Building a Strong Wedding Vendor Business from Day One

Kristina Stubblefield: [00:00:00] Welcome back to another episode of WedPro Business Solutions. I'm your host, Kristina Stubblefield, and I'm so excited to have guests on here with me today. They started off as clients, but I like to call them now my good friends, John Crespo and Kacie Bryant with The Business Project. Hi guys. Thanks for being on here today.

Kacie Bryant: Hi, Kristina. Thanks so much for having us. We're really excited. 

John Crespo: Looking forward to this. 

Kacie Bryant: Yeah, you're doing great things. 

Kristina Stubblefield: Thank you. And I've been fortunate to be on your all's podcast a couple of times when I've actually been down there. They are in Clarksville, Tennessee, which is funny because I'm in Clarksville, Indiana, but I really wanted them to come on and be guests to talk about business.

Imagine that we do that on this podcast. We have talked separately before we started recording and whether you're just starting a business or you've been in business for a [00:01:00] while, sometimes you didn't do things that you should have when you started out, and that can be a little hectic to work through if you don't set it up right from the beginning.

So just to tell everybody about the topics we're going to be talking about today, I'm really excited to dive in. But first, I would love for Kacie and John to share just a little bit about their background and also share with my audience about The Business Project. There will be links in the show notes, or if you're catching this on YouTube, it'll be in the description.

But Kacie or John, would you like to talk just a little bit about your backgrounds and how The Business Project came about? 

Kacie Bryant: So I have started and sold three businesses. And it's just a big passion of mine. I, for whatever reason, I love the startup of business. I think that it's so fun.

A lot of people really struggle with the startup process. I think that they're amazingly well at what they do. They build tables [00:02:00] really well, or they. they're great at numbers, but when it comes down to the nitty and gritty of running a business like accounting and branding and all of those things, they need some help.

So we've taken the experience that both John and I have in business in our past, all the mistakes that we've made, and we tell you guys what to do and what not to do. Through,just our experiences and the people that we encounter. We've worked with hundreds of business owners between the two of us, and we've put that all together in one nice platform to help you guys avoid the mistakes that we've made and to have one good place to go to get all the information instead of having to look all over YouTube and watch a million commercials. It's just your go to place for business owners. 

John Crespo: Yeah, definitely. And my contribution to this project is, 15 years in the financial industry, dealing and working with small businesses on the lending side, just understanding and seeing the struggle that small business owners have in just preparing themselves for the ability to get financing, drove me [00:03:00] into starting my own business and it's a business services company. So that's what I do, I kind of help businesses from the early stages to the growth stages to the closing stages and combining all those services together and then getting together with, Kacie and The Business Project is what we're sharing now. We're sharing that information so that you don't have to suffer going through it, you can be prepared a little bit better from running your business to seeking financing.

Kristina Stubblefield: I love how you talk about that because when I talk to people, I even mentioned, I'm taking my own experiences. I have a very diverse background, but also my expertise and kind of rolling that together and helping other businesses. I feel like we're very similar because we're passionate about helping others succeed in business.

Starting your own business is when you've been through it and hats off to anyone that's in their own business, that runs their own business, that has nerves [00:04:00] of steels to start their own business. There's so much involved in it because not only are you running your own business, but a lot of times there's things left out, set up, licensing, even to the branding and marketing.

Kacie, you touched a little bit on that and I referred to it about wearing the hats. As business owners, you tend to wear all these hats because having a team, like almost makes you feel like you're, you can almost suffocate thinking about it because it's overwhelming. Like you, most people, when they start out, aren't even paying themselves.

They're putting their money back in their business. And the mere thought of having a team or adding to their expenses, is something that's really hard to process, so you're wearing all these hats and that's why I'm excited to dive in today to talk about some of those beginning stages. That I find some people [00:05:00] haven't done and there are years down the road in their business and it can wreak havoc trying to fix all of that or get things in order.

John Crespo: Definitely. you know what we can list out so many steps when it comes to forming a business that a lot of us do not do right. And we realize it down the road. We realize it sometimes when we're going through the fire, how we need to have a good support system in place, how we need to have proper financing in place, how we need to make sure our registrations are up to date.

