016 Social Media Challenge: Inspire us
Today’s challenge is to mentally stimulate us, to make us feel something, something creative,...
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Author: Josh Withers
015 Social Media Challenge: Be educational
Good morning students! Today you’re all teachers and we’re taking your audience back to school.
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014 Social Media Challenge: Be relevant
There are five different kinds of good content. Before you click post on anything, ever, forever, it should be at least one. If it’s two, you might get a like, three and you’re having a party, four and you just put a hashtag in front of the word winning.
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013 Social Media Challenge: Who do you love?
Today’s challenge is 98% in your hands, 1% in the calendar’s hands, and 1% from me.
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012 Social Media Challenge: Something beautiful
Ansel Adams said that we don’t take a photograph, we make it. Your challenge today is to make a...
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011 Social Media Challenge: A day in the life of …
One of my favourite uses of Instagram’s Story feature is to document the behind the scenes of what I’m doing. I see a number of benefits to the occasional behind the scenes personal documentary.
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Was the tinsel an acknowlegement?
After meeting with the Marriage Law and Celebrants Section of the Attorney-General’s...
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010 Social Media Challenge: Let’s take the conversation to 11
Today we’re taking that controversial thought in your mind, and we’re turning it all the way up to [eleven, Spinal Tap style].
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009 Social Media Challenge: Your genesis story
Today’s challenge is an easy one, you already know everything about it, the key to the challenge though is 1. Articulating it, 2. Telling it, and 3. Sharing it to as many mediums as possible
Today we’re telling your genesis story, the story of how you started, why you started, and how you felt you could do something important and different.
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Are you a workaholic?
It’s a weird world in 2020, one where our workload has significantly decreased, yet in other...
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008 Social Media Challenge: Beat your own drum and testify
If someone speaks well of you, you’ve got to remember that, embed it deep into your soul, and know that you’re good at this.
And once you’ve done that you need to share that testimony
There’s a whole philosophy behind referrals and testimonies, but I’m not sharing them today, because I’m not a psychologist; I’m just a boy, standing in front a celebrant, asking them to testify! Testimonies about how you are good at what you do, and you do it in a certain way that makes a certain kind of person happy.
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007 Social Media Challenge: Blog a common reply
In computer programming there’s a method of program called Object Oriented Programming, which recognises that some parts of the program are reused a lot. The programmers write the code once, then reuse it every time they need it.
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006 Social Media Challenge: Nutella Day
Who would ever think that there would be a need for an [International Day for Nutella] to raise awareness of the delicious nutty goodness? Sara Rosso did.
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005 Social Media Challenge: Let’s get podcasting
Podcasts are so much more powerful than most people imagine. My little podcast, [The Rebel’s Guide to Getting Married], has maybe…
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004 Social Media Challenge: Reuse and recycle
I’m willing to bet that you have received a question about what you do before today, and you’ve hit reply with a really good answer.
Read MoreOPD in 2021 is changing
For your ongoing professional development as a Commonwealth authorised marriage celebrant in 2021, only four hours will be provided by your OPD trainer. One hour of your five hour commitment will be delivered by the Marriage Law and Celebrants Section of the Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department.
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Tasmania (BDM) gets the internet
Sarah chats to Tasmanian celebrant Kathleen Pavlic-Ryan about the brand new online registration system available through Births, Deaths, and Marriages Tasmania!
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Moving a wedding from Queensland to New South Wales
Luke asks: One of my couples that had a Qld wedding booked, now want to change the ceremony location to NSW since the new border easing. What do I need to know and how do I go about doing a wedding in NSW? Is there a set criteria that determines the couples eligibility for getting married over the border into NSW?
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003 Social Media Challenge: Carrot Cake
Today’s challenge is to find something boring (like a carrot) yet necessary (like vegetables are for your diet) in your business
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002 Social Media Challenge: Introduce Yourself
Every month you should re-introduce yourself to your social media audience. I think you’d be surprised how many don’t really know you for the real “you”, and those that do, could probably do with a brand re-alignment.
