Peter: Today we're joined by Ashley McHone, who's actually not a photographer. She's a wedding planner. Ashley, tell us about you and how long you've been in business.

Ashley: I'm Ashley McHone, and I own [STUDIO NAME]. Like Peter said, I'm a planner, so I'm the odd one out in a program full of photographers and videographers. I started my planning company at the end of 2013. For the first five years or so, it was just me, going through the planning process one-on-one with clients. A couple of years ago, I really started building up a team of planners. Now we have four planners who take on a lot of our big events, and I focus on working with them instead of working with clients.

Peter: We started working together around August or September 2020. What problems were you trying to solve?

Ashley: When COVID hit, all weddings in California shut down, so we lost our lead streams. Nobody was inquiring on the wedding listing sites, and nobody was reaching out through vendor referrals. Our business came to a standstill. One of the biggest things I needed was enough leads, with quality couples still looking for planning during COVID.

Peter: Venues couldn't do tours, so the referrals that trickle down from venues stopped.

Ashley: Exactly. We had a couple of great places where we got a lot of leads, but it made me realize you don't want to rely on those sources. I needed a system where we'd always have leads coming in, so we wouldn't have to worry when there were issues, and so we could build the business.

Peter: What made you want to scale?

Ashley: Two things. Working one-on-one with brides and doing too many weddings a year, I took on too much and hit a point of burnout. It's exhausting. And I've always wanted a team of planners, because so many people want to be in this industry. I wanted to give them a place to be planners and have their dream job without having to start a business to do it.

Peter: And now it's mostly off your plate.

Ashley: I still do some, because I get on calls with clients and really like them. But I've handed off about 70% to 75% of our weddings to our team this year. It worked out well because of COVID. All my 2020 weddings got pushed to 2021, so that income was already coming in, and I didn't need to take on new ones myself.

Peter: What percentage were you doing when we started?

Ashley: I was doing more than half. I had it set up so I did most of the planning and handed weddings off closer to the wedding day, because that made me less nervous. Now I hand over more weddings, including the big ones, which were the most time-consuming for me.

Peter: How did you first learn about me?

Ashley: Instagram. I'm on Instagram all the time. For a long time, I'd been looking for the right program. I wanted to implement some things in my business, especially with social media, and I was waiting until I found one that felt like the right fit.

Peter: Why did this one feel right?

Ashley: Part of it was intuition. But I liked that it was very social media-based, with a clear strategy, and that there were group coaching calls and a lot of support through the process. It had both sides, which I wasn't seeing elsewhere.

Peter: So you joined. What happened next?

Ashley: I dove in headfirst and plowed through all the training. Then I started implementing the strategies, focusing on organic growth on social media and finding brides that way. I pretty quickly saw a return.

Peter: Early on, you told me you were finding your ideal clients right through Instagram. We also worked on building around assets you already had, like your email list. How did you integrate that with social media?

Ashley: I approached it a little differently than most people in the program. I really enjoy email marketing. I'm that weird person. I already had an email list that was converting. People would schedule consultations with me straight from my emails, and I'd book them without ever having a conversation first. So I used what you teach to connect with brides on Instagram. I'd find brides, say congratulations, and get a conversation going. If they were ready to talk to a planner, we'd get on a call. If they weren't, I'd send them a link to an opt-in on my website. I call it the ultimate wedding planning guide, and it walks them through the planning process. Once they grab it, they're on my email list, and that's how I stay connected.

Peter: When people understand how funnels, nurturing and booking calls work, there are lots of ways to do it. Some use a Facebook group, some use Instagram. You love email marketing, so you drove people there.

Ashley: And finding people on Instagram helped, because they'd see our Instagram page and everything we post, see that we're good at what we do, and then it was easier for them to grab our resources and join our list. It worked both ways.

Peter: What made the difference in your return from social media?

