And so actually when we're posting on social media and we're tagging people and we're talking about other people and how amazing they are, again, that's an attitude of service. Those people have worked really hard in that job, and we're actually not showing off with thanking them for all of the things that they've done. So I hope that this encourages you as well.

If you are someone that thinks, I hate posting on social, I don't wanna show off, I don't wanna talk about me, well start changing that mindset and think, right, how am I serving other people? How am I serving the people that follow me on these platforms and helping them and being visible? And how am I serving other people that I'm posting about to make their day even better now. Through the week, she started posting more regularly.

I think she had my voice ringing in her ear again, apologies for that. But she started posting and she came back to me the next day and said, I've been posting quite frequently on my Instagram. I've been doing all the things you said. I've changed my mindset. And she said to me, I've had more interaction over the last 24 hours on my Instagram profile than I have had ever. So it works. Showing up works, being visible works. People do wanna hear from you.

Just think about it as an attitude of service rather than worrying all of the time what people are thinking about it. And if that's you, I encourage you today think about what you could post to serve somebody else and start making their day better. Okay. The next thing I wanna talk about, taking a totally different train of thought is all about business cards. Dunno about you.

I feel like business cards are becoming a thing of the past, but they are still really useful when you go to these events, you meet loads of people, you are given loads of business cards. I tend to shove them in my bag and then try and remember which ones I wanna follow up with later. And also because I was flying, I didn't have loads of room. I didn't wanna take loads of business cards. And also I feel like if I give out business cards, people do the same to me.

They just stick 'em into their pocket and go away and forget about it. So I decided this time to implement a virtual business card and a QR code. So essentially what I did is on Canva, I created a bunch of, Instagram story size things, for my phone images. And each one had different information on, so I had one that had a photo of me and my contact details on it, and then all of the other ones had QR codes on them. So I had one for the podcast with the name of the podcast, and then a QR code.

I had one for the Instagram, my Instagram with the QR code. I had one for my course with a QR code as well, and I made them all on Canva, saved them, downloaded them all to my phone, and I've saved them in an album on my phone called Business Cards.

Now, the reason this is working well for me is number one, I don't have to carry a business card anymore, and I don't have to worry about people putting it in their phone, but I can also present them with whatever is the most useful thing based on the conversation we've had. So if I'm chatting with someone and we end up talking about the podcast and how much I think the podcast will help them, I can just. Pull up the podcast thing in my phone.

They can scan the QR code right there, and then I can tell them to follow the show. And then I know that they're getting that into their podcast inbox every single week, and they've got the podcast and it's all great. Same with Instagram. If that seems to be a good place to connect, I'll say to them, just scan the code right now while you're here. Jump onto my Instagram. Yep, that's me. Hit follow. Drop me a message. Let's chat further in Instagram.

Or if they do want my traditional contact details, they can just take a photo of my phone. So it's working really well for me. It really does take away the faff of the business card. It means you can have multiple versions of your business card. So for you, you might be able to save some of these with a QR code to your pricing packages, or you might be able to have one that goes to your contact form. You might have one that goes to your Instagram.

You might have one that is just more of a traditional one. Save them on your phone, put them under an album like, I said, call it business cards or something so you can easily pull it up. You don't have to go through 5 million other photos to find it, and then you can use that going forward for people to either take photos of or to scan those QR codes. If you dunno how to make a QR code, you can make them in Canva. It's very easy to make. It doesn't cost anything.

You can do it on the free version of Canva and then you can add that in. As well. And basically it means someone can just scan it and then it takes them to whatever website U R L you have put in on that QR code. If you get any questions about how to do that, technically do drop into my inbox at Becca Pountney on Instagram or Facebook, and I can point you in the right direction. But definitely one to think about.

Definitely a learning I've had from that trip that it's working really well, specifically because I can point people to the right thing as well. So if they wanna talk to me more about my course, I can send them straight to that. If they wanna talk to me more about the podcast, I can send them straight to. And it doesn't have to be one size fits all because it never is. These conversations go in different tangents depending on what you're talking about at the time.

