Tips for Hosting a Profitable Business Retreat (What I Wish I Knew)

I am here with Lydia Martin, and Lydia is the host of the Thrive Retreat in Orlando, and I will let her introduce herself in a minute and tell you all about Thrive Retreat. But if you're not familiar with me, I'm Valerie, and I partner with entrepreneurs to make in-person retreats for them both possible and profitable. So you get to shine as the expert, and I get to coordinate all the backend stuff, helping you from the planning point all the way through loadout. And I take care of all the onsite details and logistics so you can actually rest and re— and enjoy your own retreat. So welcome, Lydia. Thank you for doing this interview for me. The purpose of this is I want business owners who are telling me that they would love to add in-person retreats to their offers. I want to give them a taste of all the different ways that you can do it and actually talk to business owners who have hosted their own retreats. And so you can see the variety of ideas and how to make them fit your unique business. And for you to start thinking, yes, this is something I could actually do. So thank you, Lydia, for doing this interview with me. Tell everybody what you do, who you serve, how you do it, all the fun stuff.

Um, I'm Lydia Martin and I'm the founder of Launch with Lydia. I help digital entrepreneurs create profitable Offers that Impact. So I love helping entrepreneurs kind of take their expertise and their knowledge and turn them into offers. And so I am very excited to be here because Valerie was a big impact on me hosting my first retreat last year. I have a membership called Ignite, and I absolutely love that membership. It's an amazing community, and I had always wanted to host a retreat, and last year was the first year that I did. So I'm excited to talk about that today.

Yes. And she's doing another one this year. So that is a good sign.

It was definitely worth it if I'm doing it again.

Yes, exactly. So Lydia, what originally made you— you touched on a little bit, what originally made you want to host an in-person retreat? Because you have a really robust community. I'm part of Lydia's Ignite community and we meet online and I feel like there's all these people that I know, they're kind of my business friends now that I'd never met in person. Lydia and I actually had a chance to meet in person because I was visiting my parents in Florida where she lives outside of Orlando. So we got together for lunch.

That was so fun. I love when I get to meet my online friends in person.

Yeah.

And it's one of the benefits of having a retreat. It's really what prompted it. Prior to launching my business in 2020, I had worked for a corporate company for a few years, and prior to that, I was in direct sales for 20 years, and one of the things that was awesome about being in the direct sales world— we were retreat crazy. We were, we were all about conferences, traveling, meeting in people's homes, having leadership retreat weekends. So I pretty much spent 20 years of my life going to dozens and dozens of retreats that had an impact on my life and business. So I knew once I had my own membership, at some point I wanted to create that same experience for my members. And like you said, Ignite is such an amazing community and we're doing all this connection. But to meet in person, there's just something magical. And that's why— that's what sparked the interest truly.

And were there any fears or— I know you run into challenges because everything worth doing is going to be challenging. But were there any fears you had or stumbling blocks for your first one that you did?

Yes. In fact, my biggest fear was, will anyone come? Will anyone make the investment to fly to Orlando? I had just moved to Orlando in 2024, so that did open some opportunities because I thought I knew I didn't want to travel to the location. I wanted it to be local. And because I now live in Orlando, that was opening opportunities. I knew it was an easy flight for a lot of people, but I'm definitely still worried, like, will anyone come? How much will I charge? Am I going to lose money? How am I going to find the place? Like, there's so many details. That might just be the biggest fear. Am I going to, am I going to be able to figure this out enough that it's profitable, worth my time, and most important, that my guests have an amazing experience? Am I going to be able to create that experience for them?

Yeah. And so Lydia does hers at a hotel at Disney Springs. So tell us a little bit, how did you decide to do it at a hotel rather than like an Airbnb or a retreat center? How did you choose your location?

