This is the Transcript of the #WeddingMarket Chat on March 2nd, 2016 with Danielle Tate. The answers were made on Twitter so responses will appear different.

Danielle Tate is the founder and CEO of MissNowMrs.com, a multimillion dollar online name-change company. As a female founder in her 20s she noticed that few business guides offered step-by-step advice to smart but inexperienced entrepreneurial woman. This void inspired Danielle to author Elegant Entrepreneur: The Female Founders Guide to Starting & Growing Your First Company to help other women find their place and flourish within the entrepreneurial world. If you’re seeking help wanting to try and start your own business have a look at this limited company formations agency or similar ones to get started legally forming your first company. Danielle is an entrepreneur, wife, mother, Pilates devotee, and name-change expert in her spare time.

See more information at http://elegantentrepreneur.co

Q1: How did you get involved with the wedding industry?

Answer:

Danielle Tate: My name-change mishaps sparked the idea for @MissNowMrscom and took me from a medical sales career to the wedding industry.

Q2: How do you come up with the idea of @MissNowMrs ?

Answer:

Danielle Tate: After 3 tries to get a license in my new name, I wanted a solution to the tedious 13 hour name-change process. There needed to be a service that auto-completing all legal forms and offered simple, accurate filing instructions.

Q3: How did you grow @MissNowMrs into a multimillion-dollar enterprise?

Answer:

Danielle Tate: Hard work, strategic partnerships with industry leaders, blogging for SEO, continuous product improvement and innovation.

Q4: How one can transform a rough concept into a lucrative business?

Answer:

Danielle Tate: Understanding if your idea is truly innovative and compelling enough for consumers to switch to your solution is key. Market research will help you know if consumers have the problem you solve, what they will pay for it, and what they want. For example, when I first started my business, I used a range of data collection methods as part of my market research. I learnt so much about my target market and it was super helpful!

Q5: What are the key steps to take a concept from idea to reality?

Answer:

Danielle Tate: Idea, Market Research, Business Plan, Building YourTeam, Timing Your Leap, Funding, Building Your Product, Launching. Growing, Overcoming Setbacks, Sustaining and Exiting. Each of these steps are chapters in my book: http://amzn.to/21Dk7Gv

@FlowerGirlWorld What do you mean by exiting?

Answer:

Danielle Tate: The traditional definition of exiting is selling your company. Before doing so, I’ve heard that many people have turned their attention toward something like this quicksprout guide to understand how to sell their business as efficiently as possible. Every bit of information will help after all. Whilst I have not exited MissNowMrs yet, I have interviewed many entrepreneurs who have (including Barbara Corcoran).

Q6: How can business owners understanding market demands?

Answer:

Danielle Tate: Identify your target market and go talk to them. Ask about their problem and what their perfect solution would be like.

Q7: Why is it important to be able to pitch ideas?

Answer:

Danielle Tate: To promote your company to customers, the media, & investors you need to easily discuss your idea and how/why it works.

Q8: How do you build a team of partners?

Answer:

Danielle Tate: Look for partners who have skills that you lack, but share your vision of success, work ethic and personal values.

Q9: How do you hire employees?

Answer:

Danielle Tate: I hire when I have identified a need @MissNowMrscom and I have met the right person to meet that need.

Q10: What are the best ways to raise funds for business?

Answer:

Danielle Tate: I’m a fan of self-funding, but if you need early investment, look into local accelerators and pitch contests.

Q11: What are the key things that need to be done before launching your idea?

Answer:

Danielle Tate: You need to have clearly defined your idea and all the steps needed to create the product and generate revenue.

Q12: What are the best ways to handle competition?

Answer:

Danielle Tate: Knowing your competitors and striving to innovate and improve ahead of them will speed your company’s growth.

Q13: How do you know it’s the right time to sell?

Answer:

Danielle Tate: That depends on the founders of the company, their needs and their definitions of success. Dollars isn’t always the reason.

Q14: Why did you write the book?

Answer

Danielle Tate: I wrote Elegant Entrepreneur to help other women without a business background startup and scale up!

Q15: Where can they find or purchase your book?

Answer

Danielle Tate: Elegant Entrepreneur is available on
Amazon http://amzn.to/1RoOqpJ

Q16: What would you like everyone to take away from this #WeddingMarket Chat ?

Answer:

Danielle Tate: Have a good idea but lack business skills? You can and should build that idea into a business. Self-educate and startup!

#WeddingMarket Audience

@FlowerGirlWorld Can you give us an idea of which strategic partners were of the most help?

Danielle Tate: WeddingWire, the Knot, and DavidsBridal. We also created ways for local vendors to give out our gift cards.

@sothisislov Do you discuss applying the feedback provided by consumers in your book?

Danielle Tate: I do! Customer feedback is invaluable and there are ways to encourage it and use it!

@MetroLookNYC How can I break through and gain visibility specializing in a highly competitive field like makeup and hair?

Danielle Tate: You will need to highlight what makes your company different/better than any others already in the market.

@DanieEve How did you start, what was the “I can do this” moment?

Danielle Tate: I started by calling all 50 DMV offices to understand the problem. Realizing it was a nationwide problem was it.

@FlowerGirlWorld Any advice on reaching wedding targets beyond brides: grooms, MOB, & in my case, #flowergirls?

Danielle Tate: Understanding where those other targets shop/purchase items and finding a way to sell there would help.

@FlowerGirlWorld Did you have many competitors before you started your concept?

Danielle Tate: @MissNowMrscom was the first online name change service as there was only a book and a paper kit in 2007.

@Sweetestevents_ What’s the best Social Media platform 2 use when u want 2 advertise ur business? What’s the best site?

Danielle Tate: It depends on your business, but for weddings FB and Instagram are great platforms to leverage your brand. Pinterest is a GREAT platform and promoted pins are something to look into.

@Sweetestevents_ THX! Is there a particular time of day/hour you choose to posts on those platforms?

Danielle Tate: 8:00am-8:30am and noon are great times (as most people are on their phones or computers).

@Sweetestevents_ Thank you for that tip. In terms of Blogging…when is the best time to post, to keep readers engaged?

Danielle Tate: Choosing a regular time/day to post allows readers to anticipate your posts..so pick a time like lunchtime.

@MetroLookNYC When you started blogging, did you pay for SEO or were you able to generate web traffic organically? And how?

Danielle Tate: I generated traffic organically and paid for google ads to increase traffic. I specifically wrote blogs about the name change and questions about name change forms to capitalize on search. I haven’t tried it yet, but I hear interactive content and videos work great for improving SEO. Also, there is interactive video software that lets even a beginner create both interactive images and videos with ease.

@Sweetestevents_ I was debating should I pay for FB Ads, or pay to Boost a Post/Flyer, how long to run a Ad on FB?

Danielle Tate: FB will usually have an ad specialist set you up and advise you on your campaign.

@TaylorWed I’m looking to expand/build a team. Are there things I need to have in place in advance?

Danielle Tate: Knowing how much revenue an employee will generate for the company can help you with your salary decisions.