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Creating elopement packages
A reader asks: “I have a handful of elopement related questions, and I think they will be more relevant than ever given how our world has changed in 2020 and how weddings have changed/will change in the coming year(s).
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What if you’re not available for re-scheduled wedding?
Michael asks: Just listened to the podcast episode (with Kathryn Adams), absolutely loved it. I have one common question/scenario that I’m pretty sure wasn’t asked/answered though. A couple postpones their wedding, but one of the suppliers isn’t available on the new date that the couple chooses. Where does that supplier stand in regard to retaining the booking fee? Or anything that needs to be discussed in this situation?
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001 Social Media Challenge: Lemonade
Making lemonade out of lemons is a popular story, obviously backed by Big Lemonade, but it...
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Should I use a speaker stand, and should I use a PA for 10 guests?
Tam asks: I have my first wedding coming up next month. My question is in regards to using my PA system. I have Bose S1 with Sennheiser microphone. The wedding is only small (approximately 10 guests). Would you use a PA system? They are having a videographer so I didn’t know if this would play into whether or not to use it? If you suggest not using it, at what size wedding would you? Also I have not yet brought a stand. Is this an absolute must/do you recommend any particular brand/price point to aim for to get a decent one? Complete newbie with all this stuff!
All good questions, Tamika, and I’ll address them separately.
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Correcting marriage paperwork
There’s a new fact sheet on the Attorny-General’s department website on correcting marriage paperwork, and it’s an important read. Luckily for us, our own Sarah Aird heavily impacted the final draft. We’re copying and pasting the fact sheet here, but find the original on the AGD website.
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Do our social media challenge
I’m writing a social media challenge for Celebrant Institute members to see out 2020…
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If you have a non refundable deposit
An Australian wedding celebrant directory recently emailed it’s members guilt-tripping them into keeping non-refundable deposits. What a guy.
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PA system and microphone questions and answers with Jackson Strafford
Question and answer session on the Secret Members Only Podcast with Jackson Strafford from Factory Sound and One Heart Studios on PA speaker systems microphones for celebrants, plus what a videographer is looking for from a celebrant at a wedding.
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Approach a wedding ceremony as a work of art
Neil Gaiman made a speech on May 17, 2012, as the keynote speech for the commencement ceremony to...
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It’s ok to be you
Josh here, and I’m looking for a celebrant. I’m guessing it’s not you, because the celebrant needs to be able to get to Orlando in January to cover for me, because it looks like I won’t be able to get there.
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Where should we get clients to review us?
Gail asks: Sooo… your couple love you and want to leave a review! Where is the best place/s for them leave this review to really market your business and what links would you send them?
Read MoreWe don’t publish all your questions or all the answers
A few people have mentioned they’re not sending in questions because they don’t want the question or answer published.
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Replying to new wedding enquiries with Bonjoro
A Celebrant Institute member was listening to back catalogue episodes of the Celebrant Talk Show...
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Seth Godin on selling your time
Seth Godin today writing about charging per hour, something I still see celebrants do. I wrote about the same topic a year ago so it’s nice to have beat Seth Godin to something for once.
Read MoreRegarding compassionate grounds for weddings in Melbourne
An update for Melbourne celebrants on compassionate grounds for weddings over the next five weeks.
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You don’t have to do everything
A celebrant enquired today about a couple who wanted to do a live stream of their wedding to family in Europe, but the celebrant didn’t know where to start or what to do. I thought it was a good prompt for me to remind celebrants of what we do have to do, and what we don’t have to do.
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222 reasons you need to secure your domain name for the love of God, please just do it
222 reasons why professionally operating marriage celebrants should secure their domain name registrar account and make sure their domain name is on auto renew.
Read MoreLive streaming a wedding, and what about the music copyright?
A member asks: Am I correct in assuming that couple’s cannot live stream their marriage ceremony given music copyright issues? So there’s a few issues to address in this one short question. The first is...
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How to lodge marriage documents electronically with the ACT BDM
The Births, Deaths, and Marriages in Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria, all have their own online systems for logging in online and submitting marriage paperwork electronically. The Australian Capital Territory BDM doesn’t have an online system, but they do accept via email.
