How To Establish Yourself As The Expert In Your Field

This week one of my companies, The Heart Bandits, was featured in Brides Magazine. The article was called, “6 Major Proposal Mistakes to Avoid, According to Experts.” In the article, I am cited as the expert in Proposal Planning. Every time an article like this comes out, at least one of my peers shoots me a text or email to ask me how I got featured in XYZ. And my answer to them is that the magazines, websites, and media COME TO ME!

But it wasn’t always that way. There are a lot of things that I had to do to establish myself as an expert in the Proposal Planning and Pop-Up Wedding Industry. I teach you many of these steps in my courses that are going to be LIVE in February!! Sign up for the waitlist here.

For now, here are 3 free tips on how you can establish yourself as an expert in your field.

Actually Become An Expert

This may seem obvious but when wondering how you can get featured in media, you have to really ask yourself, “Am I actually the most knowledgeable person in my field about this subject matter?” If not, you need to become one. Take courses on the subject matter, read all of the blogs and interviews you can find, follow all the leaders in the industry on social media, and stay on top of all of the trends. If you are in a competitive space, try to niche down so that you are the expert at a specific niche in your market. Or become an expert in your field in your city specifically. That way, when someone starts looking for an expert in your field or area, they are lead to you.

Show Your Expertise

Once you feel like you truly are the expert in your industry, start showing that off in your social media and blogs. When you start sharing valuable tips and content on social media, so many great things happen. You start to seem like an expert in your field, people start sharing your content, people start following you, and most importantly, people start seeking you out when they are in need of your services or when they want to feature your service in the press.

By now, you know I am a HUGE believer in the power of SEO. When clients or journalists look for an expert in your field, they are looking in one of two places; Google or Social Media. I’ve already talked about showing your expertise on social media. To show your expertise on your website, you are going to blog about your expertise in a way that benefits your reader. In turn, you will eventually establish yourself as an expert to Google who will start rewarding you with rankings. SEO tips and tricks is a huge focus in my courses for this specific reason.

Get Media

The most powerful way to show you are an expert in your field is to be published somewhere. If you can get featured in major media, you will instantly have clout not just with your clients but with other media. And it completely snowballs. For example, I got featured in New York Times very early on after I started my business. Did I get clients from that interview? Absolutely. But what’s more is the other big things happened. Good Morning America saw the article and wanted to interview me. Hotels saw it and wanted to partner with me. When you finally get a major piece of media, a lot of things can change.

And that is why one of the Modules in my courses focuses on how to get media. Because getting media can create such big opportunities for your business. And the truth is, it really isn’t that hard to get.

Why I Started Selling Pop-Up Wedding Packages

I started Pop The Knot, a pop-up wedding company, in 2016. At that time, I already had a wildly successful proposal planning business and had already started earning a multiple six-figure income through it. So why did I start a pop-up wedding company you ask? Well, there are a few reasons that I started that business and thought you may want to hear about them. My reasons just might resonate with why YOU should start selling pop-up wedding packages. Here are the reasons I started selling pop-up wedding packages:

Gap In The Market

I knew there were a ton of traditional wedding planners, a lot of high-end wedding planners, and many very outdated elopement package websites. But there wasn’t too much in between. Now this was before the pandemic which has sparked a high demand in microweddings, so back then, there wasn’t much out there servicing that audience. I saw a gap in the market, and I decided to fill it. And this is really why most entrepreneurs start the first of something right?

Flash forward 5 years and we now know there was indeed a big market for pop-up weddings and microweddings because vendors around the world are starting to add these services. And now is the perfect time to do it!

Already Had A Proven Business Model

Knowing how to plan a full-scale wedding is one thing. But putting together quick, streamlined, no-fuss weddings is another. I had already been selling pre-made proposal packages through The Heart Bandits. Those all inclusive packages had earned me hundreds of thousands of dollars and they were super easy to implement and very streamlined. So I thought, what if I could apply that same business model to weddings and make them simple pop-up weddings?

Turns out, it was the perfect formula and again, earned me a multiple six figure income. Now I teach people how to put together these easy packages so that they can have the same success.

