Identifying Your Ideal Client: The Cheat Code to Getting Booked + Paid with Terrica

Kevin Dennis (0:1.162)

All right, welcome to another episode of Mind Your Wedding Business. We have the one and only Terrica with us today. I'm really excited that she's here. Terrica, as we jump in, we always let our guests tell us a little bit about themselves and how we got here today. So how did we get Terrica here?

Terrica (0:7.749)

You

Terrica (0:18.295)

Yeah. Out of the giddy- Well, everything that the nuns in high school said is true, as is everything you read on the bathroom stall. It's all true, all very true. No, I'm just kidding. I am a wedding planner and designer down in Coastal Georgia. I lovingly call it the armpit of Georgia, but it's really not. You and I were just talking about going on long walks on the beach. Not together, everybody, but that's just something that we both-

Kevin Dennis (0:23.118)

Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (0:43.628)

Mm-hmm. No, no, no, no, no. Yeah, we...

Terrica (0:46.725)

It's something we both love to do. ah So where I live, there are three gorgeous islands right off the coast of Georgia. So I'm seven minutes away and yeah, whenever I need a reset, I'm always headed over there to the beach. So that being said, I am a destination wedding planner. Majority of my clients come to me for their events. So that's a huge dynamic and I started my business.

Kevin Dennis (0:54.198)

Oh, awesome.

Kevin Dennis (1:6.252)

Oh.

Terrica (1:11.445)

never having gone to a wedding, never been in a wedding, never even had a wedding myself. So I was uprooted from Baltimore down to coastal Georgia. Decided I wasn't gonna be an attorney anymore, was going to be um a wedding planner. So you can imagine my parents joy when I'm like, hey guys, not gonna be Johnny Cochran anymore, gonna be JLo, right? But you know what, I'm so happy.

I love what I do. It's been 20 years. The past, I want to say it'll be eight years. Wow. Eight years this year. I've been speaking and coaching as well. So this has just been an amazing go-around for me. I absolutely love what I do. I still do the occasional wedding, but I absolutely love where I'm at now. And that's just helping wedding pros really figure out.

Kevin Dennis (1:40.376)

Yeah.

Terrica (2:7.631)

how to make their businesses tick and how to stay alive when our industry can be quite insane sometimes.

Kevin Dennis (2:13.602)

Yeah, yeah, we were just talking about that before we got on. So it is insane. And it's even with that bad word that we all, yeah, I mean, we're all, I feel like even though we're five outs, you know, we just celebrated five years of being, you know, out of COVID, we're still, I still feel we're feeling the effects, you know, of it. So it's crazy. yeah.

Terrica (2:17.405)

Mm-hmm. Sensor. Mm-hmm.

Terrica (2:32.461)

I totally agree. I don't feel like we're, we're, we're quote unquote back yet. I don't feel like we're, we're back yet at all.

Kevin Dennis (2:36.404)

No, yeah, even though people keep saying we are just to make themselves feel better. m

Terrica (2:43.301)

to make themselves feel better, like maybe go to therapy and get well soon. We are not back. We are not back at all. uh

Kevin Dennis (2:48.348)

No. No, we are far from being back. So all right. So Tereka, we are here to talk about identifying your ideal client and knowing your ideal client or who your ideal client is and what's their cheat code to get them to book and pay you. So all right. So let's start it off. Can you explain what an ideal client is and how can someone identify that person?

Terrica (3:1.189)

Mm-hmm.

Terrica (3:13.093)

Sure, it is the person that does two things. It checks two, they check two boxes. One, you enjoy working with them or you're super excited about their event. So it could very well be you don't really enjoy working with a specific client, but it may be the venue, the vision that they have that makes them ideal for you. Likewise, it could be the alternative as well, whereas...

Kevin Dennis (3:22.798)

Hmm.

Kevin Dennis (3:36.470)

Mmm.

Terrica (3:39.991)

Maybe the vision isn't necessarily there. Maybe the budget isn't there to pull off the vision, but you love working with this client. Your personality's mesh, your work style's mesh, your communication style's mesh. And I feel like you need both types of those clients. One to keep your creativity very engaged and the other one to keep your personal.

aspect of it engaged as well because the clients that don't have the big vision, the big budget, et cetera, they make you a better pro because they teach you how to communicate. They teach you how to work. They teach you how to really make sure that your checks and balances and your systems work for when you do get those big visions because I feel like the big vision events, they're just theories, right? Because we're always striving to do things that we haven't done before in places we haven't done before with people that we haven't done it with.

Kevin Dennis (4:13.742)

Mmm.

Terrica (4:33.315)

And it's just a theory. need those processes to back up, making sure that we can make all of that happen. So those are definitely the two, either the vision is there or the personality match is definitely there. Now that is totally different from who's in your market. Sometimes your ideal client does not exist in your market. So you have to ask yourself two very important questions. One,

Kevin Dennis (4:54.391)

Mmm.

Terrica (4:58.777)

Do I want to go outside of my market to work with my ideal client? That may mean an hour commute both ways. It may mean two hours. It may mean working in a totally different city or state. Or do I want to work with the market that I have and serve them as best as I can with what it is that I'm willing to give them? So it may be that the market that you're in can only afford

a certain amount of service or a certain level of service. So you're going to serve them to the best of your capacity and that's going to fill your bank account, right? And then the other one is going to fill your heart. It's going to fill your creativity. It's going to really fill your passions.

Kevin Dennis (5:39.074)

It's amazing that you said that because the whole time so I'm in you know, California I'm in Northern California. I'm 45 minutes east of San Francisco So obviously, you know bigger weddings in San Francisco bigger weddings The bigger weddings are really in Napa in my market, but I where I am we have a small little wine country So we're like the mini version of Napa We do get a handful of the big budget weddings, but not every wedding is like a Napa wedding But there's so many people

Terrica (5:47.919)

Mm-hmm.

Terrica (5:53.004)

Mm-hmm.

Terrica (6:6.127)

Correct.

