What sort of characteristic do you need to have to be a celebrant and a successful business person?
Here are some characteristics that I've thought of. Perhaps you can add to the list.
1. Initiative
Business people who succeed take personal
responsibility for what happens. Action is the key. Whatever you plan to do,
you do it in a timely fashion. Any promises you make to yourself or to your
clients are kept because you enjoy the challenge of getting things done. You
know the importance of promoting yourself as a business person and are active
in doing just that.
2. Persistence
No one has ever succeeded without
persistence. By focusing on exactly what you want to achieve as a celebrant you
will be able to overcome the inevitable challenges that will come your way. You
have the self-confidence in not only being ready to undertake a task, but to
keep at it until it’s finished.
3. Planning
Essential requirement is that you know
exactly the outcome you want in planning every step of the way. This includes
making a detailed list of your immediate and long-term goals, and tackling them
in an orderly fashion. Knowing where you want to go, and putting in place
realistic initiatives which will take you there, is a necessary requirement.
4. Flexibility
Change is inevitable in every aspect of
life. It is inevitable in your business. Accept it and use it to your
advantage. While having a plan for your business so that you know where you’re
going and how you’re going to get there, continue to watch what’s happening
around you, and revise your own methods and ideas so that you don’t get left
behind.
5. Clear, creative and
analytical thinking
You need to be an ideas person, aware of
trends and fashions, working towards being the first, rather than the last to
adopt new ways of celebrating various ceremonies. While as a celebrant you are
a people person, as a business person you need to be logical and rational, and
perhaps even a bit pragmatic. Feelings and sentimental thinking need to take
second place to running your business as a financial success.
6. Communication skills
Celebrancy requires the skill of getting
along with people. You need to enjoy working with your clients, networking with
people in your industry, gaining their goodwill and support. Competence in
human relations, including the ability to get along with others is imperative.
Creating relationships with all the people you come in contact includes the
ability to mix easily with people, be a person easy to get to know, and be a
real asset in social situations. Ability to talk easily, and enjoying talking,
is a real asset.
7. Able to describe the
services you provide
Unlike tangible goods which customers can
see, and hold and touch, your services are very much in the perception of the
client. It is you who must be able to communicate the benefits and advantages
of your services to the client. No matter how good, or even how much better you
are than other celebrants, in order to sell your services to a client you must
need to communicate this fact to her.
In effect, you are the product you’re
selling. You must be able to communicate your differences from other celebrants. Your enthusiasm and passion for what you’re doing. The experience
and the training which makes you the professional you are. The qualities that
make you and your services unique.
6. Confident
Since you are the product you’re selling,
you need to be confident by knowing what you are about. You can only convince
others by knowing and believing in your professionalism and your ability to
provide quality service.
7. Reliable
Your clients, like everyone else, have
experienced the frustration of calls that are never returned, the promised
information that never arrives, the waste of time waiting for service people
who might arrive today or tomorrow, or hopefully by the end of the week. As a
successful business person, you never promise what you can’t deliver and you
always try to deliver more than you promise.
8. Self-motivation
You need to believe in what you’re doing, in
the way you’re doing it, and in your ability to achieve what you’ve set out to
achieve. As a self-employed person it is not enough for you to merely have
goals which you want to achieve. You must be able to motivate yourself to do
whatever it takes to actively promote these goals. Planning is not enough. You
need to be committed to what you’ve set out to do.
9. Business like
You might love dealing with people, but you
must never lose sight of the fact that you’re running a business and not a charitable
institution. Be financially responsible by charging fees that repay the time
and money that you put into running your celebrancy business.
Initially, almost all people starting a new
business are just a little embarrassed about asking for their fee, and worrying
about the fee being too high. Unless you get over it very quickly, you won’t be
running a business for too long.
10. Robust health
Look after your health. Celebrancy is about
being on time and on the ball. Since stresses are inevitable, make sure you
don’t succumb by taking care of yourself physically, mentally and emotionally.
Make some rules about how you want to run your business and what time off you
would like to have. Some celebrants choose not to perform ceremonies on public
or religious holidays because they prefer to spend that time with their family
and friends. Decide on your priorities so that you won’t feel that you are
wholly controlled by your business.
