You're not interviewing me. I'm interviewing you. Since Kunal doesn't like to talk about himself. Yeah, it's not my thing. Yeah, it's not his thing. So I will tell you a little bit about Kunal. He's a destination wedding planner and has been for about a decade. Tell them how you got into the wedding industry?
I have no clue. To be honest. I actually stumbled upon it. I feel but it's been a journey where we've been doing destination weddings around the world and never looked back since then. So yeah, I would say it's one of those things I didn't plan but now I plan for living.
What's been your most favorite destination so far? Well, one
of them has to be Baku, Azerbaijan. It's, it's close to Georgia or or say the Middle East region in general. It's basically within the United States. No.
Okay. Let's be clear, we're talking about a different effing country together. Okay.
Let's just say Azerbaijan as part of Eurasia, where Asia meets Europe in general. So it's like close to Turkey. Okay, in the middle of the world, so to speak,
which we met in Turkey at a conference. Oh, yeah. Yes. Speaking out
on Talia beautiful place and great event,
the beach is really pretty, just if you go in there winter time, make sure you preorder your air condition. Because as Americans, we live our air condition. Yeah. So planning destination weddings, let's get a little bit more granular with that, because we know all the templates and all the time that it takes, but just describe like beginning to end on the guest side. And then on the couples side, what you all are managing.
Well, let's start with a couple of side because that's your first interaction. And that's how everything starts as a project. So you got to manage and understand what the needs of the client is, I think that's paramount to understand what the expectations or the overall personalities of the couple is and how you want to depict that in the wedding. So I think to get an a clearer understanding of what they're looking at what kind of why they're looking at what kind of wedding is is very crucial to understand on the basis of which you chart the map out to see how you want to bring it together by bringing the right partners, looking in the right destinations. And then kind of like scouting and taking it step by step to reach the end goal of making sure you execute it to the tee as far as what their expectations are. That's the crucial part. Remember, guests five perspective. It's like it's like a carnival any Indian wedding, so to speak, is that Festival? It's like a festival festival. Yeah, it's like a three four day night Festival Gala, where it's like back to back. Everything's taken care of you're sponsored. It's, it's, it's quite a celebration. And I think it's part of the social fabric in India, where it's a very cultural thing to have those kind of weddings and growing up, you always have that corpus or a fund called a wedding fund from both the families or families in general. And it's a it's a big celebration of two people, two families, two cultures coming together and having a great union so to speak.
And how many languages do you speak for
learning the first but for typically, Portuguese nah, a bit of corny absolutely learning that so there's English as Hindi or Sanskrit, and there's a bit of Spanish, so I would say qualify a bit of Spanish.
Okay, well, I speak one and I use now
we live in a world where translator or Duolingo works.
Okay, but on the guest management side, when you have two to 300 people traveling for a destination wedding. How do you all manage all of the questions?
Well, firstly, our group sizes were like 400 503 COVID. Those are the big fat Indian weddings and I think during COVID or post COVID, they've gone on a diet so we call them the skinny weddings, or the weddings on a diet so to speak, but to 300 people to 300 people well, we just Indians in general are very in demand. We are very, very spoiled when it comes to hospitality and the kind of cultures we have in general or grown up to. So from that perspective, we, we try to foresee and again, post COVID, we understood there are these new restrictions of COVID testing, there's entry regulations. So we try to anticipate and pieces, make sure that we get everything covered. And before they even ask, we just throw it out there in terms of a website, or the messages or a simple FAQ section, which gives them everything that they need to know before planning for the wedding to be part of it.
So you're from India, but you don't do weddings in India. Why?
Well, we started our journey in India soon realize that India as a market is very saturated, there are very few limited destiny, like cities or destinations, which really work and the kind of client has we handled. So we positioned ourselves to do more destination weddings across the world. And that's how we opened up an office in Azerbaijan after a few weddings there. We have now us were our co founder, my sister in law is and now we've opened up an office in Portugal, which is our first EU base. And we like curating or doing destination weddings, because it gives us the the opportunity to open up new countries and create new experiences for our clients and couples. So from that perspective, we love the challenge of doing something different at every wedding. And again, that speaks of how we want to position ourselves and not too much work or any work in India, so to speak.
So you've been to the US before, but you've never been to Nashville. And you've been interning and observing what is like the number one thing, it observing like some of our meetings and zooms where you're like, oh, my gosh, it is so different from like, Europe, or like Nashville, other than like, people harvest a year in advance. And like, their weddings are like, three, three months. I mean, we've planned weddings and events in two weeks, we don't advise it. I don't know if I would ever do that again. But I know that that was like a shock factor. But what was like the number one thing where you're like this is so different?
Well, I think each couple and families are different in many regards. But the approach I think is very different when it comes to a country specific or the American planners versus European or say the Asian planners from that perspective, you're right one of them is a process oriented, a little more time bound here, I would say where things start one year in advance, as compared to the turnaround time that we generally look at is around five to six months for a destination wedding, predominantly. And we see that decreasing more and more with the changing dynamic times. But having said that, I think it's been a great experience to see the difference approach of how what methodology you follow and the kinds of tools you have, and how you guide the clients into that perspective. So it's a very different learning, very different to what we do, where it's very like, just just doing what the client wants and understanding and giving them options and variety. Whereas here, I think it's more rigid in saying this is what is possible. That's that's about it, there is no way around it. And I think it's just the approach and the mentality. And every client or every region in general looks at it differently.
What's so different and unique about your company.
Well, we look for unchartered destinations or unique destinations, which really motivates us to defy the odds, go to a new country, understand the ecosystem and bring together experiential wedding for couples and clients.
So I'll break it down for you on a fourth grade level. What that really means is they go to like bfhi, where there's never been a wedding or there's never been an Indian wedding. And they completely create this system within a city or a country, which is not easy. Working on private islands, people are like NyQuil into your suitcase. And it's not that easy. You are so limited to the resources and you're like learning all these new things. And while destination weddings are fun. There's nothing
there's nothing fun about it for the guest, I guess of course, but yeah, it depends on what perspective you're looking at.
Okay, so why we're Why do you stay in wedding wedding planning?
I think it's a bastion of the fun or the realization or the rewarding feeling when everything goes or comes together. And you have a couple which looks at you and says thank you for everything. I think that's the reward which we look forward to as planners.
So it means he's blue, a little blue. Tell him about true colors. I have always are and what has been your experience with the methodology?
Well, it's been a very, very interesting realization. I'm an orange 23 followed by I think a blue and then green and then gold. So Oh, it's been a very new experience to understand this new concept of true colors. It's like just trying to implement that into everyday life and see how it pans out. So it's interesting
if you could go back into like to your very first destination wedding and tell your younger self something. Yeah. What would you tell yourself?
Learn to say no.
Oh, that's an excellent one good job.
We learn it very late in life. But nevertheless, it's a lesson. The sooner you learn it, the better it is for
you. Because we want to say yes, and we want to make people happy. But at what cost? Right. You can't make everybody happy. And some people are so insatiable. It's impossible to make everyone happy. True. But yeah, just say no. In a really nice way.
Yep. No means no.
No, right now. No, it means no, right now, right now. It's really what that means. What is the biggest opportunity that you've learned about yourself? Like the biggest aha moment? Like, have you had any of those moments?
