158 | The Power of Hosting Events and Retreats Into Your Business with Lauren Smith of Modern Collective
Unlock the Power of Events and Retreats for Your Business! Join Lauren Smith, CEO of Modern Collective, as she shares expert tips on event planning, community building, and creating unforgettable experiences.
LISTEN TO THE EPISODE HERE:
We welcome Lauren Smith, the CEO of Modern Collective, an incredible Events and Travel Agency, to our podcast for the second time!
Lauren is an expert in event planning, creating connections, and all things related to events and travel. She is passionate about helping busy entrepreneurs create meaningful in-person connections with their online community, so they can strengthen their relationships and turn their followers into raving fans.
If you're a long-time listener of our podcast, you know how much we love events and the power of community. In this episode, we dive into the incredible benefits of incorporating events and retreats into your business, how to create unforgettable experiences for your clients, and strategies to make your events profitable.
If you've ever considered bringing events into your business or are simply curious about the process, then this episode is a must-listen. Get ready for an epic conversation filled with amazing insights and inspiration.
Connect with Lauren:
instagram.com/moderncollective_
The Power of Pivoting On Your Own
Get aligned with the right clients & employees for your brand!
When Lauren started her own events & travel agency right before the pandemic, she realized that she had to do things a little differently, but not at the expense of her business values. Through the ups and downs and changes over the four years of launching a business unique to her strengths, she been able to keep up and book up by implementing her passions without compromising on her boundaries and it is profitable!
The Power of Personal Events
Get A Strategy
You need develop a strategy to create a powerful & profitable event. Ask questions like:
What do I want my attendees to feel like? This drives venue, transportation, gifting, etc.
How will this impact my business? An event should elevate and further legitimize your brand because it's an investment on your end. It should also attract your aligned clients.
In person events build trust quicker because you can really see the people in front of you, which is hard to replication with things like Zoom.
Online Events:
High-touch
Highly accessible, affordable
General, Attracts a lot of clients
Tends to be the open of the sales funnel
In-Person Events:
Intimate or boutique
Very detailed
Higher-price point & high expectation
Tends to be the close of a sales funnel
Online is accessible, and in-person is impactful.
Pointers for a Powerful Event
Communication is Key!
Your attendee journey begins before they even buy-in!
What does it look like leading up to their purchase? Are you pre-launching your retreat? How are you communicating it to your audience? How are you making them feel? And then what does that checkout process look like? Are there different payment plans? Are there different options? Is it enough time before the event to give them the time to afford to come (cost-dependent)?
And then once that purchase happens, what happens now? Do they know how to access their tickets or the venue, or where to park or what to expect?
Communicate clearly and communicate often.
Pay Attention to the Small Things
How can you make your attendee feel taken care of? Is there a dietary restriction? Is there an accessibility restriction?
People are so focused on the profit or how it looks on social media that they forget to actually care about how the attendee experiences. So if you focus on that, everything else will come together.
What does your audience want?
Your audience/clients set the bar for you! You can create a successful event by being tuned into what they’re looking for! Don't try and focus all of your sales on an audience that you don't know.
Turning Setbacks into Success: When Things Don't Go as Planned
There are two approaches:
Attendee breakdown:
Most attendees need to be heard. Their complaint may not necessarily be a reflection of the event, but their own circumstances. If that’s not the case, work with your team to find a resolution that works for the client and the business.
Event Breakdown:
Something will always go wrong at an event - big or small, the reality is that it will happen! Curate and train a team with the attitude you want to have in the case of an unavoidable event breakdown. Decide how you want to present yourself and conduct your problem solving skills. What do you want the atmosphere to be like, how do you want your attendees and vendors to feel?
How to Plan a Profitable Event
Start by talking about profit goals.
Decide what kind of profit you want, if any! This will drive your budget, which shapes your decisions and vision! Don’t get caught up in all the little details, but stay true to your goals, and you’re allowed to pivot if those original goals don’t support your values.
Take Advantage of Your Free Gifts:
Get Access to the Breakthrough Growth Workshop here: www.businessbabescollective.com/breakthrough
Profitable Business Masterclass: How to Create a Profitable Business Without Working Around the Clock
Want to Join one of our IN-PERSON Events?
Get on the Waitlist here: www.businessbabescollective.com/events
3 Ways To get Support for Your Business:
Action Takers Club: Our Signature Business Program - This is a self-paced course to help you scale a profitable business without working around the clock. The beautiful thing about this course is that it also comes with a community with monthly group coaching calls, and monthly virtual networking and it’s the most accessible and affordable way to get access to me and my coaching. You can find out all the details on ATC at businessbabescollective.com/actiontakersclub
1:1 Coaching: Danielle is taking on a VERY limited number of 1:1 clients between now and mid-April as the baby is on the way! So if you feel stuck and need a strategy on what direction to take next to grow your business, or community or monetize your idea, you can apply for 1:1 Coaching at businessbabescollective.com/coaching
Our Mastermind: If your business is at a place where you are ready to scale, you are making money but know you have so much more potential and would love to have a group of other entrepreneurs who you can brainstorm with, get feedback from and help you achieve goals that you never even thought possible, apply for our mastermind at businessbabescollective.com/mastermind
Connect on Instagram:
Have a Question & Want to be Featured on The Podcast?
transcript
[00:00:00] Danielle Wiebe: Welcome to another episode of Business Babes Collective podcast. I'm excited that you're here today. Today I'm bringing back on Lauren Smith, who is a friend of mine. She has been on the podcast before, so we are bringing her on for a second time to talk all things events. I am so excited for you to tune into this conversation.