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What does Instagram Reels’ launch mean for the wedding industry?
Instagram’s latest feature ‘Reels’ is in addition to it’s existing product suite of regular Instagram news feed posts, Stories, and IGTV. This is a deep dive into how celebrants and people in the wedding industry can take advantage of Instagram Reels.
Read MoreThe Stage 4 restrictions in Victoria and what they mean for weddings
A brief update from Sarah on the Stage 4 restrictions in Victoria and what they mean for marriages – at this stage…
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How to be your own publicist
A solid foundation of my business success as a celebrant has lay in the realm of good publicity. Good publicity can’t make a filling business profitable, or an unskilled celebrant, talented, but if you’re already rocking a good business operating system, and your ceremonies are resonating with people and getting good reviews, publicity is the cream on top that helps more couples find you, and book you. In this article I wanted to lay out a few tools that I have used in the past, and continue to use today, to “get my name out there” but in a very deliberate and meaningful way.
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How to to-do
Gail asks: Hi Josh. You mentioned in one of the podcasts that you use ToDoist to organise your projects. Could you please run me through how you utilise this as I am also a ToDoist fan.
Read MoreWe have changed membership systems
Just a quick note for members of the Celebrant Institute, your membership management, updating of cards, changing plans, logging in, and just using it, has become a whole lot easier. It’s involved four weeks of work on my...
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How to make a wedding expo work for you
10 ways to make wedding fairs, wedding directories, wedding blogs, wedding magazines, expos, and virtual wedding fairs, work for you.
Read MoreLook out for a zero dollar invoice for the annual celebrant charge
The Attorney-General’s department has let us know that they are starting to send out those $0 annual celebrant charge invoices today. Make sure you pay that $0 quickly otherwise you’ll be in $0 debt, and the interest on that will be expensive.
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New South Wales’ Uppercase Requirement
If you’ve been lucky enough to create a marriage ceremony recently, and it was in New South...
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We’ll do it live!
My friend, and article writing accountability partner, Jeremy asks: You mentioned in a previous podcast you would put up a post about how you live stream a wedding and what tools you use to do so. You still planning to put this up, mate?
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Creating an intimate ceremony, and including kids
A reader asks: I am officiating my cousin’s wedding next month and this is a particularly special one. It is going to be very intimate and relaxed – it’s also really important as my cousin was actually diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer this year (fk cancer!) and it’s really important to me to put together a really beautiful ceremony, but also one that is relaxed and casual just like their style! I was doing some research and wanted to find some nice ideas on how to include kids in the ceremony – they’ve both been married previously and are a blended family. I’ve mentioned how they can write special vows for their step children, or have a community vow – but i am very open to other ideas too – just nothing that is too ‘traditional’. I’ve never performed such a small and intimate ceremony before so was wondering if you had any advice for me – also with these special circumstances, we want to keep this a really positive celebration of their relationship but just wondering if you both had any experience with someone going through this and if there was anything different they included – i absolutely know it really comes down to the individual couple and what they want to include but just interested to know how you would approach this.
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How to become a travelling celebrant
Alinta asks: I am going to take up the gypsy/not-yet-too-grey nomad life for a year or so and I wonder if it would be possible to be a sort of travelling celebrant? We will be travelling in a substantial caravan and aren’t intending to be too structured about our timing so that we can follow our hearts and interests… Any thoughts or suggestions on if this would work?
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Getting ceremony audio to videographers
Maria asks: Hi Josh, you’ve mentioned you record the audio during your ceremonies to give to the videographer if they choose for better audio. Firstly, what equipment do you use and how do you hook it up and secondly, do you use it for any other purpose other than to help with the videographer?
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Should I become a celebrant? Words to an aspirational celebrant
I met one of my neighbours this morning and he mentioned he was becoming a celebrant soon so he could marry two friends who are getting married soon. I gave him the spiel I give anyone and everyone becoming a new celebrant, but I thought it’d be something worth putting down in a blog post, and hopefully if you’re a hopefully future celebrant then this can be an encouragement to you too.
