How to Set Up an Amazing Group Retreat

00:00:22 - Amber Hawley
Welcome to season two of the My Biz Bestie podcast. I'm Amber Hawley.

00:00:26 - Maelisa Hall
And I'm Melissa Hall.

00:00:27 - Amber Hawley
And today we're going to be talking about how to set up an awesome epic group retreat.

00:00:34 - Maelisa Hall
Yes, because we know a little bit about this because we actually did it last year.

00:00:39 - Amber Hawley
Yeah, and we've done many a group retreat, right? But in many different facets. But yes, last year we were responsible for our group of nine women organizing that event last year.

00:00:52 - Maelisa Hall
Yes. So every year we switch off and we designate two people and one person has the main role and the other person we call the money mama and they are in charge of getting everyone's money and managing all the finances. And last year that was you and I was the main planner.
But then since you and I did it, we sort of teamed up and kind of shared a little bit of those roles.

00:01:17 - Amber Hawley
Yeah. We kind of split it a little different, but for the most part, yeah, I was... the money mama and you were the planning chick. So that's how it goes. But yeah. So where should we start with this?

00:01:28 - Maelisa Hall
So I guess the first thing is maybe like a group retreat is a little bit different than we've talked about the weekend productivity trips or smaller productivity trips. So this is a full week long deal that we do with nine people. So as you can imagine, that's a big trip to plan.
Like we have a $9,000 budget. because we each contribute $1,000 for this trip. So it's a much bigger thing than our weekend getaways.

00:01:56 - Amber Hawley
I know. When you say it like that, I was like, wow, that's impressive.

00:01:59 - Maelisa Hall
I know. I'm like, ooh, we're dealing with lots of money.

00:02:02 - Amber Hawley
I know.

00:02:04 - Maelisa Hall
And I guess the reason we started it was actually we were all talking about conferences and we realized, hey, we don't really need another conference. What we need is time to get things done. We need time away. And of course, we've talked about this on the podcast, but we thought, what if we went away for an entire week and did this?
And I could see, all of us are in the same industry. I could see people doing this with people within your industry, people not within your industry. But as long as you have a common goal, I see it being really useful to have a group that's meeting for a long period of time.

00:02:38 - Amber Hawley
Yes. And because how we structure it is we rent a really awesome house and So because of that, we, I feel like it's one of those things where you really want to know who you're with. Although the first year we didn't, but well, I mean so much, right. We had some knowledge, but because we're all sharing a house, like you want to, these should be pre-vetted people and people you feel like reasonably well that you will get along with.
And all of us had actually spent time together at a conference the year before. And so I felt like we had a good sense of each other and except for Melissa, who, was a sponsor and other people knew her. And I guess we just believed she would be trustworthy.

00:03:20 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah. Well, I didn't even know anyone. I knew other people in our book club group we had before that, but I didn't know anyone of the people that we were all going away with until I actually met you. But we did talk online a lot before.

00:03:35 - Amber Hawley
That was pretty brave. Yeah. Talk online. It wasn't like you could hear a voice. You had no idea. This could have been the most epic catfish ever. This could have been, but yes. So in this version of a group retreat that we're going to talk about, you're going to be staying in a house together.
So you probably want to really kind of have some idea of who the people are and that people will be pretty, hopefully pretty sane and all of that.

00:04:04 - Maelisa Hall
Yes. Yes. And I think the house is a really great way to do it because it's a way to have, you can have a pretty nice spot, but it's a little bit It's obviously cheaper than being at a hotel. I will throw out there. I think doing a cruise together would be kind of cool, but I don't know how productive that would be.
I think, again, that depends. But those can be pretty affordable depending on when you do them.

00:04:24 - Amber Hawley
But that's a side. Melissa did do a lot of research around the cruise thing. She was pretty pumped up about it. It's a goal of mine. I know. I wonder the quality of the Wi-Fi. And if people get motion sickness, that's the only things that hold me up on that.
But you know, that would be pretty amazing. We could, maybe we should test it on one of those smaller cruises.

00:04:45 - Maelisa Hall
Yes, I think so. We'll test it and we'll let you all know.

00:04:48 - Amber Hawley
Yes.

