Add Retreats to Your Income Streams and Grow Your Revenue

If you are a woman who serves women, then you want to be sure to have retreats in your offerings mix. Women love to get together. We love to meet each other and hear each other’s ideas. Women have been getting together since the beginning of time. Our female ancestors wove baskets together and generations back, our foremothers got together to sew quilts. The activities had to be done. We got clear rather early in our evolution that everything is better with a bunch of women to do it with.

Today, we want to support each other when we exercise, search our souls, or figure out our best marketing strategies. As a woman entrepreneur you can monetize this phenomenon to your advantage.

The reason retreats make smart business sense is because all you have to do is plan and produce the retreat. The women who attend provide the magic ingredient with their participation.

Here are just a few of the many questions to answer to produce a successful retreat:

1. What is the purpose of the retreat? Is it to have everyone get rejuvenated and reignited to live their dreams? To make new friends in a structured setting? To have hands-on support for social media in a relaxed environment?
2. When do you want to host the retreat? I encourage you to give yourself plenty of time, especially for your first event. Also, the higher the ticket price and the longer the event, the more time you need.
3. Where do you want to host your retreat? Even if you have not selected the exact location, consider what kind of place in which you want to host your retreat. It could be in someone’s home or at a hotel, mountain cabin,  retreat center, or spa. We ladies love to go to the spa!
4. How many people do you want to have at your retreat? This is a key question. Retreats are not conferences or conventions that can have hundreds of people; they are more intimate. Some retreats have as little as six participants. You want everyone to be able to connect with everyone. Consider that when you set your top number.
5. What do you plan to do at the retreat? The biggest rookie mistake producers make when planning their first event is over scheduling the program. Remember, it is a retreat. This means participants want down time to reflect, get a massage or take a walk. Do not schedule out every second. Include plenty of breathing room in the agenda.
6. What are the costs to produce your retreat? Do not guess at this. Instead, carefully consider everything you will need to pay for: meals, accommodations, materials, and perhaps transportation costs. Add up everything and divide that by the number of people you plan to sign up.
7. What are you going to charge? Once you know your costs, you can determine what you need to charge to break even and of course, to make some money. Also, no one can sign up until they know the price.

These are a few questions to answer to get you started. Retreats are a wonderful way to build community and to create a memorable experience for all participants. Begin planning your retreat today and see how lucrative it can be. Making money while hanging out with great women—what could be better?