Sunday, September 26, 2010
We've Moved!
I'm thrilled to announce that Illuminate: the Blog has received a much needed makeover. For all the latest, please visit www.illuminatetheblog.com.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Saving Time as a Wedding Pro: Google Alerts
Part deux of my video series on saving time as a wedding pro begins.. now. Alas, the title still bores me to tears but, like this blog, it's a work in progress.
As you may have seen from my recent post, the one question I seem to get all the time is, "how do you fit everything into one day?" Admittedly, I have my Type A personality to thank in part but there are a wealth of tips and tricks that keep me on task and making the most use of my time.
Today, I'm chatting a bit about Google Alerts, a wonderful and free advice that assists you with tracking mentions of just about anything- from your company, your own name, competitors and colleagues.
Have any tips that keep you on track throughout the day? Feel free to share in the comments below.
Enjoy!
As you may have seen from my recent post, the one question I seem to get all the time is, "how do you fit everything into one day?" Admittedly, I have my Type A personality to thank in part but there are a wealth of tips and tricks that keep me on task and making the most use of my time.
Today, I'm chatting a bit about Google Alerts, a wonderful and free advice that assists you with tracking mentions of just about anything- from your company, your own name, competitors and colleagues.
Have any tips that keep you on track throughout the day? Feel free to share in the comments below.
Enjoy!
Monday, September 20, 2010
Thanks Kitchen Musings! Illuminate Receives another Shout Out
What a delight to see today's feature on Illuminate: the Workshop by our lovely Sweet Sponsor Veronica of Petites Bouchees.
http://kitchenmusings.com/2010/09/dessert-table-at-illuminate.html
Thanks Veronica!
Until next time,
Meghan
http://kitchenmusings.com/2010/09/dessert-table-at-illuminate.html
Thanks Veronica!
Until next time,
Meghan
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Illuminate: the Recap
What a whirlwind week here in OFD-land. Another successful Illuminate under our belt, a quick dip of the toe back into the wedding world to assist with a friend's Big Day today, and a 4:30am wake up call tomorrow to get myself to the airport for Wedding MBA.
Before I dash, I just had to share some of the great moments captured by Photography by Julie Renee this past Wednesday at Illuminate.
Many thanks again to Maymont for hosting us, as well as IK Catering for serving as our breakfast sponsor. As always, Petites Bouchees was a huge hit with her Dessert Table, knocking the socks off of everyone in the room. Thanks for being our Sweets Sponsor Veronica!
Also- a big thanks to our amazing speakers- Elizabeth Howard with The Cordial Cricket, Brent Petersen of Interview Angel and Shanelle Calvin of Shanelle Calvin Consulting.
Keep your eyes peeled for a Save the Date notice as we firm up plans for Illuminate: the Workshop next Spring in Richmond.
Enjoy!
Before I dash, I just had to share some of the great moments captured by Photography by Julie Renee this past Wednesday at Illuminate.
Many thanks again to Maymont for hosting us, as well as IK Catering for serving as our breakfast sponsor. As always, Petites Bouchees was a huge hit with her Dessert Table, knocking the socks off of everyone in the room. Thanks for being our Sweets Sponsor Veronica!
Also- a big thanks to our amazing speakers- Elizabeth Howard with The Cordial Cricket, Brent Petersen of Interview Angel and Shanelle Calvin of Shanelle Calvin Consulting.
Keep your eyes peeled for a Save the Date notice as we firm up plans for Illuminate: the Workshop next Spring in Richmond.
Enjoy!
Monday, August 30, 2010
New Video Series: Saving Time as a Wedding Pro
Admittedly, my video blog series is in dire need of a snappier name, but for now, let's just be excited that I know how to embed videos into my blog, shall we?
I received a great response for my first video blog on the eve of Wedology 101, so I decided to move full steam ahead with the next. But the obvious question came up- what in the world would I talk about?
Then it hit me- it's the question I get asked the most, time and time again. Through high school, college, my life in the wedding industry and now OFD- I constantly get asked the same question.
How in the world do you fit everything in during the day?
I'm no different than most- except for my minor obsession with efficiency since I first "met" Frank Gilbreth in the book Cheaper By the Dozen as a ten year old. A life dedicated to re-evaluating my every move to see where I can save time. Where do I sign up?