00:04:50 - Maelisa Hall
For this, I mean, having, so both times we've had a big house and we did that because we were a lot of people who didn't know each other super well. So we wanted to make sure there were enough rooms that people aren't like sleeping on top of one another kind of thing.
And if you get that many rooms, you usually end up getting a baller house. There aren't crappy houses with nine bedrooms.

00:05:13 - Amber Hawley
Yes, exactly. Although none of them have had nine bedrooms, right? Because there's always been people that had to share.

00:05:20 - Maelisa Hall
The first one had nine bedrooms, but we had 10 people the first time.

00:05:25 - Amber Hawley
No, but remember there was a missing bedroom.

00:05:27 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah, but we were all supposed to have our own room.

00:05:29 - Amber Hawley
I remember that. Oh, okay. You're right. You're right. You're right. It did. That was a big one.

00:05:34 - Maelisa Hall
Actually, this brings up an excellent point. See, this was an ADHD spiral that's going to be valuable for all of you. So both times, it was really important to contact the people ahead of time and get actual information on the beds and how many beds are in each room.
And for example, if there's a double bed in a room and you want two people to share that, double beds are freaking tiny. If you haven't seen one recently in a hotel room or something, then when you show up, you're like, oh, yeah, that's not going to happen, right?
Unless you want to be really close. And I'm a small person. Yeah.

00:06:13 - Amber Hawley
She's very teeny, but I agree. I don't even understand. A double should just be like, okay, you're not in a kiddie bed, but you're not expected to share with other people.

00:06:23 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah. But a lot of times when you're looking up these houses, they don't have all of those details. People who are really good at this, they will have all of that, but you want to contact the owner and double check all of that stuff and make sure that you're getting what you think you're going to get.

00:06:38 - Amber Hawley
That is true because I think it was 2016, I organized a getaway for my husband's family and our family. And so there were like four different mini families part of that. And I thought, oh, this place is great and had enough beds. Well, it turns out that one of the beds was actually the pullout couch in the living room.
But somehow when I read through the description, that is not how it came across. So luckily we had some really good sports, but.

00:07:05 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah. I noticed that too. A lot of them, like I would put in, Oh, enough for, I would just, you know, like nine or 10 people. And then, you know, two of the queen size beds would be in the living room. Right. Cause there are a lot of these, when you're doing a big group event, they're thinking that you're going to have kids.
that you're going to have a bunch of kids. And so some of the rooms are set up with that in mind. So you do want to check in all that stuff and be careful about it.

00:07:32 - Amber Hawley
Yes. So yes, you have this group of people that you want to get and you all agree on a location and you find a really awesome house and everybody agrees on it. And then you have a budget, right? Which is probably part of what helped you determine which house you're choosing.

00:07:48 - Maelisa Hall
True.

00:07:49 - Amber Hawley
So what would your recommendations be for people around... setting the budget and handling money?

00:07:55 - Maelisa Hall
So it was nice to have one person who's designated to deal with all the money, but it's also nice. I think that we had two people, so there is some accountability. So when you think about it, you have like one person taking the money and then the other person is really the one using it.
So it adds a little bit of complexity, but that way you're never fearful of something happening. I do think it's really important to track everything that you're spending because And that way, you know, like if you want to do this again, you know what kind of numbers you're going to use because you don't know like how much wine you're all going to drink, you know, in the week or like how much you might all want to spend on dinners or different things.
So we just had a spreadsheet, like a Google sheet that we each had access to. And so anytime you or I bought something, we could log in and identify it and then identify like, you know, if you owed me money for it, like maybe I just went ahead and bought something, but then...

Needed to be reimbursed. So I think having some sort of organization, and it wasn't a lot of work to set that up.

00:08:55 - Amber Hawley
Right. And I think the important part of that is there's also transparency. So at the end of the day, when all the other people are like, hey, what was money spent on? There's not going to be ill will, because let's face it, people have issues around money.
So we need to be extra thoughtful so that this is a very positive experience.

00:09:12 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah, I think that was something I didn't anticipate, but I realized... later on that it did come up that everyone does have money issues. And even when people don't have money issues, everybody spends money differently. Everyone has different things that they value.
Some people think high-end products are really cool. Some people would want to pay money for an experience. And so I think you have to recognize that different people are going to view that differently and agree at the beginning. If you all have identified what is your goal, then use that.
to decide what you're going to spend the money on. And if you have questions, you can always run it by your group, but that way you know what's guiding you.

