April 29, 2025 • 13 mins
You didn’t start your business to stay stuck. If you're ready to finally hit 6 or 7 figures WITHOUT burning out — book a call with our team → https://weddingproceo.com/application
If you’ve ever had a fully booked calendar but still felt broke at the end of the month, this episode is for you.
I’m breaking down the difference between sales (booked contracts) and revenue (cash in the bank), and why tracking both is the key to building a profitable wedding business that actually pays you consistently.
Don’t let feast-or-famine cycles control your finances—learn how to forecast like a real CEO.
The (FREE!)ASSUME Sales Training: 2x your wedding bookings in 30 days—step by step. Thousands of wedding pros have already used it to land more clients immediately! http://weddingproceo.com/freetrainingorg
=========================
EPISODE SHOW NOTES BLOG & MORE:
https://weddingproceo.com/why-you-feel-broke-even-if-youre-fully-booked/
=========================
Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Wedding Pro CEO Podcast. If you find these strategies helpful, make sure to share this episode with your fellow wedding pros. And remember, in the world of weddings, it's all about building genuine relationships and showcasing your best work. Until next time, keep shining, CEOs!
SUPPORT THE PODCAST! LEAVE A REVIEW HERE: https://ratethispodcast.com/swd
Have a question you’d like Brandee to answer? Ask here: http://bit.ly/3ZoqPmz
=========================
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brandee Gaar (00:00):
So you're having your first six
figure year, which is soexciting, but somehow your
bank account keeps bouncingbetween feast or famine.
What gives, here's the thing,you're not broke, but you're
just tracking the wrong numbers.
today I'm breaking down thedifference between sales
and revenue and why knowingthe difference is critical
to your business success.
(00:22):
I'm Brandee Gaar.
I built one of the topwedding planning firms in
Orlando, Florida, scaled itto a team run business, and
now I coach wedding prosfrom all over the world,
how to build a profitable,scalable business that doesn't
burn them into the ground.
If you're only trackingbooked weddings every single
month, you're probablyoverestimating how healthy
your business actually is,and that's why so many wedding
(00:44):
pros hit total burnout withnothing to show for it.
So the first thing we wannatalk about is the difference
between sales and revenue.
So many wedding business ownersget this confused, and I get
it because we weren't taughthow to track these things.
And so the fact thatyou're tracking either
one of them, if you are.
(01:05):
Give yourself a clap, a highfive for that because a
lot of times we tend to buryour head in the sand and not
want to track this at all.
So you really don't haveany idea what the financial
health of your business is.
So if you're tracking oneof them, kudos to you.
What I want you to do from hereis to be able to understand
the difference between salesand revenue and to track both.
(01:26):
Because together they'regonna give you a really good
picture of the financialhealth of your business.
But not only that,they're gonna help you to.
Forecast when you're gonnahave some of those famine
months so that you can preparein advance for, and not get
caught, not being able totake a salary for yourself.
So sales is the totalvalue of an event.
let's say that youbook a wedding today
(01:47):
that's worth $6,000.
It's a $6,000 wedding.
You book it today, it'snot happening until
sometime next year.
The sales value is stillthat $6,000 because that's
how much you booked.
This month that yousold it for, right?
So it's the totalvalue of that booking.
Now the difference with revenueis revenue is the amount of
cash that actually hit yourbank account this month.
(02:10):
let's say that you takepayments in equal thirds.
So given this same example ofa $6,000 booking, the revenue
on that booking in this monthis only the initial payment
that you took of $2,000.
sales numbers show yourpotential, but revenue
shows the truth, right?
(02:30):
And the reason that we sayit like that is because
sales is so exciting.
You definitely wannahave big sales months
because that's obviouslygonna grow your business.
But the revenue thathits your bank account
each month is the truth.
It's what's actually gonnabe able to cover your
expenses, including thatsalary that you've built
in for yourself as the CEO.
(02:50):
So let's talk about whytracking only sales is actually
dangerous for your business.