Well, yes, of course, there are many aha moments. And that's how life should be there should be these constant reminders and aha moments to make yourself believe that living a normal life and not a perfect life
was the craziest thing that's ever happened to you. Wow. Well, one is, of course. That's a tricky one. I get this question all the time. It was September 11, on a Friday, and it was a Christian singer who was getting married. And the bride and greenware like the sweetest, most Christian, amazing couple, the family. Like I just loved them. And she had recently gone to Bali, and for like a summer camp to help deaf kids learn how to sing. And she came back in wanting to do this whole barley inspired wedding. And she wanted her to do it on September 11, mainly because of her tour schedule. But that's it was shortly after 911. And so many people were like, like, our vendors are like, why would she choose that day. And she's like, because I want I want people to think happy things too. Like something bad happens every day of our life. But you have to think of the good things, not always the bad things that we learn and grow from them. We had a backup rain plan because it was half indoor, half outdoor and it had never rained at a wedding. In 12 years. Of all the outdoor weddings that I ever did my whole career, it never rained. But on this Friday, September 11, there was zero chance rain, Z row. On Friday at 6:02pm. The sky opened up, right when I went to send my bride down the aisle. And oh my god, I was so upset. And she just looked at me and I was like, put her back in the bride's room. And I'm like, It's okay. It was almost like she was consoling me because I couldn't like keep it together. And then I look outside and my girls are radio Amin are lucky and just raining. I'm like No shit. Like, it wasn't just raining a little bit. It was like coming down. So people stood up, put their chair over their head, like it's an umbrella and all the musicians. And there were a lot of music instruments out there because she is in music. And so they're all like packing up and scurrying. And I told the girls to move everybody under the tent, and like get everybody under the tent. They can get married under the tent. Well, everybody sit at their table. Thank God, we had a seating chart. Anyway, fast forward. It was a fiasco, but it worked out. And then at the toast, her dad stood up, and was like, it's been singing from stage like all of our life, the word of God. Again, they're very Christian. And he's like, the rain to us is the most beautiful thing because it's God's tears for blessing their marriage. There's a reason for everything. Like I was so upset, like, what could I have done to prevent it? And we're so hard on ourselves, like, it's not your fault as if it rains. Like it's all in how you react, and how you're professional and you communicate with everybody, which Thank God, we have radios. And you tell all of your vendors like hey, this is what's happening. Like, move up, appetizers, get the, you know, again, it's all in how you handle it. But the moral of the story is like, it's the most memorable thing for me to remember. Like, it's not about you, and you're not in control. And sometimes that was a really good thing for the family. And everyone got it. Okay. Why is it so important? For a wedding planner, destination wedding planner to go to the venue or to the island or to the city or to the country prior to before really committing to a job? It's not like we want to go take a free vacation. You're okay, this is not a vacation. But why is it so important?
Well, it's like the time you're not convinced of the destination or the people or the hotel or the venue. It's difficult to sell it across the table. So as planners, I think we set ourselves a standard, a benchmark to how and what kind of weddings do we want to deliver what kind of the ordinance we want? work with. So till the time we understand it on ground, understand the ecosystem understand, okay, who are the people and the partners we can rely on? What are the infrastructure? What are the hospitality? Like, can we get Indian food can we get and do small things, which really make a lot of difference and the end goal and the end result of a wedding, which a client may not anticipate. But as wedding planners, that's our responsibility to anticipate how the destination, although when you would pan out so ends, it's very important to do the due diligence at every venue and every destination that you possibly can. Because once you believe in it as a destination, you carry that conviction on the table to bring that value to say, I can do it, and I've seen it, and I've been there, which is an extra USP, which always helps to build that confidence in a client, who's never been to that country for that instance.
And the other option is creating a relationship with a local planner that is that knows what they're doing that has experience there and do a collaboration, which happens often, right,
exactly. I think we live in a day and age where we as planners definitely believe in knowledge sharing and collaboration. I think that's the bigger goal, I think one of the days where people can be working as individual units, the bigger goal is to synergize and putting our efforts together and collaboratively. And very few people who believe in it. But I think it's a bigger picture and takes us longer and better or a bigger goal at that achievement.
If we put it together, it would rock your world. In terms of like,
I remember when I playing went to New York with this designer, and he's like, Wait, we have to schedule a phone call. What do you mean, you don't answer your phone? And what do you mean, you live in Nashville? And we're going to do this destination thing through this thing called Dropbox and Google Drive. And I'm like, Yeah, I'll teach you how to use it. But like you, I know, you guys primarily operate at a Google Drive. Why is it so important to do that?
Well, I think it's just a process oriented approach we have and I think we live in a day and age where technology really facilitates us in using a lot of tools to simplify the back and forth with the client. And I think having one file and letting everybody have live access to it, and it cannot get deleted, or it cannot get messed up. Because it's it's a proper system, then you can review and you can you can, you can never, or you can restore it to the previous version. For that matter, I just feel it gives us more confidence to be more productive. I think the point is being productive of not repeating those same mistakes are those things where we can be more efficient to the man hours that go in because at the end of the day, we are not selling a product, we're selling a service, which requires manners and efficiency, hence, it just makes it better.
So in the US, we would say it's not a service, it's a product, because it's just the education and what people don't value its value ever since Pinterest came out, it's valued so much more. But it's like if you drive a Porsche, or BMW or Lamborghini, and you go to the dealership, and you get your brake service, or something done at the dealership, and it's out of warranty, you're gonna see on your bill, the brakes, the screws, the service, the labor, the tax, like all these things, and you don't question it, you want to drive off the lot. So you drove off the line. Or if you go to like the best hamburger place in town, you pay for that. And you don't say, Oh, they don't charge you $1 For mayonnaise, $1 for ketchup $1 For mustard, $1 for tomato and onions and lettuce and pickles. And it doesn't work like that. But in wedding planning and within the events industry, people think they can come in and pick and choose like, yes, I want this. No, I don't it doesn't work like that, especially with experienced planners who are well traveled. And so have you always been full service, or it's something that you gradually worked into?
No, I think since the inception, we've got a full service, a one stop shop. I think that made it easier for us to understand from the start go, what the expectations and how we want to drive the project or the client and understand how we want to curate an experience. It's we live in a day and age where we've been to the best of weddings, best of news, special destinations, best decor. But what separates one reading from another is the hospitality or the experience that we're able to cultivate or curate for those couples. Just thinking out of the box solutions or doing something different and then it's very seldom we get that opportunity with couples who empower us to say, You know what we believe in you give us the works. And here's a free hand to do so. So I think those are going to clients that motivate us to go that extra 10% More than the 100%. And we look for those kinds of days to say you know what you believed in us and here is what we deliver an exceptional wedding which goes goes as a memory not just for the couple, but for each and every guest and they go and talk about it. All right. Let's try Time is really precious. Time is money, girl.
Yeah, time is money when you're in the hustle of it. But as you get older and more experienced or if something unexpected comes up in your life, you realize that time is precious. And no matter how much money you have, or how much you work, you can always make more money which can buy your time back like that. You can buy a lot of things, but not your time, or everything else. That's MasterCard. But as a business owner, what do you do to make sure that you're staying present? When you're saying yes to something?
