IN THE CONVO: Ever felt like you're on a runaway train heading straight for Burnout City in the heart of the wedding industry? Yeah, me too. I spilled my guts about the panic attacks and the all-consuming exhaustion, and luckily, Kaitlyn Blair from Virtually Vital stepped in with her lifesaver kit of virtual assistance. Join us in some behind-the-scenes chaos that plagues so many creatives, and Kaitlyn walks us through the kind of organization and systems that make you fall back in love with your craft.
CONNECT WITH KAITLYN:
🌐https://www.virtuallyvital.co/
📸https://www.instagram.com/virtuallyvitalva/
🎁Free Trello Board Workflow for Wedding Professionals: https://trello.com/b/ft715Umc/wedding-vendor-workflow
CONNECT WITH CARIN:
Hey CEO! Join us over at our new membership the Success Cellar 🍾 - exclusively for growth-minded wedding pros just like you!
🌟Write a review, share, and tag @celebrationpros for your first month free!
IN THE CONVO: Ever felt like you're on a runaway train heading straight for Burnout City in the heart of the wedding industry? Yeah, me too. I spilled my guts about the panic attacks and the all-consuming exhaustion, and luckily, Kaitlyn Blair from Virtually Vital stepped in with her lifesaver kit of virtual assistance. Join us in some behind-the-scenes chaos that plagues so many creatives, and Kaitlyn walks us through the kind of organization and systems that make you fall back in love with your craft.
CONNECT WITH KAITLYN:
🌐https://www.virtuallyvital.co/
📸https://www.instagram.com/virtuallyvitalva/
🎁Free Trello Board Workflow for Wedding Professionals: https://trello.com/b/ft715Umc/wedding-vendor-workflow
CONNECT WITH CARIN:
Hey CEO! Join us over at our new membership the Success Cellar 🍾 - exclusively for growth-minded wedding pros just like you!
🌟Write a review, share, and tag @celebrationpros for your first month free!
Hello, my celebration pros. We are back on the podcast. I'm excited to have you here on today because we're talking a little bit about burnout which, hello wedding industry, that's like every one of us but we're also talking about time management and they kind of go hand in hand. So we're going to take you through the whole journey and, you know, hopefully not trigger anybody, but maybe trigger some brainstorming ideas on how we don't get there. So we're going to share some important stories today. You I mean everybody on here that's been listening for some time you know my burnout story and how I've had panic attacks, so I'm sure I'm not the only one.
Speaker 1:And today we have we have Caitlin on with us. She is with a virtually vital and she's a virtual assistant for wedding professionals, which, as all of you know, I do a little bit of that on the side. This is her full time gig and basically what Caitlin does is she finds where in your business that you're feeling that way and she helps to take on, take off that burden from you, because she's really good at it and actually loves to do a lot of the things that maybe us creatives aren't as excited about. So just to tell you a little bit more about her. She's a system specialist for wedding professionals specifically, so she's here for all of us and she optimizes your tools so that you can save time when it burn out and do more of what you love. So, Caitlin, thank you so much for coming onto the show. We're excited to have you here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm so excited to be here and talk about organizing.
Speaker 1:I love it, and we were originally talking before like you're like or you're like the Marie Kondo for our business.
Speaker 2:I was just thinking that earlier I was thinking about her show. I was like when that came out I was obsessed with it. It was so great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I know we've talked about to like I'm doing a kitchen remodel. I was just telling Caitlin that I just bought a pop up camper and everything I'm going through. I'm like, okay, how can I organize this so it doesn't become overwhelming?
Speaker 1:So, we're going to apply all of that to business today. Yeah, before we get into the good stuff, caitlin, can you just tell our listeners a little bit more about, kind of, how you got into all this? Because you didn't start off in the wedding industry and I think that your story is a bit unique in that way, and so we'd love to hear what your story is coming to us in this fashion to be able to help us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I started as a virtual assistant, kind of unknowingly. I was doing email work with a real estate company, with a family friend, and it was fun. I liked it. And then I was on TikTok and someone was talking about what a virtual assistant was and I sounded like a scam the way that she talked about it. She was like you get to pick your own rates, you get to work when you want, and I was like I don't like that sounds great, but I feel like I'm going to get my information stolen or something. So I decided to do more research on it. I found a great coach and I became a virtual assistant as a college student and it was great.
