Wedding Pro CEO | Building Profitable Wedding Businesses
Dive deep into the wedding industry and learn actionable tips from host Brandee Gaar and guest wedding pro CEOs that will enable you take your wedding business to new heights!
Uncover the proven strategies, insights, and stories of successful wedding professionals who have built thriving businesses in this dynamic and competitive market.
Each week, Brandee Gaar, a seasoned wedding industry expert and CEO of Blush by Brandee Gaar, brings you exclusive interviews with top wedding industry pros!
This weekly podcast is for wedding pros. Here from planners, venue owners, photographers, florists, caterers, djs, and more!!
You will gain valuable knowledge and practical tips on sales, marketing, branding, client management, and the latest trends shaping the wedding industry and the business leaders that create incredible events for a living.
Whether you're a seasoned pro or just starting out, this podcast is your go-to resource for actionable advice and inspiration.
Get ready to elevate your business skills, learn from industry leaders, and discover innovative ideas that will set you apart in the wedding industry.
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You will become motivated to transform your passion into profit, develop incredible processes and create unforgettable experiences for couples on their special day.
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Wedding Pro CEO | Building Profitable Wedding Businesses
313. The $20 Tasks That Were Blocking Her 7-Figure Breakthrough w/ Melissa Gaines
You didn’t start your business to stay stuck. If you're ready to finally hit 6 or 7 figures WITHOUT burning out — book a call with our team → https://weddingproceo.com/application
In this episode, I’m sharing Melissa Gaines’ inspiring story of how she went from booked out, exhausted, and stuck in $20 tasks to running three companies and crossing 7 figures in the wedding industry faster than she ever planned.
We dig into the surprising shifts she made behind the scenes—things most wedding pros never even think about—that unlocked more profit, more time, and more freedom for her family.
If you’re a planner, photographer, DJ, caterer, or any wedding pro who’s tired of working every weekend and wondering why it still feels so hard, hit play and come see what’s actually possible.
The (FREE!)ASSUME Sales Training: 2x your wedding bookings in 30 days—step by step. Thousands of wedding pros have already used it to land more clients immediately! http://weddingproceo.com/freetrainingorg
A favorite book of mine: Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
Another favorite book of mine: Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell
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EPISODE SHOW NOTES BLOG & MORE:
https://weddingproceo.com/7-figure-breakthrough/
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Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Wedding Pro CEO Podcast. If you find these strategies helpful, make sure to share this episode with your fellow wedding pros. And remember, in the world of weddings, it's all about building genuine relationships and showcasing your best work. Until next time, keep shining, CEOs!
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Heads up, CEO! Some of the links I share may be affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you decide to purchase—at no extra cost to you. I only recommend tools and resources I actually use and love, and that I believe will help you grow a profitable, sustainable business you’re obsessed with.
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FREE TRAINING for Wedding Business Owners
They had a goal to cross a million dollars in revenue in three years, and they did it in less than a year. On today's show, I'm interviewing Melissa Gaines, one of our high level students inside of Wedding Pro, CEO, she is talking all about her journey from having a planning company to buying another business, creating a third business, and how they were able to cross that exciting seven figure mark so quickly. Melissa's gonna walk us through the ups, the downs, the big mistakes that she was making in the aha moments that we were able to uncover for her, so that her and her husband Craig could scale their businesses We're getting into all of it. Profitability, how to work with your spouse, and what it's like to finally see two commas on your P and L and what's next for Melissa and Craig, I cannot wait for you to listen to this episode. Melissa, I am so excited to have you on the show because you have reached a crazy milestone in your business. And I cannot wait for everybody to really get to kinda learn what you've done, how you've strategized with your husband and your business partner. But before we get into all of that, can you just tell everybody who you are and what you guys do? Absolutely. So first of all, it's such an honor to be here 'cause I've listened to it and you're my business coach, so it's. Kind of crazy. It's surreal to be on here. yeah. But, my name is Melissa Gaines and I, own a couple different businesses. Our first one is all in the details events. And I started that about 14 years ago. and my husband was the one who really said, I think you should start your own business. And I was like, what? no, no way. And he really pushed me to do it. And now here we are, 14 years later. I've got, a couple of employees, seven, you know, seven people that really help me out we went from the small weddings that I started to now really big private events, ranch weddings, upwards of 300, $500,000 for just a wedding. And I look back, I'm like, there's just how, like how did that happen? But it's been amazing to, to see that Well, and can And then we also. about just the fact that you have such a supportive partner, right? Because not everybody has that, and like kudos to Craig for pushing you to do something he knew you could do. exactly. And just like being able and to understand the long nights and doing like, and the weekends and like sometimes during that whole journey, we were two ships passing in the night. Like even now with the other ones, as we're building those other two up, it's sometimes feel like. We are two shows passes, even though we work in the same office. Like I can look over at him. it's just different. But, so yeah, so he really helped me to, to build that to what it is today. And then we also now have our bartenders, for you and bartenders to you. And the way that that came about is a couple years ago, the owner of Bartenders for You came up, came up to us