Episode 2 | Taking Your Business Seriously: Why Your Earliest Investments Shape Everything That Comes After

There’s a version of this conversation that happens a lot in the early days of building a business. It usually sounds something like: “I’ll invest in that once things are more established.”

Once the brand is stronger. Once the clients are more consistent. Once there’s more runway. Once it feels real enough to justify it.

MacKenzie Hultberg, the founder of Pearl and Poppy Wedding Co., didn’t wait for that moment. She invested in her brand before her calendar was full. She built her systems before she had proof they’d pay off. She showed up to industry events before she had a network to show for it. And in Episode 2 of Founding Well, she shares exactly what that looked like — and why she’s glad she didn’t wait.

The Foundation She Built Before She Launched

Mackenzie’s path to entrepreneurship wasn’t a leap into the unknown. It was a long, deliberate buildup. She went to college for entrepreneurship, spent four years working part-time at a wedding venue, spent her weekends assisting other planners, and eventually took a role doing marketing for over 75 wedding venue owners across the country. By the time she launched Pearl and Poppy Wedding Co. in November of 2024, she had years of industry experience behind her.

She also spent time in corporate events — a season she’s honest about not loving, but one that gave her something unexpected: a front-row seat to large-scale AV productions, a sharper sense of how she wanted to run client meetings, and the final push she needed to make the jump.

The business was new. The foundation was not.

Why She Invested in Her Brand Before She Was “Ready”

One of the first things MacKenzie did when she launched was hire a professional brand and web designer. Not because she had a full calendar. Not because the business was profitable yet. But because she knew how she wanted her business to be perceived — and she wasn’t willing to let a DIY brand undercut that.

As a planner, she doesn’t have a portfolio of photos to hand a potential client the way a photographer does. So much of what she does is invisible until it’s happening. Her brand became the way she could communicate who she was and what clients could expect — before they ever got on a call with her.

She was also building something specific. Not just a business — a luxury brand. And she knew that a Canva logo and a self-built Squarespace site weren’t going to say that, no matter how good the work behind it was.

“I never wanted it to be portrayed as a side business. I wanted this to be a luxury brand that would hit those marks and really tailor to those clients. So I needed to do that from the very beginning, and I knew that investment would come back to me.”

It did. Couples have told her they never would have guessed she was newer in the industry because her brand didn’t look like she was.

Systems Create a Professional Experience From Day One

Alongside the brand investment, MacKenzie came into her business with something a lot of new founders don’t have: a working knowledge of CRM systems from her time in venue marketing. From day one, she built automations so that when a couple inquired through her website, they immediately received pricing and information via text and email.

No waiting. No chasing leads manually. Just a seamless, professional experience from the very first touchpoint.

She also set up automations to follow up months later with couples who went quiet — because she understood that not hearing back doesn’t always mean no. Sometimes it just means not yet.

What to Do When You Don’t Have the Resources Yet

MacKenzie is honest that she wasn’t financially ready when she made the leap. She had a support system. She worked for it. Late nights. Weekend assisting jobs. Slow, intentional steps toward the investments she knew she wanted to make.

Before the professional brand build, she started with a Squarespace website and a Canva logo in Playfair Display. It wasn’t what she wanted — but it was where she had to start. And she started.

She also got on TikTok. Every single day. No production, no studio, just her apartment and the conviction that showing up consistently would eventually pay off. She was right.

“You’re never going to be ready. Things are never going to be perfect. So I think understanding that—if you want to make that jump, I think you should.”

The through line here isn’t about having the resources. It’s about starting with what you have and staying in motion toward what you want.

Styled Shoots as a Strategic Investment Tool

One of the real challenges MacKenzie faced early on: she had assisted at over 500 weddings, but couldn’t post a single one. None of it was her design. None of it was her brand. So she turned to styled shoots — and did three in her first year.

We talked through what it takes to approach a styled shoot strategically: finding vendors who genuinely want to collaborate, understanding that florists and rental companies often have real material costs that make full collaboration difficult, being transparent and fair if photographers are purchasing tickets, and going in with a clear enough creative vision that the shoot actually reflects the brand you’re building — not just the brand you had when you started.

A styled shoot isn’t just content. Done well, it’s a chance to expand your network, meet photographers you’ve never worked with, and create a body of work that’s actually yours.

Community Is a Long-Term Investment

The last third of this conversation shifted into something I think about a lot: the role of community in building a business that lasts.

MacKenzie started attending industry events early—Visit Loudoun in Northern Virginia and Emerge Event Collective dinners in DC—and built genuine relationships with other vendors before she had a packed calendar. That’s actually where she and I met.

She also shared something that stopped me: when she’s booked on a date, she doesn’t just say no. She sends couples to other planners she trusts. One of those couples’ friends reached out to her months later, specifically because of how gracious MacKenzie had been. Community over competition isn’t just a nice idea. It literally comes back to you.

“Networking is one of the biggest things. I’ve met so many people in the industry that I never would have met if I was just following them on social media.”

Showing up to events is an investment too. It’s not always financial but it is a time investment, a vulnerability investment, and a belief-in-your-business investment. MacKenzie showed up before she had anything to show off. That matters.

A Question Worth Sitting With

What Mackenzie’s story keeps coming back to is a decision—not a resource. She didn’t wait until she had proof that it would work. She invested in the brand, built the systems, showed up to the events, and let the business grow into the standard she’d already set.

So here’s the question I want to leave you with: what’s one area of your business where you’ve been waiting to invest—in your brand, a system, a relationship, showing up somewhere— because you haven’t felt established enough yet?

“You don’t have to wait until your business looks like something to start treating it like something.”

Listen to Episode 2 | Spotify | Apple

You can listen to the full conversation with MacKenzie wherever you get your podcasts. If this episode resonated, subscribe so you don’t miss what’s coming next, and share it with a founder who’s building something meaningful.

Follow MacKenzie at @pearlpoppyweddingco on Instagram or visit pearlpoppy.com.