So originally I assumed I was going to do the Airbnb thing because those were the types of retreats I had always attended. So it's what I knew most. I mean, I had been to definitely retreats at hotels as well, but for me personally, I always loved the Airbnb kind of feeling because I mean, I am a little more of an extrovert, so, you know, being in the room with people, not just during trainings, but like cooking together and hanging out at night and showing each other things on our computers. Like, I don't know, there was just something about that kind of energy I've always loved. But I do understand that other people may not feel that way. And so I thought, before I make the decision of what my members want, before I assume what they want, let's do a poll. So I ended up creating a Google form and I asked a bunch of questions. And one of the questions was, would you prefer an Airbnb-type setting or would you prefer a hotel? And I kind of went over like some of the expectations and 75% of the people said, I want to be at a hotel. Wow. Yes. So, and I think the reason is because I think people love the idea of being with people and learning throughout the day, but they like having their space to come back to that is their own. They're, you know, and I get that now. I do like coming back to my room at night and just being able to debrief, decompress, catch up on that sleep. You know, there's not that pressure of I'm in this house with people kind of locked in. And maybe a lot of people are hesitant. I don't know the people I'm going to be with. And so they may not so readily sign up to necessarily be at an Airbnb-type experience. So we went the hotel route. And it really did work out since I live right near Disney. I have a plethora of options. Yeah. For hotels. Uh, so that's the route we went with.

Yeah. That's awesome. And it sounds like, um, you, you did some things, I think, very intentionally too, to bring in that, that feeling that you would've had at an Airbnb for people to be able to get together. So it's like a lot of times you go to, um, you think of hotels as being like a conference that you had to go to for work or something, and it's just very sterile and stale and the same. And, you know, there's not a lot of personal touches, but I think you went above and beyond and out of your way to make sure that you planned those personal touches in.

Well, and that, that was really important to me because you're right, it feels very different when you're in a conference room. And you know that there are good parts to that where you're sitting and you're working, you're taking notes and all that. But, but the connection I find happens in a more intimate setting. So one of the reasons why I picked the venue I did, which was a Wyndham Resort on— near Disney Springs, is because I had an option of getting my own suite. And so the suite— the suite room itself was part of the package. I did have to pay for the adjoining room to spend the night, which I'm glad I chose to do because even though I'm 30 minutes from that resort, I didn't have to drive back and forth. Every night I just went upstairs. Lovely. So I paid for that room, but the suite itself was part of the package. And the suite included a kitchen, a dining area, a living area. And so the very first event we had at our retreat was an in-person gathering. It was kind of— I brought in— I was able to bring in all my own food for that. We had hors d'oeuvres and appetizers and mini treats, but it was a time for us to gather in more of a living room style setting. And I had so many members say, if I had not had that experience first, I would have been so nervous to walk into the conference room the next morning. Yeah. So we are doing that again. We have that, that, that time of actually connecting and sharing and talking to each other where you feel like you're more in a house. Definitely brought the warmth. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, that's, that was a great idea. And it's so funny too, because you can, you can know somebody on Zoom that maybe you see week after week after week, but it's like you don't know when you meet them in person. You don't know if they're like 5'2" or 5'9" like me. I know what you mean.

Valerie, you're tall.

I'm sure you're not necessarily going to recognize somebody because it's almost like we have the preconceived notion of what they're going to be like, and then it's like not necessarily. I have both.

The preconceived notion too is this is how I, I realized something really, really important in that first session, that a lot of people come to an event very nervous. They're nervous because they have this preconceived notion that everyone else that's there has it all together, is ahead of them in the journey, already knows what they're doing, and somehow they feel that they're behind the game or they're inadequate in some way. And by having that initial meeting I shared a little bit about my journey and the struggles I had been in throughout my life and my business in a way that everyone felt super comfortable to share openly, share transparently. And before you knew it, that first 2 to 3 hours together, all of a sudden everyone realized we're all in the same boat. We all have similar struggles. No one is farther ahead than anyone else. And if we are, we're going to learn from each other. But it just brought down that wall. Of, oh my gosh, I'm here and I shouldn't be here, right? Like, they didn't feel like they had enough knowledge or value to be there. And I made sure everyone in the room realized they 100% should be there and 100% should be in the room. And so it was a great first opening, and I think an important part of the retreat.

So, and it sounds like you are very intentional to think that whole thing through, because one of the things that especially first-time retreat hosts do is they think that they have to keep adding things to the schedule. Like, I need to make sure that my people who paid me to be here are getting all this value. So they keep trying to add in and add in and add in. And sometimes that's not the best thing to do.

