Mastering Your Workday as a Wedding Pro with Tara Melvin

Kevin Dennis (: 00:39

All right, welcome to another episode of Mind Your Wedding Business. I'm with the one and only Tara Melvin. So Tara, welcome.

Tara Mevin (: 00:45

Hi Kevin, thanks for having me.

Kevin Dennis (: 00:47

Hi.

No, thank you for being here. I'm really excited because today she's going to be talking about Mastering Your Workday, which I think all of us in the wedding association struggle with. And if you see everything that Tara accomplishes and all the businesses

under her umbrella. And so I'm excited to learn how to master our work day because I struggle with this. I think so many of us in the wedding industry do, but before we jump into our topic, Tara, tell us a little bit about yourself.

Tara Mevin (: 01:12

Of course, of course. Well, again, thank you, Kevin, for having me on here. About me, oh my goodness. As you alluded to, I am a jack of all trades. But I am a master at all. They usually say a jack of all trades and a master of none. I am a master at all. People always say, well, what is your superpower? For me, it's about...

Kevin Dennis (: 01:26

I love that.

Tara Mevin (: 01:39

having the ability to have ⁓ strategic empathy. ⁓ I know how to read the room. I know how to understand people that, you know, don't have a voice for themselves. And I involve myself into their visions and their goals to make sure that action takes place. And you probably say, well, how do you do that?

Kevin Dennis (: 01:44

Hmm.

Tara Mevin (: 02:09

I do that through a variety of avenues, one through the National Society of Black, White, and Indian Bit Professionals that I founded going on now five years, and then also through the Signature CEO Conference. I like to put people in spaces in front of people, in rooms, or giving them the access to the things that they need. And it's all about bridging the gap and creating execution and also having that perfect alignment so that everyone that's involved

can reap the benefits from each other, if that makes sense. And so that's my superpower, but how did I get started? Over 27 years ago, and I will even say before then, I always said I was always the little party planner, even as a child. My parents would come home in the afternoon, they're like, why are all these kids here? Why are they eating the food?

Kevin Dennis (: 02:44

Hmm. Yeah.

You

Tara Mevin (: 03:08

that we purchase for you and your sister to eat. We do not feed the whole neighborhood. So, you know, I have people out in the garage, pull up a chair, let me bring out the Kool-Aid. If you're my age, you're a Kool-Aid. Let me bring out the Kool-Aid, the cookies, the chips. Let's have our own little party. You know, I will have it all fixed up. Fast forwarding when I graduated from college, my cousin and I, we were getting ready to graduate.

Kevin Dennis (: 03:14

You

You

Yep, I know Kool-Aid.

Tara Mevin (: 03:37

And I said, hey, let's have a party. He was like, well, who's going to plan all that? I was like, you let me worry about that. You invite the fellows, I'll invite the females. He was in a fraternity. I wasn't, but I knew a lot of people. And so his parents, they're now deceased, were very popular at our college because they also graduated from there too. And they were also well known in the city of Greensboro, North Carolina. And they owned a restaurant.

Kevin Dennis (: 03:47

Yeah.

Mm.

Mm.

Tara Mevin (: 04:07

And so I went to his father. I had my plan all mapped out. You're going to cater this, this graduation party, and this is what's going to happen. And so he did. And I lived in an apartment. My cousin lived at home with his parents because it was in the same city. So I went to my apartment complex and talked to the people there and say, Hey, I need to wipe out the entire parking lot where my building is. Went to all of the neighbors.

Kevin Dennis (: 04:17

I love it.

Tara Mevin (: 04:36

gave them the letters, don't call the cops. The party would be from this time to this time. If you would like to come and grab a bite, you're more than welcome, but I need you to move your car. And so that all happened. We had a successful party. Over a hundred and some people attended. So I claimed that as my first event. Then fast forwarding as I'm somewhat of an adult, you know, just having parties.

Kevin Dennis (: 04:40

Yeah. ⁓

You

Tara Mevin (: 05:05

at my home, then one particularly here. One of my friends is like, you know, you should really think about this because a friend of theirs asked like, Hey, will you plan a party for me? And I just jokingly said, yes, I'm going to charge you because you came to my party uninvited. And so that's when my friend said to me, you should really think about this. And so I did.

