Insider to Insider: Roslina Juri, Owner of Wedding & Romance

I’ve had the pleasure of working with wedding planner Roslina Juri in The Simple Plan Exclusive, our one-to-one business planning for wedding pros.  I’m always impressed with business owners that have incredibly solid businesses and continue to challenge themselves as Roslina does.  I really enjoyed our sessions.  Not only because I was able to help her learn ways to expand her business but also because I learned so much about weddings in Singapore.  Singapore is such a diverse country with so many different cultures, religions, and traditions.  As a result, weddings are incredibly diverse.  And, it was fascinating to hear how Roslina manages all of these varied events.  I was also impressed with Roslina’s sales conversion rate.  She shared that almost everyone she meets with hires her.  She has an incredibly good reputation and puts potential clients at ease quickly.  I’ve really enjoyed partnering with you, Roslina! Thank you for sharing with me!

Roslina Juri
Owner, Wedding & Romance
www.weddingandromance.com
Established 2005
Singapore

Why did you start your business?

Back in year 2000, even before I started the business, I help to plan two important weddings – my best friend and my sister.  In that same year, I had the opportunity to travel to Houston to attend a wedding planning course from Wedding Careers Institute Inc (which is no longer in existence now). While planning those two events, I learned that wedding events are very detailed, personalised and most importantly reflect the couple’s personality and identity.

That is where I started to think about, what if I want to be a wedding planner,  what kind of services I would like to offer, and what type of clients do I want to target. I then noticed the niche of destination weddings in Asia and the gap that is present in Singapore’s wedding industry to provide such services. I did some research, traveled to destinations such as Bali and Langkawi, and met hotel/resorts to know more of their offerings for overseas weddings.

What books do you recommend to new business owners?

So far I found these are still my all time favourite books for both business and personal reading.

Who Moved My Cheese by Dr. Spencer Johnson
This was my first business book I read in 2003. An easy to understand story book that gave great insights in what we want and what we are looking for in life. My favourite quote in this book “noticing small changes early helps you to adapt to the bigger changes that are to come.”

Destination Bride by Lisa Light
This book which I bought in 2006 has been a great guide for me when planning a destination wedding. Very detailed with samples of planning schedule, service provider list and budget, guest list and order of events. It provides great information and tips that are really useful for both wedding couples and planners, to be knowledgeable about planning an away wedding.

Crunch Point by Brian Tracy
First time I read this book was in 2008. I found this book so practical, not just for business but in life as well. It gaves a great approach and strategies, and can be applied to any nature or size of the situations.

Do you have any cool goal-setting tips to share with us?

Towards the end of every year, I will write down both my personal and business goals/intentions for the coming year.  I separate it into two; main goals and then break them down into action items with a targeted date. Mid way through the year, I will look at those goals and cross it off my list once I have achieved. There will always be hits and misses in that list but what is important I do not lost focus and will still achieve those goals/intentions by the end of the year.

What do you find to be the biggest challenge as a business owner?

My biggest challenge is to stay motivated and positive. Since I have decided to have a home based business, I don’t have colleagues to talk about work issues. It can be a bit depressing at times, especially if you have issues with client.

If you were starting your business all over again, what would you have done differently?

When I started in 2005, and was still working full time, I wanted to do just more than a destination wedding company. I had lots of ideas, and it went in all directions, but no results achieved. I decided that I need to be more focus on the business and went full time in 2008, right after my son was born.  In 2009, I had the opportunity to launch another service called Mahligai Asmara (www.mahligai-asmara), targetting to Malay Muslim weddings in Singapore. I was very determined to provide this service, as I know in today’s highly educated society and the strong social media influences, the modern Malays would want to hire a wedding planner to assist with their weddings. This service has taken off very well, and I am very thankful and bless for those clients who have trusted me over the past years.

Thanks Roslina!