So without further ado, I present my video blog- in short, a love letter to RSVPHere.com which has saved me more hours in the last year than I can possibly count. Pay no mind that the still show with the video is my arms waiving about. Apparently I haven't quite mastered embedding video yet.
Enjoy!
I received a great response for my first video blog on the eve of Wedology 101, so I decided to move full steam ahead with the next. But the obvious question came up- what in the world would I talk about?
Then it hit me- it's the question I get asked the most, time and time again. Through high school, college, my life in the wedding industry and now OFD- I constantly get asked the same question.
How in the world do you fit everything in during the day?
I'm no different than most- except for my minor obsession with efficiency since I first "met" Frank Gilbreth in the book Cheaper By the Dozen as a ten year old. A life dedicated to re-evaluating my every move to see where I can save time. Where do I sign up?
So without further ado, I present my video blog- in short, a love letter to RSVPHere.com which has saved me more hours in the last year than I can possibly count. Pay no mind that the still show with the video is my arms waiving about. Apparently I haven't quite mastered embedding video yet.
Enjoy!
Monday, August 23, 2010
Wedding Industry Interns: Let the Circle be Unbroken
I'd like to think that I made a pretty rockin' intern back in the day.
On day 1, I always showed up fresh faced and eager to learn. Grunt work? Menial tasks that no one else wanted? Yes please. I spent my sophomore summer at an unpaid internship with the local United Way and taught myself Quark Xpress and then proceeded to design an entire marketing campaign while my boss was on sabbatical.
After my senior year, I packed two bags and made my way to the Nike World Headquarters (check number one off of the life bucket list) and despite the many generous opportunities they threw my way, I still asked for more work.
What always got me, however, was the general lack of enthusiasm about my presence. People! I wanted to shout, I'm educated, train-able and FREE. Yet I sat there, often underutilized.
So this summer, I decided to make things right and take on the lovely Shelley from JMU as OFD's very first intern. Shelley initially had impressed me by writing me a thoughtful thank you note following my presentation to her PCMA chapter.
I was thrilled- eager to show her the ropes and life beyond the blue stone. She was smart, ready to learn and enthusiastic about the wedding industry. I hearted her on site.
To seal the deal, I asked her to meet me for a final interview one weekend in Richmond. My new office was not quite ready so I selected a restaurant nestled in my neighborhood. Little did I realize we were dining post Monument 10k (non Richmonders: one of the top ten 10ks in the country) and the restaurant was jam packed.
So poor 20 year old Shelley had to interview at the bar. For her very first internship. Lovely.
And thus began the whirlwind summer. Officially going full time. Constantly changing appointments. Stubborn old lap tops. New clients. National accounts. The launch of an inaugural wedding event. Last minute meetings in my car. Networking and impromptu 30 second elevator speeches. Essentially, the life of a small business owner.
Suddenly, my master plan for weekly meetings, inspiring talks- heck an actual schedule, started to slip away. When push came to shove, my clients had to come first. And there Shelley sat- a boat load of potential. Suddenly, I started to sympathize with those who had hired me all of those years ago.
Interns are a wonderful opportunity to grow your wedding business while sharing on the job experience so often needed and appreciated by college students. Working with Shelley has been a rewarding experience and with this summer comes a few lessons for what I'm now affectionately dubbing the OFD Internship Program/Fast Track for Why you May Want to get out of the Wedding Industry.
1) A commitment to organization early on in the process. I fell prey very quickly to the "I'll work on it when I have more time." I would have been far better off by creating a schedule and list of projects as soon as the internship agreement was signed. I have no doubt that I would have been far more likely to stick to it, if it was part of the initial ground work.
2) Embrace the chaos. Those who know me will tell you that I'm a classic Type A personality, down to my color coded excel spreadsheets. Somehow I managed to balance this effectively during my chaotic years in the event industry. Ordered chaos as I liked to call it. When I made the OFD leap, I naturally assumed I had left that behind. Instead, I was able to see through Shelley's eyes that not only had the chaos followed me- it was officially a part of my existence, and I had gotten used to it. My wedding industry clients live in it, so why in the world would my life be any different?
