RYFR Guidebook
RYFR Guidebook
ROCK
YOUR
FIRST
RETREAT
HOW TO PLAN, LAUNCH
& SELL IT OUT
Welcome!
You’ll use this guide as a place to take notes and to map
out how you’ll design and fill your transformational
retreat with a marketing and sales plan for your highly
engaged community!
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From July 12-14th (our main event) and on There you can meet new friends - folks who
July 18th (our bonus livestream), we’re going you may want to collaborate with. Here’s the
to be teaching live by broadcasting on Zoom link:
- the platform we’re using for our event. https://www.facebook.com/groups/
rockyourfirstretreat
To watch us live and fully participate, you
MUST have the newest version of the Zoom I also recommend joining our Facebook event
on your computer (or your phone). You can group so you can ask questions if you’re
get the upgrade here: watching the replays, or if you have a
https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/ question that doesn’t get answered during
articles/201362233-Upgrading-Zoom-to-the- our live sessions (yes, the chat moves FAST!).
latest-version
Plus, there’s so much magic and love that
All sessions will be recorded and ready for happens in the group!
replay by the next day. So no worries if you
have to miss some of the sessions. Our And last of all, here's the link to the replay
community is worldwide, and we recognize page:
that the times that we’re broadcasting live https://www.wanderlustentrepreneur.com/
might not work perfectly for you. ryfr-replays/
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By the end of our time together, you’ll know exactly what you
need to have in place to create a deeply transformational
retreat, plus you’ll have the tips and tools critical for running a
sold-out retreat safely, creatively, and lucratively.
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We’re excited to have you with us because more than ever, people need a retreat right now.
And YOU need to be sharing your special magic with the world in these difficult times.
My intent is that by the end of our 3 days together you’ll know exactly what you need to sell
out your first transformational retreat, plus how to plan, promote, and profit from your retreat
safely and lucratively.
In total, my team and I have been running both our own retreats, along with designing and
co-marketing retreats for other facilitators for the past 22 years! So truly, there’s NOTHING
that we haven’t seen in the business!
• Launch your first retreat knowing that it’s something your community actually
WANTS, so that it sells.
• Be certain that you have everything in place to market and run your retreat LEGALLY
and properly.
• Design a retreat sales page that people CAN’T RESIST signing up for.
• Feel confident about pricing your retreats properly so you don’t LOSE MONEY.
• Know exactly what you have to do to sell out your retreats and make a profit using
our EXACT MODEL.
So here’s an interesting fact for you. According to Tripadvisor: the “experience economy” has
become huge in the travel industry. Meaning fewer and fewer people may be settling for
commonplace vacation activities in the coming years.
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The top trends in wellness travel right now – here’s the list:
• Digital Detox
• Animal Assisted Therapy
• Nature Immersion
• Community Engagement
• Psychoactive Medicine
• Sustainable Travel
• Voluntourism
I’m sharing these trends with you because it’s critical to make note of these trends and
incorporate them into how you design and execute your retreats.
So how can we as retreat leaders, serve our people in the highest way, and challenge ourselves
to create experiences that are more amazing than we EVER thought they could be?
From my point of view and from the data currently out there, I feel that our retreats need to
be as experiential and creative as possible.
Keep in mind that retreats need to be experiential and transformational because that’s what
separates them from shorter workshops which tend to be more didactic or heady in nature
and style.
If you take the time to pick a location that aligns with what you’re teaching and has fabulous
activities that help teach your material – your retreat is going to be much more experiential and
transformational than the average affair.
I know some of you are not coaches and you have no desire to teach anyone anything –
you just want to bring like-minded people together for an amazing trip. I call those kinds of
experiences “themed retreats.” We’ve seen wine retreats, knitting retreats, fishing retreats,
you name it! You can bring in experts to teach for you, so no worries there.
IMPORTANT TIP: It’s best to teach much less material than you’d think! Here’s Sheri’s rule….
