The Wedding Biz &#8211; Behind the Scenes of the Wedding Business

Instagram: @entireproductions

Facebook: @entireproductions

GUEST CO-HOST, SHANNON LEAHY'S LINKS

Instagram @shannonleahyevents

Facebook @Shannon-Leahy-Events

REFERENCES

Robert Fountain interview on The Wedding Biz addressing having anxiety as a creative in the events industry.

Preston Bailey interview on The Wedding Biz talking about The Morning Pages daily morning routine.

SPONSOR LINKS

OFD Consulting www.ofdconsulting.com

Kushner Entertainment www.kushnerentertainment.com

137 NATASHA MILLER: Overcoming Adversity To Thrive Mar 25, 2019

Show notes

Creativity can be sparked in a number of ways, but sometimes necessity is the best motivator. In today's episode, Natasha Miller, President and CEO of Entire Productions, talks about how hardship in her youth drove her to create the empire she has today. Not only has she managed to build a platform, she continues to exceed client expectations with her experiential design skills for hundreds of events annually. To hear more on Natasha's story and how she used her hardship to fuel her entrepreneurial pursuits, tune into this episode of The Wedding Biz with Andy Kushner.

Show Highlights:

Using hardship from younger years as a drive
The tranquility music brings
How necessity sparks creativity
The organic process of building a business
Learning how to be a better delegator and trust employees
Setting standards and relaying expectations
Building in emotional touchpoints for events
The process behind experience design
Keeping people curious and enticed
Using touch-points to hold attention
Anticipating challenges and preparing for them
Creating a process to execute consistently successful events
Being innovative with business systems
Investing more time in large scale events
How good business speaks and advertises for itself
The growth of music and entertainment
Dealing with personal challenges and relieving stress
Problem-solving calmly

The Wedding Biz

The Wedding Biz Website

The Wedding Biz Instagram

The Wedding Biz Facebook

Natasha Miller, Entire Productions

Instagram: @entireproductions

Facebook: @entireproductions

VIDEOS

Video #1 Gig Car Share https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRsgsyZ0yh8&feature=youtu.be
Video #2 Swing into Spring https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVVW4_wQBQc
Video #3 Vernal Equinox https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXdg-HijTW8&feature=youtu.be

SPONSOR LINKS

OFD Consulting www.ofdconsulting.com

Kushner Entertainment www.kushnerentertainment.com

136 THE NEXT LEVEL: Colin Cowie: Part 2 Creating Groundbreaking Luxury Experiences Mar 20, 2019

Show notes

Today's guest co-host, Harmony Walton, joins Andy to help reflect on The Wedding Biz interview with Colin Cowie, Part 2, and how Colin finds innovation in everything.

Harmony Walton is the founder of The Bridal Bar, luxury destination weddings and honeymoon blog site, Jet Fete, and host of the Bridal Bar Radio. She has a decade of experience in marketing, consulting and brand representation in the luxury wedding industry. Harmony has many celebrity clients such as Tom Cruise and Katherine Heigl. Listen today and discover new insight on Colin's wonderful new interview.

Show Highlights:

Innovation in everything and Colin's process with it
Giving yourself time to think and reflect as part of your job
Andy's epiphany for his podcasts from giving himself space to reflect
Employees retention increases when you create space for them
The constant need to reinvent yourself and stay relevant
Living in a buyers world
The endpoint in the sales process
One of Harmony's trips she will always remember
Improving closing ratios
Pricing, budgets and how it is a sensitive topic
Creative value and standing firm on prices but not having an industry standard
Being able to admit you are not a good fit with a client

Resources:

Direct link to Harmony's episode on The Wedding Biz

Instagram: @weddingbizshow

Colin Cowie Lifestyle Website

Instagram: @colincowie

Harmony Walton Website

Instagram: @bridalbar

Sponsors:

OFD Consulting Website

Kushner Entertainment Website

135 COLIN COWIE: Part 2 Creating Groundbreaking Luxury Experiences Mar 18, 2019

Show notes

Designing and planning an event is creating theater and telling a story. Today's guest has a unique set of skills that he uses to tell these wonderful stories that we call weddings and special events.

Colin Cowie, of Colin Cowie Lifestyle, is an iconic event planner and designer. Yet again, Colin is working on a host of exciting, fun and diverse projects that will take him all over the world. The experience starts the moment the clients arrive to meet him. Tune in today and get the inside scoop on the exhilarating world of Colin Cowie.