Well, the first and foremost is listen, listen to the client. Listen to your partner, listen to people around you. I think we live in a day and age and somebody brought this up beautifully. We live in a day and age where everybody lives or talks about success. Everybody's fixated with success, the true stories and how good life is. But very few people are talking about failures, the actual learnings where I think it's the failures that teach us the most. And I think it's it's important to take a chin up and say, You know what, every day is a learning process. At the end of the day, we are all humans, we are not perfect. And I think the goal at the end of the day, it should be to learn and adapt and be a better person every day. And I think that's easier said than done. But I think that makes sense to at least ethos that we follow as a company and myself, where we definitely try to listen to the needs, understand them. And embrace the knowledge and the tools that we have in today's day and age to adapt to being a better person or a better company. It's important to accept that there is a problem maybe, and how you can make it better. It could be a client, it could be something you learn and adapt constantly. But focus at the end of the day, it comes from listening. So I think that's, that's what we are our approaches in today's time now,
what inspires you to keep going every day,
happiness, positivity, happy people, happy wives. That's it. That's what inspires us in every realm of it. It's not always like that in weddings. There are the hiccups. There are the bumps, there are the good times there are the backgrounds. At the end of the day you as a planner has, in a comical way I'll call it a circus. It's a it's a big circus as a wedding. And you are a ring master as a planner to make sure that you bring together all these elements together. And sometimes somebody may not show up something something's may go wrong. But at the end of the day, you still have to put a happy face. Make sure everything comes together and just problem solve. Yeah, it's like the greatest showmen beautiful movie,
who I thought was a magician but then my team reminded me that he was Hugh Jackman, a ringleader. Circus. He wasn't a magician. That's a different job title. But yeah, watch the movie. If you haven't My God, it's my favorite movie.
Thank you email us and say what a movie love the
soundtrack. Like I listened to it at least twice a day. Usually you're obsessed. Yeah, I love it. I thought I was gonna die from COVID like legit die. I watched it over and over and over. We
don't mention that C word on the show. Okay, well,
just a few minutes ago, he was saying we don't talk about our failures in Abilene. I'm talking about the bad shit. If you've been listening or watching this podcast for a while you know that that's what we talk about the real shit. Not that not the surface shit. What have you learned since you've been here in Nashville? Yeah, he learned the word y'all in Nashville this past week.
It was fun. Y'all. Are y'all having a good time? Bless your heart mean may the force be with you?
What does bless your heart me? Do you know what that means?
It means is all the best may the force be with you? Or sarcasm?
Okay, most memorable like
takeaway? Hero on a mission? That's been a takeaway. Yeah, by Donald Miller.
He lives in Nashville and EO entrepreneur organization. He recently came out with a new book. I love his first book, y'all know, I'm not a good reader. But I get everything on Audible. And I've already listened to it. And I send it to you how long ago, a while ago, a while ago, months, more than six months ago. And you're just now able to really absorb it. Yeah, absorb it and like and I get it, right. It's like,
it's timing. It's everything is timing you when you have to be ready, and you have to accept it. You have to tell yourself and you say that there's a problem. If you believe that you are perfect and everything's good, you don't need this is totally fine. And that's
fine. You're never going to grow
true. But then that's that's your age, everybody's perspective how they want to handle their growth or they want to settle or not settled. And I think many times we are in a constant stage of being a victim and how we should turn into a hero and how we can turn towards having an objective and a meaning to life and its impact. Think how psychology comes to it. And there's a guy called Viktor Frankl who, who came up with this theory about meaning in general. And it's, it's fascinating because you're so used to Freud and other famous psychologists who came up with these theories. And it's, it makes sense. It adds up. And it's a science at the end of the day, it's the more and more you embrace it, and make sense of it and try to use it on day to day life. I think that's the true, actually part of it. One thing is we hear, but to listen is another thing everybody can hear. But to listen is another art.
Yeah. And he just kept saying, like, I need to make it until this date this state, which I totally understood, because it and I didn't think that it was like disrespectful or anything. It's just like, hey, here's something when you can get to it. And I just kept sending things and sending things. And then I'm like, Okay, I overwhelm people with stuff, I'm well aware of it that I just vomit information. And then people do nothing, because they're so overwhelmed. So true, within this day comes and then it's always something else. So what I would say is like, if you really want to get into something, you really want to make change, that if someone shares a tool with you put it on your calendar, even if it's in six months, you have to remind yourself, if you want a different outcome, you have to do something different. Right? Amen to that. What's your number one time suck social media, what are you doing about it, to not be such a time suck,
to not let it affect so much and not pay too much attention to it to focus on what you need to as an individual. I think I love the fact going back to writing stuff not even emailing or texting or anything, just take notes on a pen and paper to reinforce something which worked in old school theory, small things which go a long way. But I think our dependence on technology for the good or for the bad is, is something debatable but trying to spend as much as time away and trying to be more present with the people and the situation. Do you
set timers or restrictions on any of your social media apps?
Nobody keep a check on the screen time. And you follow a trend to say that are you improving or progressing or it's getting worse.
So my thing is, like, I know, it's it's fun, at least I look for the fun things. That's why I love reels and tick tock because I'm like looking for the dances. But my role is that if you're going to spend an hour a day, scrolling and consuming content, you have to double it on the other side to create the content because you have creators, and you have consumers people consuming the content, and then people creating the content and putting consistent content out there. And so if I'm going to scroll for an hour, that means I'm going to create content for at least two hours, like we're just doing right now. Yeah, I mean, we're this is creating content right now. I won't even tell you how long it took us to sit down and how many tapes we actually took to get started. You'll have to see the bloopers video for that. How do you manage your time you live out of a suitcase like we both really live out of a suitcase. And so everyone listening in Washington note like we Tom walk and I'm like super anal about it the only way we GSD and get shit done. Otherwise, I'm like, I don't even know where to start. Because there's so many things I could be doing. So what do you do? How do you manage your time in all these different time zones?
I think one is the recent income, like the introduction into calendars and how we need to kind of like put everything up there and kind of like time block stuff, something which is great to be more productive and understand what and how you want to prioritize your time and segment them into buckets, whether it be personal, whether it be work or whether it be people in general. So yeah, I think that's the start where it's becoming more organized,
which is exactly what I spoke about in Turkey when I first met you is like the buckets and just breaking it down into personal time. Which is you Tom, it doesn't matter. If you have kids, if you're married, whatever you still need you Tom which is like the gym time workout time. If you love to get your nails done, if you love to go to the spa like and you shouldn't feel bad doing those things. We need to wind down every business owner, every person who works hard needs to like wind down and if you don't have anything that you love, that's like the first wake up call of finding something that you do love because you can't just always work even if you love it and it doesn't feel like work. You've got to do something outside of work. And yes, I'm saying that you guys are hearing me. Now what do I do for fun? I hang out at the Apple store
or new things. I do it all tick tock. Yeah,
that's fun, right and like, but it serves many goals. It serves purposes because I want to get so many steps in per day, but do things that help you achieve your goals? And so it's like if you want to get 10,000 subsidy dancing and creating content is like three big Whammies in one. Yeah, that's perspective
each to its own. Do whatever makes you happy. At the end of the day. My mantra is Do whatever makes you happy. Be happy about it, just just enjoy it. And I think that's that's a smaller step, which goes a long way in the scheme of things.
So what's the most common myth that you hear people say about our industry that just, you cringe every time you hear it,
that we have a lot of fun. When we organize these great, lavish celebrations or around the world, and we behind the scenes, working our ass off to understand the destination, do a scout or Iraqi trip, people just feel it's all hunky dory. And it's all fun and flare happening. But little do they know the kind of stress and then, you know, we're handling emotions. It's not just any business, you're handling emotions of the people and not just one but 400 or 300 people. So you are carrying a lot of responsibility. And it is the most stressful job in the world for a reason. Right after the three main services of Army, Air Force and firemen. Wedding Planning is the fourth most stressful job and the reason and there's a very big reason for it, which people do not acknowledge, I would say, yeah, so we love it. We are troubleshooters, we could be a notch like a disaster management company. And so to speak, and take care of an entire country or a city if shit went down. But we we like to raise a hand up and say, Hey, we got this, we'll run the
ship from you. Like it is very rewarding at the end of it.
