Kiss Ineffective Office Days Goodbye with Dana Kadwell

Kevin Dennis [: 00:00:01

Welcome to mind your wedding business podcast. I'm your host, Kevin Dennis. In addition to leading the charge at Weddingiq, I also run fantasy sound event Services, a lighting and entertainment company based in Livermore, California, that I founded over 35 years ago. Each week on this podcast, you'll hear thought provoking and empowering interviews with wedding professionals who have found success in the industry. If you're a business minded wedding pro who loves love but also cares about their bottom line, buckle up and get ready to learn from a new industry expert each week. All right, here we go. Welcome, Dana. She's going to be here talking to us about kiss ineffective office days goodbye.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:00:42

But, Dana, before we do, you got to let us know, how did you come about getting in this wonderful world we call the wedding industry?

Dana [: 00:00:50

That's a great question. How did we get to be here today? I know it's actually a kind of a convoluted, I guess, convoluted story, but one that probably very many people have experienced. But I was planning my wedding is how every. How'd you go? Wedding planner stories start. Yeah. And I got married super young. I think I was 22, actually. No, I was 22, and so everyone was my bff, as you can imagine, as a 22 year old just getting out of college, and I could not find a venue that fit my needs, that I didn't want to get married in a hotel, and I didn't want to get married in a barn.

Dana [: 00:01:24

And so there was, like, really no options for me. And so we were at lunch one day and with my sister, me and my sister, and we were like, wouldn't it be so fun to own a wedding venue? And we talked about it. We made, like, a sketch on a napkin, and then I went home. Like, I was like, cool. Like, don't want to. This is great. Whatever. Well, I think it was a couple days later, Courtney called me, and she was like, hey, our friend Megan.

Dana [: 00:01:45

You remember Megan, like, when we were kids? And I was like, yeah. She's like, well, she's getting married, and we're going to plan her wedding. I was like, what? She's like, well, we went up in a venue, and I thought we should be wedding planners, do some, like, market research, figure out what we need, you know, if it's, like, good in the market or whatnot. And I was like, okay, whatever. So we did that wedding and realized, hey, this is fun. We like it. We're pretty good at it. And we just kind of slowly built it.

Dana [: 00:02:06

It was very organic. We were both teachers, so we just very financially, I guess, conservative people. Like, we were just, like, we cannot just take the jump into it. Like, we had to have all these, like, ducks in a row to do it. And we did that for about seven years. And I think year five, I was able to quit my job and do that full time. And seven years in, we found a piece of land, and then it just. From there, it took about a year for financing and all the.

Dana [: 00:02:33

There's a very fun story that we could go into for hours about how he built this venue. I built a venue and then just started what I call our serial entrepreneurship journey. Always opening up new businesses here, there, and everywhere.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:02:45

I.

Dana [: 00:02:45

So I can say we got into it because my sister, my older sister made me. That's why.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:02:50

That's a good. That's actually amazing story. I knew a little bit of that story, but I didn't know the whole story. So that. That's absolutely amazing. So how many weddings, just out of curiosity, how many weddings do you guys host a year now?

Dana [: 00:03:01

It's a great question. So the venue does about 120 to 130 weddings a year. And then the planning business. Yeah. Does close to 100 a year. So lots of weddings. All day, every day.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:03:15

Yep. All day, every day. That's. Well, I had a wedding. We're recording this on a Wednesday, and I had a wedding last night. So here in California, we're getting them, and I. This is our third Tuesday in a row with a wedding. We skip next Tuesday, but the following Tuesday, we have a wedding.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:03:30

So it's.

Dana [: 00:03:31

That's crazy.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:03:32

You know, I keep joking. We're becoming like Las Vegas. Yeah. It is very crazy. So, all right, so we're here to talk about kiss ineffective office days goodbye. And I'm very excited, I'll be honest with you, because yesterday I had an office day, and I was very ineffective, I will say, because I was just, like, kind of overwhelmed from the weekend, and I had. I was looking at the mounds of emails that I had to get through and a few stacks of papers I had on my desk, and I was just like, I'm not doing well, so why, I guess. Why? Because I feel like in our wedding industry, we're so good at doing our art, being out in the field, doing whatever it is, but we don't.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:04:10

We're not very good at our business and doing all that part as well. So that's where I think all of us in the wedding industry can get better. But. So why are office days so important?