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You do this by creating activities and experiences that will impact them profoundly and that
they’ll never forget.
Let me share an example using one of our Retreats Made Easy course members:
She said: If you want to tune into your higher self and wise woman, join me for 5 days of
meditation, reiki, and energy work!
• You’ll connect to your inner wisdom and peace and come home rested and centered
• You’ll learn tapping and we’ll do energy healing together
• We’ll meditate twice a day on the beach
• And you’ll feel at home in our group of sacred sisters
Unfortunately, only one person registered for the retreat, so she had to cancel. That’s no
surprise because her trip had no definitive focus, it didn’t stand out – it sounds like most
spiritual retreats out there.
Once we helped Marlene get clear about WHO she wanted to work with and what BENEFITS
she wanted people to walk away with, everything changed.
Marlene’s new trip immediately filled, and I want you to notice how clear her second set of
outcomes and benefits are. First, she changed the name of her retreat to:
If you’re going through a challenging transition in your life, and you’re seeking a nurturing
space to find the clarity and tools to help you face the next chapter of your life – join us for 5
days of love and sisterhood under the infinite desert stars of Joshua Tree National Park where
you’ll…..
• Soothe away your stress and tension in the healing local hot springs
• Discover tapping, the perfect technique for dealing with challenging emotions
and situations
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• Gain clarity on our desert hikes amongst the powerful vortexes and earth energies
• Let go of old paradigms in our sacred ceremonies, labyrinth and fire-pit
• Experience a deeply resonant Sound Bath at the Integraton – nutrition and
relaxation for your nervous system.
• Meditate under the stars and connect with your “True North” and purpose
• Find answers to those difficult questions during our magical Vision Quest in the
desert
Can you see how specific this text is and how you immediately know who this trip is for and
what you’re going to experience and come away with?
And did you notice the difference in the language between the two trips and how she used it
to build concrete value for her trip?
Did you catch how the location of Joshua Tree perfectly aligned with what she was teaching
and how it allowed her to get creative and find great activities that actually supported what
she was teaching?
Alignment is critical! This is how you get your retreats to sell out.
Okay now! I feel we’re off to a good start and we have a powerhouse session coming up! I’ll
be going over everything that needs to be in place for you to be able to launch and run your
retreat. You are going to want to take notes for sure.
RESOURCES:
[From CNBC]
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/21/the-biggest-2022-travel-trend-go-big-spend-big-
on-bucket-list-trips.html
[From Expedia]
https://newsroom.expedia.com/2021-11-30-The-GOAT-mindset-Expedia-reveals-
2022s-biggest-travel-trend
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[From TripAdvisor]
https://www.tripadvisor.com/TravelTrendsReportJan2022
[From Forbes]
https://fortune.com/2022/02/18/summer-2022-busiest-travel-season-ever-expedia-
ceo-covid-19-restrictions-mask-mandates/
ACTION ITEMS:
• What kind of retreat do you want to create? (wellness, business, yoga, spiritual,
adventure, etc?)
• Consider whether your location aligns well with what you’re sharing on your
retreat.
• What do you feel your ideal client needs the most right now considering the
pandemic and all the changes in people’s lives?
REMEMBER:
You can post a question in our Facebook group anytime – we’re here to work with you
and guide you through this entire process!
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First and foremost, you need to create a legal business entity and set up and build a business
that can support filling your retreats!
Also, most retreat leaders are not JUST selling retreats (unless they’re also travel companies
that manage and plan retreats for others). It works best if your business also has other
programs and offerings throughout the year. And you also need to have one basic ideal client
and an active email list and social media following.