Speaker 2:And then I transitioned into a social media manager about the time when I was engaged. So I was kind of in the real estate atmosphere a little bit. But then when I was engaged, you know I was working with the wedding vendors and I loved working with them. It was so fun. And then I was like you know what if I just be a social media manager for them and work with also as a virtual assistant, maybe help with their emails and things? So I loved it. There's something about the wedding industry. I think it's just people like they love being with people. They're so bubbly, it's great. So I've worked with some other people like courses and coaches and things, but the wedding industry that's where my heart is, so I decided to just focus on that. And then, when I was a social media manager that's about the time when reels came out and so I got burnt out.
Speaker 1:So I've been there.
Speaker 2:You just hear the word reels and we're all like, oh I know, like because before it was like, well, if you do this, then this will happen. But then reels like you have to show up and you have to be there, and I was like I have to do it for my business. And then for clients like, oh my gosh, this I need to figure out, figure out something else real fast, or else I'm gonna, I'm gonna lose it. So last year I invested in myself again, got into more coaching and they were like what do you like to do? And I was like, okay, that's such a simple question. But it really made me rethink my business and rethink exactly what I like to do.
Speaker 2:And it was organizing and I like puzzles. So I felt like tools were kind of a puzzle for me and getting them to work together. So and I loved it wedding industry I loved working with them, both as a client like for my wedding, it was so fun and then working with them to help their business. It was great. So decided to pursue that and it has been wonderful. I love it. I love meeting wedding vendors and especially networking events or like expose so fun, I love it.
Speaker 1:So that's my story. Everyone knows that's. My favorite part is the connection. So, yeah, that's what we preach over here. But, caitlin, are you Gen Z or are you Gen Z? I'm Gen Z, you are Gen Z.
Speaker 1:Okay so this, well, this is exciting because we've been talking a lot about Gen Z earlier. You know, in the in Q one of this year and every that's kind of been the buzz, because your generation is coming up and you're not only getting married but you're also working with us. Just Gen Z in general. But you actually quite literally, and I think how a genius is it that, as you are planning your own wedding, which you're married now, right, yeah, so as you are planning your own wedding, you were able to look at these other businesses and say, oh, I see ways that you can do business better and you're able to serve the people who are serving you and they're like oh, I love it, it's a full circle moment that makes me heart happy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there was one, I think, my photographer. She sent me an actual contract that I needed to print out and sign and I was like, if you use the CRM, you can do that Did you know, yeah, absolutely yeah, no, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:Ok, so as you've gone through all of this, you've really been able to see and kind of be aware of how the wedding industry runs, how we're not typically an organized, necessarily industry which is why things like CRMs are so helpful for us, because it helps us to streamline everything. But I would assume that you've also noticed either people on the brink of burnout or in burnout, and that's probably where these little red flags came up and you're like, hey, let's see.
Speaker 1:Let me see how I can help you Because you're talented, you have all of this passion and craft that you can serve people with, but the business side of things kind of make us go cuckoo sometimes. So can you just chat with us a little bit about, maybe, what it was like finding those little red flags that showed that people were burning out? What does that look like for an entrepreneur, and are there certain signs that you saw that maybe we can look for in our own businesses as CEOs?
Speaker 2:So something that has come up for, something that I've noticed a lot, is when people aren't very like they were good communicators and then all of a sudden they don't respond for a while, or it takes a week to get a response or something.
Speaker 2:So that's when, just as someone from one business owner to another, not even like a wedding vendor, I'm just like, ok, maybe you should take a break or something. So maybe communication and then being OK with the bare minimum. I've noticed, like especially when which I hope wedding vendors weren't OK with the bare minimum before, but if you weren't before and then now just letting things slide and you were really detail oriented and now you're not. So those I've noticed it's a slippery slope. So yeah, and then another thing that at least happened for me when I was burnt out was I was passively job searching. So I would just Google hey, what's it like to be a flight attendant or something, or all these little random things that you're like, oh, I'm not going to pursue that, but I'm just curious, like that can be an early sign, like something has to change.