Kevin Dennis (: 05:22

Ha ha!

You

Tara Mevin (: 05:29

because I was on vacation for my job. was the holiday season. And so I got on the computer to figure out how to start a business. And out blossom at that time, my business was called Perfect Planning Events. A year ago, I ⁓ pivoted and rebranded myself. And now I'm under my LLC name, which is Signature Concepts. And so I've been going ever since with events in my

Kevin Dennis (: 05:38

I love it.

Tara Mevin (: 05:58

first client was a young lady that I worked with on my full-time job. She caked me. She's like, ⁓ you want to start this event planning business? My husband is retiring from the postal service. Do you mind doing his retirement party? Because I don't want to do it. So was like, okay. So that was my very first client and my very first official event that I got paid for.

Kevin Dennis (: 06:23

Love it. Love it. Love it. Well, we're here to talk about mastering your workday. And I'm really excited to get into this because like Tara said, she does so much different things out there. So we're going to really jump in and really figure it out. But how does one get started in trying to figure out their workday? I feel like we got to start from the beginning.

Tara Mevin (: 06:45

⁓ yes, yes, yes. Well, the first thing is just figure it out. What it is that you do. What is that you all that you have to accomplish. It's almost like, and it's one of these things that I, it's like a nail in my coffin and I still don't like it till this day. It's budgeting your bank account, your finances. Anytime you go to a finance person, what do they say? ⁓ layout

Kevin Dennis (: 07:09

Mm-hmm.

Tara Mevin (: 07:13

All of your bills, you need to know exactly what you're paying for this set up. It's the same thing with your business. You need to outline everything that it is that you need to do and categorize it. Maybe, you know, this is A, B, and C. A is top priority, B is mid-tier, and C is like your low level. Once you figure out what you have to do in your daily routine,

Kevin Dennis (: 07:23

Hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Tara Mevin (: 07:41

then that's when you start dissecting and start prioritizing your life, personally and professionally, and then just prioritizing what it is that you do each week. I actually, I do block ⁓ calendar planning, which helps me out a lot. And basically for me,

Kevin Dennis (: 08:00

Okay, I was gonna ask about that. Yeah, okay.

Tara Mevin (: 08:09

Each day as far as like what it is that I'm going to do so like today all I do is concentrate on my event planning business That's it. You can send me email about signature CEO. You can send me email about NSBWP I'm not answering it because that's not what I'm focused on for today When I am channeled in like that I get so much accomplished

Kevin Dennis (: 08:17

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Love it.

Tara Mevin (: 08:35

rather than jumping from here, I'm jumping in this email, I'm jumping into this folder, I'm jumping into this, I align myself to what it is that I have to do. So out of the five days out of the week, I schedule what it is I'm gonna do. So Mondays and Wednesdays is my business day. Tuesdays and Thursdays, I'm sorry, Mondays and Fridays are my business day. Tuesdays and Thursdays are.

Kevin Dennis (: 08:56

Mm-hmm.

Tara Mevin (: 09:04

the days that I focus on my association. And then on Wednesdays is the day that I focus on the conference. And so I'll outline everything that that is that I need to do. Once I do my calendar blocking, people are like, well, what about all the tasks? I use a software system. Some people may say it's ancient, but I love it. It's friendly, it's easy to use. And then also I can use it with my corporate clients.

Kevin Dennis (: 09:11

wow, okay.

Tara Mevin (: 09:34

I use Microsoft Planner and basically I put all of my tasks in there and they automatically populate on my computer saying, you have this to do today. Or if you go into Planner and you click on today, you click on today, it tells you all of your tasks that you've assigned yourself for today. Now mind you, I still write some things down as far as like quick things.

Kevin Dennis (: 09:36

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Tara Mevin (: 10:00

But that's how I align myself is through my calendar blocking and then using Planner, Microsoft Planner to align myself with all of my tasks.