Diversified My Income

At this point you might be thinking, “OK, what does this have to do with me?” Well THIS is what it has to do with you. No matter what you are currently doing right now in the wedding space, whether it be that you are an officiant, photographer, wedding venue, or Proposal Planner – selling pop-up wedding packages is a very easy way to diversify your income. Like I mentioned, my Proposal Planning business was already doing amazing when I started Proposal Planning, but what if there was a slow period? What if The Heart Bandits took a dip on SEO? You should never, EVER, rely on one source of income. And this is such a simple way to make sure you don’t.

Easy Way To Earn Additional Revenue

I am all for making extra money. But what I am not “all for” is for spending hours and hours to earn additional revenue that I don’t really need. But if you tell me, “Hey, you can make some pretty sweet money doing xyz with not too much effort,” I am all ears. Once you create the pop-up wedding packages and streamline your process, they are a very easy way to earn additional revenue without a lot of day to day work.

Did I pique your interest? Download my FREE Ultimate Guide On Selling Pop-Up Wedding Packages here:

If you think Proposal Planning might be of interest, here are 2 more FREE resources for you to check out:

Intimate Events & The Holidays

If you have been following any of my companies (The Heart Bandits or Pop The Knot), then you already know that planning intimate events are my jam. I focus on planning marriage proposals for 2 and pop-up weddings for 25 guests or less. Being a planner specializing in intimate events is good for many reasons, but today, I want to focus on one important reason.

Intimate events are extremely popular during the holidays.

Marriage proposals are very popular between November-February. In fact, most people refer to these months as “engagement season” or “proposal season.” There are a few reasons that people love to propose during the holidays.

  1. Time Off Work – People that are proposing like to take time off to travel for their proposal or even to celebrate. During the holiday season, they already typically have time off.
  2. Be With Family – Holidays are a time for family. So if a client wants to propose in a way that includes family members or even wants to celebrate with family after, the holiday months are the perfect time to propose.
  3. Perfect Time To Create A Memory – The holiday season is all about creating memories. People already tend to look back and reflect on their special holiday memories so proposing during that time makes complete sense.
  4. Engagement Rings On Sale – Many stores offer holiday engagement ring specials giving people even MORE reasons to propose during the holidays.

Likewise, pop-up weddings (which are another way to diversify your business) are also pretty popular during the holidays. The reason being is that the target market for pop-up weddings are brides that are NOT looking for traditional weddings and ARE looking for a deal. So many of them choose to get married during off-season. Additionally, these brides love to have their pop-up wedding during this time too for several reasons:

  1. Get A Deal On The Venue – Wedding venues can be more affordable during the holidays when it is not wedding season. One caveat is if the venue also caters to holiday parties. However, not all wedding venues do that so you can definitely get a great deal during this time.
  2. Get A Deal On The Dress – Many bridal stores have sales on wedding dresses during “off-season” so a bride on a budget can find a great pop-up wedding dress for a bargain.
  3. Time Off Work- Most couples looking to get married want to take some time off of work for their wedding. Since they already typically get some time off during the holidays, this makes it the perfect time to say “I Do” with a pop-up wedding.
  4. Be With Family- Many couples want their families at their pop-up weddings and many families get together for the holidays.

So what are you waiting for? If you are ready to find out how you can diversify your income in your wedding business, check out these FREE downloads!

Free Download, “3 Reasons You Must Add Proposal Planning Services To Your Business Now.”

Free Download, “The Ultimate Guide to Selling Pop-Up Wedding Packages.”

How To Diversify Your Wedding Business

Whether you are a Wedding Planner, Florist, Photographer, Videographer, venue or any other type of wedding vendor, diversifying your wedding business is a must.

We all saw it first hand during the pandemic. Businesses that relied solely on income from large weddings sadly took a big hit. And while I pray this ends soon and never comes back again, none of us can predict the next thing that will come and impact the wedding industry.