Speaker 1:I've done all these things.
Speaker 2:I know I have too, that's right.
Speaker 1:Well, I think that's really you teach from experience, right, like that's. And there were definitely points in my business where your clients will tell you. They'll say like hey, I haven't heard back from you in three days or a week, or I sent this two weeks ago just following up, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Getting those emails. You know, sometimes we think that like, oh, they just emailed me last week, it'll be fine, I'll get to them this week, and then things happen right, and then we start. So then we have to reevaluate like, okay, why didn't I get to that person and how can we adjust this? I love the settling for bare minimum, because when we get too busy and we stretch ourselves too thin, that's all we can handle. Yeah, exactly, we're in this business because it's so much fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Right, Like it's so exciting to be here and to be working with these people. Like you said, like the whole, this whole industry just loves being with people and creating those experiences and having that emotional connection that I think that's a huge sign. If we're not enjoying that anymore, we need to stop and rethink about how we're doing our business. I mean, most of us are in this because it's a passion of ours. There's something in it that we that ignites us, and the sad thing is, when people get burnt out, they quit. They don't quit because they don't enjoy their passion. They end up missing it or maybe restarting their business again down the line, but they quit because they didn't have the strategy in place for this right To avoid all that stress and then passively job searching.
Speaker 1:That one's just. That one makes me giggle because I remember at the I mean, I wasn't leaving my business because I was burnt out when I left the wedding business, but I do remember thinking like, okay, there's something that needs to shift here, because my heart wasn't, I wasn't in the same mindset anymore and I remember kind of going on Indeed and like I know Lessons.
Speaker 1:Like it's curious what else is going on in the world?
Speaker 2:right? Yeah, I would be like, oh, I like working. Or like honey book, are they hiring Like what's yeah For? Linkedin has alerts.
Speaker 1:They're like what you know wedding planning position your area.
Speaker 1:And now I'm like no, no, no, yeah, exactly, yeah, no, I think that those, those are three great ones and again, I think a lot of us can probably relate to that. So if you're thinking, you know, if you're listening in and you're like, oh man, you know what my response time hasn't been great, lean in because we're gonna we're gonna get into some more juicy details here. So when we realize that we have burnt out ahead of us, right, like maybe some of the people again they're listening in they're like, yep, I can relate too. What are some of the things that maybe we can do, or what's the first thing that we should do to make a change, to kind of shift ourselves out of that and and focus more on our passion?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So something that I like to do that really helps me, helps future me, is create templates. It can be for anything, so like an email, if I find that I'm responding the same, I just create a template and then I put it in maybe my project management tool or my CRM, so it's less energy when somebody does come up with a question or I have to reach out to someone, like it's just, it's a great, great way. Same with, like social media you can create little graphics, social media graphics, and have that as a template.
Speaker 2:And a big thing that I would recommend is taking breaks and I know it's hard as an entrepreneur, because there was a time when I was working from like 9 am to 9 or 10 pm, just because I felt like if I wasn't working then I wasn't progressing. So just making sure that, hey, give yourself the weekend, don't do any work, you can completely turn up to technology. I remember after I started my business, my husband and I we went somewhere. We didn't take technology and it was the most refreshing thing I felt. It was the first time I was away, I didn't get any notifications, and it healed my burnout. For a little bit. I was like, oh my gosh, this is great.
Speaker 2:So not only taking breaks, but making sure that you're okay with it and making sure, like if you have stuff that you need to do that you might forget about it. Put it down in your project management tool or a planner or something, so that way you can free up some brain space and not feel that overwhelm of oh my gosh, I have to remember to do this, mm-hmm, yeah. And then also outsourcing, if you can. I know that that I'm. It can be hard, but it's a great way to make sure that things are still running. In the background. I was listening to one of your podcasts, nora the yeah, yeah with rocket, yeah, so she talks a lot about automations and like.