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How to video chat really well
Video chat, video conferencing, Skyping, Facetiming, or now, Zooming, is going to be a fairly major way we communicate through this season and into the future. The problem is, I see lots of people on Zoom calls not bringing their A-game to the call. The reason presenting yourself well on a video call matters is because in that online video chat environment we’ve already lost a few of our primary senses from the human interaction, smell, taste, and touch. That leaves our sight and hearing. In the same way that someone without hearing or sight will say that their other senses are heightened, in a video call, we’re missing the hug we might have started the interaction with. We haven’t had a chance to buy each other a drink, or shake hands, or simply see our smiles and smell our perfume, and feel at home together. So let’s make the visual and the audible sensory experience as good as our tools and technology allows us to.
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What it means when they say that weddings are coming back
There’s a lot of talk about weddings coming back as COVID-19 restrictions are eased. This is not an article about when and what restrictions are being eased, but a reminder as to how Australia works and how to know if weddings are a) allowed or legal, b) when they’re allowed, c) what will be allowed.
This article does remind you though how Australian governance works. You see, Australia as a nation is a lovely idea, but really, you live in a state. That state, be it Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia, or a constant state of joy, has made a number of decisions as to how certain things are governed. Many things are a state business, and they have then handed many things on to the [Commonwealth of Australia] for their governance. This article is an oversimplification of a complex structure, so please don’t quote me anywhere.
Read MoreBaby Got Backend
Morgan Roberts invited me onto his podcast to talk about the back ends of a business. Systems, Tave, Dubsado, all that really boring and important stuff. It’s worth a listen if automation is a scary word to...
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When a bushfire ravages a land
I drove through a recently bushfire affected region last week. The ground was still blackened, but not as much as the tree trunks. The foliage and grass that would normally cover the bush floor was slowly achingly coming back to something that resembled life, and those trees that survived, still stood tall. The stand out from the drive though were the two things flourishing today.
Read MoreHow to marry people overseas
Maria asks: I am hoping to be able to travel and marry people in other countries so how do I go about doing that? I understand the law is different in each state in the US and of course Canada so is there an easy process to get the legal requirements to marry people overseas?
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Check out an 11 year old celebrant survey
11 years ago (in 2009), celebrant directory website Celebrante, conducted a survey of about 1400...
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Witnessing a NOIM over Zoom in the COVID-19 lockdown
With Police Officers and JPs being the most popular witnesses to notices of intended marriage forms when a celebrant cannot attend the witnessing…
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When you are not different even Google is against you
A really powerful way for you to spend your time and energy whilst weddings are essentially furloughed, is to evaluate, reevaluate, and evaluate even more, your current business systems and marketing strategies. I like to view my marketing strategy as a journey, and the end of that journey is when someone “walks into my store” and makes a purchasing decision, and my “store” is my website. On a recent Google Office Hours webinar, Google’s Webmaster Trends Analyst, John Mueller, made this comment on being different to a webmaster who has a ringtones website who was complaining of traffic dropping and their search engine position dropping …
Read MoreCommunicating with couples about COVID-19
Do you know the Greek myth of King Sisyphus? As retribution for tricking the gods, he was punished to an eternity of pushing a large boulder up a steep hill only to have it roll back down just as he reached the top. With...
Read MoreCoronavirus income support for self-employed marriage celebrants
This blog post does not serve as legal or financial advice. We’re all just reading the Economic Response to the Coronavirus, fact sheet on Income Support for Individuals, on a Monday morning, the 24th of March at 9:50am, so take...
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So, you’re being affected by a pandemic
If you’re a marriage celebrant, or officiant or even just a wedding vendor of some description, and your main clientele are inhabitants of planet earth, you might find yourself in a position in the coming weeks where there is a negative effect on your business and way of life due to a pandemic.
