Consider the Wildflowers
Consider the Wildflowers
083. Courtney Wolf: How Your Self-Worth Impacts Your Finances
Making financial decisions in your business doesn’t need to be stressful. I know that’s easy for me to say with my background in finance…but today’s guest has a fresh perspective on money that I think you’re going to really resonate with!
Courtney Wolf is the Principal Planner at Invision Events and co-founder of Educate.Empower.Encourage a membership for creative entrepreneurs. Her work has been featured in Martha Stewart and People, and named one of BRIDES Best Planners in America.
In this interview, Courtney shares her unusual path to entrepreneurship, how she was able to double her take-home pay (after becoming a mother and taking maternity leave!), and how your self-worth affects your finances.
If you feel like you’re making financial decisions from a place of fear, or you’re afraid to raise your prices, hit play on this episode!
WILDFLOWER SHOWNOTES : shannaskidmore.com/courtney-wolf
📌 RESOURCES MENTIONED:
Educate. Empower. Encourage Membership for Creative Entrepreneurs
Featured in People
Martha Stewart Magazine Feature
Courtney (00:00):
I took a six month maternity leave. I will tell you I was shaking in my boots to do that and I was in such a negative head space in July of 2021, knowing I'm about to have my baby, that I did a call with a mentor, a coach, and I was just like, you got to slap some sense into me. I'm a wreck. And that's really not me at my core, but I was in a scary spot and she really just shifted my thinking. She said, well, what if you become a mom and you actually make more money or you actually have more freedom of time, of finances? Have you ever considered that those two things can live together? And I was like, oh, wow. No I haven't. And it was just like the shift in thinking and I was like, that makes a whole lot of sense. Who says, because I'm becoming a mom because I'm going on a maternity leave, that anything a has to go downhill or that anything has to stay the same, it can actually get better. And that year, that year was at the time, 2022 was my largest personal year to pay myself.
Shanna (01:11):
You are listening to Consider the Wildflowers the podcast episode 83. Making financial decisions in your business doesn't need to be stressful. I know that's easy for me to say with my background in finance, but today's guest has a fresh perspective on money that I think you're really going to resonate with. Courtney Wolfe is the principal planner at Envision Events and Co-founder of Educate and Empower and Courage, a membership for creative entrepreneurs. Her work has been featured in Martha Sewer and People, and she was named one of Bride's Best Planners in America. In this interview, Courtney shares her unusual path to entrepreneurship, how she was able to double her take home pay after becoming a mother and taking maternity leave, and how your self-worth affects your finances. If you feel like you're making financial decisions from a place of fear or you're afraid to raise your prices, hit play on this episode.
(01:58):
Hey, it's Shanna and this is Consider the Wildflowers, the podcast. For the past 15 plus years, I've had the honor to hear thousands of stories from entrepreneurs around the world. As a former Fortune 100 financial advisor, turn business consultant, I have a unique opportunity to see the reel behind the highlight reel. I'm talking profit and loss statements, unpaid taxes, moments of burnout, and those of utter victory. Or as my husband says, the content everyone is wondering but not many are talking about. And now I'm bringing these private conversations to you. Hear the untold stories of how industry leaders, founders, and up and coming entrepreneurs got their start, the experiences that shaped them and the journey to building the brands they have today. Stories that will inspire and reignite encourage to redefine success and build a life and business on your own terms. Welcome Wildflower. I'm so glad you're here. Courtney, welcome to the show. This is going to be so much fun to get to know you.
Courtney (02:50):
Well, thank you so much for having me. This is a
Shanna (02:52):
Treat. Okay, question. The planning business, wedding planning design came first. Now you've got a few things going, is that correct?
Courtney (03:05):
Yes, we've got a few cookies in the cookie jar, but Envision Events was the firstborn and Julie Bunky actually founded in Vision eight 18 years ago, and I came alongside her in the journey 12 years ago.
Shanna (03:24):
Okay, 2012, I feel like
Courtney (03:28):
2012 we
Shanna (03:29):
Started our businesses in very similar timing, so I don't know. We were just saying before we hit record, I feel like we have very similar, we know a lot of the same people, but our passing ever crossed, so I'm so pumped to get to know you. But yeah, I was working with Atlanta based event professionals in 2012. While I was pursuing, I was looking into private banking and getting my MBA and that's kind of my business started accidentally. And so in 2013 was my official start. But yeah. Okay. So we've been doing this thing for a good minute.
Courtney (04:12):
So much has changed so much growth and just ebbs and flows of industry and what the market wants and needs and yeah, it's been a really, really fun but wild ride. Yeah.
Shanna (04:28):
My friend told me very early on, she said, she's an artist. She said, the only constant in business is change. And I was like, as someone who thinks of herself as enjoying change, I actually just really don't. I just really don't.
Courtney (04:47):
I can be a little circumstantial with change. It's like what day of the week is it? Sometimes I'm all for it and other times I will fight it so hard. Yeah,
Shanna (04:56):
That's so funny. Yeah, I've always been like, oh yeah, I love change. I love a good adventure. And then I'm like, no, I like my routine and I like my rhythm
Courtney (05:05):
And stability and rhythm and yes, absolutely.
