How to Design a Profitable Retreat with Roxy Borger

0:20 Hi. Okay. Good morning. Those of you are who are joining us early, thanks for being on time. Roxy's getting dialed in. Literally dialed in. Okay. No, not connected yet. There you go. Can you hear me? I'm here. Hi, I can hear you. Can you hear me? Okay. Yeah. Perfect. Awesome. I like to call in just in case, you know, like w internet goes sideways. It's like at least I have my voice. Yeah, that stuff doesn't really happen that much any these days, but you know, just in case. You'd be surprised. I do enough of these type of things that I'm like really we still struggle with this. I know in some ways you're like we've come so far in some ways no not at all.

1:39 You're still like sometimes sitting there like last week I was on a call with a client and I was like hold on hold on we're like looking at each other. Neither of us could get it. I was like I'm sorry. Or somebody's face is just frozen like this the whole time. You're like, I'm trying to take you seriously right now, but I can't. I can't. This is very weird. I was just talking to someone yesterday who said, you know, she's like she's pushing for inerson meetings and like less Zoom and more like maybe just chatting on the phone because she's so burnt out on it. I thought it was like an interesting, you know, perspective. Well, hello. Hello everyone who's jumping on. Guys, I think Roxy, you officially have our highest registered webinar ever. So, really? Yeah. Thank you guys. So happy. 100 people registered for this today. So, we'll see we get here live. for those of you jumping on board and this is your first Wall webinar, we do this webinar style. So, don't be alarmed if you don't see yourself like on the screen as you would in a normal Zoom meeting. it's really to help everybody stay focused and you know, you all want to run retreats. Yeah.

2:53 Everybody wants vacations. Totally. we do we want to run them or do we just want to live on them? Exactly. Exactly. It's It's actually It's something we can talk about in this because I think there's there's a good a good call out there. yeah. Anyway, so you know, don't worry if you don't see yourself on screen. It's just going to be me and Roxy and Roxy will be sharing her screen a lot of the time. So, yeah. If you're on here though, can you please pop into the chat and introduce yourself? We've got lots of people from all over the country coming today. Actually, some people from around the world, I think. So, please say your name, where you're from, if you want to shout out your studio. Awesome. hi Cat. I'm We're still social media friends. I haven't seen you in a while. I hope you're well. Oh, we love that. Yeah. Oh, hi Christine. Hi, guys. Like, so happy to be here. I mean, I It's nice to see some familiar names and faces and probably some new friends, right? It's always evolving. So, so glad for those of you that are here live.

4:03 Yes. Hi, Michael. Thank you for posting the real I didn't know how to I'm not I'm like medium with social media, but thank you for sharing that out, by the way. Awesome. Awesome. All right. Well, it is 9:30 and I love to start these on time because we try to be super efficient. one of the things that we like to do in our Wallow webinar series, especially if this is your first time here, you'll notice that we welcome questions and conversation. This is not just a, you know, lecture where you're sitting back the whole time and being told what to do. This is really interactive. So, that's part of the reason I try to get everybody comfortable with the chat early on, saying hello to each other. once we actually get into the presentation, like the PowerPoint, if you wouldn't mind, at the bottom of your screen, there's a Q&A button. So, right next to like the raise hand and polls or I don't know what yours actually looks like as a participant, but there is a Q&A one for sure. if you wouldn't mind if you have a specific question about the content post it in the Q&A so we can be sure we mark it off as answered and we don't miss anything and it also actually documents for the recording afterwards so we've got everything kind of curated for anybody who can't be here live but that's really it for housekeeping I think again those of you jumping in right now welcome to a

5:31 webinar series this is webinar style Don't be worried if you don't see your face. It's going to be me and Roxy running the show today. and without further ado, I will introduce Rox. I am so excited. I posted this on my social media yesterday, but I don't know how many of you know this, but my one of my reasons I got into really the business side of the industry was because I saw Roxy speak and saw her, you know, teaching and explaining how much power there was in understanding the metrics and the operations to make businesses more profitable. and it really just struck a chord with me that there was actually an industry and a group of people who cared about making this industry more successful. So, thank you for that, Rox. and she has been responsible for helping thousands and thousands of businesses become profitable, find success, and find ease in their business operations. So when I thought about retreats and who I would really want to speak to making retreats something that you can incorporate in your business, Roxy was a natural fit for this because you've seen so many people do it in so many different ways and you know seen results and seen it fail and seen it succeed. So I'm also a complete retreat aholic. So yes, that was not only like I am I'm going next to in two weeks to assist on a retreat because they've like enhanced my life so much and helped me not be stuck

7:10 personally through all phases of my life. So I'm a huge believer in like as a participant and a leader of them, which I love wearing both of those hats because they both make you better at the other. Perfect. So awesome. Well, with that, I will turn it over to you and let you add anything to either your background or why you're you're excited about running this show today. and then we can dive into content. Okay. hi everybody. Thank you for being here if you're live or listening to the recording. Laura, thank you so much for that like lovely intro. Like I'm so glad we get to be wellness business friends. I know. And it really so my some of my history which maybe provides context is you know we started you know I was an employee at MindBody I don't think that's a big secret and we started like we held our first you know event and we were like we're going to talk about the business the business side and we have no idea what we're doing we just like showed up at an event in New York City in like fall and it sold out. People were so hungry to have an opportunity to talk about their businesses together and to learn from each other. And that was the start of my career in the business side and deep love for the people who we are like that we are both passionate wellreneurs that we can be both people who absolutely love fitness and wellness and yoga and that we can also be really mindful

