We were lucky to catch up with Faith Villegas recently and have shared our conversation below.

Faith, appreciate you joining us today. Parents can play a significant role in affecting how our lives and careers turn out – and so we think it’s important to look back and have conversations about what our parents did that affected us positive (or negatively) so that we can learn from the billions of experiences in each generation. What’s something you feel your parents did right that impacted you positively.

What did my parents do right? That’s a very heavy question. My parents are far from perfect. But amongst their imperfections comes a beautiful lesson of uniqueness. My parents always taught me to be myself, to embrace my flaws because in doing so the people that are meant to be in your life, the right people, will come along. If people don’t like you, if you’re not their cup of tea, they can find something else to drink. This has helped not only in life when it came to things like not fitting in everywhere I went, but also in things like business. It’s easy to fall into this thing called imposter syndrome as a business owner. And just understanding that not everyone will like your business, or your prices, or even your services. Shouldn’t change the value and worth you have in yourself or what you do. Also, they taught me to never give up and have faith to keep moving forward. The unknown is scary. Taking the leap of faith without knowing the outcome or getting out of your comfort zone is hard. But having faith is trusting in things you can’t see. And as I was taught about trusting God and the Bible. One of the things I have come to grasp is “you may not see it now but later you will understand.” And this is so prevalent in my business as I see everything as an opportunity to grow, even if I fail. Pain and failure make you grow. So in everything in life and in business I rest assured that it will all work out in the end. Whether that means I succeeded or learned a valuable lesson. My parents taught me the value of time and a hard work ethic. Growing up, my dad would do EVERYTHING in his power to make ends meet, just so my mom didn’t have to work so she could take care of me and my sister. If that meant long hours, he did it. If that meant hard labor, he did it. As we got older and my mom went back to work, watching them work hard for the life they wanted to spend together was so rewarding. Time and hard work go hand in hand. You either work hard to have time freedom, or you make time to work hard. After my dad passed away I realized how precious time was. I love to work. I like feeling busy. However, I just could never click with the 9-5 life in the corporate world. The idea of working my life away and missing out on special moments with my family hurt my heart. So I made a vow to myself that I will own my own business. I had to make time to work hard for a while. And it was by hard work and dedication that I got here, owning my own business and now having the time freedom to say “yes” to my friends and family. We don’t have time to not make time. Lastly, and I think most importantly, my parents taught me how to love and treat others. My parents are the type of people that have the friendliest faces. They can turn any stranger into a friend in moments flat. They have the biggest servants heart. They taught me that everyone has the things that make them who they are. Just because they may be different from me, doesn’t mean they don’t deserve the same amount of respect. Everyone has their flaws or off days. We are human and that’s okay. We are to love others as yourself and live everyday asking “how can I serve my neighbor?” And that is sole basis of my business. How can I serve these couples. What can I do to help better their lives. How can I show them they are accepted and values even if we don’t live the same lifestyle. I strive everyday to love more like Christ. And it starts with your response to people.

Faith, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I got into wedding planning back in 2022 after my own wedding. I always knew I wasn’t fit for 9-5 corporate life and I wanted to own my own business. Didn’t know when or how or even what I would do. However, my father passed away in September of 2021, I got engaged in January of 2022, and I really wanted to get married on his birthday, April 7. In 3 months, I planned a $10,000 wedding stress-free. It was honestly so fun to me, meanwhile, everyone didn’t understand how I wasn’t stressed. It made me realize that if other brides find wedding planning stressful, maybe I can take that weight off their shoulders and help them plan their wedding of a lifetime. Thus creating A Faithful Mark Event and Wedding Planning. We offer full service planning, partial planning, and day of execution. We also offer a selection of decor services. We help with all your wedding planning needs such as booking vendors, creating your timeline, breaking down budget. Ultimately what sets us a part from others is our heart to serve others and our compassion. I am most proud of God and his faithfulness, to be able to give me the ability and talent he has, and for giving me the opportunity to put in the hard work and dedication that has gone into creating this business. What I want the readers to know if that even though we are new on the market and more affordable than most corporate planners. We still provide the BEST service. We strive everyday to bring your vision to life while providing you less stress, more time for yourself, and the smoothest planning as possible. YOU are our priority. YOU are the reason we do what we do. Your support and trust in us is everything.

How did you build your audience on social media?

So building my social media presence was a lengthy process. When I first got started, I just got started on two platforms, Facebook, and Instagram and I eventually moved to TikTok. When I first got started, I looked up my niche in the explore page of these platforms, and started following people with similar peak interests as me. I also looked up the bride hashtag or the bride to be hashtag. And started following some potential clientele in my area. I would post one post on each platform a day. Really I was just recycling media from each platform. Doing this consistently got me to where I am today. My advice to those that are starting to build their online presence, take your time. Growing social media doesn’t happen overnight. You have to plant those seeds every day, you have to show up every day, you have to be consistent every day. Consistency is key with social media. Also, just being aware of trends and different niches that are on social media. My favorite quote is “why draw when you can trace.” If you find someone in your niche that does the same thing as you and they are consistent with her content, maybe you’re not good at content, take notes from these creators. Use their content as examples and make it your own. But the most important thing about social media presence is building relationships. You have to make sure your interacting and engaging with your followers, with your friends, with your audience. And also you have to be relatable. People nowadays don’t want to see the cookie cutter lifestyle. They want to see the journey, they want to see that you go through things as well. So for me when it comes to social media, not only do I post about all the exciting things coming up but if I’m ever disappointed I share that. Just know that social media is like opening a store front. You wouldn’t get a storefront and open it once a week and expect and outcome. You would go to that store in open it every day. The same goes with your social media.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Marketing and bridal shows has been my biggest effective strategy for growing my clientele. Taking business cards to coffee shops and leaving them is one of the ways I market. Connecting with other business owners in the same niche aka photographers, djs, etc to become each others preferred vendors. Also connecting with businesses that are going to open for the first time and taking goody bags to business grand openings. However, my biggest course of success has been bridal shows and expos. Whether it’s a small venue hosted expo or a big wedding company like ACS or Forever & Company, I seize every opportunity to be a vendor in these shows because one, they are fun, two, they help give you the most exposure and the opportunity to speak face-to-face with brides. They are the perfect opportunity to sell yourself and your business first hand.

Contact Info:

• Website: Faithfulmark.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/afaithfulmark?igshid=MjEwN2IyYWYwYw==

Image Credits
Greta Keranen Photography Jen Z Photography