So, um, it is definitely tempting.

Yeah.

Like, you know, creating that schedule, you agree, but I absolutely agree with you. I've learned even from last year, I did too much on the full 2 days that we had the full Friday, full Saturday. One of the feedbacks I got was, we actually wanted to have more time to work on the things we're learning. We want to have more time to interact with each other. We want to have more time of debrief sort of thing. So I agree. I'm actually taking things out of this year's agenda instead of adding more.

Yes. That was going to be my next question for you, Lydia, was what are you intentionally leaving out now that you've done one and you're doing your second one? Yeah, you're going to put in more implementation time.

Yeah, I created way too much content last year because again, and this goes with all— for everything today, not just retreats. Information is not what adds value. Right?

Right.

Implementation that makes the difference. And so giving them the time to take what they've learned and apply their niche, their audience, their experience, their desires, their goals to that thing. Where they could leave and take actionable steps, that's where they're going to get results. And so just giving them more and more and more doesn't help because it's overwhelming. And so I'm definitely removing some of the heavy just training sessions on top of one another, breaking that up a little bit, having more interactive working sessions so that they can dig into what we're talking about. So I think it's gonna make a big Let's—

I think we underestimate the importance of letting the people that are there interact with each other and invest in each other because you kind of get into teacher mode sometimes and think that, you know, it's all about you teaching. Yeah. Not that we intentionally do that, but it's like—

But no, that it's all about like you have to be in this performance mode.

Right.

Right. I learned that so quickly last year, Valerie, because— and I'm going to tell you why. So the Sunday morning of the event last year, we did— it was called Coffee and Conversations, and it was a final wrap up to the retreat. It was optional. Some people had to head off that morning depending on flights, but I would probably say about 80% did show up in my suite before checkout at 11. And do you know, these gals didn't stop talking the entire 2 hours they were in my suite. I literally was like, okay, I want it. Because I realized in that moment I could literally just sit back and people would say something that they had learned at the retreat, and then this person went, oh my gosh, well, this is what I do. And then that— this person— and it hit me in that moment, I'm like, I did not give them enough time to talk to each other. And so this year, it is not an afterthought. It is not a Sunday morning thing. Yeah, this year it is planned in the agenda. They are gonna have time to talk to each other, share ideas with one another. We're even doing something called Thrive Talks this year instead of TED Talks where I'm giving— members can apply to do a 20-minute talk at the retreat on something that would be relevant for digital entrepreneurs. And so I definitely am giving myself less pressure. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves thinking, well, we got to be the, the guru or the expert. No, we're the guide. We're the guide and there are so, there's so much knowledge and expertise in the room that I needed to pull from more. And I'm going to be doing that better this year for sure. Yeah.

And it makes them more of a participant than a spectator.

Absolutely.

You know, they're, they're investing in it too. So you, you had, um, a guest speaker that came in last time. Um, are you going to do that again or what is, yeah. So what is, what would you say your role is as far as being the retreat host?

So as the retreat host, like I said, my, my biggest goal was, was creating an experience that was right for the members. So it is, it does feel a little overwhelming when you're doing it all. I actually had, uh, one of my team members, my admin customer support person, was scheduled to attend and she was going to be my right-hand gal, but her, she had a parent pass away like literally the week of the retreat. So I was on my own and so I I was both the hostess, the greeter, the trainer, the facilitator. Um, thank goodness for my husband. My husband came with me. He stayed on site with me the entire weekend. He was the person lifting, carrying— oh my gosh, between projectors and food. I mean, imagine, we brought all of my own stuff from my kitchen to the suite. So there were a lot of logistical things I was handling in addition to being all these things for the members. So that part was a lot. It was exhausting, but adrenaline kicks in and you make it happen. This year I'm being a little bit more intentional so that I can be a little more present and a little less in the logistics of it all. But the guest speaker, I knew I wanted at least one guest speaker because I needed to fill a slot with time that was pressure off of me, but that I knew would deliver something that was relevant. So I invited my AI coach, Brittany Long. She actually lives in the area, so I knew by inviting her, she would probably— it wouldn't be as expensive as having to fly someone in, things like that. She really was so generous in what she asked to speak for. And of course, I gave her the opportunity to sell her program, which she did not do a hard sell at all. But people connected with her, got on her list, and definitely have participated in things that she offered. But she did an amazing session on AI. It was just so relevant. It was interactive. And I invited her back this year because it was just that good.