Okay, so let's say thatyou've hit your first $30,000
in bookings in one month.
This is so exciting.
We wanna celebrate that.
That's a great number.
So excited for you.
However, only $10,000 of that30,000 is actually gonna hit
the bank account this month.
(03:11):
Right now, if your expensesare $12,000, including that
salary for yourself as the CEO.
If your expenses are $12,000every month, then you don't
have enough to cover yourexpenses for the month.
So here we are celebrating this.
$30,000 sales, but weactually are still negative
(03:32):
in our bank account.
And that's why you are nottaking a salary this month
because you're like, well,I guess there's not enough
leftover for me to pay myself.
Right?
then that happens againnext month, and then that
happens again next month.
And all of a sudden youstart to feel this burnout
feeling where you're like.
I don't understand.
I keep selling and I keepselling, but why is there
(03:52):
never enough in the bankaccount for me to actually
be able to take that salarythat I built into my budget?
The reason is because youcan't spend the booked income.
You can only spend what actuallycomes in in cash collected.
So understanding that $30,000was your sales, but $10,000
was your revenue is imperativeto understanding the financial
(04:14):
health of your bank account.
So now let's talkcash in the bank.
So this is where we getour hands dirty when we're
working with wedding Prosinside of Wedding Pro CEO.
I absolutely love helpingbusiness owners to understand
the difference and toreally see how much money
is coming into their bankaccount every single month.
The coolest part about trackingrevenue and sales separately,
(04:37):
but tracking them both isbecause they can give you the
full financial picture whenyou lay them over each other
of not only what's happeningin current time, but what's
coming up in your business.
this is something I seeso often in the wedding
industry, is that we don'tunderstand how to forecast
what's coming in our business.
So every month you'rekind of just like.
Hoping enough money hits yourbank account to cover, you're
(05:01):
kind of always waiting forthat shoe to drop, right?
I don't know if you've ever feltthat way, but you're waiting
for that shoe to drop of like.
Is there gonna beenough this month?
Can I actually paymyself this month?
Is there gonna beenough leftover?
that's really not a goodway to run your business.
It's not a healthy way, andit's not a sustainable way to
run a business because at somepoint you have to know how
much you're gonna personally beable to take from your business
(05:24):
every single month to payyour personal expenses like a
mortgage, vacations, internetbill, whatever it is that you're
contributing to your household.
You kind of wanna knowwhat that money is gonna be
consistently in your business.
So this is why we trackboth revenue and sales
separately, but then laythem over each other to be
able to understand what'scoming up in our business.
(05:45):
So what do I mean by that?
Inside of Wedding Pro CEO,we work with our students on
exactly how to understand andforecast what's coming up in
their business financially.
So that means what we do iswe go into your business we
pull out the numbers of allof the expected income month
by month in your business.
If you wanna do this exerciseyourself, what I would encourage
(06:06):
you to do is go into your CRMwherever you keep payments, and
I want you to go month by month.
And I want you to see howmany payments you're expected
to receive that month.
Already from booked weddings,so this would be second and
final payments or howeveryou take your payments.
You're gonna wanna go May.
Okay.
How many payments arecoming in for May if I
didn't sell anything else?
(06:26):
How many payments arecoming in for May?
How many for June?
How many for July?
And I want you towrite that down.
Right.
That's telling you how muchrevenue is coming in if
you don't sell a singleadditional wedding for the
entire rest of the year.
Okay?
that's gonna be the firstnumber that we're tracking.
That's your revenue.
Now the second number thatwe're tracking is we want
to go in and say, how muchdo I think I'm gonna sell?
(06:49):
Each month for the rest ofthe year based on history
that I have in my business.
Now, if you're less than twoyears in business, this is
gonna be a little bit harderfor you to come up with.
So you're gonna have tojust kind of estimate based
on your lead flow so far.
But if you've been in businessfor more than two years,
you should be able to goback and prior years and
pull sales history month.
(07:09):
Over month, how much werethe value of the bookings
that you sold in each month?
that's what I want you to do.
