Having your own wedding and event planning business can be a juggling act with income, expenses, and accounting. We don’t know if next month will bring ten bookings or zero bookings. However, our bills will still be due no matter what. Managing fluctuating income is very important for the success and sustainability of your business.

Here are four tips to help manage income as a wedding planner:

1) Always have an emergency fund

If you have a really tough month income-wise or if you get sick or hurt, you will still be able to pay your bills if you have an emergency fund. Last year, we had a few slow months in my wedding planning business. The inquiries had slowed down and it was stressful. Luckily I had an emergency fund to cover expenses and my salary. When business picked up again, I was able to replenish the emergency fund for the future.

2) Be strategic about when you take on new clients

I can look at my projected income for the year in one spreadsheet. By looking at when the projected income won’t meet my expenses for a particular month, I know we need to book events or generate income before that month arrives.

If you don’t have a spreadsheet or some other form of income projection software, this is an important first step to getting a grip on managing your income and understanding the business cash flow. If you see that you aren’t going to meet expenses for a month that is coming up soon, it may be time to network more, run a social media promotion, and touch base with your referral sources.

Related: Quick Tips for Managing Business Finances as a Wedding Planner

3) Cut your expenses to the bare minimum during your first few years

It is important to have some breathing room and not stress yourself out with unnecessary expenses. If you have had a few good years and find that you are freely spending money, reign it back in for a few months and evaluate where you may be able to cut back and put more money in your emergency fund.

Related: What You Really Need to Charge to Make a Living as a Wedding Planner

4) Create a payment schedule that works for you

It may make sense for your clients to pay monthly or quarterly instead of paying half down and half at the end of the planning process (or any number of other ways you can handle payments). If you own your business, you can decide what type of payment structure works best. If your current payment plan isn’t working well to manage your income levels, try something new. Small (or big) changes to your pricing methods and service offerings can make a significant difference in how much money you make.

PIN IT!

Not sure how to price your services and what to offer in your wedding planning packages?

Pricing With Confidence: Secrets to Profitable Pricing & Services for Professional Wedding Planners is a comprehensive guide with templates and worksheets that give you the tools and information needed to confidently offer profitable and sustainable wedding planning packages and pricing.

This guide is ideal for both new and experienced wedding planners who want to understand pricing methods and techniques. This guidebook is also perfect for wedding planners who want to save time by having ready-to-use templates for planning packages, examples of website wording, and a professional spreadsheet to rely on for calculating prices for weddings and events.