Dana [: 00:04:19

Oh, geez. That's kind of a loaded question. I feel like office days are so important because I feel like they're the reset for your day, your week for, especially when you're talking about big pauses of time when you have multiple office days in a row for whatever you're trying to accomplish and get done. And I think that there is this really big misnomer, and I think it's starting to come out more. And you guys have heard probably about how much, how more efficient people are on a four day like schedule, like basically taking Fridays off. Because the reality is, is nobody, nobody can be efficient 40 hours a week. Nobody can do it. It is not real.

Dana [: 00:04:56

That is fake. That is something that corporate America made up. It is not the reality. And so a lot of times when we get into the office, we're assuming we have to have eight full productive hours every single day, Monday through Friday or in the industry, a lot of times it's Tuesday through Friday or whatnot, and that just isn't real. But if you don't have those office days, especially as an employer, an owner, a team leader, high level manager, you can't do the things that you have to do to move your business forward. Like, I would love to be able to just say, oh, I could just plan weddings all day, every day, or I could just host events. But you have to pay your taxes so they don't, like, seize your property, and you have to pay your employees. They show up for work and you have to market it.

Dana [: 00:05:36

You have to do all these things. Constantly reinventing and I. Making yourself relatable to this new generation coming up. Right. It's. It takes time. It takes effort. You can't just be by happenstance.

Dana [: 00:05:48

So we have to have office days in order to have successful businesses. I mean, certainly you don't have to have them, but I would guess your business isn't going to be lasting more than a year or two, right?

Kevin Dennis [: 00:05:58

Yeah, I wouldn't think so. So why do you think us wedding pros struggle with office days and being in the office?

Dana [: 00:06:06

Well, I think when you're a creative, it's hard to do the day to day things because you just don't, you just don't want to do them. Like, you just want to do the thing that you love and that you feel passionate about. I mean, think about why you got into the job or the industry that you got into. Right? Like, why do we get here? It's because I loved what I did. It's because I loved planning weddings. I loved the beauty of flowers. I loved helping people. And it really wasn't until I saw a true, true, true career path.

Dana [: 00:06:36

Like, I treated it more like my career than just something that I loved in a job that I saw. Okay, I love this. But I also love the fact that I'm going to have some financial security in my later on in life, that I have a great retirement plan. Right. And so I think for a lot of us, maybe we haven't gotten to that point of thinking about what is that possible exit strategy, what is the real future for our businesses? And we're just thinking about the here and now, which is, I love making bouquets, I love making flowers. Like, I don't want to do all the things that I have to do for my event. So I think, I think it's just like a mindset thing. Like, it's super hard for people to, to think about the management, the day to day things of it being a creative.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:07:20

Yeah, I think it, well, it struggles. And especially, you know, a lot of us have ADHD and aDd. And so I think we procrastinate is a good word. And then we're, we're very good under pressure when it comes to doing that kind of stuff. So. So how can someone, you know, we're busy, you know, everybody's wedding season is different across the country, the world, but how can someone prioritize their wedding season? Or, I mean, being in the office during a busy wedding season.

Dana [: 00:07:50

Yeah. So, I mean, I think the first thing to realize is you have to look at your whole year in general. And we, we look at, we do this every January. I would say that we're looking at where is our stressful pain points, right? And these pain points are things where you're like, I won't have a lot of brain capacity to do something that requires a lot out of me. So there are certain times of the year when I'm like, okay, I, I don't have the ability to think of a new marketing strategy because we have x going on. And typically that's during major wedding seasons. That's April, May, June. And here's where it gets really hard is a lot of times as industry professionals, we attend these conferences, right? Like cater source is the end of March.

Dana [: 00:08:32

Nace experience is in the summer. There's a couple of them sprinkled there in April and May. And you go to these conferences, you get all these amazing ideas and you get back to literally a, I don't know if I could swear, but like a shit storm, right, of events.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:08:48

And you can swear away, okay.