Kevin Dennis (: 10:13

Well, okay, and I know you speak and you play in the conference and different things. So how do you accommodate for when you're going to go to an industry event or something else? How do you block all that and how do you make up for that time that maybe you missed?

Tara Mevin (: 10:28

So yeah, so that's basically ketchup. That's basically ketchup. But I will say that because I do channel myself and focus on those certain days is that I get so much accomplished that if I do, if I'm out for the conference or if I'm out speaking somewhere, it's not very much that I have to catch up on. Because I, again, I prioritize myself if I know that I'm going to be out the next week.

Kevin Dennis (: 10:31

Okay.

Mmm.

Tara Mevin (: 10:58

and I'm going to miss out on days, let's say, ⁓ when I come to the Nates Experience Conference, which is, I'm speaking on a Monday. So that is my event planning company day to do all those tasks. What I will do is that my event planning days are Mondays and Fridays for my business. On that Friday, before I speak, I prioritize what is important.

Kevin Dennis (: 11:06

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Tara Mevin (: 11:27

for the next week and make sure that I get those things done.

Kevin Dennis (: 11:31

Okay, I love it. So you're able to juggle and go through all that kind of stuff. So why do you think all of us in the wedding and the event world struggle with managing our time?

Tara Mevin (: 11:44

Because we're creatives. We're not, we're not people that love to be behind the scenes. And I don't know why I'm so organized. I've always been organized. I can't be in chaos. That I think that is the one skill set that we need to have in order to run and maintain our businesses or else we are just going to be running on the hamster wheel and going crazy. And maybe we can't.

Kevin Dennis (: 11:45

Yes. ⁓

Tara Mevin (: 12:15

focus and prioritize our full work life or our full personal life. Bring in those things that you can control and then those other things, outsource them to somebody else. So outsourcing is key too to help you to prioritize your business, to stay in alignment and so that you're not all over the place. And so that outsourcing may be even from the smallest things in your house.

Kevin Dennis (: 12:29

Okay.

Tara Mevin (: 12:46

It has been, and people will probably say, oh, some people, just five years ago, you hired a housekeeper? Yes. I'm a single person. I always thought, why do I need a housekeeper? I am just one freaking person, right? But as you get busy as an entrepreneur, you'll be like, okay, I'll get that later. I'll get that later. So the next thing you know, you're looking at your house, you'll be like, oh my God, like what have I got myself into?

Kevin Dennis (: 13:00

Yeah.

It's trashed, yeah.

Tara Mevin (: 13:16

And so outsourcing that, that helped me out. Outsourcing somebody cutting my lawn, outsourcing somebody doing my social media. Those things that you absolutely do not like to do, outsource it. Whether it's personal or business, these are the things that are going to help you to be productive.

Kevin Dennis (: 13:38

Yeah, and think that's where a lot of us wedding professionals struggle is what to outsource because like as you were saying, someone to cut, I fought my wife forever in, I was like, I'm going to do the lawn, I'm going to do that. And that was like my, on Monday, usually I would take my day off and that was what I would do on Monday. I would cut the lawn. But then I found that when I let someone else do it, wasn't really that expensive to have someone come in and do it. But then now I have more free time to go do

things that I want to do and relax, you know, like, and now I'm doing things that I want to do, not these things that I have to do. So I agree with you on the outsourcing.

Tara Mevin (: 14:13

Look, and they're

cutting your lawn in 30 minutes when it would take you all day.

Kevin Dennis (: 14:17

Oh yeah, no, it would take

me a couple hours and they come no you 30 minutes. They're in and out of my house in 15 minutes. Yeah, two guys and they come They come through there like and they trim and they do it, you know everything and yeah. Yep. Oh Yeah, they blow it. Yeah, and they're out I was just I'm always shocked by how fast they're in and out of our house and how long it used to take me and all that Yeah, but anyway, so that I think is really important advice that you know to go through so

Tara Mevin (: 14:23

They're in and

They don't trim their hedges, lined everything up. You be there.

Kevin Dennis (: 14:47

So if someone's struggling to get started, what would be the advice? How would we start managing the time? Do we do it in baby steps? Do we just go in cold turkey? What do you think would be the best way for someone that's been struggling?