Kevin Dennis (6:7.380)

that you say like there's people in my market that drive up because they want those bigger budgets up in Napa but then like reverse everything so Sacramento is like an hour and a half north of us there is a lot of like videographers planners uh even uh you know photographers that all come down to our market because this is bigger than their market so so it's it's

Terrica (6:11.044)

Mm-hmm. m

Terrica (6:19.983)

Okay.

Terrica (6:29.348)

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (6:33.058)

funny to me when you said that I never ever really thought about it that way until you just said it. you gotta, it's like, you gotta find your cheese, you know, like you can go and where, yeah, yeah, what's gonna work for you?

Terrica (6:43.497)

Absolutely. Absolutely. Cause when you think about it, when you think about it, Kevin, when you write that check out to your mortgage company and the memo line, you're not putting proceeds were paid by a wedding I was really in love with, right? They don't care where you get your money from at all. So while I do feel like wedding pros do need to care where they get their money from, cause not all money is good money. Not everybody with the ring, a promise, a wedding website is going to be your client.

Kevin Dennis (6:53.898)

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (7:6.966)

No.

Terrica (7:12.953)

However, if you are getting asked constantly for a specific thing, that is market demand. And if you are passing that over and then saying, well, I'm just not working. I don't know what it is. You're not answering the emails. That's what it is. You are turning work away. And you can absolutely have tiered brands. I'm a huge fan of tiered brands because I feel like, you know, like

Kevin Dennis (7:20.258)

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (7:28.565)

No.

Terrica (7:36.673)

Luxury is the big thing right now. Everybody's talking about, want to be luxury. I want to be highland. And I'm like, you know, that's very subjective. What does that mean to you? Because all things being equal, a wedding period is a luxury because you can take your tail right on down to the courthouse, get you a license, a justice of the peace and go about your business. Anything over that is a luxury, right? But

Kevin Dennis (7:38.637)

Mm-hmm.

Terrica (8:0.837)

If you think about serving the people in your market and then serving at a higher level, that may require that you have a tiered brand. One example that I give all the time is Vera Wang. Absolutely love Vera Wang. I don't know what fountain of youth she's swimming in right now, if she's a vampire or what, but homegirl is 70 years old and she is still killing the game, right? She's over 70. If she's not 70, she's a little bit over 70.

Kevin Dennis (8:11.459)

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (8:22.860)

She's 70?

I did not know that.

Terrica (8:30.019)

the staple back in the early: 2000

Kevin Dennis (8:30.262)

I have an autographed book! I had no idea. Mind blown. Yeah.

Terrica (8:53.401)

But then you can go to Kohl's and you can get a pair of Vera Wang jeans. You can get a pair of Vera Wang shoes. So it's like she's serving people at different levels. And there is an amazing book called, Let Them Eat Cake by I think it's Tabitha Danzinger, I think. And one thing she says is she can bring luxury to the classes or to the masses. When you understand that your client can exist in two totally different realms, whether again, it's the vision,

Kevin Dennis (9:3.158)

Mm-hmm.

Terrica (9:22.925)

or it's the budget or the market demand, you can open up so many more opportunities to make money and really make a name for yourself.

Kevin Dennis (9:32.046)

Yeah, and it's another thing that just came to mind when you said that I think there's even weddings out there that they may stretch for that high end photographer, but yet everything else is a little bit more because to them, the photos are important. You know what I'm saying? So like every client is something's more important to them than the other and they're going to stretch and go crazy on on something because it's you know, to them, it's important or or

Terrica (9:49.781)

Exactly, exactly.

Kevin Dennis (10:2.112)

Even a family member wants, yeah, yeah, is pushing it. Mom's like, you have to have, no, go ahead, go ahead.

Terrica (10:2.245)

Correct. Correct. this is why you hate. No, I'm just saying that, you have to know what's important to your clients. What likes them up, right? Because if they're like, cake isn't really a big deal for me. We're just going to do many pies or many desserts. And for me, that hurts my soul every single time because I'm such a cake person. And I'm like, well.

Kevin Dennis (: 10:28

You uh

Terrica (: 10:29

somebody's got to get me a slice of cake. I've literally had clients know that I love cake so much that they will bring me a slice of cake on their wedding day because they're like, we're not having cake, but we want you to have a piece of cake. But you have to understand what's important to your clients because again, if you are chasing a specific type of client, but decor is not important to them, photography is, food is, or entertainment is, that doesn't make them wrong. It just doesn't make them the right client for you because you're not going to get what you want out of it. Whether you're a designer,

Kevin Dennis (: 10:35

That's awesome.

Kevin Dennis (: 10:48

Mm-hmm.

Terrica (: 10:59

you're a florist or you're a planner looking for those really great detailed photos, you may not get that at all. Another thing to understand too is when you know where their focus is, when you know where their hierarchy of needs are when they're wedding planning, that's going to help you reframe this whole budget thing. Because people say, oh my gosh, they had a uh six figure budget. But if all of that's going to the band, if all of that's going to the venue,

And we pretty much look like we went venue poor or we went band poor or DJ poor or photographer poor. Is it really luxury? You know what I mean? Is it really, if it's not luxury all the way around, if it's not that detailed experience all the way around, then there's an issue as well. that's why I feel like people are like, oh, you don't need to do ideal client workbooks or avatars. I'm like, well, how do you know who it is that you want to work with? How do you know?

Kevin Dennis (: 11:31

Yeah. Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (: 11:36

No.

Terrica (: 11:54

how you can best serve them. How do you know who to market to when you're creating your ads, when you're creating your creatives or your copy? How do you know what to say, what to put up, what image to use, what video to use when you're just talking to everybody? And when you're talking to everybody, honestly, you're talking to nobody, to be completely honest with you. Nobody's going to resonate with what you're saying because...

Kevin Dennis (: 12:10

Mm-hmm.

Terrica (: 12:18

It's so fluid, it is so generic, nobody thinks that you're talking directly to them and that's going to be a huge issue.

