Grand Mixer Retreat Planning: Pricing, Safety, and Experience With Blaney Teal, Sheri Rosenthal, and Lori McDowell | 042

Welcome to the Grand Connection Podcast, your

home for grand growth through collaboration. This is your

space to connect, create, and collaborate in a community of

heart-centered entrepreneurs and change makers. Hosted by our

community, this podcast brings collaboration to life. You will

meet members who share their wisdom, offer insights and

practical tips, and even interview each other. If you're

ready for more clarity, stronger connections, and better results

in your business, you are in the right place. Listen in, connect

with us, and be part of something grand. Welcome to the

Grand Connection podcast, where we explore grand growth through

collaboration. I'm Susan, co-founder of the Grand

Connection. This special episode comes from our retreat-themed

Grand Mixer, where the Grand Connection and three other

business communities come together to share their

expertise, relationships, and opportunities, the event itself

was a wonderful example of collaboration over competition.

By bringing our communities together, we were able to offer

greater learning, introduce our members to new people, and

explore what we might create together. Collaboration was also

at the heart of our retreat theme. Offering a retreat with

the right partners can help you reach new audiences, bring

together complementary skills, share the workload, and make the

retreat easier to plan, promote, and deliver. Plus, it can be

more fun with others. Most importantly, it can create a

richer and more transformational experience for everyone

involved. In this episode, you'll hear from three

experienced retreat leaders, introduced by our Grand Mixer

co-host Steve Brossman. Blaney Teal explains how to make a

retreat financially sustainable by understanding your expenses,

break-even point, desired profit, and price per guest. Dr.

Sheri Rosenthal shares the important foundations of retreat

safety, including insurance, legal documents, emergency

planning, and participant protection. Loria McDowell then

brings us back to the heart of the retreat experience, showing

how purpose, transformation, and her give back effect can create

a lasting impact for participants and the local

community. Together, they show us how to create retreats that

are profitable, protected, and truly transformational. Let's begin.

Hey, we're getting straight into it now.

We've got Blaney coming up real soon, but she is a retreat

business strategist, best-selling author of

Profitable Retreats 101. So, if you're thinking about getting

started in retreats, the next five minutes or six minutes is

going to be awesome for you. She's co-owner. Where I'm going

to find out where this is. Have had a cruise around the

Caribbean. Co-owner of a boutique Caribbean retreat

venue. She helps coaches, consultants, and entrepreneurs

create profitable, transformational retreats that

deepen client relationships, improve and expand their impact,

and generate revenue, which is cool if you want to run more

than one retreat through a proven strategy and real world

experience, she's done it. She coaches it, and now she's going

to help you with it. Blaney, the floor

is yours. Oh, thank you guys so much! I'm so excited

to be here today. I'm coming to you live from a little town

called Ishgalak, Mexico, and for those of you that have never

heard of this place, it is think as far south on the East

Caribbean Mexico side as you could go before you walk into

Belize. So Cancun, Playa Carmen, Tulum, and three hours south is

my little village called Ishkalak. And I picked up from

Maryland three years ago last week and drove here and bought a

bed and breakfast, and I never believed in in my life that I'd

be living this life. As I was explaining yesterday or earlier

today, that we had turtles hatch on our front beach this

yesterday, and that was absolutely amazing. So I live

this life. I live here. I did write this book. I actually

wrote this book here with Kimberly Day, who is a Grand

Connection member. She had a retreat here called Write Your

Book at the Beach. So because of Kimberly, she kind of actually

helped catapult me into the retreat world more than I was

already doing. So this is my front yard, guys. This is where

I live. So I do live and breathe this every day, I do have a

website there. Just if you want to look at hosting your own

private event here, because I know everybody asks, but no TVs

and no AC. So if you can't live without those, then I'm not the

venue for you. Find some other place. So today we're going to

talk about hosting your very first profitable retreat because

it really is. Is closer than you think, right? You need to help

create the right experience. You got to have the right numbers,

right? You got to have a little or a lot, and you have to find

the right people. You need to attract the right people. So you

don't need a massive audience. You don't need a luxury resort,

and you don't need years of experience. So I'd like you to

put in the chat a one if you have hosted a retreat before, or

a zero if you've never hosted a retreat before. That's just for

fun, and it will help me see how we're doing with everybody. So

we got a lot of zeros, 00, zeros. All right, you guys are

all in the right place. I just got to tell you right now, with

Sheri being here today, and Lori and myself, I think you're going

to find that you came here today, and you're going to leave

with something very important. So let's talk about hosting a

retreat in the general terms, right? So this is actually a

group that did a yoga retreat here last year, and so you know

she had this dream of having this life changing retreat in

paradise, and just like everybody else, and probably

like you, you've got this. Like all of a sudden, you get

butterflies or heart palpitations, or you start

freaking out because you understand that there's a lot

that goes into doing a retreat, and that's why you're on

something like today, right? Because there's overwhelm.

