Here’s a trend I see:

  • Not making money with wedding planning? Add flowers.
  • Not making money with wedding photography? Add videography.
  • Not making money with floral design? Open up a flower shop.
  • Not making money with _____? Launch a workshop.

We need to STOP the insanity.

From looking at wedding business finances all day long, this is what I know:

If you don’t fix the profitability problems that you have with your primary service, it will be almost impossible to find profitability in the next service (and the next and the next).

In the words of Notorious B.I.G.:  Mo’ Money. Mo’ Problems.

Here are a few reasons, why this almost never works:

  • You end up bringing your bad marketing and financial habits into the next service.
  • You confuse the market. Are you a planner? Are you a floral designer?
  • You haven’t thought through the operational aspects of expanding services. If you are doing floral and planning, who is attending to reception floral installation while you are running the ceremony?
  • You end up having to hire staff to adequately service your clients with all these offerings. (This costs mo’ money and will be a cut into profitability… this is particularly true if you haven’t figured out how to be profitable.)

Most important:

You spread yourself too thin.
Instead of spending 100% of your time to build greatness with one AMAZING thing, you are giving 50% to two things.

It’s difficult to build greatness when you are only giving 50% to anything.

Not making enough money?

Go back to your business plan. Reexamine your marketing strategy. Sell your butt off. Do the work. I promise: the more you DO THE WORK, the better your business will do. Look at your financial strategy: do you have a profitable business model? Tweak. Refine.

When you build greatness with your primary product or service, then it’s natural to extend yourself to do more. Use your greatness to expand! (We talk a lot about this at Be Sage Conference.) Use your expertise to extend yourself into other channels.

Trust me: you will be able to expand your business. FOCUS on building GREATNESS first and you can grow.

Reach out if you need help. Check out Accounting 101 if you need help with finances.