Tara Mevin (: 15:07

I always say take baby steps. Again, it's all about, you have to know exactly what it is that you're doing and you just can't have it up here in your head. It's not until you see it down on paper that you're like, my goodness, I do this much stuff. And actually when you put it down on paper, then you realize, I'm way too much. And then you're like, mm-hmm, something has to happen. Something has to happen here. Because if you constantly keep it in your head, all you're gonna think is like,

Kevin Dennis (: 15:08

Okay.

Hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Tara Mevin (: 15:37

handle this. This is not too much and guess what? You're still running in the same little hamster wheel. So I would advise putting it down on paper. Start there and it will gradually build. Don't think that you have to sit down and list every single thing. ⁓ Just start listing what those things are and then once you feel like you have kind of gotten like that full list

then start categorizing as far as like what buckets you need to put them in. And then I would always list those things that you absolutely just cringes your teeth to do that you don't want to do. Those may be those things that you may need to outsource.

Kevin Dennis (: 16:09

Okay.

Yeah. And then what about, do you use a virtual assistant or do you recommend a virtual assistant for someone that's struggling with time?

Tara Mevin (: 16:30

I do. I don't use a virtual assistant. Like I said, I have a social media person that was one of the things that, Lord have mercy, just like, mm, it was just like somebody just sticking something in the side of my neck. So it was just like, okay, that needs to go away. A bookkeeper, look, I used to try and do it all myself, because I'm like, okay, I got QuickBooks. How hard could this be? QuickBooks says that you can manage your own finances on your own. No. ⁓

Kevin Dennis (: 16:32

Okay. Okay.

Yeah.

Hahaha!

Uh-huh.

You

Tara Mevin (: 16:59

So now I have a bookkeeper who is like phenomenal. So she keeps up with everything. You know, it's basically like, I'm not trying to divvy up receipts, figuring out what it is. All I have to do is I purchase something with my receipts, scan it with my phone. Sometimes I'll write a little note on the receipt so that she can kind of see like what this is. And I keep it moving. She does everything for me.

Kevin Dennis (: 17:04

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. No.

Yeah, and think about the time you get because one, you're not an accountant. You probably study that in college, and this person does. And again, back to the landscaper. They come in 15 minutes in and out where it used to take me three, four hours to get all of the yard work done. It's probably the same with the bookkeeper. So that's probably how you can gain some time in your workday by doing these outsourcing. Yeah.

Tara Mevin (: 17:44

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (: 17:52

Alright, like tips and tricks with tools like you were you mentioned your Microsoft one that you use. Is there other kind of software that you might recommend for folks out there?

Tara Mevin (: 18:05

Ooh, I said one, QuickBooks. I love QuickBooks. For the invoicings, you can send estimates to people. Whenever you send estimates, if they like it, all they have to do is click it, turn it into an invoice, and pay immediately. ⁓

Kevin Dennis (: 18:21

Mm-hmm.

Tara Mevin (: 18:23

I use Calendly, ⁓ my gosh, that is a lifesaver. So another thing about staying focused, when people wanna schedule something with me, now we'll say there will be some one-offs. Vendor meetings or just clients saying, I wanna meet with you, I wanna meet with you. Okay, this is what you need to do. Click on that link to schedule your time. I no longer.

Kevin Dennis (: 18:25

⁓ it is.

Tara Mevin (: 18:47

do, ⁓ go back and forth, ⁓ I'm available on this day, I'm available on that day, because what happens, I mess myself up. With Calendly, I have my calendar blocked off certain times specifically so that I can get work done during the day. If I automatically schedule somebody,

at a certain time in this outside of those parameters, I know when I've screwed up because then the rest of my day is messed up. So I just keep it, hey, you need to go to my calendar and people will come back, ⁓ you're not available. No, you need to go back to the calendar, find a time that suits you and we go from there. So I love calendly.

Kevin Dennis (: 19:18

Ha ha ha ha ha!

