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By Erin B. Haag, Founder of Luxury in Business Retreats®
In the spring of 2021, my father handed away after a sudden sickness landed him within the emergency room and led to a speedy, one-month decline. Just weeks earlier, he was vibrant and effectively—with no warning of what was to return. One second, life felt regular—and the following, I used to be grieving an unlimited loss that got here out of nowhere. I used to be bewildered, heartbroken, and thrown right into a season of questioning all the things: my goal, my tempo, my priorities.
The day earlier than he handed, we had a dialog I’ll always remember. Something in me whispered, “Record this,” so I picked up my telephone and hit file. As if on cue, he checked out me and stated, “Happiness. Success. Has virtually nothing to do with what you put in your bank. Nothing. Happiness and success is about the quality of the journey. If you enjoyed the journey, then you were indeed successful.”
At the time, I had constructed what many would contemplate an extremely profitable enterprise. But within the wake of his demise, that definition felt shaky—unmoored by the lack of one of the vital essential individuals in my life and deeply rattled by the readability of the message he left me.
Something inside me was shifting.
In my search to reconnect with my dad, I started turning to psychic readings. Time after time, the message was the identical: “You’re meant to lead groups of women around the world.” I’d smile politely, nod, and quietly tuck the message away, not sure of what to make of it.
But one morning, as I stood below the recent spray of the bathe, it hit me like a ton of bricks—a obtain so clear I might see it as if it had been already occurring: me, surrounded by a gaggle of my shoppers, reside and in-person. A retreat. I used to be meant to host a retreat.
Still dripping moist, I wrapped myself in a towel, ran downstairs to my desk, and began mapping it out. Within 24 hours, the imaginative and prescient was alive. Per week later, it bought out.
That second modified all the things.
A Different Kind of Business Model
Before retreats, my work primarily lived behind a display—Zoom calls, teaching periods, shopper deliverables. It was purposeful, and I genuinely cherished serving to enterprise house owners earn greater than they ever thought attainable. But after shedding my father, I spotted one thing was lacking.
I started to really feel a deep, simple pull to attach with my shoppers in actual life. I craved the form of face-to-face connection that no spreadsheet or 60-minute Zoom name might ever replicate —although anybody who has labored with me is aware of how a lot I like spreadsheet.
And I knew I wasn’t alone. My shoppers had been craving the identical factor—particularly after weathering COVID-19 closures, navigating relentless uncertainty, and combating to maintain their companies afloat. Many had shut the doorways of their brick-and-mortar areas and reinvented themselves on-line. By the time they had been lastly given the inexperienced mild to reopen, all the things had modified.
They had simply come by the toughest season of their skilled lives, they usually had the scars to show it. They didn’t simply need connection—they wanted it. They wanted to be within the room with others who had walked the identical path. People who bought it. They had tales to inform—about resilience, reinvention, and survival. And they deserved an area to exhale, to rebuild, and to dream once more.
Stepping into the retreat house felt nearly as sudden and life-altering because the second I misplaced my dad. But this time, it wasn’t a loss I used to be met with—it was readability. I spotted one thing profound: retreats aren’t only a totally different enterprise mannequin. They’re a special means of being. And whereas that shift was highly effective for me, it was equally transformative for my shoppers.
For many, strolling into my retreat after months of lockdown felt unusual, weak, even scary. They had been used to the protection of their screens, the construction of digital routines. But one thing occurred after they gathered in particular person: the partitions got here down, the masks got here off (actually and figuratively), and the transformation started – personally and professionally.
Almost instantly, a quiet figuring out became a daring declaration: “I need to do this for my clients.” They had skilled firsthand the form of magic that unfolds when persons are introduced collectively in an intentional, high-touch setting, the place conversations go deeper, breakthroughs come quicker, and transformation feels tangible.
It wasn’t simply inspiring; it was activating. They couldn’t unsee what was now attainable. One by one, they started weaving retreats into their enterprise fashions—not merely as one other supply however as a extra highly effective, heart-centred option to serve, lead, and create lasting influence. And as they leaned in, the outcomes spoke volumes. Their retreats didn’t simply remodel their shoppers; they remodeled their backside line, producing tens of hundreds of {dollars} in revenue from a single retreat, all whereas working in a means that felt extra aligned than ever earlier than.
What started as a spontaneous thought—born from a mixture of grief and instinct—has advanced into essentially the most highly effective, worthwhile, and purpose-driven work of my life. Today, I’ve the privilege of serving to enterprise house owners combine retreats into the very cloth of their enterprise ecosystems. Not solely does it permit them to serve their shoppers in deeper, extra significant methods—it additionally unlocks a pathway to sustainable, plentiful profitability.
Retreats didn’t simply remodel my enterprise—they remodeled how I outline success. These days, I don’t solely measure success by what’s in my checking account or on my spreadsheets (although, sure, I nonetheless test them every day). I measure it by the depth of the relationships I’ve constructed, the ripple impact of my shoppers’ breakthroughs, and the enjoyment I really feel doing work that truly issues.
Because actual enterprise transformation doesn’t reside in spreadsheets and gross sales numbers alone. It lives in deep conversations over candlelit dinners within the French countryside. In early morning journaling periods because the solar rises over the Irish hills. In late-night laughter matches beneath the Northern Lights of Iceland. It lives in bumpy safari jeeps rumbling by the Serengeti. In vibrant road dancing throughout Aruba’s Carnival, saltwater dips earlier than nightfall on Florida’s east coast, mountaintop breakthroughs within the Swiss Alps, and soul-stirring stillness in a Slovenian fort.
These aren’t simply poetic moments—they’re actual locations the place I’ve retreated with my shoppers. And in each single one, one thing highly effective unfolded: a return to self, a deepening of goal, a daring reimagining of what’s attainable for themselves and their companies.
For me, retreats have change into essentially the most significant and worthwhile a part of the journey. They’re the place I really feel most alive. Most aligned. Most at peace. Most plentiful.
And if that’s not success, I don’t know what’s.
“Happiness. Success. Has virtually nothing to do with what you put in your bank. Nothing. Happiness and success is about the quality of the journey. If you enjoyed the journey, then you were indeed successful.” – Ed Blanchette
Erin B. Haag is the creator of Pricing Overhaul® and host of Luxury in Business Retreats®, serving to entrepreneurs remodel their pricing for profitability and monetary confidence. A self-proclaimed “math nerd” and full-blooded Capricorn, Erin has 20+ years of expertise working with numbers, metrics, and pricing methods for firms and personal companies. She combines superior monetary experience with a confirmed system to assist retreat professionals shift their cash mindset, maximize earnings, and create sustainable success—all whereas having fun with journey, wine, and cheese!