That is exactly why diversifying your wedding business should be on the top of your to-do list. In fact, if you ask any wealthy person what their secret is, 9 times out of 10 they will say, “diversification.” It is critical to have income coming in from different avenues. So HOW do you diversify your wedding business? Here are a couple of options:

1. Proposal Planning

Offering Proposal Planning is such an amazing way to diversify your services. The market is huge and the earning potential is too. It is also such a great compliment to your existing wedding business! A photographer, florist, planner, videographer, or venue can easily adapt their marketing plan to start attracting clients looking to propose. And who will that client call to photograph their wedding day? Provide their wedding flowers? Plan their wedding? YOU!!

Download my FREE resource, “3 Reasons You MUST Add Proposal Planning Services To Your Existing Services NOW!!”

2. Pop-Up Wedding Packages

When I started my Proposal Planning company, The Heart Bandits, I knew I needed to diversify. Wedding Planning made sense but the market is so saturated and bridezillas are not my jam. So I decided to start a pop-up wedding business where I sell simple, streamlined pop-up wedding packages. This is a great way to diversify because once the packages are built, they are so streamlined that they are a really simple way to get a nice cash injection into your business. And these types of weddings don’t follow any traditional wedding rules. They are popular during off-seasons and they don’t take much time to plan. These packages are great for any wedding vendor to add on and pop-up weddings, microweddings, and elopements are all the rage right now due to the pandemic. When it ends, you will have a whole new source of revenue coming in!

Download my FREE resource, “The Ultimate Guide To Selling Pop-Up Wedding Packages“

The Heart Bandits Academy is the only educator teaching you how to become a Proposal Planner. Sign up here and follow my journey from being a Proposal Planner to educator teaching students around the world how to market their business to clients looking to propose.

What is the ONE thing you need to know to about Proposal Planning?

to know the ONE thing you need to know about Proposal Planning to be successful? Of course you do! And I am so honored to be in a position to be able to share that with you.

When I first started Proposal Planning 10 years ago, there were absolutely no resources out there for me.

There were no mentors, no courses, no content ideas, no guidance whatsoever. I had to figure out how to do everything on my own.

After spending a decade planning over 4,000 proposals and earning 7 figures doing so, I can say with absolute confidence that if you want to be successful at Proposal Planning, there is one thing you must understand…

Marketing to the Proposer!

I see so many mistakes from other Proposal Planners in this area. There is a misconception that simply putting up proposal pictures and saying you’re a Proposal Planner is enough and that if you do that, clients will just start pouring in.

But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

If you want to succeed at being a Proposal Planner, you must truly understand the Proposer. You need to understand their wants, their fears, and what motivates them to buy. And I know just how to do that. If that interests you, I have a great FREE resource for you. Download my Checklist For Your Proposal Planning Marketing Strategy here.

If you want me to show you how to set up your Proposal Planning business step-by-step AND teach you my effective marketing strategies, then join the Complete Proposal Planning Blueprint™ waitlist below.

Join the Waitlist here

Join my Private Proposal Planning Community

Why Saying You’re A Proposal Planner Isn’t Enough

epic proposal idea
How Mike proposed to Candace with an intimate New York floral rooftop proposal at Ink48 and planned by The Heat Bandits Photo credit: © Petronella Photography http://bypetronella.com

I’ve been in this industry a long time. 10 years to be exact. I have seen many “Proposal Planners” come, and many of them go. The reason that I think they end up quitting is this. A lot of people think that you can simply add “Proposal Planning” services to your website and you will start getting Proposal clients. But the truth is, if you want to become a Proposal Planner, that’s not enough.

The reality is that there are several very reputable Proposal Planning companies on the market now. So if you want to throw your hat in the ring, you are going to have to do a lot more than just use the term on your website.

Now, I know what you might be thinking.

You might be thinking, UGH, this is too much work. But the reality is that anything worth having does take some time and effort to build. But successfully marketing Proposal Planning doesn’t have to be some huge, impossible, overwhelming undertaking.

In fact, in my upcoming course Proposal Planning Formula™ I will teach you everything you need to know about successfully marketing Proposal Planning.