Shanna (05:10):
That's so funny. Okay, Courtney, take me back to life before starting the business and it sounds like you came into a business that was already established. I want to hear how that happened and just kind of take me back to 2012.
Courtney (05:27):
So I actually got married in 2012 and my life before Entrepreneurial Journeys was corporate America. And I spent almost a decade in corporate America right out of school. I have a degree in marketing and international business, and I also have my MBA. And I was in corporate sales for a couple of different Fortune 500 companies, both inside sales, also Outside sales was incredibly and wildly successful, but something was itching inside of me that I needed to do my own thing. And funny enough, my senior year of high school, I was voted by my class most likely to be my own boss. So that had kind of always been percolating inside me. And I got married in 2012. I planned my own wedding, do as I say, not as I do, and just really enjoyed it. I enjoyed the logistics, the project management, the solving for a puzzle piece, the challenge, pulling lots of creating something and pulling it all together and supporting the other players within a bigger picture.
(06:50):
And in having just a one-off conversation with my photographer, she said, do you want to do this? You should really be doing this. And I said, and again, this was 2012, so just times are so different. But I said, I really do want to be doing this, but I kind of don't know how to break in. I can't go to a bridal show and show my own wedding newsflash, don't go to a bridal show in general if you're getting your business off the ground. And she said, no, you don't need to do that. She said, do you know Julie Bunky of Envision Events? And I said, I don't. She said, you need to go look her up. She's got a blog. And I saw on her blog last week, she did a call out for new team members and she's specifically looking to expand her business across the southeast.
(07:41):
And you being based in Birmingham, my husband and I lived in Birmingham at the time. She said, you're in one of the markets she's looking to expand to. And so I immediately went and looked up Envision events, Julie read her blog, saw the Post, did a once over of my resume, put together a cover letter as every good corporate America girly does. And I sent Julie a very nice email and she responded and she was like, you're the answer to my prayers. Let's meet up. And we ended up meeting up a week or two after that at a Panera and we sat and talked for about three hours. And truly the rest is just history.
Shanna (08:27):
Okay. So did you think you were going to leave your job? Did you think it was going to be full-time? Did she train you in pricing in sales and all that?
Courtney (08:38):
Yeah, so she has none of that. She has a PR degree. She is very high level strategic, can definitely see the 30,000 feet up bird's eye view. But I came with all the tools in the tool belt. I came with the sales, I came with the marketing, I came with the consumer behavior, I came with the strategy. And so it's like she had a vision for her brand as a whole and where she wanted to go. And I came in as boots on the ground. Oh yeah, you want to do that? Okay, cool. Here's how we can kind of make that happen. At the time I was not thinking about leaving my job. That wasn't even really on my radar. And what she offered me was not, it wasn't a full-time position. She basically said, what you can build, you can have. And that was very enticing and exciting to me as someone who I do believe I can have it all, it's just a matter of me showing up and a matter of me actually taking action in my life or in my business.
(09:54):
And so it was very loose. It was very just like, yeah, what you can build, you can have, and let's see where this goes. One thing that's really wonderful about Julie is she is so I think it's a very rare trait. Yes, envision events was her baby and she was bringing me into it, but she really gave me ownership of what I was doing, which then empowered me. And it's like we see each other as we see each other as equals, even though it is her thing, I'm still this magical part of it. And together you put us together and it's just like we're unstoppable, so complimentary where she's weak, I'm very strong and where I am lacking, she herself is definitely providing. So it's just a really beautiful balance.
Shanna (10:50):
Yeah, okay. I love it. So you were in Birmingham was not, I'm assuming she
Courtney (10:56):
Was in Auburn,
Shanna (10:57):
And so she was like, take on your own clients and you'll get paid based on that. Okay. So did she train you as a wedding planner? Did you come up with your own processes, pricey,
Courtney (11:13):
All of that? Yeah, it was, I did do some shadowing with her for that first season, and I was her right hand gal when I didn't have my own client. And I had two clients of my own two or three that very first season, just day of coordination back in those days.
(11:36):
And so I did do some shadowing with her, but in general, no, there wasn't really any formal on the job training. It was a lot of trial by fire. It was a lot of, there were some elementary foundational things that I literally did have to get information from her on what linens fit, what table sizes and what really getting in the weeds with that kind of stuff. But as far as establishing a workflow that I followed or how I communicated with vendor partners, that was just I guess innate within myself. And I took some approaches that I maybe would have dabbled in my corporate days and just brought them into entrepreneurial world.
Shanna (12:29):
Okay. So tell me about the growth. I mean, did you take on these few clients and you're like, I love this. You're working nights and weekends. At what point were you like, this is my future? Did it ever become a formal partnership with Julie? Yeah. I just want to hear what point were you like, I'm leaving my job and I'm going to be an event planner designer full time.