There's oh my god, am I going to be able to make this happen?

Logistics, money, blah blah blah. It goes on and it goes on,

and so today I'm going to help you with one piece of this.

There's a lot of pieces, but I'm going to help you with one

piece, and that is the fact that retreats are not just events,

but they can be a revenue stream, and they should be a

revenue stream, right? So we're going to talk about this from

the pricing side of a little bit today. I don't have a lot of

time, so it's just going to be a little high-level introduction

to thinking about how you should be pricing your genius, right?

So number one, though, most people when they host a retreat,

it's because they know that we all need deeper connection. I

love Zoom. Zoom is amazing, but there's something different with

actually giving hugs in person, right? There's actually

absolutely something different with having margaritas at the

pool with your new best friend. So you get this deeper

connection from retreats, and you also can have a bigger

impact faster.

So a lot of times, coaches have coaching programs, and they're

six months, 12 months, whatever ongoing. But the nice thing is,

you can have a huge impact in a very short period of time with a

retreat. So think about that for a moment, right? And then, of

course, there is real profit in retreats. So you can create one

retreat a year or five retreats a year, but each one should

bring you revenue. Again, I always tell people we're not

doing this for our health. Yes, I know we're all heart-centered

women, and I know we love doing things for free because I do it

all the time. But when you do a retreat, you need to make sure

you get paid what you're worth, right? So one retreat can do all

of these. You can get deeper connections with your clients.

You can have a big impact on their transformations, and you

can have real profit. So, in my opinion, you do not want to

start with the ticket price. Okay, I'm going to host a

retreat, and I'm going to sell it for $5,000. Well, what's

backing up that, right? It just because you think that's what

it's worth, or what you want to sell it for, or maybe this all

your clients will pay for it. Well, no, you really cannot do

that. You need to understand your break-even point before you

launch. So you need to know all of your expenses, and there's

quite a few of them. And thanks to Sheri there's even more that

I didn't know of. So last year I learned a lot. So yeah, there's

a lot of retreat expenses that you're not going to think about,

and that's why you need to work with good coaches and have good

information. How much money do you want to make for that week

away from your family, away from your job, away from your life?

Right. So just a big bold figure. You know, 10,000 is your

expenses, 5000 is your profit, 15,000 is your revenue. Need it?

Well, that means you need to charge no less than $1,500 if

you're going to have 10 people, right? Now, if you're going to

have less, you're going to have to charge more. So it's really

important that you understand just because you sell out your

retreat, that doesn't mean that you actually made money. And

I've seen it. I've had hosts here that have hosted here who

did not remember all of the different pieces, and when they

got done with, they're like, "Ooh, next time I need to charge

more because I forgot. So it's really important to figure out

down to the dollar. Like, if are you coming in extra days early?

Well, somebody's got to cover your extra transportation or

rooms or food. All of that needs to be excuse me needs to be

calculated in. So there's really three numbers that you need to

know. So we're just doing high level today. One, you need to

know your break even point. So after you do your numbers, what

is the absolute minimum number of attendees can you have that

you are least going to break even? Now that's we just need to

know that because you're not doing this if you're losing

money, and you shouldn't be doing if you're breaking even.

But you need to know, and. And how much do you want to make in

profit after everybody is paid? What do you want to make? Not

just for your time and your energy, but for your genius.

Because you're probably doing coaching, you're doing

activities. You deserve that. And then from there, you will

figure out what you should be pricing it per guest to make it

work. So just think about that for a minute: break even,

profit, and then price per guest, but it's really important

that before you start promoting it, because you can't be like,

"Oh man, I want to hire a photographer. I forgot to put

that in there. I just had this happen life story. She didn't

put a photographer in her pricing. She's like, 'Darn it, I

didn't build enough in to cover a photographer, and I already

started selling my my spots. So you need to think about venue,

food, activities, transportation, lodging,

insurance, right, marketing, processing, your time, and

always a buffer for unexpected.