00:09:55 - Amber Hawley
Yeah, I think that's really important. And again, I think the more transparency you can have while going along is really helpful. But also if this isn't a retreat where you're the host, if people aren't paying for an experience and this is your business or something, this is a peer-led retreat.
then you really do want to, you don't always want to have to check in with the whole group, right? Because that could slow things down or be really difficult to manage. But I think asking for feedback along the way, and then also giving transparency, I think is a huge thing to try to minimize those money issues.
Another piece of it is we had an agreement that once people set in, so we pay in $1,000, and you can pay all at once, or you can pay 500, 500. But basically, Once you say, yes, I'm in, I'm going to do this, your money is part of it.

So if you have to back out for whatever reason, because we feel like we rent a house based on the number of people that we're expecting. So that part of it, we've made an agreement that we realize we're just going to have to lose that money.

00:10:58 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah, exactly. So I guess that goes with the commitment up front. You're committing to the money and you're committing to actually going on this trip.

00:11:05 - Amber Hawley
So then... So we've got the money part, you find the place, there's an agreement, everybody's copacetic, you know the dates, all of that, that's all set. Then the next step is probably planning food and drinks and all of that.

00:11:20 - Maelisa Hall
So for us, we thought since our whole point of going away was to get things done, we did not want to spend time cooking and doing lots of cleaning and all of that, right? So we bought a lot of food. We did buy food to have... In the kitchen, that was things that anyone could sort of pick up and make on their own, right?
So like sandwiches, vegetables, cheese and crackers, bagels. I think we did have like eggs and stuff like that. But basically breakfast and lunch was all stuff that you should be able to go in and get your own food whenever you wanted. Now, usually we ended up eating as a group or like people were eating around the same time.
But the idea was there's no planned meal time for those. And that way everyone has access and you can easily go in there and get what you need.

00:12:10 - Amber Hawley
Right. And all of that, we did a poll ahead of time because we have a private Facebook group where we all interact, the nine of us. And we asked, what are the kinds of things you like for breakfast and lunch and so on and so forth? So there was information gathered and people can always go off on their own and do their own thing as well.
But at least we had kind of a sense and like you said, lots of snack stuff. The other thing is this happened a couple of times. I think we did actually cook that first dinner the first night and the first year that it was done, Nicole did that as well.
She made a bunch of She made a couple of lasagnas. And so it was kind of nice. So there was kind of this nice welcome and this home-cooked meal. So you can kind of play with that, but it absolutely isn't mandated. And then I remember the first year, Nicole actually cooked a lot of the breakfast, which I so appreciated.

00:12:58 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah, because then we had like pancakes and like hardcore, like egg dishes and all this different stuff.

00:13:06 - Amber Hawley
It was amazing. And I think about one of our smaller retreats that we did one of our other people in the group, Cammie, she made breakfast one morning and that was really awesome. And I ended up cooking a dinner and that was one of our shorter trips. And it was kind of like it happened organically or I think people might've volunteered or something, but it was a trade-off and it wasn't like one person was owning all of it because that's a lot of work.
But I think if, depending on kind of what your goals are and what you like to do and such, I think it's like, be okay with just ordering out every single meal because you actually get more work done.

00:13:41 - Maelisa Hall
And I think you could also do it where you could have one person in charge of every breakfast and switch it off. And if you have a bigger group, then it's usually not a big deal. If you only have one breakfast you're in charge of or one lunch you're in charge of.
So I think that's one way you could do it. Another thing that I recognize is that people, and this may be a female thing, I think it probably is, were a little unrealistic about what they were going to eat because the few unhealthy snacks that we got were things that like when I was shopping, I just thought they looked tasty.
So I got them anyways. And all of these other things that people were like, Oh no, like nobody said they were going to eat bagels, even though I had it as an option and everyone ate bagels like every single morning. Right. So, yes.

00:14:27 - Amber Hawley
So I think you do a lot of leftover salad. Let's put it that way. Yes.

00:14:32 - Maelisa Hall
So, and that was when everyone had those options in front of them. And I think they were a little overly optimistic about the choices they were going to make while they were away.