Yes.

So it definitely helped having a guest speaker. It was a nice long slot on Saturday morning that I could just sit back and let someone else take the reins.

Yeah. I think a lot of times what hosts do too is they, they're just looking at the calendar and looking at the timeline and filling in the blanks.

Mm-hmm.

And they might leave a little bit of white space for their participants, but they forget to leave the white space for themselves.

Yeah.

It's like, what is your, what's your sleep schedule like? You know, of course you're gonna invest more during the retreat.

Mm-hmm.

But, um, you need to make yourself available to your attendees to be able to have conversations. So you need to have that, that kind of open time, but you also need to have some time where you're not available, where you put somebody else. Here's the point person in case of, you know, I have so many kids, I always say fire, flood, or blood. We need somebody in charge, right? But you have a point person so you can actually go and rest.

Yes.

Because if you're not rested, you're not gonna be your best for your attendees. So, you know, it's really important to write that into your own schedule.

100%. And one of the things that did help was we did not provide dinner on either of the nights. So that first full night after the full day of training, I was off. They got to have a night at Disney Springs or do whatever they wanted in Orlando. It was a night for them to hang out with each other, do something fun. But since it was on their own, I was able to go upstairs and just— I think I took an Epsom salt bath. I'm like, I need to just chill. I need to recoup. I need to reprocess for the next day. So I agree. I think it's really important to not have yourself scheduled in on every single time slot, or you just, you just won't have the energy till the end.

Yeah. And that's a great point too, when you're thinking about your location, to think if you're going to do a hotel or even if you do an Airbnb, you still have the option of saying dinner's on your own. We will provide lunch and breakfast. Dinner's on your own. And just make sure you're in a location where, you know, it's easy for them to get to places, especially if maybe they Ubered from the airport or took a shuttle and they don't necessarily have a car there. You want to think through kind of all of those details.

So— Yeah, the location really was perfect because like I said, nobody had to rent a car. It was an easy Uber from the airport. And then with Disney Springs being walking distance, there was plenty for them to do. To see, and it was exciting. And it's just, it's just fun to be in this, in this area. So.

Yeah. And since Lydia's in Florida and I'm in Arizona, we don't have to worry about snowstorms and such.

No, that's another great part.

You can walk.

Well, and just the fact, too, that the, you know, it was the end of April. And so in Florida, that's swim weather. So the fact that the resort has the most amazing pool and hot tubs and dining options just right there. I mean, you just— I think part of that was super helpful. Unlike necessarily maybe an Airbnb that doesn't have restaurants and a coffee shop and a gift shop and all that, that is one of the benefits of being at a resort-type feel. All those amenities are there and you don't have to provide them.

Yeah, yeah, that is nice. So Lydia, switching gears a little bit, let's talk about money and kind of logistics without getting into budgets and actually numbers and stuff like that. What do you think your biggest mindset shift was around pricing or profitability? Because I hear a lot of hosts say, well, as long as I can just break even on this first one, that'll be a win because it's a learning experience, which is true for any offer that we do. You know, you're going to learn as you do, but you know, has anything changed from your first one to this next one on pricing and profitability and— all, all of that fun stuff.

