My loves,

I’m just back from one of the BEST weeks of my life. I spent 5 days on the Gold Coast with 11 of my most inspiring business friends. I feel changed on a cellular level. So much laughter, love and wisdom shared. I feel so pumped up, motivated, inspired. It was pure magic, a 10/10 experience.

As I was sharing behind the scenes over on my Instagram, I got so many questions:

• how the retreat was run
• how our mastermind works
• if retreat tickets could be bought.

I thought I’d do a comprehensive step-by-step for you giving you all the details!

Who was at the retreat?

1. Kerry Rowett – my kinesiologist/intuitive business mentor. We’ve been learning from and coaching each other since 2008 (!!!) and are each other’s biggest hype girl.
2. Tash Corbin – founder of the Heart Centred Business Conference which I’ve spoken at for the last two years. When I was living on the Sunshine Coast near her, we formed a local business women’s group and had the most incredible times together! She’s just so solid and good and as pretty as a Disney princess!
3. Jana Kingsford – back in the olden days of 2011/2012, I met a bunch of rad humans in a Facebook group set up by Australians going through Marie Forleo’s B-School course, and Jana was one of them! I got to know her more deeply in the last 6 months in another paid mastermind we are both in. We have a crazy amount of synchronicities – we’re both Scorpios who’ve travelled and lived all over Australia as digital nomads. We’re 7 figure entrepreneurs who don’t brush their hair and build our businesses around our families. She is so fucking rad!
4. Denise Duffield-Thomas – DDT is an icon and a legend in our industry. I’ve been lucky to be mates with her since 2012 when she came to stay in my rainforest home in FNQ for a retreat I ran. Her books and courses are phenomenal. But most of all, SHE as a human is phenomenal. DDT always impresses me with how much she walks her talk, and how committed she is to finding her blocks, healing them, and sharing what she learns with the world.
5. Victoria Gibson – I met Victoria back in the olden days of the Aussie B-School forum, and she did my Facebook ad campaigns for the goals workbooks for years.  Let me tell you though… nothing compares to Vic in person. She’s the juiciest revelation in person!
6. Michelle Swan – I met Mich back in 2019 after she was recommended as a photographer by a website designer I was working with. It’s been mad love ever since, and we’ve done more photoshoots since then. Mich is not just an incredible photographer, but the sweetest human that’s ever existed. Plus I adore her husband too – Jacko is a legend!
7. Rebecca Saunders – I met Bec at Tash’s Heart Centred Business Conference a couple of years ago. She’s one of those geniuses who is good at everything who will say things like “Oh that feature film I produced ended up being nominated for an award” and “I decided to take over publishing a magazine as a hobby.”
8. Katie Chappell – I met Katie after she did one of my courses 5 years ago, and she was so delicious I promptly adopted her as a niece. She’s a ridiculously talented illustrator from England… she was our only international participant at our retreat this year.
9. Clare Wood – I was introduced to Clare through other business friends, read her book (and took lots of notes) before meeting her in person at Tash’s conference last year. Clare’s an ex-accountant who is a profit coach for businesses. She’s also hilarious and brilliant and says incredibly extroverted things like “Oh! I packed a cocktail dress just incase!” In a bizarre twist of faith, we discovered she was born in the same small town hospital I was born in, just a couple of months later. As I like to remind her regularly: her ancestors have definitely dry humped my ancestors behind the Proserpine pub at some point.
10. Tina Tower – I met Tina after she interviewed me on her podcast a few years ago, and we loved how equally enthusiastic we were about business AND how wildly we differ in our approaches. Tina’s mega structured and planned with everything which amazes me. I… am not. I am a loosey-goosey go with the winds of inspiration. And yet! Both our approaches work! It’s just delightful!
11. Amanda Jane Daley – I met Amanda via Denise and Vic, plus she’s another alumni from the ye olden day Aussie B-School Facebook group!

How were participants selected?

We are all part of a group chat that I’ve been running for about 12 years. It started because I wrote in my goal workbook that I wanted to connect with other business owners more. And I’ve never waited for anyone to pick me… I always pick myself and start a team! So I invited any business owners I did know into it. Then some of them invited friends. And over the years, as I’ve met more people who I felt like would be a good fit, I’d add them. Because our group is getting larger, I’m pretty reticent to add more people to it as it would probably become too unwieldy.

It’s had so many iterations and evolutions over the years. I used to have super strict participation rules where people had to post an intensive check-in at least once a month (including questions they had to answer). We’ve also had periods where we had regular phone calls and accountability.

There’s been some times I’ve had to remove people from the group for different reasons, usually if they don’t participate and are just lurking and watching instead of sharing and connecting. I laugh about the fact that years ago, a now very-famous American entrepreneur with a 10 figure business was invited in, and I ended up removing because they didn’t follow participation rules. People have also elected to leave when their business and life priorities changed. There’s been lots of ebbs and flows, and I’m grateful for all of them.