I want you to go for the restof the year, and I want you
to, based on history or leadflow, if you're newer, I want
you to estimate how much you'regonna sell in each month for the
remaining months of the year.
now you've got your revenuethat's already on the books,
you've got your sales, andthe final piece of this is
(07:32):
you're gonna take one third.
Of your sales number foreach month, you're gonna
add that to your revenue.
Now, I'm using one thirdas an example because in my
company and what we teachinside of Wedding Pro, CEO
is to do a three paymentplan for most clients.
If you do a different paymentplan, that's totally fine.
Just make sure that you'reputting that accurate number in.
(07:52):
So if you do.
Four payments for your clients,make sure you're only putting
that 25% retainer intothe revenue bucket, right?
So we've got ourrevenue of weddings
that are already booked.
Payments that are coming in ifyou don't sell anything else,
then we've got our sales number,how much we're actually gonna
sell each month, then we'vegot the retainers from that
being added to the revenue.
(08:14):
This is gonna give us a reallyaccurate forecast of how
much we can expect to make.
Every single month forthe rest of the year.
Now, the only step left todoing this, if you're like,
okay, Brandee, this is allreally great, but like, how
does this tell me if I'mactually gonna be able to
cover my bills every month?
The last step of this isto just compare that to what
your break even number is.
So your break even numberis what it costs you
(08:35):
to run your businessevery single month with.
All of your expenses, includinga salary for yourself.
So whatever that break evennumber is, if it's 5,000,
6,000, $10,000 per month topay all of those expenses,
you wanna just compare everysingle month is the revenue
that's expected to come infor that month, more or less.
(08:56):
Then your break evennumber, if it's more.
Great.
That's exciting.
That's a bonus.
If it's less, that's okay.
We just need to know either one.
We need to actuallysell more than we're
expecting to that month.
We need to figure out canI increase my lead flow?
Can I run some sort ofa promo that's gonna get
me more sales that month?
Or can I reduceexpenses somehow?
(09:16):
can I look and see if there'sany expenses that I can reduce
for that month or the, myfavorite is if you have a few
months that are over and a fewmonths that are under now,
you know, in those months.
That are over.
That's not extra money.
That's not you taking an extradistribution or going out and
buying a new camera or computer.
You need to store up thatextra in those bigger months,
(09:37):
like a little squirrel withtheir acorns so that you
can keep it in your bankaccount for those months
that are gonna be slightlylower so that you don't
ever have to skip a payroll.
You don't ever have toskip paying yourself.
You've now flattened outyour revenue, which is.
So exciting to not feel likeone month I'm eating filet.
The next month I'm eatingramen right now you, by
(09:58):
knowing these numbers andbeing able to take from the big
months and put into the lowermonths, you can see it coming.
You know you're not gonnahave skip payroll and it makes
running your business so much.
Easier.
You guys trust me thatI know this pain many,
many, many years.
We ran our business in thisfeast or famine cycle, and
I can vividly picture myhusband and I standing in
(10:21):
our living room together.
Honestly, me in tears.
One summer, 'cause summer's ourslow season here in Florida.
honestly, desperately wonderinghow, one, we were gonna cover
payroll, but two, how wewere gonna possibly pay our
mortgage because both of uswork full-time for our business.
And that was the last timethat ever happened to us
because my husband was like,I can't continue like this.
Like, businessesdon't run like this.
(10:42):
Like this can't be right.
There has to be a way that wecan figure out how to flatten
this out like so we don't haveto skip payroll every summer
because there's no way thatbusiness owners just skip
payrolls for months on end.
so that was the last summerthat ever happened because
that was the summer, thatwas the year that I kind
of hit total burnout in mybusiness and I went and I just.
(11:02):
Said, I've gottafigure this out.
I went outside thewedding industry.
I learned a ton about how torun a profitable, sustainable
business, I brought that backinto the wedding industry.
And now that's what I loveto teach Wedding Pros.
