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Andy has a really fun interview planned for this episode – an...

Joining Andy in this episode of The Wedding Biz is AJ Williams,...

Are you ready for something a little different? Andy is being interviewed by his good friend Jennifer Stein, the Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Destination I Do Magazine. Listen, as Andy gets a little personal and allows us to see a side of him that maybe we’ve never seen before as they discuss the craziness that was the year 2020, what he wants to change in the future and the plans he has for 2021 all on this episode of The Wedding Biz.

Andy shares how the pandemic has affected his life professionally in both negative and positive ways. He talks about the biggest thing he has learned during 2020, launching The Wedding Biz Network, a new podcast he launched called The Music Makers, and some exciting things that will be announced on The Next Level on Wednesday, January 6th. 

Congratulations, Andy, on your New Year’s Eve engagement! Listen as he shares the amazing things that have happened in his personal life since the quarantine at home orders and how this last year has changed his outlook on life both personally and professionally. If you want to get to know Andy a little better, you don’t want to miss this one of a kind episode.

This episode of The Wedding Biz is Andy’s first roundtable event held on the last day of Engage at Nizuc, Mexico. The roundtable guests for this episode are Rishi Patel, the CEO of HMR Designs, Carrie Goldberg, the Travel and Weddings Director at Harpers Bizzaar, and Christina Matteucci, the Executive Director of David Beahm Destinations. During the roundtable, Andy and each of his guests bring up a key takeaway that they got during the conference and discuss them as a group. 

Andy’s takeaway from the conference was from Christina’s message of “audacious transparency.” Christina speaks about what she meant by that, and the group talks about vulnerability and owning your own personality. They discuss how social media can give a client a false perception of who you are, so when you meet the client for the first time, it is like an audition.

Christina’s surprising takeaway was from a breakout session with Bruce Russell and Tara Fay wedding and event planners with their TV show, My Big Day: Home Or Away. She loved what they said about taking care of each other behind the scenes because the TV show pits them against each other on-screen. The group speaks about always taking care of each other in the industry, information, and trade secret sharing because there is plenty of business to go around, and everyone’s point of view is different.

Rishi feels like knowing what you are selling is the biggest takeaway for him. The group agree and discuss how knowing what you have to offer makes it possible for the client to feel joy at the end of the day. You have to be yourself because you can’t be like anyone else, and what you are can’t be stolen. They also chat about how one of the focuses of this Engage was redefining the word luxury as a more authentic emotion, and how what used to be so different and unique is now quite common.

A key takeaway for Carrie was pricing and making money. If you are not making a profit, then you are not in a business you have a hobby. The brain trust says that you should know what your profit margins are before the event even happens. After the fact, you should analyze it and decide what you will do or who you will work with on the next event.

Listen in as the group discusses how they are preparing for whenever the next economic recession hits and getting lean now instead of waiting for the economy to force the issue. Keep listening after the roundtable for some great takeaways from other attendees of the conference like Sarah Schreiber of Martha Stewart Weddings, Julie Novack with PartySlate, Meggie Francisco with Meggie Francisco Events, Nicole Braghin of Plan Design Events and many more. They all have lovely things to say about what they learned at Engage, and you won’t want to miss any nuggets of wisdom they share.

Today it’s all about Andy! For quite a while now, people have been asking him to air an interview about himself. Andy has been interviewed on many different podcasts, so today he decided to publish the most recent of these, with Mary Swaffield, of the Wedpreneur Podcast.

Episode 20: Lessons from Big Names in the Business with Andy Kushner – In this interview, I’m interviewing the interviewer! I’m joined by the host of the Wedding Biz podcast, Andy Kushner. He’s sharing some of the amazing lessons he’s learned from interviewing some of the biggest names in the Wedding Industry – and it’s inspiring, to say the least!