Currently, there’s about 17 of us in the group, with the majority being Australians. At the moment, we’re pretty flexible without much structure, but we do remove anyone who hasn’t interacted in the last 12 months or so.

Sometimes we ask each other for recommendations on books, mentors and VAs. Sometimes we say “oh shit this part is hard”. Sometimes we send each other memes. Sometimes we talk about how to collaborate. I remember when one of us had a family crisis, everyone else stepped up with all the ways they could offer support for them personally and professionally.

This group chat has honestly been one of the biggest blessings in my business over the last decade. So much love, support, long-term friendships, advice and celebrations!

How was the business retreat organised?

Two members in our group (Kerry and Clare) had an idea together to get all the group members to an in-person retreat so we could spend actual IRL time together. The first one happened last year which I didn’t go to as I was in the midst of moving. Then they set the dates in the calendar for this year, and I got to go to it! Hooray!

The retreat is run as a peer mastermind retreat.

Logistics:

• Dates are set (usually 6 months in advance)
• Location was chosen as Gold Coast as four of our members live there, and it’s a good holiday destination for everyone else.
• This time we stayed at The Star Gold Coast in their apartment building. That way everyone could get their own apartment (or share one). We also hired a board room that we could use for masterminding during the day. If we had less people, we would have been able to just use an apartment space for that.
• Everyone who attends organises and pays for their own flights, accommodation and food.
• There’s no fees for attendees outside of that as it’s not “run” by anyone. It’s peer-led. Think gal pal weekend away but with a lot of talk about business and strategy and mindset.
• We had about 5 group members who couldn’t come to the retreat this year for various reasons which was totally groovy – it’s optional. I’m pretty sure they all had FOMO though and desperately want to be at the next one!
• Attendees could choose how long they were at the retreat. Most did Monday-Friday, but some had to arrive later or leave earliler due to other commitments.

Our schedule for the week

At the previous retreat that I wasn’t at, it was run pretty much without an agenda, and that worked really well. There was also much less people at the retreat than this time – with less people you can definitely be a lot more free flowing.

This time around, we tried running it with a more clearly defined time structure since we had 12 people attending.

Our basic agenda going in looked like this:

In reality, we didn’t stick to those times perfectly, but it gave us a good structure to base ourselves around.

Day 1: Travel Day

We all flew/drove into the Gold Coast and arrived at the hotel. We met up for dinner at one of the restaurants at The Star. I think that was one of the bonuses of being at The Star – it has a lot of restaurants onsite. After dinner, a few of us walked a couple of blocks to a supermarket to stock up on supplies.

Day 2: Photoshoot

8 of us took the opportunity to do a group photoshoot with Michelle and Dan from Head North filming B-roll video. All of us use Mich as a photographer, so it made sense for us to get photos taken by her while we were in the same area. Mich and Dan took it in turns shooting us individually, and while we were waiting for our next turn, we would get changed into next outfits and shoot stupid reels with each other. It worked brilliantly.

I used MJ Vegan Makeup Artist for my hair & makeup. She was an absolute darling, loved her! I also had Leah Selfe as my personal assistant for the shoot. Not everyone had their own assistant for the shoot and I did wonder momentarily if I really needed one… but I am SO GLAD I DID. I find it hugely helpful for me to have a personal assistant at shoots, it helps me manage my energy so much better. Plus photoshoots can get HECTIC, and my aim is always to be able to do the best job I can in front of the camera by turning up my STAR ENERGY instead of managing logistics.

Leah arrived at 6:30am to my hotel room with my favourite kind of smoothie in hand, ushered me up to the hair and makeup artists, and started loading all my props and clothes into her car.  Once hair and makeup was done, she chaffeured me and Kerry over to the shoot location and handed me my favourite kombucha to drink on the way there, as well as some chocolates. I tell you what, sitting in the back seat of that car being so taken care of in that way – I felt like the richest person on earth! What magic! What a blessing!

Then once we were there, Leah unpacked the car again with our vast quantities of suitcases, and got busy steaming the creases out of all my outfits. Then throughout the shoot, she would help me style outfits, remind me to drink and eat (I can forget when I’m busy), filmed ridiculous video content of us, and threw props at me during our helter skelter shoot times. I should note here: everyone else didn’t require prop-throwing during their shoot sessions. I, however, had spent the evening before flying out coming up with a FUN IDEA of hand painting a bunch of signs to use in shoots. I didn’t want graceful photos, I wanted chaotic ridiculous ones with a lot of handmade props. It was A LOT OF FUN! Also, sweaty!

Once our shoot was done, Leah ferried us back to the hotel. I immediately showered because I can’t cope with makeup being on my face for very long, then ordered a shit tonne of Cantonese room service and called my husband and daughter to talk while I ate.