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• Retreat Centers
• Boutique Hotels
• Private Villas
• Glamping
• Yachts & Barges
• your personal flights, room, and your food at the event and in transit,
• the price of your hotel room if you’re arriving the day before,
• group and personal transportation at your retreat,
• the cost of your participants room and whatever food you are including in their
retreat package,
• your supplies,
• cell phone costs,
• advertising,
• marketing costs and any flyer costs,
• tips,
• gifts,
• flowers,
• guides,
• entry fees,
• tours,
• insurance costs,
• visa costs,
• hotel taxes,
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• your assistant,
• retreat management costs if you have them,
• co-facilitator if you have one,
• photographer or videographer if you have one, and
• your credit card fees (for example, on a $3000 retreat, that would be $90 per person
if your percentage was 3%).
RESOURCES:
ACTION ITEM:
Use your Retreat Checklist or better yet, add these steps onto your calendar so you get
all these tasks scheduled month-by-month until you’ve completed everything you need
to launch your retreat and business. You can do this!
REMEMBER:
You can post a question in our Facebook group anytime – we’re here to work with you
and guide you through this entire process!
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NOTES:
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Before people buy something, they need all the details. By the time they get to the bottom of
your retreat sales page, all their questions should be answered, and all their objections should
be addressed and resolved.
By the time they get to the bottom of the page, all they can say is “YES I want to sign up!”
A good retreat sales page romances your clients, transports them into the experience, is
informative, and explains how the retreat is going to help change their life.
It’s critical to have a retreat sales page because people need to be able to JUSTIFY
their purchase, especially if it is expensive. And you need to supply them with every
piece of information that they need to do so.
Our emotions make us want to go on a retreat, but our mind still needs to mentally justify
the purchase.
A retreat sales page has TEN important components to it, and you always want to make sure
that your page contains all ten or we consider it incomplete.
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Most people will skim your retreat sales page quickly the first time and their eyes will
immediately go to the information that they’re most interested in.
Then each time they return to the page (and if they are interested, they WILL come back),
they’ll look at a different section of your page and read more and more until they are
convinced and are ready to purchase.
Never use pictures that are sub-par – it cheapens your trip page. And by this, I mean photos
that are blurry, grainy, not visually stunning or simply ho-hum.
Always be as professional as possible – because crappy pictures infer that this is going to be a
crappy trip.
Next, never nab a picture off the internet unless it is royalty-free or you purchased it!
Otherwise, you could be fined!
1. Pop-up boxes.
2. Your website navigation.
3. ANY links that take people off of your sales page.
Our Top DO’s & DON’Ts for Creating the Perfect Retreat Page
1. Leave room in your budget for a graphic designer and webmaster unless you’re a whiz
at Wordpress, Wix, Squarepace, or Leadpages!!
2. Be clear on how you want your webpage to look, feel and sound – BEFORE you start
working with your webmaster.
3. Use properly sized, professional images.
4. Backgrounds are not meant to be busy or have distracting patterns on them.
5. Break your info up into modules.
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KEY TAKEAWAY:
Even if you have the most amazing promotional plan drawn up to market your retreat – if
your sales page is not enticing, beautiful to read, and visually stunning, you’ll be
throwing perfectly good marketing dollars into the garbage.
ACTION ITEM:
If you absolutely, positively feel like you can’t get your text to be juicy, then feel free to hire
a copywriter to create some scintillating copy for you – it’ll be worth it when you fill your
retreat. Or consider joining our Retreats Made Easy Program since we teach you how to do
this in our program.
REMEMBER:
You can post a question in our Facebook group anytime – we’re here to work with you and
guide you through this entire process!
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Your retreat sales page and your marketing process is what allows your folks to say YES to all
the things they want and need in their lives.
Marketing is how you connect with your folks and allow them to get to know, like and trust you
– the ones you adore and love and want to hang out with.
We don’t want you to ADVERTISE your retreats. We want you to MARKET and sell your
retreats only to the people who need your retreats, and the way we do that is by using
education-based marketing.
When you teach in your marketing, even in a simple FB post, if you talk for a minute about a
problem your tribe has, people will get WHY they should come on your retreat.
For example: Has the pandemic shaken up your world and are you ready for a big change in
your life? I’d love to share 3 points that will help you use the energy of disruption to propel you
into the next awesome phase of your life.