[00:00:23] Lauren is the CEO of Day Collective, which is both an events and travel agency. And Lauren is a passionate event planner, connection, creating expert lover of all things, events and travel. Lauren helps busy entrepreneurs create in-person connection with their online communities so they can strengthen their relationships, provide incredible value, and turn their community into raving fans. I know you are going to love this episode because, if you have been a longtime listener of this podcast, you know [00:01:00] that I am a huge fan of all things community, all things, events, experiences, and so Lauren and I dive into all of this on the podcast.
[00:01:11] We talk about the power of events and bringing in events and retreats into your business. Creating epic experiences for your clients, what to do when things go wrong at an event, and also ways to make your events profitable. So if you have been interested or even just curious about bringing events or retreats into your business or hosting them yourself one day, you are absolutely going to love, love this episode.
[00:01:43] So I hope you enjoy this episode just as much as I enjoyed having this conversation with lauren. So let's just go ahead and dive in. Let's get started.
[00:01:53] [00:02:00]
[00:02:25] Danielle Wiebe: Welcome Lauren to the podcast. I'm super excited to have you back on another episode. So welcome back. You're one of the very few that we've had for a second round, so welcome and super excited that you're here.
[00:02:39] Lauren: Oh my gosh. I'm honored. Thank you. I'm so pumped to be here.
[00:02:42] I always love our conversation, so I can't wait to see what comes out in this conversation together.
[00:02:47] Danielle Wiebe: Okay, so let's, for people who don't know you, for people who, this is the first time that you're, they're hearing about you, can you share a little bit more about you and your business?
[00:02:57] Lauren: Yeah, for sure.
[00:02:58] So I run a company called [00:03:00] Modern Collective and we are a full service event planning agency as well as travel agency. So we support our corporate clients, our coaching clients, our entrepreneur clients in adding profitable retreats and events into their business. And then the travel agency is like legit full service.
[00:03:16] So we do leisure travel groups, weddings, all that type of stuff. We don't book it, but we have a team of 20 travel agents that kind of books their own business.
[00:03:26] Danielle Wiebe: Amazing. Amazing. So cool. Okay, so I would love for you to share a little bit about, before we dive into all things, events and travel can you share a little bit about how your business has evolved over the past couple of years?
[00:03:38] Because I feel like things have changed so much when you first started your business, what has that looked like over the past few years? Really figuring out, okay, what are we focused on? What are we doing? And also adding on this whole other aspect to what you do, which is not only travel, but then also you know, your online programs and all of that.
[00:03:58] So tell us what that [00:04:00] has looked like over the past several years, cuz you've been in business now for how many years?
[00:04:05] Lauren: We're about to hit four, which is...
[00:04:06] Danielle Wiebe: four years. Congrats. That's so exciting. Okay. Tell me about that journey.
[00:04:11] Lauren: Yeah, so we launched our business in May of 2019, like right before the pandemic.
[00:04:16] And when we launched, it was more like retreat focused, and we really wanted to help people bring events into their, their online business. Cause I come from a corporate events background and then we did our like first big retreat in Bali in January, 2020, and then the pandemic hit and I was like crap, I don't know what to do from here.
[00:04:36] But because we had, or I had the background in sponsorships and partnerships and when I worked in the financial space, we pivoted to talk more about that. And then I just really quickly realized that wasn't, where the, I love it and I'm passionate about it, but long term I missed the onsite at events, the creativity, like adding that into businesses where they didn't realize they could make a [00:05:00] profit from events.
[00:05:01] So then post pandemic, we started back up with events and we quickly realized we needed someone to support the travel side of it. So we could find the hotels, we could book the events, we could do all that. But then, How are they getting there? Who is supporting the flights? And so then we're like let's just launch a travel agency because it's just why not?
[00:05:20] Danielle Wiebe: Which is, why not?
[00:05:22] Yeah. That's like always the entrepreneur thing, like why not do this?
[00:05:26] Lauren: Yeah. Yeah. And then the coolest thing happened when we launched is so many people. We launched in that sweet spot of the quote unquote great resignation where everybody was like post pandemic. I don't really wanna go back into an office and I wanna work for myself, but I wanna travel.
[00:05:43] So we had so many people join us and say I wanna be a travel agent under your brand. So then we're simultaneously building this like massive travel agency on the side of building this event agency. And I very quickly realized, If it wasn't [00:06:00] something that brought me joy or something that felt good, we weren't gonna do it.