So is the circus monster rewarding? Yeah,
but an emotion. So we're learning about the emotion color wheel, for surface level, and how to go beneath the surface. Like what's one emotion that you feel that you spark every time like you wrap? You know, it's like one in the morning, two in the morning during and whenever you're done, and everybody's gone. And everything's torn down. I mean, are y'all the first in first out or the first and the last?
Never the first out for sure. I don't know what kind of business or weddings these guys do. So please be very careful. But the last man or women standing for sure you do it to please others. And that's what we do. And that's
what brings you happiness. It does. Not me fuck that. Because you cannot make everybody happy. And if you try to make everybody happy, and there's just no way. It's not real life.
It's not real live. But there are there is optimism. And there's hope. And then that's the faith that keeps us going. At the end of the day, we all can live by hope and make sure that whatever we do, keeps everybody happy. But it's like politics never works.
So the word hope is not actionable. So if you sit around hoping that means nothing is ever going to happen. You actually you actually have to be actionable to to GSD.
True. But when you can't action, there is hope to action. It's like you're stuck in an elevator. You can't action, but there's hope that somebody would come and rescue you to get your shit done and get you going. Sometimes we are hopeless. It's like a tornado outside of Nashville and you can't do anything despite the fact you want to go help others out. So you can be actionless. But there is always hope. And that hope has to be within you. Otherwise, if you're hopeless, and you're like just in despair, that's a different ballgame.
You go to a lot of conferences, when you're involved in a lot of networking groups, what are the pros and cons to joining some of these groups and these masterminds,
we believe Your vibe attracts your tribe. And for that very reason. Meeting the right people and exchanging ideas with them learning from their stories, their failures, is the best investment you can put into yourself in the wedding sphere. I think we all are this ecosystem is very, very diverse and huge. The network of the hoteliers, the destinations, the DMC is the Windows ventanas, etc. It's just all of us who know and could read a lot of people believe we read into people, we love to observe people we need to understand, okay, who's a surface level person and who's actually going to bring business. So from that perspective, these network all these platforms, they give us an opportunity to create those opportunities in business. I think it's just about sharing knowledge, collaborating and seeing, okay, I need you ever, I'll give you a call. And let's make it happen. And I think those are the kinds of facilitations which are needed in today's day and age where every minute matters and the client is very, has spoiled by choice. There's so much choice out there is controlled competition. So from that perspective, to know the right people at the right places, gives you an edge for sure. And it's how you curate and it speaks highly of what the kind of ethos or professional you bring to the table by telling them exactly what your expectations are, how you want it and how you both can work together as a team to create and generate a sustainable long term business plan
who is Kunal outside of work?
Wow, what Well, it's literally it's just been work all play. No play sorry. Hardly any play that healthy? No, not really. But I think that comes a eureka moment where you realize and I think that's the phase I'm going through, where the focus is just about realizing who canal truly was on the besides the wedding planning. So it's just that rediscovery plan that I used to love trekking, hiking, cycling, being very active on and being outdoors. Totally. So I think it's just rediscovering that phase and finding that spark within to say, wait a minute, did we really overcome it to work and our clients and our couples that now we need to reinvent the wheel and go back to finding who Canalis? So I think it's that phase or that shift in in our priorities, which is where I would say I'm at
what was your first strategy session when you got here?
So I think the first exercise was this truecolor exercise with this company and its colleagues and team members, which was just to understand the dynamics of why some people are struggling with deadlines versus some people are probably losing interest and how to kind of like, understand how the the chain or the entire team is looking like to fix in and have the leader take charge and say, okay, there is a issue, we need to talk to these people and understand what their true attractions or incentives are, and address the concerns based on the colors, which is diverse and dynamic.
But what causes you from going from having like work life balance, which is possible, to just back into completely work? And then how are you getting a handle on it? Like, when did you know like, Okay, this is out of hand, I'm only working constantly, I need to get back to the balance.
I think when you travel and the kind of travel that was I was clocking in the last two years, which was a lot of travel, I think living on suitcase and literal sense. I think you lose that momentum and that routine. And then when work takes over and it's busy, a lot of postponements, a lot of stress, schoolwork, it all hit us and made us realize that we need to be more hands on hence, I think somewhere that slip happened, where you cross over and you're like, Okay, this is all about work. This is the phase where it's all about work positioning, Portugal, office, etc, and so on. So somewhere there was a collateral damage, something had to give, and that was personal health priorities in general. Now, the realization at least has kicked in. So I'm lucky in that sense that there needs to be corrective measure. Now, before it's too late. And hence, we are very, very particular about the kind of projects we're picking up what kind of clients we're working with, and trying to be very, very, or personally being very careful about how you want to prioritize the team and its investment and its personal goals and the work life balance.
When do you get your best work done?
When I am really interested and when I'm
really focused, but like, is it in the morning? Is it at night?
Well, that doesn't matter, as a planner doesn't matter. It's just about that timing or that mode, where you switch and be like, Okay, now, you know, it's just that one of those feelings is like the movie Limitless with just like Bradley Cooper, yeah. Just that suddenly there comes this rush or this adrenaline and okay, you know what, let's do this right now. And then you start working in one thing, it's like a domino effect. Because all we're looking at a lot of things. It's not just one key objective. So from that perspective, we look at a bigger picture. We are not very narrow in our approach towards a wedding in general,
I'm a night owl, I don't work well in the morning, like I don't want to get up and work early in the morning, like I'm most creative. And when everybody else is sleeping, I'm just getting started at 10pm. It's like my party in my head starts like that's when the treadmill starts, the treadmill actually goes all day, every day when I'm actually in Nashville. I live
in different time zones, literally. And the teams are spread out. So from that perspective, for me, like I said, for me, it's not a specific time or a morning or at night, it's just about getting hold of that task at that hand based on the client or the team requirements. So it's very subjective, I would say, I don't think I would have a preference to it. But it's just about when my mind gets going, then there's no stopping. The last question is a concluding note.
Yeah, if anyone wants to expand their business into destination planning, or in Portugal, which is where you all are specifically focused on right now. How would people connect with you? What's your favorite platform?
Just email us or call us or WhatsApp? Anything you need to know about Portugal will tell you all about it. We don't believe in secrets will tell you everything that is need to be told about Portugal. We love the country we believe in it
so no one uses what's happened in the USA.
You guys live differently from the rest of the woods so
different y'all like it's so different like the degrees of Celsius and Fahrenheit the metric system of pounds and kilograms Miles, how many miles I'm going how many meters I'm walking the current. It's not just a currency. It's like so many things that I'm like, I just have to Google and learn. I learned stuff all day every day
when one of those podcasts would be about these things. Oh, anyways, it's a pleasure. Angela Proffitt, thank you so much for your time.
What's your one word closing as you close your internship, one word, one word, meaning. Think about it. That's it for this week's episode of business and veiled. Now that you have all the tools that you need to conquer the world and GSD get shit done. Would you share this with your friends and fellow business leaders? One thing that would really really help us and help new listeners is for you to rate the show. And leave a comment and Apple podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you tune in and listen to business unveiled. You can check out the show notes at Angela proffitt.com/podcast and link up with us on social media so you can share your biggest insights. And I want to know your aha moments. Until next week, remember, the profitable shifts and structures you're creating in your business help you be more present in your life. So get out there and GSDnd get more out of life. I'm your host Angela Proffitt, award winning eight figure entrepreneur and CEO. And in every episode of business unveiled, I'm bringing you conversations that will give you the expertise and strategies that will scale your team and business so you can get shit done. That's GSD in our world, so get your time back and grow a business that helps you be present in your life. Let's do this, y'all. Hi. Oh, it's Angela. I'm back for another episode of business and build.
