156: Four Ways Big Thinkers Use Retreats to Support Business Growth

Andrea Liebross: Welcome to the She Thinks Big! Podcast. Get ready to level up your thinking and expand your horizons. I’m your host, Andrea Liebross, your guide on this journey of big ideas and bold moves. I am the best-selling author of She Thinks Big: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Guide to Moving Past the Messy Middle and Into the Extraordinary.

I support women like you with the insights and mindset you need to think bigger and the strategies and systems you need to turn that thinking into action and make it all a reality. Are you ready to stop thinking small and start thinking big? Let’s dive in.

Hello, my friends, and welcome back to the She Thinks Big! Podcast. How are you? What are you doing? What's happening today? Well, if you are listening to this on the day it actually is dropping, do you know that lingo and podcast world, the episode drops? This episode is dropping on November 5th, and as you were listening to this, I am probably on my way to Eastern Tennessee for two reasons.

Number one, I am doing a She Thinks Big Think Bigger mini workshop in Johnson City, Tennessee, as part of my book tour—and I have a client that lives in Johnson City, Tennessee, which is why I'm choosing that location—but then two, I will be heading from there to just outside of Knoxville, where I will be holding my Runway to Freedom retreat.

This is a retreat that only the women inside my mastermind are invited to. I do them twice a year in some amazing location. It's fall so I decided to do this one kind of in the Smoky Mountains. I wanted to create a little space, you know how I talk about space, I wanted to create a little space for myself this week in my own podcast world.

So I've decided here to re-release an episode that I recorded last fall about what happens or why the retreat is such a life-changing experience. I've been doing a lot of talking about this too because people ask me, “Is it a lot of work for me? Why do I do it? Do I love it?” I love it. It is a lot of work, but I love it because what I'm doing, I hope, and you're going to hear from some real live people here in a minute, but what I hope I'm doing is creating this life-changing experience.

I hope that I am providing them with a few days away from their norm, where they are working hard, but also playing hard and really coming into a better understanding of who they are as a woman and a business owner.

And yes, I don't think it's too dramatic to say it's life-changing. So I want you to ask yourself, when was the last time you gave yourself the opportunity to have a life-changing experience? What would it be like if you came with us? Come with us. The next one we're going to do is in the spring.

This is something that you should be part of, you should be part of this mastermind. It is really a stepping stone for an amazing business. All right, so I'm going to step back. I want you to buckle up. I want you to listen to this episode, but don't go away at the end. Don't go away because I have something else to share with you.

These women in my mastermind meet for a live retreat twice a year, sometimes three times a year. This time it's going to be three times. I wanted to share with you what happened at the retreat. Hopefully, I'm going to be able to link some footage of the retreat in the show notes as well. Okay, we're working on that. Hopefully, that will be ready by the time this episode airs.

But just listening to their voices, they're going to tell you in their own words in just a couple of seconds, what they experienced. This isn't just me blabbing on about it. This is them in their own words. But let me just set the scene for you.

In terms of the scene, in terms of the physical location, again, at New Hampshire, an award-winning, beautiful house in the Lakes region, right on Lake Winnipesaukee, with breathtaking views, and loons in the background. You could hear these loons.

We did yoga on the dock. We did yoga and breath work at the top of a mountain one morning, people canoed and kayaked. But also, some of their best thinking took place over these three days. Everybody arrived on Wednesday night and they all departed Saturday morning so we had two solid days, almost three days together.

Now, I don't know about you, but I always have the best ideas for my business when I am not actually working within it. It is usually when I'm out on a walk, when I'm on a vacation, when I'm in the shower, or when I'm on a treat. It's when we switch off a little, we switch our brains off a little, or turn the dial, that our creativity really flows and we find a lot of the answers to our problems that we've been looking for.

In the last episode, I talked about, “Hey, what problems have you solved as a result of being part of the mastermind?” I think when we're in a mastermind, when we're in these sorts of spaces, that's when we find the answers. That's why I include this in my mastermind package. That's why I include retreats. That's why I include ways to hold space.

These retreats really allow us to intentionally slow down, to escape the chaos of your household. Believe me, some of my women here, their households are chaotic. They've got four, five kids and dogs and cats and husbands that travel.