and they're, this is like the biggest bartending company in San Antonio, she called me and she said, are you and your husband in this, business for the long haul? And I said, that's not what you wanna ask me. I said, what do you wanna ask me? And she said, well, my husband and I are thinking about retiring and there's only two people that I think that could handle this. And she said, I'm not talking to the other one. I'm, I'm talking to you. And I said, okay. I was like, yes. I didn't even talk to Craig. I said, yes, we're doing it. Okay. And then I came and I ran into his office where I am right now, and I said, we're buying a bartending company. He goes, what? He looked at me. He is like, what? And then we went out to dinner with them and they said, oh, we're thinking about in five years or something. And then we're like, oh, okay, well come to us like when you're ready. And two months later they said, oh, no, we're ready. So, then we, it was a year of negotiations and lawyers and all that kind of stuff. And then February 13th, 2024, we handed them a very big check. They handed us the keys to the kingdom, I guess, kind of. and so we purchased it and we said, okay, all right, this is what we're doing. And, Craig left his job to come and actually run this business. And so we have bartenders for you. And then January 1st, 2025, we started bartenders to you, which is the one that actually has the liquor license. So we can do cash bars, hosted bars, just different things like that where we can actually provide the alcohol.'cause the other bartenders for you, the client has to provide it. Craig said, I feel like we're, it's a missed opportunity. We're getting a lot of questions. If we can provide it, I think we need to do it. And at that time, it cost $25,000 And I was like, oh my gosh. I was like, can we just do this?'cause we just spent all this money and we said like, okay, you know what, if it makes 50,000, 60,000 in the first year, great. We've made our money back. We've, doubled it. And we hit that within like the first, I would say like. Two to three months, we hit that 50,000 do like, it was just, it was insane. And we're like, oh my gosh. Like, he's the one who. Was the driving force behind that. And so he, left his job. and he really runs that business. I do the sales for that business. And we have now, I think in OC September, we signed 47 clients in, October, I think it was like 42 or 43 clients. So we are rocket and rolling. So those are our two biggest, months yet for signing That is crazy. Okay, I have about a hundred questions, for everybody who doesn't really understand how the bar business works, because I remember one, I remember you guys buying this business, and two, I remember having very serious, lengthy conversations about whether to buy the liquor license or not. So I know that was such a huge step for you, but can you help people to understand, so when you bought bartenders for you, it was basically a dry bar service, right? Correct. Yes. So we would provide just the bartenders, the mixers, the ice, that kind of stuff. And the client. the alcohol. The The alcohol. Yes. And so in here in Texas, that's what a lot of, if you're having a wedding, that's what a lot of what you do.'cause we have a lot of standalone venues and they can do that. But we also have some venues where there are just like, we only want it to be a hosted bar. so we couldn't work at those if we didn't have this. And we're like, well that just seems silly. and then we were getting a lot of corporate clients that were asking, oh, we just wanna do a cash bar. Well, we couldn't do that, and so we'd have to turn them away. And so Craig was like, no, why are we turning this money away? So, okay, so I'm gonna back us all the way up so everybody knows. Now you own three businesses. One is a planning company, two are bartending companies, all in the San Antonio, Texas area. Right? Yes, Okay, so let's back us all the way up. So you joined Wedding Pro CEO while ago, right? 2020 Yeah, I think it was your second year.'cause I missed the first conference. I missed the first conference, so I, but I was there for the second and, And on on like it's always and yes, it is. I, I tell everybody this is the best birthday gift I give myself every year. I'm like, there's no, like, they just know. I'm gonna be gone for this amount of time because I'm learning and I'm just, I just love it so I love having you at Summit and it's so fun because it's always on your birthday, so we always get to do the crown and the sash and all the fun things. I do. I love like the birthday queen of the summit, but, okay, so you joined Wedding Pro CEO in 2022, and I really wanna talk really about your whole journey because I feel like. All of these puzzle pieces fit together, and often you don't see it till you're at this milestone moment that you've just had recently. And we can look back and be like, the only way that this was able to happen is because of some of the pieces that you put into place back then. so when you first came into Wedding Pro CEO, you just had the planning company, right? And like you said, You had a very successful business. I, I think the, the thing that was the core constraint for your business was one profitability, right? So you had high revenue, but also high, high expenses, and you also had three little girls. And so you were trying to figure out, okay, how could I possibly not do a wedding every single weekend because there's no way I can pay myself and not do as many weddings as I'm doing. Right. Can you walk us back to that time? I remember this as if it were yesterday. It was our first one-on-one, and you were like, you cannot sustain this. And I was like, what? Yeah. You were way And so, at the time. yeah. Yes, I was overpaying the team and I was, it was just kind of like, I mean, at that point I think they were making like 80% of the, of the, of the contract and I was only getting 20. And, and then, so then I was. doing a lot of weddings to go ahead and actually pay the bills and to pay myself. And I was like, what? I just, I remember when I had my first child, afterwards I was like, oh my gosh, what am I gonna do? And I think I took like six or seven weddings in a row. So I, I was like, what am I doing? and then you came, and I'd love, I'd love to reference this as like my come to Jesus moment when you talked to me. You were like, you can't do this. And then afterwards, after our. Conversation of like, you need to restructure and we need to really take a look and see where this is going. Because I was paying myself probably around like 80,000 and you