Good evening from Nashville, Tennessee. We are here with Angela Proffitt on another edition of business on wheels. So Angela, tell us something about your journey. And these podcasts.
You're not interviewing me. I'm interviewing you. Since Kunal doesn't like to talk about himself. Yeah, it's not my thing. Yeah, it's not his thing. So I will tell you a little bit about Kunal. He's a destination wedding planner and has been for about a decade. Tell them how you got into the wedding industry?
I have no clue. To be honest. I actually stumbled upon it. I feel but it's been a journey where we've been doing destination weddings around the world and never looked back since then. So yeah, I would say it's one of those things I didn't plan but now I plan for living.
What's been your most favorite destination so far? Well, one
of them has to be Baku, Azerbaijan. It's, it's close to Georgia or or say the Middle East region in general. It's basically within the United States. No.
Okay. Let's be clear, we're talking about a different effing country together. Okay.
Let's just say Azerbaijan as part of Eurasia, where Asia meets Europe in general. So it's like close to Turkey. Okay, in the middle of the world, so to speak,
which we met in Turkey at a conference. Oh, yeah. Yes. Speaking out
on Talia beautiful place and great event,
the beach is really pretty, just if you go in there winter time, make sure you preorder your air condition. Because as Americans, we live our air condition. Yeah. So planning destination weddings, let's get a little bit more granular with that, because we know all the templates and all the time that it takes, but just describe like beginning to end on the guest side. And then on the couples side, what you all are managing.
Well, let's start with a couple of side because that's your first interaction. And that's how everything starts as a project. So you got to manage and understand what the needs of the client is, I think that's paramount to understand what the expectations or the overall personalities of the couple is and how you want to depict that in the wedding. So I think to get an a clearer understanding of what they're looking at what kind of why they're looking at what kind of wedding is is very crucial to understand on the basis of which you chart the map out to see how you want to bring it together by bringing the right partners, looking in the right destinations. And then kind of like scouting and taking it step by step to reach the end goal of making sure you execute it to the tee as far as what their expectations are. That's the crucial part. Remember, guests five perspective. It's like it's like a carnival any Indian wedding, so to speak, is that Festival? It's like a festival festival. Yeah, it's like a three four day night Festival Gala, where it's like back to back. Everything's taken care of you're sponsored. It's, it's, it's quite a celebration. And I think it's part of the social fabric in India, where it's a very cultural thing to have those kind of weddings and growing up, you always have that corpus or a fund called a wedding fund from both the families or families in general. And it's a it's a big celebration of two people, two families, two cultures coming together and having a great union so to speak.
And how many languages do you speak for
learning the first but for typically, Portuguese nah, a bit of corny absolutely learning that so there's English as Hindi or Sanskrit, and there's a bit of Spanish, so I would say qualify a bit of Spanish.
Okay, well, I speak one and I use now
we live in a world where translator or Duolingo works.
Okay, but on the guest management side, when you have two to 300 people traveling for a destination wedding. How do you all manage all of the questions?
Well, firstly, our group sizes were like 400 503 COVID. Those are the big fat Indian weddings and I think during COVID or post COVID, they've gone on a diet so we call them the skinny weddings, or the weddings on a diet so to speak, but to 300 people to 300 people well, we just Indians in general are very in demand. We are very, very spoiled when it comes to hospitality and the kind of cultures we have in general or grown up to. So from that perspective, we, we try to foresee and again, post COVID, we understood there are these new restrictions of COVID testing, there's entry regulations. So we try to anticipate and pieces, make sure that we get everything covered. And before they even ask, we just throw it out there in terms of a website, or the messages or a simple FAQ section, which gives them everything that they need to know before planning for the wedding to be part of it.
So you're from India, but you don't do weddings in India. Why?
Well, we started our journey in India soon realize that India as a market is very saturated, there are very few limited destiny, like cities or destinations, which really work and the kind of client has we handled. So we positioned ourselves to do more destination weddings across the world. And that's how we opened up an office in Azerbaijan after a few weddings there. We have now us were our co founder, my sister in law is and now we've opened up an office in Portugal, which is our first EU base. And we like curating or doing destination weddings, because it gives us the the opportunity to open up new countries and create new experiences for our clients and couples. So from that perspective, we love the challenge of doing something different at every wedding. And again, that speaks of how we want to position ourselves and not too much work or any work in India, so to speak.
So you've been to the US before, but you've never been to Nashville. And you've been interning and observing what is like the number one thing, it observing like some of our meetings and zooms where you're like, oh, my gosh, it is so different from like, Europe, or like Nashville, other than like, people harvest a year in advance. And like, their weddings are like, three, three months. I mean, we've planned weddings and events in two weeks, we don't advise it. I don't know if I would ever do that again. But I know that that was like a shock factor. But what was like the number one thing where you're like this is so different?
Well, I think each couple and families are different in many regards. But the approach I think is very different when it comes to a country specific or the American planners versus European or say the Asian planners from that perspective, you're right one of them is a process oriented, a little more time bound here, I would say where things start one year in advance, as compared to the turnaround time that we generally look at is around five to six months for a destination wedding, predominantly. And we see that decreasing more and more with the changing dynamic times. But having said that, I think it's been a great experience to see the difference approach of how what methodology you follow and the kinds of tools you have, and how you guide the clients into that perspective. So it's a very different learning, very different to what we do, where it's very like, just just doing what the client wants and understanding and giving them options and variety. Whereas here, I think it's more rigid in saying this is what is possible. That's that's about it, there is no way around it. And I think it's just the approach and the mentality. And every client or every region in general looks at it differently.
What's so different and unique about your company.
Well, we look for unchartered destinations or unique destinations, which really motivates us to defy the odds, go to a new country, understand the ecosystem and bring together experiential wedding for couples and clients.
So I'll break it down for you on a fourth grade level. What that really means is they go to like bfhi, where there's never been a wedding or there's never been an Indian wedding. And they completely create this system within a city or a country, which is not easy. Working on private islands, people are like NyQuil into your suitcase. And it's not that easy. You are so limited to the resources and you're like learning all these new things. And while destination weddings are fun. There's nothing
there's nothing fun about it for the guest, I guess of course, but yeah, it depends on what perspective you're looking at.
Okay, so why we're Why do you stay in wedding wedding planning?
I think it's a bastion of the fun or the realization or the rewarding feeling when everything goes or comes together. And you have a couple which looks at you and says thank you for everything. I think that's the reward which we look forward to as planners.
So it means he's blue, a little blue. Tell him about true colors. I have always are and what has been your experience with the methodology?
Well, it's been a very, very interesting realization. I'm an orange 23 followed by I think a blue and then green and then gold. So Oh, it's been a very new experience to understand this new concept of true colors. It's like just trying to implement that into everyday life and see how it pans out. So it's interesting
if you could go back into like to your very first destination wedding and tell your younger self something. Yeah. What would you tell yourself?
Learn to say no.
Oh, that's an excellent one good job.
We learn it very late in life. But nevertheless, it's a lesson. The sooner you learn it, the better it is for
you. Because we want to say yes, and we want to make people happy. But at what cost? Right. You can't make everybody happy. And some people are so insatiable. It's impossible to make everyone happy. True. But yeah, just say no. In a really nice way.
Yep. No means no.
No, right now. No, it means no, right now, right now. It's really what that means. What is the biggest opportunity that you've learned about yourself? Like the biggest aha moment? Like, have you had any of those moments?