Dana Kadwell [: 00:08:51

And you don't have time to put all this stuff that you learned in action, right? And that is, that is literally how I, my analogy that I have of when you're thinking about these things is that when you are in the middle of crazy and all you're trying to do is survive and put 1ft in front of the other and you have this great idea and you think about this thing, you're like, oh, well, I really want to work on this and I really want to change this. And you see maybe a need in your business. You're like, I really want to, you know, make this new strategy work. And, and you just get bogged down by it and then you just like, okay, I can't do it. Put in a drawer, shut it, pretend like it didn't happen and you never think of it again. And so for me, I like to look at it and say, when I have an aha moment, I have a document, a Google Doc, and I write that aha moment out. Like, oh, my gosh, I thought about this the other day and I really think this would be an amazing thing for our team to do. And when I have time, when I call it my breaks, my busy season, I'll open that dock up and I'll say, okay, what do I need? What did I think about two months ago that I thought was really cool that I didn't have the time to do that I now have the time to do.

Dana [: 00:09:55

So I think prioritizing your mindset because you can't say, I could only think of great things when I'm not in wedding season. That's not reality because things come to us all the time as creative. So giving yourself the space to be able to take those ideas and give you schedule that time and able to do it, I think is first and foremost, right. And then the other part is give yourself a freaking break. I mean, like, it is hard. Like, and I say this with my employees, like, when we're hiring somebody, you know, we pay them a salary. We pay them like a 40 hours week salary, but there is very rarely a week that they work 40 hours a week. But the mental load of being in the industry is so heavy and it is so much like your ability to be present all the time to know what is going on all the time.

Dana [: 00:10:41

That is like having a 40 hours a week job, even if you aren't working 40 hours. And so we like to say, what are your peak productive times? Like, when are you the most efficient in the day? For me, that's 08:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. those 3 hours. Like, I can do anything. Like, I can, like, power through pretty much anything during those 3 hours of the day. So that is my sacred time. Like, I do not schedule meetings.

Dana [: 00:11:06

I do not schedule phone calls. That is my time to make sure that I can get all those things done. And then everything around those peak productive 3 hours, I am making myself successful for the next day. So I'm having my meetings. I am cleaning out my inbox. I'm making my to do list for the next day. And the way I think Courtney said this to me once, she's like, what is Courtney today gonna say? Or what is Courtney tomorrow gonna say? Thank you to Courtney today? Right? And there's been so many times, and I'm like, oh, my God, Dana, thank God you took care of that. Like.

Dana [: 00:11:38

Cause, you know, whatever happened, it's so much easier for me to get this task done or whatnot. So it's really about structuring your day around you. And I think that, you know, for me, I have, like I said, those peak productive times, but I am in charge of all of our education, so I make all of our presentations. And sometimes there's only so many times you can write things. I mean, you know this, right? It's. It's, like, mind numbing sometimes, trying to put all this stuff together. And so I give myself the freedom to say, you know what? This is not speaking to me right now. I'm not going to force it.

Dana [: 00:12:09

I'm going to put it down. And if I need to pick it up at 10:00 at night, I'm going to pick it up at 10:00 at night and jot those few things down and do it right. I don't have this prescribed eight to five, which I think we need to kind of get out of our minds.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:12:22

That's amazing. So how does. I mean, you mentioned you're. You're most productive between 08:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. like, how did, how did you come to figure that out?

Dana [: 00:12:32

I think a lot of trial and error, it really actually became out of a necessity, truly, because I had to. My kids don't have public transportation, or they did, but this bus came at, like, 06:00 a.m. or something like that. So I had to take him to school, and then I. Yeah. And I had this, like, weird limbo time. Like, I could go back home, be home for 45 minutes, or I could just go into the office and. And start working and so I started working at eight and I realized it's quiet.

Dana [: 00:13:00

The Internet's amazing because no one else is on it. And like, my head was very clear, you know, like, it was just, it was just a really, really great spot. And I realized, wow, I can, I do a lot of things. I looked forward to it. I look forward to that time because I know that I can like, bang something out really easily. So it's trial and error. You gotta figure it out. I used thing my peak production time was like, after lunch, but that is not the case.

Dana [: 00:13:23

I'm useless after lunch.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:13:25

Oh, that's funny. So, and then I think a lot of it too is I find I've learned to shut my door if I need to get some stuff done. So my employees don't come in, interrupt me, because they, you know, every little question, every little thing, they're at my door trying to come in. So what are some tips for people that have employees, you know, like, to keep themselves productive when they're in the office?

