blogging and business Archive

Let me tell you a little secret. I’m an extremely decisive person and 99% of the time have my mind made up before I can even believe it myself. I’m not sure if this is a quality I’ve had most of my life but in addition to my decisiveness I’m very good at listening to my gut and making decisions based on intuition. Case in point, about two months ago I really started to feel the effects (both positive and challenging) of a growing business and I decided to start looking into an outside office space and studio. With little knowledge on commercial real estate but a gut feeling that starting this search would be a good idea, I set out and toured what felt like all of Grand Rapids, calling in circles, visiting almost seven potential spaces that fit my needs and price point and then boom I found one! I was ready to sign on the dotted line, get my keys and make magic happen. Here’s that diamond in the rough everyone, myself included, seemed to love.

But something didn’t feel right. And I don’t just mean that iPhone photo above. Ick sorry!

I forgot to mention that sometimes in addition to being very decisive, if I’m on the fence about something (which hardly happens) I tend to lean on others to gauge their opinions and ultimately what they would do if they were Rhi. Such was the case a few weeks ago when almost every single person in my circle had an opinion to share; and let me point out I am so grateful for my smart, wise, courageous and smart friends. I value their opinions and trust their judgement. But then I thought I should call my Dad. You know, the one who started his construction business alone with a young entrepreneurial business loan 25 years ago. The one who worked his tail off over the past 25 years to go from a small business that served small construction needs to an Incorporated business with a fleet of vehicles, 80 plus employees and a roster of business across the country and internationally. And most notably he’s the one that move after move, would make his office work in a spare room or the basement of our home. Here’s a man selling multimillion dollar building contracts from the comfort of his small, cozy, home office, and one who continued to do so until he absolutely had to move to an outside space that could accommodate his needs. Surely my Dad would have advice for me.

The thing I love about my Dad, and my Mom, is they tell me things I don’t want to hear. I used to hate that but as I get older and wiser (ha!) I learn to secretly love learning from and taking their advice and opinions to heart. My Dad’s initial advice on the space, before I could even tell him about those beautiful windows and that yummy light and the cheap rent, was ‘Don’t do it.’ Then this weekend he had a chance to see the studio, the building, the surrounding area, the whole nine yards. And and Sunday before him, my Mom and my Grandpa left he told me, ‘Remember Rhi, increase your revenue, decrease your overhead. And don’t do it.’ Wow. Talk about getting the opposite of what you really wanted.

I have a sweet friend and together we have accountability dates once a week. We talk about our goals, challenges and one thing we did well from the week prior. My one thing I did well from last week was taking my Dad’s advice and more notably my Mom’s points to heart as I continue to sit on the fence with this studio space. In the heat of my excitement I didn’t think about the things I should have like the lack of running water, at all, in the studio. My flowers wouldn’t jive well with that. I didn’t think it would be a big deal that our Michigan winters will absolutely freeze my tail off and probably drive me to crank the heat resulting in a ridiculous heating bill; when a big, grown man who leases the space next to your potential one tells you Michigan winters are miserable in said building, that’s gotta count for something.

These next few weeks will mark the start of my 2013 wedding season. My first wedding this year is my unicorn themed wedding and ironically enough the first event under my new brand. I’m. So. Excited. I’m also trying not to make a decision on a space (which I’ve decided I do absolutely need whether it be separate from my home or a revamped basement space) just because it’s exciting and fun. I want this to be a smart move and something that feels so good in the end because I did it the right way. In the meantime, I’ll be spray painting more cones for the unicorn inspired garlands you’ll see at June 2nd’s event and reviewing some pricing and plans to redo our entire unfinished basement. The smart biz move here would be to review all of my options before making my final move right? Right.

If you’re a business owner with a studio of your own I’d love to hear about your experiences! Obviously there are variables in every business wedding industry related or not (how much you make, how often you meet clients, what your inventory is like, what market you’re in, what your future business plans entail) but I’d still love to hear different perspectives and stories :) Happy Thursday, friends! Soak up that gorgeous sunshine out there xoxo

Keeping in line with my January post on social media free weekends, I wanted to talk a little bit about my work schedule and what I’ve found works for me as a work from home professional. A lot of you have been asking for more wedding industry business advice and that makes me so happy! Around this time last year, I was struggling to keep balance between my personal life and my business. I was working a part time job to make a bit of extra money leading up to my wedding season and was coming home every night exhausted from my full day of work. Sometimes I’d work until 3:00 am handling my own business responsibilities and more than often, I’d schedule consults and Skype dates with clients as late as 9:00 pm; when I just wanted to be in bed winding down from my day. Andrew took a backseat to it all and I found that life caught up with me; and not in a good way. Rhi needed a schedule intervention really bad.