8:35 business people like good business people that are profitable and feeding you know win-win. So, so anyway, that's a little bit of my history. I've hosted a lot of more business side events, some retreats and teacher trainings on my yoga and bar fitness side, and mostly I've been attending retreats a lot the last couple years. I have a three-year-old son. I went through a lot with COVID and work changes and all of that. So, mostly I've been participating a lot. So, really going to share with you everything I've learned about having retreat-like events and making them profitable. And that means what are retreat-like events? To me that is it's something that is providing people with opportunity for probably the number one thing I think is connection and I think today more than ever we are so starved for that connection and I saw Laura talking about this in her social media and how like loneliness in particular is one of the biggest challenges we face especially through the pandemic and all of that. so I think the you know yes we all want to live on retreat yes we want them profitable but the bigger purpose behind it is to have that connection that lifeenhancing experience that we sometimes lose when we live in that overwhelmed trying to do everything state where a lot of us live even if you're a wellpreneur we live there a lot so anyway I believe in both so that's that sets the stage a little bit I think

9:56 that's enough about my history I'll share more of my stories as we go through the content so are we ready for me to jump in, add a Q&A or give me a thumbs up on the chat if everybody feels good for me to share my screen. Yeah, I am okay. All set. Thumbs up, guys. Everybody get your coffee. Thank you, guys. everything you need. Yeah, get your coffee. Let me maximize my screen. Okay, so I'm going to jump in. And I have not a ton of slides, but I think in slides, so I'm sorry for those of you who don't. I it's how I organize my thoughts and I don't have a ton here on the slides. It's mostly me telling you a bunch of stories and tips and tricks. I love to lead with practical tangible like things you can do today to make things better. so that's really my lens that I'm going to share with you. But I can't go down those practical tips without first leading with the value you're providing in the spirit of it. So that's really what we're going to go over today. Mostly it's going to be about practical tangible things you can do to lead that first or any retreat better and more profitably. And we'll talk a little bit about the spirit of it. This is the description. I'm not going to read it for you. I just wanted to highlight that this is our road map.

11:10 We're going to talk about value, marketing, budgeting, location, metrics, and lots of time for Q&A. So that is our plan. So let's let's dive in. So I have all kinds of Are we good? We're good. Laura, you guys can hear me. Everybody's okay? All good. All right. Just wave at me if I'm talking and I need to be interrupted. Feel free you guys to interrupt. No problem. I'll I'll dive in if I see a lot of Q&A coming in, too. Okay. Yeah. Perfect. So, I want to start by talking about the spirit of retreats. And this is a picture of one of the my more recent retreats I got to assist on. And you can see me all sweaty in the back on the left over here with my sweaty hiking hat. And this is my teacher and mentor, Stephen Harper, who's one of the people who's people who have really inspired me as far as hosting amazing life-enhancing events. And so, I'm going to give you a little bit of a story. I went back the last time I was working full-time like at a, you know, day job. I had a one-year-old daughter and I was just living in burnout. like I was just there and keyed up and stressed out and like losing my mind and basically like barely keeping my head afloat and I was desperate to go on retreat and at that time I was I had found a retreat space that was within driving distance of my house which is Eselin in big su California so if you don't know about it's like was known in the 60s it's got

12:34 a whole history about it but I followed my yoga teacher there probably five years prior to this point and I was like oh my god the space I almost don't care what I take the space really called to me. Of course, I would love to go with my teachers that I love, but I decided the space was more important at that time. So, I was calling them and they were closed at that time because of mudslides or something. And finally, I got through and they said, "Okay, okay, we do have some stuff up. We only have three workshops. We're barely open." And one of them is with a guy who's been teaching here for 40 years. His name is Stephen Harper. It's a hiking and meditation workshop. Do you want to do it? I was like, "Yeah, and I don't know. I like hiking. I'll go." And it was probably the best experience I've ever had. I left I like cried for an entire day. I almost I learned so much about myself and really saw myself through some eyes that I wasn't seeing in my day-to-day life. And not only is that a tribute to him, but it was the group experience that he was cultivating. And so I just I share that because you can really change lives. were doing it every day on the mat and every day in our studios. But I am forever grateful for him. So after that, I said, "Stephen, I'm your biggest fan. I'm going to come study with you once a year." And that's my dedication to myself. so I would try to do a yoga

13:50 or bar teacher training once a year and then I would go on retreat with Stephen. And I was I was pretty much like stalking him like, "Hey, I'm going to come once a year, but if you ever need if you ever need an assistant, just know I live in San Louisville. I'm only two hours away. I'm your girl." And he's like, this is what he said. Roxy, you're really down on the list. You're on the bottom. and I was like, shoot, okay, that's okay. I'm still in for this. He's like, here are some things you can do in the meantime. You know, you're still part of my tribe. You're still on the list. I love you. But, you know, that's my reality. I have a lot of people wanting to do this. And during COVID, again, I was desperate to get back out there. It had been, you know, I had I was like a stay at home a surprise stay at home mom for a year. I was like, "Oh my god, I need to I needed some space." and I signed up for his first retreat postcoavid and he saw me and he said actually I'd like you to come to assist instead of attend. So now I'm able to assist on this amazing experiences.

14:44 So that's a little bit of my most recent story here and I just wanted to like let you know like how important these can be and the words on the top of the screen are community and profitability. I might even change that word community to like connection. So community and connection and in that we by going on retreat with people and stepping we already have the community piece likely in our businesses but by stepping away from the day-to-day just a little bit and giving people an opportunity to really see each other through a lens that's different than you're just the person next to me on the mat like giving people space and time to connect. You can really create some magic and I propose to you that doesn't need to be separate from profitability. No one wants you to be giving more than you mean to give. Like, which means profitability means you're paying yourself, you're paying the bills, but the business can sustain it. and your community wants that for you because if you don't make sure you're profitable on all regards and especially with your retreats, then you're going to get burnt out and you're not going to be in business anymore and you might end up selling your business or closing it like I did and then maybe slightly regretting that down the road. So, you know, just want you to keep in mind that you should be able to have your cake and eat it, too. That profitability doesn't it's not