And some, and we realized that a little late, a lot of business start off and they don't do that. we could probably list 10 to 20 things that a business should do that doesn't do when they're starting out because we don't do the proper, preparation and planning in the beginning. 

Kacie Bryant: Yeah, I think it's intimidating starting a business there because there are a lot of steps and it's different depending on your industry and it's different depending on your state or your country on, how to start a business.

And so I think that it's [00:06:00] not intentional that people leave it out. It's just they take the path of least resistance. what do I know how to do? And what do I know what to do? 

Kristina Stubblefield: Well, and most of the time people are really good at what they do in business and like you mentioned, whether that's, making furniture or candles, for those of my audience are in the wedding industry, they're good at events or DJing or photography or videography.

The list goes on and on, but you're not an accountant, you're not a marketing agency. I could keep going on, but I might get to like 20 items. And that in itself is overwhelming, I can just see right now people's eyes glaze over when they're like, what are they talking about? And it's so important because when it becomes an issue, that's when it's really a burden to fix, so let's dive into this some John, where do you want to start with the first thing that comes to mind for you? 

John Crespo: Let's start in the beginning. [00:07:00] So somebody has this great idea or this passion, to do something in their garage or they've been creating something that they want to present to the world and everyone is so excited about it.

The excitement clouds are judgment in the beginning. Let's start there. Why it's so important to do proper research before we launch a business or even think about launching a business to really understand what we're going to get ourself into, and a lot of businesses don't do that because we're clouded by the excitement.

Kacie Bryant: Yeah, and that comes to funding to,they're underfunded because they don't do the research on what it takes to be funded. They don't do the research on what type of licensing they need in order to operate. And so they have, they're very excited and passionate about this thing, or they see a need that they know how to meet.

And so they're just running in full force, but it bites you in the butt because if you're not putting these steps in order first, you have to do the work first. There's a lot of work that goes [00:08:00] into setting up a business and you need to do it, unfortunately, before you do the fun stuff. 

Kristina Stubblefield: And you're right. I think you touched on it. There's work involved. Sure, you can get an attorney to help you get your eIN number, and you can get an accountant to help you set this up. But that doesn't mean that there's not research. And what came to mind when you were talking about it was, wait, you mean I have to plan things out?

And I think that's such a big step throughout the business, process. I should say that correctly. That's a whole thing throughout the business process about planning. So many people are into action, but not planning it out. And so John, I'm so glad you touched on research. Cause I think that's such an important step.

John Crespo: Yeah, definitely. along with research is, people don't immerse theirself in the industry that they're going to be filling the need in. Whether it's the restaurant industry, the service industry,the trades [00:09:00] or whether it's manufacturing, whatever it is, we have to really understand that there's a serious, cost to entry sometimes, regulations that have to be followed and, registered for licensing that you mentioned a little earlier. That has to be, applied for us as all these different things, depending on what you do that you have to get in order to have a strong foundation.

That's why the research in the beginning is so important because it's the foundation that you're creating. to have a successful business. 

Kristina Stubblefield: I don't want people to think, gosh, why would I even start a business? The reason we're sharing this with you is to build that strong foundation, because when you start adding things on it, like when you build a house, if you don't have that solid foundation, you're going to have trouble at some point in time.

So taking the time up front will really help you throughout your entire business career or the time that you own that business. So after the research, licensing, getting that stuff in place, Kacie, what [00:10:00] would you suggest something else to consider? 

Kacie Bryant: One of the things that I think that businesses don't put enough time and money into at the beginning is their branding.

That is such an important part of your business. It's oftentimes the first thing that people see when they see you online or when they see your sign or get your business card and you don't have to be an expert in branding. I think that's the challenge is a lot of businesses and you mentioned the hats.

They think that they have to be an expert in marketing or branding or accounting in order to do this. And so they get intimidated by it. But that's not it at all. You need to find partners that you can create within your business that can help you through these things ask for referrals.

You don't want to just walk up to a building of an accountant and start doing business with them. Do your research, do your research on the companies that you're partnering with. But branding is just one of those things. We talk about the foundation too, and it's not just to have a solid foundation, But it's also creates a [00:11:00] ripple effect.