In May of 2012 I finally decided to leave my part time job and take on Hey Gorgeous full time. For the second time. Best. Decision. Ever. Within just two weeks I booked two more events for my season, which surpassed the amount of money I would have made working my part time job for six months. I was able to work during the day and do things like eat dinner with my husband at night. Or go to a movie and not feel guilty about it. But I also learned really quickly that I’d still need to put in the hard work at home with Hey Gorgeous if I wanted to be successful and get my work done. I write a lot on this blog about what I do to stay motivated and on task. I think any business owner or creative professional can attest to the difficulties of staying on task 24/7 even more so when you wear so many different hats.

These days, I stick to a loose 9:00 am to 5:30 pm work schedule that’s done wonders for me. I work Monday to Friday, meaning those times and days are when I am accessible to clients (unless of course an appointment is made outside of these parameters and I certainly do work overtime when it’s necessary like the week of an event). I wrote a bit about a typically work day over here. And then I also wrote about a typical wedding day of work here. Just reading that post gives me this weird combination of exhauastion and excitement because my job is pretty demanding but absolutely and 110% worth it. I also usually spend Sunday nights prepping for my work week ahead, and once my weddings start each season I take Mondays off. When you work on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays you need to give yourself a little break.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg on work schedules and office hour boundaries (as learned from the incredibly smart Lara Casey herself) but I’d love to generate a discussion here (over Starbucks lattes of course!) If you’re a business owner who works from home or not, I’d love for you to dish below on what you like and dislike with your current work schedule. Maybe your comment will inspire other business owners to make changes with their current routine! Which also leads me to the exciting news involving my hunt for a perfect office space for the 2013 and 2014 Hey Gorgeous season. More on that soon though, soon. Happiest of Mondays, to you all! Photo by Kelly Braman xoxo

When people ask me what I studied in college I always tell them journalism (truth) because it was one of the few majors that didn’t require much math (partial truth). I always wanted to be a news anchor and for six years put on my best reporting face until one day I decided the wedding industry was instead where I belonged. I never doubted I could successfully run my own business. But I never actually prepared for what it would take to make the back end work. Meaning give me a bride who loves glitter and unicorns and I can dream up a stellar wedding aesthetic but ask me the difference between an expense and a cost and I might get a little weak in the knees (and not the same weak in the knees I get around peonies. Bummer.) It wasn’t until last year that I really realized I’d need to invest in my business in more ways than just photo shoots and instragram. So I hired a CPA. And left his office that day in big ugly toddler tears.

Turns out an IKEA storage box full of receipts with pretty short hand on the top of them, doesn’t do my CPA too much good. Neither does just thinking and not doing much about owning Quickbooks. But on the flip side there’s people called bookkeepers and my goodness am I ever glad I found an amazing one thanks to Ben and Laura. Hiring my amazing bookkeeper was by far my best decision in 2012 and something I would recommend to any business owner just getting started (or to any business owner who has been around for while but doesn’t yet have one.) If you’re unsure where to find a reliable one check with any industry colleagues or even friends and see who they can recommend for you to use.

A bookkeeper can really give you so much. For starters they can take that big scary box of receipts and make sense of them for you. I’m pretty good at keeping things and labelling them as I go but knowing what each receipt means and how it should be tracked is foreign to me. And totally boring. Enter a bookkeeper. They can also log all of your spending, earnings, draws, expenses and costs into Quickbooks so you can see in front of you how much your spending in each area of your business (for example I have ton of transactions filed under Business Development in 2012 and Florals for obvious reasons). Without getting into too much detail, the best part is come time to meet again with my CPA I can hand him a USB that my bookkeeper loaded my entire business onto, so he can do my taxes quickly and with ease.

Last Friday I met with my bookkeeper to give her some final December receipts and I have to say working with her has been such an eye opening experience. I’m not the greatest with money and wanted to make sure I became better in 2013 with it. Seeing my bank account listed out to the last penny in front of me (I’m very much a visual learner) and in front of a total stranger is a really good lesson on establishing wants and needs a bit better. Paired with the experience of adopting a family in need for the holidays I really am so thankful for everything this new step has taught me about money, value, organization and being accountable. Remember that whole living with purpose and intent? Amen to that.

To all of you other business owners out there, do you do your own bookkeeping and taxes?