16:00 a nasty word. It's not something that means you're losing the heart of what you're doing. It's that you can have both. And I want to encourage you to keep that as you move forward. And so then the last thing I want to say as you stare at our sweaty weird picture is I think one of the best things you can do especially when you're hosting a first retreat or you're just looking for inspiration for your retreats programs is find a teacher and or a location that lights you up and that has really driven some of my most successful retreats and teaching experiences personally. So I encourage you to do that and that can be in your backyard or it can be wherever. the world is really our oyster these days and so for me not only is it us one but it's really big sir that is a specific location that calls to me and I feel really drawn to and that's where I'm leading my personal retreats as well so I encourage you to do that as well cool yeah I think I know you're going to talk about location as well but I think a lot of people think retreat we have to go to like Greece or you know Morocco or something crazy which all sounds amazing but it's a lot more work to go somewhere and a lot more expensive to go somewhere far. So, finding somewhere like two hours away, that's the greatest spot ever. So, exactly. That's what I figured out. And, you know, it coincided with me having

17:16 kids and stuff, too. So, I was like, you know, I don't really have the time and energy to go as far. I don't have many wi much wiggle room on the side of my schedule. So, yeah, you know, generally speaking, I recommend starting small with location as well as a lot of other things. So, we'll touch base on that a little more. The next thing and I'm leading almost all my conversations anything I'm talking about business I'm talking about how we're creating connection and then second how do you lead with value so if you want to host a retreat you already are hosting retreats I propose to you the first brainstorm you can do and you can do it right now with me because you aren't the one talking to a screen I would love for you to write down some words on what are the benefits you're giving your community by hosting a retreat and what are some of the pain relievers you're giving them by hosting the retreat. So, you could go and dig in and I'll put a link for some of my content and some of the suggested. I love HubSpot if you want to dive in on value propositions.

18:14 So, hubspot.com has amazing content surrounding it and I've created whole webinars and stuff on that and you can really like nitpick and brainstorm and get into it. But really, if I was just to do a nitty-gritty, it's all about leading with what the benefits are. And I propose to you the benefits are I've already said some of these words but connection I'm going to look at my screen but inspiration like people we need to be inspired right sometimes we lose that and space we don't have space in our day-to-day lives we don't give it to ourselves we don't put enough in there maybe our work environments don't even let us have it maybe our families don't want it so to me the three biggest benefits I think of when I'm leading mine it's space connection and inspiration but you know you can write down right Now, like if you're going to host a retreat and you want to, what are three to five benefit words that spring to mind for you? And then the pain relievers. Yeah. Are you I was going to say I was going to say just quickly for those of you that have led retreats before and definitely have taken people out of their, you know, out of their zone in the studio and gone somewhere else, whether in the US or around the world. Would you mind popping into the chat some of the benefits that they've told you they've received? like maybe there are words that they've said or you know

19:28 values or pain relievers or benefits that your previous attendees have told you and I know like the river ladies are here. You guys sell out your retreats with the same crew sometimes every year. So you know I know they've told you some of the benefits. So if you wouldn't mind please share away. Yes, let us know your benefits. I would love to hear more. And you know that leads to something I was going to talk about down the road, but like making sure after you host any event that you're asking what they felt and what the you know whether you call it a testimonial or just give them an opportunity to give you feedback after you host your first one then you can use their own words to provide and to talk to those benefits and those pain relievers. I mean, generally my pain relievers are always people are overwhelmed and burned out a lot lately. And loneliness is another word that comes up, but the kindest thing I've ever done for myself is what Danielle said. God, that's such a powerful quote, right?

20:26 Oh my gosh, that's amazing. I would agree with that. That's how I feel, you know, and felt, especially on that first retreat that like rocked my world. So, so you can spend more time brainstorming this and yeah, anyone else feel free to add it in the chat window or send it to me or tag me on social media if you happen to be watching this later. We'd love to keep those benefit words top of mind because once you have those value that value proposition, at least the thoughts in that direction, then it's easier to start marketing early. So, now I'm going to get more into the tangible. That was some of the spirit in the heart of it, but you have to market early. If I was to like have you walk away with one thing, it would be you got to market earlier than you think you need to. And I would love to hear if anyone who's done retreats would agree with that. So I suggest four to six months in advance. And this applied for all my you know we probably had 80 to 100 MindBody universities in my time there and we if we marketed them four to six months in advance and doesn't mean you have to do a ton. it can be just the basics but dates and locations. people will then start to plan it around their annual calendar and we'll start to get some momentum with your event. So I think it takes four to six months in advance to let people know about your retreat and maybe working up to that annual calendar. So

21:41 basic details on the website. I think schedule and price are most important. You don't need to give them the details of what you're going to do dayto-day, but you can say a few words like we're going to hike, we're going to do yoga, and we're going to chill. like whatever your things are, you know, just description, what are the date ranges and what's that price point going to be for the retreat. so letting them know that, you know, it can be just a very simple landing page. I went through a bunch of people's retreat websites before this and most of them are very simple. There's not a lot of detail in there. and it doesn't need to be and I think you can sell it out without a lot of detail. You always when you're starting that marketing four to six months in advance, at least one call to action. I know you guys are all business owners and entrepreneurs. You believe in the calls to action, but you know, pay deposit now. So, as soon as you announce it, give them that ability to deposit and say, "I'm in." And maybe even like instead of the button just saying like, "Pay deposit now." It says, what was that quote you just said? I am taking care of myself. Give yourself the best gift you've ever given. And that's what the button says. And they click it and they get to put a deposit down. and you're and you're off. Like that's that's the first step. that's all you

22:51 need to do and you put that energy out there. You set a goal for how many people you'd want. and I always say if as long as I have five people, I'm willing to do it. And I've never only had five people on any thing, but it's like in my head like I'm willing to do it as long as there's like more than a couple, not just talking to myself the whole time. you could also give people the ability to pay in full, but most of the retreats I see people like payment plans and also doing that overtime. Sorry, skipped ahead a little there. So, usually you want to give people a couple payment plan like a couple payments that they can make two to three and you want to make allow them to pay in full a couple months in advance of the workshop starting. Let me finish a couple more comments and then I'll pause for Q&A and then you know at this point what I've heard and what I've seen is social media and email campaigns are most effective.

