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Grow Your Local Business
How I Planned My Business Breakthrough at a 3-Day Retreat—And How You Can Too
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You are listening to the Grow youw Local Business podcast where local marketing expert and life coach Leslie Presnol shares the strategies and the mindset to help you reach more people in your city and bring in a steady stream of clients. All right, let's dive in. Hello. Welcome to episode 108. Today I want to talk about having a really big transformation and breakthrough in such a short amount of time over a retreat that you plan. And by retreat I really just mean a getaway for you to really think about your business and to plan and to really be strategic about what you need to do and who you need to be for the short term, like over the next six to 12 months and then in the long term, like in the upcoming years in your business. So I recently this past week went on a three day retreat to Austin, Texas with two of my coaching peers where we literally just talked about our business for hours and hours and hours a day and we talked about our future and who we are becoming as business owners and our plans for this year and in the upcoming year. Years. Like we talked for three days straight. My husband was like, okay, like that sounds like the lamest party ever that you went to, but I'm super happy for you. And I was like, oh my gosh, it was so much fun. But I wanted to record this podcast for you while it was fresh. This was my first time ever doing anything like this. I started my local business in 2010 and very early on I invested in conferences and going to conferences. This was like before online courses and masterminds were a thing. And I just loved clearing my calendar and just doing a deep dive on something in my business and learning and just being around people. And then since then I've always been investing in online courses and programs ever since. And my current mastermind has always had an in person component twice a year up until last year. It no longer does. It's all virtual through weekly zoom coaching calls and through our Facebook community, which is totally fine. I love being in a container that has ongoing weekly coaching like that. That's also how my program is inside the LocalPreneur Academy. It's set up just like that as well. But I also do love connecting in real life with people too. I think especially as local business owners, a lot of time we are used to that in person connection because we do a lot of the in person networking and but for me as a coach now, I've kind of lost a lot of that in person conn in my business. So I decided to do this in person retreat and to kind of set this up with two of my mastermind sisters who are coaching colleagues. And I'll also say in the past I have taken myself on solo work retreats and those have been really fun and really productive to just get away. And I, I use them to tackle a big project or to get away and create content, like just to have that focus time for a few days at a time. It's a bit harder now with a baby, and I haven't done one of those in a couple of years now. But I do have a podcast episode on how to take yourself on a solo work retreat. And just kind of my best practices and tips for that. That's episode eight. It was one of my very first podcast episodes early on. I will link that up in the show notes for. But I want to tell you today about my trip last week and what we did on this retreat and how it happened and really what we got out of it because it was a really powerful week. And I think you will be able to use this for yourself in a lot of ways. And I know you may be thinking like, leslie, I'm really busy. There is no way I can get away or put together a retreat or do anything like this. But I want you to still listen because even if this isn't something you can do right now, I think you can get a lot out of hearing about how we did this, why we did this, just in case you ever would want to do this. It can plant the seed for something in the future, but you're gonna get a lot out of what I'm gonna share because you're gonna, you're gonna see how to start being more strategic in your business. Like how to just not let goals happen to you. Like not just letting the cards fall where they fall, but how you have control over that. How to really start to think ahead, how to really think about who you're surrounding yourself with, what types of groups and spaces you're putting yourself in, but also how to be actively engaged with your personal growth in your business. I was not even planning on recording this podcast. It was not on my, on my content calendar at all. But over the weekend, while my baby was napping, I shared a story on Instagram and it was a picture of myself and the two other coaches and business owners who I spent the week in Austin with. And I captioned the photo and I said, actually, just let me read it. I said, wanna know what three six figure coaches did for three days together? First, we mapped out the next Three years in business and what needs to happen over the next six to 12 months to make that three year can happen. Then we coached on who we need to be in our business, things we need to do more of, things we need to do less of, things we need to actively believe and think. Third, we decided on our marketing plans for this year and coached on anything that would get in the way of executing that plan, like skills we need to develop and new, bigger versions of ourselves we need to step into. We also laughed a lot, gal pal and ate a lot of good food. So I posted that on Instagram and one of my students from the localpreneur academy replied back to that story and she said, I feel like you're really doing the work and it inspires me. And honestly, I feel really inspired right now. And that's why I wanted to share this episode. And, and she's right. I am in the work and. And I'll talk