Listen as Andy interviews Lauren Dickens, founder and lead designer with Elle Audrey, a luxury planning and design company based out of New York City. Although she loved parties when she was a child because she always enjoyed the ones that her grandmother hosted, Lauren didn’t go into the wedding planning business until well into her adulthood after hosting a friend’s baby shower. Hosting events then became a hobby until it finally became an entrepreneurial career.
Lauren is unique in that she doesn’t like cookie cutter methods. She has a unique and personalized brand that has become her signature. In fact, she always wants to go all out and be very creative but sometimes can’t take it as far as she would like because of budget constraints. She also has to find a balance between business and creativity which she does, in part, with business partners and personal assistants. She has managed to find these balances and does so successfully, as Elle Audrey is nothing if not successful!
The jump from the corporate world to a world of entrepreneurship can often be a scary one, and it most certainly was for Lauren. She took a leap of faith by leaving a job where she was earning a definite income and hoping that she could make it as an entrepreneur, but it definitely paid off for her! She offers advice to people looking to go down a similar path as hers and/or people who already are on that path but are looking to take it to the next level, suggesting that people today not do what she did and take that leap of faith because of the times that we currently live in. She also encourages entrepreneurs to not take on every single prospective client because you and the client need to be good matches for each other. She says to not focus too much energy on your Instagram page and to scale your business, and she, finally, enthusiastically recommends raising your prices once every year or two.
Andy said that he had a blast interviewing Lauren in this episode and hopes that you will enjoy listening to his conversation with her! Please be sure to share this episode with at least three friends who you think would enjoy it and/or benefit from it. We would also very much appreciate a review and hope that you will join us next time on The Wedding Biz.
Have you heard about the brand new show on The Wedding Biz Network, Stop and Smell the Roses with Preston Bailey? Listen as Preston shares the secrets, tools, and technologies behind his extraordinary ability to create a theatrical environment out of any space. Also, don’t forget about Sean Low’s podcast The Business of Being Creative, where Sean discusses the power of being niched, pricing strategies, metrics of success, and so much more. You can find both shows on The Wedding Biz Network.
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Time Stamps
[1:48] – Andy reveals this episode’s guest, Lauren Dickens, to us and provides us with some of her credentials.
[2:35] – Lauren explains why she views weddings as transformative, both for people getting married and for her as a planner.
[5:08] – Lauren reveals that she loved parties when she was young.
[7:54] – Lauren admits that it was very difficult at first to make that leap into entrepreneurship and recommends that people not do what she did in current times.
[8:47] – Lauren describes what makes her brand unique and personalized.
[10:10] – Lauren and Andy discuss how important that it is for planners and clients to be good fits for each other.
[12:03] – We learn what the planning process tends to be like for Lauren and her clients.
[13:25] – Lauren details a specific example of a wedding that she planned and how it was planned.
[14:11] – Lauren discloses what she struggles with most often – matching her creativity with a budget.
[18:05] – Lauren gives an example of a challenge that she once faced and how she overcame it.
[21:27] – We discover how a client ended up suing Lauren and how it was resolved.
[22:54] – Andy shares a story of a difficult time that he had working with another planner.
[24:51] – Lauren expounds upon how she balances business with creativity.
[26:53] – Lauren describes her pricing method and how she charges a flat fee.
[28:14] – Lauren enthuses over how much she hates social media even though she is very successful on her social media platforms such as Instagram.
[29:50] – Lauren offers us some helpful tips if we are looking to take planning and designing to the next level.
[32:36] – Lauren asserts that looking at online guides as to how the planning process should go is setting unrealistic expectations and explains why.
[33:38] – We learn that Lauren considers scaling your business to be a measure of success.
RESOURCES
Find Lauren:
Elle Audrey – Website
Elle Audrey’s Facebook Page
Elle Audrey’s Instagram Page
Elle Audrey’s Pinterest
Elle Audrey’s Twitter
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Title Sponsor: This episode is sponsored by Kushner Entertainment. http://www.partyslate.com