23:41 And even though email is an interest there's lots of ways to do email marketing effectively. I think with retreats and what I've seen, retreats in particular will you're marketing to your existing clientele usually. and I'm sure you'll get other people. That's where the social media marketing comes in. So, that's what I've seen to be most effective. Obviously, you can learn tons and about social media and email marketing. You guys could probably all teach webinars on those topics. so just make sure you make a plan for how you're going to market on social media and email regularly leading up to those early bird deadlines. early bird deadline, usually at least two months in advance. Yeah. And then once you've done one, what I've heard and what I've seen, it's all about those referrals. My teacher, Stephen Harper and big sir, he doesn't he has an email list. That's all he does. Even though people will probably go to Elin as well. All he does is email his people the day of and the retreat sell out.

24:37 That's all he does at this point. He doesn't he's like I actually don't even send newsletters because I feel rude telling people about workshops that have already sold out and he's that's where he's at in his like he's at the like I've been doing it you know he's probably done hundreds you know he's at 40 years so that first one might be you know it'll take time but eventually you'll get that referral. So what's that question Laura before I move on? let me go to it. Quick things was in the previous slide you mentioned pain relievers. I think K she had said like what are what are the pain points people have that you'll be solving on this retreat. So is I think that's where you were going with it. Yes, that's where I was going. So when I say pain relievers and it's it's kind of instead of calling it pain points because that would be talking about the negative side. So you could start by writing what are the pain points people are trying to solve by coming on your retreat and that might be overwhelmed or burned out. So what are the pain relievers that are helping you solve that overwhelm problem? And so what's the pain reliever to overwhelm? I'm giving people space. I'm giving them connection. So it almost a lot of the benefits words will apply as pain relievers, but maybe there's more specific things like I'm going to give people meditation time or I you know in particular the overwhelm thing

25:55 when I think I think of the fact that's why people are coming I'm giving them space that so you can write down the pain points and the benefits they're all kind of interrelated. Yep. Hopefully that's good. K right? Yeah. one of the one of the quick things I wanted to add here as a as a tangible marketing tip takeaway that I've been seeing recently, especially for social media, if you have, you know, especially if you've done a retreat before, on your stories or on your posts, make sure you tag your top clients or your people who have gone on the retreat before because so much of these retreats is about referrals, like somebody bringing a friend. and every retreat I've gone on, it's ended up being with one of my good friends. We've like shared something with each other or like, "Hey, I got this email or I saw this retreat is happening." So, make it as easy for your clients to share with their friends as possible.

26:52 and if they're tagged in a story, they can add that to their story or they can share it directly with a friend really, really quickly. yeah, the power of tagging. Thank you, Laura. That's really specific. Yeah, that's really good. The power of tagging these days. Yeah. And at the start of the webinar. It's in and it's happening in my bar studio all the you know I am part of a bar studio program and it's pretty small but it's that's like they're all talking to each other more than I'm even talking to them these days. So, and then the second thing I was just going to quickly mention if you have a retreat going and you know, okay, great. I've got a solid group of people. I've sold this out for the most part or I'm very close to selling this out. if you can have the next retreat planned by the time you're on the first retreats because you can get people to actually put in their deposit by the end of their first retreat for the next one around.

27:46 So it you may end up selling out or getting partly sold out your next retreat before the first one even ends. So talk about starting marketing early. It could be like, "Hey, if you sign up before the end of this retreat, I'm gonna give you, you know, an extra, you know, hundred bucks off or 200 bucks off or something like that." So, it's absolutely. And, you know, even some of the biggest events I've been to, they're they'll sometimes have like a booth, you know, at the side to sign up for next year before you even leave the event. And obviously, these are more personalized and smaller scale, but yeah, absolutely always have the next one in mind. And the more you can get ahead of that, like I said, just the dates and the locations, the better off you'll be. That's a great point. Thank you. Okay, so, and just a little like reminder, just set up the basics in your software. This is a screenshot of Wallace software. They have the ability, you know, any software you use to track your business is going to have that ability to put something on the calendar, manage payment plans.

28:49 Hopefully, they do. So, make sure you set it up in your software. the basics to start. You don't have to have the most detail. Just having something where they can make a payment. so I love that Walla has the payment plan option really clearly, really easily. You've got this ability to have a great image in there. You want to make sure you just set it up in your software so that money part can be happening right away as you're starting a market. Yeah. And then let's talk about the money side. So I as with all of this, I might just take the word budget off of this image and say start small and grow. By the way, I had a lot of fun going reliving all of my past retreats and putting images in here from them. So, this is an image from recently. So, start small and grow. And that would be my stance on money, on marketing, on where you go and everything surrounding retreats. So, you know, it should be you can do it pretty low budget your first one. And if anyone has any comment on how lowbudget they've been able to go, I would love to hear it. I've heard of people spending as little as 5,000 and up to 20,000 on that first retreat, meaning upfront investment. That is an expense, but you usually are you're making that back more and even more. you know, I've seen people make up to 100,000 on retreats and events. it can be a very good additional revenue stream for

30:10 your business, especially depending on the size of your business. That could be a significant chunk of money. So, so knowing that you can start small, you're going to invest some money. Mostly you're going to be investing time. but it's, you know, set aside a little bit of money there. Just some reminders on how to keep that budget small, especially when you're starting. lean on hotel staff on location. They are always super helpful and there to help you. They often have concierages and event staff that can really help you. So, you not you don't have to do all that work yourself and that saves you money and time. 100% markup is common. And so when I ask people like what do you charge it's most common like oh the retreat venue for example charging me 700 per person for the food and for the space use. So and you know you're going to charge 1,400 then. So some retreats, most retreats will have the fee be the hotel room, the lodging, the food, and the practice or workout space, right? And so the cost that you're charging for that is usually going to be everything except maybe the flight. Most retreats I've seen, they're not covering the travel, but you're paying for everything else. And so whatever the venue is charging you, you're just doubling it, and that is your payment. So, you know, if you know that your clients are cost-sensitive, then you go find a place that's going to