00:14:39 - Amber Hawley
Well, I will say when I filled out that poll, because I remember you posting it and I was like, no, I'm going to totally be gluten-free, dairy-free and super healthy. And it's going to be amazing. And this is because we did it like months ahead of time, right?
It was like January, which hello, that is the least realistic month of the year. So yeah, there was tons of healthy stuff left. And like things just dangling, like no unhealthy food, like left unturned.

00:15:07 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah. Like I think we had to buy more bagels and a few other things.

00:15:11 - Amber Hawley
Well, this is why you should track if you're going to do it yearly, because we realized we severely underbought wine and it's just such a pain to have to go make multiple trips.

00:15:21 - Maelisa Hall
And who wants to go out and buy more wine, right?

00:15:23 - Amber Hawley
Well, I did. Yeah. Yeah.

00:15:27 - Maelisa Hall
So yeah, I think, yeah. And we underestimated both years how much wine we were going to drink and I don't even drink wine. So I'm just putting that out there. I did drink other stuff, but you kind of learn that stuff along the way and you have to learn that.
But I'll bet that unless you're a bunch of like yoga instructors getting together, that most people would probably have the same experience we did. I think those chicks throw down.

00:15:53 - Amber Hawley
Yeah. Agreed, agreed. So yeah, so that's also trying to be realistic because it can seem like, oh my gosh, we're going to be gone for a week. But when you realize like the first day you're traveling in and depending if you had to fly or not, and if you're like a lot of people who, you know, even if you're not flying far, it can just kind of throw you off a little bit.
I know I'm that way where I just need to kind of like, you know, get my feet back on the ground and just take a little bit of time. And then you want to catch up with each other and just kind of you know, check in and have fun. I think it's like that day's kind of gone.
And then the last day when you're leaving, you're like packing up and putting things away. And then, you know, again, flying out. So those days are kind of like a wash. And so then you're really getting cut down. Like, so if you did a full seven days, that's really five days of working.
And if you throw in what we do, which we have one day where we go to the spa and then go out for dinner and whatever and have fun that night, there's one day gone.

So you're really down to four work days.

00:16:50 - Maelisa Hall
So it goes fast. Yeah, I think that's a really good point to think about that stuff too, which I know we talked about on the weekend retreat because if you plan a weekend retreat, you're basically getting one good day of productivity. activity. But even with the longer days, it's not as many days as you think and the time does go by really quickly.
So when you're planning things out, you want to think about that stuff.

00:17:10 - Amber Hawley
Yeah. Because again, I think we get overly optimistic about how focused or how fast we'll work. And it depends on the person because we definitely have those people who are nose to the grindstone people, but us being ADHD, ENFPs, we get distracted. And so...
you know, that's something to be thoughtful about, about what are your real goals from this retreat? You know, is it pretty, do you have like ambitious goals? Well, then you're going to have to be a lot more focused or, you know, are you looking for that space to have creativity and do some content creation or whatever kind of creation you do?
Like, I think it's just like understanding what your goals are out of the retreat to know how much you want to commit to outside of the actual getting work done.

00:17:53 - Maelisa Hall
Absolutely.

00:17:54 - Amber Hawley
If you have a really ambitious thing you want to achieve, you shouldn't be cooking breakfast.

00:18:00 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah. And I guess another thing that I think has come up both years too, so for our next retreat, I actually did recommend that we do a cleaning schedule because even with a bunch of professional women who are in their 30s and 40s, and most of them are moms, I you would think that cleaning up wouldn't be an issue, but it has become an issue both times.
So I think be realistic about the type of things that happen and what comes up and think about those things. And it's easier if you just plan ahead like, hey, everybody's going to do this and identify who is responsible for what. And that way, those things aren't coming up as issues, but then they're also not coming up as things you have to think about.
You just have it set up and that way you can just show up there and do what you're supposed to do.

00:18:50 - Amber Hawley
Sure. And yeah, you don't want it to be an issue. Although like, hopefully you can just say something, but I guess my mind went to, what if there's that super anal person who's just going to like overly, you know, plan it and kind of just be a little insane about it.
Then I would be like, you need to calm down. But, but I agree that that probably is a thoughtful thing to do is to kind of set some kind of expectation around that so that people understand you're not at a hotel. You don't, there's no maid coming in to clean up after you.

