Own Your Business

When someone asks how business is going, what do you say? And how much of it is true? Kate Turner is the founder and creative director of Kate and Company Events, a Midwest planning and design firm going on 17 years, and a co-founder of Landlocked Luxury. In this episode, Sam and Kate get honest about her worst year in business, what rock bottom looked like, and how she rebuilt a company that'...

When does “someday” finally show up? And what are you giving up while you wait for it? KT Merry has spent nearly 20 years photographing luxury destination weddings and editorials around the world, and she now helps photographers and filmmakers build their businesses through her education work. In this episode, Sam and KT talk about building a life alongside the business: turning down a contracted...

Ask most wedding pros what makes a business luxury, and you'll hear about budgets, guest counts, and the names in their portfolio. Ask Jason Rhee, and he'll tell you to watch how they treat the waiter. On the State of the Industry panel in September, Jason said the wedding industry has lost the plot on luxury. In this episode, Sam and Jason talk about why kindness disappears at the top, th...

Your next couple has studied your work, your website, and your Instagram before you ever know they exist. Will they find enough to reach out? Daria Neretina started as a wedding planner in Russia 18 years ago and built Wed Vibes Media to give wedding creatives a bigger voice. Alina Krupenina brings a career in consumer marketing for brands like Nutella and Nescafé. In this episode, Sam, Daria, and...

What does it take to build a business that doesn't need you in every room? In this episode, Sam sits down with Josh Spiegel, founder and CCO of Birch Event Design, a luxury event design and production company he's built over twenty years. Josh talks through growing a one-man operation into a team of forty, the identity crisis that came with hiring a CEO to run the company he started, and w...

Why isn't a beautiful portfolio booking clients the way it used to? In this episode, Sam sits down with Anja Winikka, CEO and founder of the Freeda Network, a company that places established wedding industry business owners into small, confidential peer groups for ongoing support. Anja has spent over twenty years in the wedding industry and has a front row seat to the conversations business ow...

You could have the best portfolio in your market and still watch your calendar sit half empty this year. It’s no longer about how good your work is, it’s about how good your word is. That’s right: It’s all about trust right now. In this episode, Sam sits down with five wedding pros for the fourth annual State of the Industry panel: a planner, a photographer, a designer, a DJ, and a peer network fo...

Most discovery calls get through the checklist but never reach the truth. In this episode, Sam and Katy break down why a discovery call is where you guide a couple to discover what they want, not where you pitch, and walk through the specific open-ended question to ask for seven different vendor categories. You'll learn: Why couples often don't know what they need until the right question...

Every wedding business owner wonders if they're the only one struggling with something. They're not. In this episode, Sam pulls ten real, fully anonymized questions from client calls over the last two weeks, and he and Katy talk through each one live, tying it back to a New York Times piece on why the most successful people ask for help instead of grinding through alone. You'll learn:...

Sam set a trap for an AI chatbot: a series of wedding questions he already knew it would get wrong, just to see how wrong. The answers were bad enough to bring straight to the show. In this episode, Sam and Katy break down real AI responses couples are getting right now, and what that misinformation does before a couple ever picks up the phone. You'll learn: Why couples are asking AI instead o...

Most people using AI regularly have no idea they're making these mistakes, because none of them come with a warning. In this episode, Sam and Katy break down five habits that quietly sabotage AI output: an AI that agrees too easily, copy-pasted output that doesn't sound like you, chats that run too long, bloated files, and prompts too vague to work with. You'll learn: Why AI agreeing w...

Most people ask AI to solve the problem they think they have, without ever stopping to check if it's the right problem in the first place. In this episode, Sam and Katy explain what makes a question work well with AI, and why the four words they use more than any other change the entire quality of the answer. You'll learn: Why narrow, one-shot questions produce flat, forgettable answers Ho...

Most wedding pros are using AI like a fancy search engine and leaving most of its value on the table. In this episode, Sam and Katy walk through their own switch from ChatGPT to Claude, why they made it, and the information business owners need to give AI before the output stops sounding generic. You'll learn: Why picking the right platform matters more than most people think How to hand AI th...

Couples decide whether to keep browsing your website in about the time it takes to read this sentence. What are they seeing that's making them leave? In this episode, Sam and Katy go through nine specific red flags on wedding websites that quietly push couples away before they ever reach out, and what to fix first. You'll learn: Why your hero section matters more than your branding for that crucia...

There's a moment couples decide to book you, but it's not the moment you think. It's not the portfolio, not the pricing, not even the proposal. It's dozens of smaller moments stacked on top of each other, and most wedding pros are only paying attention to one of them. In this episode, Sam and Katy trace the buyer's journey couples go through, from the second they realize they n...

In this episode, Sam and Katy dig into why content that doesn't speak to the right audience keeps filling your calendar with the wrong clients, and what to do about it before you scramble and make it worse. You'll learn: Why chasing what's working for a competitor almost always backfires How AI-written copy makes your messages sound like everyone else's The real reason conversion r...

You've probably told yourself you're a perfectionist like it's a badge of honor. Detail-oriented. High standards. Won't put your name on anything that isn't right. But what if perfectionism isn't your superpower? What if it's the reason your website still isn't live, your inquiry response takes three hours to write, and you've been "almost ready" to ra...

Someone just pushed back on your price. Maybe they said they need to think about it. Maybe they told you they found someone cheaper. Maybe they went quiet. And just like that, your stomach dropped. That reaction is not a weakness. It's your brain doing exactly what it was designed to do. The problem is, a brain in fight-or-flight mode is a terrible negotiator. And if you don't know what&#3...

Peak season is here for many in the wedding industry. You're busy, you're booked, and you're making money. But busy and profitable aren't the same thing. And most wedding pros won't figure that out until they're burned out in October, looking back at a packed calendar and wondering why they feel so broke. Here's what nobody talks about: 80% of the things you spend your...

Your clients already said yes. They signed the contract, they're on the books, and you're doing the work. But here's what most wedding pros leave on the table: the money that was never in the contract to begin with. We're not talking about squeezing clients or tacking on fees they didn't ask for. We're talking about the stuff they genuinely need and haven't thought to a...

Your January goals called. They want to know if you're coming back. Mid-year is when most wedding pros quietly abandon the plan and go into reactive mode until the holidays. In this episode, Sam and Katy make the case for 90-day sprints over annual goals, and why right now, in the middle of busy season, is the best time to plan your next quarter. They break down how to pick the right prioritie...

Most wedding vendors think the job starts and ends on the wedding day. Your clients disagree. In this episode, Sam and Katy walk through the full client journey, from the moment a couple signs a contract to long after the wedding is over. They cover what clients actually need at each stage, why so many vendors lose the plot between booking and the big day, and how small gestures at the right momen...

Peak season has a way of grinding people down. Not dramatically, but slowly, week by week, until you hit November running on empty and wondering why you do this. In this episode, Sam and Katy talk through four categories of energy — physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual — and what it actually takes to protect each one across a full busy season. Sleep, hydration, client boundaries, scheduling...

Decision fatigue is real, and it hits wedding solopreneurs hard. In this episode, Sam and Katy talk about why running a solo wedding business is so mentally exhausting — and it's not just the hours. When you're the CEO, the creative director, the accountant, and the marketing team all at once, every role brings its own set of decisions. Add constant task-switching and you've got a comp...

Has your business stopped working but you're not sure why? The leads dried up. The inquiries don't convert. You're working harder than ever but booking less. Chris J Evans knows that feeling. He went from triple-digit wedding volume in Hawaii to a complete business standstill. Instead of blaming the market, he rebuilt with small changes that had a big impact and this episode walks thro...