Kevin Dennis (: 12:26

Yeah, well, and as someone that was talking to everybody when I started my business, you know what I'm saying? So I'm old. Yeah, but I mean, I've been literally I've had Fantasy Sound for 36 years. So, you know, which is my main business. Thank you. I'm old. So I started out as a DJ. But like I, you know, back in the day, someone would go, I would say, you know what? Well, it's $400 to do the school dance and the school come back. Well, we can only pay 200. OK, because I wanted to do it.

Terrica (: 12:33

Where we are?

Terrica (: 12:39

Congratulations, that's amazing.

Terrica (: 12:55

Mm-hmm. Right, right, right.

Kevin Dennis (: 12:55

It was more about me wanting to just getting out there and I just kept it was me. I was more about I had five, six gigs this week and I was the more the merrier. meanwhile, if I would have took one good one, I would have worked. You know what saying? It took me a long, it took me probably about seven, eight years to realize that I'm killing myself for no money.

Terrica (: 13:12

Exactly. Exactly.

Terrica (: 13:20

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (: 13:20

And then I had to start reevaluating and coming up and trying to identify my ideal client and sticking to my values. like, I, you know, I'm not going to let people tell me how much they're going to pay me. I started going with this is how much it costs. I, Oh, sorry, you don't have the money. Okay. Move on kind of thing. So, you know, so how, how often. Yeah, no, I mean, just the more you say it, I'm like, man, I was an idiot. You know what I mean? A lot of people start off there.

Terrica (: 13:40

correct. So so correct.

Terrica (: 13:48

No, no, you weren't. were growing. You didn't know. You don't know what you don't know. You know what I mean? And at that time, whenever we're getting started, that is our baseline. That's our litmus test of success is how booked we are. Right? So if we're constantly working, then we're doing something right. Even if we're like, oh, know, that some money is better than no money mentality. But that's not always the case at all. And I ask people now as a coach and as a speaker, do you want to be booked or do you want to be broke?

Kevin Dennis (: 13:50

Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (14:1.134)

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (: 14:11

Mm-mm.

Terrica (: 14:17

but I can't have you being both. You know what I mean? So we absolutely have to get all of your systems in place. You have to get everything in order because that's another thing too. When you don't know what your ideal client is or who they are, how you can best communicate with them and how you can work with them, you're just piecemealing everything together.

Kevin Dennis (: 14:19

Yeah. Yeah.

Terrica (: 14:37

You don't know if your systems are going to work great for them. You don't know if your services are going to appeal to them at all. So you're just making a hodgepodge of things, probably based on what other people are doing and what you see other people are selling or what other people are saying that they're booking. And it's not serving you. It's not serving you at

Kevin Dennis (: 14:37

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (: 14:57

Yeah, and then are you then when you're that way, are you even serving your clients? You you got to think about it. Yeah, both ways. So, all right. So how often, you know, as we grow, you know, into our businesses, how often should we be reevaluating who our ideal client is? Like, how often does that process? Every season. Okay.

Terrica (15:3.961)

Right.

Terrica (: 15:11

Mm-hmm.

Terrica (: 15:18

Every season, every single season, every single season, you need to be reviewing your systems and your processes, your workflows. You need to be reviewing your vendor lists. You need to be reviewing your ideal client and you need to be reviewing your uh pricing every single season because things change. A few of us are lucky enough to have legacy clients, but for a majority of us, we're a one and done type of thing. What lasts for us are

Kevin Dennis (: 15:31

Mmm.

Terrica (: 15:48

you know, our relationships within our network, the venues that we work at, the services that we provide, and then the pricing that's either going to put us at a different tier or within a different market as well. But our clients are always going to change. And like even now we see the Gen Z is coming. They're one of the most diverse generations that are coming up. They've always had technology. There is so much that they are bringing to the table from the way that they research to the way that they shop to the way that they plan.

It's totally different from a millennial, totally different from Gen X, totally different from the boomer. So yes, you need to be reevaluating and checking every season to see if what I'm doing is working.

Kevin Dennis (: 16:28

We just had Tom out from the not. I'm sure. Yeah. Yeah. So he, he spoke at our little networking group that we have here locally. And he said, if you continue to do business the way you always have two years from now, you're going to be out of business. And, and, and, and, and, and you just kind of, again, reevaluated that if you got to continue to adapt and if you don't, you're going to be gone, you know, cause it's the, you can't.

Terrica (: 16:32

Yeah, yeah, yeah!

Terrica (: 16:44

correct.

Terrica (: 16:56

Absolutely.

Kevin Dennis (: 16:57

You know, and there's someone in my market that's like, this is how I do it. And they're going to just learn to do it. And I'm like, you know, you're not going to be booked. You know what you can't, you can't. Yeah. Yeah. And you can't go on reputation alone.

Terrica (17:6.739)

Good luck, good luck to you. Yeah, good luck to you. You're definitely gonna be on, no, you can't because you know why? That doesn't matter to them as much anymore. These upcoming couples, that doesn't matter. I can remember moving down to my area and everything was based on reputation and not just who you knew, but who knew you. So because everybody was leaning on their parents' referrals.

Kevin Dennis (: 17:17

Mm-mm.

Kevin Dennis (: 17:30

Mm-hmm.

Terrica (: 17:34

their grandparents referrals, who they knew or whatever. So that's why I honestly stopped trying to work within my local market because it seemed like that was just on lock. And as an outsider trying to come in and penetrate the sports field, it was just exhausting. So what I did is I just appealed to all of the people who were coming into the area to have a destination wedding. And then that's how I became the guru of

Kevin Dennis (: 17:49

Mm-hmm.

Terrica (: 17:57

doing everything here and knowing how to pull it off no matter what it was that you wanted. If you wanted a contemporary style wedding, if you wanted an exotic style, if you wanted something super romantic, we could absolutely make that happen because again, all of my clients were worldwide. They were coming across the world. I wasn't speaking to just one particular market that was here. So that's why I say that our style is metropolitan chic and Southern charm. So I know exactly who it is that I'm talking to and who it is that I want to cater to.