Speaker 2:Those are great way to have automations running in the backgrounds, to have things still running when you aren't physically doing it. So those are great ways to help prevent burnout.
Speaker 1:There's been so many times where I will go to. I do it with my podcasting. So I sent Caitlin an email that had an outline of questions. I'm going to ask her and I copy and paste that same email to all of my podcasts. Sorry, caitlin, it's not nourishing, it's okay. I go in and I, you know, I change out the questions and the topic and the time of the pub, but it's a template so I don't have to rethink how I'm going to write outline to you every single time. And a lot of these templates you can drop into a CRM or something like that if you have one. But it's something that I noticed I was doing even when I was a wedding planner. Certain emails I'd be like you know what I?
Speaker 1:just wrote an email very similar to this one. I'm going to go and copy and paste it and just customize it to that person. And I think a lot of people worry that you start feeling a little too like, you start sounding automated, you start sounding like that robot, but you have to remember that you're the one who wrote the original one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's all coming from your voice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, something that I like to do to prevent that is, I like to make, at least in the beginning, some sort of custom thing, so for networking, if I'm reaching out to them after an event or something, I'll put in hey, I love learning about this part of your business. Or I loved how you talked about how you're from this state, because I went there for school or something, so something where you can relate and that they know. Hey, this isn't automated, but which will take time and is a bit more energy, but it's so much it lets the person know that, hey, they're thinking of me and this isn't automated, even though it kind of is Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh gosh, I could go down a rabbit hole with that, because I mean, when it comes to networking events and things like that, you know, bring a pen or a notepad so you guys can jot down the important information you hear about people so you don't forget when you get home. But I also love that you were saying to plan ahead, because we were just talking about how yesterday was a holiday and how we both really wanted it to be a holiday for ourselves. But then we're thinking about work and right, and so if, if I had actually taken the time to say, okay, monday I'm not working, like that's not going to happen, I would have been able to plan ahead and not felt that pole of my laptop yelling at me come answer emails. But I was, and you know I wouldn't have been working till 10 o'clock last night. So there's a few things even here I can, you know, do a little bit better on my own. But I always say, if you plan ahead, you're going to save yourself so much time in the future. And planning those moments I mean, caitlin, I love that you said you were able to unplug and just not have any notifications or anything like that.
Speaker 1:And I was just reading. I just finished. It's been like a year of me reading this book. I'm an audible person. I don't read like like tangible books. I'm trying to be better about it. I just finished reading how are you really?
Speaker 1:By Jenna Kutcher, and and one of the things towards the end of the book that she talks about is how they go on vacation. I think they went to Hawaii before they had their kids and it took her like a good 24 hours to really put it all away. Yeah, that's how I was. So the more that you implement, you know, maybe a 24 hour refresh, right, and be able to recharge your creative batteries per se and just have the notifications off, I think that that would be. That's just so wonderful to plan ahead. Maybe it's like once a, you know, twice a month or something like that, even just to start. No, I love that. I think that's great. All right, so it's so much good information here. Okay, so we and then you start talking about outsourcing, which goes right into my next question, which are there any tools that can we can lean into to support, support our passion rather than, rather than, having our business run us? How can we have our business work for us?
Speaker 2:So I would really recommend some sort of project management tool. I really like Trello because I can visually see where clients are in my workflow. Or just like random tasks. I can visually see that it's an app. If I'm at the grocery store, I'm like, hey, I just, like I was mentioning earlier, I got to get that mental load off my plate, so I just put it in on the app and then I'm done with it. So some sort of project management tool where everything can be in one spot and you can have your to-do list, you can have everything there. And then some sort of automation thing, kind of just what Nora was saying in her episode have automations running in the background so things are happening while you're not actively doing it. So for like your CRM, for, let's say, honey Book, if somebody, you get an inquiry, you can have it. So emails are automatically sent after, or at least a template can be like automatically added as a task, and then you can review it and edit it and then send it. So you don't have to go in and find all of that for you, it's just ready, edit, send. So and then Google Calendar, I think, is another great tool to implement to help you with time management.
