Seasoned Professionals 25 years of life lessonsExperience is one of life's greatest teachers. Read on as five industry pros highlight the toughest lessons learned in the course of their distinguished careers.Being in the wedding planning business has taught me many lessons. Without a mentor or a teacher when I started, I made many mistakes. It felt like I had to learn everything the hard way. Some of these lessons were extremely hard, while others were simply tweaks in processes to get me back on track. Some lessons may have been much easier if someone had shared their journey with me—if I’d had a mentor to help with the pitfalls, showing me the things to do and not to do, and sharing ideas to embrace. Since I am celebrating 25 years in business, I wanted to share some of my lessons and also important lessons learned by some of my wedding planner colleagues. Though there are many lessons, here are our biggest challenges that created our greatest business lessons.Understanding financesWhen I first started in business, I was still employed full-time while working my wedding business on a part-time basis. Though I was steadily booking weddings, I had no idea of my expenses or actual income. Working alone in my business, I did not take the time to track them, as booking weddings was my goal.When I left my full-time job to pursue wedding planning as a full-time business, I quickly learned that I had to do things differently to have a profitable business that supported my lifestyle. At a minimum, I needed to know my annual expenses, annual income, and my income goal. Knowing these helped determine how much business I needed to bring in to meet my financial goals, make a profit, and make sound business decisions.Even though she knew about her finances, Catherine Katz, MWP™, and owner of Cherished Celebrations in North Carolina learned early in her business that she could not always make a decision about her business based solely on the money. “Yes, we are all in business to make money, but just because saying, ‘Yes,’ will give me a big paycheck does not mean that it is a benefit to me to do so,” says Katz. “I have learned to balance the financial needs of my business with my personal needs and that makes me happier and more successful.”Comparison—the thief of joy, creativity, customers, incomeWhen Kawania Wooten, CMP™, and owner of Howerton+Wooten Events in Maryland, started her business nine years ago, she modeled it after other planners in the area. The logo, web design, service packages, and blog posts felt similar to other planners. Kawania thought, “Why reinvent the wheel if these other event planning companies are already doing it well. I’ll just do what they do!” She soon realized that she could not have been more wrong. “I quickly figured out that I was stifling my creativity. There was nothing that differentiated my company from everyone else's, and I was not booking business.” After realizing her mistake, she spent quality time working on a strategic plan that includes a core client profile. From there, she was able to create a marketing plan, a website, and a logo that was the perfect fit for her company’s brand.Create a strong brandTen years ago, Sylvia Miller and her business partner started M&M Creative Events in Landover, Md. They learned the importance of building and investing in a strong brand identify for their business. In the excitement of starting the business, they ordered stock business cards that were popular and used by several other planners. Their cards looked just like everyone else’s. Additionally, to save money, they created and designed their own website, but it did not truly represent their brand. After learning about the importance of branding, they quickly hired professionals to design their brand. “If we had it to do over again, we would have certainly invested in our business when we started and hired a branding strategist,” says Miller. We wasted so much money on marketing material that did not fit our brand.Build strong relationshipsJacqueline Vazquez, MWP™, and owner of Lifetime Events by Jacqueline in Scarsdale, N.Y., shares that one of her major lessons learned in 10 years of business is the importance of building relationships in the industry. These relationships are just as important as building your market, brand, and processes for your company. She believes that by building relationships, you learn, grow, and become part of a community within the industry. “These relationships are more about respecting and supporting each other than about competition,” she says.Take care of yourselfPerhaps one of the most important lessons is that, in spite of the daily business and family demands on my time, I learned how to make the time to take care of me. I have reduced my stress by relaxing, resting, and finding things to do that bring me joy. Learning to give to ourselves so that we can give to others is one of the biggest and most important lessons we can learn. WPM__Shelby Tuck-Horton, MWP™, Exquisite Expressions and Events, Mitchellville, Md.