And then imagine saying something like this: If you’re struggling with this issue and you could
use some time away to dig into this problem, then please join me in Sedona for my upcoming
“Change Your Life” retreat May 1-5th.
And then share your promise: Imagine, that by the end of this retreat you’ll have new insights
and clarity plus an action place for what you’re going to do in the next 90 days to reach your
goals. And let’s chat if you’re not sure this retreat is right for you.
That is education-based marketing which is so much better than just saying: Join me in Sedona
for my upcoming “Change Your Life” retreat May 1-5th. If you sign up by Jan 30th, you’ll get
$300 off the early bird special.
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This is not proper marketing; you’re not educating on WHY they should come on your retreat
– you’re straight-out advertising.
One of our course members, Margaret, is a health coach who teaches arthritis patients how to
eat an anti-inflammatory diet and holistically decrease internal inflammation. She loves to help
people lessen their arthritis pain naturally and she wanted to run a retreat to an organic farm in
Tuscany to show them how.
As a doctor I reminded Margaret that most arthritis patients are not aware that diet can help
them or that the option even exists because they’re used to taking medications and haven’t
been educated on the benefits of eating an anti-inflammatory diet. That’s why Margaret
couldn’t get anyone to register for her retreat.
I suggested that she focus on educating folks on eating an anti-inflammatory diet for arthritis,
and that way she could grow a list of people who had the exact issue she was interested in
helping!
I knew that once they understood WHY this kind of diet was so important and how it could help
them, they’ll join her in Tuscany.
This is critical!
Until she took the time to educate them, she could not sell to them!
Same for YOU.
The first time Margaret promoted her retreat she posted on Facebook like this: “Come join my
retreat in Tuscany where you’ll learn how to eat a healthy anti-inflammatory diet for arthritis”
and of course people didn’t respond because most folks are clueless that diet is a helpful
treatment option.
The second time around we had Margaret run a series of Facebook Livestreams regarding
the issue her potential clients hate the most: their costly, side-effect ridden medications. She
said: “Want to learn how to decrease your expensive arthritis medications? Join my upcoming
livestream on how to eat a healthy anti-inflammatory diet for arthritis and help lessen your pain
and discomfort naturally.”
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Then at the end of the FB Live she mentioned about her retreat and invited them to have a
strategy call with her to see if her retreat was a fit for them. Every time she ran an
educational livestream, she sold a few more people into her retreat until it was totally filled.
Amazing right?
If you use OUR educational marketing strategy throughout the year, you’ll consistently be
growing your list and business with people who want and need your help. And they’re the
people who will come on your retreats because they understand they need it and that it will
help them.
TEN free strategies you can pick from to grow your tribe:
1. FB Stories or IG and FB Reels
2. Video on FB, IG, LinkedIn, TikTok, and/or YouTube
3. Make better use of your personal social media
4. Networking groups
5. Send regular emails
6. FB, IG & LinkedIn Messaging
7. Freebies
8. Client Referrals
9. Podcasts
10. Practitioner Exchanges and Joint Ventures.
11. BONUS: Upload your email list to FB and run ads to those folks (advanced)
https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/social-media-content-calendar-24-types-of-
post-toshare-with-your-follower/619173/
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KEY TAKEAWAYS:
Today you need to take MASSIVE IMPERFECT ACTION. I want you to decide which of the
10 ways to generate leads that I just shared that you are going to try between now and
tomorrow. Get started. Do something! Start building those leads and connections and start
making those important connections.
ACTION ITEM:
If you don’t have a Facebook Group I want you to set one up. Why? Because you’re
creating a home for your community and it’s the perfect place to engage your tribe and
share your expertise, so folks start to see you as the go-to person in your niche – just like
I’m doing with you.
REMEMBER:
This is not about doing ALL the strategies, pick what feels good to you. And we have many
more strategies – as well as retreat specific marketing strategies that we share in the
Retreats Made Easy Program if you need help with these.
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NOTES:
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