Courtney (12:58):
So that first season, I started with her in 2012, fall of 2012. And that first season where I had my own clients was spring of 23. And absolutely I was hooked. I was addicted. I loved this adrenaline rush, challenge, people connection, all of these just really cool things. By about 2015, we had grown enough that it was like, okay, yeah, I should consider leaving corporate. However, I'm a very risk averse person, which is fascinating. I do
Shanna (13:33):
Identify
Courtney (13:34):
As an entrepreneur, but I am risk averse and I do take risks, but I'm fairly conservative with them and I really have to just sit with it and allow myself the time and space to just really let it land and resonate with me. And so I first started having those inklings 2015, the end by fall of 2016, it was like I could not leave corporate fast enough. And I remember it literally was, I'll never forget this night, it was actually election night 2016, November, 2016, and my husband and I, what a night, my husband and I were just having a conversation at the dinner table and he said, why don't you just leave? And he's like, why don't you just do it? You just have to do it. And he showed me this video on his phone with Steve Harvey, and it's a wonderful video if anyone wants to go take a peek at it, it's like five minutes on YouTube. It's called Jump,
(14:38):
And it's all about jumping off the cliff because if you do not jump, you can never actually soar. You will not ever soar if you stay on the cliff of life. Anyway, so that is ingrained in my memory and it hit me and I said, okay, I'm doing it. I still had to put a few behind the scenes pieces together, and I did actually depart corporate in May of 2017 and go full throttle with Julie. At that point. We also changed the way we were working at that point. Up until 2017, Julie had her clients and Courtney had her clients. But when I came on full throttle, we said, okay, we have clients together and we really actually overhauled how we were even working together and how Envision was servicing the clients. And from there, yes, we grew essentially exponentially. Up until that point, we were very much charging pennies for our services, but in 2018, we produced our first seven figure event and in 2019 we received our first six figure plus client fee. So things started tracking just incredibly quickly after I released my past life and went all the way into the deep end with what I felt at the time was my calling.
Shanna (16:10):
Yeah. Oh my goodness. I love this Courtney so much, and thanks for the numbers. I love them. How did you, and again, share as much as you feel comfortable sharing, but with you and Julie, it splitting the fees, was it kind of partnership? How did you figure out the paying aspect?
Courtney (16:32):
So we've always been so just flexible with each other. I am not officially a partner in Envision events, but that's her business and it's still her baby. But I have been a part of it all of these years. What we initially just kind of came up with once we joined forces with clients was that we would split revenues, but we would also split expenses. But on paper, I don't actually have ownership and she's offered me if I want to buy into the business, and I just haven't necessarily seen the need and what we've been doing has worked. So yeah, revenues would come in and expenses would happen and we'd split it and it works, but a lot of people are shocked, like, wait, you're not a partner, you don't have ownership and different strokes for different
Shanna (17:31):
Folks. I love that You're like, this works for me and I'm cool with it. Yeah. So naturally I think, anyways, this is such a tangent, I feel like in the business world and coming from a background, a corporate background myself, it's like, this is how you do business. This is what success, this is business. And that's one of those things we expect, oh, you're a partner. Oh, you're this. And it's like, you know what? I get compensated the way I feel good about. So speaking of compensation, before you left corporate where you're like, I need a salary goal, therefore we need a client goal. Is that like you and Julie sitting down making goals together
Courtney (18:11):
A little bit solo? I knew what I needed to bring home, period. And because I was, yes, while compensated in corporate, I had a salary, I had bonus, I had stock, I had a car, a computer, a phone. I had six weeks of paid time off a year. It was, these
Shanna (18:30):
All sound like such nice perks
Courtney (18:34):
And it was so scary for me to leave that like, oh, but I have it so good, why would I ever leave this? And that is the beauty of this life is when you do go for it, it's like the quality of my life and the value of what I do now for work has just exponentially exploded and it's things that I never would've imagined possible, but I had to leave something else behind in order to enter into this new zone. So yeah, I knew what I needed to do that first year, and by the time I did take the leap, I felt very confident. I had almost five years under my belt of data of when our in inquiry is coming in, when are they booking? How is this structured? How is this cashflow? One thing that's a little bit nerdy about me, but I think you and maybe some of your listeners too will appreciate. I love my Excel cashflow spreadsheet.
Shanna (19:43):
Love a good cashflow.