Dana [: 00:13:48

That's a great question. I feel like sometimes you just feel like a firefighter, like all you're doing is putting out fires all day, every day and dealing with everybody. Right. Um, so for me, I, I have a little bit more of an open door policy, but I do let my team know that this is when I am, like, in the zone. And unless it's an emergency, like, it is something that you need an answer right away, it needs to wait until you see me out of my office, whether that's like ten 3011 or whatever time it is. But there is also, we have open door hours, so there are times in the week, typically it's Tuesdays and Thursdays, that I set aside 2 hours that I don't take phone calls again. And I am not, and I know I'm not working on anything that super, like, takes a lot out of me. I'm just doing menial tasks that I have to get done.

Dana [: 00:14:39

And it's my open door. So, like, if you need to come have a conversation, like it's available, it's there, whatnot. It's a time when I am fully in and invested and not, and I'm not like, oh, I'm just trying to get this done. Let me finish this one task or whatever before we have a conversation. And that's been super, super helpful. But the biggest thing is you guys set boundaries. You just have to, to tell your staff what it is that you need from them and the time you need, and 98% of the time they're very respectful of that, and they will honor that kind of boundary you created.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:15:09

Yeah, that's some good advice, because I find we have to set boundaries with our clients as well. So I think having boundaries with employees is probably a great idea, too. But like you said, there's always, there's always, you know, the fire burning or there's something happening and we got to put that fire out so that it's always happening, so.

Dana [: 00:15:29

Right.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:15:29

So how often do you have office, you know, are you in the office during the week?

Dana [: 00:15:36

Um, I am physically in my office four days a week. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. I work from home on Mondays. During the summer, I'll take off. I'll work from home on Fridays just to help alleviate the kid shuffle, um, because normally put on my husband's shoulders and he gets a little grumpy about that all summer. So I try to take on two days of the kids bickering at home, but typically four days a week is what I try to get to the office.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:16:03

Okay. And then, and then that eight to eleven is the time that you're. You're the most productive when you're there.

Dana [: 00:16:09

So it is. And I would like to say, too, like, there's a couple of things, you know, that I heard. So I am like an. I am a, I'm not a perfectionist. I am an overachiever, I would say I have. I care about a lot of things. My biggest fear in life is not being, like, worthy or successful. Right.

Dana [: 00:16:28

So I used to tie my productivity to my worth all the time. So, like, if I had a bad day, it's because I wasn't productive. If I had a great day, it's because I got all my to do list done. And that is a really, really toxic way of thinking. And it's a really unhealthy way of looking at your job because then I just hated everything about it because it. That was tied to how I felt. And so I started taking a look at saying, okay, what is it that's going to make me feel successful today? Is it attainable in the time that I have set forth? And sometimes I have to say that is not attainable. So I know I want to get this task done, but I know it's going to take me two or three days to get it done.

Dana [: 00:17:06

So let's set that goal for end of day Friday or whatever, and knowing that I can reach that goal and that makes me feel, like, successful at it. Right. And it's also, we create these to do lists and they're like, everyone has it. You have a list and you keep adding to it, keep adding to it, keep adding to it. At the end of the day, you're like, I've crossed three things off this list, and there I've added ten more other things. And so I create two lists. This is like a, and I only have typically no more than two of these a day. Two tasks where that if I don't do this job, I am going to be failing miserably.

Dana [: 00:17:39

Like, I am going to, like, my employees are going to be upset, my business partner is going to be upset, I'm going to be in fear of my business failing. What are those at max, two tasks of the day. Most of the time it's only just one. And then it's a task of what task would be like, okay, this would be really awesome. If I got done today, this would make me feel a little less stressed. This would take a little bit of burden off my shoulders, and then it's like, okay, what would be great to finish, but I could honestly push off to tomorrow. But then tomorrow it's probably going to be in category one or two, right? And I look at my days like that, okay. And it really helps me prioritize what's important because I think a lot of times we get overwhelmed.

Dana [: 00:18:19

Like you said, you have add, AdHd, whatever. We get overwhelmed by our task. And everything small seems big. Like, everything seems like a big deal. Like, if I don't get this done, this is going to happen. If I don't do this, this is going to happen. The reality is very few things are actually going to happen if we don't get that thing marked off our list. But there will be a thing or two that you know that you have to do.

