Are you a wedding vendor? Or are you a Wedding ‘Professional’?! Go through this checklist to make sure you’re doing the 5 most necessary things for your business.
1. Get Legally Legit
The start of a business can be the most exciting and yet the most daunting part about the business. You have a brilliant idea and can’t wait to start sharing it with the world and start making that killer cash flow. BUT. You already know… or maybe you don’t… that there are some ~legal~ things to take care of first.
Get registered as a business
Are you registered as a business? No matter how small your business is or how little of money you’re making, you need to register your business. Luckily for you, this is a pretty easy thing to do. Simply google: Register my business in ____ [insert your state here]_____ to take care of that!
Here’s a quick link for my Oregon business friendors!
HOW TO GET YOUR BUSINESS REGISTERED IN OREGON
Get some legit contracts
Get the BEST CONTRACTS out there from: The Legal Paige
This is our favorite person to get contract templates from. She’s been in our actual wedding photography shoes and has graduated law school at the top of her class. She is crazily motivated to educate Creatives on the importance of having their business up to date on all things legal. So follow her word and run to go get some contract templates!
Another great Legal Contract seller is: Sam Vanderweilen
Sam sells a variety of contract templates. She’s a lawyer-turned-entrepreneur whose passion led her to helping others. We love her templates, but we love her passion for education too! Her blog is a must-read.
2. Get your finances in order
Read our blog post on “A Podcast guide to Financial Gurus” who dive deep into all financial topics like:
- Bookkeeping your income and expenses
- Paying off debt
- Organizing your bank accounts
- Investing 101
If you’re going to be a killer entrepreneur, then you gotta kill it in your finances in order to be successful – it’s that simple! In order to grow your business, you need to understand how your money works FOR you. Not you working for money!
3. Discover your brand
You’ve given yourself a name, a logo, and a website, but have you really invested in your brand’s identity?
Start with this exercise!
Discover your brand voice by asking yourself 3 questions:
- What’s the purpose of your business?
2. What’s the best and worst client experience you’ve ever had?
3. What are 10 adjectives you want people to feel when they leave a session with you?
(now narrow this down to your top 3!)
Now look back at your answers and ask yourself this question: Do you see these words and phrases on your website?! This is a quick way to see if your voice is being seen in your brand and if your website’s copy is killing it!
Then, hire a brand designer!
There’s no one else out there that we would ever recommend other than Alisabeth Designs. They custom-built our website for us right here at Alesia Films! They helped bring our creative vision to life and got us found on Google by getting us all rockin and rollin with fully optimized SEO landing pages. We’re forever grateful for them and we know you will be too! Get off of the DIY template you’re on and get your brand what it needs – a professional website that’s screaming at your ideal client and feels like home to you.
Hire a copywriter!
We love Becca Martin over at Black Diamond Copy Co.
Why?! Because she teaches us how to rethink the way we see text, sales, psychology, colors, fonts and more over there! We’re obsessed with her sales techniques and we know you will too! Check her out and join her email list – it’s our favorite.
Bonus tip!
Your brand journey will take months. Don’t rush this. So, when it’s complete, you need to plan out your content around your entire brand’s identity. This will help you stay consistent and speak to your ideal clients so that you, my friend can book those dream jobs.
Choose the right gear
There’s a joke I always tell when I’m on my mentorship calls. “Don’t listen to the Youtube boys.” When I first got started, I wasted so much money with so much pointless gear. Over on Youtube, they make the majority of their money with gear review videos to make you think you need more.
*whisper voice* “By the way… you don’t need a gimbal!!!“
After so many years, I’ve finally narrowed down my gear to exactly what I need to produce high-quality wedding films.
Click the pretty green button to get access to all the links to my gear – both big and small. I keep it real over there.
Find a Mentor
I wasn’t going ANYWHERE in my career before a mentor. I just went off of the wedding films I saw on social media and then proceeded to just go to wedding days on my own BLIND. Assuming that I would make the same thing was a joke. It wasn’t until my first mentorship call from a seasoned veteran that got some sense slapped into me. I finally became the expert I knew I was capable of being and now: I pass on the knowledge to others.
The only way we all get better is… together. Building a community is the best thing you can do for your business, hands down. Finding a mentor sooner rather than later can help you in every way possible, take it from someone who’s been there!
Interested in a Mentorship?! Click here to see if we’re a good fit!
Have you done all 5 things on this list?
Or did any of these just kick your butt into gear to get this done NOW?
Let me know in the comments!
SOLID information. Thank you!!!