Courtney (19:44):
Oh, I have one for our personal household, but I also have one for our businesses. And I can look ahead and actually I have business out through June. I only have personal out through end of March right now, but I can see at any point in time what's coming in, what's going out, what's committed, what's on the books. And so I had all that data under my belt when I decided to take the leap and I did. I just felt comfortable and confident I can do this and I did. And funny enough, of course I exceeded it. That's
Shanna (20:24):
How it works with extra time and the ability to focus. Yeah, it's amazing what you can do. I love your cashflow spreadsheet and I love, because I work with a lot of planners and people in the planning community and it's like one of the biggest questions I get is, well, Shanna, I get this big chunk of money and then I don't get paid again until the event happens and how do you, and I'm like, yeah. So this is such a relevant conversation of okay, having just this is what we got paid, this is what's coming in, here's when it's due, gives you a lot of peace of mind because cashflow
Courtney (21:03):
Is absolutely
Shanna (21:04):
In business
Courtney (21:05):
And it makes decision making. Yes, it makes decision making so easy too. I can take a peak and know what's going on a few months from now and it's like, yeah, okay, we can do that. Or yeah, maybe no, we need to slow the gas on this or hey, let's just wait and see and give it a little bit of time or whatever it might be. It just makes decision making kind of very black and white takes the emotion out of it. Oh,
Shanna (21:33):
I love that. Kindred spirits. Tell me, Courtney, since we're talking about money and I love it, what do you feel like came naturally when you moved over to the entrepreneurial space or even with you and Julie? Was it hard for you to figure out pricing and profits and tracking workflows or even creating your cashflow spreadsheet? What do you feel like, it sounds like you all did this pretty much organically figuring out your own
Courtney (22:01):
Systems. Yes, very organically.
Shanna (22:03):
So what do you feel like maybe came naturally and went well or where were some areas maybe you struggled on the money management or business side?
Courtney (22:14):
So with regards to money, whether it's pricing, whether it's revenue profit, whether it's cash flowing, anything just that has to do with money. I've always personally had a really positive relationship with that. I find, and I'm about to drop a bomb on y'all, I find that our relationship with money specifically as women, is a direct mirror and reflection of our relationship with ourself.
Shanna (22:48):
Give me more about this, Courtney, tell me more.
Courtney (22:52):
I think it's just a way that it materializes and is tangible that how we see and view ourself and that just either innate sense of self, sense of confidence worth, wholeness, fulfillment, just how you identify with yourself that will extend into one's relationship with money.
Shanna (23:21):
I could totally see that.
Courtney (23:24):
So if you're a little sticky with yourself and you're not all the way there with yourself just yet, that will show up in how you manage and handle finances or how comfortable you feel with someone might be listening right now. And just not even be comfortable with the fact that as a planner, we charged a client that they paid us more than six figures to produce their event. And I would say anything's possible, but it does start on the inside. This is deep stuff.
Shanna (24:00):
Yeah, I can definitely see that, especially Courtney with pricing. If you lack confidence, it's going to show up when you're trying to get somebody to buy something. So yeah,
Courtney (24:13):
So I've always had a positive relationship with myself and that then has ized and materialized into how do I handle money, view money, handle business, handle pricing, things of that nature. So that's actually always come very naturally and easily. I'm a very intuitive person and Julie is a very observant person, and when you combine someone who is incredibly observant and you put someone who's incredibly intuitive, which they cut, they do really go hand in hand. I mean, it is just like there is some good magic simmering in the crockpot there to be had. I think one of the biggest lessons I've learned, and this is actually much more recently in my journey, we just had to let go of our CFO. We've had a CFO for, not for Envision, but for another business that Julie and I own with actually a third partner, educate and empower, encourage.
(25:16):
It's an online learning community, coaching community for those in the wedding industry who are looking to serve and enter the luxury market. But we had to just fire our CFO. He'd been with us for a couple years and it was just like we just came to a conclusion, got to go, and I realized that no one will ever know the intricacies of my business, my money, my audience, my growth or my needs better than myself. And I'm a big believer in outsourcing. I'm a big believer in support, but at the end of the day, I'm intuitively going to know things about my business better than what a expert or a this or that could come in and try to tell me because I am the heart and soul of my work and I have that direct connection point with our clients and that consultant or that expert. And so it's like they're once removed. And so that was an interesting, that's been a recent lesson learned.
Shanna (26:30):
That's so interesting, Courtney, and I love that you brought this up because I talk about, and with my students, I don't talk about it enough, maybe publicly, but I believe there's several people to be on your finance team. So the bookkeeper tracks your tax professional, makes sure that you don't get in trouble with the IRS, but as CFO, their role truly is to take the data, interpret it, and to create strategy. And that's what most small business owners, they don't have the cfo. So that's what I teach every day. I mean, that's what I teach in my programs is essentially how to be the CFO of your business, how to look at the data, create the strategy. And I thought, Courtney, that's so interesting because you had a CFO on your team. They might, if their strategy doesn't align with your vision, then that's not going to lead you in the direction you want to go. And I just think that's so interesting.