How to do is to learnhow to understand revenue,
understand profit, understandsales, to build a profitable,
sustainable business thatyou actually love to run.
(11:22):
If this episode hit you in thegut a little bit, CEO, good.
That means you're ready tostart running your business
like a real business.
If you wanna do this exerciseyourself, we've included a
link to my free budget tracker.
This is the same trackerthat we use with our students
inside of Wedding Pro, CEO.
It's in the description below.
Grab that and if you wannalearn more about how we help
wedding businesses scale tosix and seven figures, click
(11:45):
the link in the description tobook a free call with our team.
Remember CEOs, you can'tscale what you don't track,
so stop measuring hype andstart measuring what matters.
I see you in the next episode.
So you're having your first six
figure year, which is soexciting, but somehow your
bank account keeps bouncingbetween feast or famine.
What gives, here's the thing,you're not broke, but you're
just tracking the wrong numbers.
today I'm breaking down thedifference between sales
and revenue and why knowingthe difference is critical
to your business success.
(00:22):
I'm Brandee Gaar.
I built one of the topwedding planning firms in
Orlando, Florida, scaled itto a team run business, and
now I coach wedding prosfrom all over the world,
how to build a profitable,scalable business that doesn't
burn them into the ground.
If you're only trackingbooked weddings every single
month, you're probablyoverestimating how healthy
your business actually is,and that's why so many wedding
(00:44):
pros hit total burnout withnothing to show for it.
So the first thing we wannatalk about is the difference
between sales and revenue.
So many wedding business ownersget this confused, and I get
it because we weren't taughthow to track these things.
And so the fact thatyou're tracking either
one of them, if you are.
(01:05):
Give yourself a clap, a highfive for that because a
lot of times we tend to buryour head in the sand and not
want to track this at all.
So you really don't haveany idea what the financial
health of your business is.
So if you're tracking oneof them, kudos to you.
What I want you to do from hereis to be able to understand
the difference between salesand revenue and to track both.
(01:26):
Because together they'regonna give you a really good
picture of the financialhealth of your business.
But not only that,they're gonna help you to.
Forecast when you're gonnahave some of those famine
months so that you can preparein advance for, and not get
caught, not being able totake a salary for yourself.
So sales is the totalvalue of an event.
let's say that youbook a wedding today
(01:47):
that's worth $6,000.
It's a $6,000 wedding.
You book it today, it'snot happening until
sometime next year.
The sales value is stillthat $6,000 because that's
how much you booked.
This month that yousold it for, right?
So it's the totalvalue of that booking.
Now the difference with revenueis revenue is the amount of
cash that actually hit yourbank account this month.
(02:10):
let's say that you takepayments in equal thirds.
So given this same example ofa $6,000 booking, the revenue
on that booking in this monthis only the initial payment
that you took of $2,000.
sales numbers show yourpotential, but revenue
shows the truth, right?
(02:30):
And the reason that we sayit like that is because
sales is so exciting.
You definitely wannahave big sales months
because that's obviouslygonna grow your business.
But the revenue thathits your bank account
each month is the truth.
It's what's actually gonnabe able to cover your
expenses, including thatsalary that you've built
in for yourself as the CEO.
(02:50):
So let's talk about whytracking only sales is actually
dangerous for your business.
Okay, so let's say thatyou've hit your first $30,000
in bookings in one month.
This is so exciting.
We wanna celebrate that.
That's a great number.
So excited for you.
However, only $10,000 of that30,000 is actually gonna hit
the bank account this month.
(03:11):
Right now, if your expensesare $12,000, including that
salary for yourself as the CEO.
If your expenses are $12,000every month, then you don't
have enough to cover yourexpenses for the month.
So here we are celebrating this.
$30,000 sales, but weactually are still negative
(03:32):
in our bank account.
And that's why you are nottaking a salary this month
because you're like, well,I guess there's not enough
leftover for me to pay myself.
Right?
then that happens againnext month, and then that
happens again next month.
