Image: Creative Commons License

What we want to know is this…

What is Your FAVORITE
Business Book and WHY?

Post a Comment for
a chance to WIN!

Tell us what your favorite business book is and why (in 3 sentences or less) before Friday at noon EST.  We’ll be picking TWO WINNERS at random to receive next month’s book, The E-myth. *** This is THE book that totally transformed the way that I think about my business.  It also saved me from burning out and made me see the benefits of hiring and empowering other people to work for me.

We’ll announce the winner on Friday, September 10th after 5pm EST.

*** Pssssst… if you’ve already read the E-Myth… or have a copy of it… just let us know… we’ll gladly trade up for any business book of your choice under $30.

NASHVILLE – we are coming to YOU!

The Simple Plan
November 15-16, 2010
at
Wedding 101
Nashville, TN

Our lovely sponsors, Wedding 101, have been nothing short of amazing!  Thank you kindly!

Get your tickets here: EVENTBRITE (get in on those early bird rates!)
Find out more here: www.thesimpleplan.biz

SEE what past graduates have to say.

And… here’s a bonus… this is right near my birthday… so I’m excited to share my birthday with y’all!

Howdy, PARTNER!

We are excited to announce that we’re taking our
easy-peasy approach to writing business plans to the next level!

We want to PARTNER with you in a 1:1 setting…

Introducing “The Simple Plan Exclusive”

…a 1:1 experience where we personally PARTNER with you in the writing of your business plan…

Maybe you missed one of our workshops? Maybe you want accountability
to get’r done? Maybe you’d prefer a more intimate, 1:1 setting where we
coach you through your business plan development on an individual level?

Everyone needs a business PARTNER, so giddy-up
and click here for more information and click here to submit a quick application!

part·ner
noun
1. a person who shares or is associated with another in some action or endeavor; sharer; associate.

For ongoing information about The Exclusive, you can visit The Simple Plan website.

Yesterday, my feature was about pricing for photography services.  How do you factor “YOU” into your pricing?  We so often set pricing on so many factors, but we haven’t taken into account the actual TIME it takes to do the work we do.

Hop on over to Resolve and read my post:

Pricing: How to Factor for YOU

We Invite YOU….

We invite YOU to join the Sage BOOK CLUB! We’ll post the business books that are upcoming with a chapter we will highlight for discussion. Monthly, Kelly and I will be hosting a live online chat discussion. You’ll have 2 dates to choose from each month to allow for some flexibility with crazy schedules. It’s as simple as that!

How It Works…

Become a member for $7/month. Each month we’ll post the books we will be reading (with a featured chapter). We’ll give you two options on chat days. In the days leading up to the chat, we’ll email you the password to login to our chat board. Join us for our online discussion with wedding pros nationwide… we’ll get into the nitty gritty of our favorite business books, exchange ideas for implementing book topics, and real-world applications. All members will receive a transcript of the chat. TRY IT OUT… the first month is FREE!

Coming Up…

September’s Featured Book
Chat Dates: September 9 at 8pm EST or September 21 at 10am EST

Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh*

The visionary CEO of Zappos explains how an emphasis on corporate culture can lead to unprecedented success. Pay new employees $2000 to quit. Make customer service the entire company, not just a department. Focus on company culture as the #1 priority. Apply research from the science of happiness to running a business. Help employees grow both personally and professionally. Seek to change the world. Oh, and make money too.Sound crazy? It’s all standard operating procedure at Zappos.com, the online retailer that’s doing over $1 billion in gross merchandise sales every year. In 1999, Tony Hsieh (pronounced Shay) sold LinkExchange, the company he co-founded, to Microsoft for $265 million. He then joined Zappos as an adviser and investor, and eventually became CEO. In 2009, Zappos was listed as one of Fortune magazine’s top 25 companies to work for, and was acquired by Amazon later that year in a deal valued at over $1.2 billion on the day of closing. In his first book, Tony shares the different business lessons he learned in life, from a lemonade stand and pizza business through LinkExchange, Zappos, and more. Ultimately, he shows how using happiness as a framework can produce profits, passion, and purpose both in business and in life. (Amazon Review)

October’s Featured Book
Chat Dates: October 14 at 8pm EST or October 19 at 10am EST

The E-Myth (revisited) by Michael Gerber*

In this first new and totally revised edition of the over two million copy bestseller, The E-Myth, Michael Gerber dispels the myths surrounding starting your own business and shows how commonplace assumptions can get in the way of running a business. Next, he walks you through the steps in the life of a business — from entrepreneurial infancy through adolescent growing pains to the mature entrepreneurial perspective: the guiding light of all businesses that succeed — and shows how to apply the lessons of franchising to any business, whether it is a franchise or not. Finally, Gerber draws the vital, often overlooked distinction between working on your business and working in your business. After you have read The E-Myth Revisited, you will truly be able to grow your business in a predictable and productive way.