Dana [: 00:18:39

Right. And for me, those things are typically, am I letting my team down? Like, is this, if I don't do this task, is my team not going to trust me anymore or respect me anymore? And that's a huge deal to me. So those tasks are always, like, priority in number one. Right. So it's just really reframing what it is that what you find. I don't want to say what you value, but, like, what it is that is going to move your business forward. What's gonna allow you to, I don't wanna say feel successful, but know that you've given everything you can that day. Um, and not tying your, like, worth to how many things you got checked off your list.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:19:19

That's amazing. That's a good idea because I think, like, you were saying, like, there's days where I've, you know, accomplished three or four things that are on my to do list, but I've added another 15 things because of this happened. That happened, and then I walk away going, man, I got nothing done. You know, like, but you feel, but that's not probably in reality, I probably got a lot done, you know, so that's. It's a mindset thing, I guess.

Dana [: 00:19:43

It is for sure, 100% a mindset, and it's. And it's really hard. I think that one thing that's super interesting about, as I've dug a little bit into the psychology of people in the wedding industry, we tend to be more people pleasers. Um, and we live in a very fast paced world. Like, our clients expect fast results, immediate results, and we behave that way. So our expectation for ourselves is those things is that we're doing things to please other people and not necessarily ourselves. So even we're looking at our schedule. I mean, everyone's done this.

Dana [: 00:20:12

Like, whatever works best for you. Whatever is best for you. And I used to do that. People were like, what was best for me is 09:00 a.m. and I'm like, you know what? I can't do that, because then my whole day's shot. If I have a meeting at 09:00 a.m. like, or a phone call, everything is off kilter. So what's best for me is I am free anytime from 12:00 p.m.

Dana [: 00:20:29

until 05:00 p.m. i'll even do a 06:00 p.m. if that makes more sense. You right. We want to please other people so we don't think about what's best for ourselves. And we are expected and we expect ourselves to move at this breakneck speed, which just isn't sustainable. Right. It leads to that burnout, it leads to that feeling of inadequacy, and we need to be able to take a step and say, you know what? I have 15 things, and if it takes me five days to do those 15 things, that's great.

Dana [: 00:20:57

That's amazing, because I got it done.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:21:01

Tasks off the list. Now, are you, just out of curiosity, are you a paper person with your to dos, or do you use an app or anything?

Dana [: 00:21:10

I am a paper person. I have tried all the apps. I've tried, like, Monday.com, i tried Asana. I've tried all those things, but I just. I don't know. I write. I like it on paper. I don't know why.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:21:22

No, everyone's different. It's, I've learned throughout the, it doesn't matter your age, everyone just more visual or they have to ride it away. You know, everyone's different. So it's just very interesting to hear how other people kind of get through their day, you know, and whatnot. So. All right, so we. We've gotten through our day. We figured out how many days we need to do this.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:21:45

You know, what are. I feel like, you know, what are some tips that you would. May have for someone that's, like, struggling? You know, like, you know, do they start slow? What are some tips that you can give to people that are really struggling to get office days in?

Dana [: 00:22:01

Yeah. Because, well, so I think that the first thing is to recognize, have you created the time for it? Have you given yourself the ability to have office days? Or are you so scheduled out that you can't. So the reality of it is that there are definitely times of the year when you're. And everyone has this, where you feel like, oh, I've been at this meeting, this meeting, this meeting. I had this lunch, and I had to record this podcast or whatever the case may be. And so I have sacred days. Like, these are days that I just do not go anywhere unless it's like, you know, the only time this person can meet. And, of course, I can make an exception.

Dana [: 00:22:36

Like, I'm not an inflexible person. Right. But they're sacred days. They're days that I try to not go off site for anything, and I create that space. So a lot of us just haven't created the space to do it. So step one is figure out the time, and it's okay if you're not in the office four days a week. You could get all your stuff done in two days, and that's fine. There is no shame in that.

Dana [: 00:22:57

And you do not need to feel obligated to step foot in that office five days. If three of those days, you do absolutely nothing and you're just twiddling your thumbs thinking about, what do I need to do, right, to figure out, like, how many days you feel like you need in the office to be successful and create that space for it. Step one. And then two, I think you really need to look at, like, what it is that is creating, like, what's bogging you down. Is it employees that are constantly knocking on your door? Is it the fact that you just get super overwhelmed by the task in front of you? You know, Courtney, for example, has, like, a lot of times she gets, like, paralysis, like, when her to do this is too long. Like, she can't even, like, get beyond. She can't even take that first step because it's so overwhelming. Right? And so for when she gets in that way and she'll say something, I'm like, well, what's the one thing that you want to do on that list? What's the one thing? And if there is not one thing that you want to do on that list, you have got to find one thing that you want to do that moves your business forward.