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

And I think that's a good, like, rule of thumb. You know, like, I think you have to have some kind of boundaries with your clients, you know, out there in the wedding industry. And I think that helps you having like, like I use Acuity, Calendly, there's so many of those out there. Even Zoom now has a scheduling link. just scheduled on someone's. Yeah, I just literally used it this morning to schedule time on someone's calendar. So there's lots of tools out there to do it. But

Tara Mevin (: 19:53

Stop it.

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (: 20:01

It's again you were terrible. You were saying that back and forth that that that back and forth time is invaluable to get back all that It's almost like you're taking control Of it out there. So yeah ⁓

Tara Mevin (: 20:12

Mm-hmm and it's

taking you off focus as well because now you gotta wait Let me stop what I'm doing. Let me go through my calendar figure out a time and you're going back and forth. No

Kevin Dennis (: 20:26

Yeah. so now folks with staff, you know, because that's, I think, sometimes where they get interrupted by people walking into their office and struggling with that kind of stuff. Any, I know you don't have staff, but just thinking about, is there anything you would recommend to folks that have staff? Like, someone recommended to me, I heard at a conference and it made me laugh, is ⁓ they call it Tiger Time. They put a sign up on their door and they call it Tiger Time. And that means you...

No one, I'm busy working on a project, leave me alone and I'll be available in an hour or so or whatever. But any advice you have for folks with staff?

Tara Mevin (: 21:02

Definitely

set boundaries and stick with your boundaries. I will say, my gosh, this is many, many moons ago. I used to have this job and I was an assistant manager in management in those days that they had me coming early. People knew I was not a morning person. Don't talk to me until after 10 o'clock.

Kevin Dennis (: 21:07

Okay.

You

Yeah.

Tara Mevin (: 21:29

Let me get in here. Let me do all the management stuff first, then talk to me after the clock.

So it's all about setting people, know, no one had a problem with it. People knew Tara's not ready when she walks through the door at six o'clock in the morning. She's not ready. No. And that's the same thing because, you know, if you are constantly interrupted again, you're not getting anything done. And maybe, you know, you establish a code word with your team, like,

Kevin Dennis (: 21:47

Yeah. No.

Tara Mevin (: 22:03

I don't know, I'm trying to think of something. Poodle. It's Poodle. When somebody says Poodle, okay, that means I need an hour timeout.

Kevin Dennis (: 22:07

Yeah. ⁓

Tara Mevin (: 22:14

or leave me alone, those types of things. And having those code words or whatever, not only just to give yourself time to do things, but what about if it's a stressful day and you're just running and going and going and going, and somebody just comes at you about something, not knowing that you've had a very high-intensity day, the entire team needs to know what the code word is, poodle.

Kevin Dennis (: 22:14

Yeah.

Mm.

Tara Mevin (: 22:43

Poodle 30, Poodle 60. Poodle 30 means give me 30 minutes. Poodle 60 means I just need an hour of quiet time. And that should be set for the entire team as far as like what that is, not just for management.

Kevin Dennis (: 22:45

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Now do you,

I agree, I agree. Now do you schedule in your day me time? You know, like going for a walk or going out to the gym or lunch or how do you go through schedule a little bit of tarot time?

Tara Mevin (: 23:14

I do, and I will say I have started that COVID got me doing that. Before COVID, I used to go, go, go, go, go, go. Then when COVID.

Kevin Dennis (: 23:19

⁓ okay.

Tara Mevin (: 23:28

came abruptly disrupting our lives. It somewhat was a blessing because it made me realize how much work I was doing, how much time I was spending day in and day out that I woke up. was like, my gosh, this is what sleep feels like. my gosh, this is what time feels like. my gosh, this is what my house actually looks like. I didn't even realize I had that sitting over there. So now sometimes it may be I never used to take naps during the day. I just thought that was

Kevin Dennis (: 23:43

Hehehehehe

the

Tara Mevin (: 23:57

was

just like, so football, you're gonna take a nap during the work day? I'll take me a quick little 30 minute nap during the day. ⁓

Kevin Dennis (: 24:01

Yeah.