So if you get all of these things right and you spend the time and the energy doing them, then they build on each other. It's like a snowball and it, they all work together more cohesively. They make you look more professional and you don't have to spend time three years down the road, completely revamping everything.

if you skimp on your logo and you just go and pull one off the internet, off of those logo creators and, spend 10 bucks for it. And then you're, two years down the road, you're needing to make t shirts and hats and things like that. And you realize, Oh, this little logo that I have now doesn't work on a t shirt.

So now I have to pay more to have it recreated. We've seen that happen so many times, right, John? I know he's, he can relate. But if you do it right the first time, it might cost you more money. especially if you're partnering with a professional, but in the end you save so much time and so much money, you don't have to redo all those business cards and those signs that you created at the beginning.

John Crespo: So true. 

Kristina Stubblefield: Well, the other thing that I'll add in, [00:12:00] I think people want to put branding and marketing together. And honestly, I tell people it's not, it is not the same. And some of the things you're mentioning, I've been doing this many years, gosh, 20 years plus. And I cannot tell you the number of people that come to me that don't have a logo, and I'm not making fun of them. No one told them along the way, Oh, you need a banner? Oh, yeah, here, what font do you want? Oh, you don't have a logo? Okay, well, Arial, that's an easy font to use. Didn't even ask about colors. And that's one of the things I tell people is, When we're starting to work on a project, Do you have a logo?

Do you have a brand kit? And I have had some people say to me, Hey, don't judge. I don't know what a brand kit is. And I think that's one of the things I'd like to share. It's so important to have a brand kit, whether you got it, when whoever created your logo, whatever company or not, when we do logos for people, that is something that [00:13:00] comes as part of ours.

You get it in multiple different versions, as well as your brand kit. And that tells you your fonts, your colors. So that way you're not using, I've seen so many variations of colors and things like that. And you're right, Kacie, that is something that you can spend a lot of time and a lot of money a few years down the road correcting or adjusting all of that back to what it should have been in the first place. So taking that step ahead of time or in the beginning is so important because will it cost you a couple hundred dollars versus 10 or 20 dollars? Probably, but you're getting a vector image that can be used on a business card or a billboard.

And that can be adjusted for anything you want printed on. And I'm so glad you touched on that because that is something that a lot of businesses that I come in contact with, they've been in business a couple of years or 10, 20 years, they don't [00:14:00] have. 

Kacie Bryant: I see that a lot in the service space industry, especially, photographers and caterers and things like that, because it's, that it's easier to get started and, or they're, they're really great at taking pictures or doing videos.

And so they just kind of brand themselves as themselves. but as you grow, You want to get past a point to where it's just yourself, but it's a business. And I think the difference is if you want to just be an artisan that does craft fairs and piddles in something, that's one thing.

But if you want to be a business that's growing, that's hiring people on your team, that's. lasting a long time, even beyond yourself, then you need to make it professional, especially from the beginning, because you don't want to have to change that in the middle. 

John Crespo: I like that you said that because I think a lot of it plays into the mindset of what you want to do with your service or business or product or whatever it is, do you want it just to be a [00:15:00] side hustle? did you just, do you just want it to compliment what you do on a daily basis already? Let's say you're employed. You're, you have a good job.

You like what you do. and you just want to bring additional revenue in. So it's not necessarily going to be a business. But you're generating revenue from it. So there's going to be some, still some stuff that you need to do, or are you all in, right? Because if you're all in, if you're trying to create a business and you want this business to be your wealth generator for you, for generations to come for your family.

Then taking the step back and understanding how you want it to look down the road is what will help you make sure that you're putting the right steps in the beginning, and a lot of us just look at the finish line and want to get to the finish line before running the race, like you gotta go through that process before you hit that finish line.

And it's what mindset are we approaching our business or what we're trying to get into? How are we looking at it that determines a lot on what people [00:16:00] do when they're starting up. 

Kristina Stubblefield: I'm so glad you said that because I think a lot of people, I'll throw myself in there. I've always been transparent on this podcast and in things I do, I think a lot of us play small, think small from a standpoint of business.

