We recently connected with Wendy Kidd and have shared our conversation below.
Wendy, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s jump right into the heart of things. Outsiders often think businesses or industries have much larger profit margins than they actually do – the reason is that outsiders are often unaware of the biggest challenges to profitability in various industries – what’s the biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?
The events industry is a glamorous industry and with all the photos of our beautiful events, you would never know that most companies are not making a profit. I feel this is because many come to this industry because of it’s excitement and because they excel at doing something creative in our industry. Their approach is one of a fan and a hobbyist first, and for some, it’s hard to translate that into running a business well. Many do not have any education when it comes to creating and running a business, much less with information on how to be profitable and stay that way.
Now more than ever, there are resources to help small business owners learn more about how to run a business, how to read their financial reports and truly understand them, and how to be profitable. Many of these resources are free or inexpensive, and can be found online or in person. I was lucky enough to be accepted into the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business program last fall and it was truly one of the best and hardest experiences in my entrepreneur life. I learned so much about business, including the financial resources and tools available to us, but also about myself as a business owner. This free program is transformational and I recommend it to all small business owners who qualify.
Business owners in our industry are amazingly resourceful individuals. We “make it work” all the time! I do my best to also help educate owners on the business side, not just the event side. I share resources and consult with owners as much as I can so they can level up their business and be profitable!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I began in the industry as a wedding planner. Struggling through planning my own wedding made me look at how the planning process could be easier. Watching my friends go through this same struggle solidified for me it could be done better and I could be the one to guide others, which lead to the birth of Each & Every Detail in 2005. I’ve now been planning weddings and events for 19 years and I still love every moment. My intuition and communication skills set me apart and I’m able to truly understand what our clients need and want. Nothing makes me happier than seeing their faces light up and seeing the relief they feel when I deliver that to them in the planning process and on event day.
With my years of experience in the industry and as a business owner, this led me to start Boss Level Engaged. Boss Level Engaged is my company to help other business owners with those tasks that aren’t so easy to delegate to staff. They need another boss who understands what needs to be done, who has the knowledge and experience doing it and they can take care of it for them. That’s me! I always tell them, think of Boss Level as a cross between a business coach and a virtual assistant. I’m going to coach you on what you need and then I’ll do it for you. I love getting these tasks off their plate and making their company run smoother and become more profitable.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
One of the first things I did when I joined the events industry is jump into serving on the board of one of the networking associations in our industry. I felt it was a great way to get to know others in the industry and it was! I also have always had the attitude of helping others first before asking for help for myself. I’m a natural caretaker, so it’s easy for me to want to help others. Between volunteering on boards throughout my career and helping, teaching and mentoring others along they way, I’ve developed a strong reputation of someone who others can count on, can come to for help and someone who is willing to mentor others. I love getting to help those new in the industry to start their careers, but also those that have been in the industry for a while and need help with their businesses. I consider it an honor to help others continue and grow their businesses. It’s all about collaboration, not competition!
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I’m sure everyone that is still in the events industry can relate when I say I survived Covid. With the event industry being halted in it’s tracks with a pandemic, and then dealing with the rescheduling of events and taking care of clients for the next two years, it was the hardest time period in my business hands down. I’ve never worked so hard and been a therapist more for our wedding clients for my industry partners. My team was extraordinary during this time and I am still so proud of them. However, that work led to complete burnout for myself and my team. Unfortunately, I lost almost all of my team due to burnout as they left to pursue careers in other industries after two years of this grinding work. I miss them dearly on the day-to-day but of course we still get together as friends. I learned from this experience how to down scale my business back to just myself operating it and rebuilding from that moment. I’m continuing to rebuild as our industry has, with perseverance and strategy. Staff was hard to come by after that, but I feel I’ve finally found new team members that are just as amazing as the ones I had before and we are rocking events again!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.eachandeverydetail.com
- Instagram: @eachandeverydetail
- Facebook: eachandeverydetail
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendykidd/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@EachandEveryDetail