Tara Mevin (: 24:07

A day, sometimes I'll get the dog, we'll walk to the end of the street and come back. A day like today, no, because it's 102 degrees outside. So we're staying in. ⁓ But yeah, doing those types of things. ⁓ Another thing as far as like me time before COVID, if I did not have an event on a weekend, I was still working. Now, I do not work.

Kevin Dennis (: 24:15

yeah, nope, nope.

Hmm.

⁓ good for you.

Tara Mevin (: 24:35

If I do not

have an event on the weekend, I do not work.

Kevin Dennis (: 24:40

That's probably some advice that I think all of us need to take in the wedding industry because yeah. Yeah.

Tara Mevin (: 24:42

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And I just, either I do

nothing or ⁓ I'm big movie person. I'm curled up on the sofa with a cocktail. I'm watching a movie or I'm out hanging with friends. That gives time back to me.

Kevin Dennis (: 25:03

I love it. love it. All right. So advice, I guess, for the fellow just to get started, you know, like for the people that are holding on to their work schedule and feel like they can't do it. What's advice you got for them?

Tara Mevin (: 25:20

Whoo, well again, just get started. You never know what happens if you don't start. See, gotta put one foot in front of the other and just get started.

Kevin Dennis (: 25:28

Yeah.

Tara Mevin (: 25:34

definitely say ⁓ one of the things that I do is like how to create a positive day for yourself. Either have some type of hype music or some type of words of inspiration that you want to say to yourself, affirmations. ⁓ I will say that in the African American community, ⁓

Kevin Dennis (: 25:41

⁓

Tara Mevin (: 26:01

Most people that are religious, they have a closet.

And literally it is just your closet. You have a little chair that you sit in. It can be a stool. And you go in there and you pray. That could be the same thing if you're not inter-religion. Setting up that closet. And that's just like your space, your time. Especially people that have kids or a significant other. When you wake up in the morning, you just go in that closet. You shut the door. Talk to yourself. Do whatever to just center yourself.

Kevin Dennis (: 26:16

Hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Tara Mevin (: 26:37

to get yourself ready for the day. Definitely do something like that. ⁓ Put those tools in place that's gonna help you to free up that time. We've talked about, know, Calendly, QAD, QuickBooks, ⁓ delegating resources, I'm sorry, ⁓ outsourcing, doing those types of things. Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (: 26:50

Okay.

Tara Mevin (: 27:04

Because at the end of the day, you want to have a life that you're able to enjoy. And then also you want to be able to have a sustainable business. And the key thing is that health. You want to have longevity living to be able to enjoy life because work can stress you out, put you in prison.

Kevin Dennis (: 27:31

No.

Tara Mevin (: 27:33

positions of making you rest when you don't need to rest and you don't want that to happen. Especially with men, people of color, you know, there are all types of health risks out there and if we're stressed out about running a business, then all we're doing is doing damage to ourselves.

Kevin Dennis (: 27:53

Something I was at a conference. don't even remember which one it was, but it was very impactful that the speaker said, and it was kind of talking about like time management, different things, she said she was like, are you running your business or is your business running you? And then she went in and really had people really think about the things and like you're saying, like outsourcing. You know, like if you didn't outsource all your stuff, Terry, you would be, your business would be running you.

Tara Mevin (: 28:09

Mm-mm.

Kevin Dennis (: 28:23

you know, instead of you running your business kind of thing. So that was probably the most impactful thing I think I've heard at a conference once. It just made me sit and think and it's like, yeah, my business is running me right now and how do I fix that and how do I change that?

Tara Mevin (: 28:26

Mm-hmm.

And it's all about just setting yourself up for success. you know, sometimes we've to cut off social media, cut out the noise, those things that are distracting us and just get focused.

Kevin Dennis (: 28:50

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I agree. I agree with that. All right. So can you tell us a little bit about ⁓ your conference before we jump off? I'd love to hear about it. Let everyone know.

Tara Mevin (: 29:05

Awesome.