And so, I've actually created what's called my profit, my

retreat profit calculator. Right, it actually puts you

right down to the penny on everything that you thought of

and didn't think of. And I've been using this to price my

retreats, and I've been giving it to all of my hosts here that

are hosting retreats, and they said it is a lifesaver. So this

is whether you use my tool or somebody else's tool, you want

to make sure that you have some kind of document Excel sheet

that has every expense that you think you're going to incur, and

then a buffer for those that you didn't think about. You want to

build in that profit from day one. So I want to tell you, I'm

so excited, Susan. I have created this little mini course,

and it's launching today right now. I finished it one hour ago,

and I want to share this with everybody because if you are in

the Grand Connections and you're a VIP, you get this for free

today, and it's going to stay with Susan in the Grand

Connections for as long as she'll let it stay in the VIP as

free. If you're not a member of Grant Connections, Susan, I'm

just giving them a great reason to join right here. It's $17 one

time. You get four training videos about your retreat and

how to do your retreat, not pricing per se, but your mindset

and your skill sets and all the things that you need for a

retreat. When you complete those four videos in five days, I am

going to reward you with my profit retreat calculator for

free. And I sell this for $97. It's proven, but you can have it

for free for 17 today, and you get four valuable videos. And

so, like I said, VIPs. I already gave Susan the code. Definitely

reach out if you're a member of Grand Connections, but this is

also a community-a community of retreat leaders, potential

retreat leaders-and I would love to see absolutely all of you

guys inside of this community. I'm going to drop the links in

the chat because it's really important, guys. I have seen so

many people make mistakes because oh, I just want to make

$100 profit. I'm fine with that. No, maybe 100 per person, but

you're not going to make $100 for your whole effort because

you put a lot of energy into marketing, into advertising,

into making connections, into communication. You need to be

pricing these retreats what you are worth. Think about it. How

much do you get paid when somebody when you coach somebody

one on one or in a group setting, all right. So that's

what I want you to think about. How much are you worth? Because

you need to make sure that when you get the price from the venue

and the photographer and the masseuses and the snorkeling

guides, that you don't leave you out of this calculation. So I

want to thank you guys so much today. Please connect with me. I

put all of my information in the chat. Do a one-on-one with me. I

would love to connect with each and every one of you, one way or

another. Thank you all so much.

Thank you so much, Blaney. Man, that was a

fire hose of information.

Steve, I'm going to pass it back to you because

our keynote speaker is ready to roll.

Picture and everything, because I'm about to

introduce you to our keynote speaker today. Get your pens,

pencils, crayons ready because you will be taking a lot of

notes. Sheri, we had chat earlier. Man, she's got a wealth

of information that she's going to try and squeeze into about 15

minutes. The founder of Wonderlost Entrepreneur and CEO

of Journeys of the Spirit, the world-leading retreat

strategist, and she has over 20 years of experience and helped

over 1000 plus retreats managed globally. She's guided 25,000

plus coaches, healers, and heart-centered entrepreneurs to

plan, fill, and most importantly, profit

transformational retreats that changes lives while creating a

sustainable, thriving business. So, if you want to hear from

anybody, well done, Susan, on getting three of the best. Let's

listen to Sheri right now, and I've got my pen and pencil ready

right now as well. So, Sheri, the the floor is yours.

Thank you, thank you, guys. I have a lot to

share in 15 minutes, so I am going to go fast. We will have a

chance for some Q and A afterwards, but I'm going to do

my best, and I hope you can keep up with me today. So, the

primary goal of this conversation is to keep you.

Safe and protected to keep your participants safe and protected,

and to ensure legal compliance with local and international

laws. Okay, so bottom line here, everyone, you are 100%

responsible for your participants from a spiritual,

physical, legal, and business protected perspective. So, if

you're operating without proper licenses, insurance, or legal

forms, you could be putting your personal assets, your home, your

savings, your retirement at risk. And while legal issues are

rare, pretending that they don't exist will not protect you. So

here's the good news: once you have your systems in place, this

stuff becomes easy, and you'll have the peace of mind knowing

that you can handle anything that comes your way. Now, before

I start, I just want to say I am not an attorney, and this

training does not constitute legal advice. It's essential

that you follow the laws and regulations specific to your

country, state, or province, based on where your business is

legally registered and operates. And when in doubt, consult with

a qualified legal professional to ensure you're protected and

compliant. Okay, I said my disclaimer. Let's jump in. So,

what things can go wrong on a retreat? Well, I'm going to

throw a bunch of things at you now that has actually happened

to some of those 1000 retreats that my company has managed over

the years. So, in a very basic way, a participant can get sick.

Right? They could get food poisoning, heart attacks,

appendicitis, whatever, bee stings. There can be local

political unrest. There could be terrorism. There could be

weather issues. You could be away on a retreat, and they

could be a tsunami or a hurricane. Right? Hawaii just

got plummeted, and one of our students had her retreat

starting the day after. So crazy, right? There could be

problems with guides, issues with contracted activities,

accidents involving participants like falls, minor injuries,

broken bones. On one of the retreats that I ran to Mexico,

the retreat hadn't even started, and a gal crossed the street.

Her foot went in a hole. She twisted her ankle, and I ended

up having to take her to the hospital, and she broke her

foot. So, like anything can happen, vehicle breakdowns. I

had that happen to one of our vans in Mexico. Car broke down.