00:19:20 - Maelisa Hall
You could do that, right? Like we did talk about that for this year, even because the place we were staying at, we were considering maybe spending not as much money and then having like a private chef come in and do all the meals. And so that's something you could do too.
And then nobody has to worry about it.

00:19:37 - Amber Hawley
Exactly. Yeah. And I mean, we're in a unique position this time because we're staying in a cabin on the premises of the spa. So I'm curious, like, I'm not sure if that, even though it's this big cabin space, I'm not sure if they will actually have maid service.
So that'll be interesting. I know. We'll have to see. We'll have to see how that one goes.

00:19:56 - Maelisa Hall
We'll let you all know.

00:19:58 - Amber Hawley
Yes.

00:19:58 - Maelisa Hall
Make sure you're following our Facebook page because we might be doing some lives and it's happening next week after this episode is released.

00:20:05 - Amber Hawley
Yes. The episode releases on Tuesday and then on Sunday, most of us are flying out like Sunday night on the red eye. So yeah, it's going to be amazing. I'm so excited. So yeah. So now you've picked your place. You've got your people. Yeah. You have a budget, everyone's agreeing.
It's like kumbaya, it's great. You got the food, you figure out the structure. And I do think that there is value in making sure that like one or two people are kind of in charge of that event. Not that they're the leaders, so to speak, but that there's somebody taking responsibility because then it's like, even if they're the coordinator, because you do have to go pick up all those meals most of the time.
So there's still time that gets taken out of the day. So I do think that's something, and we agree to kind of pass it off each time. So that way we get, you know, sometimes you can just show up and not have to do a thing.

And other times you show up and you, like, we definitely put in a lot of time last year.

00:21:00 - Maelisa Hall
Right, right. And I knew planning for my goals for the retreat last year, they were a lot smaller than they were the year before, because I was like, I know I'm going to be, you know, my time's going to be divided. I'm going to have to get up at 5 p.m.
to go work on dinner stuff, go pick up dinner, order it, even if I'm in the middle of working on something. But I agree. I think having people... Just designate one or two people each time who are in charge. And that way, even... I think each time we've had to contact the owner for some question, whether it was getting locked out or a Wi-Fi issue or whatever, you want to have one person who has all of that information and...
is in charge of reaching out. So everybody knows it's just easier because with group dynamics, people tend to defer responsibility and you don't want a group of nine or 10 people sitting around looking at one another, trying to figure out who's going to do what.

00:21:53 - Amber Hawley
Yes. Although in some cases it might be like nine people trying to be in charge as well.

00:21:57 - Maelisa Hall
Yes. That too, actually. Yes.

00:22:00 - Amber Hawley
That would be painful, but you also want to make sure that it's not always the same person. Cause there's, you know, personality type wise, um, There are those people who are just naturally great at like, you know, taking care of things and following up and being on top of it.
And, you know, you don't want it to always be that same person. But I will say that first year when we went to Vegas, it was so nice just to be able to show up. And I did go out and like on one of the grocery runs, which I was happy to do because it was that day we came in.
And I did go up for the wine run because that was priority. Which I think at this point we've realized we're just going to buy Naomi. There's no point in buying other wine because it's good. You don't even need a wine opener. It's just epic.

00:22:44 - Maelisa Hall
We should link to Mayomi.

00:22:47 - Amber Hawley
We should get some Mayomi kickbacks. I'm telling you, the amount we spend on Mayomi is just amazing.

00:22:53 - Maelisa Hall
But that also makes me think about something that we did a little differently last year, which was identifying rooms, picking rooms.

00:22:59 - Amber Hawley
Yes.

00:23:00 - Maelisa Hall
Yes. So yeah, because usually... all rooms are not created equal. Let's be real here. It's nearly impossible to find a house with a bunch of bedrooms and they're all going to be equally as awesome. So it's always like, who gets the giant master bedroom that has the spa tub and all this crazy stuff and the balcony and everything?
And then who gets the bedroom with the two twin beds? Yes. So Amber actually thought of how to do that.