Yes. So I am the founder of the Signature CEO Conference. I produce it every year for creative entrepreneurs who are looking to level up their business acumen and their leadership skills. ⁓ It is a conference that is set for people that are mature in business. Even a novice person can come and learn so much at this conference. We don't talk about events. We don't talk about weddings.

We talk about how to be successful business owners. And matter of fact, people that come to speak that are from our industry, they have a little bit of hard time keeping the words weddings and events out of their presentations because they're just so used to it. But it's a small boutique style conference, meaning that we take no more than 75 attendees.

Kevin Dennis (: 29:40

Hmm.

You

wow.

That's okay. I was gonna ask what your dog's name is.

you

Tara Mevin (: 30:30

So yes, keep

it, the conference is a boutique style conference where we keep it very intimate. And the reason why it is intimate is so that, you know, people can be free to be vulnerable so that you can freely express yourselves and also have that opportunity to have intentional networking where you can meet every single person in the room and develop some type of relationship with them. And these relationships, do, they carry on from the speaker.

Kevin Dennis (: 30:46

I like that.

Hmm.

Tara Mevin (: 31:00

to the attendees and crossing over the interconnection. It's just been a powerful, we just celebrated 10 years this past March. And so the 2026 conference is gonna be March 17th through the 19th in the Washington DC metro area. And you can go to the website to learn all about it at thesignatureceo.com.

Kevin Dennis (: 31:09

Wow.

I love it. love it. All right. And then I'd be remiss if you mentioned movies, your big movie. What are some of your movies that you could recommend to us right now or some that you recently watched?

Tara Mevin (: 31:35

Goodness. my goodness. See I also have bad memory, but let me go to my phone. So as far as like TV drama series the Godfather of Harlem love that ⁓ The pit which was one that's another drama series with With Noah Wiley, he is so handsome

Kevin Dennis (: 31:49

Okay.

⁓ everyone's been talking about that, yeah.

Yeah. ⁓

Tara Mevin (: 32:01

And let's see, what else have I seen? It is, it's but better. Yes, most definitely much, much better. The bear, love that.

Kevin Dennis (: 32:05

Someone said that's a modern day ER is what they were saying, but better. Yeah. Yeah.

Oh,

I love the bear. so excited that it's I think it just started. I haven't even but my wife and I I'll get through that. is that it's so intense and so but but so like coming from the hospitality world. It's just like I feel like you learn a little something from it as well as from watching it. It's that is a very well. That's a good one. I recommend that one too.

Tara Mevin (: 32:37

And then Nine Perfect Strangers is really strange this season, ⁓ Nine Perfect Strangers is really, really good. That's just some of a few, but I can rattle off. watch TV all the time.

Kevin Dennis (: 32:39

Okay. Okay.

All right. I love it. I love it. All

right. All right. So Tara, how do we connect with you or how will someone find you?

Tara Mevin (: 32:55

⁓ just follow me on social media at Signature Concepts Or you can go to my website at signatureconceptsllc.com.

Kevin Dennis (: 33:07

All right, perfect. And we'll have all the way to connect with Tara in our show notes. So Tara, we can't thank you enough for being here today. Hopefully, folks are going to think about their work day. I mean, you made me think about how I'm managing my work day and things that I could be doing better. I think that's just something that all of us in the wedding industry, we all struggle with. And especially, is just the me time. I think that's the one thing that we all struggle with in our industry the most. So I appreciate you being here.

Tara Mevin (: 33:27

Mm-hmm.

Yes.

And,

I was gonna say, and one quick thing, we always think that we have to do it all ourselves. That's our problem. And we don't.

Kevin Dennis (: 33:42

Mm-hmm. That is really our problem. No, I really I

I agree and some of the most successful people I know Have like you said outsourced it out have the a's hired some staff or do you know, whatever, you know really again, they're running their business the business is not running them and that I I would love to remember who I whose class I was in that said that but it was really one of the more impactful things I heard at a conference. So

Tara Mevin (: 34:03

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (: 34:12

Anyway, again, Tara, thank you so much. We'll have all your information in the show notes. And folks, thank you for tuning in. We'll see you next time. Bye.

Tara Mevin (: 34:19

Awesome, thank you.