Courtney (27:26):
And I don't think we're not going to not ever have a CFO. I think it was just this one probably wasn't a good fit. And what's been really fascinating for Julie and myself along with our other partner, Wendy KA Birds of a feather in E three is that it's been a whole new world for us. And as we've explored it and done things and made investments and taken leaps of our own in that world, we've gotten burned pretty much every time on the first time. Interesting. So we've gotten burned, gotten, ugh, but it's never stopped us. We've just gone, okay, lesson learned. Cool, let's look at what the red flags were. Let's be, I'm very much a gentle observer of my life, and so it's like I can take a look at it and go, okay, without shame or guilt or pressure on myself and just say, okay, what went down here and how can we continue to go down this road but not repeat this? And I think where what most people would get burned and they would be bitter, they'd be resentful and they would throw in the towel and they'd just say, this is it. It's not meant for me, this isn't working, this or that, this and that. I took a risk and it burned me. And we've done the opposite. We've said, okay, cool. That was just a checkpoint. And you know what? We made it through the checkpoint and we came out the other side, so we're going to keep going. Yeah,
Shanna (29:01):
Yeah, yeah. I mean I feel like that just goes back to the mindset you were talking about before because it is hard to learn a lesson the hard way, but being instead of shaming yourself over it being like, Hey, look, learn. I wonder if that's helpful. It sounds like you've found two people in your corner and the three of you, maybe if somebody is down, the other one can bring you up. But with that all said, Courtney, I would love to hear what would you say is the best thing you have learned about money
Courtney (29:32):
That it is a renewable resource, unlike time, which time is not renewable. Once we spend time, it's gone. Time's not coming back, but money's a renewable resource and it can come, it can go and then it can come again. It's not emotional, so it doesn't really have feelings and it doesn't choose whether it's good or bad. It just money just is a tool that can be used for good or for bad, but it doesn't have strings attached to it. It just exists. And it can be whatever you want it to be, and it is how the world operates. You think about even today, for me to wake up and take a shower and have hot running water and electricity and I put on some clothes and I picked up a Starbucks drink, all of these things took money. So money is a very natural and effortless part of our lives if we allow it to be. What I find that most specifically women, although I think men can have challenges with this too, but specifically women, women put a lot of emotion into money and they make it have meaning, but it doesn't have, and they get wrapped up in it and they just make it mean something that it doesn't and they can't just let it
Shanna (31:03):
Be. Yeah. I like how you said money doesn't have emotions, but we have a lot of emotions about money, Courtney I and
Courtney (31:10):
Emotions are good. Emotions and feelings are good, but that can stay in us. We don't have to project it onto other things.
Shanna (31:19):
Yeah, yeah. That's so good. I would really like to unpack if this is something from how you were raised, but do we have the time? Just tell me if this is a mindset you feel like you've developed over time.
Courtney (31:35):
It's definitely something I've done in my own personal growth over probably really since Covid started. I started getting really into personal development, emotional intelligence, money mindset, just understanding kind of the world around me. I've always been a lifelong learner. Readers are leaders. That's kind of my mantra. And yeah, it's been something that I've personally been exploring for the past four years. And as time goes on, I get deeper and deeper into it, but it's also something that as I learn it, it's one thing to read something and have knowledge. It's another thing to go take action with it. And so as I've learned, I've applied it actually in my own life and seeing how it actually becomes real and materializes and yeah, when I approach my life in this way, oh yeah, everything clicks. Whereas if I approach my life in this other way, oh, it's always like I'm shoving a square peg in a round hole.
Shanna (32:42):
Do you have an example of one thing you feel like you've implemented and seen just the difference it's made?
Courtney (32:49):
Yes. So I've said already that I'm risk averse, so I don't, I want to kind of calculate everything, but what I have noticed in my own life is the freer I have become with money and the less attached to money from not just a physical standpoint, but from an internal and emotional standpoint, the freer that I am with it and the less attached with it, the more it just piles up on my doorstep in a natural aligned way. Specifically, I had my first child in August of 2021, and I took a six month maternity leave. And I will tell you I was shaking in my boots to do that, and I was in such a negative headspace in July of 2021, knowing I'm about to have my baby, that I did a call with a mentor, a coach, and I was just like, you got to slap some sense into me.
(33:58):
I'm a wreck. And that's really not me at my core, but I was in a scary spot and she gave me some just exercises and she really just shifted my thinking. She said, well, what if you become a mom and you actually make more money or you actually have more freedom of time, of finances? Have you ever considered that those two things can live together? And I was like, oh, wow. No, I haven't. And it was just like the shift in thinking and I was like, that makes a whole lot of sense. Who says, because I'm becoming a mom because I'm going on a maternity leave, that anything a has to go downhill or that anything has to say the same, it can actually get better. And that year, that year was at the time, 2022 at the time was my largest personal year to pay myself. I crossed over the 200 k mark in that year and in 2023, so one year after my maternity leave, I crossed over the four, I'm sorry, 20, 21, I crossed over 200 K, 2022, I crossed over 400 K, and that's what I sent to my personal bank account. That's not what my businesses did. They did other numbers, but what came home to Courtney for her family and my husband joked and he's like, you need to take maternity leaves more often.
(35:34):
So it's like a one shift in how you think and how you approach and how you believe can make a difference, but also if you are changing the way you think and approach things, the hope and the goal is that you also show up and take action that aligns with those thoughts and those beliefs as well.
Shanna (35:59):
Yeah, okay. So yeah, for me, I go back to making a fear-based decision. I tend to, I'm also very risk averse, funny enough, and don't like change where I talked about that, but making fear-based decisions versus hope-based decisions or whatever that looks like. Okay. Courtney, I have to, so many questions, but I do have to follow up. Everyone wants to know what happened from 2021 to 2022. Yes, changing your mindset, but did you shift your offers? Did you change your pricing? What made such a dramatic difference?