about this, but the things we talked about as far as our vision and who we need to be and what we're going to do this year, it is going to be hard work. Like, I am literally signing up to take on negative emotion and I'm signing up for big transformation that I know will not always be rainbows and butterflies, because I know that is what's going to get me to my next level. And I told my client, I replied back to her, I was like, I feel like I just went to a pre party before I go climb a mountain. Like, I feel like I'm about to embark on something really big and challenging in an exciting way, but in a I know what I'm signing up for way, kind of like when you go to sign up for a marathon or something. So we made big decisions last week. We got really clear on what's holding us back. Currently, currently in our business, we got clear on where we are playing small, on what our next level is. And that can be exciting. But you also see the hard parts right in front of you. You see the discomfort. You see the parts that you've kind of wanted to avoid because you want it to be a little bit easier. And there's this point where it's like, okay, like, I can stay right here and let it be easy and just stay here. Or I can take this on and I can see exactly where my gaps are and exactly like where I'm playing small. And, you know, maybe these are skill sets I need or beliefs or certain identities that I have about myself that I need to really work on and it might be painful or hard or feel like an uphill battle some days and just be uncomfortable, but, like, this is what I'm signing up for on purpose. So all weekend we were kind of joking, but being serious that we were like, okay, we're gonna be able to judge our success this year by how vomit y we feel. We were like, every week we're gonna check in by sending each other vomit emojis. And the more vomit emojis, the better. If we send each other a smiley face emoji, that's actually not a good sign. That means we're staying safe and we're playing small and we're not showing up in big and bold and vulnerable or imperfect or messy or whatever each individual person is working on. So, anyway, I realize for you, my audience, listening, sometimes as business owners, you hear about coaching or you hear about being in programs or being in groups, and it means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. But you're like, what is it really? Like, like, what does it mean to get coached or to coach yourself or to really be doing this work and to be in it? So I thought about recording this episode and how that could just give you a glimpse into that and to see how I did this myself and how I keep myself growing and moving forward at different levels and how I help my clients along in their journey as well. And I thought doing this retreat this week was. Was just a perfect example of coaching and being in the work and looking at your business from a growth mindset and seeing where you can show up more powerfully and bigger as a business owner and just change who you are being and how you show up day after day, but also how to be strategic within that and in your marketing and with the things you're doing and saying to your audience to sell what you offer. So kind of a long winded intro, but I thought I would just kind of share our experience over the week and what we got out of it while kind of simultaneously walking you through how to plan your own. That's kind of how I wanted to set this episode up. So let's just start with some logistics. Let's say that you are down to plan your own retreat now. I recommend inviting a small group of people. There were three of us and this was really great because there was one single conversation happening the entire time and we were all in on it. I think sometimes when there are larger groups of people, you end up with a lot of smaller conversations happening and people miss out on really valuable conversations or People miss bits and pieces. So we're going to talk about what to talk about in a minute. But with the three of us, we never missed anything. So we're all caught up on everything going on with each other. We now after this, or we. We had it before, but we have a group chat, and there are no gaps. Like, no one is confused on what we're talking about now. Every day. We all know each other deeply. We know each other's problems, what we're currently working on. We know each other's businesses, we know each other's goals, and I think that's a pro. So I personally think three is a great number. I would just say, you know, if you need more, like, keep it between three and five. And if you do bring extra people, you may just have to work harder to make sure there are no side conversations going on. And so everyone stays in the loop. And also, when you have a smaller group of people, it's also small enough to plan schedules around. Even with just the three of us, we were planning around kids and birthdays and, like, all the things now. We also rented a house in Austin, and I love having a house for a retreat because you're all stuck together. We were all around each other all day. There wasn't any, like, going back to your hotel room and meeting up in the lobby and all of that. Like, we were just immersed in conversation from the time we woke up until the time we went to bed and. And we got to just sit around and be comfortable. Like, one night we did face masks. There was a fire pit in our backyard. There was a pool. It was too cold for that. But, you know, like, we had the dining room table to sit at and work at, and we had the living room, and everyone did have their own individual bedroom to go back to at night. But I just loved being able to be around each other pretty much 24 7. And I say that as a huge introvert who loves my personal space. I'm an only child, so if I can handle it for three days, I think you can, too. So let's talk about, with that note, who to go on your retreat with. Obviously. Well, I say