Dana [: 00:23:49

Right. And then you also really need to take a look at it and say, okay, I enjoy doing this. And then it can kind of jumpstart you to start taking. Doing those other things off the list. But if you are finding that all you have on that list are things that you hate, that you despise, it is time to let them go. You need to find someone to do that for you because nobody likes to angrily punching in their computer, like, I hate doing this, I don't want to do it, blah, blah, blah. You know what I mean? That's only going to last so long. You're never going to do it.

Dana [: 00:24:18

You're never going to do it with fidelity. You're never going to do it well. And so really taking a look at what is the things that I know that I can offload. And for me, that was social media. I am not a fan of it. I am not good at it. It would just frustrate me. I always felt like it wasn't good enough.

Dana [: 00:24:34

I wasn't young enough. I wasn't saying the right things. The picture was good, all these things, and it was just so intrusive and I couldn't get it done, and I hated it. Anytime I was on my to do list, I was like, I pushed it down as far as I possibly could take it. And I was finally like, you know what? This shouldn't be my job. This just should not be my job. Someone else needs to do this, right? So find those things that you can automatically take off your list so that you can feel like, what? Like, back to what you love to do. Like, you love planning weddings.

Dana [: 00:25:01

Are you creating time for you to plan your weddings well, to do the things you need to do, to do that you love designing flowers, are you taking the time to have that? You know, those mood boards and flowering spoop pics you're sending your clients, like, figuring out the things that you love to do and then try to push the things you don't like to do off board them on somebody. If you can. And figure out how to way to make them as minimal as possible on your to do list.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:25:26

Yeah, that's, that's a. I think that's game changer right there. Now, I went to a conference one time, and they were talking about scheduling meetings or, like, time blocking. Have you implemented any of those kind of, you know, schedule, you know, because you also were talking about boundaries. That also could be, like a boundary thing as well.

Dana [: 00:25:44

Yeah. So time clocking works really well for a lot of people, and I think a lot of it depends on your personality. So if you're someone who really likes schedule and rigidity, creating time blocks, I think, is a total game changer. I think it really works well. And I really think for me, I would use a kind of a system of, that I would say, and not like, fully, but like, you know, I have my block time in the morning. That, like, that is my time. And I typically pick the tasks that cr, that require the most brainpower during that time. And then after that, I will always go on, like a 20 minutes walk.

Dana [: 00:26:15

I'll go into the, our office is a little bit separate from the main office. I'll go into the main office and have a conversation, grab a snack, like, check in on the team, like, kind of give myself a little bit of a break. And then I always come in after that and do emails, like an hour of email inbox, clean out as much as possible, and then kind of a day moves on from there. So. And for me, that's super successful because I am a planner and I love to know what's coming up next. But there are some people, like my, I guess my venue director and Courtney, who, that just stresses them out because if they get off that block, then they don't know what to do. They're like, well, what do I do now? Right? Like, it's just too overwhelming. They don't like the confines of creating the same thing at this time.

Dana [: 00:26:56

They like to kind of move at the whim of how they feel and what they want to do, and that's totally fine, too. So I think. I think this is, there is some quote I can't remember. Some CEO said that every successful millionaire CEO wakes up at 05:00 a.m. well, I think that's bullshit. I'm sorry. If you want me to wake up at 05:00 a.m. be productive, I do, too.

Dana [: 00:27:17

I do too productive. Right. And so I think that there just isn't this perfect prescription that says if you wake up at this time, if you block your time this way. If you use this calendar, then all your dreams are going to come true and it's going to be perfect. I just. I think it has to do with, you have to pick what makes sense for how you like to work and how you like to feel successful.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:27:41

Yeah. And then what works for your, like, family dynamic and what all the above, you know, you can fit it in there so many different ways. So. All right, one thing you mentioned you went back and did you know you would do your emails? And so how do you handle, like, distractions of, like, text messaging, emails and all that stuff when you're trying to be productive?

Dana [: 00:28:02

I turn it off. I turn it off. Everything. The only thing I don't.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:28:06

Oh, that's. Well, that's simple.

