Episode 87: Weathering a Drought in Business

If you've been in business for any period of time, you've very likely seen busy periods of booking followed by slower seasons. But how do you handle those valleys of business and what can you do during those slower times to continue to generate leads? In this week's episode of the This Week In Weddings podcast, we're chatting with wedding planner and designer Valerie Gernhauser, who's opening up about managing a slower period of business. From ideas for keeping your team busy during a slower season to thoughts about how to trim the fat during a leaner time, this week's episode is full of great advice from an industry leader.

About our guest: 

Valerie Gernhauser is a recovering attorney, Yale grad, pug lover, Springsteen fanatic, and Florida native. Calm, cool, and collected is her mantra. She is a natural-born leader that takes pride in moving people, creating memorable milestones, and maintaining poise under pressure.

As a thought leader and industry expert in the event space, Valerie is grateful to share her knowledge on national platforms such as the Engage! Luxury Wedding Business Summit, Trouvaille Workshop, Cultivate Retreat, Bliss and Bespoke, and honored to present as a keynote speaker at ILEA, NACE, and WIPA events across the country. She’s very proud of the success of her Sapphire Sessions speaking tour, a specialized program for wedding planners and event designers aimed at elevating event industry best practices for the benefit of the greater good. 

Valerie likes getting lost in Anthropologie, spontaneous road trips, mixing metals and prints, kitchen dance parties with her daughters, and getting her hands dirty in a flower bucket or two. She’s a consummate over-achiever and a habitual mover-and-shaker. She considers herself very fortunate to bear witness to unfettered, intrepid, veracious love stories on Saturdays.

In this episode, listeners will hear about:

Valerie's background and how she went from lawyer to wedding planner and designer When Valerie noticed her first slow season in her business What Valerie did during the downtime to connect with another area of the event industry Cutting back on expenses during slower times Keeping your team happy (and busy) during a business drought Want to connect with Valerie? On the web: http://www.sapphireevents.com/ Instagram: @sapphireevents Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sapphireeventsnola/