And, when I sit and think about our business and, I say me and my husband own a business and I think, gosh, we have hundreds of clients. We're very fortunate, but I think John, you're exactly right. That circles right back around to mindset. And you're right. Is it a side hustle?

Are you all in? There's no right or wrong answer, but if that side hustle is going to turn into, as you mentioned, I love the word you use, a wealth generator for generations to come, having it set up the right way is going to save you a lot of time and money going forward. Most definitely. 

Kacie Bryant: [00:17:00] Yeah. I've, we've talked about this before on our podcast and John and I mentioned this all the time, but I think it's really important when you're building a business.

Somebody told me this in my very first business and it was so game changing for me. If you're building a business, you always need to build it as if you're going to sell it. So even if it's something that like my first business, I was going to get tattooed on my arm. I'm like, this is my life. I love this.

This is everything. I was so passionate about it. And then five years down the road, I'm like, I never, ever, ever want to do this again. I'm ready to be done. And man, thank goodness that I got that advice because I would have never been able to sell my business. I would have just continued to do things willy nilly and have fun.

And, but,I got the advice and I made. Amazing logos. And I created my branding and those ended up being sellable assets within my company. So it wasn't just to make, a great sign or a great billboard or good with branding, but that was part of what the person that bought my business, that was a big part of what they [00:18:00] purchased.

Because I had created recognition for that branding throughout the community. What's it called Kristina? Goodwill, right? It's that's part of what you're creating as you're doing all of these things is you're creating goodwill within your company. And that's all part of getting things set up, right?

Cause that takes a lot of time and a lot of money and a lot of energy at the beginning. 

Kristina Stubblefield: That's a golden nugget right there. Like you said, whether you plan to sell your business or not going into it and structuring everything like that ultimately is what you're going to do. Kacie, thank you for sharing that. That's really great advice. 

Kacie Bryant: Again, we all learn from experiences. That's the benefit. I think of having especially us 3 on the podcast is, I think, between the 3 of us, we've worked with thousands of business owners. We've heard so many stories. we've seen a lot of mistakes. We've made a lot of mistakes and why not use those to help other people on their journey and make it easier. We don't have to pull other people down to get to the top. It's so much better when you [00:19:00] partner together and share your resources and share your experiences. 

Kristina Stubblefield: I always think it's great pulling people along with you or them pulling you along in that journey. It just makes it great for everyone. When you work together, one of our big things is community over competition. And you see so much of that stuff in the wedding industry, but I feel like everyone is stronger together than you are individually.

John Crespo: Just to touch on what you're saying, there's enough to go around for everybody. So surrounding yourself by the right people is very important when it comes to running a business as well. Because if you have the right, team, if you have the right mentors, if you have the right, just friends that you can bounce your ideas and struggles off of that can help point you in the right direction that goes a long way.

But what I was going to say is, Yeah, There's people listening that's going to be listening to this that are probably going to think I've done nothing like this and is it even worth going back? It's okay if you didn't start the business [00:20:00] the right way, the point is that you make the adjustments that you make the pivots and you put the proper tools and the proper resources and get the proper partnerships in place. So that going forward your business can start moving and functioning properly, especially if you want this thing to be, if this is a long term goal for you. 

Kacie Bryant: You don't have to eat the elephant all at once. I think that's what stops us at the beginning from doing the right things is we see this huge elephant and we're like, how are we going to eat it?

I never understood that thing. That's so great. Yeah one piece at a time. So pick one thing that we talked about and hopefully Kristina, we're going to get back into more, have the opportunity to get in. Cause it's just so important and there's so many things, but from what we talked about today, just pick one thing. You don't have to do it all. And then start there. 

Kristina Stubblefield: I say this a lot of times when I work with people with about their systems and processes. And I think one of the reasons we avoid that. Or we get in our own way with that is because when you start listing everything out, it's not [00:21:00] five steps, it's truly 25 or 55 steps.

And people look at that whole list and not just step one, check it off, step to check it off. Little adjustments along the way, little steps in the right direction can make such an impact in your business. And that's the thing I hope people take away from this is, okay, you didn't do it right in the beginning.