Van broke down. Booking confusion. Like I was on. I ran

a retreat to Egypt, and we got to the hotel, and they told me I

didn't have a reservation. Meanwhile, I was paid in full,

so something got messed up, and they had to put all my people in

suites. So it wasn't so bad. Participant mental health

issues-we've had that happen. Lost passports, participant

being abducted, or raped, or robbed, or beaten, cultural

misunderstandings or offenses, legal issues due to local laws

and customs, or language barriers causing

miscommunications. So that's just some of the things that

have happened that I've seen since the year 2000. So now

let's focus on how to keep your participants safe. So, one very

important thing is trip cancelation insurance that has

medical coverage. All of the people coming on your retreat

should have trip cancelation insurance, especially these

days. But make sure they know what it covers because different

insurances cover different things and they cover different

amounts. Okay, so never assume what the trip cancelation

insurance covers. Another way to keep your participants safe:

give them clear instructions on what to pack. That is really

important. Share with them medical considerations. Do they

need vaccines, or what medicines should they bring, or should

they go see a doctor before coming on your trip? Make sure

they know the CDC's recommendations for medication

and vaccines. Of course, the CDC is what we have in the U.S. but

the U.K. has their version, and Australia has their version. So

make sure you check in your country for what is appropriate,

certified Red Cross or equivalent first aid training.

What if you're somewhere remote and? And someone is choking on

something. Can you help, or are they going to drop dead? This is

important.

All right. So certified Red Cross or equivalent first aid

training. Know where your consulate is in case there's

problems. You should have emergency contact information

and protocols for your retreat, health and safety briefings

before activities. So I always have before my retreat a meeting

with all of my retreat people, and I talk about expectations

and what they need to bring and what they should be aware of. If

they need to go, you know, get some vaccines or not, it's up to

them. But you have to let them know your job is education. It's

also very important to have local emergency services contact

information where your retreat is going to be, and you also

want to have an inclusion of dietary restrictions and

allergies for the meal planning. Okay, very very important. So

you've got that. Now that is for your peeps having to keep them

safe. Now how do we keep you safe? Okay, so we're going to

start with cancelation policy. So cancelation policy is one of

the most common places that things get messy. Make sure you

have an airtight cancelation policy, and make sure it is

posted before they pay. Okay, because if you take money and

show the cancelation policy afterwards, it's like deceptive

marketing. Okay, the cancelation policy needs to be right before

they pay. Okay, very important. Make sure you have contracts

with your co-facilitators if you have any. If you have volunteers

or paid help, it could even be like a list of things that

they're responsible for that you both sign if you want to keep it

simple. But it should be in writing. You should both be

clear about what those things are because I've seen

friendships broken for this kind of thing. Okay, now when hiring

an independent contractor for your retreat that's going to

interact with your participants, like a massage therapist, a yoga

instructor. Make sure that you ask for a copy of their

certificate of insurance so that you are protected. Okay, they

need to be insured. Then you need to have your own insurance,

and we're going to talk about those insurances in a few

minutes. You also need legal forms, not simple waivers.

Everyone goes, "Oh, Sheri, I have waivers. Okay, let me see

your waiver. It's two paragraphs. No, no, no, no. Our

legal forms are six pages long. They're death forms. Things that

are bad can happen on retreats, especially if you're going

internationally. You need to have good legal forms. All

right, backup plans for transportation. Oh, make sure

your transportation company is insured. Okay, backup plans in

case for your accommodations, and this is especially the case

if you're renting an Airbnb because I have seen Airbnbs

canceled the day before the retreat. Yep, seen it multiple

times, and I can't tell you the distress that that causes. How

about a backup facilitator? What happens if something happens to

you before your retreat or on your retreat? What are you going

to do? It's a good question, right? Do you have legal advice

and representation in case something happens and there's a

dispute? As a business person, it's good to know that you have

a lawyer that you can depend on for your business. Double check

if you need a special work visa for whatever country you're

going to. So just make sure you're okay. One of the

countries that's always being a pain in the patootie is Bali. So

we've seen a lot of visa issues there. Okay, that is a lot. Are

you guys tracking with me? Let me know in the chat. Are you

taking notes? Yes. No. Am I fire hosing you? Yes. Probably. All

right. All right. Very very. Good. Let's move on to legal

forms and legalities, and the types of forms and why. Okay.

All right. Melissa saying fire hose, but yes. All right. So

there are basically five types of insurance available to you,

and a few you're going to want your retreat participants to

have as well. So let's start with professional liability or

indemnity insurance, depending on what country you come from.

This is a must if you offer any kind of expertise, coaching,

healing, or if you open your mouth on your retreat. Okay,

very important. General liability insurance is normally

packaged with professional liability insurance. At least it

is in the U.S.

And this one covers the physical stuff, like if someone trips on

a yoga mat, or breaks an ankle during your retreat, or spills

tea on the venue's antique rug. Now, if you go out of the

country and you are from the United States, your professional

liability and general liability insurance will probably not

cover you. So then you're going out of the country basically

naked. I highly recommend tour operator insurance-it's actually

the only insurance that will cover you out of the country.

