Own Your Business

Most discovery calls get through the checklist but never reach the truth. In this episode, Sam and Katy break down why a discovery call is where you guide a couple to discover what they want, not where you pitch, and walk through the specific open-ended question to ask for seven different vendor categories.You'll learn:Why couples often don't know what they need until the right question surfaces itThe difference between an open-ended and a closed question, and why it matters on a sales callSpecific questions to ask couples if you're a photographer, planner, florist, or videographerHow to turn a couple's answer into a pitch, without ever sounding like oneTwo quick newsflashes: AI is changing how couples search. A new generation of buyers is changing what they expect. And a flood of new business owners is changing who you're competing against. Shift how you do business, or watch your traction slip away.If you're feeling like you're flying blind — you're not alone. But you can't afford to wait and see what happens next.So here’s the second PSA: If you love this podcast, then push pause on it and go sign up for our annual State of the Industry panel on Monday, September 14th at 12pm ET. Don't worry, I'll wait. Now, seriously — push pause and go to our Instagram @ideactionconsulting and sign up through the link in our profile. Okay, good, now that you're back. I'm sitting down with five of the savviest people in this industry — Anja Winikka, Kate Turner, Jason Rhee, Malike Adigun, and KT Merry — to talk about what's really going on in 2026, and what's coming in 2027.Hard truths. Honest conversation. No sugarcoating.And it's free. It's virtual. So put on your stretchy pants, pour yourself something — coffee, wine, no judgment, depends on the time of day — and sign up now.

Every wedding business owner wonders if they're the only one struggling with something. They're not. In this episode, Sam pulls ten real, fully anonymized questions from client calls over the last two weeks, and he and Katy talk through each one live, tying it back to a New York Times piece on why the most successful people ask for help instead of grinding through alone.You'll learn:Why the same handful of problems show up across almost every wedding businessWhat to do when you're ready to level up but not sure a rebrand is the answerHow to know if a rate increase backfired because of unclear signals, not priceWhat business owners wish someone had told them before a big life or market changeTwo quick newsflashes:AI is changing how couples search. A new generation of buyers is changing what they expect. And a flood of new business owners is changing who you're competing against. Shift how you do business, or watch your traction slip away.If you're feeling like you're flying blind — you're not alone. But you can't afford to wait and see what happens next.So here’s the second PSA: If you love this podcast, then push pause on it and go sign up for our annual State of the Industry panel on Monday, September 14th at 12pm ET. Don't worry, I'll wait. Now, seriously — push pause and go to our Instagram @ideactionconsulting and sign up through the link in our profile. Okay, good, now that you're back. I'm sitting down with five of the savviest people in this industry — Anja Winikka, Kate Turner, Jason Rhee, Malike Adigun, and KT Merry — to talk about what's really going on in 2026, and what's coming in 2027.Hard truths. Honest conversation. No sugarcoating.And it's free. It's virtual. So put on your stretchy pants, pour yourself something — coffee, wine, no judgment, depends on the time of day — and sign up now.

Sam set a trap for an AI chatbot: a series of wedding questions he already knew it would get wrong, just to see how wrong. The answers were bad enough to bring straight to the show. In this episode, Sam and Katy break down real AI responses couples are getting right now, and what that misinformation does before a couple ever picks up the phone.You'll learn:Why couples are asking AI instead of Googling, and what changedThe real dollar figures AI gave for a Napa wedding, and how far off they wereHow AI's overconfident answers set couples up for a bad first conversationTwo places vendors can leverage to correct the misinformationTwo quick newsflashes: AI is changing how couples search. A new generation of buyers is changing what they expect. And a flood of new business owners is changing who you're competing against. Shift how you do business, or watch your traction slip away.If you're feeling like you're flying blind — you're not alone. But you can't afford to wait and see what happens next.So here’s the second PSA: If you love this podcast, then push pause on it and go sign up for our annual State of the Industry panel on Monday, September 14th at 12pm ET. Don't worry, I'll wait. Now, seriously — push pause and go to our Instagram @ideactionconsulting and sign up through the link in our profile. Okay, good, now that you're back. I'm sitting down with five of the savviest people in this industry — Anja Winikka, Kate Turner, Jason Rhee, Malike Adigun, and KT Merry — to talk about what's really going on in 2026, and what's coming in 2027.Hard truths. Honest conversation. No sugarcoating.And it's free. It's virtual. So put on your stretchy pants, pour yourself something — coffee, wine, no judgment, depends on the time of day — and sign up now.

Most people using AI regularly have no idea they're making these mistakes, because none of them come with a warning.In this episode, Sam and Katy break down five habits that quietly sabotage AI output: an AI that agrees too easily, copy-pasted output that doesn't sound like you, chats that run too long, bloated files, and prompts too vague to work with.You'll learn:Why AI agreeing with you almost every time isn't confirmation, it's a design choiceWhy copying AI's first draft costs you more than it savesWhat a chat's memory loses the longer a conversation runsWhat a bloated file in your project folder costs you without you noticing

Most people ask AI to solve the problem they think they have, without ever stopping to check if it's the right problem in the first place.In this episode, Sam and Katy explain what makes a question work well with AI, and why the four words they use more than any other change the entire quality of the answer.You'll learn:Why narrow, one-shot questions produce flat, forgettable answersHow to use AI as a brainstorm partner instead of an order takerWhat asking for a sample first changes about the final resultThe two words that turn a first-response into something worth using