Well, yes, of course, there are many aha moments. And that's how life should be there should be these constant reminders and aha moments to make yourself believe that living a normal life and not a perfect life
was the craziest thing that's ever happened to you. Wow. Well, one is, of course. That's a tricky one. I get this question all the time. It was September 11, on a Friday, and it was a Christian singer who was getting married. And the bride and greenware like the sweetest, most Christian, amazing couple, the family. Like I just loved them. And she had recently gone to Bali, and for like a summer camp to help deaf kids learn how to sing. And she came back in wanting to do this whole barley inspired wedding. And she wanted her to do it on September 11, mainly because of her tour schedule. But that's it was shortly after 911. And so many people were like, like, our vendors are like, why would she choose that day. And she's like, because I want I want people to think happy things too. Like something bad happens every day of our life. But you have to think of the good things, not always the bad things that we learn and grow from them. We had a backup rain plan because it was half indoor, half outdoor and it had never rained at a wedding. In 12 years. Of all the outdoor weddings that I ever did my whole career, it never rained. But on this Friday, September 11, there was zero chance rain, Z row. On Friday at 6:02pm. The sky opened up, right when I went to send my bride down the aisle. And oh my god, I was so upset. And she just looked at me and I was like, put her back in the bride's room. And I'm like, It's okay. It was almost like she was consoling me because I couldn't like keep it together. And then I look outside and my girls are radio Amin are lucky and just raining. I'm like No shit. Like, it wasn't just raining a little bit. It was like coming down. So people stood up, put their chair over their head, like it's an umbrella and all the musicians. And there were a lot of music instruments out there because she is in music. And so they're all like packing up and scurrying. And I told the girls to move everybody under the tent, and like get everybody under the tent. They can get married under the tent. Well, everybody sit at their table. Thank God, we had a seating chart. Anyway, fast forward. It was a fiasco, but it worked out. And then at the toast, her dad stood up, and was like, it's been singing from stage like all of our life, the word of God. Again, they're very Christian. And he's like, the rain to us is the most beautiful thing because it's God's tears for blessing their marriage. There's a reason for everything. Like I was so upset, like, what could I have done to prevent it? And we're so hard on ourselves, like, it's not your fault as if it rains. Like it's all in how you react, and how you're professional and you communicate with everybody, which Thank God, we have radios. And you tell all of your vendors like hey, this is what's happening. Like, move up, appetizers, get the, you know, again, it's all in how you handle it. But the moral of the story is like, it's the most memorable thing for me to remember. Like, it's not about you, and you're not in control. And sometimes that was a really good thing for the family. And everyone got it. Okay. Why is it so important? For a wedding planner, destination wedding planner to go to the venue or to the island or to the city or to the country prior to before really committing to a job? It's not like we want to go take a free vacation. You're okay, this is not a vacation. But why is it so important?
Well, it's like the time you're not convinced of the destination or the people or the hotel or the venue. It's difficult to sell it across the table. So as planners, I think we set ourselves a standard, a benchmark to how and what kind of weddings do we want to deliver what kind of the ordinance we want? work with. So till the time we understand it on ground, understand the ecosystem understand, okay, who are the people and the partners we can rely on? What are the infrastructure? What are the hospitality? Like, can we get Indian food can we get and do small things, which really make a lot of difference and the end goal and the end result of a wedding, which a client may not anticipate. But as wedding planners, that's our responsibility to anticipate how the destination, although when you would pan out so ends, it's very important to do the due diligence at every venue and every destination that you possibly can. Because once you believe in it as a destination, you carry that conviction on the table to bring that value to say, I can do it, and I've seen it, and I've been there, which is an extra USP, which always helps to build that confidence in a client, who's never been to that country for that instance.
And the other option is creating a relationship with a local planner that is that knows what they're doing that has experience there and do a collaboration, which happens often, right,
exactly. I think we live in a day and age where we as planners definitely believe in knowledge sharing and collaboration. I think that's the bigger goal, I think one of the days where people can be working as individual units, the bigger goal is to synergize and putting our efforts together and collaboratively. And very few people who believe in it. But I think it's a bigger picture and takes us longer and better or a bigger goal at that achievement.
If we put it together, it would rock your world. In terms of like,
I remember when I playing went to New York with this designer, and he's like, Wait, we have to schedule a phone call. What do you mean, you don't answer your phone? And what do you mean, you live in Nashville? And we're going to do this destination thing through this thing called Dropbox and Google Drive. And I'm like, Yeah, I'll teach you how to use it. But like you, I know, you guys primarily operate at a Google Drive. Why is it so important to do that?
Well, I think it's just a process oriented approach we have and I think we live in a day and age where technology really facilitates us in using a lot of tools to simplify the back and forth with the client. And I think having one file and letting everybody have live access to it, and it cannot get deleted, or it cannot get messed up. Because it's it's a proper system, then you can review and you can you can, you can never, or you can restore it to the previous version. For that matter, I just feel it gives us more confidence to be more productive. I think the point is being productive of not repeating those same mistakes are those things where we can be more efficient to the man hours that go in because at the end of the day, we are not selling a product, we're selling a service, which requires manners and efficiency, hence, it just makes it better.
So in the US, we would say it's not a service, it's a product, because it's just the education and what people don't value its value ever since Pinterest came out, it's valued so much more. But it's like if you drive a Porsche, or BMW or Lamborghini, and you go to the dealership, and you get your brake service, or something done at the dealership, and it's out of warranty, you're gonna see on your bill, the brakes, the screws, the service, the labor, the tax, like all these things, and you don't question it, you want to drive off the lot. So you drove off the line. Or if you go to like the best hamburger place in town, you pay for that. And you don't say, Oh, they don't charge you $1 For mayonnaise, $1 for ketchup $1 For mustard, $1 for tomato and onions and lettuce and pickles. And it doesn't work like that. But in wedding planning and within the events industry, people think they can come in and pick and choose like, yes, I want this. No, I don't it doesn't work like that, especially with experienced planners who are well traveled. And so have you always been full service, or it's something that you gradually worked into?
No, I think since the inception, we've got a full service, a one stop shop. I think that made it easier for us to understand from the start go, what the expectations and how we want to drive the project or the client and understand how we want to curate an experience. It's we live in a day and age where we've been to the best of weddings, best of news, special destinations, best decor. But what separates one reading from another is the hospitality or the experience that we're able to cultivate or curate for those couples. Just thinking out of the box solutions or doing something different and then it's very seldom we get that opportunity with couples who empower us to say, You know what we believe in you give us the works. And here's a free hand to do so. So I think those are going to clients that motivate us to go that extra 10% More than the 100%. And we look for those kinds of days to say you know what you believed in us and here is what we deliver an exceptional wedding which goes goes as a memory not just for the couple, but for each and every guest and they go and talk about it. All right. Let's try Time is really precious. Time is money, girl.
Yeah, time is money when you're in the hustle of it. But as you get older and more experienced or if something unexpected comes up in your life, you realize that time is precious. And no matter how much money you have, or how much you work, you can always make more money which can buy your time back like that. You can buy a lot of things, but not your time, or everything else. That's MasterCard. But as a business owner, what do you do to make sure that you're staying present? When you're saying yes to something?