Your retreat is actually considered a tour, even if it's

filled with meditation and journaling instead of busses and

sightseeing. Doesn't matter. This insurance will cover things

your regular coaching or healing business policy won't, because

now you're leading people on a group travel experience. So you

will most likely need this if you're running international

retreats. So when I started running retreats myself in 2003,

that was one of the first insurances I got: tour operator

insurance. Now, if you're not going out of the country and

you're staying in the U.S. your general and professional

liability insurance will will cover a lot of things, but you

can also get event insurance, so that's a catch-all policy that's

typically used for weddings, festivals, and even in-country

retreats. And it's especially useful if you're running like a

one-day workshop or a pop-up retreat or a domestic event

where the traditional retreat tour operator coverage might

feel like overkill, so that's number four. Number five is

event cancelation or postponement insurance. So

sometimes that's sold with the event insurance, but it could

also be two different policies. So this one covers your retreat

costs if you have to cancel or postpone your event due to

something unexpected, like severe weather or illness, or

even your venue going bankrupt. And yes, that happens. So,

if you're leading an all-inclusive retreat, you

are basically leading a tour, so make sure you have the right

insurance. Now, the reason I'm saying this is because, for

example, in the United States, there are four states that are

seller of travel states. So that is Florida, Washington State,

California, and Hawaii. If your business is located in any of

those four states, and you run retreats, and your retreats

include transportation, and that doesn't have to be airfare. Like

let's say you are running a retreat in Mexico, and you're

picking your people up at the airport, and you're taking them

to the ruins during the week. Okay, now you're including

transportation, room and board. You are now doing a tour, and in

the United States, those four states considered you a tour

operator and a seller of travel. If you are not running your

business out of those four states, but you're selling to a

retreat participant in one of those four states, you still

have to follow the law. So, for example, my business is located

in Florida, which is why I became a seller of travel there

and a travel agency. I I I did that specifically for that

reason. But if I was my business was in New Jersey and I was

selling my retreat to people in Florida, Washington State,

California, or or Hawaii, I would still have to be a seller.

Travel in those states, and then you would be a foreign

corporation in those states. So in Canada, there are three

different provinces that have those laws, but the strictest is

Quebec and Ontario. In Ontario, you cannot run a retreat; you

must run it through a travel agency. If you collect the money

for it, they can shut you down. So, seller of travel law is very

important. It is also in Europe, and it's called package travel

law. So, if your business is based in Europe, you have to

follow package travel law. So, this is very important, and

that's where some of this is coming from. Okay, there are

forms every retreat leader should use. You should always

have your terms and conditions that spells out exactly what's

included in the retreat and what's not, plus the payment and

refund terms. You also need a release of liability and

assumption of risks. This form confirms that participants

understand the risks of group travel, know that they're

joining activities voluntarily, and are releasing you from legal

claims related to general participation or your

negligence. Third, responsibility and limitation of

liability.

So this explains what you're responsible for and what's on

the client, like showing up on time, right, following

directions, or staying within local laws. This sets

expectations and helps draw clear lines so everyone's on the

same page. You should also have media release forms for

photographs and videos. You should have emergency contacts

for your people. And as a physician, one thing that

concerns me, I always ask for a medical disclosure form because

I have had situations where a person went unconscious, and if

you call EMS, it's nice if you have the medications that person

is taking. It could actually save the person's life. So those

are the six Important forms that every retreat leader should use.

Okay, guys, that was a lot squished into 15 minutes, and I

know, I know, I know it was a lot, but hopefully this makes

you more aware of the responsibility that you have in

taking care of people, I take it very seriously. It might be

because I was a physician in the past, but I feel very

responsible for my people. I want them to have a good time,

and I want to have a good time. So I want to cover my ass, and I

want their ass covered too, and that way we can do what we

really want to do, which is transformation. Right, that's

the most important thing. So very quickly, I have. If you

guys want to learn more, I have a really fun free four video

training. It's called the Profitable Retreat Formula. I go

over in a brief, but you can see how I teach. It's going to cover

how to design, price, market, and protect your retreats like a

pro, so you can start leading retreats that actually fill and

make you money, like Blaney said, got to be profitable in

your retreat. So, I put a link in that is particularly for our

Grand Connection folks, and if you already know you need help

and you need a program to to really help you, you know,

design and come to your your concept and figure out who your

ideal client is and really do your pricing correctly and your

marketing and your monetizing and all of that good stuff. We

have the Retreat Blueprint Program. That's our signature

program, and normally it's $4,500 on our website, but we're

taking 1000 off for Grand Connection folks. So I'm going

to put that link in the chat. The one thing I need to let you

know about this program: it's different from other programs.

It is a forever coaching program. So if you do a retreat

this year and need our help, we're here from you for you. If

in five years you do a retreat and you need our coaching, we

are there for you. And twice a month we have two-hour coaching

calls, and they run all the time, all the time. Forever, so

it's a very special course with a very special community of

people who are running every kind of retreat that you could

possibly think of, from gay naked men's retreats to your

typical spiritual retreat to knife retreats to wine retreats

to baseball retreats to tying your partner up properly.

