Why I Give Upcoming Vendors A Chance
So I recently reached 11,000 real followers on my Instagram account 😲😲 and I marvel at how far I have come since September 2014 that I opened an account on Instagram. God be praised 🙏🙏 because it has not been easy.
Many people/staff/mentors always wonder why I give upcoming vendors a chance to prove themselves. This is my reason:
When I eventually decided that I wanted to be a wedding planner, I honestly did not have the means to pay for training. So I read everything I could on weddings and was advertising vigorously on every platform there was. From V-connect to Nairaland to Facebook to BBM and virtually every platform available then.
The prayer for any upcoming business person is to get clients/customers but believe me when I tell you that it was hell, at least for me.
After many months of rigorous advertisement, one beautiful day, a bride-to-be called me. I was super excited and I had already started thinking up all the things I wanted do to make the wedding super beautiful. She had seen some of my adverts on some platforms and was interested in hiring our services.
Then she asked for our Instagram handle. Being a JJC (Johnny Just Come) on Instagram and very naive about the power of IG then, I happily gave her my handle. It was a very proud moment for me that I was on the Instagram platform at the time.
So imagine my disappointment when she called some minutes later to tell me that she had gone through my page and that I didn’t have enough followers to make her wedding trend!😲😲😲 In that moment, I could swear that l felt my whole world crumbling down. I could feel my heart literally break into a thousand pieces.
To think that I had been rigorously advertising and this is what my potential clients thought of my brand was totally heart-wrenching.
I don’t think I have ever felt that heartbroken before (business wise). And here I was, feeling like a champion that I at least owned an Instagram handle.
Deep sigh… I was deeply affected by this and my self esteem dropped to Zero. It suddenly felt like I didn’t know what I was doing. I lost motivation. I was discouraged. I felt lost.
Then on one of those days I was feeling down, I said to myself I had two choices. The first choice was to remain down and do nothing about it.The second? To get up and prove not only to myself but to everyone who had ever doubted me or my abilities that I had what it took to become an exceptional wedding planner. I chose the latter.
It was during this period that I made up my mind to always give upcoming vendors a chance to prove themselves before writing them off. I wasn’t going to judge based on the number of instagram followers they had because if my very first set of clients did not give me a chance, I won’t be where I am today. And even though, I am not where I want to be yet, I am sure that I am gradually getting there.
I fought low self esteem for a long time and ventured into other businesses after that but I somehow pulled through that terrible phase and here I am here today.
Lessons learnt
* It gets better. Dear upcoming vendor, keep pushing, it gets better I promise.
* People will always have something to say and it won’t always be positive. So sometimes, you have to learn how to deal with it. We are responsible for our own success and happiness. Don’t let a bad remark keep you down for long.
* Be mindful of what you say to others. If I don’t have anything good or encouraging to say then I just keep quiet.
* I have learnt to give upcoming vendors a chance, it is only by giving them a chance that they get to build themselves to be the best that they can be. Some clients took a chance on me when I was upcoming as well.
* Dear clients, not all upcoming vendors are terrible, dear upcoming vendor, strive to be the best at what you do and my fellow planners,let us give these upcoming vendors a chance as well.
* Dear Vendors, please work on yourselves and services. Work on your social media pages, especially Instagram. As sad as it is, we get alot of our clients through this medium and it is important that they can see your works there. Strive to be the best there is.
May God help us all.
You know I love you
XOXO Your Favourite Planner
Olamide~ The Heiress