And all of a sudden youstart to feel this burnout
feeling where you're like.
I don't understand.
I keep selling and I keepselling, but why is there
(03:52):
never enough in the bankaccount for me to actually
be able to take that salarythat I built into my budget?
The reason is because youcan't spend the booked income.
You can only spend what actuallycomes in in cash collected.
So understanding that $30,000was your sales, but $10,000
was your revenue is imperativeto understanding the financial
(04:14):
health of your bank account.
So now let's talkcash in the bank.
So this is where we getour hands dirty when we're
working with wedding Prosinside of Wedding Pro CEO.
I absolutely love helpingbusiness owners to understand
the difference and toreally see how much money
is coming into their bankaccount every single month.
The coolest part about trackingrevenue and sales separately,
(04:37):
but tracking them both isbecause they can give you the
full financial picture whenyou lay them over each other
of not only what's happeningin current time, but what's
coming up in your business.
this is something I seeso often in the wedding
industry, is that we don'tunderstand how to forecast
what's coming in our business.
So every month you'rekind of just like.
Hoping enough money hits yourbank account to cover, you're
(05:01):
kind of always waiting forthat shoe to drop, right?
I don't know if you've ever feltthat way, but you're waiting
for that shoe to drop of like.
Is there gonna beenough this month?
Can I actually paymyself this month?
Is there gonna beenough leftover?
that's really not a goodway to run your business.
It's not a healthy way, andit's not a sustainable way to
run a business because at somepoint you have to know how
much you're gonna personally beable to take from your business
(05:24):
every single month to payyour personal expenses like a
mortgage, vacations, internetbill, whatever it is that you're
contributing to your household.
You kind of wanna knowwhat that money is gonna be
consistently in your business.
So this is why we trackboth revenue and sales
separately, but then laythem over each other to be
able to understand what'scoming up in our business.
(05:45):
So what do I mean by that?
Inside of Wedding Pro CEO,we work with our students on
exactly how to understand andforecast what's coming up in
their business financially.
So that means what we do iswe go into your business we
pull out the numbers of allof the expected income month
by month in your business.
If you wanna do this exerciseyourself, what I would encourage
(06:06):
you to do is go into your CRMwherever you keep payments, and
I want you to go month by month.
And I want you to see howmany payments you're expected
to receive that month.
Already from booked weddings,so this would be second and
final payments or howeveryou take your payments.
You're gonna wanna go May.
Okay.
How many payments arecoming in for May if I
didn't sell anything else?
(06:26):
How many payments arecoming in for May?
How many for June?
How many for July?
And I want you towrite that down.
Right.
That's telling you how muchrevenue is coming in if
you don't sell a singleadditional wedding for the
entire rest of the year.
Okay?
that's gonna be the firstnumber that we're tracking.
That's your revenue.
Now the second number thatwe're tracking is we want
to go in and say, how muchdo I think I'm gonna sell?
(06:49):
Each month for the rest ofthe year based on history
that I have in my business.
Now, if you're less than twoyears in business, this is
gonna be a little bit harderfor you to come up with.
So you're gonna have tojust kind of estimate based
on your lead flow so far.
But if you've been in businessfor more than two years,
you should be able to goback and prior years and
pull sales history month.
(07:09):
Over month, how much werethe value of the bookings
that you sold in each month?
that's what I want you to do.
I want you to go for the restof the year, and I want you
to, based on history or leadflow, if you're newer, I want
you to estimate how much you'regonna sell in each month for the
remaining months of the year.
now you've got your revenuethat's already on the books,
you've got your sales, andthe final piece of this is
(07:32):
you're gonna take one third.
Of your sales number foreach month, you're gonna
add that to your revenue.
Now, I'm using one thirdas an example because in my
company and what we teachinside of Wedding Pro, CEO
is to do a three paymentplan for most clients.
If you do a different paymentplan, that's totally fine.
Just make sure that you'reputting that accurate number in.
(07:52):
So if you do.