Retreats, I think that's shiburi, right? The art of tying

your partner up. Yes, I have seen it all, and we have a great

community. So please take advantage of the two links. I'm

very grateful to be here and serve Grand Connection because

this is a freaking wonderful organization. Seriously, all

right. Thank

you so much for sharing that. I can't get that

image out of my head now. Tying your partner up retreat. I think

that's that's awesome. In fact, my sister is in Italy right now

running the 20th year of doing bike tours in Italy. Been

running them successfully for 20 years. So a she she runs them,

and they have enough. They make enough to spend another two

months traveling around Italy. So running retreats, running

those sorts of things is absolutely fantastic. Thank you

for sharing all of the nuts and bolts behind the scenes. I know

a lot of people may not have thought about that. I think

we've got time for one question, so we can pick up a little bit

of time. We've got David and Esther. If you've got a

question, all of your information, Sheri, if you can

just make sure that it is all going in the chat, because

there's a wealth of stuff there, and I'm sure everybody will want

to To grab it, those that may need to leave early, please make

sure you save the chat. You know the three dots do that. Save it

because each of the speakers are putting some phenomenal stuff in

there, and you won't want to miss out. Sorry, David and

Esther. Yeah, tell us got a question for us. I

didn't realize I had my hand up, but let's just

go wild with it. And we're in the UK, and so we just missed

that that fifth form. So actually, I'm going to ask you

now because you said about the. Can I read my notes? My medical.

There were two last forms about the medical side, and I'd love

to pin getting clear on that. So it's always good to make sure,

like as far as the forms you want people to fill out or the

information you're getting from them, you do always want to have

terms and conditions, release of liability and assumptions of

risk. I call it that. Your lawyer might call it something

else, but it's the same idea. Responsibility and limitation of

liability. Media release for photographs and videos.

Emergency contact form. If something happens to a

participant, you better know how to reach their family, and then

I like a medical disclosure form. If you are going to take

that information from people, you better not be leaving it on

your or letting other people read it because it is private

information, and you needed to treat it as such.

All right, you were saying that we, I can't run

a retreat in Ontario, or is there something I can do to run

one in Ontario? But I have to do the right

thing. You have to run it through a travel

company that does that. Not all travel companies do it. Like for

example, my company does it, and we do it for lots of retreat

leaders worldwide, but we are a seller of travel. You take the

money, and then the retreat leader becomes an independent

contractor of ours that we're hiring, basically as a tour

leader. But you cannot take the money because you are not a

seller of travel. All right, so I need somebody like you to run

a retreat in Ontario. Correct. You got it.

Awesome. Well done, Sheri.

Jerry, when's your next three-day event that you

do? Oh, the three-day event is in March, in the middle of the

month, everybody needs to remember that we'll be promoting

it in the Grand Connection because Sheri's amazing partner.

But make the dates. Is there anything they can sign up if

they're on your email list? As long as they sign up for

something now, they'll they'll hear about it, right? Yes, and

if they're on your list too, because if

you know if you guys are going to be promoting,

I believe it's march 12 through the 18th. Okay, it's right after

Mercury in retrograde and right before

Easter. Well, this is amazing, and I just I really want to

thank you, Sheri. You you um. An amazing partner, but what I love

about this most is this really shares value. All of our

speakers today, and we still have Lori coming up, and we got

one more breakout coming. We want to have successful

businesses. We want to be safe. We want our clients to be safe,

and and we want to do it in the way that our business legally.

So this is so important. It's not the fun stuff you want to

hear about, but it's really relevant. Thank you very much.

Now I think we're ready for a breakout, Sheri. What should be

the discussion question in our next breakout room? Well,

how about what are the first steps they are

going to be taking to make sure they're protected in their

business and their retreats? Okay, all right. What are your

first steps to be protected. The rooms are ready to go.

Next action steps. We'll see you back here

shortly. Here they all come. Welcome back. Did we tell you or

not that you're going to get a heap of information? Hope the

breakout room was good. And in the spirit of keeping the

information flowing, we are going straight on to another

global expert that we've brought for you today. If you want to

throw the slide up, we're going to go straight into listening to

Laurie McDowell. She is an international speaker,

best-selling author, TV show host, and retreat strategist.

She helps purpose-driven businesses owners grow their

income, impact, and legacy through extraordinary retreat

experiences. Now you've heard the first couple. Now Laurie's

going to expand on all of that. She's the founder of Reimagine

New Strategies and designs and facilitates transformational

retreats that create lasting results. So when you get people

in that retreat, they are really going to get some phenomenal

results. I'm going to go straight to her right now

because I know she's got some phenomenal information. I do

have to leave. I'm going to hand the reins over to another Aussie

to be co-host with Susan. So enjoy the rest of today. It's

been absolutely awesome to be with you and serve you, Laurie.

