This week on Planner’s Lounge, we are sharing the stories of how four different wedding planners changed the course of their business and careers to better fit their lifestyles and passion. I’m continually fascinated and excited when I hear about event professionals making positive changes to be happier, more successful and less stressed. Yesterday, I shared my story about the big changes I made at my planning company in the past few years.

Today, we feature the story of Dana and Chelle from Revel and Bloom.   They recently merged their planning companies and share the challenges and advantages of their transition.

 

Dana:

In early 2010, my second year in business, I had a baby. As most new parents know, there is a huge transition when relearning how to find balance, especially if you’re a working mom. My wedding planning business merely existed, it certainly wasn’t thriving. That’s not to say that my clients were suffering – on the contrary. My clients took all of my extra energy and time, after my son, but the business itself was stagnant. I wasn’t networking like I should, my website needed updating, my blog had taken a distant last place. I jumped into this past wedding season with a huge monkey on my back. While I spent all my work hours on my clients, I knew I was neglecting a huge part of revel & bloom- the part that needed attention in order to keep getting the type of clients with whom I loved to work. As the season went on, the demands of a newborn were lessening quite a bit as my son turned into a toddler. Knowing that networking in this industry is imperative, I made a concerted effort to accept most invitations that came my way. Even though I can be quite shy, I am a social person. I love hearing other’s stories and ideas. Networking really helped bring me out of the bubble I had been in for the previous year. I started to feel more invigorated and knew I was at a huge turning point in my business when I met Chelle.

Chelle:

I met Dana about half-way through my first year flying solo. My business, Priority One Events, was in its infancy stage and I was quickly realizing how much I missed working with a “team”. Prior to spreading my wings, I had spent several years planning corporate events from the safety and comfort of a downtown office with a corporate team to share ideas with. Working as a corporate event planner was a great way for me to get exposure to the industry and create a strong foundation. However, during my last year in this safe paycheck filled bubble, I found myself missing my family during my 60 hour weeks and wanting more independence and control of my future. Taking the leap of business ownership was inevitable for me, but I never imagined how lonely it would be. It didn’t take long after meeting Dana to realize that I had found a perfect partner to team up with.

Dana:

Another business aspect I had put more effort in this past summer was the use of Twitter. It paid off! I connected with quite a few wedding professionals through the social media site, one of them being Chelle. We finally met in person and I felt that we hit it off right away. I left our first meet-up feeling that, at the very least, I had a good new connection. After that, we saw each other at a couple of networking events, and then started planning on attending them together. It was great talking to someone else in the biz. I knew she had just started out in the wedding industry and I enjoyed sharing the things I had learned the hard way and really appreciated her knowledge of the Denver industry. Although she had just started her business, she had been working events in Denver for a long time. Since I had moved to Denver from New York City a few years ago, it helped to hear inside information on various topics. We exchanged ideas and stories and it reminded me how much I missed co-worker interaction. I have to admit, I was also pretty amazed that she was balancing her start-up, a full time job, three kids and a husband.

Chelle:

After a few months of networking together and comparing notes, we finally decided to get together and talk about the possibility of merging. What a sight we must have been at Village Inn with our laptops, iPads, files and bridal magazines spread from one end of the booth to the other. Our waitress was so curious and couldn’t help but chat with us now and then…who wouldn’t want to chat with a couple gals carrying loads of fashion and bridal mags to dinner! For more than three hours we brainstormed and hashed out a rough idea of what our business would look like if we joined forces. It didn’t all come together over one dinner by any means. However, over the course of the next few weeks we dug deep into why we were both in this business and how our individual goals could work together to make a successful venture, not only for us but for our clients.

Dana:

Chelle was actually the one who planted the seed about merging. Instinctually, I felt that it would be a good move for the business, but I still talked it over with family, friends and other planners I knew who were in partnerships or had just come out of the them. Everyone had different advice, but one question that I heard more than once was regarding my comfort level in giving up control over my business. I have to say that for me, owning a business isn’t about control. It’s about freedom. Autonomy is much more important to me than control. The idea of a partnership works for me because I still consider myself my own boss and owner of my company- I just share the title now. Also there is a huge sense of responsibility we have to each other. I like the idea that we hold each other accountable for the daily tasks of running a business. It makes me work harder and not let things slip through the cracks. We split the business responsibilities now, as well. I know that in the long run, this will make things easier on both of us. We also get to spilt advertising and marketing costs, which is a huge bonus.

 Chelle:

One might think that deciding on whose business name to keep was our biggest challenge; when in fact, it was one of the easiest decisions in the process. The toughest part was developing a plan to rebrand revel & bloom as a partnership of two planners with different backgrounds and styles. One of the best descriptions that captures our differences is “New York High Fashion meets Colorado Mountain Town.” Dana and I definitely bring two different perspectives to the table in both design and business. What makes our partnership work so well is how our differences are equal enough to compliment each other and bring balance to our decisions.

Dana:

We knew there would be a lot of time, paperwork and planning involved to make the merge official, but I think we both have put in many more hours than we initially expected. There have been a lot of conversations about the reasons why we each do things the way we do in order to finalize our company standards. In the long run, this can only benefit our clients, because simply stated, two heads are better than one. We have basically combined the best parts of who we were solo to form a great team. We are both very realistic about the fate of most partnerships. However, I know we are both very motivated and excited to make this one work for as long as we can. We have the same goals in what we want to achieve and the same sense of responsibility and integrity to do what’s right for the company and our clients.

Chelle:

Ultimately, joining together in business was not just a huge personal and business decision, but also quite a process. Dana and I are very ambitious with our business and personal goals, but very realistic with our business plan. We both have amazing and supportive families who we want to spend time with. Yet, we strive to provide a fun and relaxed planning process that exceeds each of our client’s expectations. By bringing the best of our worlds together we are now able to do both without burning out on our own.

Thank you so much to Chelle and Dana for sharing their story.  If this was helpful for your business, leave us a comment!