When I checked into my first 40-hour quarterly planning retreat, I didn’t know what to expect. Would I actually get as much work done as I wanted to? Would it feel weird being alone in a hotel for two days? Would it be worth all the prep and time away from my family?
Short answer: yes.
In fact, the offsite quarterly planning retreat exceeded every expectation I had.
This blog breaks down what went surprisingly well, what caught me off guard, and the few things I’ll definitely do differently next time.
If you’re just catching up on this series, you can read about why I took the retreat here, what I packed here, and the journaling prompts I used here.
What Went Surprisingly Well
I got more done than I thought was possible. Without distractions, meetings, or daily interruptions of home, I moved through decisions with clarity and speed. This was the MAIN reason I was doing my quarterly planning retreat at a hotel instead of at home… but in the back of my mind, I wondered if it would actually be as good as I wanted it to be.
One thing that helped me was that, as a Director of Operations, I encouraged the CEO’s I worked with to have this time away and those who took my advice came back blown away at how good it was. So I was able to “hold on” to all those stories – all the times they told me they felt like a brand new person – as I packed, prepped, and planned.
I had been stuck on a few business questions for months, but during the retreat, the answers came quickly. There’s just something about silence and being alone.
It gave me the space to actually think.
In fact, I think it gave me the space to think at a deeper level that I have been able to get to ever before. (The first night, I slept like a ROCK. I think my brain was t-i-r-e-d from that work…but in the best way possible!).
I also found myself working in deep focus blocks. The kind of head-down, no-distraction work I haven’t experienced in months. And because I shared parts of the process with my membership girls in our private Instagram page, I felt a sense of accountability that kept me on track all the way through. It was incredibly powerful.
Here are a few more things that made the retreat so effective:
- The kitchen. Eating clean made me feel clear and energized. Truthfully, I am so glad I didn’t order food in. My energy was SOARING throughout the entire time away
- The loooooong room setup. I could pace, stretch, and think and I never felt like I was in jail!
- Having different zones in the suite for different kinds of work
- The cozy things from home that made the space feel so dang good
- The dinner with my kids halfway through. It was the perfect reset and gave me a second wind
- The couch area for journaling, praying, and writing
- The desk for deep strategy and focused computer work
I don’t say this lightly. I got more done in those 40 hours than I usually get done in a month.
What Caught Me Off Guard
A tornado warning the first night. Literal sirens. People running down the hallways toward the stairs. That definitely was not on my itinerary. But such is the month of March in the state I live in.
I was also shocked by how fast I was moving through my to-do list. I had prepped for focused work, but I didn’t realize how productive I could be when my brain wasn’t switching between roles, people, and interruptions.
And let’s be honest: working from home is a total gift. A privilege. But it’s also incredibly distracting. Being away was exactly what I needed it to be: a space for work and work alone.
I love my cozy home and my fun, hilarious family. But when I’m home, my brain sometimes has a hard time truly locking in. I wanted (needed!) to rise above and get a bird’s eye view of the business. For some reason, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t do it as well from home. Going away for 2 days brought me the clarity I needed.
Now, an off-site quarterly planning retreat is not for everyone. I don’t recommend an entrepreneur do this if they are:
Losing money in their business
Treating their business like a fun little hobby instead of a business
Clueless on how profitable they are
Unwilling to prep for several hours beforehand
Clearing less than $3,000 in net profitability per month (this is just a rough, painting-with-a-broad-brush number)
What I’ll Do Differently Next Time
Honestly, not much. The retreat went better than expected.
That said, I learned a few things the hard way.
First, I don’t want to use this time for detailed content planning again. I’ll still map concepts and major themes, but I’m not going to try building out a week-by-week content schedule during these retreats. It’s too granular and breaks my flow. That kind of planning can be saved for another day. I have weekly content batching sessions so this could be shifted into those blocks.
Second, I made the mistake of scheduling a VA interview during the retreat. She had a narrow window of availability and I wanted to make a decision soon, so I squeezed it in. That was a big mistake. Thirty minutes before the call, I was watching the clock. After the call, I was completely out of my zone. She was lovely, but I stayed on Zoom wayyyy too long and broke the momentum I had built.
No meetings. No calls. Not during a retreat. Ever again.
What I’ll Repeat Every Time
- Get a suite. The space made a huge difference
- Bring my own food. I had energy, clarity, and no crash. I honestly felt so good and so high-energy from start to finish
- Bring all my cozy things from home. Yes, I packed two suitcases. One was for food and blankets. The other was mostly tech and office supplies. It was worth it to struggle into and out of the hotel with 2 enormous suitcases for a few minutes in order to have anything and everything I would need to be productive for 40 hours
- Load up on bottled water. I was hydrated and alert all day (this did make my one suitcase almost impossibly heavy to lift!)
- Make sure the family knows I’m unavailable. This was great and my family was so sweet and respectful of my time away. So I wasn’t fielding texts or calls, and that made all the difference. And I think the teenagers honestly loved having a 2-day vacation themselves!
I love my people. But if I’m going to leave the house to focus on business, I want to actually work. Like lock in, head down, fully work. And this gave me the space to do just that.
For the moms who would be taking calls all day from their kids I would say: skip the offsite retreat because you won’t be able to get enough done to justify the price tag of a hotel. Just do your retreat from home or your local coffee shop.
Coming Up Next
Want to take your own quarterly retreat? In the second-to-last post of this series, I’m giving you a full checklist and action plan to help you make it happen.
Whether you can get away for a day or two or need to do it from home, I’ll show you how to make it count.