I know you're ready. You got some great stuff to give our

people, and we'll see you guys again real soon.

Hi, everyone. Well, thank you, Steve, for that

great introduction. I'm really glad that Blainey talked about

how to make retreats profitable and plan them, and you know,

really what you have to worry about. Sheri talked about how to

make them safe and how to make them legal and all those forms

and everything to really get the retreats going and all that

stuff is so information and and perfect what you need. What I'm

going to talk about is now that you've got you've got it priced,

you're selling it. How do you make the retreat something more

than that was nice? How do you make it this incredible

experience that really transforms lives? That and not

only the retreat host, yet all the attendees and and the place

where you are hosting your retreat. I think that

experiences, especially in this age of AI, I love AI. I use it

every day, but having an experience is really where

people connect. It's really where we make a difference, and

it's where we change the world. And I apologize if there's any

background noise. I'm actually at the airport heading to a

retreat that I am working or doing for one right now. So I'm

gonna fight in about an hour. But one of the things that

I-that's really important when you want to have a retreat-is to

figure out, you know, what is the purpose. Why are you having

your retreat? Do you want to have a retreat because

relaxation? Is it about book writing? Is it about, you know,

what's your business and what's your purpose? And when you find

that purpose and you advertise the retreat, it's going to fill

a lot easier. It's going to fill because it's going to attract

people that share that purpose with you. So that's the main

part about the purpose. And then the purpose of the retreat can

do even more. The purpose of the retreat really should direct

everything about the retreat. Where is the location? What are

the activities we're going to do? What really fits in with

that purpose, and what is the transformation I want the

attendees to have when they leave this retreat? And that's

so important because you know I've been to retreats at

five-star resorts, and and they're really nice, and I've

gotten great massages. Yet when I left, I didn't feel like I

really had anything new. I was more relaxed. It was fun, but it

didn't change my life. It didn't make a difference. I've also

been at retreats that truly did change my life and the people

that attended. and And when you do that, people want to come

back. They want to come to your next retreat. They want to work

with you. They want to continue whatever they started at the

retreat, so not only is it a great way to give the retreat

participants the best experience, but it's a way that

you can actually grow your business because these people

had these amazing experience. You don't want to just leave

them hanging and send them back to their life. You want to give

them a way to continue. You want to take them on the what's next,

whether it's your next retreat, a mastermind, your. Program, so

creating that experience is so important because it helps you

use the retreat not just as a retreat revenue generator, but

as a way to grow your business for the future. And so, I want

to talk about one way that I've found to make a retreat

incredibly valuable and transformational, and I call

that the give back effect, and the give back effect. You know,

we're we're all most of us here are probably heart center

business owners. We like to give stuff away. We like to help

people. That's often why we started our business. Yet, if we

give to, you know, our clients, if we're giving to them, our

business isn't sustainable. We're not as profitable. And if

we're giving, and it's not even good for our clients because

they're not paying full price, they're not seeing the value,

they're probably not attending. So the give back effect is

something that we typically do at retreats that I plan, and I

encourage you to give an idea.

You look at your purpose, what you're planning to do, you look

at where you're going to be, and then you say, based on that, who

would make sense for me to give back? And you incorporate a half

day or some kind of give back into the event. I'll give you a

couple examples. I went to a retreat. I helped host a retreat

in Fiji. It was for an organization called World

Changers. So their whole purpose was about connecting and about

small acts that change the world. While we were in Fiji, we

planned. We found out a great place was this Lalola home. It

was an orphanage for children and and some of the the mothers

that needed help. We planned a day to spend an afternoon with

these kids, and we also asked them what they needed, we went

and we spent the afternoon with the kids. We played games with

them. They told us what they wanted to be when we grow up. We

told them all about our business, and everyone who went

said it was the most amazing part of the retreat. We gave

back to the community, which made all the attendees feel

good. We all know how great it feels to feel good. So we did

something that actually changed lives, but not only that, it

changed the people who were there. That's giving back.

That's learning about what kids in Fiji learn. What so it's a

great way to connect. That's kind of one example. We did

another retreat. It was a scuba retreat in the an island off

Honduras, and and it was all about diving and snorkeling and

connecting with the environment, our give back event at that was

a beach cleanup. We went to clean up a local beach, take the

trash off. We also looked at doing a turtle release, and what

that really does, like I said, it connects with the community.

It gives you an incredible experience to make you and all

the attendees feels good, and it makes the retreat a premium

experience, and it changes lives. It's a type of experience

that does more than just you know you you still incorporate

all those other things like whether it's a book writing

retreat or relaxation. You still want your massages and your

breath work and your yoga, but looking at trying to connect

with the community and do something that makes a huge

difference is one of the best ways to to take your retreat

from great and bring it up to exceptional. Like I, I'm doing a

retreat next July at Blaney's place in Mexico, and we're

talking to Blaney. What could we incorporate to give back to the

community? What's a good thing for the purpose? So that's

something I think is a great way to make the retreat incredible.