Ashley: Connecting with brides, to start with. Our industry focuses so much on putting pretty photos out there. We think if we have a pretty feed and good content, brides will show up. They rarely reach out that way. Before the program, we got maybe two or three Instagram inquiries a year. Those were some of our best clients, but it wasn't much of a return. The switch was using our Instagram account as a portfolio, then making the effort to find couples, introduce ourselves, invite them into our account, and invite them onto our email list with content.

I also find couples who are already following me. I use stories to get brides interacting and answering questions, and then I reach out to them directly, because they're already raising their hands saying, "I see you, and I'm interested."

Peter: So once you start a dialogue, you move toward a call?

Ashley: I'm a little slower to jump on calls than a lot of people, because I don't like being pushy, and for planning I want them to be at the right stage. If they're interested in and ready for a planner, we'll get on a call right away. If they're not quite there, I don't push a call yet.

Peter: You put them on the email list and let it do the heavy lifting. You're genuinely helping them, so you feel good about it.

Ashley: I don't mind putting them in an email series instead of a call, because I've seen it convert. A couple of years ago, I had an email series that wasn't getting results. It took a lot of tweaking to get one that connected and hit all the right points for clients. As long as it's converting, I'm happy to send people there.

Peter: Let's talk about your results.

Ashley: Our best month ever just happened. We hit almost $44,000 in sales. For comparison, in all of 2019 we did $100,000. Last year, after joining and putting this into play, we did $125,000, even with COVID. This year we're already at $44,000, and I expect to keep $30,000 to $40,000 coming in every month.

Peter: That's amazing growth, and it shows your commitment to doing the work.

Ashley: Once you have the systems and you put in the work, you'll get results.

Peter: We also worked on getting you to a place where you could step back, simplifying things and building the team.

Ashley: Learning how to hand over weddings to my team really helped this year. I was nervous about handing things over, and that kept me from booking people. I was either taking on too much work myself or too scared to hand it over, and I didn't want to book more business than we could serve well. Realizing my team is good at what they do and will provide an awesome service, and handing over the big weddings, was eye-opening. It helped me book more business too.

Peter: What made the difference?

Ashley: Mindset. I had it in my head that they didn't know what they were doing or didn't have the time. I think those were excuses for not wanting to pass things on. I sat down with each planner and talked about where they wanted to be, what they wanted to do and what they felt comfortable with. That showed me they're good, they want to be here, they want to take on bigger weddings, and they'll come to me if they need help.

Then you just have to trust them and try it. Once I handed over a couple and saw how great a job they did, it was easier to pass on more. Last year, I'd also had the wrong people on board, and I was planning everything ahead of time and only handing weddings over for the day of. I learned a lot about how not to do it. Handing weddings over from the beginning and setting clearer expectations made it work.

Peter: Do you feel you can handle more volume now?

Ashley: I do.

Peter: Scaling happens in stages. You can only put your foot on the gas with lead generation once service delivery is dialed in with good people you trust. What's next?

Ashley: Keep growing. I want to keep bringing on more business and take on fewer events myself, so long term I'm doing maybe five big ones a year or none, with my team taking on everything. Maybe expand to more locations.

Peter: Could any of your planners do sales?

Ashley: I think they could, and I might do that down the road, especially if we open a location in Colorado. I've been teaching one planner a bit of the organic outreach. But I'd almost rather have a dedicated salesperson. A lot of our planners are so friendly, and sales scares them.

Peter: What's been the most transformative part of joining?

Ashley: Learning how to use social media to bring in direct business, and finding a lead source that I control. I'm not waiting for leads from people who find me online or from venues. If I want leads, I can go out and get them.

Peter: What were you relying on before?

Ashley: Vendor referrals, mostly venues we work with often. Also the wedding listing sites. I still advertise on one, because it pays for itself every year and it's another place couples can see us. And some from Google.

Peter: That's reactive. You're sitting around waiting and hoping. Now you can always go out and drum up business.