were like, that's great, but you're killing yourself and that's not great. And which is true. And it wasn't, it wasn't wonderful. And so, it's not sustainable. Yes. Yeah. Especially with little kids and that whole work life balance that we're always, trying Yeah, and can I just interject really quick there, Melissa?'Cause I, I think what you went through is what so many people go through and really why a lot of them end up joining our program. But is. You from the outside, it looked so successful because you had a really good revenue and you guys were getting good clients. You had a great reputation. And then it, but it was always just like, but why isn't there enough money? And, and then you look at it and it's like, yeah, I'm making an $80,000 salary. That's great. But when we really broke it down, it's like the reason it feels so hard is because the only way for you to make an $80,000 salary and to pay all the bills is for you to do. Really the bulk of the weddings. And that was like, but how do I keep growing then if I have to do all these weddings? you know, it felt like I don't get how to go from here. And so that's when we started really digging in. Yes. And so you told me like, okay, we need to see what can we do? And then you were like, you need to put your people on a salary. And I was so scared to do that. And, and then I did it with my right hand person, Sarah, and she came on a salary. And I will never forget this. I think we started like in a, in like a January, like a Q1, January 1st. And by February she's like, why didn't we do this before? And I was like, I don't know. I don't know. Because it's scary. Exactly. Like you said. It's like I can't be responsible for someone's salary. I'm like, you're paying her more than this anyway, and this guarantees her an amount of money every month. So it's like a Yes. And. That. Yeah, it was very much. And then she also took on different responsibilities for doing things. And so that was super helpful. and so then, yeah, I just restructured the way that things, worked. I actually now have somebody, too that does all the sales for me, for all the details she does, like anything that comes in, I just forward it to her. She takes care of it. She does all the sales calls, she signs it, everything. She gets a commission off of it. Which is great. So we've, I mean, she gets like flat fee she gets the 5% of whatever package she has sold. So, and you're the one who taught me to do that, And it got me out of my calendar. It was a lot. And she, she actually came from a resort. And that's what she did was she sold and so she knows. And so she's, she's got it down and she's like, killing it. And I was like, great. I think what's interesting about this, and we're gonna, you guys are probably gonna be like, wait a second. You just hyper speeded through that entire process and I know. of are going to, because what, what I just really want everybody to hear from what happened is. Melissa built this successful company from the outside, but inside it wasn't profitable. She wasn't able to stop doing weddings. When we got her inside the program, we were able to help her one see that two, create the plan to reorg her company to be able to have that profitability and for her to step away from weddings. So she didn't completely step away from weddings. It's, it's not like all of a sudden she had zero, but we were able to scale her way back in weddings, still pay her a salary, and then the next stage of that was when Melissa was like ok but I'm still so slammed. Now we have this bar company, they had just bought the bar company and I feel like my head's about to explode because all I do is I'm like on sales calls and I'm trying to do this, I'm trying to do this, and correct me if I'm wrong here, Melissa, 'cause I'm going from memory. But I remember that you started getting a little concerned because All in the Details sales started to slip. And I was like, why are you still doing sales calls for them? And you were like. What do you mean? I can't give up sales? And that was actually the exact thing that we needed to do because your focus was being taken somewhere else, right? Right. Yes. And I will say, like I still do weddings. I do the bigger ones. but I love it. I know there's some people in your program that are like, I don't wanna do 'em anymore.'cause I'm running the business, which is great. I. I don't know if I'll ever be that just because I love it so much. It's, I mean, I love being on site. I love when, especially when it's these big weddings, it's my whole team there. Like we just, we just gel in a way that we're like, oh my gosh, we just love it so much. but it's also not me running that entire wedding. It is. I have somebody that's helping with design. I have somebody that's doing like helping with logistics. So it's not just being one big team lead and it's all falling on me. There are different people, different pieces of the puzzle that you kind of help me be like, okay, well this person should do this and this person should do this, which has been really helpful. but yes, going back to it, this was starting to slip. Because my focus now, we had bought this business and my husband had quit his job. So this had to succeed. there was no safety net. It had to succeed. So I started spending more time over here and you were like, okay. And then this started to become really profitable. So you said, you had told me, you were like, well, why don't we take your salary down over here. Because you're making way more over here and then you can hire somebody, which is what we did. That's when Jessica came in, she started killing it, started doing stuff. So we started filling that all in so that my focus could really be in the bar business. And so that's been very Yeah, and I think that's, that's really what I want everyone to hear from this kind of beginning stage of your journey is, you came in, we reorged, we got you operations team, we got you out of so much of the day to day, which made it possible for you to even entertain this option of buying this huge bar business. So that was amazing. But what you then have to see is okay. we can afford to bring a salesperson in to All in the Details. One, so that we can keep the sales where they should be for All in the Details and even grow that, right? But we can afford that because now you can take a salary from both companies, right? And so it's really just about. Where should your attention go? And I also am really glad that you mentioned that you still love doing weddings because you're a hundred percent right. A lot of people hear me say all the time