Kevin Dennis (: 18:21

Hmm.

Kevin Dennis (: 18:27

And Southern Charm, can't beat that. Especially, I feel like the White Lotus is going to bring us a lot of Southern Charm right now. Did you? OK.

Terrica (: 18:30

And you can't.

Terrica (: 18:35

Oh my God, so I've never seen an episode. I promised Lynn Stevens that I was gonna start it this weekend and I did not get a chance because I fell into a rabbit hole of another TV show. But I'm definitely starting it this week.

Kevin Dennis (: 18:44

Okay. Well, it would be a good time to start because you could start from the first season and work your way all the way through because it just ended and that fam... Oh yeah, was had oh my... Oh, my wife and I had a glass of wine and we were sitting there, were glued because there were so many questions that needed to be answered by that thing. So anyway, you'll...

Terrica (: 18:54

Yesterday was the finale, right? The season finale. Okay.

Terrica (19:4.431)

next.

So Kevin, let me ask you this. Now you know that we were just in at the Fairmont, Myakoba. Everybody was saying that where we were reminded them of White Lotus. Is that true? Am I going to get vibes of... Okay.

Kevin Dennis (: 19:15

Very, yeah, you will get a little bit of vibes of White Lotus. Yes, it's funny because I heard the same thing for multiple people. It's like how we were in Little Bungalow. There was like four little rooms. Obviously, in White Lotus, the rooms are like this season, the one in Thailand. This is the fanciest, because they're all four season hotels. OK, so it's been my... uh

Terrica (: 19:20

Okay, okay.

Terrica (: 19:27

Mm-hmm.

Yes.

Terrica (: 19:39

Oh wow. Okay, okay.

Kevin Dennis (: 19:45

Italy was last season and then the original season was at the four seasons in uh Waialea on Maui. so the route, so where the four seasons in Waialea in Maui is a little bit more like hotel-y. This Thailand one, were like, they called them bungalows, but these things were like.

Terrica (: 19:53

Wow, okay.

Terrica (20:2.477)

Okay, okay.

Kevin Dennis (20:9.122)

Houses with like their own private pools and it was like and then when they would show though the the whole like like the drone shot of the resort it was like in a hill and they were all these little you say Yeah, so everyone's like where are they going next? So I'm like get out your four get out your foot. Yeah, get out your four seasons. Let's figure it out. Anyway, you know, but but the Fairmont where we would just were in my coba had very very

Terrica (: 20:13

Nice.

Terrica (: 20:24

uh I wanna go! Yes! I love that. uh

Kevin Dennis (: 20:38

the vibe with the water, the whole whole the whole feel was very white low. Yeah, because it just when I got there, we were probably a couple episodes in. And so I was like, and I think that's why everyone was just talking about it. So anyway, but but anyway, there's a family on this season that is from uh one of the Carolinas, I forget, but they're close to Duke. So Raleigh, they're in Raleigh and uh

Terrica (: 20:45

I can't wait.

Terrica (: 20:50

Okay.

Terrica (: 20:53

Gotcha, gotcha.

Kevin Dennis (21:5.236)

And they're very that Southern charm and the very, and I just feel like that's, that's going to be a thing this year, you know, because obviously television, you know, fashion, all that drives what we do. And so you can't anyway. So, all right. So you brought up something that I wanted to touch on is, you know, the, relationships and with vendors, like, and I feel like that to me, sometimes I feel like

Terrica (: 21:16

Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Terrica (: 21:25

Yeah.

Terrica (: 21:28

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (: 21:34

I'm doing a luxury wedding. I'm working with everyone, like the planner I love, you know, it's like, feel like weddings sometimes, this is a poor analogy, but I'm like, it's like going to war and you want to go to war with all the soldiers that you love. Yeah. And you're like, you know, we're all going to fight together and we all have each other's back because it's always bad when you have that one bad apple with the vendor. like building these relationships and having

Terrica (: 21:40

Mm-hmm.

Terrica (: 21:48

Correct. Correct. Correct.

Terrica (: 21:56

Correct.

Terrica (22:0.293)

you

Kevin Dennis (22:4.680)

Other people that are like like-minded is that a good way to do it or like how do we build this vendor list and have it you know and go crazy from it?

Terrica (22:8.003)

Mm-hmm. Oh my gosh, yes.

Terrica (: 22:14

You know, I think it's really important to find people who are passionate about what they do. And that kind of sounds like, course, Tereka, but there are just some people who are just like banging out dates just because, you know, they want to keep a booked count. They don't know. They're not keeping up with the client's details. They're not really trying to make it personal for them. And as a planner, when I can't say, hey guys, I'm so sorry we got this wrong. Meet me here tomorrow at five and we'll try it again.

Kevin Dennis (: 22:22

Hahaha

Terrica (: 22:43

I need to make sure that everybody is on point. Everybody is professional. Everybody is personal. Everybody is personable. You care that, you know, the groom was just deployed and he's going to be deployed until three days until we get back. You understand that there's going to be certain moments that we need to get. You care that an aunt is sick and we have to make adjustments. You care that, you know, somebody doesn't have a good relationship and we need to keep them separate to maintain the order of the day.

Kevin Dennis (: 22:46

Mm-hmm.

Terrica (: 23:12

So when people really care about other people, that for me, that's huge for me because I know that if something goes wrong, if I have to make, well, I like to call plot twists throughout the day, that they're gonna move with me, right? I don't like rigid vendors. I don't like vendors who cannot come together as a team. You call it going to war, which I absolutely love. I call it my team of Avengers. Everybody has their special superpower.

Kevin Dennis (: 23:22

No!

Terrica (: 23:39

My job is to make sure that everybody can perform to the best of their ability. And that if there is any overlap that you're working together and you're in sync versus, you you, you, messing each other up or somebody's trying to do your job. That's the worst thing. The worst thing is the person who's like, Oh, I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to do that. Or the person who's like, I'm going to do everything, or I'm just going to get in the way. And it's like, please sit down before I get my tranquilizer dart and make you sit down as please.