00:23:28 - Amber Hawley
Yes. So I actually involved my daughter and we wrote out, we wrote a little slip with everybody's name on it. And then we went through and we drew names. And so whoever, so the first person, obviously they went one through nine. And then, so everyone had their order and what would happen is, okay, so if this year you were number one to go, then next year you're going to be number 10 and it would rotate that way.
So in that direction, the caveat to that is, that no matter what your number was, if you were the person in charge of planning, you get bumped to number one and then the money mama got number two. So like, let's say you were really four and five that year, you're one in two.
And then whoever's supposed to be number one for that year actually gets third, if that makes sense. But we did that.

So that way there's, you know, there's a little perk for being the person who's organizing. So you get a little bonus because you are giving extra time and energy and especially all the pre-planning and stuff. But at the same time, that made it fair so that it does rotate.
So that way you can, you know, you're not always stuck with the shitty room, right?

00:24:36 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah. Yeah. So everyone, I think, appreciated that idea and it makes it, you know, just a nice thing for us continuing on. I think, you know, other ways you could do it would be like different people pay different rates too. I've seen that for like when people plan retreats.

00:24:50 - Amber Hawley
Yeah, and when it's a smaller group, I think that's an easier thing too. But that was thrown out as well. It's like, if you have to share a room, it should be less expensive than if you get a king-size bed by yourself. Yeah. That just makes sense. Unless you're a weirdo like Melissa and I who are just happy to share a room and share a bed.
It's like, oh, I don't want to be in a creepy room by myself. Did we already tell that story about when we stayed in Santa Rosa? I don't think so.

00:25:17 - Maelisa Hall
So Amber and I both... Like this is one of those times where sometimes we talk and we're like, it's like we're the same person. So we both have this weird thing where we very easily get creeped out being by ourselves. And especially if we're like home alone, but also even just like sleeping in your own room is just not, it's unsettling.

00:25:39 - Amber Hawley
Oh, that's so sad.

00:25:40 - Maelisa Hall
So we actually prefer to share a room.

00:25:43 - Amber Hawley
Yes. It just makes it easier. Then there's no worries, no creepiness. So we got this beautiful home. in Santa Rosa. It was last January, I think, of 2017. And we were going, there were one, two, three, four, five of us total. And there were three bedrooms.
There was the one master with the king. There was another room. Did that room that you were in, was it one bed or two? One. One. Okay. And then there was another one with one bed. But I was like, no problem. I don't mind sleeping with people. So we go there, we're staying.
And so it was, we were staying for like three nights, but then like the other three left early. So Malia and I were sharing a bed initially. You and your own room in a bed and the other two were sharing the king size upstairs.

00:26:30 - Maelisa Hall
And my room had a creepy door that went somewhere we did not know.

00:26:33 - Amber Hawley
It was so creepy. And it was like in a closet and then weird and it was locked. It was super creepy.

00:26:39 - Maelisa Hall
Yes, but I braved it. Yeah.

00:26:41 - Amber Hawley
Even though this was a beautiful home, it was just like, you're a little bit too much in the woods and it was just kind of creepy. So then everybody leaves and it's just Melissa and I in this big house. And so we ended up staying in one room together in the same bed because we were like, no way, we're not risking this.
This is just too weird. Like we were definitely locking the door and being in the same room.

00:27:05 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah, so it was a giant three bedroom house, a gorgeous house. And we were literally in the same queen size bed.

00:27:11 - Amber Hawley
Yes, I know this makes us sound crazy to everyone else, but you know, but see people like us, they're great to have along because they're willing to share beds. Exactly, we have our little tangent there. But yes, however you figure it out, try to make it just thoughtful and fair.
And you know, if you plan on doing this over and over again, you kind of have that rotation. Or if it's a one-time thing and you don't know, then I think you would do the thing where you split it up. if somebody gets the king size master, they're either going to be the person planning and taking care of things or they're going to pay a little more.

00:27:45 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah. Yeah. And I think the only other thing I have to add for tips for planning a big group retreat would be to be flexible. So remember that, especially if it's the first time you're doing it, you are never going to be able to anticipate everything.
So Each time we had to make adjustments and change things. And the second time was better than the first, but it still wasn't perfect. And that's just how it's going to be. And especially if you're doing this, we have the benefit of doing this with the same group every year.
But if you're doing it with a different group of people, then that's going to throw another wrench into things. So just remember that you might have to do some last minute switches and be willing to be flexible.