31:30 be within the range. That's part of the fun is you get to go scout things out, right? I already said all this. I'm going to include most meals. Oh, just a reminder, different price points for shared or individual accommodations. That's become more important the last couple years, right? people sh I noticed shared accommodations a lot more pre-COVID and I feel like people are a little bit more comfortable with their own and just giving people those options is a really great idea. Make sure you have room for both. I already said that about payment plans, too. Okay, let's see. okay. Yes. So, I was just going to answer that. Thoughts on collaborations? I'm thinking of hosting something with a few of my studio partners. and a local instructor as well. Thoughts on partners? I'm going to pause that question and get to it in a moment. Oh, I mean, I guess this slide is exactly what that. Okay, here we go. So, start small. same start small philosophy is my thought. I would not Okay, I'm a little on the fence about this because I honestly think you're all capable of probably like hosting your own retreat freaking solo and they would love to spend the week with you and you don't need anyone else to do it. so I want to say that out loud first. But I think if you do feel like you have a person who wants to collaborate and that excites you and it maybe sometimes that'll remove some nerves or

32:50 uncomfortableness you know with hosting your first thing if that is that feels good to you then you know just being very clear on how the partnership's going to work and you know it's like the money I would be very clear on the money. We're going to make the money it's going to pay for the cost for all of us and then we're splitting the profit. like we're not. So, you want to make sure you're covering your bases there. Most people I've talked to though about who've hosted retreats. they really, you know, often I think it's more successful if you can, you know, have faith in yourself and do it on your own. But you can start small. I've also I talked to some owners and I want to give a shout out to Kendra Blacket Smith. She is doing a lot of great retreats and she's based own studio based in Baltimore and she was talking about retreats recently on some of our masterminds that I'm part of and she was saying that she did bring a teacher and a partner the first one and she treated it like a work trade situation where I'll invite you I'll pay for your room and board you pay for your flight you teach one or two sessions of the 20 we're going to do. It was a hot yoga retreat and so she had like a you know two classes a day for a week. So she brought that person. It was a little bit of a win-win. That teacher got to really mostly take the retreat but relieve her from having to teach so much the whole

34:06 time and it wasn't a huge cost upfront to the event. So I think when it comes to that collaboration, the question to ask yourself, are they actually going to help you fill the event? And a lot of times teachers and people want to help like they're all talk about doing these events with you, but they're actually not going to show you the money. they're not going to actually help you increase the amount of numbers. so I would not consider it a collaboration unless I feel like by some evidence, you know, whether it's social proof in the community or whatever, I would not make it a collaboration. I would make it more a work trade thing unless I really feel like they're going to help me fill those numbers that I want to see. Yeah, I totally agree with that. I think the tension that I've seen post retreat or as a result of retreats from collaboration always comes from a lack of expectation setting on the front end of who's responsible for what. especially if it's hey we're sharing the revenue or we're sharing the profit from this. you need to do some work to fill this retreat too. I need to have the expectation that you're going to be sending x number of emails, sharing x number of posts, delivering this, you know, the you know, you your responsibility is to fill 40% of this retreat or something where you've got some pretty clear expectations and line set. And when that isn't when that

35:25 doesn't happen on the front end, there tends to be friction of like, well, I did more than you did. I should get more of the profit kind of thing. Yeah. So yeah, with so much in life, clear expectations are the clear expectations. Good. Yeah. And I got a I got quite burned on my first yoga teacher training that I hosted and I did a full collaboration partnership and we did profit sharing and then the teacher was undercutting me and disrespecting me when I wasn't in the room and just wasn't really, I guess, mature enough to handle that kind of shared responsibility and space. So now I would rather lead my first one. I'd rather it be tiny and just be me and then, you know, if there is someone who wants to do a work trade type thing that, you know, I want to I'm willing to work with people, but I'm willing to be the boss about it now. I'm not I don't really bring people into that like leadership space unless I really have a relationship with them and we've worked well together in the past. I don't think I would want to bring that in. Okay, that's me and Stephen and Gary were all on our workshop last year. You got to feed the people. Anyone ever have a workshop or an event and the food sucks and you go everyone's hangry the whole time? And it doesn't have to be the best food either. Just feed them well enough.

36:36 Obviously, we're in fitness, yoga, bar, like we're in health and wellness, so you know, good enough have options, you know, for gluten-free and all that stuff, but most of the hotels and the venues that are hosting that are considered retreat spaces are going to cover that for you. So, just make sure that you talk to them. And usually one to two meals a day. It doesn't need to be every meal. but make sure you feed the people. And I, you know, it really doesn't have to be fancy. This is what Eslyn's buffet looks like. It's like really not anything extra, but you know, four or five warm dishes in a salad bar. When I do hiking retreats, we literally all pack up and bring our lunch and then we do a picnic in the middle of the day out in nature somewhere. So, and people are always noticed the nori wraps in the middle. So, it's a sandwich lunch, but for all the gluten-free people, we find ways to work with that. So, you know, it doesn't really have to be as fancy as you think it needs to be. But it, you know, it does, it can't be like, I don't know, gas station style wrap sandwiches. I don't think people really appreciate that at this point, especially when they're paying good money. And then let's talk a little bit about spaces.

37:40 I'm going to just fly through a few slides and interrupt me if I need to be, but I want to make sure we have time for Q&A. So, you know, we maybe we've all been through this together, right? Like two years ago, I was practicing bar in a freaking parking lot and I was happy as hell to be doing it, right? and now I'm teaching bar in this really industrial looking space. It really isn't beautiful. but it is the strongest community I have felt like I'm part of ever. So, I'm a little looser on the space now than I was 15 years ago when I mean 10 years ago when I bought my yoga studio and it was just beautiful. so I think, you know, be have an open mind when it comes to space for whatever activities or movement you're planning. Have an open mind. this is what my studio looked like. It was beautiful. It was designed by a yoga teacher architect. It had skylights and windows. I like that stuff if I can find it. But sometimes that means the price point's going to be higher. So maybe when you're starting your first one, maybe you're going mid-tier. You're not going for the most amazing location at first. Find something that's good enough. this is an example of a retreat that I kind of like co-led.