like, oh, you should get outta the day to day. You should get outta the day to day. And they think that that means they have to stop doing weddings. And I'm like, you can do as many weddings as you want to, but at the end of the day, you have to have it structured so that you're focused on growth of the business. And you're able to do that because of the way that we've structured your team so that you do these huge weddings, you've got so much support, but you can still really be there as that visionary for those big weddings, and that brings you joy. And so I would never tell you to stop doing those weddings because that is something that you're so passionate about and I love that. But you're not working 80, 90 hour weeks on design boards and confirming vendors to be able to do those weddings. Right. Not doing the timelines because somebody else is now doing the timelines and it's not gonna take me an hour to do it. And I will say before I got into your program, I did not have an org chart for my business. I didn't have an org chart. Like, and so, and, and when we started working on that. I did that for All in the Details. And then, we did the org chart for the bartending companies and we're like, okay, so this person actually is in charge of this and this person does this and this and that helped out tremendously.'cause before. I remember you saying like, it can't all just funnel to you and they can't all just come to you because then that's where you're gonna be bogged down. And that's where I was. And then when we had Sarah come in and she was like, okay, the team will report to me, or we would do like a one-on-one. She'd be like, Hey, this is what's going on. Great. Does anything need my attention? No. But still, at the same time, I'm still touching base with my team members and like, We're still a good, cohesive group, so yeah. But you think that's a little bit of a misnomer too, and I think you felt that way where it was like, well, if there's, if they're reporting to someone else, like, I, I don't wanna lose touch with my team. I don't want them to feel like I've abandoned them. And it, it's, it's really the opposite. It's more like you've given them another layer of support because you're so busy. Think about how hard you're like, you know, kind of smacking answers at them or you're trying to get back to them at midnight. Because you have so much going on, and instead now you've added this extra layer of support for them. right. Yes. And it's been, it was a game changer. It was just, it was just a game changer. So highly suggest that, I love that. So with you, so we added that middle layer of management, which we've been talking a lot about on the podcast recently, is, you know, once you reach this level of business, you're really adding in that middle layer of management, which feels so strange for a small business owner. It's like, wait, I'm supposed to have a middle person? Yes, you need a middle person because you can't be everything to everyone. So because we did that, you were able to entertain buying this business. You bought this bar business and take me back to that journey. So you purchased it and then Craig quit his job. So now you two are also learning to work together to some degree as well. Right? Yeah. I have this with my own spouse, so I, I know what this was like, but Yeah, and I, and I talked with Susan about this too. Um, Susan Sutherland. because I am, I wouldn't say like, I'm just like gregarious and bubbly and I, I wouldn't say flighty, but just like, I'm just, I'm an extrovert and I love to talk. That's why I feel like I'm good at sales. I'm like, I will talk to you. Yes, you need that upgraded package. Absolutely. Let's do it. My husband is very logical. He is the one who is like, he's the one that does all the finances, stuff like that with the businesses. I'm like, we have money in the bank. Great. Cool. and he's the one that kind of does all of that stuff. But he's doing the purchasing, the ordering, the stuff that I'm, that I'm just like, I would not be good at that. But he is great at that. And so we did have to learn how to, to function together, but also. Again, I've been in this business 14 years and we know there's ups and there's down, we have high seasons and low seasons, and he had to learn that of like, I'm like, Hey, the summer it's just dry. Like we just, and he's like, we don't have any events. And I'm like, yes, I know, but come October and November, it's going to be insane. And that's what has happened. And he, learned that like the very first year, he was like, oh my gosh. Like, it's, it's crazy. I was like, that's why I feel like in October, November, December, I'm like a chicken with my head cut off. I think this past weekend on Saturday for the bar, I think we had 12 events. All like, 27 bartenders out. It was, it was insane. It was crazy. so he's, we had to kind of learn how to work that way, but also at the same time too. You can't be in the office with your spouse, and he is right over there, at our office. But we're just talking. But then when we come home of having to be like, okay, do we still talk about stuff? Of course, that that's what we do, but, to really try to be like, okay, now this is just like our time of, of things. So that's, that's Yeah, it is interesting. My husband and I, literally, I can see him through the glass right here, like his door shut right now. But I can see him through the glass. But we're literally arms reach apart and some days, to your point, we can go the whole day and really. I don't wanna say never have talked to each other, but we really didn't have any kind of meaningful conversation until we walk out of the office and go into the living room. And it, it's so interesting to me because people think like, oh my gosh, you're together all day. I'm like, well, sort of, but also. we're working on different things, so a lot of times we're, we're really not talking, it's not like you're chitchatting all day long. Right? Yes. it can feel like you kind of described, it's like your ship's passing in the night sometimes, and it, it can, it's really an interesting learning curve to learn to work with your spouse, but. I love the way that you described how you and Craig are.'cause I see that so much. Like I've only gotten to interact with Craig a few times and he joins our, our strategy calls and I'm like, I love it because his mind just thinks so differently than yours, which is so complimentary to running a business together. it really is. It's very much, I feel like you need that, that balance because if not, I would just be like, yeah, let's do