Yes. And I have to say, I mean, you definitely saved me last year because when you heard I was thinking about a retreat, you sent me your awesome budget spreadsheet for retreats. And so without that budget spreadsheet, there were certain fees that I would never have thought of. And so thank goodness I had your budget worksheet because I, I knew I wanted to do swag I knew I wanted to give them gifts, but I like, I hadn't really processed out what that would cost. So that got me really digging into what that would be. One of the costs, like over my head, was AV. Like, yeah, I guess I was just thinking in my head, well, it might cost $100, it might cost $200. Completely underestimated what AV costs would be. In fact, I even borrowed a projector from someone, another entrepreneur I know locally, because it saved me almost $2,000. $1,000 to borrow a projector. I'm like, I could buy a projector for under a grand. Why would I pay? But like things like your screens and your setup, the charge for Wi-Fi for each person in the room. Like there were just things I would have— if I had not known that would be a cost, I could have, I could have gone under on this for sure. So thankfully, thanks to your budget, I definitely thought through the costs and I was profitable in my first year, not as high as I had hoped. But I will say most of it was because I had announced the retreat event too late. We were talking about this earlier. I didn't know in advance where the venue was going to be. There was a lot of decisions to be made. So by the time I opened the doors, a lot of people in my membership already had plans. They already had vacations booked. And so I think I would have had more attendees had I had given them a more of an advance notice. And so not knowing how many people would come, it was really hard to determine the price to charge. And so a lot of that, I felt like I was just guessing in the dark, but thankfully it did work out. We ended up with 14 attendees and it was fantastic. This year we're expecting 30, so double. So that's exciting. And really it was just a wonderful intimate group. Like I said, it was profitable, but the biggest shift I made this year is thanks to you. Because I got on a free training that you did not too many weeks ago, and one thing I missed completely is that you're supposed to put your salary in the budget. Yeah, I kind of missed that last year. I just, I was figuring all the expenses and what they would pay, and I thought, well, whatever's left will be my profit. And so the biggest shift I made was hearing your voice say No, you're actually supposed to put what you want to make your salary for this event, your compensation in the budget. It's not an afterthought.

Right.

So I did that this year. And the nice thing is, is I only increased the price of the retreat $100 this year based on what I learned last year and all of that. But I did add something that made all the difference, I think, in what the profitability will be for me this year. And it's also something I'm super excited about. I added a VIP day. So I think there are definite ways that you can help bolster the profitability of it. You know, this VIP day is an exclusive thing. It is special, exclusive time with me. It's for only 7 people. I'm making it super exclusive, super special. All transportation, meals, an awesome boat ride right here in our area, like included lots of fun things. And so that I think is going to help. Help, um, the profitability because it's just an additional offer that's attached to the retreat, right? So those were just the lessons I learned and some things I'm doing differently this year. Yep.

Yeah. And I mean, think about it, you are an expert. If you paid somebody else to come in and do what you did, but that would be on your expenses, right?

So if somebody was, if somebody was going to pay me to literally come to my house for 4 hours and get one-on-one attention from me, it would be an amount.

It's time to change.

Yeah, right. So, so anyway, so I'm literally providing that opportunity here. We're literally coming to my house for an exclusive coaching session with just me and 6 or 7 other people. And I just think it's— that opportunity is absolutely worth the price that you charge, right? So they're already here. For some people, it's just a no-brainer. And if it's not, it's totally optional. That's okay. But I just think adding that option, I know the people that are coming are super excited about it.

Yes, absolutely. And Lydia mentioned, um, the, my budget calculator and worksheet. I'll put that in the comments below wherever you're hearing this, listening to this, or watching this. So you can check that out too. And, um, I'm going to give them a little teaser, Lydia, because Lydia still has some spots open in her retreat. So I will let her talk about that at the end. But if you're thinking, oh man, I would love to go to her retreat, you're going to get some information on how you can sign up for that. So, um, what, is there anything that worked out better than what you expected? Like something that surprised you that was like, this was kind of an afterthought.

So I'll tell you, cause let me tell you what I was so nervous about. I hear you when you're working with the venue. Okay. So here I was working with, I had an assigned person at, at Wyndham. One person that sold me the package and then you get passed off to the person who now coordinates everything. And both of these women were on it. They were wonderful. So that was wonderful. But I will say, when you're like writing your deposits and picking out the options, I was terrified about the food, to be honest. I thought, this is going to be so bad if these people pay money and come to this event and then the food is just terrible. And it's not like I had got to taste it. I had no idea. I was literally walking in faith.

They only do that for weddings.

Right. They only do that for weddings. It's not like I could say, would you give me a sample of everything on this sub menu?