But for now, here are some questions I want you to think about when you are wondering why you aren’t getting enough or any Proposal Planning clients? Get out a piece of paper and write the answer to these questions.

  1. Does your website and social media really speak to that audience? If not, what are some ways you can start doing that?
  2. Are you addressing their pain points? Do you understand their pain points?
  3. Do your assets make it seem like Proposal Planning is an afterthought?
  4. What would make someone trust you to plan their proposal versus other established companies?

Now I want you to really spend some time thinking how you can improve on your answer for each section.

In my upcoming course, I teach you how to properly address all of these things. But this is something you can also start doing on your own if you really want to create a transformation in your business.

I also created a FREE resource for you to help you get started on your Proposal Planning journey. It’s called 4 things you can start doing TODAY to start Proposal Planning. If you are serious about Proposal Planning, this is a great place to start.

I’d also love to invite you to our Proposal Planning Academy Tribe where you can ask questions and get support along your journey! When you join, leave a message letting us know you downloaded the resource and tell us what you are looking for in a Proposal Planning Coach.

I’ll see you there!

Think Proposal Planning Is Just Like Wedding Planning? Think Again!

marriage proposal in ballet theater
marriage proposal in ballet theater

For the established Wedding Planner, you’ve planned elaborate weddings with a lot of moving parts. (If you are new to Wedding Planning, don’t worry, this article is still for you!) You have executed flawless weddings with complicated timelines. And yes, that experience WILL definitely help you as you embark on this how to be a proposal planner journey.

But I am willing to bet that MOST of you haven’t had to organize the entire cast of the Nutcracker and make sure the proposer hits his knee as soon as the song crescendos with NO REHEARSAL! I am getting hives just thinking back on it.

Or has anyone had to work with a magician and make a client disappear in a cloud of smoke to set off a scavenger hunt? Coordinate a rose petal shower with a drone? Dress up as a Knight to play a role in a medieval proposal?

These are just some of the few crazy things I have been asked to do in my 10 year career as a Proposal Planner. And this is one of the reasons I want to address a misconception that if someone plans weddings, they can easily also plan proposals. Now, I am not saying they can’t do it, but it is not as EASY as a shift as one might think. Here are a few reasons why:

1) No Rehearsals

One aspect of Proposal Planning that is COMPLETELY different than Wedding Planning is that with a marriage proposal, there are no rehearsals. Sure, if you are a lucky and your client actually lives nearby the proposal location AND they can sneak away from their partner, they may do a walk through. But the person he is proposing to will never be there so there will always be a chance that things could go in a direction you never saw coming. And because of that, you have to see everything coming.

2) One Person Is In The Dark

As I mentioned above, one huge challenge to Proposal Planning is that one person that will be experiencing the proposal is always in the dark. With weddings, for the most part, the Bride and the Groom are in on what is going to happen that day. Sure there might be a surprise here and there, but mostly they are on the same page. However, with Proposal Planning, the person being proposed to is NOT on the same page. They are not even on the same book. They have no idea what is going to happen, which way they should walk, how they should stand, how to react, how to dress, etc. And because of all of this, the Proposal Planner has to anticipate what she will do, how she will walk, where she will stand, how she will react and then have a plan B if she does not do any of that.

3) Requires Different Vendors Often

One thing that I love about Wedding Planning is that you can use the same vendors over and over again. You always need a venue, officiant, photographer, florist, musicians, and rental company. And with Proposal Planning, you do use some of the same vendors too. But as a Proposal Planner, you will be frequently asked to find vendors you have never worked with before. One day you may be researching a helicopter or private jet, the next day you are asked to find an opera singer, a fire dancer, or to rent baby pugs. You are just always on your toes with Proposal Planning, there is never a dull moment.

4) Demands A Different Marketing Strategy

The first 3 reasons I gave above are all in regards to how different it is to actually PLAN a proposal. The obvious elephant in the room is that before you can even start planning proposals, you have to adapt a completely different marketing strategy than what you use for Wedding Planning just to get the clients in the door.