Courtney (36:38):
So in 2020, I added a new revenue stream, and that was the second business that Julie and I had co-founded alongside Wendy Kay. And that was educate and power and courage. And so that started in 2020, and by 2021 and 2022, that's really, it was cooking with gas right out the gates. But as I'm a big believer, the strategy I've always taken into my business is volume first, proof of concept first and create demand in the marketplace first. And once I do those things, I will then refine and switch gears from a volume-based business to a value-based business. Once I know the proof of concept is there, the demand is there, this is resonating with my audience, it's working. And from there, yes, I will refine. So even though my new revenue stream was hot and heavy out the get go by 21 and 22, we had refined and tweaked that specifically from a pricing standpoint of what, and so that when demand holds, here's a little economics lesson for you. When you can hold demand and keep demand steady, but you change the required investment of said service or said product revenue is going to shoot through the roof, right? And so that's kind of what we experienced is that the demand held very steady during that period of time, even though we had adjusted the required investments of the audience for that business.
Shanna (38:24):
And it's mostly that's a membership community all about educating
Courtney (38:30):
Planners, educating, empower, and encouraging. It's actually for all disciplines, not just planners. We get a lot of photographers, videographers, floral designers, stationers. It's specifically focused on high achievers who desire to learn how to serve luxury clientele with true strategy, true consumer behavior and data. It's not fluffy at all. It's incredibly straight shooting and it's very results and growth oriented. But when we launched in April of 2020, our vision was like, yeah, if we could grow this community to a hundred members in a year, that sounds really fabulous.
Shanna (39:15):
Cool.
Courtney (39:16):
We had a hundred members in the first week and then we were like, okay, let's go for 200 in a year. And then we had 200 members in the first month, and finally we were like, okay, let's grow to 400, cap it and let's see if we can do that in a year. That sounds good. And then we'll cap it and we'll go on a one in one out system. And that was April of 2020. And by December, by about Christmas of 2020, we had our 400 members.
Shanna (39:50):
That's amazing.
Courtney (39:51):
And we've held fairly steady since then. We fluctuate between at any given moment, between about 300 and 400 members just given the state of the industry and as people graduate and move on, and then new people come in and that kind of thing in
Shanna (40:09):
2020, which was probably one of the hardest years for the event industry ever.
Courtney (40:20):
Absolutely. Yeah. It doesn't even compare Julie and you too. Julie was around for the recession of oh 8, 0 9, coming out of that finally 10 11 probably took through 12 to come out of that actually. And she's like the engagement gap, totally blow that out of the water. The recession of oh 8 0 9 is literally nothing. And that's saying something.
Shanna (40:48):
Yeah. Courtney, what a conversation. I'm obsessed with talking with you. This is so much fun. I do want to, before we go into a quick fire round and have to wrap up. So sadly, I do want to just hear it sounds like you had your little one just a couple years ago, and how would you say in a world that asked us to do everything really well, and you are ambitious and you are excited and you have good energy, but you took six months off from maternity leave, how have you continued to find harmony in your life? And I've been looking at your website, I know you do personal coaching as well now, and I think you're a believer in, I think I read something on your website about we make room for what's most important. So will you talk a little bit just about how you as a busy entrepreneur, a mom of a toddler are finding harmony in your life and maybe some disciplines you've put in place to maintain that sanity, if you want to say. Yeah,
Courtney (41:55):
It's a beautiful sanity. So everything in seasons, right? The earth, mother nature has her own seasons and there are seasons to hibernate and there's seasons to bloom. And so everything in its own season, I also am this huge proponent of support. We are not meant to do things alone. We're not meant to do things in a silo. And that really is valid as both an entrepreneur, but also as a mama. And I don't think there are any rules. I think I make the rules. So if something's not working for me or my family or for my business, I'm not doing it. So I choose what I want. I do realize I can have it all if that's what I choose, but it's a matter of designing if actually half the battle is just knowing what you want. And most people don't know what they want, they're not very clear on that.
(42:58):
Maybe they have an idea, but it's a little bit muddy, a little gray. And so it's this deep level of self-awareness first and being comfortable with what I want might not be what someone else wants and might not be what society tells me is the it thing or whatever. So just being real comfortable first and foremost in that, and then designing a life to support that. So we do have a full-time nanny. My son also goes to a preschool in the morning, but every morning mama gets him up and ready and lunch packed and snack packed, and we get out the door and we get to have morning bath time and car ride together. And then I go on to have a full day that is grounded in taking care of myself first and foremost. I love Orange theory. I love going to my sauna studio, and I do both of those things almost every day and it's like I've got to fill up my own cup before I can pour into others.