Four payments for your clients,make sure you're only putting
that 25% retainer intothe revenue bucket, right?
So we've got ourrevenue of weddings
that are already booked.
Payments that are coming in ifyou don't sell anything else,
then we've got our sales number,how much we're actually gonna
sell each month, then we'vegot the retainers from that
being added to the revenue.
(08:14):
This is gonna give us a reallyaccurate forecast of how
much we can expect to make.
Every single month forthe rest of the year.
Now, the only step left todoing this, if you're like,
okay, Brandee, this is allreally great, but like, how
does this tell me if I'mactually gonna be able to
cover my bills every month?
The last step of this isto just compare that to what
your break even number is.
So your break even numberis what it costs you
(08:35):
to run your businessevery single month with.
All of your expenses, includinga salary for yourself.
So whatever that break evennumber is, if it's 5,000,
6,000, $10,000 per month topay all of those expenses,
you wanna just compare everysingle month is the revenue
that's expected to come infor that month, more or less.
(08:56):
Then your break evennumber, if it's more.
Great.
That's exciting.
That's a bonus.
If it's less, that's okay.
We just need to know either one.
We need to actuallysell more than we're
expecting to that month.
We need to figure out canI increase my lead flow?
Can I run some sort ofa promo that's gonna get
me more sales that month?
Or can I reduceexpenses somehow?
(09:16):
can I look and see if there'sany expenses that I can reduce
for that month or the, myfavorite is if you have a few
months that are over and a fewmonths that are under now,
you know, in those months.
That are over.
That's not extra money.
That's not you taking an extradistribution or going out and
buying a new camera or computer.
You need to store up thatextra in those bigger months,
(09:37):
like a little squirrel withtheir acorns so that you
can keep it in your bankaccount for those months
that are gonna be slightlylower so that you don't
ever have to skip a payroll.
You don't ever have toskip paying yourself.
You've now flattened outyour revenue, which is.
So exciting to not feel likeone month I'm eating filet.
The next month I'm eatingramen right now you, by
(09:58):
knowing these numbers andbeing able to take from the big
months and put into the lowermonths, you can see it coming.
You know you're not gonnahave skip payroll and it makes
running your business so much.
Easier.
You guys trust me thatI know this pain many,
many, many years.
We ran our business in thisfeast or famine cycle, and
I can vividly picture myhusband and I standing in
(10:21):
our living room together.
Honestly, me in tears.
One summer, 'cause summer's ourslow season here in Florida.
honestly, desperately wonderinghow, one, we were gonna cover
payroll, but two, how wewere gonna possibly pay our
mortgage because both of uswork full-time for our business.
And that was the last timethat ever happened to us
because my husband was like,I can't continue like this.
Like, businessesdon't run like this.
(10:42):
Like this can't be right.
There has to be a way that wecan figure out how to flatten
this out like so we don't haveto skip payroll every summer
because there's no way thatbusiness owners just skip
payrolls for months on end.
so that was the last summerthat ever happened because
that was the summer, thatwas the year that I kind
of hit total burnout in mybusiness and I went and I just.
(11:02):
Said, I've gottafigure this out.
I went outside thewedding industry.
I learned a ton about how torun a profitable, sustainable
business, I brought that backinto the wedding industry.
And now that's what I loveto teach Wedding Pros.
How to do is to learnhow to understand revenue,
understand profit, understandsales, to build a profitable,
sustainable business thatyou actually love to run.
(11:22):
If this episode hit you in thegut a little bit, CEO, good.
That means you're ready tostart running your business
like a real business.
If you wanna do this exerciseyourself, we've included a
link to my free budget tracker.
This is the same trackerthat we use with our students
inside of Wedding Pro, CEO.
It's in the description below.
Grab that and if you wannalearn more about how we help
wedding businesses scale tosix and seven figures, click
(11:45):
the link in the description tobook a free call with our team.
Remember CEOs, you can'tscale what you don't track,
so stop measuring hype andstart measuring what matters.
I see you in the next episode.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.