Dana [: 00:28:07

Yes. I don't have my outlook up. I don't have my email up. I do have do not disturb on. So anything that is, my husband knows it, so if he really needs to get ahold of me, he will call me twice or he'll do that, like, notify anybody or whatever.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:28:21

Yeah.

Dana [: 00:28:21

Right. Um, so, yeah, like, I just. I turn it off because it is too distracting. It's impossible. There's too many things pinging at you.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:28:29

All the time that we live in that world of notifications and pings and dings and all the above. And it. I think that is not, uh, doesn't do well for all of us that struggle with ADHD and AdD and all that, because it just, uh. Squirrel, squirrel, squirrel. We're just constantly looking for the. For whatever. Yeah. What, now we're over there, so.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:28:52

All right, so what are some, like, some. Something that we may have not covered or some tips or tricks that you want to leave everyone with?

Dana [: 00:29:01

This concept of creating effective days was really born out of necessity. It really happened when my kids got older and I didn't have the freedom of time and. And I'm not saying this because I'm a parent. I think people who are not parents probably feel this similarly. And I feel like as time goes on, everyone is feeling, you meet anybody, you'd say, how you doing? Like, I'm so busy. I'm so busy. I'm so busy. We all have this lacking of time, and I really, really feel like it is all made up.

Dana [: 00:29:33

Like, it is just not real. We have the time for the things that we need to do, and we have convinced ourselves that we have to do all of these other things in a certain time that we have, that we have said is true. Right. Certainly there are things. Right. You know, you have to pay your taxes on time. You have to take your kids to school on time. Like, there are things that are confined by time, but when we're talking about our jobs, there are so few things that require us to do this thing in a very short period of time and not have and not plan for it.

Dana [: 00:30:07

Right? It wasn't until I took a look at it and said, okay, like, I feel overwhelmed all the time. I feel like if I could have 30 hours in a day, it still would not be enough. Why do I feel that way? Because everything I touched was an emergency. Everything I tried to do was urgent, and it made me take a step back and say, well, what is actually urgent? Right. And what's there? Certainly, like I said, you have your priorities. But then, for me, what was urgent was that I wanted to be home every day for dinner with my children. You know, my daughter's 13, my son's eleven. I only have five more summers with them.

Dana [: 00:30:40

So I want to spend at least two days a week in the summer with them, swimming and, you know, spending time with them and getting to experience who they are, because they're pretty cool kids. Right? And so it was really born out of a need to balance, which I don't believe in, work life balance. I think that's just a bunch of B's as well. It's more like work life integration. How can I integrate my work into my life? And how can I integrate my life into my work? Um, that made me realize that really, the problem is, is that I was just being super ineffective and how I was using my time when I was in the office.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:31:15

Yeah. And you're. You're making me like I'm. I'm going to figure out when I'm the most productive, because I. I was like, the whole time we've been sitting here talking, I've been trying to figure out what time I am. I. Am I most productive? So, anyway, so, Danae, what is your favorite part of a wedding? And has it changed throughout the years?

Dana [: 00:31:34

Yeah.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:31:35

So mine has. I'll say.

Dana [: 00:31:37

Yeah, I think when I first started, my favorite part was always when the bride walked down the aisle, or one of the partners walked down the aisle and the other one saw them. There was, like, that moment of, like, euphoria. Like, oh, my gosh, this is the person that I'm marrying. And I still love that part, don't get me wrong. And I love ceremonies in general. I used to always text my husband because it was made me think of him and the vows that we made and whatnot. But now what I really, really, really love the most, and I think this is really probably from going through Covid and whatnot, it is just that moment when everyone's in the reception hall or whatever, and they're getting announced in, and everyone's so excited to see the couple, and the couple is just beaming and happy. One.

Dana [: 00:32:26

It's like you're on the downhill, so all the hard part of the day is pretty much over. Like, you've gone through all the super stressful things, but it is just this feeling of, there will never be a moment in time when all these people are in the same room again, ever. Right. It's historic. There's never a moment in time when all that same people and the same people will be together. And there's something really beautiful and amazing about that. And I always loved to take a step back and be like, this is a historic moment right here, every time.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:32:58

Yeah. I have lately a few of my, like, maid of honors, because I feel like they're more, you know, they're smarter about their speeches than the best man. A few maid of honors have recently said, kind of what you just said, that this will never happen again. You know, like, you know, and it made me, like, really start thinking about, yeah, you're right. Even if you tried to recreate it, how, what's the likelihood of getting every single person that is in this room together again down the road, you know? Slim to none, you know, because things happen, so that. Yeah, that's a great. I like that. That's really cool.