(44:05):
And it took me a long, long time to really come to grips with the truth that that is and being comfortable with that. But it allows me to, when I'm a hundred percent me, I can then show up as the coach, as the planner, as the leader, as the mama, as the wife, as the friend, as the daughter that is of me because yes, there are many to whom much is given, much is expected, and I get it. There are so many almost pressures on us specifically as women and as working women and as women who choose to have a family. But I'm a big believer too that things can be easy or things can be hard, make it what you want it. And so I've designed a schedule and a routine that works. I stay and I actually have a little affirmation. I tell myself every day that my life is easy and full of grace, and I'm always giving myself grace, and I'm always giving other people grace too.
(45:22):
Removing shame or guilt or pressure from the equation and instead replacing it with compassion and patience and just this ease and this flow so you can have it all. You can live the life, you can have the business. It's just a matter of getting clear on what you really want, believing that you're worth it, and then actually taking the action to design a system of support. I've got a really great right hand gal in my business. She works with me personally, but she also works in E three and she dabbles a little bit in Envision. She's a remote virtual assistant, and we're her only client. She works 40 plus hours a week for us. We can't do it without her. We also have, for our E three business, we have an integrating integrator, like a marketing agency who does all of our behind the scenes passive funnel work and email copy and launch strategy and all those things. We did have a CFO, but as we've discussed, they've departed
Shanna (46:35):
Transition. Yes,
Courtney (46:37):
Yes. And so it just support is good. We are not meant to do this alone. And as someone who once identified as a perfectionist man, you're meant to be in your zone of genius, not in all these other zones that weigh you down because you don't like it or you're not good at it.
Shanna (46:58):
I also love Courtney because I'm sure there are days where you have mom, guilt work, guilt, whatever the guilt is. I love how you said, but being clear on what you want, how the mom, you want to be the business owner you want to be, I think is the only thing that can combat that natural guilt of,
Courtney (47:20):
And every moment is a new moment. Even this morning, I was trying to tidy up my son's room and he was wanting me to come in the playroom with him. Mommy, come sit, mommy, come sit. And I'm like, I'll be there in just a second buddy. And then I got another moment and I was like, you know what? No, I'm going to go in there right now. I'll tidy the room later. And so it's like each day is a new day, each week is a new week, but truly each moment is a new moment. And at any moment, if you're not happy with something, change it. And so I was like, yeah, okay. I'm just going to go sit with Buddy. I love it.
Shanna (47:58):
Courtney, I want to ask one thing and then I want to go into a quickfire round. Being able to have the membership, seeing that consistent income month in, month out when you've been in a type of industry with wedding planning where it's probably lots of money and then feast of free big chunks and then slow seasons, do you feel like that has provided some of the extra freedom or comfort level to hire the team you need or take the time you need? I just feel like,
Courtney (48:34):
Yes.
Shanna (48:35):
Yeah,
Courtney (48:36):
Absolutely. But I would say you don't have to have that in order to find that comfort or that sense of just stability. Because if someone is cash flowing their year and looking at
Shanna (48:51):
What do
Courtney (48:51):
I have coming in, what do I have going out, what are my monthly commitments? What are my quarterly commitments, where what's committed on my books to flow in? When you're looking at all of that, it doesn't matter if you have a membership or whatever else with a consistent, yes, we know we're hitting X, Y, Z every single month, you can still build that sense of stability because knowledge is power and you can identify the patterns and you might know, yeah, maybe you are flush in the spring, but summer is going to be a little bit leaner. So we're just going to be mindful of that, but then it's going to pick back up in the fall. And so if we are looking to make any, take any risks, maybe spring, we can play around a little bit. We'll kind of feel out summer and then we'll see if we want to play a little bit more in fall. You know where
Shanna (49:49):
I'm going, know what I'm saying? Oh no, you're speaking my language here. That's why I'm so passionate about teaching people about data, tracking data, money, because I find that you're so right. If you know what's coming in, what's coming out. I think so often, and I don't know Courtney, if you see this, the creative entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs in general that I work with feel like if I don't show up, the money doesn't come and I have to keep showing up. And there's a fear there. So you think, oh, I need a membership or something where I can just have this money and I don't have to this passive income. I know it's not passive, but where I don't have to show up all the time. But really planning, financial planning, why I'm so passionate about it and helping people do that is because it's like you can plan out your finances in a way that allow you to not feel like the stress of I have to show up and sell or I'm not going to have any money. So that was such a side note, but so
Courtney (50:50):
Good. And when you remove that from the equation, that fear and that pressure, it's going to flow. Anyways, that's half the battle.
Shanna (51:00):
Courtney, this has been so good. Let's quick fire and then, okay, this has been great. Okay. What is one thing you would be embarrassed if people knew?
Courtney (51:12):
Oh, I was not a thumb sucker growing up, but I was a finger sucker. I sucked my finger seriously, probably through middle school,
Shanna (51:21):
Like all four, four fingers.
Courtney (51:23):
Nope, just my pointer finger. My brother sucked his thumb. And same thing, my brother sucked his thumb through about middle school. I don't know what was wrong with us. And I sucked my finger through about middle school and I've literally as an adult, had braces. I had braces once as a teenager, but I've had braces twice as an adult.