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“Ceremony writing is my least favourite part”
Jeff asks: I’m heading into my busiest year yet, I’m so happy I get to work alongside so many great humans who want to be married! The downside (if we can call it that) – my ceremony writing process is my least favourite part (is that bad?). I’ve done the work of automating as much of the process as humanly possible while creating a very fun customer journey, but when it comes down to writing the ceremony I’m just not that psyched. And then when you multiply the procrastination to start by x amount of weddings it’s easy to fall behind. Couples and guests have always said they love the ceremonies I write (phew!) but it can be exhausting and seems hard to scale.
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Changing from selling to serving
Many of us have a problem with selling. It’s understandable, most of us have been sold to before, and we’ve hated it. A “salesperson” is often the sleaziest person in the room, and none of us want to be “that guy.” But here we are, trying to pay our mortgages or rent with some cash we earn from being a celebrant. And traditionally, that requires sales. So, I, Josh-saviour-to-the-celebrants, has a solution!
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Ten reasons you should take credit card payments
If your couples don’t have an easy way to pay you with credit card, I’m of the belief that you’re not only missing out on cash flow and cash, but you’re also missing out on the goodwill you would generate by making your couples’ lives easier.
Here are ten reasons I think you should either enable credit card payments (if you already have the option) or look at extending your payment options to include credit card.
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Moving town as a celebrant
Kath asks: Hey Josh, Just wondering if you have any advice on what I should be doing in preparation to “move/expand” a celebrant biz interstate. I am moving to Hobart mid year and would like to make a start on some marketing now which will in turn affect my bookings for the end or the year and the beginning of next. Apart from reaching out to some lovely local celebs in the area to say hello and booking in to attend an expo, do you have any ideas on what I should or could be doing online (website copy, SEO, blogging, google listing, marketing, back end kind of stuff) while I am in this early transition stage.
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You don’t have to do everything
My favourite computing device is my iPad. I’m actually travelling for up to six months of this year with only my iPad – it’ll be my main computing device. There’s two or three little bug bears that really annoy me about the iPad, but the main one is how the Instagram app is still phone-only. There’s no iPad app for Instagram.
Read MoreA podcast, not by us, with Jerry Saltz
I’ll be honest, I haven’t been able to kick the thought that as much as this podcast episode seems like the least likely thing to recommend to a pack of celebrants, I just have to. So here it is. Jerry Saltz, the New Yorker art...
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What are your travel fees for?
Linda asks: As a regional celebrant I am struggling with travel and how to incorporate this into my fees. I have an “anything over 200km round trip” clause which may seem a lot but its realistic to where I live. My problem is more about inquiry meetings, extra meetings and rehearsals. Obviously I cant charge for an inquiry meeting but do I just have a set higher wedding fee which kind of covers longer distances overall whether the wedding is near or far? Hope you can help!
Read MoreMusic for making ceremonies
Maybe you’re a better worker than I am so you don’t need this, but over here in Josh-world I’m as easily distracted as a mouse in a cheese tasting room. So seeing this resource made for programmers made me...
Read MoreWhat happens if we don’t submit the official marriage certificate to BDM within two weeks
A Celebrant Institute member asks: “I know celebrants are required send all the legal documents after the wedding day or submit via lifelink within 14 days of the ceremony but what actually happens if we forget?” Sarah’s on holidays this week but luckily for you, this is a question even I can answer.
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Will a hot outdoor wedding cook my PA system?
Sophie asks: When performing a ceremony out in the blazing sun with no undercover area nearby are either of you protecting your speaker/receivers etc from the direct sun? I’m nervous about it all overheating and thought you guys might have found a solution? I thought maybe of attaching an umbrella somehow to my stand?
Read MoreHow to make marriage paperwork PDFs, and where to send them
While I’ve talked a lot about how I sign my paperwork on an iPad, you’re welcome to choose your tablet and software of choice, I haven’t detailed exactly where the paperwork comes from.
Of course you can [download blank marriage paperwork] from the Attorney-General’s office, and if you wanted to find the shortest link between the AGD website and signing it on an iPad, you could literally treat that blank paperwork like blank physical paper. But there’s a better way and it depends which state you live in.