obvious. I hope it's obvious that this is meant to be a business retreat. So you're going to be talking about your business. So you would be inviting other business owners to go with you and to talk about business as local business owners. I think it would be even more important to bring other local business owners. Now, we talked a lot about money. We talked a lot about numbers. In a very transparent way. I mean, we were even pulling up spreadsheets. So these are some of the things that you don't always just feel like you can sit around and talk to your friends and family about. But this is why you have close business colleagues. So you can get really personal and intimate and they can know everything about your business. And there's no shame, there's no competitiveness. There's no weirdness about just talking about money. This is the type of space you want to have or create. It wasn't weird for us to show up and be like, oh, my gosh, I just made $4,000 on the drive here. And for us to all celebrate that to where it would be really strange if you' just showed up at your friend's house. It was like, oh, my God, I just saved $4,000 on the way here. Your friend would be like, that's not very polite to say, like, we don't talk about money like that. But I think it's so important, especially as female business owners. And maybe I need to do an entire podcast episode on this. But to have people that we can talk about money to and to normalize making more money or, you know, even to normalize those weeks or months that we don't make money or a lot of money or as much money as we wanted to, but just having those people that it's a safe space to do that. Now, another thing on the who, this may come as a surprise, and it's just a suggestion, not a requirement, But I actually recommend that you go with people in different industries than you. So the coaches I went with, like, technically, yes, we're all coaches, but one of them is a coach for nurses who gets into flight like they ride on helicopters, which is so cool. And I learned so much about that. And the other coach I went with is a coach for executive women in male dominated industries. And I'm going to link them both up. Janessa Dean is the flight nurse and Yandang is the executive women coach, if you want to check them out or if you know anyone who may be interested in learning more or working with them. But what I love is as a. I'm a business coach who specializes in local marketing. So obviously we all brought very different things to the table, Very different perspectives, different expertises. But when you are only around and learning from people in your same industry, in your same niche, I think it can create a lot of blind spots for you because you have people with a lot of the same problems trying to help you solve those same problems, or you have people kind of in it with you, trying to solve it with you, and sometimes it just isn't as productive. So, for example, like, photographers can't always help other photographers get out of their pricing drama because they have the same drama. Or like therapists can't help other therapists get clear in their messaging because they're using the same industry jargon and they can't seem to say it in a way from the client perspective. So a lot of times, like people in the same industry all come to me with very similar problems. And I just know when you put a lot of people from the same industry in spaces together, these problems can become amplified instead of solved. And that's because you really need an outside perspective. Sometimes you need people who can address your business more neutrally or maybe even look at your marketing from a consumer perspective, or someone who can give you a new idea that's totally original and unique because it is so outside of the normal way people in your industry would do it. And I know this because I just have so many people coming to the LocalPreneur Academy after they've been in programs with other people in their very specific industry. There is a total need for that. Like, sometimes there are very specific skills that you need to learn in your industry, but sometimes we can stay really stuck in our specific industry with specific problems when we stay only in around people in our industry. That is one of my favorite things about the LocalPreneur Academy. And just one thing I have learned from my own experience is putting yourself around other people in other industries. And just watch your mind open up. Watch yourself solve problems with all these new ideas and perspectives and letting other people help you with a really clean mind or from a really neutral place because they just don't have the same problems that you do. It's really powerful. And sometimes when we stay only around people in our industry, there can be some competitiveness or some comparing, thinking that your business should look like their business or you should already be there. And that just isn't as heightened when you're around people in other industries. And what I found this weekend, which I wanted to share, is when you're around other people not in your industry, they see you for the true expert that you are. They see your gifts and your uniqueness because you will say things that are just so easy and natural for you and it will blow their minds. I can't tell you how many things that I just said over the weekend. And they were like, wait, what? They were like oh, my gosh. Like, you're such an expert. And so for those of you who are really working on being that local, go to person or showing up bigger or creating more visibility for yourself, you will find so much power when you put yourself around other people not in your industry. They will start to lift you up, to show you your power and reflect all of your genius back to you. And I just don't find that happens as much when you're in programs or spaces or communities, only around people in your industry. So for a retreat especially, I