How To Establish Yourself As The Expert In Your Field

This week one of my companies, The Heart Bandits, was featured in Brides Magazine. The article was called, “6 Major Proposal Mistakes to Avoid, According to Experts.” In the article, I am cited as the expert in Proposal Planning. Every time an article like this comes out, at least one of my peers shoots me a text or email to ask me how I got featured in XYZ. And my answer to them is that the magazines, websites, and media COME TO ME!

But it wasn’t always that way. There are a lot of things that I had to do to establish myself as an expert in the Proposal Planning and Pop-Up Wedding Industry. I teach you many of these steps in my courses that are going to be LIVE in February!! Sign up for the waitlist here.

For now, here are 3 free tips on how you can establish yourself as an expert in your field.

Actually Become An Expert

This may seem obvious but when wondering how you can get featured in media, you have to really ask yourself, “Am I actually the most knowledgeable person in my field about this subject matter?” If not, you need to become one. Take courses on the subject matter, read all of the blogs and interviews you can find, follow all the leaders in the industry on social media, and stay on top of all of the trends. If you are in a competitive space, try to niche down so that you are the expert at a specific niche in your market. Or become an expert in your field in your city specifically. That way, when someone starts looking for an expert in your field or area, they are lead to you.

Show Your Expertise

Once you feel like you truly are the expert in your industry, start showing that off in your social media and blogs. When you start sharing valuable tips and content on social media, so many great things happen. You start to seem like an expert in your field, people start sharing your content, people start following you, and most importantly, people start seeking you out when they are in need of your services or when they want to feature your service in the press.

By now, you know I am a HUGE believer in the power of SEO. When clients or journalists look for an expert in your field, they are looking in one of two places; Google or Social Media. I’ve already talked about showing your expertise on social media. To show your expertise on your website, you are going to blog about your expertise in a way that benefits your reader. In turn, you will eventually establish yourself as an expert to Google who will start rewarding you with rankings. SEO tips and tricks is a huge focus in my courses for this specific reason.

Get Media

The most powerful way to show you are an expert in your field is to be published somewhere. If you can get featured in major media, you will instantly have clout not just with your clients but with other media. And it completely snowballs. For example, I got featured in New York Times very early on after I started my business. Did I get clients from that interview? Absolutely. But what’s more is the other big things happened. Good Morning America saw the article and wanted to interview me. Hotels saw it and wanted to partner with me. When you finally get a major piece of media, a lot of things can change.

And that is why one of the Modules in my courses focuses on how to get media. Because getting media can create such big opportunities for your business. And the truth is, it really isn’t that hard to get.

What Is A Pop-Up Wedding Bomber?

We all know what photo bombers are right? Those annoying people that walk by right as you go to take a photo. You often don’t notice them until you go to post your perfect Instagram photo and see that you’ve been photo bombed. So what is a pop-up wedding bomber? Or a proposal bomber? Well, you are probably thinking that I am referring to someone that gets in the way of pop-up wedding or proposal pictures. But no…this type of bomber is much worse. I am talking about a person that is NOT your client, that gets in the way of you planning your perfect event.

Here are 3 things you need to know about a pop-up wedding or proposal bomber and what you can do if you find yourself dealing with one.

1. They Are Usually Family

Normally, the well meaning pop-up wedding or proposal bomber is a close friend. Oftentimes, the bride or proposer introduces the bomber by saying something like, “I am cc’ing my mom here who is helping me plan.”

What can you do when this happens? I like to politely greet the new person and just remind my client that the contract is between myself and them so the planning does need to between us two. I do let them know that I am happy to keep the person cc’d though. However, this can turn into a big problem so you want to tread carefully here. (see points 2 & 3 below).

2. Try To Make Changes

Now where the trouble really happens is when the well intended bomber starts making “suggestions” on things they know your client will like. For example, “I know she would want her Grandma to sit up front.” Or for a proposal, “I know he would want a heart shape instead of a semi-circle.” But what happens when your client really didn’t want these changes?

What can you do? If I get put in the position to work with a bomber, I tell them that any changes have to come directly from the bride or proposer. I will not take any direction from someone that is not my client. And what about if the bomber is on-site making changes and it is too late to get approval from the client? In that case, you have 2 options. You can tell them that the way things are is what you have approval for and you cannot make changes. Or if the bomber has been an issue the whole time, you can ask your client in advance if they have permission to make any changes on the day of.