Side note. I want to take a minute to address my Starbucks addiction. I drink way too much of it. And I know this is fairly obvious but I think I turned a blind eye to it late last year because I was that embarrased. Sort of like the girl who can’t quit buying Coach purses, or smokes, or baby clothes from the GAP or whatever your vice is. When I saw all of the charges from Starbucks listed out in my Draws Report for 2012 I took a really big pause and vowed then and there to cut back for the sake of my wallet and my sanity. And I’m happy to say I’ve done pretty good lately. So for old times sake, we’ll throw the above photo in here because it’s cuter than a photo of my IKEA storage box full of receipts; and I have what I like best in my hand, a lovely white and green Bucks cup. Happy Monday, friends. Love you Shay! xoxo

Oh hello! Guess what? Today I need YOUR help, blogettes.

See I have this new brand launching in less than a month (like you didn’t know this already ha!) and with that new brand will come a new blogging schedule and structure. I have in my head what I think sounds pretty darn good but what’s good to me isn’t always good to you and you guys are the ones who make this blog what it is. So what I need today is your help! I want to know what you love seeing here, what entices you to leave comments and encourage discussion, what you love about stopping by HGE, and what you would want to hear about should I decide to bless you with my voice and start putting together some videos. I’m coming up on my four year blogging anniversary and to say this blog is a big part of my brand and identity is an understatement. I want to continue to grow and evolve and I hope you can give me a bit of feedback to help do just that.

All you need to do is leave a comment here with what you like, don’t like, want to see more of, want to hear more of, and even better I’d love to know about YOU! Are you a bride to be who loves wedding related advice and help? Or are you happily married and just as obsessed over finding the perfect shade of gray for your living room walls? Or maybe you’re my Mom and you read by default. Whoever you are let me know! I owe so much of my success to my blog and the people who continually read, comment and share the love I pour into it. I hope someone comments and tells me how much they love balloons like me.

Happy Monday, friends! Is anyone else fasting in preparation for Thursday’s celebration? :) Photo via Kelly Braman.

Happy Monday, bloggies! In celebration of Lemon and Lavender’s incredible relaunch tonight I thought I’d write a bit about styling paper products for photos, whether it be a wedding planner doing so for a client or a designer updating their portfolio. I often get questions from photographers on how they can make this process easier at weddings when there isn’t a planner or stylist on hand to help wth the arranging of these items. I personally love artfully arranging client’s stationery to reflect their wedding and personal style and always try my best to make sure my brides save me a set to play with on the big day. So join me and read along as I share some of my fave tips below and fave photos that I helped style for the sweet and talented, Ashley!

{Lighting} It’s pretty obvious but natural light produces the cleanest photos. Taking photos by a large window or even outdoors in natural light (but not overly bright or directly overhead sunshine!) usually results in the cleanest most consistent images. I typically ask photographers to direct me to a spot where I can lay everything out since they know what lighting conditions work best with their style, but lighting has a huge impact on the final product. Colors in the shot look truer, the quality of the paper product like the paper itself or the type of printing used (letterpress, embossing, etc) shows up better and other details used in the photos just look better when the lighting is right. You can never go wrong when the lighting is right.

{Details} Aside from the paper suite itself, like the invitation, response card, envelope and other inserts, it’s nice to include details that relate to the wedding or the couple in the laid out shot. For example, a Christmas themed wedding invitation suite all laid out may include a sprig of mistletoe or a strand of a thick cut shimmery ribbon. Or perhaps the vintage loving bride whose getting married at her Grandparent’s estate, may have one of Grandma’s brooches to lend for the shot. In the photo above, I used a red apple and leaf from an apple tree, plus a rustic wood backdrop to compliment the apple orchard themed wedding that one of Ashley’s couples put together. The great thing is this whole look went perfectly with the couple’s wedding photos!

{Positioning} Placement of each item is crucial in creating an aesthetically pleasing shot. It’s pretty logical but think of it this way; when you arrange your decorative throw pillows on your bed or everything on your kitchen table in preparation for a family dinner, you usually do so in a way that makes sense and visually looks, well good, right? Styling paper products works the exact same way. If an invitation suite is more formal with an envelope displaying gorgeous vintage stamps and hand calligraphy, perhaps the image will look best with just the invite and envelope in it and maybe a small bloom from one of the centerpieces. Simplicity is key especially since the purpose of the shot is often to let the actual paper product shine on its own.

I couldn’t be more thrilled to share some of the gorgeous photos above taken by Kelly Braman Photography for Ashley’s new site and official relaunch. You can check out the new site here where more of Ashley’s work and designs can be found. And if anyone has any other suggestions or tips for creating gorgeous photos of paper products and collateral, please do leave them below! In the meantime I’m off until Thursday here in the Windy City with this girl, this one and this one too, celebrating our journey with Making Things Happen. Wheeee! I will be back with more goodies soon. Enjoy your day, beauties xoxo