Education

October 30, 2019

My best business advice is not going to sound like rocket science and I don’t want to use any buzz words or pretend I am something that I’m not.  I am still new at owning a business and still learning – in most cases I am going to other people and asking them how they operate on a day to day basis.  How they keep their business and lives together. So, if I had any tidbit, any morsel of wisdom or knowledge to share or pass on to a newbie out there it would be this … put yourself out there.  MAKE FRIENDS. 

Getting out there is really hard, I will give you that; especially if you are new as a business owner or new to the industry or maybe you are just an introvert.  There are so many “cat ladies” in this crew who would rather stay at home in their cat pants (thinking of someone in particular here) and watch Netflix but we get out there.  Me? I am what I refer to as an introverted extrovert, where I will just stay in the back unless someone walks over and says, “Hey you! We’re gonna be friends, now let’s go make some bad decisions together!”  And man did I find them. Previously my networking tactics were to go up to a group and of two people talking and wedge my way in or lurk around a corner, like when someone was coming back from the bathroom and sneak attack them.  I still do sometimes … 

My biggest take away from AFWPI has not been all the amazing referrals I have received from the networking functions I have attended over the past few years.  It has been the relationships that I have built and the friendships I have made. In particular, a core group of women that I would walk through fire butt naked for.  These ladies are my industry ride or die (and friends in real life too!) and I know I can count on them for professional advice, help, and criticism. 

I try to get my husband to get out and network more – read this as “at all”.  I think that is because I enjoy the people I work with and network with so much that I was starting to feel a little guilty but then I thought – that’s his problem, not mine.  So again, MAKE FRIENDS, put yourself out there, keep networking, be authentic, offer to do something for someone – maybe for free, pay for another vendor’s services without asking for a discount because you know their value and they will see yours, be patient and the referrals will come. 

-Danielle Philipps, Omni Wedding & Event Planning