Weddings Unveiled: Professional Tips And Secrets On Wedding Planning And Event Design

If you’re like me, you’ve put a lot of time and energy into building your business. But do you know if your business is protected legally? Protecting your business through contracts between you and your clients is as important as the actual work you do, especially when you are just starting out. It can be challenging to know where to start and what steps to take first.  Contracts are one of the most important legal documents in a business. They protect both parties with terms and conditions, and create expectations for how each party will behave. When you sign a contract with another company or individual, you're agreeing to abide by the specific set of rules outlined in that contract.  I’m so excited to share our guest Rob Schenk, founder of Wedding Industry Law. Rob is an attorney representing wedding and event industry professionals. He is sharing with us all about how to navigate the legal waters of business, what types of contracts are common in an entrepreneurial and event setting, why they're necessary

What would you do if you had a chance to live your dream life? Would you go for it, or play it safe and stay where you are? Sometimes the fear of stepping outside of our comfort zone and taking risks can keep us from achieving what we truly desire in life. Risk-taking is the essence of entrepreneurship and business. When you take a risk, there's always the chance it won't work out in your favor. But taking risks can be one of the most rewarding things you do for yourself and your business. The key is to minimize risk by preparing thoroughly and being confident in what you're doing.  I’m so excited to share with you our guest Erika Rothenberger, Director of Performance Systems at Henkels & McCoy, Inc. She’s going to share with us some tips on how we can take risks as business owners and entrepreneurs that will lead us closer to our dream life. Main Topics: How to next level your career How to balance it all work and home How to follow your passion and empower others Key Takeaways: Know your value Don't

You want to start a business. You've been thinking about it for a while, you have an idea that is going to change the world and now you're ready to make it happen. But you want to make sure that the timing is right.  In the world of entrepreneurship, there are no shortcuts. It takes a lot of hard work to get your business off the ground and running successfully. That's why it is important to know you're not alone in this journey and sometimes the best timing is right now! Today I’m chatting with Angela Mastrogiacomo, who teaches new agency owners how to start and scale their online agency. Angela and I chat about what she says is her secret sauce to success: Conversations and Connections. Main Topics: Relationship building to gain clients + build partnerships The power of press Why getting scrappy and starting before you’re ready will always lead to more results Key Takeaways: Building relationships is EVERYTHING The key to success is starting simply and scrappy and just doing it - no overthinking! There i

We are all on a journey. The business world can be one of the most challenging journeys to navigate. It can take an emotional toll and at times lead you down paths you never thought you would discover. In our fast-paced world taking time for ourselves so that we can reconnect with who we are as individuals allows us to better understand how our values align with our business.  Think of it this way: The spirit is your energy. Your energy is what you put out into the world. If you want to grow and expand in any area, then you need a strong spiritual foundation because that's where your "energy" comes from. When you have a strong spiritual foundation, good things happen - lots of them! You'll attract more clients and customers by presenting yourself as someone who understands how to find solutions for others. When we are on top of our spiritual game, we feel more connected to ourselves, other people, and the world around us. I’m so excited to share with you our guest, Adi Shakti, founder of, Soulwork, who shares

If you are a business owner starting out, or an established entrepreneur who is looking to update your website, this episode is for you! Websites are an important part of any company's marketing strategy. They're the first impression people get when they visit your site and can be used to promote products, services, or events. But what if you don't know how to create one? There are so many options when it comes to building a site for your business, but how do you know you are utilizing all of the tools and optimizing the experience to the fullest potential? I'm so excited to share today's guest, Gabriella Cruz, as owner of G'sign Studios she is a brand designer, website expert and the biggest cheerleader for her clients! Her passion is cheering on entrepreneurs to build their dream businesses by helping them uncover the practical and essential steps towards creating their business. Tune in as we share tips on how to make a website for your business that will not only look great but also convert visitors into

If you’re a creative professional who is serious about making big changes in your career or business, this episode is for you! Building your business on a strong foundation is the key to success.  Our guest today is Mark McGuinness, a poet and creative coach and we are talking all about the importance of creating assets for your creative career or business. Mark's background as a psychotherapist with clients such as actors, writers, directors and creatives,  inspired his decision to create a specialist coaching service for creative professionals dealing with the ups and downs of the creative industry and how they can overcome those challenges. He created a course for creative business professionals to guide them to success and outlines how they can thrive as 21st Century Creatives.  His books, Productivity for Creative People and 21 Insights for 21st Century Creatives are popular with artists of all kinds because he provides emotional sustainability whilst also addressing professional and financial sustainabi

If you have a business, which I know pretty much all of you who are listening do, then you’ll be learning from an expert about how you creatives can get yourselves together! Our guest is attorney Girija Patel, and she is going to teach us all about contracts, something that is absolutely necessary in any business. You creatives may not always think about the law side of things, but doing this stuff correctly gives you the time to focus on creating. One of the things you must understand about a contract is that it not only protects your client but also you. To protect yourself, you need to have contracts and understand them. Make sure that you know your contracts so well that you can answer any questions on them. Also, make sure that your terms are extremely detailed and that you have a moral clause. Your moral clause will give you the security of withdrawing from any transaction that is not in line with your business standards. Your contracts create legal protection for your business. Because of that crazy th