3. Time Suckers

The last and the most egregious issue a bomber will cause you, is they will suck up way too much of your time. Once the bomber gets direct access to you, they may start emailing or calling to ask “quick questions.” They may request phone calls to “go over details.”

What can you do? Again I would politely let the bomber know that you have to stick with planning directly with the client that you are under contract with. Then you can say that you’d be happy to schedule a call with the client and they are welcome to be on the call if they’d like. That way you are letting them be involved but staying in charge of your event.

If you are not yet a Proposal Planner or selling pop-up wedding packages, you won’t want to miss my FREE resources below. Learn all about how to be a Proposal Planner and how to sell pop-up wedding packages.

Enrollment for The Proposal Planning Formula™ Is Open!!

The Proposal Planning Formula™ is open for enrollment for just a FEW more days.

This course is a MUST have if you are:

  • A Wedding Planner wanting to add Proposal Planning services to your existing business
  • Wanting to start your own Proposal Planning business
  • A Wedding vendor (photographer, videographer, venue, travel agent, jeweler, etc.) that wants to start marketing to Proposers
  • A Proposal Planner that isn’t getting as much business as you think you should

This course teaches you how to:

Module 1: Discover Your Proposal Planning Niche & Style – Before you can offer Proposal Planning, you need to determine what kind of proposals you want to plan and what kind of client you want to serve. This is critical for knowing who your target market is, how to create messaging that appeals to them, how to brand and price your services, and how to interact with them on social media.

Module 2: Create Your Proposal Planning Offering- Once you have chosen your target market, niche, and style, you will create your proposal planning offering! We are going to dive in and see a breakdown of what services Proposal Planners offer, learn how to properly price your offer, and create the framework needed to get started servicing customers.

Module 3: Create A Strategy To Add Proposal Planning To Your Assets– After you have the framework in place to start servicing your customers, it is time to make it official and effectively add Proposal Planning to your assets, so that you can actually attract Proposers. Here you are going to find out exactly where you should advertise your Proposal Planning services on your website, social media, and other assets and what mistakes you need to avoid when adding the service.

Module 4: Create a Proposal Planning Marketing Strategy- Without an effective marketing strategy, everything we have done so far will not matter. The key factor in getting Proposal Planning clients NOW is creating marketing that truly speaks to who they are. In this section, we leave no stone unturned as we reveal all marketing strategies that we have used over the last decade. You will study your target market in detail and learn the irresistible marketing and SEO strategies that will effectively attract them and turn them into customers.

Module 5: Maintain & Grow Your Proposal Planning Business –  The last thing you want to do is to invest all this time and energy into offering Proposal Planning services and then just let it all fizzle away. In this module we teach you how to maintain and leverage the work you have done in the previous models and give you ideas on how to handle the extra workload.

You will also get a Proposal Planning certification!

PLUS, you will get 3 bonuses:

🎊 Bonus #1: How To Repurpose Your Wedding Content

🎊 Bonus #2: Private, Members Only Facebook Group

🎊 Bonus #3: Weekly Live Q & A Sessions With Me

Learn more about the program or enroll here:

Top 3 Clients From Hell

After planning marriage proposals for 11 years now, I would be lying if I said I didn’t have any clients that were a royal pain in the you know what. But there are a few that stand out and belong in my secret “wall of shame.” So why am I sharing this with you? Well I am sharing these hellish client stories for 3 reasons. 1, If you are a seasoned planner, I know that you have had your own clients from hell and I want you to know you are not alone. 2, if you are new to Proposal Planning, I want you to know that these things WILL happen and you should never let it get you down or make you question yourself. 3, I believe that the worst client experiences help shape you as a professional and help you define your future business practices. So without further ado, here are my top 3 clients from hell.

Why Don’t You Answer My Calls Guy

This client hired us on Friday late in the afternoon. We emailed him to let him know we looked forward to working with him and that we were getting right to work. Immediately upon hiring us, he started calling us non-stop without leaving a message. He would call, hang up, and call right back over and over. On the weekend, he would call all day and night and not leave messages. On Sunday we received a text message that he couldn’t believe that he paid us “this much” and we don’t return his calls. On Monday we called him and addressed his text message. We explained that we do keep normal business hours and that if there was something urgent going on and he left us a message, we would have gladly made an exception. He informed us that he expected call backs right away, day or night, weekday or not. We politely offered him a refund and told him we probably aren’t a good fit.