38:51 Some of these are popping up in my life because I'm an instructor where we all kind of came together and informally led different sessions on the deck and that was beautiful and like well it was a little rough when the sun came in but you know it ended up being a really great space and that bar across the railing that's my ballet bar like I can use that for my bar classes. It I don't need as much equipment and special spaces as I used to think I did. This is another one. We did a whole bar yoga class like retreat session under the tree in front in the shade and people loved it. And the better setup we did we figured this out like the next day was a circle facing into each other but you know the grass it was fine like why do we have to it doesn't always have to be and this is what my first retreat like thing I went on. It was more like a Hawaii a bubble in Hawaii. So that in Hawaii they often have these spaces. I love Hawaii but it is expensive to go to. So, you know that just keeping that in mind. You might have that as your dream location. Maybe it's not going to be your first space. This is what the practice space looks like that we use for hiking workshops at Elsyn.

39:56 So, we come and we get together and we pow-wow about all the logistics of hiking before the next day we meet on the trail. So, some other location considerations and then I'll take a pause. darn, you have to scout that location first. So, find a place, you know, go check out the city, a city that you feel drawn to or a place that's not far perhaps. I want to say one thing out loud. I've noticed this was by being I grew up in the Midwest. I grew up in Michigan and then I now have lived in California for 20 years. And I've noticed something interesting about like those two personalities. Everyone on the East Coast, Midwest often vacations down the eastern, you know, side of the US. So those, you know, the my friends and the studios I know on those side that side often go to like the Carolas or Florida or the Keys or the Caribbean, that's all more direct flights from that side of the US. If you're on the west coast of the US, I noticed everybody's go either going maybe you'll be able to do big sir, that's a little bit too expensive, honestly. But a lot of people on the west coast go to Hawaii or go to Mexico or Costa Rica or places that are easy to get to here. So if you're in Europe, I'm sure you have similar things like if you happen to be in France, everybody from France goes to a certain place all on holiday every year. So recognizing that there might be a natural place that people are

41:19 interested in going to that is special to where you happen to be located. So that's something to keep in mind. so from my west coast perspective, I've heard me I keep hearing Mexico and seeing Mexico. Everybody's doing Mexico. Kasa Om is one of the retreat centers that Kendra recommended and that I really thought looked great. Costa Rica, Shiva Ray was my first yoga teacher and she's who I've trained with and she's like the rockstar, you know, yoga teacher in LA. She goes to Costa Rica every year and has been doing it for 15 years and so you can find a location that you can go back to. People love it. They surf. They do yoga all day. I am curious about Arizona personally. I think that like hiking and yoga time in Sedona/C Canyon Ranch could be really interesting. That's just one that I've seen pop up more. I'm interested in that. Usually weather or some kind of climate that's a little bit different than where you're at, right?

42:13 So, and especially those of you who have a real dramatic winter season, give your clients a spring break to look forward to. I believe as someone who grew up in a hardcore winter environment that the only way to survive it is to have that spring break planned in advance. You can help them do that. they want to do it. So always looking for a space that has everything on site and maybe you'll explore a little bit. I think that is the easier way to start out even if down the road you decide to do different types. So I'm going to share I see some questions. Let me share a couple more things and then we'll pause. So there are different types of retreats. I think most of us probably want to lead movement retreats, meaning you're having a couple movement sessions a day, whether that's yoga or fitness or whatever you do in maybe a couple cultural community experiences. So, a common schedule would be like first thing in the morning big yoga session, last thing in the afternoon, and that they have a big gap in the day and maybe the evenings are free so that they can connect with each other, hang out at the pool, do whatever, have downtime. So movement retreats is a lot of movement per day. I would say the less common but I'm seeing them more is having in hosting an adventure retreat. This is more where you go to a location that you want to explore with people. I took this is a picture from last time I visited

43:32 London. so it would be like I want to check out this your this city or this country or this place and it's maybe a bigger leap. Those are you're not teaching as many classes. It's more about doing excursions and experiencing a culture and a place together. They're often more expensive. So, so these I would call maybe like phase two and but I've heard of people doing them and they're a great way to offer a retreat. I noticed most people start with these and then maybe go over to these. Yeah. Okay. I see nine chats. So, Laura, do you want should I just read through those or Oh, some of it's you. Okay. Do I am I good? Do I need to Yeah, I think you're good. mostly Michael J's asking about favorite retreat locations. So, if you guys wouldn't mind, anybody that hasn't didn't see the chat, if you have a place you've either gone to as a participant in a retreat that you've really loved or a place you've hosted and really loved, please share away. I know there are a lot of hotels that are set up a little bit better or locations that are set up a little bit better for retreats and they're used to putting together packages that way. So, it's really helpful if you've got some ideas there. and then I shared a couple that the one I went on last year in Ply Carman was amazing.

44:50 Namibia. That's cool. That one. one quick thing I was going to note for those of you that are looking to host retreats in the next year or so. the east coast of Mexico and Caribbean are dealing with a really challenging ecological issue right now with this like it's a super bloom of this seaweed that stinks. It's awful. It is it covers the beaches and it's like it's crushing tourism there which is super unfortunate. But I have had a couple of horror stories recently from studios that have like planned forever. Got there and nobody could even go in the water. Yeah. It's so gross you couldn't even go on the beach, right? So I would definitely be aware of that as you're looking at spaces right now and just ask the question because you don't want to have your clients get there and not be able to go in the water. That's really good point. And also like that almost makes me think like that you could even this could be an opportunity because those places are probably hungry for retreats. And if I'm doing four hours of hot yoga a day, I'm not going I don't want to go off site. Like when I was in Hawaii doing four hours of sweaty yoga day, I barely could make it to the pool. I was so tired at the end of the day. So this could be an interesting opportunity as long as you know up front and you tell your clients, "We're not really going to do the beach, just so you know." But

46:16 they have an amazing pool. We're going to do yoga. They have great food. Like feature all the other things. This could be a really cool opportunity. So I would think of it from that perspective. Okay. I didn't want to go over time and so I'm going to talk at you for a minute and then we're going to take more questions because I'm almost done. I could talk all day. We could all I love hanging out with you guys. So okay, some logistical things I want to make sure I point out. You can tell participants to book their own flights when to arrive by and what airport and then you work with the hotel or retreat center to provide an organized ground transportation. The hotels like I said, don't be afraid to lean on them. So instead of maybe bringing a teacher and paying them and taking away from your profit margin, especially for that first one when you're not exactly sure what that profit margin is going to look like, I would lean on the hotel a lot. I said that once, I'm saying it again. I think great number to aim for a retreat is 12 to 15 for your first one and 40 to 50 is like on the large side. Like I've been to retreats with 50 people with my Rockstar yoga teachers that I'm fans of and you're definitely a little more anonymous as a participant in those and that's fine as long as you know what you're doing.

