Episode 152-- Vision Weddings -- Brandy Blackford -- Commit and Move Forward

Stacked Keys Podcast

She was a corporate girl for a super, super long time as an accountant who did all the math, all the numbers — even though she hated it. Meet Brandy Blackford who jumped into a creative business of wedding planning out of corporate life. She took her talents into being a small business owner living her dreams. She’s a wife, mom and genuinely one who looks out for others every day. She follows the trails for weddings and couples to take ideas and thoughts with the money to make it all work together and give someone a flawless event. She is able to see the big picture using all the little pieces and create memories.

We talk about the details of her industry, the changes of what is happening in choices of such a big event and how couples are presenting their wedding dreams and how it all comes together.

There’s more to Brandy and we dig deep into who Brandy is as a mom and a woman who definitely has impact in her community. She says she is a listening ear and can sometimes be the place for a vent.

Brandy is a firm believer in the rising tide philosophy of community over competition, and a rising tide raises all boats. There are more people getting married than there are event industry professionals. “We can't do everything that there is to do. We cannot take on every couple that is getting married even if they could afford us or wanted us. And we all approach our couples and our clients and our philosophy differently,” says Brandy and that means it’s a chance to become who you want to represent which is a thread throughout the conversation.

We talk about self worth and that you have to feel inside that you are worth something other than a dollar amount, but she’s happy to help anybody calculate how much they should be charging for their service because it truly is just math, and her thought is that you just need to sit there and plug some numbers into a spreadsheet, and it'll tell you how much you should charge.

Stop the fear and make your brain accept — it involves head and heart. There are so many gems in this episode from parenting thoughts, education, fear, mentors and community. Tune in!!

A few topics include—

• The shift from couple-focused to family-focused weddings.
• The stress of planning vs relationship stress.
• Keeping a couple focused on the future.
• Listening with your heart and listening with your head.
• How do you set business boundaries?
• How to make a marriage work?
• Teaching empathy to kids.
• How do you figure out your worth?
• The fear bug in small business.
• Homeschooling makes you a better listener.
• The importance of having a list of tasks.
• Taking a break when you need it.

Music "STOMP" used by permission of artist Donica Knight Holdman and Jim Huff