What needs to be changed? Like John said, is that a slight pivot? Is that going back and getting some paperwork together? Okay. You don't have a business bank account. It's not something that is not doable. That's the thing, everything we talked about is completely doable one step at a time.

I'd love to have you all back on cause I think there's so many different topics in this realm with business. And I don't think it's talked enough about in any industry, honestly. It's something that [00:22:00] people get in their own way with this because you don't know what you don't know and to be able to pull back the curtains on this and shine a light on it, I think can help so many people.

Kacie Bryant: There's another misconception that you get there. It's like you, you work, work, work, and, and you finally get there in your business. And we need to re redo our mindset also with that, because you're always working and growing in your business.

There are always things that you can improve no matter what. Kristina, one of the reasons that we met is because I had been running my business five years into it and I'm so much into the nitty gritty and the weeds of my business that I could not even see the forest through the trees, right? I just need somebody. That was a paid relationship. We brought you on as a mentor, but it was a compensation for that. It's not like we just went and found somebody to help us, but we created such a great friendship [00:23:00] and partnership out of that situation, but you straight up looked at me.

I think you'll remember this and said, you have to start all over again. And I started bawling, crying, but it was so true. It was something that needed to happen. And the beauty that came out of all of that. And I was five years into business and we were successful. Like we weren't. doing terrible.

We were at a good point, but we were just at a place where we needed to take the next step. And so I just wanted to add that because that is something that we all get. Okay, we're going to get there and then we're going to be done. And that's not at all how it happens. We talk about a lot of this on The Business Project Podcast. That's the best place right now for people, to get connected with us. We're on Spotify, YouTube, Apple podcasts, all the places that you listen and it's The Business Project Podcast.

Kristina Stubblefield: Thank you for sharing that information. And I think you touched on a really important point. And I think we can dive into this more next time. People have in their minds, they have this, if you've [00:24:00] never worked with a business coach or consultant or mentor, as you refer to it, I think people have this perception that not everyone needs a business coach or consultant. For those out there listening to me, that know that this is something that we offer, I'm a coach and a consultant, but I also have two or three of them myself. I have someone that helps me stay accountable, helps me work on future.

Like you said, when business plateau, what's the next phase for you? What's the next level up? And I think that's so important. And I've been very fortunate to work with people that have never worked with a coach before. Never thought that they could use one, afford one. Benefit from one, the list goes on and on.

Some people I meet with once a month, once a quarter, twice a year, and that's the thing I want to share with people. It doesn't have to be me. Find [00:25:00] someone out there that can help you. Sometimes it's group programs. Sometimes it's one on one. To have that 10, 000 foot view that someone's not in the weeds of your business.

There's so many benefits to that, to me, I talk about them being collaborations. It's never just me. It's a collaboration to help pull a person out of the weeds. Some to say, Hey, let's look at this with some fresh eyes. Not only can it benefit your business now, but for years to come. And like you said, Kacie, keep moving you or keep leveling you up in your business.

Or to get more aligned with selling your business. So no matter if you're a solopreneur, small business, medium business, there's so many benefits to everything we talked about today. So I'd love to have you all back on. I hope that you and John will come back for another episode, maybe a few of them, and just keep this conversation going.

Kacie and John have great resources, their podcast is awesome. [00:26:00] And if you want to know more about starting a business, maybe you want to start a second business. Maybe you're thinking, did I do this right from the beginning? I encourage you to go and check out 

Kacie Bryant: thebusinessproject. com and the podcast is thebusinessprojectpodcast. com 

Kristina Stubblefield: We'll have all of those links in the show notes, or if you're watching this on YouTube, thank you very much. This is one episode that you might want to check out on YouTube if you're not. And It'll be in the description of the video.

Kacie, John, thank you so much for your time. I can't wait to dive into this more. 

John Crespo: Me too. this is a great conversation that can go on for hours and hours, which is just so much to talk about. definitely looking forward to coming back to continuing the conversation because I think so many people can benefit from it.

Kacie Bryant: Thank you so much for having us, Kristina. 

Kristina Stubblefield: Thank you so much for tuning in and I'd love to connect with the listeners. If you've not already joined the free Facebook group, please do so, WedPro Business Community