So I encourage you for your next networking event or conference that you're going to, or even just to have on your phone in case you have a chance encounter with someone that's interested in what you do. You never have to worry about whether you're carrying a business card again, cuz we're pretty much always carrying our phones. Get those saved in your phone and you'll be ready to go. Okay. A couple more things from the Dominican Republic for me to share with you.

First of all, I wanna share with you that in life we're taking stepping stones, not leaps. And when you see someone else's success, it's just the next stepping stone. Now obviously, speaking of the Dominican Republic was probably one of the biggest things I've done in the wedding industry. I absolutely loved it and it was an incredible opportunity. Now if. People have just met me there, or maybe you've followed me on Instagram. Maybe you've only come across me recently on this podcast.

You can look at that and think, wow, that's an amazing opportunity. I wish I could do that, and I want to remind you when you see things like that on social media and you think, I wish I had those opportunities, that for that person or for me, it's the next stepping stone in a much longer journey that you may not have seen.

Now, I'm privileged to have people in my world that have been with me since I started this business way back in 2016, and they really have seen every stepping stone of the journey they've seen, the things I've done and how I've got to where I've got to today. But you may not have seen that. And when you look at other people online, you look at other wedding professionals who are doing big weddings or speaking at events or doing these incredible things, and you might think, I wish that was me.

You don't necessarily see their backstory. So yes, I did have an amazing opportunity to speak on this big stage. Actually, there's a huge backstory to that. I've spoken in tiny little conference rooms. I've spoken in little tiny meetings. I've spoken in memberships online, all of the things that don't look so glamorous, but I've been doing for years to build and build up to this point. Now I've got a friend called Lucy Superfox. Some of you may have heard of her. I think she's wonderful.

And we were actually messaging just last week about this same thing because the week after I was in the Dominican Republic, she was speaking on stage in Las Vegas and. Again, looked incredible online on her Instagram and people were like, wow, that's amazing.

But we had a little chat in the dms to remind ourselves of what journey we've been on, because way back in, I think it was probably 2017, 2018, we actually spoke together at this tiny event in Milton keynes it was a little brunch event to some female entrepreneurs. It was a lovely morning. We both spoke, to a small room of people in Milton Keynes and. I just said to her, isn't it incredible that we met at this event where we were both speaking in these tiny little event?

And now over the last couple of weeks, we've both spoken on these huge international stages. What's a journey It's been, but that journey has been years long. Now. We've done the stepping stones. We've taken one step after the next step, after the next step. So when you see somebody else's success in the industry, Don't beat yourself up. Don't think, why isn't that me? Realize there's been a whole raft of stepping stones to get to that point.

And if that's where you want to be, you absolutely can start stepping on those stepping stones to get there. Based on some of the things, the messages I got in the Dominican Republic, I'm gonna start a new program, which is gonna be launching in September.

More details will be coming soon for people who want to go on that journey, who want to be on stage, who want to be having more of a bigger presence, interviewed on podcasts, maybe even starting their own podcast, but don't quite know how to get there. I'm gonna show them some of the steps in that journey. But instead of looking at other people and thinking, I wish that was me, you need to look at other people and realize that's just one step in a longer journey. And I can get there too.

I just need to start taking the smaller steps as well. And if looking at other people's stuff on social media makes you feel rubbish, just stop following them. Like, we don't have to follow our competitors. We don't have to follow these. Big names in the industry that seem like they've got it all together. We don't have to do that. If that is having a negative effect on you, then switch it off.

Okay. The final thing that I wanna share with you this morning that I learned while I was out in the Dominican and before I went and probably after I came back as well, is this idea and I'm, I've spoken about it before and it's really stuck with me since I heard Carrie Wilkerson speak about it at an event and it's stop worrying about what they think because who are they anyway? So often we worry about what other people think about us.

I know you are listening to this and even if you're like, I don't care what people think of me, probably deep down, really you do. We do struggle with this and we do worry about what other people are thinking and we often say, oh, I don't wanna post on social because what will they think? I shouldn't do this event cuz what will they think? But actually when you start to think about who they are, it's just a figment of our imagination most of the time. It doesn't really happen.