recommend going with other people. So you, you know, if you're a home organizer, maybe you go with a wardrobe stylist and a party planner. And look, if you're looking for a space with other industries, then that is 100% the localpreneur academy. It's such a powerful place to be in. And for you to learn how to show up as that local, go to expert in your community. Now, for those of you who are already in the LocalPreneur Academy, you have so many peers in there that you can meet up with offline and plan a retreat with that. This will be a perfect opportunity. You already have so many close relationships in there. Okay, so let's talk about what to talk about. Now, you can take this in any direction that you want to and get really what you need from this retreat. But I'm going to share a bit about what we talked about and then just give you some ideas. But here's what's the most important. Go with a loose agenda. Like, go with the top three to five things that you know you want to talk about over the retreat. Give yourself an agenda so it's not just this free for all, but don't make it super structured to where there's no room for magic and for the conversation to flow where it needs to flow. Some of my most valuable conversations throughout the week were from just sitting around where I didn't know we were about to have a really powerful conversation. But we came with specific things we wanted to talk about. So it just kept the conversation going deeper and deeper throughout the week, but on the same topics, which was really cool. And I think just for you individually, you can decide ahead of time what you want to get out of the week. And I always say that about even going into programs. Like, you can go into a program and decide, this is the exact thing that I want to get out of it. But with the retreat, you can decide ahead of time what you want to get out of the week. Like, if there's one to three things you know you want to leave having solved, what would they be? Maybe it's getting clearer about how you talk about something in your business and you want to run it by everybody. Or maybe it's getting feedback on your offer, getting feedback on your website or social media, or getting clear on something new that you want to create. Maybe it's starting the process of getting rid of one limiting belief that you know is really holding you back. Decide ahead of time to go in with something and leave with having it done. You get to decide on the transformation that you have during the retreat. For us, specifically on this retreat, we wanted to map out the next three years in our business. We wanted to really see the big picture of where we are going and then what needs to happen this year, next year, and then that third year to make that goal happen. So we really looked at what is working in our businesses now, what isn't working and maybe even like what's working now that won't be working in three years from now. Like as our business grows, we also looked at what are our strengths currently as business owners and who we are as business owners and as coaches and then who do we need to be and really step into being over the next three years and how can we start doing that now, this year? So this is all self concept work. I know that's a very coachy term but this is so much of what I do with my clients inside the localpreneur Academy when we're working on showing up as that local go to person. Like really showing up as that future version of yourself now. Like thinking like them, making decisions like them, visualizing them and really deciding to be that person now because that's ultimately how you become them. So we had to really look like what do we currently believe about ourselves? What is in our current self concept or beliefs about ourselves that are holding us back and keeping us small or right here and what's keeping us from that next level. Like what things do we need to unbelieve about ourselves? If you're a student inside the LocalPreneur Academy, this is some of the exact work that we just did in January when we did the believing new things about your business. The challenge, that whole challenge and workbook is in your members portal that you can go back to. But this is the work. It's not a one time thing. It's not about believing something one time or thinking about something one time and then moving on. It's keeping yourself in the work and that's why coaching and having a coach or having a community like this or you know, having something like the localpreneur academy is so important because you can stick with it when it does get hard, or when you just get in the daily grind of your business, or when you slip out of it, or when you have a hard month, or when your client tells you know or when you receive criticism, your brain is going to tell you to just go back, go back to the old version of you. But in order to grow your business and reach these new goals and higher income levels or to become that local go to person, you're going to have to literally become a new person. And that requires believing new things about yourself, showing up differently than you are today. Unbelieving new things, I mean unbelieving things about yourself. And that takes rewiring your brain and that takes sticking with it. That's a process and that's what coaching is. It's keeping you in the work. It's helping you change your thoughts day by day, redirecting your brain, seeing what you think right now and what results it's getting you and then helping you shift your thinking every day so you can show up differently, so you can show up how you want to too, so you can get the results that you want. And that's really the work we were exploring over the week together. Just what are we currently believing that's getting us our current result in our business? And what new things do we need to believe about ourselves to get to our next level, to make this three year plan happen? What new self concept do we