Read MoreQueensland BDM needs more info on parents
A member asked for help with the Queensland BDM pushing back on a marriage registration and wanting more info on parents.
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Which iPad and which apps do you recommend for celebrants?
Jake asks: I’m currently taking bookings faster than I planned would happen and have decided that an iPad might be a better way to keep everything in one place , meaning my emails/ceremonies, and documents. But the main reason is I would like to be able to have my couples sign the the paperwork on the iPad (form 15 , NOIM) all that jazz. I just wanted to know what you would recommend in size and what programs/apps would make this possible.
Read MoreComparing a Josh wedding ceremony and a Sarah ceremony
A topic we don’t cover enough here in the Celebrant Institute membership is ceremony presentation and style. It’s such a personal topic and each of us has our own style. But today we thought we’d lift the cover and show you all how Sarah and I both present a ceremony. Presented below are two videos, full recordings of a recent ceremony we have both presented recently.
Read MoreValue your interaction
Interaction is a privilege. But it doesn’t often scale.
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When you’ve got an odd name pronunciation
I married a couple recently and the bride had one of those names where there was a few different ways it could possibly be pronounced. In that situation, when we first meet, I introduce myself with my name, and expect the same in return, I’ll then note how they pronounce their own name. But she didn’t!
I feel the same way about business.
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A modern day version of the busy cafe getting busier
If you’re not already familiar with the reason why, when faced with two cafes next to each other most of us will choose the busier cafe, the reason is social proof.
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Receiving ID documentation securely
Sophie asks a very important and pertinent question (which I’ve slightly edited for brevity): A question regarding the safety of couples sending digital copies of their ID via email or within a system like Dubsado.
Read MorePartnering with charities? Watch out for the ACCC
Eyewear brand Oscar Wylee is in trouble with the ACCC for its charitable donations. In an era of such transformative social change, more and more businesses are choosing to align themselves with charitable organisations or causes. Whether that be through donations or the facilitation of programs, businesses of all kinds are stepping up to give back.
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40 Questions To Ask Yourself Each New Year
To bring in the new year, [Stephen Ango asks himself 40 questions]. I liked his list but thought I’d alter it for Celebrant Institute followers so we could reflect on where we’ve been and look at where we’re going. Identify trends, strengths, weaknesses, and things we should simply be proud of as individuals and as a community. Stephen’s is a personal list, and my amendments are focused on your celebrant business. Maybe you want to do both, or just one, it’s all up to you.
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Your price is part of your story
I thought I’d share a quick and small story about a wedding I didn’t get booked for.
Read MoreChanging the redundant parts of the Marriage Act – December 2019 Update
If you’ve been following an earlier blog post where we made submissions to our local MP regarding removing some redundant parts of the Marriage Act of 1961, well, I got an update:
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When wanting to be featured or talked about, know this one thing
A favourite read of mine is the regular Susbtack email from Ariel Stalling. You might know her name from a little blog called Offbeat Bride. In this week’s mailout, Ariel tells the story of how someone a little bit like her was covered in the New York Times.
Before I actually read the words in the piece I thought Ariel was telling the story about how she was covered in the New York Times which would’ve been kind of cool, but then when you sit down and read it you realise that someone slightly similar to her with a really good publicist was covered in the Times instead.
Read MoreWhat are the ABIA awards? A guide for celebrants
A reader asks: “I’ve noticed the ABIA awards presentation nights have been occurring but what is the ABIA awards and how do people win the ABIA awards? What is the scoring based on? I see these marks of 99.93 etc.” I’ll answer this question on behalf of ABIA, then with my own opinion, which may or may not include the now famous, Billockery Awards, the celebrancy industry’s most favourable fictionalised awards system.
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Please put the (sales) gun down!
A quick Saturday morning flick through the social media feeds showed me six celebrants doing a bad thing on social media.
They’re not breaking the law, and in their minds they’re not doing a bad or evil thing. Many people would see the same thing I did and think it’s perfectly fine.
But my advice would be to stop.