Kevin Dennis (: 23:48

Hmm.

Kevin Dennis (: 23:56

I agree.

Kevin Dennis (24:5.920)

Hahaha!

Terrica (24:8.527)

Please, please, please. But there are just some vendors that I just don't get along with at all. I'll be completely honest with you. So what we do is, is we'll, I will see if it's a personality thing. Sometimes it is. And another member of my team will take that. Same thing with my team. I had a planner on my team who did not like working with a particular vendor. And I said, honey, no worries. I'll take care of it. I won't put you on any more events with this person.

I'll handle this or whatever it's so that we can really see is this a personality issue or is this a process issue? That's for sure. Because again, I can't recreate the day and it's totally fine if our processes don't mesh up, but you're not going to mess up my day. You're not going to mess up everybody else's day. You're not going to mess this up because you don't have your stuff together or you're so disorganized or you're not a great communicator. You don't know how to talk to people at all. So that's why on our contact form, we ask.

Kevin Dennis (: 24:45

No.

Terrica (25:3.577)

Who's on your dream team list of vendors? Cause I need to know before I even talk to you who it is that you're considering, because that's going to be another thing that's going to let me know the type of client that you are. And I have no problem saying we're not available or our styles just don't mesh. And it's very important for us that you have the wedding that you want. So since you've booked this person, we're going to have to decline or I've had some people say, Oh no, don't worry about it. We would rather have you than them. And that makes me feel.

Kevin Dennis (25:6.571)

Mmm.

Terrica (: 25:31

right but uh

Kevin Dennis (: 25:32

No, it does. does. No, I've had similar... And I think, and it's funny, a joke that I've done this long enough, and I'm not that... Where I'm old and I only pick who I want to work with. It's just like, I try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but if you can't fix stupid and you can't fix I'm constantly late or I'm going to go rogue, the worst I have is...

Terrica (: 25:48

Yeah.

Yeah. uh

Terrica (: 25:57

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (26:1.447)

The planner works really hard, puts together this amazing timeline. And all we have to do is just keep checking down the list, and everything's going to go perfectly. And then all of a sudden, you get someone that goes rogue that throws the whole thing out alignment. Yeah. And it's so fri-

Terrica (: 26:14

Everything off, everything off. So they can be the superstar. And I'm like, you'll never be the star here. The bride is the star, the groom is the star, the couple is the star. No matter what type of participant, no matter what type of event it is, the client is always the star, always.

Kevin Dennis (: 26:30

Yeah, I'm always and I can't tell you how many times I've said we're on team couple. We're here for the couple. We're here. This is their day. Yeah, it doesn't matter what I like. It doesn't matter what you like. It doesn't matter, you know, politically, you name it. It doesn't matter because we're here for them today and we got to remember that and it's just so frustrating. So yeah, there are people in my market.

Terrica (: 26:35

Mm-hmm. Correct. Correct.

Terrica (: 26:45

Mm-hmm.

Terrica (: 26:49

It's a, you know, that's a huge value for me that, you know, I tell my clients, it's, don't care how much money you spend on your wedding because two things, it's your wedding and two, I'm still going to get paid. So I mean, it does not matter. Like again, my mortgage company is not calling me to ask if I love the wedding that I just did. Now some, some will never make it to Instagram. Some absolutely will make it to Instagram, right?

Kevin Dennis (: 26:57

Mm-mm. Mm-mm.

Kevin Dennis (27:3.339)

Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (27:8.385)

Yeah.

Terrica (: 27:15

But I don't care about how much money that they spend, but what's very important to me is that they get the wedding that they want. So I'm very protective of my clients to make sure that nobody is steamrolling them, whether that's family, whether it's vendors to make them do things that they don't want to do, or that makes them deviate from things that they did want to do. Because again, like we just talked about, have somebody that wants to be a star, they want to be the leader. And I'm like, this is not your audition, this is not your turn.

Kevin Dennis (: 27:40

Yeah.

Terrica (: 27:45

this for your wedding, go get married again, go have another wedding, but this is not about you at all. And I find that the older that I get, the more I say that out loud or my face absolutely says that. So yeah, that's something that I'm trying to work on with my esthetician with getting more Botox in my face to ensure that.

Kevin Dennis (: 27:51

No.

Kevin Dennis (28:4.268)

Well, it's I've been told I have a little bit of David from Schitt's Creek in me with the facial expressions that I probably I should probably do the same. Yeah, I get a little. Yeah. Like what? Well, yeah. What are we what are we trying to do? And yeah, there's yeah. Yeah. And it's just in it. No, I just say it just I feel like finding it's the relationships is really what it comes down to because

Terrica (: 28:12

Like, we're doing what? Yeah. What are we doing here? Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (: 28:33

Even if you're not working on a wedding, someone can call me last minute and say, hey, I need help. And you know you're going to go help them because you have a relationship with them. So, yeah.

Terrica (: 28:38

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Terrica (: 28:43

Absolutely. And if the tables were turned, they would absolutely do the same for you. We had one of the biggest weddings last year and there were just so many variables involved. There were so many vendors involved. if any of you are familiar with where I live, we were having this wedding on Jekyll Island where it's pretty much the new port of the South. So it's where

Kevin Dennis (: 28:47

help you. Yeah. Yeah.

Terrica (29:7.681)

all of your Gilded Age families would come and summer. And so they have vacation homes there. And now their vacation homes are venues. They're historic properties that are owned by the state. So you can get married where the Rockefellers vacationed or where the Tiffany's, the Comforts, all of those people are there. But there, it's gorgeous spaces where there's just nothing there. So we were literally building this event from the ground up with tents, lighting, generators, mobile kitchens, so many different things.

Kevin Dennis (: 29:17

Oh wow.

Kevin Dennis (: 29:31

Mmm.