need to take on? What new identity do we need to have? Who do we need to be? How do we need to think about ourselves? What is my capacity like there and what am I capable of? And then from there it really maps out what I need to focus on right now because I can see the gap, I can see where I am right now and where I want to be. So we decided like here are the most important things that I want to focus on right now. Like here are the beliefs I want to work on and to continue to get coaching on and here are the actual like tangible things I want to do in my business. So again it's combining that strategy with the mindset. Always you need both. So from there the next thing we did is we decided on our marketing plans for the next six months. Like the ways we're going to market ourselves. We looked at what could get in the way from following through, from executing. Again this is skill sets. We need beliefs we need. We talked a lot about being more visible and the capacity for handling higher visibility and maybe the fears that come along with that. We talked about the energy we want to show up with as experts and leaders in our industries and just, you know, as we execute this plan. So that was our agenda. We knew we wanted to walk away from the week with knowing our three year plan in our business, knowing our top one to three priorities for the next six months to really make that three year plan happen, and then our marketing plan for our business this year and then we just let anything else within that come up as needed. You know, we talked about consults and emails and business models because all of that is of course connected and it fit in with what we are trying to accomplish. So having an agenda but leaving room for what needs to come up is so important. So here's my final tip. You have to be solution focused while on your retreat. This is so important. I have been around enough business owners to know and did enough communities or networking events or meetups just to see how it is when business owners sit around and talk about business or when they sit around and chitchat. It can be very easy to slip into conversations where people are complaining about their problems and then everyone else starts chiming in and agreeing with their problems and then sharing their own version of their problem. And then we have this big old story going about the problem and now everyone just believes that there's this huge problem and it's just this big fact and there's no way out of it and we're all stuck in it and it's very indulgent and it can kind of feel therapeutic in the moment, like everybody's struggling with it. But it doesn't feel good long term because you lose all of your power as the business owner because you've now built up evidence that everyone has this problem and no one has solved it because everyone has just answered your problem with their version of their problem. And we have this big story about the problem now and we're all stuck in the problem. So as participants at the retreat, you can let each other share their problem because that's. We all have problems as business owners. I have them, you have them, we all have problems. That's very normal. That's not what I'm saying. Let someone share what their current problem or struggle is that they want to solve, but it's the participant's job to help them solve the problem or at least get the person moving towards a solution. You don't want to Stay stuck and spinning in the problem altogether. So the conversations must be solution focused and just be onto yourself if you notice that you start slipping and going down a rabbit hole of complaining or all kind of sharing your own version. It what really worked for us is setting a timer and being like, okay, like Leslie gets 30 minutes to talk about her thing and the next person goes. Then the next person goes. And it stopped other people from talking about their problems during that time. So it helps everyone to like get to a solution for the person whose turn it is. And another thing we did on a day to day basis because we're all, we just do this on a day to day basis because we're all in a group chat together is sometimes we'll just ask when a problem is presented to the group or we'll just say a circumstance is presented. We're like, okay, do you want coaching on this? Do you want support around this? Or do you literally just want to vent? Because we are human, sometimes we do just want to vent and we want to get it out. And we're like, nope, I'm good. Just wanted to say that. Just needed to get it off my chest. I can move on now. I just needed someone to hear me. Especially if you're working alone in your business every day. I think there are definitely times for that, but it's just not indulgent for everyone. Right? You are going to be an unstoppable force in your business. When you can stay solution focused in general, when you don't allow yourself to stay stuck in your problem, when you see that there's a way out of it with your brain or with your thinking or when ways you haven't tried yet. That is one of the most powerful things you can do as a business owner. So I will end on that note. But I hope this episode inspired you to plan your own retreat. It was so much fun. So if you decide to do this, DM me on Instagram and let me know where you're going and maybe even share this episode to your business owner peers that you're going to be going with so they can know what to expect and even help you plan it and set your agenda and really decide what you guys want to get out of your time together. All right, my friends, have a great week and I'll talk to you next week. Hey, if you enjoyed today's episode, I want to invite you to check out my program, the LocalPreneur Academy. This is the only program for small business owners who want to become the local go to in their industry with a steady stream of clients. You can find more information@lesleypressnel.com and I'll see you inside.