What is your communication style? How do you communicate with others? What communication challenges would you like to overcome? Setting clear communication expectations and understanding why others interact the way they do is so important to the success of a team. Today we are talking with Lauren Sikes, Founder and CEO of Truth Collecrtive all about how honest conversations save us time, energy, and heartbreak.  Lauren is a learner and a teacher. But ultimately she is a dreamer and always has been. However, somewhere along the way, she stopped dreaming. As a kid, her joy came from sports and she was a gifted young athlete and nationally ranked. However, as the accomplishments mounted, her dreams became clouded by other people's expectations, comparisons, and timelines. Thus began a decades long journey of perfectionism and fear of failure that had her playing small, underperforming, and stuck in a rut. She carried this mentality into her professional career, all to one day realize, she was tired of it all --

If you’re a business owner who feels like you’ve lost your power, our guest today is going to come in and shatter all of your doubts. She’ll help you embrace your genius and own your success! She’s really going to be your personal wrecking ball, pulling down all of the fears that are keeping you from the life you want. Our guest is Jen Coken, an expert on imposter syndrome, and we’re talking about how you can get out of your own way and gain the success you want! I’m sure you all know what imposter syndrome is, but maybe it’s difficult to see it in your own life. There are a few different types of imposter syndrome that Jen talks about, which may help you figure out if and how you are affected by it. What they all have in common is this moment in your past, usually a small experience, that made you feel like you weren’t enough. Unfortunately, this little experience may still be stuck with you and affecting your mentality. To overcome this, you’ll need to examine this experience and how it is affecting you and

In the past, we have talked about content and how it can make or break your business. Today, we are going to talk about personality types and how they affect your content creation process. Understanding who you are - and those around you - is key to creating content that is tailored for specific personalities; this will take your business from surviving to thriving! Once you understand how other people think and process information, it feels like the missing puzzle piece that completes the big picture. But at GSD Creative, we don’t think of that understanding as the missing piece, but instead as the foundation for everything. In this episode, I am diving in and sharing about each of the four personality types that make up the psychology methodology we use, and how it has become the foundation of everything we do - from team communication to how we assign tasks. We even use this methodology to help us serve our clients more effectively.  If you want to know more about how this foundational part of Angela’s bus

Today, we’re pulling back the drape and sharing some deep, deep stuff with you guys. We are definitely not holding back today, so you are in for a treat! Our guest is Eva Kaszychki, and together, we are talking about freedom and passion and inspiration. We are talking a lot about how much we all need a sense of purpose, so if you’re feeling a little lost right now, this is the episode for you.  When you’re searching for a sense of purpose, the first thing you should listen to is your intuition. Most of us spend our entire lives in our head, but life isn’t always logical. It doesn’t always make sense on paper. You have got to connect to your spirit and heart to really understand what you should be doing. Also, you may think that you have to search outside of yourself for your purpose, but the truth is, your purpose is already within you. You’ll find out what it is when you learn to reconnect with yourself.  Going after your passion or your purpose is scary, but you have to get over your imposter syndrome. If y

When it comes to growing your business, one of the things I’m asked about most often is creating content. Content is one of the most important things you can use to grow your business. But it can’t just be any content: it has to be good content that will actually help grow your business and brand. You can’t create great content by accident. You have to have a process. To create social media and other content that will actually help grow your company and brand, you have to be clear about the problem you solve and about what sets you apart from competitors who offer similar services or products. For this to happen, you need to have clarity and consistency. Let's talk about what I mean by clarity first. When I look at your website, social media pages, and images, do I know what you do? Do I feel led to learn more about you? If not, then you have some work to do. Start getting clear on the problem you solve. When all of your content clearly conveys your role, then you have the right content. The right content is

If you’ve already looked at our guest today, you might be thinking this is my sister because we share the same last name. Well, she is not my sister. I didn’t even know she existed until just recently, but I’m so glad I know her now! Her name is Krystal Proffitt, and she knows so much about podcasting from her experiences helping people create their own. So if you are interested in starting a podcast, this episode is for you! The podcast world has really taken off, so you may wonder if it’s too crowded for you to join in. Though there are so many talented people doing podcasts, it’s not as crowded as you may think. If you choose a topic for your podcasts that is too broad, then yes, it will be over-crowded. If you get very specific, however, there will be an audience for you and, surprisingly, more success. Speak to a very specific audience, and you’ll find that that audience actually exists outside of your mind.  Getting started is always the hardest part. There are two things that people usually get hung up