47:31 And there's I don't I wish if anyone knows the book, but there was a teacher who wrote a book like I think it was more than five years ago about like the ideal class size. She taught classes in Connecticut and it was in an affluent private school and they kept decreasing the class size because everybody was saying, you know, small teacher to student ratio is better. Small is better. And she actually came back and wrote a book and said smaller isn't always better. Some people like a little bit of the anonymity of having a certain amount of people in a room. And anyone who's taught group classes or group experiences knows that, right? Like there is a such thing as too small and there is a such thing as too big. And I think that 12 to 15 it can be a really amazing point. I even, you know, my first yoga teacher training was I think 10 people. It was awesome. Like we really all got to know each other really well. So that's what I would aim for. my public service announcement is this is not an ex it's not an education experience. So when we're talking about retreats, it's not about teacher training. It's not about workshopping education and going through the chakras and going through every single thing you've ever known about your skill.

48:36 it's more about giving people that downtime and time to connect. So please keep that in mind. And I'm saying that to you and myself because I love to talk shop and I've given lots of business extens or extensives I would call them where it's like an intensive. I don't want retreats are not intensives and try not to confuse the two. I think it's a great branded merch opportunity. Give people t-shirts or something fun so that when they come home they can like wear it with pride. And possible additional activities could be road trips, hikes, pool days while you're actually on retreat. And while you're on that retreat, I want you to feel like you at least have one moment like this. This is me. I did a solo retreat this year for the first time and I just went by myself and it was amazing. so what I want what I'm really saying here is be in the flow during the event. I've done a lot of events where I'll be with my team or the clients friends and then everybody wants to talk about how to do it better next time or like and that's all like not being in the present moment. So, I think our jobs as retreat leaders and organizers is to just be a listener and bring presence and flow and keep a really good notepad of your thoughts on how to make it better next time. And then that second, if your first one doesn't, I'm sure you'll nail it with your first one because you're already in

49:59 the business of giving great experiences. But if it isn't, your second one will be if you bring that attitude. And that's how I made MBU and any events I've done amazing is it's not that I take it too seriously the first one. It's that I'm con really committed to being in the flow and really taking notes to make the next one even better. And you don't miss the chance to send that follow-up survey. Prep it in advance. I even have a sample one for you that I'm going to provide to you at the end of this webinar. So, make sure you send that follow-up survey so people know. And you got to run the numbers. how much did it really cost you and your business moneywise to host? So, I'm going to show you what I suggest you track. And then marketing. When that first one's done, get the next one up. And I like Laura's suggestion, even have it planned. Maybe don't even have it on the website and maybe offer it to those current participants at a special deal.

50:54 And it's like it's just a word of mouth thing. So, you know, getting that momentum and getting those people who love those retreats. So, and I already said the notes and takeaways. I have my notebook here. I'm like carrying it with me everywhere all the time. So, let me just show you what I made for you. Let me see if I can figure out how to use my computer. I always like the moment. I love all the tips, K on plyel, carman. That's amazing. And taloo. Yes, thank you for the spaces. I'm going to move that a couple of people. Yeah, sweet retreats. Dominican Republic. Awesome. I go back to there. So, look at me having problems with my thing. Here we go. Okay. So, I just want you to know that I made a sample budget and task spreadsheet for you and I will send it to you via email if you'd prefer. You can go to my website and download it. So, those of you who maybe are live, you can just go to my website, but if you prefer email, I'll give you my email in a second. And I gave you a sheet that's really simple. Profit is going to pull from revenue and expenses. You can literally just keep adding to this expense list and this revenue list.

52:06 Obviously, revenue detail is going to be in your software. Expense details going to be in like QuickBooks or something like that. Keep track of who participates and the money. Here is the survey questions I suggest and a place to track that satisfaction score and then a place for you to list next time. It's really basic, but if you want it, I Oh my gosh, this is so awesome. No. And we do spreadsheets. We do a followup to everybody who registered with the recording of this. So, we can include that on the on the follow if you'd like. Awesome. Yeah. Send it to everybody. If you prefer Google Sheets, you're welcome to just email me and I'll share that link with you there. you like it doesn't need to be the most fancy budget, but you do want to have like a moment of reckoning and like really evaluating what worked and what went well and what didn't. maybe you know just making sure you don't overspend on these things so that it can be adding profit to your bottom line of your business. So it's not only are providing those life enhancing experiences but it can be extra revenue generator that you haven't been experiencing. So yeah thank you everybody for thank you everybody for all the recommended places. February is a great time to go. Yeah, I think February is a great time of year. I love Tulum. type your questions in, please. I'm here. So, I want to just

53:29 if you have to go, I know we I think this was supposed to be 45 minutes. I went a little over. Thank you so much for listening to me, whether it was live. I really grateful to be able to like talk and connect with you guys. You light me up as much as I'm sharing what I have for you. So, keep in touch with me and Walla. Thank you so much to Walla for caring about businesses enough to host education. Not all software companies are doing this these days. So, thank you for bringing me in. Thank you. And yes, guys, great idea. I'll I'll start a thread in our Facebook group and Roxy, if you're not in there, I'll make sure I think you are, but maybe not. I'll I'll make sure you are. so we can talk about this and keep recommendations going because I'm definitely curious to hear, especially if some of you guys have ones planned already, you know, like let's let's get the word out for you, too. So, and who knows, maybe we'll get to go on one at some point.

