We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ruby Straaten. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ruby below.

Ruby, appreciate you joining us today. Do you take vacations? How do you keep things going – any advice for entrepreneurs who feel like they can’t step away from their business for a short vacation?

Absolutely! I do take vacations! It might be an unpopular opinion, but one of the reasons I started a business was for the freedom and flexibility. However, I’ll admit, stepping away from my business can be so challenging! The first year, whenever I attempted a vacation, I found myself glued to my email, and stressing that my clients would be upsed on the delayed response. But I’ve since learned: To give my clients the service they deserve, I must be stress-free and happy in my personal life, and that means taking those breaks to avoid burnout!

For those who find it tough to step away, here’s my advice: Plan your trips in advance to prepare accordingly! My husband and I sit down once or twice a year to map out the trips we want to take in the following year. I mark them in my calendar and plan my schedule accordingly. Longer vacations are scheduled during my slow season, and shorter ones during my my busy season.

Another piece of advice is to trust the people you hire. I am fortunate to have two wonderful women working with me. Their competence,  training and experience allow me to trust in their abilities to execute events at the same high standards as I do.

Lastly, remember this: Running a business while constantly burned out, without taking breaks, and under endless stress will eventually impact your business’s performance negatively. So, embrace those vacations, have faith in the business you’ve built, entrust your team, and, most importantly, live a happy and fun life!

Ruby, 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?

Hello! My name is Ruby, I am a business owner and wedding planner. I am an avid reader and I love to travel, I thrive when working with people and this is how my business came about!

I got into events over 6 years ago when a friend asked for help in planning a karate tournament. I had competed in tournaments as an athlete, so I knew how they ran, and I said yes. During those couple of months, I learned so much about planning and organizing events and I absolutely loved it! Spring semester in college was just about to start and I needed an internship to graduate, so after the tournament finished, I found an event planning internship. In this internship, I organized all sorts of events, conferences, private parties, races, and more. I soaked up everything I could. I went on from my internship and worked for that company for an additional year. I graduated college and got a job at a very large public venue as their Event & Sales Coordinator. I worked for them for 3 years working my way up to the Events Manager. During those 3 years, I organized and worked on a variety of events including weddings, festivals, corporate parties, and more. I quickly learned what events I liked working on and what events I was best at planning! I was always thinking about what my long-term goals were and knew I wanted to work weddings and be my own boss. So in 2021, I quit the venue I worked for to go out on my own and open my own company.

Owning a business is a lot of work and the amount of work definitely surprised me! I had to think of what packages to offer, how to differentiate myself, how to market myself, etc. It took a while to figure everything out, and I am still constantly working behind the scenes on improving my business and services. I offer 3 different packages: Full Wedding Planning, Partial Wedding Planning, and Month of Coordination. I focus on the logistics of an event and helping my clients achieve their dream wedding stress-free. My diverse background in working with different types of events allows me a different perspective to bring to the table when working with my clients.

I am most proud of how every one of my clients has left me a 5-star review. Customer service is HUGE in the events industry. I get most of my clients through referrals so I have to make sure that every client I work with has an absolutely amazing experience! When I worked at the public venue we learned about the Disney effect in events: you have to be able to look at and see every possible detail and every potential problem that could arise. I took that lesson and now apply it to how I work with my clients. As a result, I get 100% happy and satisfied clients by the time their wedding is over.

Some things I want potential clients to know, I absolutely love what I do. I thrive in running events and I truly care about each and every one of my clients. I am a very energetic and happy person and I get to know each of my clients. I cannot do my job well unless I know my clients to some level. They are not just a number or another contract for me. We spend hours upon hours together and I have formed several friendships with my clients after their wedding was over! I love that I can see my clients go through the next phase of their lives. Some of my past clients are having babies now which is so cool to see!

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Client and vendor reviews play a pivotal role in the service-based industry. In a saturated market, starting up can be daunting, but I’ve been fortunate to discover some incredible opportunities with other vendors. I am beyond grateful for the vendors who took a chance collaborating with me on styled shoots as I built up my clients. The reviews they shared with other vendors helped me so much!

I knew client reviews were the key, as in my experience, prospective clients trust client reviews more. So I hoped with each wedding I did, my clients were so happy they would share glowing reviews!
As word-of-mouth spread about my ability to deliver outstanding service, my reputation grew. With each review and recommendation, I got closer to my goal of building a reputable business.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I have a degree in Business Management, which exposed me to numerous “core” management books. While they proved useful, none truly resonated with me until years after graduation. It was during a road trip with my husband to Moab that I found a book that just resonated with me and my personality. We read a book titled “Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead & Win” by Jocko Willink & Leif Babin, and little did I know that this read would profoundly impact my approach to leadership and business management.

This book opened my eyes to a new perspective on leading and running a business. The key lesson is that to build a strong team and be an effective manager, one must first embody the qualities of a great leader. The key to being a good leader is embracing extreme ownership, even in situations that may not be directly my fault. This principle extends to interactions with both employees and clients. I knew I couldn’t be a successful business owner, manager, and planner if I consistently shifted blame to others, be it employees or vendors.

If one of my employees make a mistake, I take it upon myself to apologize to the client and ensure that we learn from the error to prevent its recurrence. If something goes awry on a client’s wedding day due to another vendor’s oversight, I step up to apologize because, ultimately, those vendors are part of my team.

While some may disagree with this philosophy, I’ve run my business this way for the last 2 years. Yes, it can be disheartening to take on responsibility for things beyond my control. However, I’ve found that clients are consistently happier when I take ownership, promptly address issues, and focus on moving forward. I have also found that vendors also gain a level of respect as well. In doing so, I build trust amongst everyone and cultivate long-lasting relationships that have been huge in the success of my business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.redcanyonevents.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/redcanyonevents/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/redcanyonevents
• Other: I run a Facebook group where brides & grooms can connect with vendors and each other to ask questions and plan their wedding: https://www.facebook.com/groups/weddingplanninginutah

Image Credits
Backcountry Photography (Stefan Olson) Hayley Jade Photography Shannon Volmar Photography Knight Photo & Film Chrissa Lee Studios Studio Ostendo Co. Sosa Media Caden Taylor Photography