How do you know if you're a leader? I think that real leadership starts with having a vision and a plan for your life and business. You have to know where you want to go, what success looks like, and how you'll get there. That’s the only way you can lead a team to make your vision come to life and the only way you can decide what to focus on with so many things competing for your attention. Today, we’re talking about the need for vision in leadership. Now, my vision isn't going to be your vision. You've got to find your own. But where do you start? I recommend that you start by doing a vision board. If you're not familiar with this, it's something where you cut out images from magazines and glue them to poster board or cardboard in order of importance. When they're all put together in one place, your entire focus is clear right there for the world to see. Doing an exercise like this makes your goals and your vision visible. The next thing to do is to start working on the steps that will get you there. You can

If you’re like me, you might not have any experience with franchising. You might even be a little confused about what counts as a franchise because some people claim their business is a franchise when it really isn’t. Franchising is a lucrative practice, but you’ve got to know what you’re doing. You’ve got to do your homework. Our guest today is franchising expert Lance Graulich, and he’s going to teach us everything you need to know about franchising.  If you’re like me, you might get lots of people reaching out to you about franchising, and you might be wondering why this happens and if it is normal. According to Lance, it is super normal. If you’re an experienced entrepreneur, people know that you have what it takes to be a franchisee, and that’s why they all want you!  2020 showed us just how weak our businesses can be and how important it is to make good investments. When you’re looking into franchising, there are definitely franchises that are more recession-proof than others. For example, let’s look at

Good leadership starts with good communication. As you build your team and start to delegate and to give your team members tasks, the ability to communicate clearly is critical. The problem is that we all communicate so differently, and if we don’t have a system for communication, it can become one of the biggest time-sucks in our business.  The first thing you want to keep in mind is that your team members cannot read your mind. YOU are the leader. It is on you to be clear. It is on you to communicate. And if you can communicate in a way that honors your team members and how they process information, even better. But where do you even start with that? Last episode, we talked about finding the best apps for your business. Today, I am talking about three apps my company is using to communicate.  Right now, we are using Todoist, Marco Polo, and Loom. Each of these apps works a little differently, and they help us communicate in unique ways. I find that using more than one tool to communicate increases clarity a

Today, we’re talking about one of my very favorite things in the topic of productivity: technology. I tell people all the time that if I could just set up people’s offices with Apple technology so that they could be paperless and wildly productive, I would be in heaven. Technology is an amazing tool if used properly, but it can get out of hand when you end up with more apps and technology than you could ever use and when you end up spending more time and money on apps and tech than you’re saving. When you’re looking at using technology to increase your productivity, there are three things you want to ask yourself: First, what is the job that needs to be done here? You have to know what you're doing before you figure out how to do it or else you may spend much more time on a simple task than you should. Sometimes we get so set in our ways of doing things that we don’t take the time to think through processes and the steps it takes to get something done. So before you pull in technology, double check and make s

Pay attention, new business owners. Our guest today has something that I needed to know ten years ago, and it can fast track you as an entrepreneur. Even if you’re a seasoned business owner, you might learn something new today. Our guest, Sylvia Inks, is a finance expert, and we are talking about the five tools that every business owner needs. These tools are so helpful, and they lead to increased productivity and sanity of mind, so I know that you’ll get so many good nuggets today! As all of you small business owners know, there’s a lot to invest in when you are first starting out. Sometimes, you don’t have the funds to get it all. Out of Sylvia’s five basic tools, there is one that she suggests investing in first: a scheduling tool. Scheduling tools will arrange your appointments for you and will save you from time-consuming emails as you try to schedule appointments. Sylvia’s preference is booklikeaboss because it offers multiple appointment types. Whatever tool you use, it will definitely have a positive

If you’re like many of my clients, you might be sitting at your desk right now surrounded by piles of post-it notes or notebooks full of to-do lists. There’s so much we need to get done in a day, and I don’t know about you, but in the past, I used to look up and wonder where the day had gone. I was in meetings all day, and then I would realize I had a to-do list that was full of things to do and no time to do them! Today, I will be teaching you about time blocking, a practice that is foundational to my massive productivity. If you do it consistently, it will get you closer to your goal of having the balance and the peace of mind you crave. Time block is not time tracking. Time tracking is when you figure out how long something will take to finish. Time blocking, on the other hand, is when we block off the time in our calendar to get things done. We’re removing that disconnect between writing things down on the to-do list and actually making time to accomplish those things. When you block off time to complete

If you’re in branding, this podcast is one you’re going to want to listen to because we’re really going to dive into how to decode your story brand. Now, before you think that you know all of this stuff already, you should know that you probably don’t. Even though I work with these ideas all the time, I am always learning something new from every single person that I talk to. Our guest today is Aleya Harris. Aleya is a StoryBrand certified guide, so she has so much wisdom to share on branding.  Something you may not realize is that your brand story is not about you. It’s all about your client and how you can help them. Your client is the hero, and you are their guide. This concept comes directly from Campbell’s hero’s journey. It works so well because people naturally see themselves as the heroes of their own stories. What they need is not another hero to compete with, but a guide that can help them overcome obstacles. You want to make sure that your role as a guide and the problem that you will help your her