 It's literally my favorite time of the year. Business plan retreat season. I've been doing these retreats for years and it is literally the best decision I've ever made for my business and my life. Why do I love my business plan retreat so much? Well, today I'm sharing why this is such a valuable exercise for my business and of course giving you some tips on how you can plan your own retreat. Stick around. It's Leanne and I love my two-day business plan retreats. I get more accomplished in these two days than I do in my whole year. It helps me set goals that I want to achieve. It helps me create projects that I want to complete. It also helps me get clarity on the activities that I need to stop doing so that I can move the needle in my business. Today's video is all about setting the stage for your business plan retreat. And then in the next two videos, we're doing a deep dive look into the year that was which can help set the stage for the year to come and then doing a deep dive in the year ahead which takes up a majority of your business plan retreat time. But first let's look at why we should even be planning a retreat in the first place and setting us up for success for that retreat. Before we dive into this information don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel and then click on that little bell to be notified of new content. I create content around personal branding and LinkedIn for the hospitality industry each week and I don't want you to miss a thing. Let's start by tackling the reasons why we should be doing a retreat in the first place. First and foremost, it gives us an opportunity to reflect on the year that was with intention. We're looking at the successes, the challenges and for some of us some of our failed events, the unexpected, the completed, the incompleted and the surprises that made up our year. It also gives us space to take what happened this past year and use it as a learning for next year. So be intentional about this look back and glean any learnings that you can apply to your future projects. Reason number two, it is celebration time. By closing the book on the year that was as you head into the new year you have a renewed energy for the year ahead. Now whether you had a successful or a challenging year this celebration is acknowledging that the year taught you so many things not only about your business but maybe a few things about yourself as well. The third reason we do these business plan retreats is it centers us back on our why. Why do we do the work that we do? Why do we love the work that we do? Or perhaps why are we looking for a change? The fourth reason and most obvious is that intentional look ahead. We're looking ahead to the goals and projects that we want to complete in the year ahead of us. And we also wanna break down and set goal markers for each individual goal and project. It allows us to brainstorm all of these ideas and all of the little tasks that are required to meet our goals. And of course to brainstorm ideas of people that we potentially want to collaborate with to achieve our dreams. And the final reason it gives us a holistic view on all of our life's domains, not just our business. We tend to think of our retreat as for business reasons only but we can also look at all of our other life domains including our spiritual life, marital life, parental, avocational or mental. We can also start to set some goals around the books we wanna read, maybe some fitness goals, even some vacation and family time that we wanna plot into the calendar. Now that you've seen the value in a business plan retreat it's time to get you out of your office. There are so many great reasons why you need to do this business plan retreat away from your home office or even your work setting. A change of scenery will provide you with a bounty of fresh perspectives. Plus you'll have fewer distractions being away from the office. No one knocking on your door looking for advice or your help on their projects. It also gives you time for some quiet reflection and it truly allows you to turn off all of your notifications so that you're not tempted to check into work. The hardest part about setting up your business plan retreat is finding those two days to get away. So find some time in your calendar where you can get away from your family and your work for two full days and make it intentional. The second thing you'll want to do is consider some locations for your business plan retreat. Obviously a hotel would be a great location but you can also head over maybe to a friend's house if they work out of home or your public library might have some great rooms from within you can work. The next thing you'll want to do is to create an agenda. We're going to go into these days with intentional activity. So having an agenda is key. Now if you don't have an agenda idea at hand I've created some for you. You can go over to liankaldorwood.com for its slash sample agendas to find both a half day and a full two day agenda for entrepreneurs and solo printers or for small teams depending on how you work. Before you head out you'll want to pack up all your necessary materials your laptop, your journal maybe some Post-it notes and whiteboards to take some notes on. Don't forget your calendar and of course your computer for doing some research. Make sure you set your out of office notification on and let your team members and family members know that you will be unreachable during these two key days. Don't forget the night before your retreat to get lots of rest as well as pack up and get ready for the two days ahead. When you show up on retreat day you're going to want to get a lot of work done. But here are four guiding principles that I think will help you set the stage for your retreat time with yourself. Firstly, be open to what will happen during these next two days. Having the right attitude on a business plan retreat day is half the battle. Whether you had a fantastic year or a disappointing one this is the day where you can chart a new course. Be open to what's possible and what your heart tells you is possible. Number two, allow for changes. While we have a set agenda allow for some flexibility as new ideas pop up. Start to catalog those ideas in a parking lot of sorts and make sure that you tackle all of those notes before the end of the retreat and capture all of those great ideas. Number three, change up your scenery to stay focused. It is hard to focus on one task for six to eight hours but if you're moving around and creating some energy that way you'll be able to get fresh perspectives throughout the day. And finally, don't forget to use your calendar. As you start to set these goals start to time block in your calendar all of the tasks and projects that are required to meet your objectives. After your retreat is over make sure you're post your business plan in a place where you can see it often. And don't forget to time block those activities that will get you towards those big bold goals you just set. I hope you enjoyed this video and I hope you consider going on a business plan retreat to help set your intentions for the next year. Again, hop on over to liankhulderwood.com forward slash sample agendas to get you started on your own business plan retreat. Best of luck to you and I hope to see you soon. Bye for now.