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Communicating timelines with couples
Alex asks: My question is regarding communication with couples – specifically timelines. Before I became a Celebrant I remember hearing a few off-hand remarks from a family friend and also a cousin about their Celebrants. The general feedback was that they never heard from their celebrant after booking them, had no idea what to expect (for example commented “we hadn’t heard from her in 4 months”) and both had doubts about how the day would run. I was horrified! To me, managing expectations is super important but I also understand it may be different with each couple. So my question is – sorry it took me a while to get there – do you have any advice on how you communicate a “timeline of events” with the couple – or can you provide an example of one? And also advice for me on ceremony writing….how soon before the wedding do you start it and if requested or preferred by the couple when do you send a first draft for them to review, and how soon before the ceremony do you “lock everything in?”
Read MoreContacting our local MP about the now redundant requirement of two official marriage certificates
On this week’s podcast episode I talked about contacting our local member of parliament to request a change to the Marriage Act of 1961. The act requires two official certificates of marriage be prepared, which in a digital age where we’re creating PDF certificates, is a little redundant.
Read MoreWhere do all the people come from?
Jeff asks: When you look back on leads, what seems to be working? Do you have a rough breakdown of where/how couples are finding you? Do you find Instagram/Facebook ads work? Venue referrals? The Google…?
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Is there room at the top of the market?
Jeff asks: A general price question: when you both set your prices (to their current rates), were you/are you in line with what others charge or are you much higher? Pretty sure I’m the highest priced officiant in my region of 500,000 folks, but @ $650/ceremony I’d have to perform about 27 weddings/week to go legit. That doesn’t work. I have right around 75 weddings on the books for 2019 and it’s great since this is a side hustle, but I want to make the leap but for suuuure can’t at this rate. I’m hesitant because if I jump up to $800-$1000 I’ll literally be charging more than double the price or most others…but I guess someone has to be most expensive, I might as well be that guy…was just curious your thoughts on that.
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One of the greatest voids in the world today is original content
A repetitive theme in my writing is the encouragement for you to create your own content. I really do believe that creating original, helpful, relevant, personal, content is a majorly easy way for you to have a win today.
Read MorePeople hate ads
I’m eventually going to start sounding like a broken record, but we all need to get it into our head: ads as we used to know them no longer work. People hate ads.
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Making customer journeys easier, and inclusive, like Sephora
Sephora has identified that not every customer desires the same journey, so they created a fork in the road to cater for two different personality types.
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How to surprise a couple with a ceremony
Jeff asks: When/how did you now it was ok to not share ceremony content with the couple but just have them trust you on the day of? Couples and guests really love what I put together (I guess I’ve figured out that much ha!) and I have lots of reviews that say it’s great – removing the step of sharing content would literally make things faaaar easier, just wondering how to get couples on board with that or when it’s ok to do that.
Read MoreWhy we deliver the best Cert IV in Celebrancy Australia
If you’re aspiring to be a celebrant in the near future, Sarah and I deliver the Certificate IV in Celebrancy through this very Institute. We’re lucky enough to have experienced, and to continue to experience the full breadth of celebrancy training, students contact us every day with questions their trainers and colleges are answering incorrectly or weirdly.
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Josh’s ceremony inclusions
Jeff, a Canadian celebrant, asks: I’m wondering what sections you two include in your ceremonies? I have a very similar trajectory for each ceremony, and add or subtract (readings etc) based on what the couple are looking for, but was wondering how others on the other side of the world do it!
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Becoming a celebrant for a side hustle
Every week one or two potential new celebrants email or DM me about starting a celebrancy business as a side hustle, hoping to make a few dollars on the side to provide for their family’s extra needs or to put some cash in the holiday account.
It’s understandable. In the past it was a common part time career for a mum, or a school teacher, to undertake and just do a few ceremonies a year.
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Online advertising just doesn’t work the way we hope
There is a fascinating article on The Correspondent today about the next “dot com bubble” being online advertising. The link is a long, but easy, and really (seriously) interesting read, but for the benefit of CI blog readers, I’ll quote a few sections here.
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