But when we escape the chaos and really think about what we could do in our business, what could we do, what's possible rather than just checking things off our to-do list or thinking about what we should be doing, that's the magic. Giving ourselves the headspace at a retreat, you have way more headspace at a retreat to think and be creative, it really does help us think or become more strategic intuitively just by giving ourselves that space.

Why do I include this retreat? Because the best thinking happens when we take a step back. When I asked the participants before they left on Saturday morning, they all sat down and answered some questions on video for me. What I found through those questions and their answers was exactly what I was looking for. What I was hoping would happen was happening. Here are some examples.

Number one, several of them mentioned that it was exactly the right combo of work and play. It was exactly the right combo of work and play. We do a lot of work, but we do a lot of play as well. We had an expert in improv come in, and we played one night. We did improv as a group.

Another night, we had an acapella singing group come in, and we participated in that experience with them, which was hilarious. There was plenty of play, but there also was plenty of work.

When you give yourself a few days out of your busy life to really focus on the more strategic parts of your business, you will come back to your desk with clarity, intention, and motivation to make the things that you want to happen happen. Let's listen to a couple of the women talk about this combo of work and play.

Participant 1: It was so peaceful and Andrea made us at ease immediately. There was just the right amount of work and play and it gave all of us as leaders time to really reflect and plan and take the striving out of what we're hoping to do with our businesses. It was an absolutely wonderful experience.

Andrea Liebross: Okay. Here's something else that occurred at the retreat. So number one, it was a great combo of work and play. Number two, it gave them permission to take a strategic pause, to pause long enough to get back in touch with themselves, with what they love.

Taking care of yourself, pausing is not selfish. I know sometimes it's hard to take a few days out of your busy schedule. Believe me, you've got kids to organize, you've got pets to take care of, you've got clients to rearrange.

You've got instruction manuals to write when you take these days out of your busy schedule and leave your norm. It can feel really easy to just say, “It's not worth it” and not bother. But taking time for yourself, and taking the strategic pause is essential to be able to help others.

I think it's a pretty good testament that eight out of eight women made the trek to New Hampshire, which involved at least one, sometimes two flights for them, plus another two-hour drive. But they did it. They took the time for themselves. As a result of that, they had the space and time to reflect and to grow.

When we do that, our friends, our families, our clients, they can all then experience the best version of ourselves when we return. I know this isn't news to you that taking care of yourself isn't selfish.

I know this isn't news to you that when you take time away from the norm, great things happen. But I want to ask you, are you actually doing it? I want you to imagine how refreshed you would feel if you took a few days out of your busy life and business just for you and had that balance of work and play. Let's listen to a couple of the participants as they explain what occurred to them when they took this pause.

Participant 2: The biggest thing is pausing, pausing and realizing how much I like being in nature and not just on the ocean, but actually out here and on the lake and hiking and all of that has been amazing and just being in touch with being in awe of nature and really having that be incorporated into my life a little bit more because I can bring my family in and that can be time that we're together and that has probably been the biggest thing for me.

Participant 3: Good reminders that I had started to slowly incorporate of more mindfulness, meditation, pausing, slowing down and having this environment to do it, the freedom to take a nap if I need to, walk if I need to, participate in different fun things, a whole variety of things.

Somewhat outside the comfort zone, but you have the choice to do it or not. One-on-ones, just even short ones, were really helpful to like, “Okay, this, okay, now let me apply it and have another question.” Lots of conversations with Andrea, but also with the other people in the mastermind to bounce ideas off each other for life and business stuff.

Andrea Liebross: Alright, here’s the next thing I want to share, the next benefit of being part of retreat. Number one, the first benefit we discussed was that your best thinking happens when you take a step back. Number two, it gives you time to pause and take care of yourself so that you come back refreshed.

Number three, being part of a retreat like this, it's an opportunity to connect with others. It's a relationship builder to help with the loneliness of entrepreneurism. I am sure you are aware, again, how important that social connection is. If you're an entrepreneur, you probably crave that. There have been studies that have shown that connection lowers depression, it lowers anxiety, it leads to higher esteem, confidence, empathy, and actually helps us live longer.

