The Room Where It Finally Gets Easier

Inside our April retreat, and why I do this every November and April.

You're the one who knows where everything is.

The numbers. The client who's about to walk. The hire who isn't working out. The orthodontist appointment. The dinner you said yes to three weeks ago and now regret.

From the outside, it all looks great. Revenue is up. People ask how you do it.

And you smile, because the honest answer is: some days, I'm not sure how much longer I can.

You've read the books. You've listened to the podcasts. You already know what you're supposed to do.

And still, there's a decision you've been circling for months, a money conversation you keep pushing to next week, and a quiet feeling that you've outgrown the way you're running things but haven't figured out what comes next.

That's the woman I build my retreats for.

In April, nine women walked into a private home for our 7th retreat. Every one of them had a seat because she's part of Visionary, the top tier of the She Thinks Big Collective. This room is one of the things that comes with that year. Here's what happened in that room, why it worked, and why I'm doing it again in November.

Why I skip the big conference and keep the room small

I love a big stage. Give me a microphone and a ballroom and I'm happy. But I'll tell you something I've learned after years of doing both: big rooms inspire people. Small rooms change them.

At my retreats, there's no back row. No hiding behind a notebook. I know your business before you walk in the door.

I know what you told me you want, and by Thursday afternoon I usually know what you've been avoiding (everyone tells me eventually, usually over dinner).

In a year of coaching, we move fast on our weekly calls. But at a retreat, I get three full days. I watch how you think. Where you hesitate. What you say in the session versus what you say at the kitchen island at 9 PM.

That's where the real stuff lives, and that's exactly where I can name it with you, in real time, instead of two weeks later on a call.

That is what you're paying for. Not a binder. My full attention, on you and your business, for three days.

Five minutes that were six months in the making

Every woman gets live, one-on-one coaching in front of the room. We call them Strategic Spotlights, and they are the moments people talk about long after they get home.

In April, one woman walked into her Spotlight agonizing over whether to fire a legacy client who generated 20% of her revenue but drained 80% of her team's energy. She had been going back and forth on it for six months, paralyzed by fear of the immediate financial hit. She made the decision in under five minutes. By dinner, she had the plan written.

I didn't hand her the answer. She already had it. What she didn't have was a room full of women who wouldn't let her keep talking around it. The problem was never information. It was leadership.

And here's what surprised everyone: watching someone else get coached is almost as powerful as being in the hot seat yourself. You hear your own story in hers.

More than one woman told me the breakthrough she came for happened during someone else's Spotlight.

What we worked on in April: Wealth

Every retreat we host is anchored around a dedicated strategic theme. The April theme was wealth. Not wealth as a number, but wealth as what happens when you lead your money the way you lead your business. Which, let's be honest, is really about leading yourself.

We worked through what I call the Money Leadership Cycle: Think, Decide, Receive, Hold, Spend, Act, Results. Every session was built around one question: where in that cycle are you quietly holding yourself back?

For a lot of the room, the answer was Receive. Most of the women I work with are not limited by how much they can earn. They're limited by how much they're willing to let in.

We called it the Financial Thermostat, the internal setting that keeps pulling you back to a familiar temperature even when you want more.

Each woman left with a Non-Negotiable Receiving Rule for the next 90 days. Not a goal. A rule. There's a difference, and you feel it the first time you're tempted to discount your price.

I also brought in experts, because the next level takes more than a cheerleader:

• Pamela walked us through the practical side of money: cash flow, reserves, and spending from a plan instead of from pressure.

• Syama led an evening Wealth Catalyst experience on investing and building wealth you can feel in your time and freedom, not just your revenue.

• Tori brought something a little more mystical to the mix: a private astrology reading for every woman, and a different lens on how she's wired to lead, decide, and receive.

• Lina grounded us each morning so we came into the work clear instead of frazzled.

And because this is real life, we talked about the things women usually carry alone: spouses who get it, and spouses who don't; who you're still waiting on for permission to go bigger; and whether you actually need it. Life is fair game in this room. I coach the woman first, and then the business.

You leave with decisions, not more ideas

I told the room on Friday morning: you are not leaving here with more ideas. You have plenty of those. You are leaving with decisions.

Every woman went home with a Money Map showing where she is, where she's going, and the one move that closes the gap.

She wrote her Leadership Operating Code, five to seven statements for how she runs things from here on. A few from the room:

• "I decide quickly and cleanly."

• "I price based on value, not comfort."

• "I move before I feel ready."

She committed to one 90-Day Move, with a deadline and an honest list of what was going to feel uncomfortable about it.

Protecting the shift when you get home

We also practiced something nobody thinks to practice: answering "So, how was it?" when you get home. Our instinct is to shrug and say "It was nice!" so nobody feels weird. We worked on how to protect what shifted, so it doesn't leak out the minute you walk through your front door.

And before anyone left, each woman wrote a "Who I Am Now" declaration and a letter to her future self. The room got very quiet. The good kind of quiet.

