You’re probably here because you’re fed up of being in fight or flight mode and you want to become a booked out personal brand… but you don’t know how?

I’ve been exactly where you are right now and I’ve gone from fighting for bookings, feeling overwhelmed, confused and under-charging. . . but I am here to tell you that I survived it. I got through it and you will too!

1: Get your strategy in place

I know that so many people tell you this and I am going to too! Your strategy is super important to your creative business and actually, as a creative or wedding business you are probably setting it to one side. Why? Because you’d rather be creative. If you’re unsure on how or where to get a strategy I have a free interactive workbook to help you get one underway, become clearer on your messaging and to become certain of whom you’re targeting and why. You can access the workbook here.

2: Know your ideal client…

This is where I actually went wrong. I went with the advice of a business coach whom told me how I should be looking into my ideal client but actually, for me (and likely you) it isn’t about their hobbies, what they do in their day job and having 2.4 children. Don’t get me wrong it’s a great starting point but it isn’t the fundamentals to your ideal client. Of course, you need to know their ideal income and demographics as that’s a great starter but you also need to know their pain points, how you can help them fix it (with which service). Essentially you need to figure out what they want, how they want it and within what time frame. What will even motivate them to buy from you? This is a HUGE part of getting to grips with the basics and pushing you into the right steps to becoming booked out.

3: Do your market research

Once you know who your ideal client is, you need to go find them. Stalk them a little. Okay, maybe not stalk them but you get the idea? Ensure you know what they want and you have the offerings to meet these needs. Go find your past clients that have been absolute dream boats and ask them some questions… sometimes a little Amazon gift card can go a long way for some decent feedback and research responses.

Ask them some questions that are relatable and that will help you to move further along within your business. Don’t become distracted because you’ve loved working with them, you need to get to the nitty gritty of the research in order for it to work.

4: Have the right visuals in place that are unique

I know, I know, it’s all I bang on about a lot of the time but seriously, you need to have an incredible visual identity. You need to be unique. You need to align with your ideal clients visually but most importantly you need to be unique to you and your personal brand. Have personality, have character and have the confidence to then push your brand forward. Once you have the visuals in place you’ll feel more confident in offering your services across social media. With your brand identity think outside the box, it doesn’t mean to book a designer (if you want to then you know there’s an amazing one right here!) It means to have something that will set you apart… I mean, what could be worse than losing clients because your identity doesn’t serve you or them?

5: Get your pricing structure in place

For me, this is a really important factor in becoming booked out. Nobody and I mean nobody, wants to be a burnt out booked out creative right? Sit and figure out a pricing structure that works out for you and is easily achievable for you. This is also where your market research will help. One huge thing is to never undercharge in order to get

6: See the red flags and run!

Honestly, this is a huge thing for us as wedding businesses and creative entrepreneurs. We need to see those big red flags that are staring us in the face. Don’t be tempted to take them on. I’ve been there and I’ve felt desperate for the money but realistically that time wasted could be spent elsewhere within your business and focusing upon getting your dreamboats through the door. For each business the red flags will be different but here are a couple:

• Haggling upon your pricing. Your ideal clients will book you for you regardless of your pricing structure.
• Wanting deliverables right now. Again, they will wait until you are ready to work for them and it works both ways.

7: Having a decent marketing strategy in place

This doesn’t mean by using Instagram or Facebook as your main marketing strategy. You need to start building your email lists, work on your SEO, blog and post upon Pinterest. Think about whether your ideal clients would benefit from a podcast or YouTube vlogs. Create media that can be used upon each platform, repurpose it for ease and create content that your ideal clients will love and digest. Please, I beg you, please do not become complacent with using one social media platform… because if you’re reading this it is potentially not working for you.

I worked with a marketing coach to help broaden the horizons within my own business and trust me when I say that it works.

Finally…

Becoming a booked out brand doesn’t mean no time to yourself or for family time. Being booked out means booked out to your own needs… if that means that you want to become a six figure brand then fabulous but if you don’t and you want to start working 15 hour weeks and earning $£2000 months then this is equally as fabulous. Ensure you get your morals and your ethics correct in everything that you do.