5 Mistakes to Avoid When Planning a Yoga Retreat
A Yoga Retreat (or wellness Retreat) is a great way to take your community away from your regular drop-in classes & help your clients to delve deeper into their practice & the lifestyle.
It’s a chance for you to get to know your clients EVEN better and for them to spend some quality time with you too!
Because a Retreat is spread over a much longer period of time than a class, and your clients are taken out of their usual environment and routines, it’s much more likely that they are open to learning and doing new things. This means that you get to help them with a transformation that might not be possible in a 60 minute once-a-week, group setting.
And this is HUGE!!! So if you are planning on running a Retreat and you’re ready to help your dream clients with their dream transformations, make sure you don’t make these 5 mistakes!
Mistake #1: You don’t know who your Retreat is for
This is probably the main reason that I see Retreats not selling out (or in some cases, not selling at all!). So many people think that if they build a Retreat, people will come and this just isn’t the case. Whilst I DO believe that you can sell out and make a profit from a Retreat with just a small following, you need to be crystal clear on who your Retreat is aimed at, for it to sell.
Doing your research is the only way of finding this out - does your community want a Retreat? Do they have time? Money? How far are they willing to travel? What commitments do they have (family, children, work etc)? You need to be asking all these questions, BEFORE you start planning your Retreat. Without these answers, you’ll just be throwing ideas around until something sticks - and from experience, this is exhausting!!! Speak to your community to get crystal clear on what they want from a Retreat and keep referring back to this throughout the whole planning process.
Mistake #2: You don’t know where to start
Planning a Retreat means spinning a lot of plates, all at the same time and this can feel really overwhelming! But starting at the beginning, with strong foundations of who your ideal clients are and what they want, should help guide you when you’re making decisions. (Remember, this Retreat is ALL about them - not you!)
So once you’ve got feedback from your community, start looking at venues - if your clients want luxury, I wouldn’t bother wasting your time looking at campsites. Likewise, if the research shows that your community only want to travel 1-2 hours away from their home location, there’s no point looking at Retreats a millions miles away.
This also applies to activities. If your clients are looking for a relaxing weekend away, they aren’t going to be expecting a 10 mile hike before breakfast! Oh and talking of food, find a chef that aligns with what your guests want - if they are all avid carnivores, a raw vegan chef probably isn’t going to be for them!
Use the feedback from your clients to shape an experience that is EXACTLY what they want & need.
Mistake #3: You Think No-one Will Come
Limiting beliefs like this are what stop most Yoga Teachers from running a Retreat. If you believe that nobody will come, you don’t fully believe in your ability to run a profitable and successful Retreat. You might feel like you don’t have the know-how, the experience, or that other Retreats you have seen on Instagram are going to be better than yours.
But I promise you, if you do the work BEFORE planning and advertising your Retreat and get super clear and who it serves & why you’re doing it, people will come. You just need to step out of your comfort zone and own your power - you know you can do it, you just don’t want to look like a failure.
Mistake #4: You Undercharge for Your Retreat
Undercharging. This links back to your limiting beliefs that nobody will come to your Retreat, or you aren’t good enough to charge X amount. You might charge less because you think that it will get more people in, or because you don’t believe in your Retreat enough to charge what it is worth.
Undercharging for your time and energy just devalues your Retreat (and other Yoga Teachers, to be honest). Stand in your power and charge what your Retreat is worth.
During the budgeting phase of your Retreat planning process, over-cost things to make sure that all your outgoings are covered. Use a worst-case scenario and budget to have a smaller number of guests that you expect.
Mistake #5: Your Itinerary is Too Busy!
Make sure you allow plenty of free time on your Retreat, for your guests (and you!) to enjoy. Remember the reason WHY people have come on your Retreat, they probably won’t want to be rushed around all weekend and would actually benefit from some downtime to relax.
Stay flexible with your timings - changes often happen on Retreats that are completely out of your control (hello British weather!), so I would always recommend having a plan b. This could be an indoors activity instead of an outdoor one, or having a workshop/extra class up your sleeve “just in case”.
Also, never underestimate how long it takes a group of people to do something! I once did a walking route with my husband (prior to a Retreat), which took us (and the dog!) about 2 hours to do. A few weeks later, with a group of 15 women, the exact same route took us almost 4 hours!!! Needless to say, we were pretty late eating lunch on that Retreat!
If you are using guest speakers on your Retreat, discuss your timetable with them and allow plenty of time for setup beforehand and some wiggle room if their session runs over, afterwards.
So there you go, 5 mistakes to avoid when you’re planning your next Yoga or Wellness Retreat! Running a Retreat can be a scary (terrifying!) journey, but once you have the foundations in place, they are amazing and SO rewarding!
If you’re interested in running Retreats for your community, but don’t know where to start - why not join us for the Ready to Retreat FREE 5 Day Challenge? It starts on Monday 22nd April 2024 and will help you with the foundations of planning a Retreat - from budgeting to sales & marketing and planning an itinerary.
Sign up for FREE here: subscribepage.io/5xkM38