And yes, you get taken care of

I'm a big believer that you can't think clearly about your business when you're also thinking about lunch. So for three days, you don't.

Michelle, our private chef, handles every meal. Misty, our hospitality lead, somehow always knows when you need a refill or a snack before you do.

You get welcome gifts that make you laugh and make you think (ask any April woman about the money button that cha-chings when you press it). There's a happy hour. There's an outfit change. Growth doesn't have to be grim.

When nobody needs anything from you for three days, you finally get to hear your own thinking. Most women tell me they forgot what that sounded like.

What the women in the room said

The messages started coming in before some of them had even made it home.

"I'm becoming not just a confident businesswoman but a confident woman who knows what she wants and trusts herself. I am becoming someone who reacts less, slows down, and listens to my gut consistently."

"I don't have a desire to become something different. Maybe just enjoy being unapologetically me. Badass Lioness, apparently!" (Bridget)

"I am becoming a leader who develops people on purpose, not just by default." (Lora)

"I am becoming confident as a female entrepreneur and giving myself the permission to head towards the goals and growth that I envision." (Karin)

"Practicing my new habit of not people pleasing." (Jill, who proved it the following week with what went on her to-do list, and more importantly, what came off it)

These aren't the nice things people say on the drive to the airport. These are women who went home and moved.

Let’s talk about the investment

You don't buy a seat at this retreat on its own. It comes with Visionary, the top tier of the She Thinks Big Collective, our 12-month coaching program for established women business owners. Visionary is for the woman who already has a team but needs a strategic partner and a peer group at her level. Along with the retreats, your year includes group coaching with me, a monthly Advisory Council of vetted specialists who answer your real questions live, and The Blueprints, the toolkit behind everything I teach. And yes, Visionary is an investment. I'm not going to pretend it isn't. So let me ask you a different question.

What has that decision you keep circling already cost you? The price you haven't raised. The person you haven't let go. The offer you haven't launched.

Not just in dollars, either. In sleep. In Sunday nights. In the energy it takes to carry something you already know the answer to.

Women don't come to my retreats because they need more information. They come because they're tired of being the smartest person in every room and still feeling stuck.

Three days of focused attention, from me and from a room of women playing at your level, gets you further than another six months of trying to think your way through it alone at 11 PM. It's also why 75% of my clients come back year after year.

Who this is for (and who it isn't)

This is for you if you've built a business somewhere in the $200K to $2M range, you have a team, and you're quietly tired of carrying it all anyway. You're ready to make the decisions you've been putting off. You like a little fun with your hard conversations. You're willing to be seen.

It's probably not for you if you want to sit in the back and take notes, or if you're looking for someone to hand you a template. I'll love you, but I'll also call you on it.

Every November and April, and how to get in the room

I host two retreats a year, every November and every April. This November we're in Zionsville, Indiana, from Wednesday, November 4, through dinner on Friday, November 6. Same small, private setting. Same full attention.

New this time: we'll start our mornings with yoga one day and a sound bath the next, because the best decisions get made when your body isn't running on caffeine and adrenaline.

The room is intentionally small, so every woman gets real time with me. The way into the room is Visionary. The next one is April 21 to 23, 2027, most likely back in Zionsville. Join now, and that's your first retreat.

If something in this post made you sit up a little straighter, pay attention to that. Book a conversation with me to talk about whether Visionary is your right next move, and whether April is your first retreat.

You don't need to become someone new. You need three days to remember who you already are when nobody needs anything from you. I'll save you a seat.

Questions I get about the retreats

Who can come to a She Thinks Big retreat?

Retreats are for women in Visionary, the top tier of the She Thinks Big Collective, built for established women business owners in the $200K to $2M range who already have a team. Women in our Alumni Circle get their own retreat experience built just for them. You can't buy a ticket to the retreat on its own.

How many women are in the room?

Very few, on purpose. April had nine. I keep every retreat small so each woman gets real time with me and nobody gets lost in the back.

When and where are the retreats?

Twice a year, every November and April, in a private home, not a hotel ballroom. November 2026 is in Zionsville, Indiana, and the next retreat is April 21 to 23, 2027, most likely back in Zionsville.

What's included?

Two and a half days of coaching with me, live one-on-one Strategic Spotlights, hand-picked guest experts, every meal from Wednesday dinner through Friday dinner from our private chef, and a hospitality lead who makes sure you don't have to think about anything but your business and your life. Getting here and booking your own lodging are on you. Everything else is taken care of.

Is this a business retreat or a personal growth retreat?

Both, and that's the point. We put real business decisions on the table: money, pricing, hiring, letting go of clients, what's next. And I coach the woman making those decisions, because one doesn't change without the other.

I've been to plenty of conferences. How is this different?

Conferences give you notes. This gives you decisions. There's no stage and no audience, just a small group of successful women entrepreneurs, three days, and my full attention on what's actually in your way.

How do I get a seat?

Join Visionary. Start with a conversation with me to talk through where your business is, where you want it to go, and the Visionary investment.
Book your conversation.