Actually, you could. You could. You should have asked them if you could do a tasting.

Maybe I should have. Now, I will say they did invite me to do a walkthrough. That was a must-do. So before I officially decided on the Wyndham, they had me— I was able to have a session. They walked me to the suite. They walked me to the rooms. They walked me to where lunch would be. I got the layout. I got to see what was at the resort, the pool. I got to see the rooms. That was my other big thing. I was like, when I book the— do the room block, I don't want them being at the awful spots with no view and blah, blah, blah. Like, I wanted the top end of the resort. And I wanted the discount for them. So we walked and worked out all those deals. But the most surprising thing to me was how amazing the venue was. I mean, the food was— it was incredible. Everything they set up was gorgeous. They went so above and beyond to make sure I was taken care of, our people were taken care of. That was the biggest surprising thing. And I can't say enough how important it is to have the right venue. If you're going to pay, you know, making sure— and you can just tell these people do this all the time. This was not their first rodeo. And so I think I had so many people go, this food is so good. And that was important to me because I've gone to conferences where the food's not good and people talk about it for a long time.

Yes, it just tastes like, uh, it was too mass-produced or something. Yeah.

And I only had 14 people, so I was expecting just little scraps of things. They would put out full buffets for 14. Not like full buffets, but you know what I mean? Like, it looked full and robust. It wasn't skimpy just because there were 14 people there.

Right.

So yeah. Interesting.

And one of the things that I think is, you know, it's not unique just to you, but a lot of people have to think about this, especially if you're in a location that has a lot of resorts and a lot of stuff going on all the time. So being in Orlando, there are certain times that you do not wanna try to book a hotel for your retreat or even try to find an Airbnb. So how did you kind of navigate picking your dates?

Yeah, so I knew I wanted to avoid spring break and Easter. Mm-hmm. Because here in Orlando, you can imagine how many people travel. So the easiest way to know the best weekends to book was to get them to gimme various price quotes. So I gave them a number of different weekends to see what the room rate would be. And I, because I didn't want the expensive— I knew if it was super expensive, it would be— it meant spring breakers were coming. So I, I kind of want to— I was looking at February, I was looking at the end of April, early May. I knew Mother's Day might be a problem. So I think honestly, just asking for rates, room rates for various weekends, finding out like, is there going to be like 3,000 cheerleaders at the hotel this weekend, or is it a fraternity party?

Yes.

Like, what is happening? Is there anything else going on this weekend? So you just have to ask the questions. But the weekend we picked was so perfect because it was warm enough to swim, but it was after spring break. It was after Easter. And it just seemed to be— we're actually hosting it the exact same weekend this year, April 23rd. So yeah.

Yeah. And it affects not only just your hotel rates and stuff, but how easy it is for people to get there and what the airfare is going to be. Because, you know, the airlines know when the heavy weekends are too, and when they're going to sell out every flight and the prices go way up. So that's really important to know your area. Lydia, you said something at the very beginning because you had just moved to Orlando, but it was local to you. And I would suggest for the first time host, I've hosted retreats all over the place. But if it's your first time or you're not really confident in what you're doing, host it somewhere close to home where you can go and check it out and there's not a lot of surprises.

Oh, my husband had to run home to our house a number of times for things that I had forgotten.

Right.

If I had not had that option and we had left it home, yeah, that would have been a struggle. Yeah, for sure. And of course, and that is another good thing about being in Orlando. Sometimes he would just go buy whatever I needed right around the corner. If you're in an Airbnb in a rural area, Yeah. And the closest thing's an hour away, it's going to be hard. Yeah.

And even think about, you know, your swag bags and stuff. You had that all shipped to your house.

Everything came to my house.

Right. And you had it close by so you could just drive it over there and you can't necessarily do that if, you know, no, you're not in that situation.

Yeah.

So was, was there any feedback you got from the attendees that surprised you?