And this is why most of Wedding Planners will throw in the towel and say, “I don’t have time,” “I don’t know how to market Proposal Planning,” “Or this sounds too hard.” But not you!

You are here because you are an innovator.

You take risks when you believe the risk will be rewarding.

So today, I challenge you to download my FREE “Top 3 Reasons You MUST Add Proposal Planning Now” PDF. You see, there is a way to learn how to leverage your existing skills and apply it towards being a successful Proposal Planner and Proposal Planning marketer. All you need is a coach, a cheerleader, a mentor. And I got you!! I am confident once you see the benefits to adding Proposal Planning to your services, you will be motivated to make time to get started.

I wish I had a Proposal Planning Coach 10 years ago when I first started Proposal Planning. But I am passionate about sharing everything I know about Proposal Planning with you so that you can learn from my mistakes and launch quickly.

5 Thoughts That Are Holding You Back

how to be a proposal planner
how to be a proposal planner

Have you ever wanted something really bad but you’ve talked yourself out of it with self-sabotaging thoughts? Well if you are human, my guess is that your answer is yes. We all do this, but the trick to fighting back the self-doubting thoughts, is to understand that it is just noise. The thoughts aren’t real, they are just worries manifested into negative thoughts in your mind.

If you have thought about offering Proposal Planning services to your existing Wedding Planning business, but still not taken action, I have an idea of what you might be thinking. As a Proposal Planning Coach, I encounter students with similar thoughts over and over. Do these thoughts sound familiar?

1. I Don’t Have Time

This is one of the most common reasons that I hear Wedding Planners say that they have not yet started offering Proposal Planning services. And I get it, believe me I do. I am a mother of a 5 year old daughter (currently screaming right now and trying her best to distract me) and a 22 month old son, a wife, and the owner of 4 companies. So I know a thing or two about being busy. But it isn’t time that I don’t have, it’s time to WASTE that I don’t have. And if you really think about it, isn’t that the truth for you too? If you knew you could offer Proposal Planning easily and start making money right away, would you find the time to start the process? I am betting that you would. But understandably, if you don’t know where to start and you don’t understand the benefits of offering it, the venture could certainly fall under the “I don’t have time” category.

2. People Will Think I Am A Jack Of All Trades

As a Wedding Planner, you have worked your butt off to establish yourself. You likely have your wedding business up and running and producing a steady clientele. The last thing you want to do is muck up your website and start offering a new service which distracts your brides from your brand. After all, what you are doing in your wedding business IS working. So if it’s not broke, don’t fix it, right? But I am here to tell you, it does not have to be that way. If you just throw up “proposal” words and proposal pictures on your website without a strategy and a very solid plan, I could see that this could be an actual fear. However, if you have a plan to add Proposal Planning in a thoughtful and intentional way, you can successfully speak to both the bride AND the proposer without confusing either of them.

3. I Won’t Get Clients

The fear of failure is in us all. But as an entrepreneur, we are hardwired to take risks. And the motto of any successful entrepreneur should be that, “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” – Robert F. Kennedy. So yes, I get it. You are scared that you will start offering Proposal Planning services and that no one will inquire. But if you never start trying, you will DEFINITELY not get any Proposal Planning clients. And besides, you are only fearing this possibility because you don’t know yet how to go about things. But if you knew the strategies to implement, or you had a solid game plan in how to get Proposal Planning clients, it wouldn’t seem so scary.

4. I Don’t Know How To Market To These Clients

This is a legitimate concern. But you wouldn’t have chosen to NOT start your wedding planning business simply because you didn’t know how to start a wedding planning business right? You only don’t know how to market to a Proposer, because you haven’t learned how yet. If you truly want to start offering Proposal Planning services, you can easily learn how to be a proposal planner by learning how to market to this client.

5. It Will Be A Waste Of Time

This is what I feel the number one fear of any entrepreneur, or maybe even any person is. Time is our most limited commodity. And we will give it to what we love and feel passionate about. But wasting time feels like a kick to the gut, so every decision we make in regards to where to invest our time, has to feel like it won’t be a WASTE of our time. But there is an easy solution to combat this negative thought – simply make sure you have a road map! When you start offering Proposal Planning, you aren’t just going to go into it blindly. You are going to have a plan and a roadmap that will make sure that you can do things easily and efficiently as possible.

