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We are a team of dedicated, quirky, fun-loving, inventive ladies that are passionate about creating luxurious and peaceful events through our logistical and visual strengths.

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Asking What You’re Worth | New Braunfels Wedding Planner

Education

Welcome back to another episode of Behind the Business from a New Braunfels Wedding Planner. This week we are talking about how to ask for what you’re worth. What a challenge that can be! You can do it, friend. You are worth it and you deserve to provide for yourself or your family for all of the hard you are doing. Today I’ve got three tips to figure out your worth and how to ask for it.

  1. Know your numbers — Yes, we are talking expenses again..briefly 🙂 It’s important.
  2. Calculate your price.
  3. Stick to your guns.

Y’all ready to dive into the video to learn more?

See the ‘Asking for What You’re Worth’ Video Here

1. Know what your expenses are.

We’ve talked about this on several occasions. If you missed them, be sure to check out the videos on Minimizing your Expenses and The Best Business Decisions. It will make a lot more sense after watching these videos. The bottom line is that you need to know your bottom line. At what point do you stop making money? You need to know that number off the top of your head. Especially if you are one of those people that love to give people a deal. That is not a bad thing, but you have to know your numbers if you are going to negotiate your price.

2. Calculate your price to know your worth.

Profit margins vary from industry to industry, so for our sake, I am going to use the wedding planning industry as an example.

In Texas, each market has different standards of what is “typical” for a Month-Of coordinator (no, there is no such thing as a “Day-Of” Coordinator….That’s a different topic for a different day…). In Austin, you will generally find prices to be $200-400 higher than the average for San Antonio, but we are here to look at what everyone else is worth. We are here to figure out your worth.

At the end of the day, if you aren’t bringing home money for vacations or shopping or groceries, or daycare, or whatever it is that you contribute to your family, then what is the point of working? You might as well be at home binging a new TV show or reading a book. In our first episode, we talked about calculating how to make a good business decision.

Today we are going to use that same practice to calculate your worth. Be sure to watch the first video here if you are confused. In that episode, we talked about how my hourly pay is approximately $25 per hour. We will need this to calculate your worth. Here are the questions you need to ask yourself and the math to calculate your pricing.

Let’s do the math 🙂

  1. How many hours are you working on the product or service? For me, I spend approximately 30 hours on a client from lead to completion of the event.    — (30 hours * $25 per hour = $750). That means that I need to bring home (after expenses) $750 per client to maintain my current salary.
  2. What is your total annual expenses? Let’s say for example that your total annual expenses are $30,000. This includes taxes, labor, assistants, marketing, an accountant, etc.
  3. How many events will you do this year? Also, for example, let’s say you do 30 weddings in a year.
  4. What is your expenses per wedding? — $30,000 (annual expenses) / 30 weddings per year is $1,000 in expenses per event.
  5. What should your price be? $1,000 (expenses per event) + $750 (your payment) = $1750.

Does that make sense? Let me know if it does not. This means if you are charging under $1750…if you made that super sweet bride a “great deal” then you are only undercutting yourself. Now instead of making $25 per hour, you are making $20 or maybe even $15 or $10 per hour (hello, minimum wage…..). That choice is up to you, but know you have the knowledge to know what you’re worth.

3. Stick to your guns.

Now that you know what you are worth, how do you get up the confidence to ask for you?

First of all, it is a lot easy to be strong and refuses the needy bride who wants a discount when you know that you are losing money. Knowledge is power.

Secondly, you have to have confidence in your skills. When you exude confidence in your business it is contagious and your potential clients can feel that. If you are wishy-washy on pricing then it makes them feel like you don’t have the confidence to be a bad-a on their wedding day and get the job done.

Lastly, read your reviews and take every praise and criticism to heart. Learn from your mistakes every day and know that you are constantly improving. That will help you grow in your confidence and be able to ask for what you’re worth because you KNOW YOU ARE WORTH IT. The people have spoken and you can see the success for yourself. It is time to start believing it.

Wrap it Up

Ok, I am off my soapbox now. lol You are worth it. It is time to know your numbers, calculate your worth, and stick to your guns. In a few weeks, we will talk about having confidence in your business in greater length. Be sure to come back and get inspired to be amazing all over again. Next week we will be talking to Bronson Vaughan, (or Runge Ralph, as you will hear him called on Instagram) Co-Founder of SightinSea, an outdoor apparel company that has broken the glass ceiling of Instagram. You will not want to miss this one!

I hope yall have a blessed week.

With Love,

Kelsea

 

 

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