To cancel your membership, you may do so thru paypal or by emailing: michelle-at-sageweddingpros.com .

* Disclaimer: We do receive a small commission if you purchase these books through Amazon.

If you have not yet filled out our 5-minute survey and you are interested in attending The Simple Plan, please help us out!  By filling out the survey, you will receive a $50 discount to attend the workshop in any city.

Thank you kindly for your time!

The Simple Plan – WHERE should we GO?

Southwest States SURVEY
Northwest & Mountain States SURVEY
Midwest States SURVEY
South and Southeast States SURVEY
Northeast States SURVEY

And… we haven’t forgotten about those many requests for us to take The Simple Plan to foreign locales… for now, we are keeping the workshop in the United States, so please let us know where you’d like to visit. However, if you are interested in sponsoring our travels, please let us know.

Dana joined us in May for The Simple Plan Los Angeles.  I want to share with you her take on The Simple Plan, our business planning workshop for wedding pros:

“I was petrified before walking into this workshop. I thought, “Oh god. I didn’t  prepare enough. I don’t know how to run a business and I certainly don’t know what my goals are!” Shortly after we began my fears dissolved as all the parts of running a business that had previously intimidated me were broken into easily digestible (and, dare I say, fun?) chunks… and for the first time, I was able to gain real clarity for my business and nail down exactly what it is we’re doing over here, and where we want to go!”

You can read the rest of Dana’s post here and see how she came up with her very fabulous Broke-Ass Mission Statement.

So how do we pick the insiders to be featured?

Typically, Insiders are selected in one of three ways:

• We have worked with these pros, seen them in action… and want to share them with the world!
• We have been told about these pros by other pros.  Someone has emailed us to say, “HEY!  This pro is my fave!  You really should feature them!”
• The Pro himself (or herself) email us and say, “Hey!  I’m pretty cool.  Your readers should get to know me.”

And then what?

If we don’t know the pro, or the pro hasn’t been “vouched” for by another pro, then we need some more information.  (eg: if you are contacting us because you want to be featured, we just want someone to endorse your professionalism in the industry)  Typically, we’d like to see the following:

• A referral from another wedding pro
• A referral from a client
• Visually, some of your work: images of a wedding you have worked on

Why do we need to see this?  Well, if we are featuring you, we are saying that you are reputable in the wedding industry and we want to make sure of it.  Our reputation and credibility relies on this.

The Interview

The Interview itself is easy… we typically interview people by email, sometimes by phone.  And, we want to see your personality.  It’s always great when people can see a new point of view from the Insiders.

And, Voila!  An Insider is born!

Whadya think?  Have some one to recommend for an interview?  Tell us about them by emailing michelle-at-sageweddingpros-dot-com!

It’s our Anniversary!!!

One year ago today I (Michelle, here) started writing the Sage Wedding Pros blog.  I have always found myself having “business-y” conversations with fellow wedding colleagues.  I always loved hearing about the strategy of their business.  And, often I found myself asking a gazillion dorky questions: “Who is your customer?”  “How do you market yourself?”  “What is your ROI on that ad?”  In return, I would get asked for advice.  So, I wanted to get some of these thoughts on paper computer screen.  I wanted to take the business of weddings back to basics.  And, so I started Sage Wedding Pros as a resource for all of those things that you might learn if you open up a college textbook in finance, accounting, marketing, or operations.

A few months later Kelly joined me to bring our message to the masses in-person.  We wanted to take the blog to a deeper level and give people REAL TOOLS for creating a sustainable business.  And, because we feel firmly that without a plan, you’ll have a much harder go at being sustainable, we launched The Simple Plan – our easy-peasy approach to writing a business plan in 2 days.  VOILA!  People nationwide are writing business plans with us… and making big differences in their businesses.