54:22 That's that's my dream. I want to go on one of your retreats. If you guys want to bring all of us, you know, me and Laura, all of us, let's just go on retreat together. I mean, that's kind of where I'm going. I'm just like, I don't want to do anything hard anymore. So, yeah, we'll support each other. I just don't want to. So, I yeah, I'm going to post I think I'll probably post on my social media later today the list of suggested locations because I think that is just always people like feel a little overwhelmed. So, I'll post that too and I'll chat with you guys in all the places that Laura provides to us. So, anything's better than Kentucky in February. I love Tulum. Yeah, like I said, spring break time, whether it's February, March, or April starts to get more like you might you don't want to run into the college kids going wild on spring break. So, I think February is a great time of year to go on retreat.

55:14 Yeah. People are sick of their cold weather by February, March. It's like get us out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, cat's doing Tulum in February with 502 power yoga summer in Tuscany. Daydreams for sure. I love it. You've done two retreats there, Brent. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah, I've not I haven't even thought of all the European possibilities. I'm just getting out of my like California cave here. But yeah, surveying your email list is a good idea to get locations, ideas for locations. Yeah. Yes. And yes and no. I would actually rather than survey my email list, I would survey my members only and maybe even only my top 10enters like you know whatever your whether you call it your biggest spenders or go into your software. Who are the people who are really loyal to you and they come all the time? Those are the people I would ask. We were even talking at the BFS retreat about like having some of some businesses call them like their panel, you know, or like their board of directors and they'll be your like five biggest promoters and fans in your business. Those people I would ask, but I wouldn't open it up to everyone because you're just, you know, they're just they'll tell you what they want, but then they won't even pay for it and they won't go. So, be careful of that, right? You experience that all the time.

56:35 Yeah. Yeah. We want a class at 6:00 a.m. No one comes. So, I've learned to only ask the people I really want to. Thank you. oh, a friend's opening a hot yoga retreat center in Tuscanyany called Elixir Resorts. Thank you for that, Share. So, yeah, please find Walla, find M. Let me show you my info, guys. Sorry, I should have done that five seconds ago. Here's my email address. Make sure everybody Yeah. And that's my website, liberatebiz consulting.com. I'm in the process of kind of changing it up a little bit. so but that's where you can find me right now. So just make note of my social media. I'm trying to be good about posting inspiration for business on the business of fitness and yoga on a regular basis and I'm always putting out free blog posts and content. So keep an eye. So how early is too early for the AM class? Always. It's like, "No, no, no. I'll be there. I swear I can do it at 5:30 a.m. and they never come.

57:29 Well, on there on a retreat, K I like I don't know. I'd love to hear everybody else's thoughts on this if you're still for those of you still hanging on. I got annoyed when it was before 8:00 a.m. But that was just like it was my one time that I could sleep in and have like a luxurious experience in the mornings. but I will say I've been on retreats where it was like 7 a.m. work like workout and then breakfast after that. so I don't know. I guess it depends on what you're doing. If especially if it's going to be somewhere where people are like partying late night or like out dancing around a fire until 1 in the morning, then don't do 7 a.m. classes. No, I'm not. I'm This is called a retreat. So to me it would be not before 9:00 am and different retreat spaces have amenities people are going to want to experience. For example, don't you start my retreats at Elin before 9 or 10 a.m. because I'm going to the hot tubs in the morning and I want to have a long like or I go meditate or do yoga sometimes. So Oh, I like it. Thank you.

58:32 Danielle says 8:30 is a really nice time she thinks to start. Yeah, like gives people a little bit of time in advance. So yeah, 8:30 to 9 is I think 8:30 to 9:30 is probably the happy point in the ones I've attended and hosted as well. Yeah. my favorite retreat location is called Esselin Esen and you can use it for inspiration. It's located in Big Su California and it's a nonprofit. They've been doing it for 50 years. and it's amazing space. If you're looking for a place to go and give yourself some retreat time, I highly recommend it. It's a little hard to get to if you're not in California, but it's worth it. if you want to talk more offline, I'll happily talk. 8:30 Brent who has done the successful Tuskanyany jealous. he says 8:30 then breakfast, travel explore time. So, yeah, he agrees. We're all agreeing there. Yeah, it's like I said, it's retreat. like don't confuse the I know we love fitness and wellness and like I do love doing four hours of fitness a day sometimes but the word retreat is it's a different you're trying to give a different experience to people and give them a little space. So keep that in mind.

59:38 And for those of you that are like oh people want to get up early and move there on one of the retreats I went on that started at 9:00 there was a group of people that like naturally ended up coming together because they were the early risers and they'd go on a walk on the beach before. So, it ended up creating a really nice space for them to connect on their own and it didn't force everyone into the bucket of, you know, Yeah. yoga vacation instead of a retreat. it didn't force everybody into the bucket of you've got to be an early riser to be on this retreat and have the experience. Yes. I love that. And I that's happened with me on retreats I've hosted andor attended where we'll meet. We'll be like, "Oh, let's just meet in the room. We have the room." and we'll kind of sneak in there, you know, offline and go in an hour early and do a little session together. So, let and that's the beauty.

1:00:23 It's your commu. You are really cultivating community and giving your clients and student friends an opportunity to connect with each other. It doesn't all have to be you. It doesn't all have to be a curated experience, but having some of that is good and helpful, but I love seeing the connections that happen that I didn't do and that they found each other. And I think that like that we're kind of like, you know, creating a space for other things to be born instead of being in charge too much. Well, that is a great way to wrap this. thank you all for being here. For those of you that are watching this on recording, we will absolutely continue this conversation in the Facebook group. And please reach out to Roxy with any questions. She is fantastic with helping businesses find profit, find ease in the way that you're operating. And as you saw, she's loves Excel. So, she will probably blow your mind with some sort of an Excel spreadsheet. So, I do love some spreadsheets.

1:01:23 All right. All right. Thank you everyone. Thank you, Laura. Thanks, everyone. See you soon. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.