Terrica (: 29:37

And because there isn't a venue, there isn't a structure. We have to create that. And then what happens? One of the biggest hurricanes comes through this weekend, gives us no power for three days straight. And we're having a multicultural multi-day event. Now, this wedding was a beast anyway, just for everything that we had to pull together. And I called one of my best friends, Fausto Piperer, Blue Elephant Events in Maine.

Kevin Dennis (: 29:45

Oh

Kevin Dennis (: 29:53

Bye.

Kevin Dennis (30:3.885)

Mm-hmm.

Terrica (30:6.469)

And he's a master at everything. And I said, I just need you to sit down and just break my timeline. I need you to break my layouts. What am I not seeing? Because I need to make sure I have this right. And he cleared an hour for me. We sat on Zoom. He went through everything. He was like, well, do it like this. Or have you thought about this? And he was just giving me so much feedback of things that, I knew. it's, OK, but I also have to do this as well. So you really need good people.

that have your back and sometimes they're not gonna be in your market. And that's going to be important for you to understand as well. But it's also super important to understand when you have to let a vendor go. Because it's going to constantly impede your success and your growth and your ability to serve and produce well at an event. So I have no problem with that whatsoever because also I say this too, know, in that everybody in your circle ain't always in your corner.

Kevin Dennis (: 30:38

No.

Kevin Dennis (: 30:58

No.

Terrica (31:3.681)

I have worked with a lot of jealous vendors down here, vendors who have tried to sabotage events just because they wanted to be the star and I just couldn't do it. And they will be like one of the most popular vendors here, the go-to for everybody. And I would be turning down a lot of money to say, no, I can't do that. But ultimately I knew it was going to be more stressful for me, either in the planning process or in the production process. And it just would not be worth it.

Kevin Dennis (: 31:29

It's funny because one of the venues we work at all the time there was a photographer, know, we're sitting around the table at the venue, you know, having our dinner and this photographer just bitched and bitched and moaned moaned about the venue, how shitty the venue is. And finally, at one point I looked at her, I go, why did you even take this gig? If you don't like how the lighting is and how did you I go, why we well, she goes, well, it's very popular. said, well, but go find.

Terrica (: 31:45

Mm-hmm

Terrica (: 31:50

Correct! Why? Why?

Kevin Dennis (: 31:57

go find another venue that you like. it's no. And then the the best part was is then the venue coordinator, you know, came to check on us. And this girl went from, oh, and then it was like, oh, Z, good to see you. Oh, how's every. Oh, and I was just like, and she didn't realize she didn't realize that Z and I were like this, you know, like we were tight. And I was like, and I was like, girl, and Z's like, was that.

Terrica (: 31:58

Go find another one!

Terrica (: 32:12

Of course she did. Of course she did!

Terrica (: 32:19

Mmm, mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (: 32:24

She made a comment to me. I wasn't going to say anything unless he said something to me. And then she goes, hey, that photographer is kind of a pain in the ass. And I go, oh, let me tell you. uh Yeah, but it was just, but I don't, know, if you don't like a venue, you don't like, know, you're like for us, we, you know, we're in the Bay Area. We do not work in the city. You know, we try to stay out of San Francisco.

Terrica (: 32:28

Sure.

Terrica (: 32:32

Mm-hmm. Oh, girl, do I have something for you? Do I got some tea for you? Yes, absolutely, absolutely.

Terrica (: 32:49

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (: 32:51

there's only about maybe eight to 10 venues that we will even work at because I am, my, my warehouse to the other side of the, of the Bay bridge is 38 minutes, not far traffic, two and a half, three hours. Sometimes that 38 minutes. Yeah. And then, you know, and then just parking and all that in, in, the real congested downtown, you can't park or park a box truck. So you have to go park far away and then Uber back to the event.

Terrica (: 32:56

Mm-hmm.

Terrica (33:3.215)

Oh. Mm-hmm. Minimum. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Terrica (: 33:18

God, you're giving me PTSD. Yes, it's terrible. That's how Savannah is. Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (: 33:21

Yeah, you know what saying? Well, and that's how we decided we are not going to do it. We're not going to stress ourselves out. And we have a beautiful wine country here. There's Napa that we do. So we re-evaluated it. So I think everyone needs to really take that to heart, because it's an ideal client, but also ideal venues and vendors and everything else. Yeah.

Terrica (: 33:28

Mm-hmm.

Terrica (: 33:34

Mm-hmm.

Terrica (: 33:46

Absolutely. And sometimes you just got to learn to bloom where you're planted, right? And if you know that you have so much friction with a particular venue, a particular vendor, I say this all the time, that I love data, that I don't call myself what I would like to call myself publicly, but just to give you a close grasp of what I'm trying to say, I would do some very sketchy and promiscuous things for data.

Kevin Dennis (: 34:16

Hahaha!

Terrica (: 34:16

Okay. Because data is amazing. I love there's so many answers and data. So what I used to do is I used to go back and say, okay, you know what? Who are, who have been all of my problem clients that, know, who did I enjoy working with? Who did I not enjoy working with? And then what are the common denominators in each? Sometimes it was a budget. Sometimes it was a particular vendor.

Kevin Dennis (: 34:20

Yeah, it really is.

Terrica (: 34:38

It was a particular venue and I'm like, now I'm seeing what the issue is. And then when you just, you know, needle down a little bit more, it's like, Oh, well we, have been consistently having these same issues with this vendor and it's spilling over into all of these events. So that's how we'll say, you know what, we're not, we're not going to do it anymore. And then we noticed that there's a pattern with the certain type of clients that are booking these vendors that end up coming to us and we just don't enjoy it. And I want to enjoy working your day. The one thing that I, I hate saying is like,

You know, we're showing up to the rehearsal on Friday. We're showing up to set up on Saturday morning and like, God, I can't wait until it's Sunday. You know what I mean? Like, I just wish I could just wake up and it's Sunday. That's how, you know, you're really not going to enjoy it at all.

Kevin Dennis (: 35:16

Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (: 35:21

No, no, or you're striking like for our team. It's like, thank God this one's over. You know, like, like, like we survived and it's over and that's not a good, you know, that's not a good place. No, it really isn't because, know, and like you said, it's just, you want to have those people around you that, that are not, and you said something that really stuck with me is you have your circle, but who's in your corner, you know, like I've never, never thought about it that way, but yeah, you get people in your circle.