Now that I have helped you combat your self-doubting thoughts about starting offering Proposal Planning services, here is what I want you to do! Download our Top 3 Reasons You Should Start Offering Proposal Planning NOW and 5 Reasons That Proposal Planning and Wedding Planning Is The “Perfect Marriage.”  This will help you understand exactly why you need to start offering Proposal Planning services to your wedding planning business. We will soon launch a webinar to help you learn how, so stay tuned for that as well. I can’t wait to see what you do with this information!!

5 Reasons To Take Advantage Of The Quarantine & Level Up Your Wedding Business

I hear it all the time, “I want to start offering Proposal Planning services, but I just don’t have the time.” And believe me, I get it. I too am a very busy entrepreneur and under normal circumstances, would have had a hard time even finding time to post on Instagram, let alone launching a new service. But you and I have been given a gift during this quarantine, the gift of time. And what better way to use this time than to level up our business and do something that could earn an additional stream of revenue that can last for the life of your business. Here are 4 reasons that you need to take advantage of this downtime and expand on your wedding services:

1. Now Is The Perfect Time To Get Focused

Before you start offering a new service, you really need to get focused and figure out the best approach to adding the service to your wedding business. If you were right in the middle of wedding season, when would you have time to do this? Chances are, you wouldn’t. It would get put on your endless “to-do list” that gets longer every day, and may never ever take off. Use this time to get laser focused on adding Proposal Planning services to your existing brand because you will never get this moment back and never have this type of an opportunity again.

2. Opportunity To Take A Course

When your business is in full swing, do you really have time to take courses to expand on your knowledge and grow your business? I know I never do. So now that you have more free time, you can enroll in courses which will help you add a new service to your wedding business. Whether you sign up for Proposal Planning training or just a course on how to grow your Instagram account, the investment you make into your business right now will pay off in the long run.

3. You Have More Time To Launch

Launching any new service can take some time. You have to come up with a strategy, add the new service to your website, update all of your social media and more. If you were trying to do this during Wedding Season, it would take a LOT longer than it would take if you were to get started now. Even though you still have work to do and you still have marketing to manage for your Wedding business, you do have more time than you would normally have. So use this time to move closer to your goals. If you are craving growth and you want to diversify your income, it is the perfect time to add another service to your Wedding Planning. And I believe that perfect service is Proposal Planning.

4. You Have Time To Create Content

Another potentially time consuming aspect of launching a new service is creating the content to promote it. But during this situation, don’t you find that you have a little more time than you typically do? If so, it is the perfect time to start creating content for the new service that you are launching. Take this time to create content in advance and get it all scheduled. That way, when the quarantine lifts and you get back to your normal busy self, the content will already be in place and can start working for you!

5. More People Are Online

The top reason that you should launch a new service during the quarantine is because right now, more people are online than they ever will be again. Millions of people are quarantined and spending way more time online as a result. Which makes this a very unique opportunity to promote your new service to your target audience. All eyes will be on you as you announce your new service and start to target your new audience. If you target some really great keywords and hashtags, your visibility could go through the roof due to how many people are online these days.

This also gives you an opportunity to network with other professionals that can help you grow your new service. For example, if you are going to launch Proposal Planning services, you can use this time to reach out to other companies that you want to build relationships with. Chances are, business is slow for them right now too and they will welcome the opportunity to network with a new vendor.

If adding Proposal Planning to your Wedding Planning business intrigues you, then I encourage you to head over to  www.theheartbanditsacademy.com and grab one of our FREE DOWNLOADS.  In them, we discusses the Top 3 Reasons You Should Start Offering Proposal Planning NOW and 5 Reasons That Proposal Planning and Wedding Planning Is The “Perfect Marriage.”  This will help you find out if adding Proposal Planning to your Wedding Planning business could be right for you.  I hope to see you there!