We felt he didn’t respect or value our time or the fact that we also valued our own family time which that is something very important to us. So we learned that if a client shows signs of that early on, we would rather not take the booking at all.

I Want A Refund Guy

You may know this guy all too well, but this particular client was extra special! He booked a rooftop in NYC for an hour proposal and it turns out his girlfriend said no. However, there is more to that story. He had proposed 3 times before and she had said no each time. So after enjoying the rooftop, even running over his time by a whole hour which we didn’t charge him for because we felt bad for his situation, we were shocked to receive an email where he was requesting a full refund. His reasoning was even crazier. He wanted a refund because there were water spots on the rooftop. NYC is a very old city and midtown is an old area. A true rooftop is exposed to outdoor elements and could obviously have water spots. Also, we include photos of the space and the water spots are not even noticeable unless you are looking hard to find something to complain about. His second reason was that he didn’t like that there were offices in the building on his way up to the rooftop. Tenants in high rise buildings constantly change and he wasn’t renting the building, just the rooftop. We politely declined the refund and he did a chargeback through his bank. We fought the chargeback and provided evidence that it was a frivolous claim. We eventually won!

We learned that it is important to always stand your ground. I would 100% offer a refund in any case that my service was lacking. But not for things I can’t control.

Indecisive & Cheap Guy

We were hired to plan a New Year’s Eve proposal for a guy with 4 days notice. The client did not appreciate the time restraint we were under, that we were planning a proposal on a holiday, and planning an event during a pandemic. He wouldn’t make any decisions and he wanted multiple scenarios presented for every option before he could make decisions. He didn’t even end up finalizing until a day and a half before. He changed his mind so much that the violinist ended up pulling out because they just couldn’t deal with all of the changes. His proposal ended up being a success but that wasn’t the end of it. After the proposal he requested that we return all props that he had used for his proposal to get a refund. After our service had ended, he continued to text us asking to help him return the used items.

Be sure to put a clause in your Proposal Planning contract that if your client causes delays in the planning, you can’t be held liable.

Although these clients were a bit of a nightmare, most of my clients are amazing. My clients generally are very appreciative of the fact that we are there to help them through one of the most stressful moments of their life. They typically send me heartfelt emails, cards, and sometimes gifts as they are so grateful for our service. If you want to be a part of an amazing industry, check out my free resources below. In my Proposal Planning school you will learn all about being a Proposal Planner and how this profession can change your life.

PSA: Stop Judging Your Competitors

Most everyone keeps an eye on their direct competitors, and I think you should. When you watch your competitors you can keep a pulse on trends in your industry and be motivated to stay on your game. But what happens when keeping an eye on your competitors turns into an obsession? What happens when you start watching everything your competitor does and it even starts making you upset?

I remember when I started my proposal planning company 11 years ago. I had a client instruct me to wrap boxes in Tiffany blue colored paper and to stack those presents next to a table for 2 for his proposal. I did exactly what was asked of me. But to my surprise, when I posted photos of the proposal later, one of my competitors accused me of copying their idea! The thing is, I hadn’t copied their idea, I was taking the direction of my client.

And that is what leads me to the topic of this blog. I urge you, not to judge your competitors and here’s why:

You Don’t Have The Whole Picture

When you see a photo of your competitors work, you may think, “they copied me,” “that is ugly,” or some other negative thought. But the reality is, you don’t know what the client asked for. You don’t if the client came to that planner with an existing vision and the planner was merely executing the vision. You don’t know if the client had a specific budget and the planner had to substitute things to accommodate. You simply don’t know any parameters that the event planner was working under.

You Don’t Know What Information They Had

With Wedding Planners, they are allowed to work with the bride AND groom to create their vision. A Proposal Planner has a serious challenge in that we are ONLY allowed to work with the Proposer yet our goal is to satisfy the Proposee. It may be easy to look at a proposal and think it was missing or lacking something, but sometimes the clients do not provide correct or ample information and the event planner doesn’t have much to go on. We have to assume that the information they provided about their partner is thorough and accurate.

We All Start Somewhere

Proposal Planning is a relatively new niche that is expanding and growing by the day. New Proposal Planners are entering the industry on a daily basis and they aren’t going to be the Dave Tutera of Proposals coming out of the gate. We all start somewhere and you may see a proposal and think “meh” but remember, the newbies are learning and fine tuning their craft too. We should be supportive and remember, we all started somewhere.