And whenever I go on one of these big trips, this invades my mind because I'm female and I'm a parent and I've got two young children who I adore, and I started this business to spend more time with them. And it really shocks people that I could go away for four days to speak at a conference and leave them behind.

And often I'll get comments from other parents in the playground or you know, people making jokes or whatever it is about the fact that I'm going away and swanning off on these holidays. Obviously I'm not, I'm working hard, but. We can really worry about what people think and that can stop us doing stuff. Actually, we don't need to worry about what they think, because if you've made a decision as an individual, as part of a family to do something and to take an opportunity, then.

It doesn't matter what anybody else thinks about it. The other reason we worry about what they think is we worry about this idea of imposter syndrome. So, you know, you think almost if someone catches me out, anyone else think that happens if they realize I'm not such a good florist? What if they realize that I'm just so and so who's a photographer and I'm not really an expert? And we start worrying about being caught out now. I'm the same.

I worry people will question my authority, like, how dare she speak on stage about marketing? What does she know about this subject? what is her experience? And actually this happened to be while I was away, someone said to me over dinner, what's your experience anyway? Have you even ever owned in a wedding business? And my gut felt sick cuz I thought, uhoh, someone's gonna catch me out. They're gonna realize, I dunno what I'm talking about, which is ridiculous.

And I took a breath and I thought, actually I don't care what they think, I know what I'm doing. So I explained to them a little bit about my backstory. I'm not sure they were that interested. I think they were kind of having a little bit of a dig and. You know, sometimes these things come from a, a different place, or maybe I interpreted it wrong.

But it really played into that insecurity about worrying about what they think, because you know, I do hear a lot of wedding educators who talk about their six figure wedding business, and I don't have that experience. I, I never had a six figure wedding business. Now I did have a wedding business. I understand what it's like. I owned a wedding videography business. It was successful, but it was never a massive. Huge six figure business. But you know what?

I do have my own experience, which allows me to do what I do now, and that's experience that many people who maybe owned a six figure wedding business don't have. I worked in television, I worked in radio, I've worked in marketing for some huge clients. I understand. Email marketing. I understand marketing on the radio.

I understand all of these things and I've had lots of lived experience and I've helped people over the years grow their wedding businesses and I've helped other people grow hugely successful wedding businesses through that marketing knowledge. Not because I had a six figure wedding business, but actually because I understand how marketing. Works. So I'm glad that that insecurity didn't last with me too long. But I think these things can impact us. We worry about being caught out.

We worry that people will think we're not good enough. But actually each and every one of you has your own experience. You have your own mind. You have your own worth that you bring to this world. And actually, it doesn't matter what anybody else thinks of you because you know that you're good at what you do deep down and you know that you've got the experience to do it. And you know that you can create incredible wedding days for people.

And you know, you can make amazing decisions and decide what opportunities to take or what wants to turn down. And I wanna encourage you if you are worrying about what they think or what they might say, just remember who's they anyway, and what does it matter. It really doesn't. All in all my experience out in the Caribbean was incredible. If you've never been to the Dominican Republic before, oh my goodness, I recommend going. It is an eight hour flight for the uk, but it went fast.

I watched lots of films and it was worth it. I was only there for a few days. But definitely worth the travel. Not too bad for my jet lag. I loved every minute of it. The people were friendly. If you're looking for a holiday destination, I definitely recommend the Dominican Republic. It was beautiful, and hopefully by me sharing some of my lessons with you today, you've learned a little bit more and had some more thoughts for your wedding business too.

If you've enjoyed this episode, I would love for you to either follow the show if you're not already. Or to leave me a review. When I first started the podcast, lots of people left me reviews, but as it's been going on, obviously it's not top of your mind, and less people have done that, and I would really love it if you have been listening to the show a long time, or maybe you've only recently discovered it, please do. Go ahead and just leave a little review.

It means the world to me to see what you have to say, and also it helps other people find the podcast. So if you could do that, I would really appreciate it. Feel free to drop me a DM and let me know you've done it as well, so that I can thank you personally. Hopefully you found this episode helpful. If you need anything, you can find me at Becca Pountney on Instagram and Facebook, and I'll see you all next time.