Speaker 2:I struggled with this when I first started my business. I tried to do time blocking, but I was very, very specific. I was like, from this time to this time I'm going to work on this task. And then, when it would go over, when I was like, oh, this task is taking way longer than I was expecting I would be like, and then my whole schedule was messed up, I would be like I'm not nearly as productive as I was thinking. And then I gave up. So I learned from my mistake and was like, hey, I'm going to be more broad and just I'm going to work on this project or this client work, or just blocking out time for my business so I can really devote that time to my business. So that helps me be able to take breaks and to know like, hey, I did what I could. I scheduled out everything so that way on Saturdays I no longer have to do admin work, I can relax. Yeah, so those are my tools.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think having white space in your day like time blocked as well like that buffer space, because there's always like a phone call that derails you or you're saying a project, you know a task that ends up taking longer than you think. Something that I recently did because my business is kind of twofold. I work on the business Well, I think everybody says you work on your business, like the structure of your business, your finances, your social media game, like all of that and then you actually have your client work. So you have the. You know if you're playing or you're doing designs, if you're a DJ, you're putting together playlists, like all these different things that you're doing for your clients.
Speaker 1:I've actually split up my day so that the first part of the day I'm working on my business and the second part of the day I'm working for my clients, and then I do have some white space that I've incorporated in case something goes over, and that's really been helpful. It's something. It's a shift I made recently, because it was all blurred together and it gets confusing and then you're like, oh, I got nothing done because you just got like little, bite sized pieces of everything. So I love that. I actually I'm using Trello right now for my renovation. Oh, love that. So I'm like okay, here's every room. Here's the box for everything. Oh, that's such a good idea yeah.
Speaker 1:And I like I upload all of the receipts for everything so I know where it all is and what's been paid. And so Trello has been awesome in that way for me personally, but I have used it for business project management in the past. And then I know Honeybook is huge, that we use that when I was a wedding planner and everyone knows there's other CRMs too. There's, you know, there's Dubzato and Isle planner, all of these other ones. But Honeybook is kind of a nice umbrella that covers pretty much what anybody would need, which is great. These are great tools. I definitely use them all. I also like because I use a Calimby. I actually I have Dubzato, so I'm going to be switching over all of my scheduling over to Dubzato. But Honeybook has that too. And you had mentioned like, have your business working for you in the background. I'll get alerts that people have like signed up to talk to me all the time and I'm like, oh, perfect, I didn't have to have a conversation about where this is going to happen, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, or go through that back and forth. Yeah, like I love Calimby.
Speaker 1:Is Wednesday good for you? No, I have dadada that day.
Speaker 2:I know.
Speaker 1:Friday at one, Like no, I can't do that and yeah, it just ends up being this, so something came up and I have to reschedule.
Speaker 2:Does this time they have to do the whole thing over again, right?
Speaker 1:Right yeah. So if you have done or reissued regularly, I do have time to share all the information. All right. Well, I'm curious because I love hearing stories like real time things that have happened. Do you have any personal stories, whether it's you or a client or like a peer in the industry, who has used one of these tools and found success out of it that, like maybe they just felt like the world was no longer on their shoulders.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I have my own. Actually, where I was super burnt out and I had used Trello before, but not nearly to the extent that I do now I just kind of used it for like little to do list, but now I have, like I have the pro plans and now I have automations running in the background and I, you know, I just kind of like what I was saying earlier. I was so overwhelmed and so like, oh my gosh, there's so much I have to remember. So I really utilized Trello for my templates and to have to have like a storing area. And then one of my clients I introduced her to Trello and I really like Trello because it's it's user friendly more than user friendly project management tools for people who are less tech savvy.
Speaker 2:So I was like here's the starter one. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I love the templates. I think very helpful.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so she just loved it. She's very much like she's an ideal lady. She's like, oh, I want to do this, this, this, this. And so it helps her plan how to get from point A to point B, which I helped her with too, but it was really easy for her to see okay, this is what I have to do next. Like after she I think she was a course creator but she was like after I create this, then I have to do this and then this. So it really helped her kind of visually see and get way less overwhelmed and way less stressed. So I love.