everything. And he's like, slow down. You know, we need to think about this and e everything. And then at the same time, I'm just like, Hey, I think we really should do this, and I think we just need to jump off the cliff and let's just do it. And then he's like, okay, I'll follow your lead, or I will follow his lead. And so we talk about that a lot. And especially, when we're dealing with money that is a whole other different, ball game with stuff. And, it has been. Somewhat sometimes of a challenge, but I think the biggest thing, and what Craig and I really are great at is communicating. We, I think you cannot work with your spouse if you are not good communicators. And you have to be able to say hard things. I think, I think that's something that I've learned really almost in the last couple of years is sometimes there are hard conversations that either one needs to have and you have to be able to think, I need to have. One time, maybe harder conversation for the greater good to be able to say, this is really difficult for me when this happens, or whatever. Right? Or we really need to have a conversation about this. you really can't brush things under the rug because you literally, 24 hours a day run your entire lives together. Yes. very much so. Very much so. And, one of the biggest things is, that I actually got from. the summit was I was in, Michelle Michelle's class, the woman in Wealth, Michelle Taylor, phenomenal. and I started listening to her podcast too, and she was like, you need to have that state of the union of everything. So we did that with the business of like, we are our goals. what do we want? cause when we purchased the business. It was making a certain amount of money. It was making, I would say the revenue was around 650,000. Which was, which was great. Craig said, I'd like to hit a million and we're gonna try to do it in three years. Fantastic. This is a great goal. Like, we're gonna do that. And then here we are now and we've already hit it. We already hit, I think we hit it That's so amazing and we're recording this early November and you still early. Yeah, early. seven weeks left in the year. Yeah. So, which is crazy. I mean, to hit that, But I think that, again, going back to that communicating and him just saying like, this is my goal. And I'm like, all right, let's try to get there. How are we gonna do this? And then we actually didn't even realize it till we were looking at our numbers for Q4 coming up. And we have like this graph and it was like right at the line and he's the one who brought it to my attention. And I was like, what? And so we looked and we're like, oh my gosh, I can't believe we're going, we're gonna do this, this early in the game. There was a lot of stuff that was implemented in order to do that. and I also wanna say by no means are we millionaires. We that is a, I, I am gonna back us up just a little bit 'cause I, I really want everyone to hear a lot of what you're saying. So the first thing that I think is so important is. You talked about at the Summit, Michelle Taylor, she owns Women and Wealth and we love talking about money and wealth building. So that's something that is so important to have at the summit is to have someone be teaching us about how to build wealth. And one of the things that she talked about that really resonated with you, and I want everyone to hear this, because whether you run your business with your spouse like Melissa and I do, or with a business partner, or honestly just yourself, there has to be state of the union, state of the business meetings times that you sit down and look at what are my goals? Like what am I trying to do here? And not even just with your business, but like personally, are you trying to build wealth for yourself? Are you trying to build into retirement? Are you trying to just pay yourself more? Like what is it that we're trying to do here? Because everybody's version of success is different. And with your spouse, if you are running your company with your spouse, I know so many people listen to this podcast because I do that. I really wanna sit on that for a second. It is critical to your business that you and your spouse be on the same page as to what your goals are. And I love that you and Craig started having these meetings. Ira and I meet every Friday at 11:00 AM and we go, we call it our finance meeting, and we're literally just looking at where are we with. Our finances, what needs to be paid? Can we pay off anything early? all of these different things we're just talking about, we're looking at our goals, where are we to our goals? Mm-hmm. that kinda stuff we're looking at together. And I feel like that empowers us so much to just be on the same page with where we're going. And you feel like, and obviously that was a huge help for you and Craig as well. It was. And sometimes they're not just sit down meetings. Sometimes we're just in the kitchen and we're just talking and we're just like, this is what I think that I'd like to do. cause I mean, with three kids it's hard to even Mine are much They are, we do sit, have sit down meetings and the girls know like mom and dad are having their finance meeting, but mine are teenagers. You still have littles and I remember that stage. Mine are, yes, five, eight, and nine. So it is, they, they don't understand that concept of mom and dad are in immediate. They're just like, they just know I want, I want Cheez-Its, and why can't you get that? Why can't you get that to me right. So it's survival and you're, but you're still having it is right. But we still have these touch bases. We still are talking about stuff and I think a big part of what us. As a family unit too, is not just the financial, but as a family, where are we? And one of the big things again that I learned was, you had us watch a YouTube video. it was the person that does the big Yep. I can't remember what his but I watched it. I sent it to Craig and I said. This, we need like this. we got on it and because to us, we're like, okay, now that we have this company, we can go ahead and take two or three weeks off in the summer. With the kids by ourselves, doing all this stuff. And that's what, this past two years, that's what we did in, this past year we went to Colorado for like two and a half weeks, three weeks, just just to get away. That was a big financial goal for us to be able to do that. I mean, we're still working, but to be able to afford like the, again, talking with that state of the Union, it's not just the financial part of it, but also like the personal part of it too. I think that's really important. I agree. And