Shanna (51:45):
Wow.
Courtney (51:46):
Yeah. Yep.
Shanna (51:47):
It really shapes your mouth there,
Courtney (51:50):
Right? Yes.
Shanna (51:51):
So interesting. Okay. Any regrets or wish you could do over moments?
Courtney (51:57):
No, truly no regrets in life. Everything has just led me. Any decision or choice or path I've ever gone down has led me right to where I am and I'm just so content and fulfilled and in my gift and in my zone. But if we are getting a little technical, I did not hire or invest in a videographer for our wedding day. We considered it and we got a quote and spoke to someone, and I still wish to this day, we had just taken that little leap and hired the videographer.
Shanna (52:30):
That is so funny. We're such kindred spirits. I really think we need to get together. I say that too. I had a friend of mine, her husband took just a few little video clips while we were walking down the aisle and it's like you spend so much time thinking about the music and all the details. So anyways, I'm a huge advocate for videography as well. I just didn't know. You just didn't know. So yeah, so good.
Courtney (52:56):
And that was 12 years ago, and so it was a different time, but even then video was on the scene. It was a thing. And yeah, just bummed we don't have that
Shanna (53:08):
Same, same. So all the videographers out there listening, know that you're, your work is so impactful and go sell it stronger.
Courtney (53:18):
Yes, we need you.
Shanna (53:19):
We need you. Okay. Big win or pinch me moment.
Courtney (53:23):
Ooh, I can think of a couple. Julie and I had a feature in People Magazine in 2018 or 2019, I can't even remember. We did Miss America's Same Sex Wedding, Deidra Downs Gunn, who was what? Miss America, like 1996 or so, something around there. I don't know, maybe she was 2006 now, I don't even recall. But anyways, we did her same sex wedding and that was a really cool thing that she was a Miss America and
Shanna (54:03):
People Magazine people picked it up,
Courtney (54:05):
People picked it up. That was super fun. And along those same lines, we had in 2019 a print feature in Martha Stewart weddings, which is the holy grail for this industry. And it was their last print issue ever that we made it into. And that was something that I know had been on Julie's heart probably since she started her planning business 18 years ago. So that was a big pinch me moment. But honestly, biggest win, just waking up every day and being able to see another day and be happy and healthy and have a supportive spouse and be able to do what I love and be a mom and just all this stuff every day is a win, truly. I love
Shanna (54:55):
It. Okay. Best advice or just really good advice that you've received?
Courtney (55:00):
My high school marketing teacher told me my senior year, he scribbled it in my yearbook. He said, the best is yet to come. And I read it and I kind looked at him. I kind of didn't know necessarily what he meant, and he said, Ms. Anderson, that's my maiden name. He said, just know the best is yet to come, and damn if he is not right. It's like just when things get really good, they get so much better. And it's just like life is this incredible roller coaster and the best. My son's two and a half and it's like he's the love and joy of my life, but the best is yet to come.
Shanna (55:43):
I love it. Alright, last quick fire and then we'll send it off. What are you working on now or one resource that you would like to share?
Courtney (55:51):
Yeah, so I am kind of coming into my own personal brand and coming out as my own thing because the past 12 years of my entrepreneurial journey have been grounded in duos and partnerships and co-founder status. And I'm kind of fully stepping out and into my own zone as a coach and consultant for creative entrepreneurs. I empower and equip them to realize their full potential, live their best life. Now just step into the boldest version of themselves. And I'm just really, it's very nerve wracking, but I'm also just very excited and looking forward to that new chapter as I throw that into the cookie jar mix. And if anyone listening would like access to a really wonderful resource I've put together, head to courtney covey wolf.com and you'll be prompted to grab a guide and it's 11 things that you can do today and truly every day to go to your next level. So check that out. It's a fun freebie from yours truly.
Shanna (57:02):
Okay, I love it. And we'll make sure to link that in the show notes as well. So thanks for sharing, Courtney. What a joy it's been to spend time with you today, hear more of your journey. You just have such an enthusiasm and energy and I love it. I would love for you to send it off. Looking back to 2012, getting married, deciding to work with Julie while you're still doing corporate, what would you tell yourself looking back now on day one?
Courtney (57:34):
Keep going. It's going to get better and better. Don't blink because surprisingly, it happens fast and I don't want you to miss it, but you've got this and just go have fun and just do the damn thing and do your thing and enjoy it.
Shanna (57:55):
All right, Courtney, this has been the best. Thank you for your time and sharing your story. It's just been such a joy to get to know you.
Courtney (58:01):
Thank you so much. This was so fun.
Shanna (58:04):
Hey, wildflower, you just finished another episode of Consider the Wildflowers the podcast. Head over to consider the wildflowers podcast.com for show notes, resource links, and to learn how you can connect with Courtney. One final thought for today from Steve Harvey. If you want to be successful, you have to jump. There's no way around it. If you're safe, you'll never soar. As always, thank you for listening. I'll see you next time.