Show Highlights:

Colin's answer to what were his favorite events of the previous year
Creating theater, telling stories
The particular ways Colin educates his employees/team of his company culture
The process of being innovative and constantly reinventing oneself
Embracing millennials and operating in a buyer's market
The process from when a client arrives through the event
How Colin prices his services
Creative partners and how Colin chooses them
How Colin works with his creative partners
What Colin dreams of after all these years
Brainstorming sessions and creating what is relevant
Focusing on sustainable hospitality

Resources:

Instagram: @weddingbizshow

Colin Cowie Website

Colin Cowie Lifestyle Website

Colin Cowie Lifestyle Facebook: @colincowielifestyle

Colin Cowie Facebook: @itsmecolincowie

Colin Cowie Lifestyle Instagram: @colincowielifestyle

Colin Cowie Instagram: @colincowie

Sponsor:

OFD Consulting Website

Kushner Entertainment Website

134 GREG LAWSON: Photography & Love Of The Planet Mar 11, 2019

Show notes

In this week's discussion, photographer Greg Lawson takes Andy through his museum-like gallery in Sedona, Arizona, to explore the fundamentals of his philosophy on human nature. This is a departure from the typical episode, released on The Wedding Biz, in that Greg is not an event industry photographer. As Andy says, this is an unusually grounding conversation which he and so many of us need to have from time to time in our hectic lives.

Our conversation with Greg is unlike any you'd heard with a traditional photographer. Greg got his first camera when he was 14 and considers himself a naturalist and discoverer at heart. He will leave his home and on a whim, for one to four weeks at a time, to simply drive, experience new cultures, and photograph whatever speaks to him. Greg is on a mission to share the positive side of the world with others, and photography helps him achieve that goal.

His latest project, "The Principle Movement," emerged from the idea that principles—like empathy, integrity, loyalty—are the basis for our positivity. He believes a greater focus on principles would allow for a more just society. More than anything, he highlights the beauty of human nature, and why people and animals at their core are the same.

LINKS:

The Wedding Biz Website

The Wedding Biz Instagram

The Wedding Biz Facebook

Greg's Links:

Photography Website

Photography Books

The Principle Movement

SPONSOR LINKS: OFD Consulting www.ofdconsulting.com and

Kushner Entertainment www.kushnerentertainment.com

133 THE NEXT LEVEL: David Stark: Part 2 Creativity In Design & Business Mar 06, 2019

Show notes

As David Stark says, putting together a team is one of the most creative things you can do. That is just one of the dynamic topics Andy discusses with today's guest co-host, on The Next Level, Sean Low of the Business of Being Creative.

Today, we discuss David Stark's interview - a Part 2. David is Chief Creative Officer of David Stark Design and Production. High profile clients and events include Brad Pitt, Glenn Close, Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary, Louis Vuitton and more! David has five books published so far and product collaborations including a limited edition collection of one of a kind art pieces with Bergdorf Goodman. David was also inducted into the event organization Biz Bash's hall of Fame.

Show Highlights:

How you need to see every departure of an employee as an opportunity
Making sure you have the right team for each event
How to empower teams to be successful
Discussing the mission statement together, with your team, in order to have a unified goal
Pricing, a sensitive issue and what David does that works for him
How Sean feels about pricing and about David's methods
Picking the right partners for each particular job

David Stark Design and Production Website

Instagram: David_Stark_Design

Twitter

Instagram: @weddingbizshow

Guest Co-Host, Sean Low

Website www.thebusinessofbeingcreative.com and www.thebbccollective.com.

Instagram

Twitter @seanlow

The BBC Collective on Facebook

Sponsors:

OFD Consulting Website

Kushner Entertainment Website

132 DAVID STARK: Part 2 Creativity In Design & Business Mar 04, 2019

Show notes

Today's guest is a Part 2 interview with renowned New York City event designer and producer David Stark, Chief Creative Officer of David Stark Design and Production, whose team creates events worldwide for weddings, entertainment, fashion, publishing, arts, media, and consumer product industries.

David's high profile clients and events include Brad Pitt, Glenn Close, Saturday Night Live's 40th Anniversary, Louis Vuitton and more! He also creates high-visibility events & fundraising Galas for the nations most elite. David has 5 books published, so far, and has product collaborations including a limited edition arts collection with Bergdorf Goodman, has been a guest expert on many television shows, featured numerous times in various major publications, and is a Hall of Fame member of Biz Bash

Listen in today and hear how David keeps the creative flow going, runs his business, and never stops innovating.

Show Highlights:

Re-released David's Part One of The Wedding Biz interviews on December 10th, 2018
Boundaries David pushed this past year, with some examples
A stunning Harry Potter inspired event that David created
Some of the biggest lessons and challenges David had this past year
Trying to find the balance between work and life
Building a business structure in itself is a creative act
How to empower your teams
Examples of how David facilitates such a successful work environment
Having a mission statement and discussing it, with your team, to ensure a unified goal
Giving feedback after events, feedback sessions
How David manages his team and deals with employee departures
How David chooses his partner teams for each event
How important lighting is at an event
David's perspective on pricing

Resources:

Instagram: @weddingbizshow

David Stark Design and Production Website

Instagram: @david_stark_design