So, today… in honor of our 1 year on this blogging universe… we have 2 fun announcements…

The Simple Plan’s NEW WEBSITE!

We have a new website to learn all about The Simple Plan’s speakers, locations, cities, etc.  You’ll be able to find the site by going to:  www.TheSimplePlanSite.biz or by clicking the workshop link in the menu bar above.  This far more user-friendly than navigating our blog for information.  We hope you enjoy it!

Photo Courtesy of Barbie Hull Photography

A Giveaway!

We want to know how we are doing.  And, we want to give gifts!  So, we are giving away 3 of these cute little business card holders.

All you have to do is tell us how we are doing by filling out the form below before Sunday, March 21st at midnight EST.  We’ll draw 3 names at random and send 3 lucky people these business card holders.

Easy-peasy!

A HUMONGOUS THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU FOR READING AND LEARNING WITH US THIS PAST YEAR!  The ride is always more fun with friends.

Photo courtesy of Ariel Nay Nebeker

A lot of people have been asking us, “What’s The Simple Plan all about?  What can I expect from my 2 days of business planning with you ladies?”  We thought it’d be great for you, dear readers, to hear it first-hand from someone who has attended our business plan workshop.

Tara Bliven, owner of Ephemera, Inc. and custom letterpress stationer joined us for The Simple Plan in Seattle this past November.  Here she shares with us her experience…

Tara Bliven
Ephemera, Inc.
Established 2006
Attended The Simple Plan Seattle 2009

What The Simple Plan was like…

I thought The Simple Plan would be basic information that was sure to help me focus, and I had been feeling very unfocused, so it sounded good.  Really, I signed up on a whim thinking, “Hey, it couldn’t hurt.”

I had written a business plan or two before – leaving out very important sections, mind you! – and I knew a business plan was “important” in a general way, but I didn’t realize how important it was until I had been at the workshop.  I realized that a good plan drives every decision you make as a business owner – and this means that it can even help you make decisions when you don’t know what to do next.  That guide was exactly what I had been missing.  I knew I had felt like I was flailing a little bit, but wasn’t sure why or what I could do about it.  It was truly transformative.

About the Investment… Was it worth it?

Absolutely – in fact, I told Michelle and Kelly to double the price! (You’re welcome J) I walked in with an inkling of what was wrong with my business, and I walked out not only sure of what my mis-steps had been, but also a plan of attack on how to fix it, PLUS the confidence to know it was right.

What changes were you able to implement right away?

Right away, I firmed up my mission statement, and got my financial sections straightened out.

How did it change your mindset about your business?

Oh, in so many ways!  One that sticks out is that when I had written those aforementioned incomplete business plans, the sections I always left out were financial.  I just didn’t really get it.  I thought, “How do I know what sales will be like?”  That is actually embarrassing to admit, but it’s true.  However, Michelle used to be an accountant, and she taught it to us.  Guess what?  It is a skill that you can learn – duh!  And it is true that knowledge is power.  Now that I know how to create sales projections, balance sheets and everything else, I feel so much more in control of my business.

How did the collaboration affect you?

Something Michelle and Kelly really emphasized is that collaboration is key.  We are all entrepreneurs because we wanted to do something of our own – but it can be so isolating to feel like you’re really out there by yourself.  I came in knowing for sure that I was not using networking to its full potential.  The Simple Plan really inspired me to get out there and make new friends with similar businesses and struggles so that we could help each other in our endeavors and celebrate our achievements. I really connected with Ariel Nay Nebeker – she is an uber-talented photographer who recently came out to take some photos of our 100 year-old Chandler and Price printing press in action.  And soon, I’ll be having coffee with my accountability partner, Rebecca Ellison!

Other thoughts from Tara…

If you’re feeling lost, uninspired, or so new you don’t know where to start, sign up for The Simple Plan.  Even if you have to travel to a strange city where you don’t know anyone, and it’s the first money you’ve spent on your business.  It is easily the best money I’ve ever spent on mine – I just wish it had been offered 3 years ago!  It inspired me to make those changes to my business that had been nagging me for quite awhile.  I’m still not quite done reinventing Ephemera, but at least I know what to do.

Thank you Tara! We loved having you collaborate with us at The Simple Plan!  Your knowledge and enthusiasm was a benefit to us all.