We were lucky to catch up with Bailey Brooks Mashburn recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Bailey Brooks thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

To be successful in a business that you started from the ground up with almost zero capital is a very disciplined but easy thing to do. Being in a business that does not provide a particular product and focuses on a service allows you to keep costs low in the beginning. Product driven businesses generally require an inventory in order to service the customer on time. Being in a service driven industry I am filling a need for my clients and charging them a few for my opinion and expertise. As a wedding and event planner I do not have to carry the expense of an office or storage space for products. I require a computer, access to the internet and only need to pay the staff that are onsite for an event.

As CEO of your own company there is no one looking over your shoulder to motivate you or check on your work. This can be difficult for some. You have to maintain a disciplined schedule that you created, then avoid procrastinating and then diligently serve all the areas of your business yourself. You are the sales team, the marketing team, the social media manager, the receptionist and the point of contact for all of your clients. Once you begin generating an income, you then can allocate the funds to the various areas of your business that are of highest priority to you. In my business having someone assist with sales is key, and I was able to do that starting with interns who were willing to work on a commission. The sales person is a direct reflection of the income we generate and therefore my most important position in my business. I determined this by creating a plan and continuously reworking it through trial and error. I find most startup businesses fail because of the lack of planning and unwillingness to write a business plan and execute it. The plan works as long as you work it.

Bailey Brooks , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started my company after a friend asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding, to which I politely declined. Instead, I offered to plan her big day and she crazily said Yes! I had no idea what I was doing, but I knew I loved planning. To this day, her wedding was the most challenging one of all but it taught me that know matter how much you think you know and prepare for there is always something that gets missed.

As the owner of How 2 Wed, I am most proud of our evolution. We were first, Weddings by Bailey. I built my website myself using a template offered on GoDaddy. Then I spent time on Vista Print creating my own marketing materials. After that I signed up for a bridal show and only had the money for their smallest table. At the end of my first month in business I had booked 13 couples! I couldn’t believe it. I was a new mom, was working 40 hours a week in corporate and then had to now run a company alone. It was challenging, but once I put it into a calendar which was paper at the time – it just worked. That was 2014, and in 2015 I was laid off from my job due to the company going into bankruptcy. Who knew, but thankfully I had a fall back and income to not have to run home crying about it. In 2019, II changed the name to Bailey Smith Events in order to add other events but then realized I only liked to plan weddings. Our team is now 12 members and we have done weddings and events in other countries as well.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

The most effective strategy for growing our clientele is too always be honest with them. We give our clients full transparency into every aspect of planning their event. We are also open to educate them and ensure that they have all of the information before moving forward with a decision, detail or a vendor. That is of the most importance to me and the team. We only get one shot at a clients event and it needs to be as close to perfection as possible. This level of honesty and transparency creates an unbelievable bond with our clients and we are so grateful for the referrals this generates. It takes a while but we are now at the point in our business where we no longer need to spend money on marketing and that is a true reflection of our work.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

We keep in touch with our clients by friending them on social media post event. We have a rule that we are not friends on social with our clients on any personal pages till post event. This keeps the relationship professional till then event date and then post event we respond to their friend requests. This then allows us to keep up with their new events in their lives, like baby announcements and anniversaries. I find they really appreciate the option to see into our personal lives afterwards since they typically wait about a year for that level of access to us personally.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.how2wed.com
• Instagram: @how2wed
• Facebook: @how2wed
• Twitter: @eventsbybailey
• Youtube: How 2 Wed

Image Credits
Ron Wood Photo – Travis Daniels Photography