My when we talked earlier in the breakout rooms about what is

your genius, my genius is taking your purpose, your genius, and

turning it into an incredible experience. So that's what my

business does. We are called done for you retreats, which

means we take help you price the retreat like Blaine, like

Blainey talked about. We actually are sellers of travel,

are a travel agent. We handle a lot of that hosting, you know,

buying the retreat, dealing with a lot of the legal issues,

having all the insurances, and then we help you take that

retreat and put together a procedure so that it's

incredibly transformational, gets you the results you want,

and then we actually facilitate at your retreat if you don't

have a team and you want someone to come to the retreat and

facilitate. So it's a great way to do a retreat and get an

incredible experience, but not have to deal with everything and

and fear it. So that's one of the reasons why my business was

formed because I knew so many people who did retreats and

either made no money, or things went wrong because they were

trying to do them all alone. Even if you don't use someone to

help you at retreat, I would love to give the piece of

never try to do it all by yourself. Have someone there,

backup facilitation, someone to help you out. And basically, you

never know.

You don't want to be in the middle of a presentation or

doing some kind of transformational work, and have

to stop because someone gets hurt, or the toilet's clogged,

or any of those things. You want to have someone to help you. So

that's what I have to you today. I am going to put a link in the

chat for a gift. It's called the Breakthrough Blueprint, and it's

seven reasons why. Your business deserves a transformational

retreat. It talks about how you can make that retreat

transformational, and anyone who signs up for that retreat can

get can book what I call a retreat planning call. And what

we do there is we just kind of go. It's the first step in the

done for you retreat services. But we go through and we look at

your business, we look at your community, we look at do you

want to host a retreat? Why do you want to host a retreat?

What's the purpose? What kind of you know basically what kind of

profit do you want? What is your client's charge? And through

that, I can help you put together you know in about an

hour give you some ideas of where might be the best place to

have it, how long it should be, what it should charge, what you

might want to sell at the retreat, basically put together

a big overall picture for you. So I'm going to put that

information in the chat. If you have questions, like I said, no

no obligation. It's really just because I think everyone should

have a retreat. Retreats are magical. The more retreats we

have, the better the world is. So thank you so much.

Gosh, that was amazing. I just am so excited

with the the variety of information that we've learned.

We've learned about making our retreats profitable, how to be

safe, and how to have an amazing experience. So we have one more

breakout lined up, and then we have our matchup, which is what

we're going to do: is get ready. So get ready your grand ask, or

you can share what your retreat is about, so people can just

learn about it. And if you're looking for people to partner

with, share that too. These will be 30 second introductions, so

we're going to all line up with our hands up. This will be after

the next breakout, and you're going to be able to share that

with the world. We'll also be taking your information about

your retreats that you put into this segment and putting that

into our recap post that goes out to all of our community and

followers too. So great advertising! What a wonderful

combination of insights from our three speakers. Blaney reminded

us that the heart-centered entrepreneurs need to include

themselves in the financial equation. A sustainable retreat

begins with understanding your costs, break-even point, desired

profit, and price per guest. Sheri showed us that safety and

preparation are essential parts of building trust. The right

insurance, legal forms, emergency plans, and

professional support help protect both the retreat leader

and every participant, Laurie brought us back to the purpose

and transformation. Her give-back effect beautifully

reflects our philosophy of grand giving by creating a positive

impact for the participants, the host, and the local community.

After the presentations, our event continued with a retreat

matchup where members and guests shared their retreat

opportunities they were creating, the support they

needed, and the people they hoped to partner with. This

moved us from learning and inspiration into meaningful

conversations, new connections, and potential collaborations.

Mixer itself demonstrated what is possible when communities

come together, four communities shared their experience,

relationships, and audiences to create greater value for

everyone involved. The same principle applies to hosting a

retreat. The right partners can help you reach new audiences,

fill gaps in your expertise, share responsibilities, and make

your retreat easier to promote and deliver. You may collaborate

with another community leader, maybe it's a co-host, a

facilitator, a venue, travel professional, photographer,

wellness practitioner, or local organization. You do not have to

create the entire experience alone. Begin by looking at the

trusted relationships already around you. Who shares your

values? Who complements your expertise? What could you create

together that none of you would build in quite the same way on

your own? And of course, who do you enjoy working with? You can

learn more about our speakers and their retreat resources

through the links in the show notes, if you would like to meet

more heart-centered entrepreneurs and potential

collaboration partners, we invite you to join us at an

upcoming mixer or any of our Edu networking events. Grab your

guest pass and Grand Growth Bundle at

GrandConnection.ca/gifts. Please subscribe to the Grand

Connection podcast and share this episode with someone who

has been dreaming about hosting a retreat. Until next time, keep

creating something grand and plan your next retreat.