Why business retreats are a game-changer

Business retreats have been a game changer for me. And in today’s episode, I’m going to be sharing why you should take yourself on a business retreat.

Hello, and welcome to the Clare Wood Podcast, where myself and incredible guests share about money mindset, financial successes, and how to manage your money in a fun and practical way to create wealth and abundance in both your business and your life. I’m your host, Clare Wood. I’m a business coach and a money mentor. I strongly believe that money has the power to positively change the world. I can’t wait to help you transform your mindset around money, create a love of numbers and build the business of your dreams so you can live a life of financial freedom, giving, and global impact.

It is very fitting that I’m doing an episode about business retreats, because I am running a retreat of my own again very soon. I’ll be sharing more about the retreat later on in today’s episode, but if my retreat’s not a fit, I still think that you should make the time to go and do the work on your business in a retreat setting. Let me share a little bit more about why.

Make time to work ON your business to grow your business

The first reason why a retreat is just amazing as a business owner is because it gives you the opportunity to work on the business. It allows you to get away from the day to day busyness of running your own business and to actually stop, step back, and strategize. Now, I don’t know about you, but all of my best ideas come when I am on holidays or when I’m just chilling out with friends, or even when I’m in the shower. It’s very rare that I get my most creative ideas when I’m sitting down at my desk, pushing for inspiration. There is just something so powerful about going to a new venue or location, especially if you work from home, because as great as it is working at home, if you work at home like me you’ll know that you are constantly pushing through loads of washing or doing little bits of a housework and things around the house in between working. And when you actually get to a new venue or location, it allows you to be really immersed in the experience without all of the distractions of day to day life.

I also love going somewhere really beautiful and inspiring when I go on my retreats, because there is something around getting around nature, being away from the office or the computer that really allows you to get creative and get excited about the reason that you got started in business in the first place. When you’re just at your desk and your computer grinding away, it’s often that you can’t see the wood from the trees. So getting away to do the work on the business is the first big reason that retreats are fantastic.

Form amazing connecting with other business owners

The next reason why retreats are amazing is because of the new connections that you make. I ran one of my retreats earlier this year in February, and so many of the people at the retreat make these beautiful connections and both friendships, but also professional relationships. Some examples of this, one of them has joined one of the other one’s programs. Another one of the attendees has now been hired by four of the attendees who attended the retreat, including me. So she’s found herself a bunch of new clients. Another two are in a similar industry and they’ve done a podcast swap, and they’ve also been doing collaborations with each other. And when I think about the retreats that I’ve been on, there’s also been so many wonderful connections that have been formed. An example of this, I’m actually going on a mini retreat next month with three people I met at Denise Duffield-Thomas’s retreat back in 2019. These women are all really successful and now I get to go and hang out with them for a few days. We will get to share ideas and bounce off each other. I literally wouldn’t even have these relationships if I hadn’t been on that retreat. Even if you aren’t going on a retreat with new connections, even if you get away with some of your business friends, it allows you to form deeper connections, which allows you to have better relationships, better connections, and also better opportunities as you identify parallels and opportunities of how you can work together and support each other in business. One of the hardest things about being a business owner is feeling like you’re doing things alone. When you’re on a retreat and building these connections, you are building up the support crew around you.

Have some ‘me’ time and reduce your stress and overwhelm

Another reason to go on a retreat is because it’s fantastic at helping you to reduce your stress and overwhelm levels. When you get away to a different environment, it is time to chill, to meditate, to do yoga and journaling and all of those things that maybe you aren’t so good at doing on the day to day. When I retreat, I either go to the rainforest or to the beach, both of which for me are just so relaxing. When you get away, it’s an opportunity to rejuvenate and to come back a happier and more relaxed person. Another thing that you can do on your retreats as well is to really allow yourself to be indulged.

I know on this retreat that I’m organising, I’ve hired a private chef and are waiter to come and serve the meals. I’ll also have an assistant there to look after all of my retreat attendees and to really make sure that they feel very cared for. Often on retreats, you can also go and have massages or have a lot of me time just to really allow yourself to rejuvenate.

How a retreat helps you make more money

The last, but certainly not least reason why you should go on a retreat is because going on a retreat actually helps you to make more money. Now, this is twofold. Firstly, I swear there is an energetic thing that happens for me when I go away. I was able to witness this in my February retreat with the attendees who came along. In fact, one of the attendees had a notification on her phone when she made a new sale of one of her courses, and it was literally going off at the retreat, “Bing, bing, bing,” and she was just celebrating, “Isn’t it so cool that I’m making money while I’m sitting here?” As I shared earlier, several of the attendees at my retreat ended up working with each other and making money off the other people who came along to the retreat.

The second reason why a retreat allows you to make more money is because when you retreat, you are strategizing about growth. You are allowing yourself to get really creative about what it is that you desire in business, how you can get there, how you can serve your clients better. When you are working on the business, you are doing really cool and big things that will help you to make more money.

About The Level Up Retreat in July 2022

So hopefully, today you’ve been able to see some of the really cool benefits that there are of going on a retreat. I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to come along for the level up retreat that I am hosting on the 16th and 17th of July.

There are only 15 places available and five of the places have already been taken. This retreat is about relaxation, connection, indulgence, and strategy. So a little bit about the retreat, the house where retreat is being held is nestled in a rainforest in the beautiful Gold Coast Hinterland, and has a beautiful, large outdoor spa. I know some people don’t like to stay in a house full of strangers. So the way that this retreat works is that you actually stay at your own accommodation and you come to the house each day, and then on the Saturday night, we have a chef prepared meal, which we all get to enjoy together. For this retreat, I do have an optional upgrade to stay at the house. So if you did want to come and stay at the accommodation with a few of the attendees, you are more than welcome to, and as part of that VIP package, you also get your breakfast prepared for you the next day by our chef, and we’ll also do an early morning yoga session before the others come to join us for day two.

The reason I created the retreat is because I wanted you to have the opportunity to step back and work on your business to have an income breakthrough. So over the two days, yes, there’ll be connection, relaxation. We’ll be spending time in meditation, doing all of those beautiful things, but we’ll also be spending a lot of time actually working on your business. I’ll be running several sessions over the two days about money, about money mindset, and really helping you to create a practical strategy for how you can have your next income breakthrough. If this is sounding amazing, all of the details are in a link in the show notes for today’s episode. So please go and check it out. If you do have any questions, there’s a place that you can email me, or if you are in, you can just jump straight on in via that link. I would love to invite you to come along and have the opportunity to really elevate in a room full of amazing women.

So to sum up today, business retreats have been a game changer for me and I can’t recommend them more highly to you. There are reasons for that:

1. It’s an opportunity to work on the business instead of in the business.
2. It’s a great way to make new connections or take your existing business relationships even deeper.
3. I’s a great way to reduce your stress and overwhelm.
4. Going on a retreat is actually a great way to make more money in your business. Retreats are such a regular part of my business practice these days, and I really encourage you to start to do the same because trust me, it’s worth it.

Thank you so much for joining me this week, and I look forward to chatting with you again soon.

Thanks so much for listening. If you love this episode, please share it with your audience, and don’t forget to tag me on Instagram @clare_wood_coach. And also, make sure you hit subscribe so you never miss an episode. Have an abundant week, and I look forward to talking to you again next week.