Dana [: 00:33:33

So it's just neat being a part.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:33:35

And I'm a little nerdy and techies. Oh, go ahead.

Dana [: 00:33:38

I was saying, and it's just neat being a part of that, like, you know.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:33:43

Oh, yeah, yeah. It's very special. I always say it's very special that we get to be part of weddings every. Every weekend, because, you know, people, it's that one moment in time. Like you said, it's really special, so. All right. App. I'm a very techie person.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:33:58

I love apps. What is your favorite app or something that's helping you, maybe even with having effective office days?

Dana [: 00:34:07

I feel like this is such a.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:34:08

Is it your pad and paper? Not an app.

Dana [: 00:34:13

Oh, God.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:34:13

It could be even anything. It could be personal. Doesn't have to be business.

Dana [: 00:34:19

So the most practical is probably my calendar, obviously, that it's like I live or die by it, but I really, really, really love notes. Notes I use probably five times a day, which is super helpful. But I would probably. The app that I would die without, literally. Cause I can normally keep my calendar in my head pretty well. Um, it's probably voice memos. I know that sounds weird, but I. I am, like, such a.

Dana [: 00:34:48

Yeah, I'm such a thinker, and. And I'm a quiet person. Um, so when I'm driving, I can drive and realize, oh, I'm not listening to anything. There's nothing on. I'm just, like, in my. In my head, like a constant narrative in my head. And so I have all these great ideas, but I can't ever, like, hold on to them. They're, like.

Dana [: 00:35:05

They, like, slip away. And so I probably have hundreds of voice memos, and I go through and clean it out every few months. Months where I just say what I was thinking, and sometimes I'll go back and I was like, I still can't figure out what were you saying there? Like, what were you trying to connect the dots for? But a lot of times, it's super helpful for me to be like, oh, yeah, that was a great idea. We should do that. And then I put it on my ideas, doc, or whatever the case may be, because I'm just driving all the time, so I don't have the ability to just stop and type it out or whatever. I'd say voice memos probably is my biggest app.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:35:40

No, that's a good idea. No. And I think that's for a very good reason. That's amazing. All right, so, Dana, how do people connect with you?

Dana [: 00:35:50

Yeah, well, we are all over the gram. Our education side is hustle and gather. And so you can find us at hustleandgather and hustlingather.com. and that'll really link you to everything else. It'll link you to c and D events, the Bradford and anthem House, which is our other businesses that we have.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:36:06

All right, perfect. I think everyone lives in the gram world, as you say, so that's. That's where everyone says to send. Send themselves to.

Dana [: 00:36:15

So that's right.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:36:15

All right, Dana, I can't thank you enough. I feel like I'm going to work really hard at having effective office days, and I think that needs to be everyone's goal because you gave me a lot of good tips and tricks that I'm going to implement as we move forward. So hopefully, I'm a little bit more effective, because like I said yesterday, I felt like I had a very. I just had no energy. I didn't want to. I kept grabbing my phone, trying to play a game, and I'm like, what the hell am I doing? I need to get work done, you know? Anyway, it just. It was one of those days. So.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:36:43

Anyway, totally understand. It was very appropriate that we were recording this. Yeah, totally appropriate that we recorded this today. So I can't. Thank you for your time. I appreciate it and look forward. I believe I'm going to see you in Dallas. Are you going to be in Dallas for the nice experience conference? I am seeing you in the heat and the humidity, yes.

Dana [: 00:37:03

Well, thank you so much for having me there.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:37:06

To our listeners, thank you for tuning in to another episode of mind your wedding business podcast, brought to you by Weddingiq. I hope you've enjoyed listening to this episode. Please get in touch with me if you have a topic you would like for me to cover, or if you are in the area of your business you would like you're struggling with, let us know. We'll be happy to help. I encourage you to check out our other episodes on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to. Podcasts podcast. And if you're a fan, we'd love to hear from you and we'd love for you to subscribe to our podcast and leave a review. It helps others find our podcast so they can learn from our guests, too.

Kevin Dennis [: 00:37:41

Thanks again for listening.