Ashley: Exactly. We can do it when the country shuts down and weddings aren't allowed in San Diego. Weddings have been illegal here for almost a year, and we can still do it. It'll only get better as things open up and people get excited to plan again.

Peter: What would you say to a planner on the fence about joining?

Ashley: It's worth it. It's an investment, but you'll make it back quickly by bringing in clients. If you're willing to put in the work to go find business and follow what you teach, you'll make that money back. It's a no-brainer.

Peter: What's your number one piece of advice for other members?

Ashley: Don't get discouraged. It takes time to see results. With organic outreach, you have to reach out to a lot of people, and you won't hear back from many of them, or it'll be a while before you get on a call. It's a snowball effect. Keep putting in the work, and you'll see the return.

Peter: What motivates you to put in the work?

Ashley: I like to make it a game. It's exciting to see results come through and see how many people I can get to book. When you reach out to more people, you see people respond, and then they book, and that motivates you to keep going.

Also, don't be afraid to switch things up a little. If the exact wording doesn't feel authentic to how you talk, mix it up. I couldn't get a Facebook group working well, and I got frustrated finding people on Facebook. Once I used the same process on Instagram, and used my email series in place of a Facebook group, the pieces came together. But follow it first. It's easy to say, "I don't want to do that," because it puts you outside your comfort zone. Follow it for a while, see where you get results, then focus there and tweak it so it feels natural. I alternated between Facebook and Instagram for a month or two, saw better results from Instagram, and focused there. It also took time to find the right wording to get people to respond.

Peter: That's smart. You tested, listened to the feedback, and doubled down on the channel that works.

Peter: You mentioned getting out of your comfort zone. Why is that significant?

Ashley: I don't think you can see growth and be comfortable at the same time. If you stay in your comfort zone, you're not doing anything new, and you won't see different results. Every time you grow, you find something uncomfortable. For me, it started with reaching out to brides, then asking if they had a planner, then getting on calls, and then handing work to my team. When things make you nervous, it means you're going in the right direction.

Peter: How do you deal with that fear day to day?

Ashley: You just have to do it. I put the uncomfortable things at the top of my list and knock them out first thing in the morning. Then I start my day having done the things I didn't want to do, and they usually weren't as bad as I thought.

Peter: And how do you stay consistent?

Ashley: I know where I want my business to go. You have to be able to picture it, because if you don't know where you want to go and can't see how to get there, you won't do the work. I'm a planner, so I plan a lot. I have a planner I love. At the start of each week, I write down everything I want to do and look at my goals for the quarter and what I need to do to reach them. A lot of those tasks are things I don't want to do, but if they're not on my list, they get pushed to the back burner. At the end of each day, I plan the next one: what I want to get done, when, and my top three priorities. I also write down how long I think each task will take. I used to avoid things because I thought they'd take hours, when they really took five or 10 minutes.

I'm also a procrastinator, and I work best under pressure. Sometimes I schedule a meeting with a client just so I'll finish their design the day before. I enjoy the business side, like bringing in clients and looking at what I'm spending, sometimes more than the service delivery, and I get more done where I enjoy working.

When I look back at my first few years, I stayed in my comfort zone. I thought I was doing everything right: blogging weekly, posting on social media, going to networking events. But I wasn't doing anything uncomfortable, and my business didn't grow. I was doing what I enjoyed, not what would actually make it happen. Once I stepped out of my comfort zone, things changed. Now I'm comfortable being uncomfortable.

Peter: It takes honesty with yourself to see that. Often there's a fear underneath, like rejection or failure.

Ashley: It all comes down to mindset: what you think you can do and being willing to do it. And you have to know what you want the results to be. Early on, I didn't know where I wanted my business to be, what I wanted revenue to look like, or how many weddings I wanted. You need clear targets so you know when you've hit them.

Peter: Ashley, it's been an honor to watch you grow and break the $40K-a-month mark. Thanks for jumping on.

Ashley: Thanks for all of your help. I'm glad I found the program, and I'm excited to see where things keep going.