Speaker 1:Trello yeah, I love that. What a way to goal plan we talked about that where, like, you want to look at. Okay, this is where you are, this is where you want to be. What are the steps that you take and to be able to drop it into a Trello board and just kind of follow your own progress and make sure that you're like celebrating those wins along the way.
Speaker 1:Yes, so much fun, so just like it right. It's like checking off or like crossing off things on a to-do list, except in a more impactful fashion. I think that's awesome, very cool, all right. Well, it is time to go into some more. I guess the fast Q I call it fast Q and A. It's not really fast, it's the same, but it's maybe a little bit more personal and if you're ready, we can get into that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Awesome, okay. So, caitlin, what is the last thing that you bought for your business?
Speaker 2:I think it was this microphone actually, I think, yeah, I got it a few weeks ago and I was like I've been doing more podcasts and networking and meetings and I was like let me not use my AirPods for yeah, so I love it. It makes my setup look fancier, so makes me feel good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, hey, well, you send me the link, because mine is like it died, so yeah, and mine was like really big and bulky, so I've been looking for one. So if you love it, send me the link, that's all Okay, I will. I told you we got a little more personal on this side. I love it and are you currently binging anything like maybe reading something or a Netflix show, or maybe you've got something that you could just have like on replay on your playlist?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so actually my husband and I we binge watched the Big Bang Theory last year. I think oh fun, and so we started. This past weekend we started Young Sheldon on Netflix, so that Isn't it the last?
Speaker 1:it's the last season.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they just yeah.
Speaker 1:I've never watched it, I'm just, I just know that for some reason.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's so funny and it's such a nice way to turn my brain off and we've been working looking for a new show to binge watch, so we started it this weekend and it has been really nice to to watch, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, we love Big Bang Theory, so maybe that's something we should look into.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love it, cause then, oh, like things will come up and be like oh, I remember that from that episode.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like it's a true spin off.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's so fun yeah.
Speaker 1:Love it. Very cool If we are sitting across the table from each other one year from today and we're popping a bottle of champagne in your honor. What would we be celebrating?
Speaker 2:I would love to celebrate becoming a Honey Book Pro.
Speaker 1:That is one of my goals.
Speaker 2:I'm an episode specialist, but Honey Book Pro, I just I love them. They're so cool and hopefully, one year from now, I'll be certified Honey Book Pro. And then also maybe I want to start selling digital products and digital templates, so, for people who can't afford to outsource, they can just buy it and then implement it and customize it for themselves. So those two things.
Speaker 1:Very cool. Yes, definitely something to pop a bottle for. And, caitlin, can you tell our listeners where they can find you? And if you have anything fun coming up, feel free to share.
Speaker 2:Yes, so you can find me on Instagram at virtually vitalva, and I was recently on a podcast I think it should be airing soon, the Gold Biz podcast, so you can listen to my episode there. I kind of talk about something similar, more about automations, and then I have a few things coming up, but I'm not sure if I can share them yet.
Speaker 1:So I'll be posting about it on.
Speaker 2:Instagram and then a YouTube channel is in the works to have how-to tutorials and everything.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that. I know you just sent me a bunch of YouTube videos. It's not you, but it was very helpful, so I'm sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's what I want to do, yeah to do something similar. That would be a good thing.
Speaker 1:Well, this is great. I will make sure to link all those things in the show notes so everybody can follow you.
Speaker 1:Again, she's for hire, so reach out, you guys are keeping the burnout and you were like I don't know what to do. Next, reach out to Caitlin. She's, I mean, especially. I know a lot of our listeners use Honey Book, so she's proficient for sure. So thank you, caitlin. So much for you know. Just, I think, number one making us aware of what we should be looking for, to make sure that we're not going to lose our minds and drop our passions. And then for being our safety net too. So we appreciate you so much, thank you.