It Is Negative Energy

Hating on someone else is a non-productive habit. We should be lifting each other up and not tearing each other down. So keep these things in mind next time you think about your competitors. And hopefully they will do the same!

Proposal Planning is an amazing niche in the Wedding Industry and completely changed my life. Do you wonder if Proposal Planning might be right for you? Looking for a Proposal Planning school? Download my FREE resources below to learn more.

How To Diversify Your Wedding Business

Whether you are a Wedding Planner, Florist, Photographer, Videographer, venue or any other type of wedding vendor, diversifying your wedding business is a must.

We all saw it first hand during the pandemic. Businesses that relied solely on income from large weddings sadly took a big hit. And while I pray this ends soon and never comes back again, none of us can predict the next thing that will come and impact the wedding industry.

That is exactly why diversifying your wedding business should be on the top of your to-do list. In fact, if you ask any wealthy person what their secret is, 9 times out of 10 they will say, “diversification.” It is critical to have income coming in from different avenues. So HOW do you diversify your wedding business? Here are a couple of options:

1. Proposal Planning

Offering Proposal Planning is such an amazing way to diversify your services. The market is huge and the earning potential is too. It is also such a great compliment to your existing wedding business! A photographer, florist, planner, videographer, or venue can easily adapt their marketing plan to start attracting clients looking to propose. And who will that client call to photograph their wedding day? Provide their wedding flowers? Plan their wedding? YOU!!

Download my FREE resource, “3 Reasons You MUST Add Proposal Planning Services To Your Existing Services NOW!!”

2. Pop-Up Wedding Packages

When I started my Proposal Planning company, The Heart Bandits, I knew I needed to diversify. Wedding Planning made sense but the market is so saturated and bridezillas are not my jam. So I decided to start a pop-up wedding business where I sell simple, streamlined pop-up wedding packages. This is a great way to diversify because once the packages are built, they are so streamlined that they are a really simple way to get a nice cash injection into your business. And these types of weddings don’t follow any traditional wedding rules. They are popular during off-seasons and they don’t take much time to plan. These packages are great for any wedding vendor to add on and pop-up weddings, microweddings, and elopements are all the rage right now due to the pandemic. When it ends, you will have a whole new source of revenue coming in!

Download my FREE resource, “The Ultimate Guide To Selling Pop-Up Wedding Packages“

The Heart Bandits Academy is the only educator teaching you how to become a Proposal Planner. Sign up here and follow my journey from being a Proposal Planner to educator teaching students around the world how to market their business to clients looking to propose.

Enrollment for The Complete Proposal Planning Blueprint Is Open!!

proposal planning

The Complete Proposal Planning Blueprint™ is open for enrollment for just a FEW more days.

This course is a MUST have if you are:

  • Wanting to start your own Proposal Planning business
  • A Wedding Planner wanting to add Proposal Planning services to your existing business
  • A Wedding vendor (photographer, videographer, venue, travel agent, jeweler, etc.) that wants to start marketing to Proposers
  • A Proposal Planner that isn’t getting as much business as you think you should

In this course, I teach you:

Module 1: Introduction to the Proposal Planning Industry (This is where I will teach you everything you need to know about the industry)

Module 2: Building your business foundation (Here I will teach you how to stand out in this industry)

Module 3: Getting started ONLINE (Here is where you are going to be creating your website, social media accounts, etc.)

Module 4: Getting started OFFLINE (This is where you will discover if you need a license, permits, etc.)

Module 5: Proposal Planning 101 (I am going to walk you through exactly how to plan a marriage proposal from A-Z)

Module 6: Create your Proposal Planning offering (This is where you are going to create your packages, price them, create all the documents you need to get up and running, and more)

Module 7: Proposal Planning Marketing Strategy (This is the big one – this is where I teach you everything you need to know about marketing proposal planning.  This can be applied to ANY industry that wants to focus on proposers!)

Module 8: Maintenance mode (Here you will learn how to make sure you continually get proposal clients and have a CONSISTENT source of revenue)

You will also get a Proposal Planning certification!

PLUS, you will get 3 bonuses:

🎊 Bonus #1: Secret IG Strategy To Get You In Front Of Your Target Audience Fast

🎊 Bonus #2: Case Study: Behind The Scenes Planning Of A Proposal From A-Z

🎊 Bonus #3: How To Re-purpose Your Content For Your Blog & Social Media

Learn more about the program or enroll here:

How The Pandemic Inspired The Heart Bandits Academy

When I was 7 years old I turned my first profit. I created a neighborhood circus and I recruited the talent, marketed the show, sold tickets, and made money.