what Melissa's referring to is, the giant calendar. It has a curse word in it, is what it's called. But we will link it in the show notes and also link the episode that Melissa's talking about. this is something that Ira and I started doing with our girls a couple years ago, and it was, really spending that week after Christmas. Talking with our kids about like, what do we want to do this year? blocking time off the calendar, even if it's not necessarily that we know where we're going yet, or we might not even be taking a trip, but we want intentional time blocked on the calendar to say, when is mom traveling? when do we all wanna travel? Is there any big special things you wanna do this year? And what are the goals for our family? Like not just financial goals. Even the girls have goals. what are the things that you wanna accomplish this year? How can we help you to accomplish those things? Now again, my kids are older, so it's a little bit easier. It'd be hard with a five-year-old to be like, what's your goal this year? Right. But, She's like to be a mermaid. so true. But I think it's, it's just a really sweet time. and tell me if this is how you guys felt when you were able to take that vacation, Melissa? That it's like all of the hard work you put in is so worth it, right? the fact that Craig can now have the flexibility you have in your calendar too, that you don't have to wait for somebody to give you PTO. You don't have to ask for the time. You know you're not working within like a 10 days of time off. You can go when you wanna go and you can work from anywhere. It is, it's, it really is amazing. and that was one of their big things of why we purchased the business because Craig, he goes, I feel like I'm missing the girls' lives. Because I, leave by seven. I come home at four 30, they go to bed at six. He's like, I'm not seeing them. And now He can go to the field trips. He can go to all those things and that, family's so important to us. And to be able to not only have that financial freedom, but also have that time freedom as well. And now, don't get me wrong, there are some days that we are working till 11 o'clock at night 'cause we still are trying to build. But to be able to balance that out it's that financial freedom, but also just that time freedom is such a, like it's It is intangible. There's literally not a dollar amount that you can put on it. let's, let's dig into what you just said because you, you've said two things, and I think this is so important for this episode because so often you hear the. We reached a million dollars, or my husband quit his job, or we went on a three week vacation to Colorado. Or we have these, you know, state of the union meeting. Like you hear all of it and you're like, oh my gosh, that just sounds so perfect. And the reality is right. It is perfect. It's great. It's amazing. However, there is a lot that goes into that. So I wanna dig into two things, Melissa. One you said a little bit ago, about, yes, we've reached this million dollar milestone. However, that doesn't mean we have a million dollars sitting in our checking account, right? It certainly does not not. It also doesn't mean that all of a sudden you're like, I have no financial worries. Everything is great because there are two commas on my p and l. That is not what that means. And the second thing I wanna dig into is, you do have so much flexibility in your life now with your time and your schedule, because you and Craig both work for the business, but that also means that there's days where you're both working until 11 o'clock midnight, or one of you is, or whatever. Or you're both spending the weekend out at a, at a job, because that's just what it takes to build a business of this magnitude. So can you tell us a little bit, let's talk about the profitability first. So you hit this million dollar milestone. Tell us a little bit more about some of the things that, that looks like behind the scenes, financially. So while we did hit this, we have a lot of expenses. I mean, we have 27, bartenders that we are paying. I mean, and, and they're out every weekend. And they're out, they're working Friday, Saturday, Sunday. So they're, and so come payroll on Monday, that's a big chunk that's leaving our checking account. Our insurance, because we're dealing with alcohol. That's through the roof, we have three suites that we operate out of that, rent. It's, I mean, like, and then just keeping up with the, I mean, just all the things that we actually, that we have to purchase for these events. I mean, you have 12 events in one day. That's a lot of. That's a lot of mixers. That's a lot of, I mean, like our, our, our grocery bills, our Costco bills, our Sam's bills that we go and get everything and then we're paying for people actually during the week that we have employees that are there, that are going shopping, that are doing that. And before, when Craig and I, when we first bought the business, Craig was the one driving the van and he was going and getting all that stuff. But then what we quickly realized when we sat down with you was like, okay, we're doing this, but these are. Not the task of like the CEO that needs to, so that's where it really changed for us to help us get to this million dollar market. Like we need to have somebody else that is really doing these tasks that are as equally as important to the business, but so where we can actually start doing the other things that actually can generate revenue And Craig is a really big thinker. He thinks outside the box. And so in order to get from the revenue, that was when we purchased it to now, we really started to diversify and be like, okay, what are we outsourcing? What can we bring in house? We were renting glassware a lot, and so, and it's like $600 every time. So like, he's like, why didn't we just buy this glassware? Bought the glassware. And then we were like, oh, now we have to wash it. And so and so we were washing it by hand. A lot of times we're like, well, we can't be doing this all the time. It's like a thousand glasses for one event. It'd be crazy. So we spent the money to buy the industrial washer and all that stuff. That's another like $5,000 that we had to spend. So all of these things. Add up. But they do, they add up. But in order for us to be able to do that, Craig and I had to get out of those tasks to be able to do everything else, and that was the biggest thing. Yeah. And I love that we're talking about this, Melissa.'cause the note you sent me, I, I almost passed out. Like I was so excited for you because the note you sent me was, I can't believe