Well, the first and foremost is listen, listen to the client. Listen to your partner, listen to people around you. I think we live in a day and age and somebody brought this up beautifully. We live in a day and age where everybody lives or talks about success. Everybody's fixated with success, the true stories and how good life is. But very few people are talking about failures, the actual learnings where I think it's the failures that teach us the most. And I think it's it's important to take a chin up and say, You know what, every day is a learning process. At the end of the day, we are all humans, we are not perfect. And I think the goal at the end of the day, it should be to learn and adapt and be a better person every day. And I think that's easier said than done. But I think that makes sense to at least ethos that we follow as a company and myself, where we definitely try to listen to the needs, understand them. And embrace the knowledge and the tools that we have in today's day and age to adapt to being a better person or a better company. It's important to accept that there is a problem maybe, and how you can make it better. It could be a client, it could be something you learn and adapt constantly. But focus at the end of the day, it comes from listening. So I think that's, that's what we are our approaches in today's time now,
what inspires you to keep going every day,
happiness, positivity, happy people, happy wives. That's it. That's what inspires us in every realm of it. It's not always like that in weddings. There are the hiccups. There are the bumps, there are the good times there are the backgrounds. At the end of the day you as a planner has, in a comical way I'll call it a circus. It's a it's a big circus as a wedding. And you are a ring master as a planner to make sure that you bring together all these elements together. And sometimes somebody may not show up something something's may go wrong. But at the end of the day, you still have to put a happy face. Make sure everything comes together and just problem solve. Yeah, it's like the greatest showmen beautiful movie,
who I thought was a magician but then my team reminded me that he was Hugh Jackman, a ringleader. Circus. He wasn't a magician. That's a different job title. But yeah, watch the movie. If you haven't My God, it's my favorite movie.
Thank you email us and say what a movie love the
soundtrack. Like I listened to it at least twice a day. Usually you're obsessed. Yeah, I love it. I thought I was gonna die from COVID like legit die. I watched it over and over and over. We
don't mention that C word on the show. Okay, well,
just a few minutes ago, he was saying we don't talk about our failures in Abilene. I'm talking about the bad shit. If you've been listening or watching this podcast for a while you know that that's what we talk about the real shit. Not that not the surface shit. What have you learned since you've been here in Nashville? Yeah, he learned the word y'all in Nashville this past week.
It was fun. Y'all. Are y'all having a good time? Bless your heart mean may the force be with you?
What does bless your heart me? Do you know what that means?
It means is all the best may the force be with you? Or sarcasm?
Okay, most memorable like
takeaway? Hero on a mission? That's been a takeaway. Yeah, by Donald Miller.
He lives in Nashville and EO entrepreneur organization. He recently came out with a new book. I love his first book, y'all know, I'm not a good reader. But I get everything on Audible. And I've already listened to it. And I send it to you how long ago, a while ago, a while ago, months, more than six months ago. And you're just now able to really absorb it. Yeah, absorb it and like and I get it, right. It's like,
it's timing. It's everything is timing you when you have to be ready, and you have to accept it. You have to tell yourself and you say that there's a problem. If you believe that you are perfect and everything's good, you don't need this is totally fine. And that's
fine. You're never going to grow
true. But then that's that's your age, everybody's perspective how they want to handle their growth or they want to settle or not settled. And I think many times we are in a constant stage of being a victim and how we should turn into a hero and how we can turn towards having an objective and a meaning to life and its impact. Think how psychology comes to it. And there's a guy called Viktor Frankl who, who came up with this theory about meaning in general. And it's, it's fascinating because you're so used to Freud and other famous psychologists who came up with these theories. And it's, it makes sense. It adds up. And it's a science at the end of the day, it's the more and more you embrace it, and make sense of it and try to use it on day to day life. I think that's the true, actually part of it. One thing is we hear, but to listen is another thing everybody can hear. But to listen is another art.
Yeah. And he just kept saying, like, I need to make it until this date this state, which I totally understood, because it and I didn't think that it was like disrespectful or anything. It's just like, hey, here's something when you can get to it. And I just kept sending things and sending things. And then I'm like, Okay, I overwhelm people with stuff, I'm well aware of it that I just vomit information. And then people do nothing, because they're so overwhelmed. So true, within this day comes and then it's always something else. So what I would say is like, if you really want to get into something, you really want to make change, that if someone shares a tool with you put it on your calendar, even if it's in six months, you have to remind yourself, if you want a different outcome, you have to do something different. Right? Amen to that. What's your number one time suck social media, what are you doing about it, to not be such a time suck,
to not let it affect so much and not pay too much attention to it to focus on what you need to as an individual. I think I love the fact going back to writing stuff not even emailing or texting or anything, just take notes on a pen and paper to reinforce something which worked in old school theory, small things which go a long way. But I think our dependence on technology for the good or for the bad is, is something debatable but trying to spend as much as time away and trying to be more present with the people and the situation. Do you
set timers or restrictions on any of your social media apps?
Nobody keep a check on the screen time. And you follow a trend to say that are you improving or progressing or it's getting worse.
So my thing is, like, I know, it's it's fun, at least I look for the fun things. That's why I love reels and tick tock because I'm like looking for the dances. But my role is that if you're going to spend an hour a day, scrolling and consuming content, you have to double it on the other side to create the content because you have creators, and you have consumers people consuming the content, and then people creating the content and putting consistent content out there. And so if I'm going to scroll for an hour, that means I'm going to create content for at least two hours, like we're just doing right now. Yeah, I mean, we're this is creating content right now. I won't even tell you how long it took us to sit down and how many tapes we actually took to get started. You'll have to see the bloopers video for that. How do you manage your time you live out of a suitcase like we both really live out of a suitcase. And so everyone listening in Washington note like we Tom walk and I'm like super anal about it the only way we GSD and get shit done. Otherwise, I'm like, I don't even know where to start. Because there's so many things I could be doing. So what do you do? How do you manage your time in all these different time zones?
I think one is the recent income, like the introduction into calendars and how we need to kind of like put everything up there and kind of like time block stuff, something which is great to be more productive and understand what and how you want to prioritize your time and segment them into buckets, whether it be personal, whether it be work or whether it be people in general. So yeah, I think that's the start where it's becoming more organized,
which is exactly what I spoke about in Turkey when I first met you is like the buckets and just breaking it down into personal time. Which is you Tom, it doesn't matter. If you have kids, if you're married, whatever you still need you Tom which is like the gym time workout time. If you love to get your nails done, if you love to go to the spa like and you shouldn't feel bad doing those things. We need to wind down every business owner, every person who works hard needs to like wind down and if you don't have anything that you love, that's like the first wake up call of finding something that you do love because you can't just always work even if you love it and it doesn't feel like work. You've got to do something outside of work. And yes, I'm saying that you guys are hearing me. Now what do I do for fun? I hang out at the Apple store
or new things. I do it all tick tock. Yeah,
that's fun, right and like, but it serves many goals. It serves purposes because I want to get so many steps in per day, but do things that help you achieve your goals? And so it's like if you want to get 10,000 subsidy dancing and creating content is like three big Whammies in one. Yeah, that's perspective
each to its own. Do whatever makes you happy. At the end of the day. My mantra is Do whatever makes you happy. Be happy about it, just just enjoy it. And I think that's that's a smaller step, which goes a long way in the scheme of things.
So what's the most common myth that you hear people say about our industry that just, you cringe every time you hear it,
that we have a lot of fun. When we organize these great, lavish celebrations or around the world, and we behind the scenes, working our ass off to understand the destination, do a scout or Iraqi trip, people just feel it's all hunky dory. And it's all fun and flare happening. But little do they know the kind of stress and then, you know, we're handling emotions. It's not just any business, you're handling emotions of the people and not just one but 400 or 300 people. So you are carrying a lot of responsibility. And it is the most stressful job in the world for a reason. Right after the three main services of Army, Air Force and firemen. Wedding Planning is the fourth most stressful job and the reason and there's a very big reason for it, which people do not acknowledge, I would say, yeah, so we love it. We are troubleshooters, we could be a notch like a disaster management company. And so to speak, and take care of an entire country or a city if shit went down. But we we like to raise a hand up and say, Hey, we got this, we'll run the
ship from you. Like it is very rewarding at the end of it.
