Grit, determination and plain hard work!

I often get asked the question “If I take a wedding planner course will I be able to make a living?” and the other popular one is “Will I get clients if I take a wedding planning course?” There is no simple answer to this question. Of course to be successful in any industry or business you need to have undertaken the relevant training and education. You need to be happy to constantly attend workshops and research your market place for better ways to do hone your craft, but will all this education guarantee you a successful business or a job at the end of it. Probably not.

I can almost hear you all gasping in shock and horror at what I’ve just said, but it was really only this weekend that the light dawned and I realised how to answer this question. As you may or may not know, my daughter Summer, is an aspiring figure skater so I often find myself shivering my backside off at a freezing cold ice rink from about 6.00am every morning till about 8.30am and that’s just the start of it. She is only 11 years old but she already knows what she wants to do when she is older. There is no question in her mind that she is going to become the next Olympic Champion in ladies figure skating. What has this got to do with being a successful wedding planner – everything. Because at 11 years old my daughter understands that it doesn’t matter how many lessons she has with her coach or how many times she shows up at the rink, she needs to really want it to succeed. She needs to put in the hard yards and not give up when the going gets tough. She needs to be prepared to give up play dates with her friends in order to train and go to bed early so she can get up for training in the morning. It is grit, determination and plain hard work that is going to help her achieve her goal mixed, with a dash of natural talent. As I sat watching my daughter skate on Friday morning I couldn’t help but admire her and think what a role model she is for anyone who is aspiring to be something in their life.

Talent on its own won’t get you anywhere. You can be the most creative person alive, but if you aren’t willing to put in the hard graft you won’t succeed. If you aren’t prepared to knock on a few doors, make some phone calls every day and put yourself out there, how can you expect to win. It’s that simple. It doesn’t matter that you can create the most spectacular looking event or gorgeous table centre piece, if you aren’t prepared to do it tough and really throw your heart and soul into what you are doing, you will be very lucky to have that elusive successful business.

The moral of this story is that we can all learn from my 11 year old daughter – even me. If she is prepared to work hard and fight for what she wants at her tender age and not expect to have it handed to her on a plate, then we should take a leaf out of her book.

My new recipe for success is a pinch of talent, a dash of motivation, a spoonful of determation, a dollop of grit, a dusting of passion and a dirty great big fistful of hard work!