Terrica (: 35:27

Yes.

Terrica (: 35:31

It's not a good feeling.

It's not.

Terrica (: 35:45

Correct. Correct.

Kevin Dennis (: 35:49

And we do have people in our circle, but they're not always in your corner. You know, and that's, that's, it's really rough. Okay. So, all right, we're, getting close to wrapping up, but I, I have a question that I wanted to ask that we didn't cover. So say someone knows their ideal client, but all their leads do not align with that. You know, what, what's coming in, you know, what do they evaluate in terms of like, is it the messaging marketing, you know, where do they go, you know, to try to get that ideal client?

Terrica (: 35:53

Correct, correct.

Terrica (: 35:59

Yeah!

Terrica (36:4.548)

Mm-hmm.

Terrica (36:9.925)

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (: 36:20

Like, you know, yeah. Yes, they're doing it wrong. Okay.

Terrica (: 36:20

Yes. That's my answer. Yes. Yes. Doing it wrong. Well, you you're not doing it wrong. You are. You're just not speaking the language. Right. And I think if you think about this as if we're traveling to a different country, we need to learn the language. If I am going, if I went to Mexico, but I'm speaking Portuguese.

Kevin Dennis (: 36:32

Okay, okay.

Terrica (: 36:44

There might be some similar words there where we might be able to make something happen, but we're not gonna be able to communicate. We're not gonna be able to celebrate. The same thing goes for your ideal client. So it's definitely a messaging problem. So what exactly is it that you're saying? You may be repelling your ideal client with some of your words. I always like to ask my clients how they describe their day, oh what they want their guests to feel.

Kevin Dennis (: 36:56

Mm-hmm.

Terrica (37:9.495)

And whenever I see a common thread, then those are the words that I begin to put in my captions. Those are the words that I put in my emails. Those are the words that I want to make sure that are in my service magazine and on my website. The same thing for the imagery. know, if pictures are a thousand words, then you know what? Your pictures are going to say a lot. So are your videos. So again, knowing that the type of generation that we're working with

Kevin Dennis (: 37:15

Hmm.

Terrica (: 37:32

We need to see some of the updated pictures. need to see diverse pictures there. We need to see a change of different things. We don't want to pigeonhole them. So absolutely it's going to be a messaging problem and it's going to be a marketing problem. If you are singing the most beautiful song to an empty room, it's still beautiful, but nobody heard you. So that's going to be the same thing with your ad. Are your people there where you're putting up your ads? Would it be smarter for you to do social media ads than to do a print ad? Would it be smarter for you to do

Kevin Dennis (: 37:50

Yeah.

Terrica (38:3.013)

uh social media ads versus an online listing? Would it be easier for you to come up with a really robust marketing or grassroots boots on the ground venue campaign as well if you know that that's where your people are. So you have to go where they are. have to meet them where they are and then take them where you want to go.

Kevin Dennis (: 38:23

Yeah, yeah, no, it makes sense when it comes down to it. It probably is the messaging though. Their Instagram, they're not, know, it's what they're putting out there. And also, you brought, yeah, yeah.

Terrica (: 38:34

Correct, Kevin. I mean, if you tell me that you're luxury but you're using Comic Sans font, baby, come on, we don't believe you. Let's be serious. If you're still using Papyrus font and you're like, I'm so luxury, no, you're not. Let's be for real. Yeah, absolutely.

Kevin Dennis (: 38:40

No. Yeah, true.

Kevin Dennis (: 38:50

No, it's, it's yeah, you put out what you get. yeah, well that and then the other thing too is, is I think people need to remember it's, you know, everything is part of their brand. So when you're negative on social media, you're not, you know, it's going to lend you to be, you know, all that. It's just all there's people in our market that get very negative on social media about just everything and anything. And I'm like,

Terrica (: 38:54

correct.

Terrica (39:2.659)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Terrica (: 39:14

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. It's not Festivus. You don't need to air your grievances. ah Adriana McDermott just, Adriana McDermott just talked about this when we were at BSAGE, but she just said this again over the weekend about vendors. Please stop complaining about your clients on threads, on social media where they can see you because that is going to be the only important

Kevin Dennis (: 39:17

Why are you doing this? Why are you? You don't need to put that up. No, no. I do love Seinfeld.

Kevin Dennis (: 39:31

Yeah.

Terrica (: 39:43

that they get and we know that a typical client has to see you anywhere between seven to ten times before they take action whether that's to follow you to engage with your content to reach out to you to book or whatever if they only see that one glimpse that one window into you they're not gonna come back and you may say oh this is me being authentic this is me being real this is you being broke this is you being not booked that's what that is get a diary get a friend go

Kevin Dennis (40:2.369)

No.

Kevin Dennis (40:8.098)

Yeah.

Yeah, and people want to be... Oh yeah, you talk to your girl. But you got to be nice to them too, because I feel like if you're... They're going to come back and get us. The computers will rise up. 100%. Yes, I compliment them all the time. Even Alexa. Thank you, Alexa.

Terrica (: 40:13

Tell somebody else. Go tell chat GBT. oh

Terrica (: 40:24

Correct, that's why I always say please and thank you with everything. Like, oh, you did such a wonderful job. Yes, they will save me in the revolution. Same, same, same. And then she sings the little song and I'm like, oh, Alexa, you were so beautiful. Thank you.

Kevin Dennis (: 40:40

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's you got to be there. So all right. Did we miss anything? I think we covered it. I yeah, I enjoyed it too, girl. You're well and I'm going to be I mean, before we go, it was such an honor to have you on the podcast because I have always been in awe with you. And I just I just think you are one of the greatest. I mean, you you take the stage. I've seen you speak from like a whip event all the way up to big conferences. But

Terrica (: 40:49

Thanks, that was a great conversation, Kevin. Thank you. Thank you.

