Full Circle Moment On This Leadership Retreat

It's kind of crazy that just a few years ago I watched all these successful women go on a retreat together. I followed their journey on social media and found myself wanting to be there surrounded by these women who seemed to only want the best for one another, but then questioning if I could ever run a successful business like they were all doing. It's that self doubt that we allow to creep in that can and will kill any dreams or goals we may have. I found myself changing my thought process from that could never be me, to why not me? I mean why can't any of us achieve the things we see others acheiving? Why do most of us decide it's easier to stay stuck and dream, then be driven and work towards the life we want to live...well becuase it's more comfortable and sometimes feel safer to just stay where we are. I did that for far to long in my life and that left me feeling unfufilled and living a life I didn't enjoy! So after I watched that retreat, I deicided on my vision board for 2016 I would be headed on that next retreat and it felt incredible to make all that hard work from that year make that become a reality. In 2017 I would do it again, but this year looked a bit different. I wasn't working hard to earn it, I was one of the leaders hosting the retreat...talk about a full circle moment.

This past year as leaders we poured a lot of time and heart into planning this getaway. We know how hard as entrpenuers you have to work to create a successful business, but most of the time we just show the highlite real and not the long or late or early hours of the day we are hustling our hearts out. Some of us are still working fulltime and/or raising families while building our businesses and its far from easy. We do it because we not only do we absolutely love what we do, but also because we know this opportunity is what will allow us to live the life we are craving to live. This is not a get rich type of business, this is a hustle your heart out type of business that takes grit, consistency and a whole lot of getting out of your comfort zone.

The top leaders of our team arrived earlier so we could get everything set up and ready for all of our coaches to arrive. The night before everyone would be arriving from all over the United States, Canada and the UK, we grabbed a limo to head to dinner. I think we could all agree the best time was signing and dancing our hearts out in the limo to old school music.

We wanted to make sure that every single one of our leaders that earned this trip filled their cup, felt like they belonged and that they are here doing what they do for a reason. In order to earn this trip they had to achieve it and that wasn't easy, but every single one of them walked away saying it was so worth the grit that it took to get here, which was exactly what we were hoping for. We gifted everyone matching pajamas with head bands, which turned out to be super cute!

We led trainings in the morning that would help our coaches grow more in their businesses, from marketing, to social media, to time management there wasn't anything we didn't cover. We even had corporate fly in to lead a couple training sessions as well. It was fun watching the wheels turn, watching these women encourage each other and share what was and was not working for their own businesses. It's pretty incredible to see all these women running the exact same type of business yet none of them compete with each other. We are truly want each other to succeed and we are chearing each other on all the way!

We ended up having a makeup artist and stylist pamper us before we each had our professional photo shoots. It was so much fun, relaxing and it was a little shocking when I looked in the mirror. I do not wear a whole lot of makeup on a daily basis, so I didn't recognize my face at first when I looked in the mirror. We do this so everyone has some great pictures for their business when sharing content on social media. It is nice to have a folder of back up picutres for those crazy busy days when we just don't have the time to take a qaulity picture but have some great content to share.

I was thankful to have Stephanie fly in from Shine Photography. We have had her help us before and she is amzing at what she does. Not once did I feel uncomfrtoable during something that is out of my comfort zone. She guided us all and everyone really had fun during their photot shoots which is exactly what we wanted.

I love that we kept this retreat casual and comfortable. We would head to our traiing sessions in our bathing suits and then when we were finished we would head back to soaking up the sunshine at the pool chatting our hearts away or sleeping soaking up the vitamin D or reading on one of the sofas at the pool. Snacks, cocktails or water was being served the entire time. Most of us are use to waiting on everyone else, not having everything done for us.

From the coporate world, interior decorators, teachers, nurses, lawyers, stay at home moms all found themsleves in the pool saying we never imagined life turning out the way it did, but we were so glad we decided to listen to what was tugging at our heartstrings and just deciding to go after the life we were craving to live.

We had daily morning sweat sessions at the pool or in the street which was a lot of fun!

Our last night we were here, Farin and I hosted the closing event. We decided we wanted to host an activity that was going to impact every single person in the room. We wanted to show every single women that we have all had struggles, we have all had setbacks, we have all had some really hard things in our lives happen, but guess what???? We are here together and we have each others backs. We passed out a form that had 30 statements with check boxes. They privately checked off the boxes they could relate to and then folded up the papers. The papers were then passed around so many times areound the room you could not tell who had your paper. Then Farin and I took turns reading off the statements such as:

" I have looked in the mirror and hated what I saw"

" I have suffered from depression and or anxiety"

"growning up I never felt like I belonged"

" I have felt like I am not good enough to be successful in this business"

The questions got deeper, but as we read each one of the statements on the women's papers you were holding, they would stand up for that woman and then sit back down. It was very emotional to see that every single one of the women in that room had been carrying heavy loads and had been through many struggles. Everyone quickly realized they were not alone and it was hard not to shed tears or feel your body covered with goosebumps head to toe.

After we finished reading the statements, we took those papers are chucked them hard or tore them up to place them in the trash. We headed outside and lit these laterns to let go of all that had been holding us back in life and those heavy loads we had been carying. It was the perfect way to end an incredible retreat.

Not many of us could say we would do what we do for a living for not a single cent more because we truly love what we do so much. There is no better feeling then knowing we only get to make an income if we are making an impact. If you have been wondering if this would be a perfect fit for you or you are just curious about exactly what we do as coaches or if you have been wanting to coach but too scared to take the leap, then I want to encourgae you to clcik on this link and watch this video: https://freshfitkate.typeform.com/to/f5gLaa​​