Like I said, the biggest thing that they said was they wanted more time with each other, more time to work on their, their stuff. More downtime, which I think is so funny. You know, me, I'm thinking, well, if I'm paying, I like— but, but I think, you know, maybe it's because I, you know, there were a lot of women there like me in our 50s, and it's like, you know, we can only do so much. Our brains and our bodies can only do so much. Um, but I think really, other than that, I just— it was such an empowering weekend, and really they just enjoyed being together. One of the things I'm so glad I did is I did have a photographer who I actually brought the photographer in to do headshots. It was optional headshots that my attendees could pay her for a little photo shoot and then they would get pictures. But as a thank you for allowing her to do that, she took group photos of us. So we had an amazing little photo shoot of our whole group. She actually did some B-roll video for us holding our cute little signs that we had, and it helped me make so many cute reels and videos to promote the retreat moving forward. So that was one of the best things that we did, is have a photographer there. She wasn't there the whole time, just this one moment, but it was outside. We were all wearing our matching Thrive t-shirts, and those visuals I have used in so many things in my business this year.

So yeah, and that's easy to overlook too, because you're so focused on what you're doing right now, you're not thinking Yep. Thinking ahead of those assets that you're going to be able to use.

Yeah. And we also had, um, somebody walk around with phone to record people, give a little testimony. So we got like a little 30-second kind of video from each attendee, and we have used that as, as well for marketing. And that's just great testimonials. Hearing what they say about the retreat is powerful. That's so cool. Yeah.

So how do you think, was there any impact on your business after the retreat ended?

So that group definitely went home energized.

Yeah.

For sure. And I think, I think it just solidified some things for a lot of them. You know, one, that being in the Ignite membership is definitely their community. It also just, you know, gave them a lot of confidence in the business they were building. You know, they got a lot of validation, a lot of feedback. So really, I just think it, it just grew from there. And interestingly, so unlike last year when we opened the doors super late, I opened the doors super early this year.

Yes.

So I gave people right, right at the end of that retreat the opportunity to sign up for this year. And I gave them an early bird discount if they did. And I also gave them a monthly payment plan. So some people who signed up for the retreat, it got divided up over 10 months. Yeah, others 8 months, other 6 months. Basically every month I just keep shortening the, the payment plan. But those who joined early got the best rate and the longest payment plan. And so it was really nice to have all of the assets built. The landing page was done. We just had to change some dates. I literally reserved it with Wyndham like practically as I was going out the door. Yeah, next year. And so that made— I made the process a lot easier for sure.

Yeah. And you knew at the end of the last one that you wanted to do another one.

Do it again. Yep. Same weekend, same scenario, just a little bit different agenda.

Yeah. So you keep mentioning Ignite and I know what that is, but for somebody that doesn't know what it is, can you give us a little overview of what Ignite is?

So Ignite is a membership for digital entrepreneurs, basically course creators, coaches, membership owners, anybody who sells learning online. Mm-hmm. One of the biggest things I focus in on with our members is teaching like cohort-style experiences where you're not just delivering evergreen courses, but you're helping people learn through a process, learn through a transformation. And so Ignite is filled with everything from masterclasses to tech tutorials to live Q&A events where we answer your questions so you get unstuck and can move forward. So It is an amazing community. We have around 150 members in there. So it's— I love that it's still small and intimate. And Ignite is always open. So it is something that you can join. Last year, I did keep our retreat limited to only Ignite members. But this year, I let Ignite members sign up through the end of January. And next week, we are opening up the doors to non-members for the first time. So it's very exciting. So that's getting ready to kick off. Those on a waitlist are going to get some special bonuses and perks. So those who are not in Ignite can actually experience Ignite because there's going to be some special opportunities for those who join our Thrive Retreat. We'll be announcing those next week. It's very exciting.

Yay. And I am in Lydia's cohort training right now. So if you're interested in hosting retreats, I'm going to have my cohort experience coming up that teaches you how to treat, how to, uh, host retreats. And I will be at Thrive Retreat also. So we're going to put all of that stuff, the waitlist that Lydia has, because you can still sign up for her retreat. We'll put all of that information right below, um, where you're watching or reading this. We'll make sure that it's really easy to find. And then, um, last question, Lydia, what would you say to a business owner? Because we're really talking to business owners who say, you know, I want to retreat, I want to host a retreat someday. And then I say, oh great, where are you in the thought process? Oh, just something that's on the back burner for someday. They know they want to host a retreat and they know they want to meet their online people in person, but they just are kind of overwhelmed or scared. What would you say to them?