So is the circus monster rewarding? Yeah,
but an emotion. So we're learning about the emotion color wheel, for surface level, and how to go beneath the surface. Like what's one emotion that you feel that you spark every time like you wrap? You know, it's like one in the morning, two in the morning during and whenever you're done, and everybody's gone. And everything's torn down. I mean, are y'all the first in first out or the first and the last?
Never the first out for sure. I don't know what kind of business or weddings these guys do. So please be very careful. But the last man or women standing for sure you do it to please others. And that's what we do. And that's
what brings you happiness. It does. Not me fuck that. Because you cannot make everybody happy. And if you try to make everybody happy, and there's just no way. It's not real life.
It's not real live. But there are there is optimism. And there's hope. And then that's the faith that keeps us going. At the end of the day, we all can live by hope and make sure that whatever we do, keeps everybody happy. But it's like politics never works.
So the word hope is not actionable. So if you sit around hoping that means nothing is ever going to happen. You actually you actually have to be actionable to to GSD.
True. But when you can't action, there is hope to action. It's like you're stuck in an elevator. You can't action, but there's hope that somebody would come and rescue you to get your shit done and get you going. Sometimes we are hopeless. It's like a tornado outside of Nashville and you can't do anything despite the fact you want to go help others out. So you can be actionless. But there is always hope. And that hope has to be within you. Otherwise, if you're hopeless, and you're like just in despair, that's a different ballgame.
You go to a lot of conferences, when you're involved in a lot of networking groups, what are the pros and cons to joining some of these groups and these masterminds,
we believe Your vibe attracts your tribe. And for that very reason. Meeting the right people and exchanging ideas with them learning from their stories, their failures, is the best investment you can put into yourself in the wedding sphere. I think we all are this ecosystem is very, very diverse and huge. The network of the hoteliers, the destinations, the DMC is the Windows ventanas, etc. It's just all of us who know and could read a lot of people believe we read into people, we love to observe people we need to understand, okay, who's a surface level person and who's actually going to bring business. So from that perspective, these network all these platforms, they give us an opportunity to create those opportunities in business. I think it's just about sharing knowledge, collaborating and seeing, okay, I need you ever, I'll give you a call. And let's make it happen. And I think those are the kinds of facilitations which are needed in today's day and age where every minute matters and the client is very, has spoiled by choice. There's so much choice out there is controlled competition. So from that perspective, to know the right people at the right places, gives you an edge for sure. And it's how you curate and it speaks highly of what the kind of ethos or professional you bring to the table by telling them exactly what your expectations are, how you want it and how you both can work together as a team to create and generate a sustainable long term business plan
who is Kunal outside of work?
Wow, what Well, it's literally it's just been work all play. No play sorry. Hardly any play that healthy? No, not really. But I think that comes a eureka moment where you realize and I think that's the phase I'm going through, where the focus is just about realizing who canal truly was on the besides the wedding planning. So it's just that rediscovery plan that I used to love trekking, hiking, cycling, being very active on and being outdoors. Totally. So I think it's just rediscovering that phase and finding that spark within to say, wait a minute, did we really overcome it to work and our clients and our couples that now we need to reinvent the wheel and go back to finding who Canalis? So I think it's that phase or that shift in in our priorities, which is where I would say I'm at
what was your first strategy session when you got here?
So I think the first exercise was this truecolor exercise with this company and its colleagues and team members, which was just to understand the dynamics of why some people are struggling with deadlines versus some people are probably losing interest and how to kind of like, understand how the the chain or the entire team is looking like to fix in and have the leader take charge and say, okay, there is a issue, we need to talk to these people and understand what their true attractions or incentives are, and address the concerns based on the colors, which is diverse and dynamic.
But what causes you from going from having like work life balance, which is possible, to just back into completely work? And then how are you getting a handle on it? Like, when did you know like, Okay, this is out of hand, I'm only working constantly, I need to get back to the balance.
I think when you travel and the kind of travel that was I was clocking in the last two years, which was a lot of travel, I think living on suitcase and literal sense. I think you lose that momentum and that routine. And then when work takes over and it's busy, a lot of postponements, a lot of stress, schoolwork, it all hit us and made us realize that we need to be more hands on hence, I think somewhere that slip happened, where you cross over and you're like, Okay, this is all about work. This is the phase where it's all about work positioning, Portugal, office, etc, and so on. So somewhere there was a collateral damage, something had to give, and that was personal health priorities in general. Now, the realization at least has kicked in. So I'm lucky in that sense that there needs to be corrective measure. Now, before it's too late. And hence, we are very, very particular about the kind of projects we're picking up what kind of clients we're working with, and trying to be very, very, or personally being very careful about how you want to prioritize the team and its investment and its personal goals and the work life balance.
When do you get your best work done?
When I am really interested and when I'm
really focused, but like, is it in the morning? Is it at night?
Well, that doesn't matter, as a planner doesn't matter. It's just about that timing or that mode, where you switch and be like, Okay, now, you know, it's just that one of those feelings is like the movie Limitless with just like Bradley Cooper, yeah. Just that suddenly there comes this rush or this adrenaline and okay, you know what, let's do this right now. And then you start working in one thing, it's like a domino effect. Because all we're looking at a lot of things. It's not just one key objective. So from that perspective, we look at a bigger picture. We are not very narrow in our approach towards a wedding in general,
I'm a night owl, I don't work well in the morning, like I don't want to get up and work early in the morning, like I'm most creative. And when everybody else is sleeping, I'm just getting started at 10pm. It's like my party in my head starts like that's when the treadmill starts, the treadmill actually goes all day, every day when I'm actually in Nashville. I live
in different time zones, literally. And the teams are spread out. So from that perspective, for me, like I said, for me, it's not a specific time or a morning or at night, it's just about getting hold of that task at that hand based on the client or the team requirements. So it's very subjective, I would say, I don't think I would have a preference to it. But it's just about when my mind gets going, then there's no stopping. The last question is a concluding note.
Yeah, if anyone wants to expand their business into destination planning, or in Portugal, which is where you all are specifically focused on right now. How would people connect with you? What's your favorite platform?
Just email us or call us or WhatsApp? Anything you need to know about Portugal will tell you all about it. We don't believe in secrets will tell you everything that is need to be told about Portugal. We love the country we believe in it
so no one uses what's happened in the USA.
You guys live differently from the rest of the woods so
different y'all like it's so different like the degrees of Celsius and Fahrenheit the metric system of pounds and kilograms Miles, how many miles I'm going how many meters I'm walking the current. It's not just a currency. It's like so many things that I'm like, I just have to Google and learn. I learned stuff all day every day
when one of those podcasts would be about these things. Oh, anyways, it's a pleasure. Angela Proffitt, thank you so much for your time.
What's your one word closing as you close your internship, one word, one word, meaning. Think about it. That's it for this week's episode of business and veiled. Now that you have all the tools that you need to conquer the world and GSD get shit done. Would you share this with your friends and fellow business leaders? One thing that would really really help us and help new listeners is for you to rate the show. And leave a comment and Apple podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you tune in and listen to business unveiled. You can check out the show notes at Angela proffitt.com/podcast and link up with us on social media so you can share your biggest insights. And I want to know your aha moments. Until next week, remember, the profitable shifts and structures you're creating in your business help you be more present in your life. So get out there and GSD