it. I we're about to hit that million dollar mark, which was way faster than we thought we were going to. And the reason that that happened was because we got outta the $20 task. it's so interesting because. I, I feel like we have so many students, but I can so vividly remember certain calls and I remember sitting, on Zoom with you and Craig this month, last year and in November and, and trying to get you guys on a call.'cause you guys were like, we're so busy. We're so busy, we're so busy. And I was like, guys, you gotta get on this call. Like we gotta like look at the strategy for next year. And I remember just being like, okay, but what do you do on a day-to-day basis? Like, what are you guys doing? Because it felt something was like a. We were like trying to find the missing puzzle piece, like what's causing so much chaos right now. And when we started walking through the day, it was like, Craig's going to the store to buy things for the bars and you guys are writing up these purchase order and I'm like. Why do you not pay somebody like $20 an hour to do that? And so what was really interesting is I remember you guys both looking like, I don't know, I don't know, but you took massive action. I mean, on that call you weren't so sure, but then I, I wanna say within a couple weeks you guys were like, we hired this person, we hired this person, we hired this person. I was like, okay, yeah, we did. And then I think it was more of like that call was kind of like a, okay, we know we need to do it. How do we do it? Because it's not just like, I think that it was just so scary because we weren't even a year into owning it. And you were like, well, you need to have employees. And we were like, what? What? Like, I, I don't understand. well, I mean, I did understand, but it was just, it was taking that leap to do it and being able to do that. That freed us up for all this stuff. And I was like, I don't think I wanna do sales calls anymore. And you were like, no, you, you need to do them. It like it needs to be you. And so it's myself and our other employee, Savannah, who is amazing and she does the sales calls. And I, I know you're not big on the proposals. I know you're like, don't send the proposals, but for our, but for our company, for the bar business, it is a little bit different than from the wedding planning stuff. But so Craig built this beautiful proposal so we can start doing that. I'll do a call, I'll put the notes in. She'll go ahead and do the proposal. She'll do the, the invoicing. Just take a look at it. if we have any questions, but she'll send it out. We don't even have to take a look at it anymore, which is that's it, Melissa, because when we were on that call last year, I was like, walk me through like, I wanna know literally what you do. And at that time you were still selling for All of the Details as well, which is when we were like, okay, that's number one. Like, let's get that off your plate. But then when we started talking about sales for the bar, it was like. Hearing how complicated and how much time it took you and Craig.'cause you were both involved in like getting the proposal out and, and how was it priced out? And there was a learning curve, but it was like, okay, this has to be so much simpler. Melissa does the call and then give it to someone else to get this closed up because Melissa's time needs to be spent on a hundred other calls, right? Like, let's keep selling. So I think, a lot of times it's just. You said this Mk, who we had on an earlier episode this month, Yes. I yes, I know you guys are. It's so fun to watch you guys grow. I think she said something very similar, which is it feels too fast to have employees. It feels like. I should have to wait longer to ha. And it's like, well, the reality is you're a badie and you're building so fast and it's really not about how long it takes, it's about what stage of business that you're in. And to be able to continue growing, you have to be able to put these things into place. but seeing how you guys really have, I mean, talk about how much you've grown, you said 650 to over a million, but also your profitability has grown significantly. You were telling me about this So. Yeah, so we, I mean, we increased it by 53%, which was insane. So we, yeah, we ended up doing that and it was because we, Craig was like. We need to diversify. We need to, like, we are only doing this one thing and there's only so much, there's only so many weddings. There's only so many venues that we can get into. There's only so much. So what can we do to increase that? And it was like, okay, well we got our food handlers license. We started getting that stuff. We're like, okay, well, let's make these giant ice cubes. Let's make these, like for the old fashioned, it's like, why are we outsourcing that? We can do that here. we've got all the stuff, we've got these huge industrial freezers. Let's just use, let's utilize it. So we started doing that. We started doing, instead of renting bars, Craig made some and he was like, now we're gonna rent. Like, that's just more, more money in our pocket. then, what really tipped us over the edge is when we got that, the third one, the bartenders to you. And we ended up doing that and getting a liquor license. I mean, and talk about, I will say like when you feel like you're growing too fast, too quickly. We announced it January one. We're like, all right, we've got our liquor license. This is what we're doing. Within, I think two weeks. One of the venues that we had actually we were not gonna be working there anymore.'cause they went to a full hosted, like you have to have a full hosted bar. They were having an open house the following week and they said, Hey, we'd love to have you back. Do you think you could have all your stuff together? Without even thinking. I go, yeah, no problem. Absolutely. Yes, exactly. I've made it work called Craig. I was like, oh my gosh, we have to figure this out. Pricing tears, all this stuff. Like what does all this mean? In, in a week, have flyers printed, be ready, do all this stuff. And I mean, and that's where I was just gonna say that that's where those 24 hour work Yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah, we, brought in a consultant as well to help us to figure that stuff out when we're doing things and they still consult with us, like with if it's a cash bar, like should it just be cash only or do, is there a setup fee? She's like, absolutely. You need to have a setup fee. All of this stuff you need to cover your cost. All of these things. But those were those late nights, I mean, till midnight.