3) Let "it" go. "It" could be a number of things- programs that needed bows, contracts that require creation, you name it. One may assume that I had trouble letting go of every day tasks due to the no so little control freak inside of me. Instead, I had trouble delegating because I didn't want anyone to have to handle the menial every day tasks. It took me all summer but I finally realized that part of the internship experience is giving myself more time to develop my business, while someone else can worry about the program bows. Lesson learned.
So with these new found revelations, I'm excited to welcome Intern Ariana to the OFD family for the Fall semester. I've broken my own "JMU only" rule as Ariana immediately impressed me with our mutual love of PR, mad writing skills and general eagerness to take this industry by storm.
As for my beloved Shelley, we're painting the town red tomorrow with a big thank you dinner and toast (sparkling cider mind you) to her future endeavors, as she makes her way to JMU. And the hope, that if we do find each other down the road, we won't have to interview at a bar.
Until next time,
Meghan
Meghan Ely is the owner of OFD Consulting, a niche marketing and public relations group servicing the wedding industry. She is also the Managing Director of the Richmond Bridal Association, Contributing Writer to Virginia Bride Magazine and has a regular column in the Richmond Times Dispatch, Wedology 101: the Reality of Being a Bride.
On day 1, I always showed up fresh faced and eager to learn. Grunt work? Menial tasks that no one else wanted? Yes please. I spent my sophomore summer at an unpaid internship with the local United Way and taught myself Quark Xpress and then proceeded to design an entire marketing campaign while my boss was on sabbatical.
After my senior year, I packed two bags and made my way to the Nike World Headquarters (check number one off of the life bucket list) and despite the many generous opportunities they threw my way, I still asked for more work.
What always got me, however, was the general lack of enthusiasm about my presence. People! I wanted to shout, I'm educated, train-able and FREE. Yet I sat there, often underutilized.
So this summer, I decided to make things right and take on the lovely Shelley from JMU as OFD's very first intern. Shelley initially had impressed me by writing me a thoughtful thank you note following my presentation to her PCMA chapter.
I was thrilled- eager to show her the ropes and life beyond the blue stone. She was smart, ready to learn and enthusiastic about the wedding industry. I hearted her on site.
To seal the deal, I asked her to meet me for a final interview one weekend in Richmond. My new office was not quite ready so I selected a restaurant nestled in my neighborhood. Little did I realize we were dining post Monument 10k (non Richmonders: one of the top ten 10ks in the country) and the restaurant was jam packed.
So poor 20 year old Shelley had to interview at the bar. For her very first internship. Lovely.
And thus began the whirlwind summer. Officially going full time. Constantly changing appointments. Stubborn old lap tops. New clients. National accounts. The launch of an inaugural wedding event. Last minute meetings in my car. Networking and impromptu 30 second elevator speeches. Essentially, the life of a small business owner.
Suddenly, my master plan for weekly meetings, inspiring talks- heck an actual schedule, started to slip away. When push came to shove, my clients had to come first. And there Shelley sat- a boat load of potential. Suddenly, I started to sympathize with those who had hired me all of those years ago.
Interns are a wonderful opportunity to grow your wedding business while sharing on the job experience so often needed and appreciated by college students. Working with Shelley has been a rewarding experience and with this summer comes a few lessons for what I'm now affectionately dubbing the OFD Internship Program/Fast Track for Why you May Want to get out of the Wedding Industry.
1) A commitment to organization early on in the process. I fell prey very quickly to the "I'll work on it when I have more time." I would have been far better off by creating a schedule and list of projects as soon as the internship agreement was signed. I have no doubt that I would have been far more likely to stick to it, if it was part of the initial ground work.
2) Embrace the chaos. Those who know me will tell you that I'm a classic Type A personality, down to my color coded excel spreadsheets. Somehow I managed to balance this effectively during my chaotic years in the event industry. Ordered chaos as I liked to call it. When I made the OFD leap, I naturally assumed I had left that behind. Instead, I was able to see through Shelley's eyes that not only had the chaos followed me- it was officially a part of my existence, and I had gotten used to it. My wedding industry clients live in it, so why in the world would my life be any different?
3) Let "it" go. "It" could be a number of things- programs that needed bows, contracts that require creation, you name it. One may assume that I had trouble letting go of every day tasks due to the no so little control freak inside of me. Instead, I had trouble delegating because I didn't want anyone to have to handle the menial every day tasks. It took me all summer but I finally realized that part of the internship experience is giving myself more time to develop my business, while someone else can worry about the program bows. Lesson learned.