Terrica (: 40:59

Aww, thank you. Oh my gosh.

Oh.

Kevin Dennis (: 41:10

I'll be honest with you. was the most, you didn't even speak at BSAGE, but I so impressed with you. You did such a fabulous job at MC because you just brought us all together and you kept us all together as a group when you did the MC. You were fabulous. Yes. You were just, was, yeah, no.

Terrica (: 41:16

Oh, thank you.

Terrica (: 41:23

Thank you.

Terrica (: 41:30

Oh, thank you. That means so much. Thank you. Thank you. Michelle trusted me and I love her for that. Thank you.

Kevin Dennis (: 41:39

It's very people. It's a big deal when you get on that B sage stage and because I ended up sitting next to Dana Cadwell for one of you how we got assigned. Yeah and Dana's like she you know she was just so excited and impressed and took her you know her so seer it was it was it's impressive but the education was great but you gave us good you would wrap it up and you you were fabulous so anyway it's an honor to yeah.

Terrica (: 41:44

It is.

Terrica (: 41:47

Yeah, yeah, yeah!

Terrica (: 41:55

Oh yay!

Terrica (42:3.781)

Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you.

Kevin Dennis (42:5.536)

It's an honor to have you on my little podcast. anyway, all right. All right. So we wrap up. One of the questions I always ask, and I'm going to throw you off because we didn't talk about, I forgot to tell you ahead of time, is your eyes got big. I always ask, I'm big in tech. And so I always ask my guests, is there an app that you're using right now that you love, can't live without? It could be new, something you've been using for a long time.

Terrica (42:9.893)

I'm so happy to be here.

Terrica (: 42:18

Oh!

Kevin Dennis (: 42:32

Because I feel like we all help each other with tech. is there, yeah, what is it?

Terrica (: 42:35

Absolutely. Absolutely. So I just discovered Notion and I love Notion because I bought an iPad that I solely use as a notebook. You know how we go to these conferences and we get like little notebooks or whatever. And I just had way too many. I'd be writing stuff down and forget what app I wrote. mean, what book I wrote it in. So now I have an iPad that's solely a digital notebook for me. So now I've stumbled upon Notion. I really love that. And it keeps me organized. But the thing that I really love the most that I use.

Kevin Dennis (: 42:41

Oh!

Kevin Dennis (: 42:52

Mm-hmm.

Terrica (43:4.389)

perhaps hourly, is Claude AI. I am so in love with Claude. Claude is so amazing. I did a brand, I guess you could say foundation or a brand worksheet for myself. And I was like, this is me. This is what I like to do. These are the things that I say. These are the services that I provide. These are my pricing. These are my ideal clients. This is the places that I go.

Kevin Dennis (43:9.558)

Okay.

Terrica (: 43:29

And so now anytime I ask it a question, it's like, don't forget you have this and you always say this. So it's just, it's literally like my other side of the brain. It's amazing. I love Claude. Oh, you will love Claude. You will love Claude.

Kevin Dennis (: 43:34

Oh.

Kevin Dennis (: 43:38

Well, I'm going have to, I've never heard of that one. I'm going to have to check out Claude. Okay. I'm going to have to check out Claude. I mean, I'm intrigued by all these AI apps and I just, you can't. Yeah. I just, the more, yeah, it's like, why, why, why, why were we trying to recreate and invent the wheel every week and just like throw it in there and let's, let's go girl. Let's, let's, you know.

Terrica (: 43:49

Me too! Me too.

Terrica (44:1.849)

But you know what, I knew I was going to love it because, I'm totally gonna age myself here, I was such a Kit and Michael Knight Rider fan. Like when I got my first black car, was like, my first black car's name was Kit. I'm like, it has to talk to me, it has to. So yeah, it's anything that I can talk to, I'm definitely gonna get, for sure.

Kevin Dennis (: 44:10

Oh, okay.

Kevin Dennis (: 44:22

Do you only have black cars?

Terrica (: 44:25

No, I have a white car now. Yeah, I had nothing but black cars and now I a white car now. I am, I...

Kevin Dennis (: 44:26

Oh my god, so you're a suburban mom. That's what I joke with my friend. Yeah, I was joking. My suburban mom said white card. I have always had black car. Not always, always, but I, I literally have so many black cars. It's not even funny, but I just, there's something about it, but it's only beautiful right after you get it. When you get washed and it once it's washed, it's beautiful for like that, that maybe 12 hours. And then after that, you got to get it washed again. But anyway, black cars are a lot to upkeep.

Terrica (: 44:34

Hahaha!

Terrica (: 44:42

It's insane. They're so sleek.

Terrica (: 44:55

Correct, because I've got my old Porsche sitting in my driveway and it's black and it looks like lemon pepper wings from Buffalo Wild Wings from the pollen down here in the south. So yeah, yeah, absolutely. It's only good that one time it gets squashed.

Kevin Dennis (: 44:56

Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (45:3.729)

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It is bad. All right, Terrica. How will folks get in touch with you to learn more about yourself?

Terrica (: 45:18

I am super active on Instagram, so you can find me at introducing Terrica on Instagram, and if you would like a quieter, more refined version of me, you can find me on LinkedIn as well. But who wants that? That's not fun. Right, like, it's not fun.

Kevin Dennis (: 45:30

Is there really a quieter water room? I know I was gonna say, I didn't even know that existed.

Kevin Dennis (: 45:43

I'm kind of shocked. going to... Okay. I love that. I love that. All right. And we'll have all your information in the show notes and we'll be sure to share it with everyone. So, all right. So, I know. And thank you for being with us today. It was such an honor to have you on. Like I said, you were one of my bucket list people I wanted to have on here. So, thank you so much. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. All right, folks. Thank you for listening to another episode of Mind Your Wedding Business. We'll see you next time.

Terrica (: 45:44

On occasion on occasion. Yes

Terrica (: 45:53

Awesome. Thank you. Thank you.

Terrica (46:4.291)

Oh my gosh, thank you, thank you.