Yeah, if you haven't attended a lot of retreats, you don't know a lot about the retreat process. I mean, My first tip is to connect with Valerie. I mean, working with someone like Valerie is going to open up your, your eyes to things you just are not going to think of on your own, you know, because it is not just about finding a venue, picking the budget, but it's about creating the right experience. And that's where I think Valerie shines. I mean, she definitely helps you think through what is going to happen with your guests at each and every moment and and really how you want them to feel at the end of that retreat. I feel like that's a lot of times we don't think about that that often. And so I know you just bring that to mind so much. So I love that. And then really, I think just you have to get into the weeds a bit to make these key decisions. And so it feels overwhelming. It feels hard at first, but if you just start going down her process by getting like that budget calculator she has and just start calling some venues to see what's available in the area and You just got to do your research. I will tell you, ChatGPT is your friend. Um, you can do deep research on ChatGPT and just literally, you know, ask questions about what type of venues are in your area that might be good for a retreat. And so that just gets the process going. But utilizing resources like Valerie, the tools she has, the training she has, I just say would go for it because Until you get into the process, nothing moves forward. So that, well, one day I want to, never, it never comes to fruition. Yeah. So you got to start taking the actions and each thing just happens and you'll get to the point where you're like, I still have so much to do. But once that date's picked and once people start paying you to come, it all comes together.

It does. It does.

For sure.

Yeah. Step by step by step. Cause I don't want you to put this together with a, Duct tape and a prayer. There's definitely a process and you need to make the essential decisions in the right order. And that's what makes it all very doable. And like the fact that Lydia is doing another one, just that speaks volumes because it's like she did the first one, she learned a lot. She knows what she wants to do and what she doesn't want to do. This is going to be awesome. Like I said, I'm going to be there. So I'm excited to see all you guys there. And we do still have spots available. And your VIP day, you still have spots for the VIP also?

Yes, I have 3 spots left.

All right. So you're going to want to get on the waiting list because it opens on February 25th. Is that correct?

Yes. Correct.

That's when the date's going to be for it to open up to the non-members of Ignite. And you're going to want to be a member of Ignite. Let me just tell you that. That's going to be— that's going to be where you want to go.

That's a great combo. And that's another thing that I love is that people coming into Ignite having an opportunity to meet in person, it's so exciting for everybody. So like, oh my gosh, I've been connecting with you in Ignite for all this time. Now they meet. And sometimes, like in this example, if you come to the retreat and you haven't been in Ignite, one of the bonuses is that we're going to give you access. So you're going to be able to get in there, meet some people before you come, see what it's all about. But I just love— it just seems like the best of both worlds to be able to do in-person and online. Mm-hmm. Great combo.

Yes. All right.

Thank you, Lydia.

This is so exciting. And I, I love working with retreat hosts because everybody's retreat is so different. You know, it's not a one-size-fits-all. You get to uniquely design it to fit your audience and to fit what speaks to you and your personality too.

So it's absolutely fun. Absolutely. And as somebody who has attended many retreats, they're so worth it. Yes, they're just so worth it. And so it's fun to be able to be the facilitator of that for someone else. Yep.

First thing that goes on my calendar every year.

Love it.

One of my big rocks. Valerie, thank you for joining us. And if you guys have any questions at all, Lydia, where, where can they get in touch with you?

So launchwithlydia.com. You'll learn more about Ignite there, some of the other programs and resources that we share. I also have a podcast called Your Online Business Mentor. Uh, we talk a lot about different types of offers and things like that. I'm sure we'll be mentioning retreats very soon.

Yeah.

Um, so yeah, that's a great place to go.

Yeah. So connect with Lydia if you have any questions at all, and we will drop all of that information that we talked about, all the links and everything, um, in comments, or you can always email me to Valerie at valeriemummert.com, and I'll be happy to answer any questions that you have also.

Great, thanks.