So with these new found revelations, I'm excited to welcome Intern Ariana to the OFD family for the Fall semester. I've broken my own "JMU only" rule as Ariana immediately impressed me with our mutual love of PR, mad writing skills and general eagerness to take this industry by storm.
As for my beloved Shelley, we're painting the town red tomorrow with a big thank you dinner and toast (sparkling cider mind you) to her future endeavors, as she makes her way to JMU. And the hope, that if we do find each other down the road, we won't have to interview at a bar.
Until next time,
Meghan
Meghan Ely is the owner of OFD Consulting, a niche marketing and public relations group servicing the wedding industry. She is also the Managing Director of the Richmond Bridal Association, Contributing Writer to Virginia Bride Magazine and has a regular column in the Richmond Times Dispatch, Wedology 101: the Reality of Being a Bride.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Search Engine Optimization and the Wedding Professional Part 2: Guest Post by Alison Wren
Today, we're welcoming back Alison Wren of Wedding Business Success a UK based web site dedicated to educating wedding professionals on sound business practices. In case you missed the first post, Alison is here to share her knowledge on the matter of Search Engine Optimization and Wedding Professionals.
Step 5 – DIY or not?
It is possible to do your own SEO, but you will need to invest a lot of time in:
up-front costs with the benefits they will bring.
My advice would be to find an SEO expert for the initial work – a good one will advise you on what needs to be done and ensure you don’t make any mistakes (doing the wrong thing can result in search engines penalising your website and it disappearing from the results). The best way to find an SEO consultant is through recommendation – sadly there are some people who call themselves experts who are either incompetent at best or worse, unethical. NEVER hire an SEO company who cold calls you – the good ones hardly ever need to advertise.
Step 6 – It’s all about content
Search engines love good, relevant content, and so do other web users. And if you have great content, other sites will link to yours and the search engines will love you even more –simple!
YOU are still the best person to write informed articles for your site, so even if you have hired an SEO expert or already rank well, adding great content to your site regularly is a must.
Top Tips:
SEO is never finished – it’s an ongoing process of keeping your site updated, monitoring your web traffic and staying ahead of the opposition.
Finally, if you’d like to find out more about SEO there are loads of websites out there. http://www.seomoz.org is a good place to start.
Alison Wren is the editor of Wedding Business Success – a website dedicated to helping wedding businesses start up and grow. She is also the owner of leading UK based DIY wedding stationery specialist The Wedding Crafter which she set up 6 years ago having finally escaped from a career in IT. You can follow Alison on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/alisonpwren
Step 5 – DIY or not?
It is possible to do your own SEO, but you will need to invest a lot of time in:
- learning about SEO
- carrying out the work required
up-front costs with the benefits they will bring.
My advice would be to find an SEO expert for the initial work – a good one will advise you on what needs to be done and ensure you don’t make any mistakes (doing the wrong thing can result in search engines penalising your website and it disappearing from the results). The best way to find an SEO consultant is through recommendation – sadly there are some people who call themselves experts who are either incompetent at best or worse, unethical. NEVER hire an SEO company who cold calls you – the good ones hardly ever need to advertise.
Step 6 – It’s all about content
Search engines love good, relevant content, and so do other web users. And if you have great content, other sites will link to yours and the search engines will love you even more –simple!
YOU are still the best person to write informed articles for your site, so even if you have hired an SEO expert or already rank well, adding great content to your site regularly is a must.
Top Tips:
- Write for customers, not search engines. Your website still has to convert those visitors into paying customers.
- Use your keywords – make sure your main phrases are on your home page and also your location(s).
- Add a blog to your site – and keep it updated.
- Exchange articles/blog entries with other wedding sites in exchange for links.
- Register your site with Google Places (www.google.com/local)
SEO is never finished – it’s an ongoing process of keeping your site updated, monitoring your web traffic and staying ahead of the opposition.
Finally, if you’d like to find out more about SEO there are loads of websites out there. http://www.seomoz.org is a good place to start.
Alison Wren is the editor of Wedding Business Success – a website dedicated to helping wedding businesses start up and grow. She is also the owner of leading UK based DIY wedding stationery specialist The Wedding Crafter which she set up 6 years ago having finally escaped from a career in IT. You can follow Alison on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/alisonpwren
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
