We’re just crossing mid-year and I hit a major milestone: I have as much on the books halfway through this year compared to ALL of last year!
I’m keeping up with my targetted revenue growth of doubling each and every year. I hit $25k last year so basic math would tell us that I’m looking at $50k for 2018.
It’s also looking like I’ll be able to keep expenses flat despite the massive uptick in revenue.
| Gross Rev | Expenses | Total Gigs | Private Gigs | Private Rev | Bars/Clubs | Bar Rev | |
| 2012 | $100 | $234 | 3 | 3 | $100 | 0 | $0 |
| 2013 | $1,510 | $625 | 5 | 5 | $1,510 | 0 | $0 |
| 2014 | $1,841 | $2,022 | 7 | 7 | $1,841 | 0 | $0 |
| 2015 | $5,128 | $3,399 | 15 | 13 | $4,478 | 2 | $650 |
| 2016 | $12,840 | $11,010 | 24 | 16 | $10,790 | 8 | $2,050 |
| 2017 | $25,175 | $13,916 | 67 | 14 | $11,975 | 53 | $14,250 |
| 2018 | $25,945 | $7,168 | 46 | 21 | $19,795 | 25 | $6,150 |
Weddings, Weddings, Weddings
So what can we glean from all these fancy numbers? The big thing sticking out is the explosion in Private Gig Revenue. Weddings have accounted for the big growth here.
I had five weddings in 2016 and unfortunately followed that up with absolutely zero in 2017. That changed in a big way this year, as I played five weddings over a four week period in May ALONE. So far I have 11 on the year with another already booked for 2019.
Bar revenue has fallen off a bit but that was to be expected. I stopped spending any and all energy working into the bar scene to focus exclusively on weddings and clearly it’s been paying off. I even began turning away bar gigs to double down on growing the most valuable part of my business.
As you can see below, I’ve done fewer gigs and my revenue has grown. Bar gigs pull in $200-250 not including tax or expenses. My average weddings have been priced at $1500 depending on the package. This is exactly what I planned on.
From Whence They Came
Below I break down percentages of where my revenue has been coming from.
Since a large portion of my income last year were bar gigs, Industry Connects & Multi-ops contributed to half of my revenue. Now that I’m turning away from bar gigs they’ve contributed to only a quarter of my revenue with Paid sources picking up the slack.
Paid sources include sites like Gigmasters and WeddingWire. A big reason why they’ve spiked up is because of the testimonials I’ve gathered.
| Sources | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
| Word of Mouth | 100% | 100% | 100% | 70% | 41% | 31% | 33% |
| Multi-ops | 0% | 0% | 0% | 18% | 10% | 30% | 15% |
| Paid | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 26% | 19% | 39% |
| Industry Connects | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 2% | 20% | 7% |
| Barter | 0% | 0% | 0% | 13% | 21% | 0% | 5% |
More Reviews = More Leads (& Gigs)
In August of 2017 I signed up for a Wedding Wire Pro account and through January 2018 I only had two reviews. By June I got that up to TWELVE, with every single wedding client writing me a testimonial.
Industry average is 20%, 30% at best if you follow-up four times. Once you break double digit testimonials Wedding Wire’s traffic DOUBLES. Anyone can tell you that doubling your ROI is huge, because now you’ve got twice the bang for buck. And Wedding Wire is not cheap.
I’m getting more and more qualified cold leads from clients who are willing and able to pay for quality service. If you don’t have the reviews or marketing assets (like a great website and professional photos), you’re just not going to make the sale outside of budget shoppers.
How Did I Get Reviews from 100% Of My Clients?
It all boils down to doing the unexpected. Spending just 2% of my gig revenue on a gift, my clients were jumping up and down to write me a glowing review!
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