00:28:28 - Amber Hawley
Right. And some of the other things that we had structured in around flexibility is... you know, people could choose to be there the whole time or they could go off and do their own thing. There was no, everyone was there to kind of support each other and do their own thing.
But there wasn't this expectation of like, hey, you got to be here at six o'clock for dinner. You know, like you had to get your order in at the time we were all ordering. But other than that, it didn't matter. Like you can eat it whenever, you can do whatever, you can not be there, it's fine.
And I think that that's really important as well is to know like, you know, you're using it for however it works for you. For some people, they might need the downtime and doing some self-care, you know, go exercise or do whatever. But I think that that's another little tip.
The other thing I would say is, so last year we had a little surprise that you planned and it did come out of the main budget, but I don't know if you want to talk a little bit about that.

00:29:22 - Maelisa Hall
The yoga?

00:29:23 - Amber Hawley
Yeah. The yoga and the massage.

00:29:25 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah. So each year there was kind of like a surprise. So like the first year there was a goodie bag. that I didn't know anything about. The second year, I wanted to do something a little bit different and I wanted it to be an experience that we could all have.
And so I had someone come in and do a yoga class twice during the week we were there. So she actually came into the house. So nobody had to do anything except get up and go to the living room. And then the last day we were all there, I had someone...
it was luckily like a big group that had all these people who could do all these things and they did chair massages. And that I thought was really awesome. So I did keep that as a surprise and think until we were there until right before we were there.

00:30:14 - Amber Hawley
Yeah. Cause we wanted people to know. So if they were planning their day, but it was kind of a nice little surprise and it wasn't, it really wasn't like it didn't cost that much money. It was a really, so it was this fun thing. And we know that everybody, you know, is into exercising and taking care of themselves.
And I mean, who hates a massage, really? I mean, I know there technically are people, but whatever.

00:30:35 - Maelisa Hall
But they're crazy.

00:30:36 - Amber Hawley
They're crazy. We don't need to accommodate them. But it was nice because it was a nice little touch. And it was, again, something where you didn't have to leave. But how nice to get a chair massage when you've been sitting on your computer for a week and just working on stuff.
So you got a little bit of relief. And it really wasn't a big expense. It was really thoughtfully done. And I think that's important, too, because, again, you're using other people's money. You need to be thoughtful about that.

00:31:01 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah. I think it was like $300 for the whole thing total, like the yoga and the massage. And that is one benefit of doing a group event. You can really negotiate to get discounts. So I did because I booked multiple things. So I got discounts for that.
I know that each year, Nicole has negotiated discounts for us for various things because it's like, Hey, you know, like when we go to the spa, It's like, hey, we're going to have nine people coming in here in a day and giving you all this money for all these things.
So we've been able to negotiate having a special room where we can all hang out together while we're at the spa or this year having part of the spa fee discounted for us or taken off for all of us. So I think it's worth it. to ask for those things.

00:31:50 - Amber Hawley
For sure. And every year, yeah, it's been something. Last year, because I was in charge of the spa day, yeah, we were able to negotiate this little enclosed like terrace area and they were supposed to deliver lunch. There was a fiasco there. That was annoying, but I just ran and picked it up.
But even still, it was really nice to have this special space because the goal of being in the group is we wanted to be able to connect with each other and be able to have that bonding time together. And so, yeah, definitely ask. You know, there's no harm in asking.
And when you are spending that kind of money you know, companies and businesses tend to be flexible.

00:32:29 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah. So I think it's also a huge benefit of having a bigger group. You can't do that with three people usually.

00:32:35 - Amber Hawley
Yeah. There's not much going to happen there, but it is nice. And, you know, it's the nice little touches too that make it feel special. Like I know last year, you know, because a lot of us don't, we have enough stuff, so we don't want to accumulate more stuff.
And so you had bought these really pretty cards and each person had a card that That was, you know, their card and everybody else would write like a note to them, like an inspirational thing or something they appreciate about them. I thought that was a really nice touch.
And I actually was cleaning up my drawer this last week and I found that card again. Oh, nice to be able to just go through and read it and read what everybody said. And, you know, especially, you know, as entrepreneurs, when you're having those rough days and you just read through it and it's like, it's very like inspiring and motivating and comforting and feeling like you're, You know, you have other people.

