One of the toughest things in business is to turn away money, yet, it is something that we as business owners need to be prepared to do, especially in such a personal business as weddings. How many times have you left a meeting with a couple saying to yourself, that couple is whack (or something similar), yet you send the couple a contract and you let them book you? To be honest, I have done it, and I will say that most of the time I do regret my decision.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand that our businesses don’t run on fairy dust or even all perfect-for-us couples. However, working with a couple that clearly doesn’t at all fit, just to put extra cash in the bank, can hurt you and your business more than help. It comes back to two business concepts that we often discuss: 1) ideal client and 2) business passion. When talking about the ideal client, there is the proven concept that if we focus our limited time working with our ideal clients, our expectations of the relationship and the reality of the relationship between us and the couple matches, and their expectations of the customer journey with us and the reality of the customer journey with us matches. These matches produces a happier couple and a happier business owner. And usually fantastic reviews and referrals too.
Speaking of happier business owner, most of us started our own passion-driven business because we either didn’t enjoy doing something else, or didn’t enjoy working for someone else, or a combination of both. So, if we are going to work long hours and be completely responsible for our business, risk and all, shouldn’t we aim to work with as many of our ideal couples as possible? I know, I know, not every couple will be all peaches and cream, even if they are our ideal couple, but the more couples we work with that we enjoy, the more positive we will be, and thus the more positive our business, and thus the more positive we will be, and so on… It is a vicious cycle, but in a good way.
If you and your business need money, I understand not turning it away, but when you can turn it away, and you should turn it away, don’t fear saying no and don’t look back.