Yes, as entrepreneurs, we benefit from the freedom that that allows us to do, but we often don't have a team of people surrounding us on a daily basis either, and that's why these retreats, that is why I have built them into Runway to Freedom. They provide us opportunities to connect with other people who understand what it's like to run a business.

I know that my friends don't always want to listen to me rambling on about what's happening in my business so a retreat gives me that perfect opportunity to chat with other like-minded people who don't get bored of the business chat. All right, so here is one of our participants sharing with you her experience in connecting with others.

Participant 4: The other women, we're all busy, we have other lives, we're spread out across places. It's all of a sudden you're brought together in a room with women that you kind of felt isolated and alone just because nobody understood what you were going through, what you were doing, what you were trying to build at that level.

To suddenly have that group around you is really incredible and really freeing. It really gives you peace that even though it's your business, they're not necessarily in it with you, you're still not alone as you keep growing.

Andrea Liebross: Here, my friends, is the last thing I want to tell you about how amazing retreats are and what happens on a retreat. You leave with increased confidence because you've just experienced an example of how you want to continue. Everybody wants that mix of work and play. We want to do life with confidence.

If you attend a well-run retreat, you should leave feeling full of confidence and renewed inspiration. At my retreat, the whole three days are lovingly planned so they are building on your confidence one step at a time.

There was a reason I had improv the first night. There was a reason we had the acapella group the second night. There was a reason we walked to the top of a mountain and that overlooked a beautiful expansive lake view. There was a reason that every day we had two work sessions. All of those were confidence builders. So I want you to listen to this last response about stepping away in a very intentional way.

Participant 5: You're stepping away in a very intentional way to really, I mean, like going back to the previous question, pause, reflect, have fun, work so you're not just overworked and like, “I'm working all the time,” or like, “Do I even have time to have fun?” So you're kind of practicing it, I guess you could say, of what is that like, I'm going to work a little bit, chunk it, and then I'm just going to go on a little walk and kind of check in with myself, reset. And there's always good food, snacks and drinks and fun conversations to have, you can get away. I mean, it's just like a really good mix of life.

Andrea Liebross: Okay, have you ever experienced anything like those women just relayed to you? If you haven't, or even if you have and you want more of it, which why not, if you want that upgrade, I'll call it, then you need to come join us inside the Runway to Freedom Mastermind.

Now, you might say to me, "Andrea, what happens besides going on a retreat? What happens when you join the Mastermind?" Well, lucky you, my friends. I have also recorded an episode in the past that talks about this. Now, you might have avoided listening to these maybe in the past, because you're like, "Well, I'm not in the Mastermind or I never will be in the Mastermind." But don't, don't, don't avoid it. Don't avoid it.

I want you to go listen to episode 155. We will link it here in the show notes right after you listen to this episode. Because in that episode, I explained to you what does happen when you join this mastermind, what changes for you, and it is not more work. A lot of you think, "Oh, it's going to be more work." It is not more work.

In fact, it might actually be less work. It might actually be creating less work for you in the long run. So go to the show notes right now, click on episode 155, What Happens When You Join Runway to Freedom. Listen to that one and then message me, tell me what you think. Let's chat about you being part of this.

You can go check out all my coaching options, this included, if you go to the coaching tab in the menu bar of my website, and we will link that in show notes too because you need to create this for yourself. 2025 is right around the corner. You need to be part of this. I could go on and on for all the reasons, but I think in the episode you just listened to and the one you're going to listen to right now, you will know the reasons yourself. Okay, my friends, I will see you next week. Have a great day, have a great week, keep thinking big.

Thanks for tuning into the She Thinks Big! Podcast. If you're ready to learn the secret to unleashing your full potential, don't forget to grab a copy of my book, She Thinks Big: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Guide to Moving Past the Messy Middle and Into the Extraordinary. It's available on Amazon and at your favorite bookstore.

And while you're there, grab a copy for a friend. Inside, you'll both find actionable strategies and empowering insights to help you navigate the complexities of entrepreneurship and life, and step confidently into your extraordinary future.

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