Sometimes 1:00 AM like, does this flyer look good? Are there any typos? all that kind of stuff to be ready for that. And then once it started and people started booking, we're like. Oh my gosh. And it was like that Michael Scott meme, like, it's happening. It's all happening. I remember Craig said that to me and then it was just like this wild train and now, now it's all like a well-oiled machine. Now we've got it. It's, it's good. And, we brought in another employee that really helps with dealing with that, going and picking up liquor if we need it, she's cataloging all the inventory, doing all of that stuff, stuff that Craig was doing before. And Craig, sometimes he'll go in just to kind of double check, but she's really taken all that stuff onto her own. We have somebody else now that comes in and does all the glassware and stuff that, I mean, that it's, it's just not stuff You should be doing. it, yeah, it was just like this again. you always said, like, is this task gonna make you grow? If it's not, Someone else should be then it maybe should. Some, somebody else Yeah. And I think sometimes people hear me say that and they're like, oh my gosh, well, I'm not above that task and that's not at all what it means at all. we can all get our hands dirty in our business, and to be honest. In the beginning you do, you have to do everything yourself, but the second you can outsource something. What I think is really interesting about the things that you've said is like Craig was able to build bars for you guys. You guys decided to bring glassware in-house. You know, you're making these ice cubes, all of these different things A year ago, listening to. Y'all's day, there's a 0% chance you would've been able to focus on any of that because you were just running from one task to the next, like one critical task to the next, and being able to free those things up. From your mind so that you can actually sit and think like what, what are ways we can grow the business? What are other ways we can make money? How can we do this? You have to be able to have that white space to be able to think about how to grow your company and actually to implement that. And if Craig was still running to Sam's, five times a week or whatever, it's just not possible. Or having to do inventory, place the pool sheets. So I love that you guys have talked about this. So what's next for your empire? I, I don't, so I know that's one of the things that we actually have to like sit down like, okay, well we've hit this number now, what is our next revenue of what we, wanna do? then how do we get there? And I'll be completely honest, we haven't really, because this was such a like, so fast, we haven't really sat down and had that conversation. I know there are different things that we have like, oh, well maybe we should do this or maybe we should do that. But we haven't really, sat down and had had that. I, um, told Craig what I would like to do is to piggyback on these other two bartending companies. I want to open up a bartending school so that we can train them. And then the ones that we really like, we can bring them into the fold. but he said, he was like, not yet. And I was like, I know, I know, but I think we need to do this. So that was my kind of thing of like, I think we should do this. But I think we also wanna diversify and maybe get something that's not in the events industry you I can see that. we're, we're not there yet. This is still, you know, sometimes is a little Yeah. No, I get it. I love this so much, Melissa and. I'm excited to have you back on the show and hear, okay, what did you guys decide was the next stage for you and what does that look like? And the exciting thing is that you have the opportunity to do that because you've systematized your business in a way that allows you and Craig to really focus on the growth and what that next path is gonna be. I cannot wait to see what it is. So Melissa, where can everybody come say hi to you and encourage you and maybe just say, Hey, I loved hearing you share your story. Yeah, so you can follow us on Instagram at All in the Details, Events and then we have, at Bartenders for You is also, so those are our two Instagram handles. We don't have one for bartenders to you we've got those two and as you said, I outsourced that too. I was like, somebody else is doing our inst our Instagrams because. I cannot, I love to scroll. I cannot but that's where they can find us Well you guys go say hi. Tell Melissa how much you loved hearing her story on the podcast. Give her some encouragement and kudos for hitting this major milestone. I am so proud of you, Melissa, and how much work that you've put in and just watching your growth has been. One of the coolest things I, I absolutely cannot believe my job is to get to help other wedding businesses to have these kind of stories. I just think it's so amazing, so I love it. Thank you for letting me be part of the journey, and you guys, we will see you next time. Thanks for being here, Melissa. I. Thank you.