So again, it depends on the group you're going with, but that was really meaningful to me. And then you also bought these awesome like little, those little like individual masks and stuff. And so we had little masks and, you know, little pampery things that we could do while we were, you know, while we were GSDing.

00:33:41 - Maelisa Hall
Basically, I rocked it.

00:33:43 - Amber Hawley
Totally. You were totes amazeballs. Like you were that best organizer ever.

00:33:50 - Maelisa Hall
And thank God Amber did all the spa stuff because she... Did some major coordinating there. But I think it's worth having people who are invested. It was a lot of time, especially right up to it was, I think, more of the heavy planning stuff. But it's so worth having someone do that and then having people designated to handle all that stuff.
And it's worth doing the trip. Each time I've gotten some major things done and all of us have gotten a lot of major things done.

00:34:17 - Amber Hawley
Yeah. And there's just so much value of knowing you're going to get this dedicated time where... You're not going to be, hopefully, although they do have text, you're not going to be dealing with employee issues or hopefully you're able to have that space and you're not at home and in your grind and doing your day-to-day and family issues and all these other things that could come up and I get they still can leak in.
But for the most part, you've got this dedicated time to work on your business, which I think is so valuable.

00:34:46 - Maelisa Hall
Absolutely.

00:34:48 - Amber Hawley
So yeah, do you have any other like last thoughts as far as like what would be, what are good things to do for a group retreat?

00:34:57 - Maelisa Hall
To join us on our retreat?

00:35:00 - Amber Hawley
Obvi. You can't just experience it firsthand, yes.

00:35:05 - Maelisa Hall
Yes, because we are putting on a retreat and it's a GSD retreat. So the point is not to come and learn anything, although you will, obviously, if you're hanging out with, you know, business savvy women. But the point is really to bring a big task or a group of tasks that need to be done and have a designated time where you don't have to worry about anything other than showing up and working on those things.

00:35:31 - Amber Hawley
Yes. And we will be releasing more information soon. We're going to be on our retreat in a week and a half, like we said, and we're going to be finalizing a lot of the details. I know we're going to be doing it in the fall time. Yes. But that's pretty much all we know right now.

00:35:46 - Maelisa Hall
So be on the lookout.

00:35:48 - Amber Hawley
Yes, that will be exciting.

00:35:50 - Maelisa Hall
Did you have any final thoughts or final tips?

00:35:53 - Amber Hawley
I don't know. I think be flexible, have fun, leave your drama at home. It's been so valuable, like you said, the focusing on the work, the having the downtime, doing some great self-care, having fun with each other, laughing and dancing a lot. We definitely had our dance parties and You know, I think there are stories.
Oh, that's right. Two of us got tattoos on the first one.

00:36:17 - Maelisa Hall
Oh my gosh, that's right.

00:36:18 - Amber Hawley
That's right. I was one of those people getting a tattoo. Yeah, there's stories from each time and it's just fun. Like we definitely, I think it's an awesome mix of business and pleasure, but it definitely is business oriented. Like that's the first and foremost goal, but that should never mean you're not having fun.

00:36:37 - Maelisa Hall
Absolutely.

00:36:38 - Amber Hawley
That's the whole premise of this whole podcast and- the work that we do, it's like, it should just be more fun. Like, let's have fun.

00:36:48 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah. Yeah. And then it's exciting to do and you leave feeling accomplished.

00:36:51 - Amber Hawley
For sure. For sure. And yeah, I don't know. I think that probably, I would leave it on that note. Just, this can be an awesome thing for your business and, you know, for your soul because just have fun, laugh, let go, and the creativity will strike.

00:37:09 - Maelisa Hall
Absolutely. And you'll leave feeling a lot closer to a group of people and that's really invaluable.

00:37:16 - Amber Hawley
Yes.

00:37:17 - Maelisa Hall
So make sure that you head over to our website, mybizbestie.com, and you can sign up there to get notified when our retreat is open and to get all of the juicy details when we have them all. And they should be coming up very, very soon. So make sure you head over there, enter your email.
It's on the homepage and we'll let you know as soon as possible. All right. Thanks for listening.