I got my first taste of being an entrepreneur then and have been chasing that thrilling rush ever since.

I know EXACTLY what it is like to be an entrepreneur with no business idea. Or an an entrepreneur with an idea but feeling much too overwhelmed about getting started.

I know what it is like to want something so bad but not have a clear path to get there.

Because of this, I always wanted to create a training program for entrepreneurs that wanted to follow my path and start their own Proposal Planning biz.

After spending a decade running the world’s most successful Proposal Planning business, and after receiving hundred is not thousands of emails from people all around the world asking me for advice on how to start Proposal Planning, I believed this was my next calling.

But I just never had the time to do it.

And then the pandemic hit. And my industry was ravaged by a blow of event bans and gathering size limitations.

I knew I had to step up.

I created The Heart Bandits Academy and quickly launched my first course designed to help Wedding Planners pivot their business and offer Proposal Planning. And in about a month, I am going to launch The Complete Proposal Planning Blueprint™which will teach entrepreneurs how to start their own Proposal Planning biz from the ground up.

In The Complete Proposal Planning Blueprint™, I teach:

  • Everything you need to know about the Proposal Planning industry
  • How to choose your Proposal Planning target market, niche, and style
  • Create a solid Proposal Planning Business Plan
  • Develop a business naming strategy and tools to create your website
  • How to plan a proposal from A-Z
  • How to price your Proposal Planning services
  • Develop a robust Proposal Planning marketing strategy
  • How to maintain the momentum and continue to grow

If you want to be the first to know about the launch, make sure to join the Waitlist here.

Avoid This Mistake That Can Cost You Thousands

There is one mistake I see aspiring Proposal Planners make time and time again. This is a mistake that can cost you thousands of dollars AND waste weeks or months of your time. That mistake is……signing up for a Wedding Course or Wedding Certificate program.

Now don’t get me wrong, if you are hoping to be a Wedding Planner then these courses might be just what you need. But a Wedding Course will simply NOT teach you how to be a Proposal Planner. Proposal Planning is its own specialty and if you are going to learn how to be a Proposal Planner, you need to learn FROM a Proposal Planner.

Here are the ways that Proposal Planning is very different than Wedding Planning

  1. Completely Different Target Market – Wedding Planners typically target females and brides. You will be targeting males.
  2. Different Marketing Strategy – I have spent 10 years marketing to the proposal client and believe me when I say, marketing to guys is completely different than marketing to a bride.
  3. Each Event Is Different- A Wedding typically follows the same itinerary. There is a ceremony then a reception with cake cutting, dancing, bouquet toss, etc. With proposals, things are always different. One day I am organizing a 50 person flash mob, the next day I am organizing a helicopter landing on a skyscraper, and the next working with the cast of The Nutcracker to create the perfect ballet proposal.

This is why it is CRITICAL that you learn how to be a Proposal Planner from a Proposal Planner. To get started, I have some free resources for you below.

What is the ONE thing you need to know to about Proposal Planning?

to know the ONE thing you need to know about Proposal Planning to be successful? Of course you do! And I am so honored to be in a position to be able to share that with you.

When I first started Proposal Planning 10 years ago, there were absolutely no resources out there for me.

There were no mentors, no courses, no content ideas, no guidance whatsoever. I had to figure out how to do everything on my own.

After spending a decade planning over 4,000 proposals and earning 7 figures doing so, I can say with absolute confidence that if you want to be successful at Proposal Planning, there is one thing you must understand…

Marketing to the Proposer!

I see so many mistakes from other Proposal Planners in this area. There is a misconception that simply putting up proposal pictures and saying you’re a Proposal Planner is enough and that if you do that, clients will just start pouring in.

But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

If you want to succeed at being a Proposal Planner, you must truly understand the Proposer. You need to understand their wants, their fears, and what motivates them to buy. And I know just how to do that. If that interests you, I have a great FREE resource for you. Download my Checklist For Your Proposal Planning Marketing Strategy here.

If you want me to show you how to set up your Proposal Planning business step-by-step AND teach you my effective marketing strategies, then join the Complete Proposal Planning Blueprint™ waitlist below.

Join the Waitlist here

Join my Private Proposal Planning Community