Had a wee lay down to recalibrate my nervous system, then later in the afternoon went for a stroll with Kerry through the enormous maze of shops near our apartments. I introduced Kerry to her first bubble tea, and we went into some of the luxury stores for a gander. Let me tell you, it was pretty hilarious trying on $6,000 handbags at Louis Vuitton… while carrying my current handbag (a $5 handmade unicorn tote bag from Eumundi Markets!) I didn’t buy anything, but I loved experiencing the duality of it all!

Then we popped into Zimmerman and played dress ups. Loved how bohemian and artsy their designs were, didn’t love that they don’t cater for plus size mermaids like me. Still, it was much fun and frivolity, and I loved making Kerry do fashion parades for me. At one point she walked out of the dressing room in a gloriously frilly dress and I AUDIBLY GASPED and said “YES! THAT IS THE ONE!” It was like an episode of “Say Yes To The Dress!”

As we wandered back to the apartments, we got a text message in the group: “Anyone up for trivia night in the sports bar?” I nearly came to completion right there. OF COURSE I WANTED TO GO TO TRIVIA NIGHT. That night was hilarious mayhem with our group splitting into two teams (Lay Beer and Lucky Bitches) so we could compete against each other and spend the whole night sledging each other and egging each other on. Raucous and ridiculous and EXACTLY my jam. Even more hilariously – we tied with each other!

Day 3 & 4: Hot Seats & Masterminding

We hired a board room at the apartments for us to use for two days. It was crazy cheap, and we had the most gorgeous space with views for us to meet.

I volunteered to facilitate.

This is roughly how they went:

• I started off with a 20 minute intention setting and guided visualisation which set the energy beautifully for our time together.
• Everyone had a 30 minute hot seat scheduled over the next day and a half. We tried to keep pretty firmly to those times, otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to get through everyone.
• We did a 2 hour block in the morning with 4 hot seats, before taking a 2 hour break to go out to lunch and stretch legs, then another 2 hours in the afternoon. This doesn’t seem like a lot on paper, but it definitely felt like we wouldn’t have been able to sustain concentration for longer than that.
• I gave everyone options of how they would like their hot seat to run. Everyone chose the same structure: 5 mins of them sharing where their business was at and what problems they were facing. 20 minutes of all of us asking more questions and sharing feedback and advice. For the final 5 minutes, we played that person’s favourite song or victory song while we either wrote them letters to take home with them or danced with them while envisioning their success. Most people chose to have letters written. I think that all worked super beautifully. Plus, I saved everyone’s victory songs into a Spotify playlist that we can all listen to when we want to top up on energy. Hooray!
• We finished the last block of hot seats with another visualisation to ground into everyone’s vision.
• For the final afternoon session, everyone submitted two questions they wanted the whole group to answer. We timed these conversations as well so we made sure all could be answered. This was delicious, and I got so much insight out of this time as well.
• Lastly, we asked everyone what they needed from the group over the next year to help them reach their goals. Some of them were so simple “I need friends to text me silly memes so I feel connected” to more complex “I thrive on competition so I need you all to neg me by saying you could do better than me” (that’s me, and I’m not even kidding. Turn anything into a race, and my motivation will be THROUGH THE ROOF! Ha!!!!)

At night time, we had optional fancy dinners we could go to. Not everyone went to them, it was totally fine for people to opt-out and rest or catch up on any work they needed to. I went to dinner one night. On the last night, Katie and I opted not to go out and instead hung out drawing, eating Door Dash food, singing to Alanis Morisette and having a screamingly funny time together. Once everyone arrived back from dinner, we all crowded into an apartment to stay up laughing and talking until 2am. It was the perfect way to end the retreat.

Day 5: Travel Day

We all met up at the breakfast buffet for last minute giggles and talks before everyone started travelling.

What we’ll do differently next time:

• We’re still deciding on location for next year. If we do go back to the Gold Coast, we probably won’t stay at The Star. A lot of us found it energetically ungrounding sleeping in skyscraper buildings (I was on floor 44!)
• We’ll likely have more people at the next retreat again, so we’ll need to think about how we run hot seats.
• Otherwise… no notes! It was perfection on a stick!!!!!

Can I buy tickets to come to this retreat?

Sorry, no. It’s a private peer mastermind. You *can* however create your own peer mastermind and retreat!

I hope this inspires you to do just that… I am SO SO SO grateful that all of those years ago I decided to choose myself and create what I wanted to experience!!!

All in all…

It was genuinely one of the best weeks I’ve EVER experienced. Incredibly meaningful, powerful and FUN. It’s incredibly soul healing to be around other highly motivated women who have the same kind of kooky online job as you do. Not many people can effortlessly flow in conversation from creativity to productivity to marketing strategies to investments to working with your husband to dealing with trolls to big philanthropic dreams to legacy work… and it’s euphoric when you’re around the people who can.

I feel beyond blessed to have been there, and SO FIRED UP with joy, excitement and enthusiasm.

Hope this gives you the encouragement to create your own… I would love to hear all about it when you do!

Big love,