Event Planner Puts the “Treat” in Retreat

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

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Let's talk about the world of event planning. 10 years ago, I began learning how events work on the production side. I had no background in that field at all, so definitely had a lot to learn. At the time, I had just had my blog for about a year, and my first book was coming out a few months later. I'd been traveling and doing some meetups with readers, and I was like, hey, it'd be pretty cool to bring everybody together and do stuff, right?

That was the initial vision, it got better after that. But when I went to have some meetings with people around town, in Portland, Oregon, I was going to meet people at the Art Museum, which is actually where we rented out the Art Museum for the first World Domination Summit, and then we would talk with different vendors and such, and the conversations that I had, it was simultaneously embarrassing and hilarious, because I really didn't understand at all how that world worked, and I took a few people with me, but the people on our initial team, they didn't really have a background in events either. So I could kind of tell, I'm sitting having this conversation with the people at the Art Museum, and they're throwing out all these terms and asking these questions, which I didn't really understand. There's a whole vocabulary in that world, just like in any industry, but I figured it out eventually, and 10 years later, I know a little bit about that whole thing, and now I can look back and say, wow, I really knew nothing at all. So we are talking about event planning and today's story, and by the way, welcome to Sidusville School.

My name is Chris Guillebeau. With event planning, lots of businesses want to have retreats and meetings for their teams, and they don't necessarily want to become event planners of their own. They're kind of like me back then, except, you know, probably with a little bit more budget. They just want it handled. So today's story features an event planner who puts the treat in retreat.

She makes a big move to host retreats from her new ranch and learns a few lessons of her own along the way. All right, stay tuned, that story is coming up. [Music]

More and more businesses are trying to find ways to keep employees engaged. Getting their teams out of the office and away from the same old conference table is one of their strategies. That's what led Denise Ransom, a freelance project and event manager, to open up her own retreat space.

She wanted to build a space that took people out of a daily grind and into new possibilities, but it wasn't a dream she could realize right away. The concept of her own retreat space came to Denise in an epiphany. She was offered a new job to Denise in an epiphany. She was on a plane and furiously captured a bunch of notes about her idea. She then met with a mentor to explore what it would look like.

Together, they drew out a map of the imaginary space. Denise also started a vision board, where she saved images for each of the different elements she wanted to include. She even gave it a code name, The Ranch. At the time, Denise had freelanced for over 25 years, helping businesses and entrepreneurs manage projects and events while living in Portland, Oregon. Now as a side note, I actually work with Denise now.

She is part of our current WDS planning team. But back to her story. She looked for over four years to find the perfect property for her space. At first, she thought she and her husband would be purchasing a second property and keeping their home. But after looking for quite some time, she realized she needed to increase her budget, which meant selling their house.

Her new search criteria were a location about 35 minutes outside Portland and a property with a separate living space from the retreat space. She eventually found a place that exceeded her expectations in Corbett, a small town in Oregon's beautiful Columbia Gorge. Despite a wildfire scare three months into their move, Denise and her husband Jean settled in nicely. The new five and a half acre property was dubbed the Peach Cheesecake Ranch. The grounds are surrounded by woods and beautiful views.

The retreat area is in the lower level of Denise's home. It has a nicely appointed conference room, 15 feet of whiteboard, and a window filled creative studio with a large standup table. She tries to keep the decor as simple and utilitarian as possible so the guests can make it their own. Since Denise and Jean are also living on the property, it's difficult to determine precise startup costs, but the expenses specific to beginning the retreats, like furnishing the meeting area and studio, were roughly $10,000. The couple's cost of living has increased slightly on the new property, but that is more than covered by income generated by retreats.

The first group to use Peach Cheesecake Ranch was one of Denise's project management clients, so she knew them well. They brought a bottle of champagne and toasted to successfully launching her new venture. Seeing the dream become reality was magical. People were working together and making breakthroughs in the space she created. For almost two years now, Denise has been hosting retreats for creative agencies, educational nonprofits, and HR teams.

Most notable so far was hosting the recruiting team for Lulu Lemon. She typically works four or five hours per event. This includes communicating with the client before they arrive, cleaning the space, and preparing meals for the group. Sometimes she'll help facilitate activities for the retreat as well. And Jean chips in on cleaning duties and support for larger projects.

On average, each retreat brings in roughly $1,000. Denise typically charges a per person rate for groups up to 12. This comes to about $300 per half day and $500 for a full day. She asks for an additional $40 to $50 per person for meals. In addition to hosting other groups, she also markets some of her own events.

She calls them take action retreats, where people can come out to the ranch for a day of focused time, designed to build momentum on entrepreneurial projects. While these retreats don't bring in as much profit, she enjoys doing them and they've helped promote the space. Annual profits from Peach Cheesecake Ranch have reached $15,000, allowing Denise to reduce the amount of project management work she does. She had hoped her side hustle would be more of a full-time business by now, but that's limited by sales. So to tackle that next, she's hired a business coach who will help specifically with selling.

Accordingly, the next phase of this hustle involves a lot of outreach. She says it's not like the field of dreams. If you build it, they will come. You actually have to go and do a lot of inviting. So she's learning to be bold and advocate for her business.

Since I know Denise personally, I can say I have no doubt she'll cook up something great, and I'm sure she won't retreat. [Music]

So if you happen to need a retreat space near Portland, Oregon, come and check it out. You also might be interested in her take action retreats. And like with any business, we wanna look at what's going well and what their current challenge is. So for Denise, her current challenge is marketing.

Like her product is fine and solid, it's a great space, and she's really put a lot of passion and heart into it. So the next phase is more outreach. The next phase is connecting with more people and getting more visibility for this ranch so that when event planners or HR managers or whoever is making the decision about booking a space, we'll think about her, and we'll think, "Oh, maybe the peach cheesecake ranch would be a good fit." So I'll look forward to seeing how that develops over the next few months for her. And listeners, I hope you enjoyed this story. Inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is so much better.

The show notes for today are at sidehustleschool.com/788. 788. I'll be back again tomorrow. I hope you'll join me again. My name is Chris Guillebeau, and this is Side Hustle School.

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From the Onward Project.