[00:06:02] We were not gonna take on the clients that kept us up at night. We were not gonna take on the ones that pushed boundaries. We just kept saying no to things that didn't work and now we're fully booked for the, we have two spots available for the summer, but the rest of the year we're like fully booked.
[00:06:17] As soon as we started saying no, all the new clients that were aligned were like I need a spot on your calendar, so let me book a year out. And it's just been like so cool to see. Two years ago, we would take on any client and now we're like, unless you're very aligned with us and yeah. Then we don't take it on.
[00:06:34] Danielle Wiebe: So good. Okay. I love that. I would love to dive into just events because obviously we love events over here and community and creating experiences for people. I think that's one of the things that I think is so cool about what you're doing is obviously supporting your clients and like creating really cool experiences for their clients and for their community.
[00:06:59] So [00:07:00] tell me a little bit about that. Why do you think events are so powerful? Why do you think bringing in events to someone's business is a really great idea?
[00:07:13] Lauren: Yeah, I think one of the beautiful parts of the pandemic is it showed us how much we truly do crave that human interaction and how it's such a natural part of who we are, that being isolated behind your computer is not actually healthy.
[00:07:25] You need that, that human connection. And so what a lot of our clients come to us and say is, I have this idea. I really want to bring it to life. I just dunno how, I don't know what that looks like and I wanna do all these crazy cool experiences for my attendees are my client group, but I don't even know where to start.
[00:07:43] So what we love to do is sit down and talk strategy obviously, because you know this, you need a strategy when it comes to an event, but talk about like how we want their people to feel. So that will bleed into all the different sides of an event, depending on the venue that you pick or the type of transportation or the gifting.
[00:07:59] And [00:08:00] I think when you take a step back from that and you really look at how it impacts your business. It , I don't wanna say levels you up, but it takes you to that extra step in your business where people are like, oh, they're now hosting events. I'm, I don't, I look at them not more legit, cuz I think your business is very legit if you don't have a bus an event in it.
[00:08:17] But it elevates it a little bit because people realize there's an investment on your end to make an event happen and they, it just draws out, we find, at least with our clients, they are more aligned clients come in because they are craving that connection.
[00:08:31] Danielle Wiebe: Yeah, totally. And I think there's just, there's something so special about Being in person with people.
[00:08:38] And I think also the trust is built so much quicker when you are in person with someone because you can see them. And yes, we have things like Zoom. We have things that you can connect virtually very powerfully, which is awesome. But they're. Is nothing that can replicate that in-person connection.
[00:08:58] And that's why I think it's so cool, [00:09:00] like what you're doing is supporting people to create that in-person. And I think on online and in-person, I personally believe that and I, I would love to hear your thoughts on this, but I think marrying the online virtual kind of event side of things with the in-person is really powerful cuz then you can really serve. Two types of clients, or even the same client in different ways or different capacities because obviously online is so accessible, but then in-person is so impactful. So I would love to hear your thoughts on that from coming out of, not being able to do in-person events and just having virtual to then having in-person.
[00:09:40] I would love to hear your thoughts on maybe clients that you've had that have been able to do both and what that has looked.
[00:09:46] Yeah. I love this question. So it comes down to what, again, they're looking to get out of it. So a lot of our clients that host these, in-person boutique, more intimate retreats, they will also have that online aspect where they're doing a three day [00:10:00] event or some sort of little mini launch where they're doing these virtual thousands of people, hundreds of people coming together.
[00:10:06] They're getting that experience, they're getting that high touch relationship with the client, but then when they come down to the retreat, it's that more like 20 people are there. It's super detailed. It's almost like the retreat is like the end of your funnel. So the smaller virtual events are the beginning of your funnel, and then you like work with them one-on-one.
[00:10:25] And then the retreats are typically the highest price point to work with one of our clients. So it's like the end goal, which is cool because once you take that client through, Client journey within your business. They have this level of expectation when it comes to the retreat and then we just get to exceed expectations and make our clients look like rock stars.
[00:10:43] Lauren: That's amazing. So tell me a little bit about what that looks like as far as, creating those experiences that are just like above and beyond. Cuz, you do such a great job of that and I think that, Some people, they are like, oh yeah, I'm just gonna host an [00:11:00] in-person event and we'll just figure it out.
[00:11:01] And that's totally fine. Bootstrapping, great, but at the same time, if you have not put on an event before, it's really hard to understand like all of the moving parts that go into actually planning and executing a, not only successful event, but one where people leave feeling like, oh my gosh, that was so amazing.
[00:11:25] Or they leave with an experience and also a deeper connection with the person hosting it. Obviously we could probably talk about this for hours, but what are some of the key things that you think are important to think about when you're planning an in-person event?
[00:11:44] What do you think sets apart ones that are really impactful and successful and the ones that are a flop?
[00:11:52] Yeah. We literally, for hours. I think people don't realize that your attendee journey starts even before they purchase that ticket. So what [00:12:00] does it even look like up leading up to that?
[00:12:02] So are you pre-launching your retreat? How are you communicating it to your audience? How are you making them feel? And then what does that checkout process look like? Are there different payment plans? Are there different options? Is it enough time before the event to give them. That time to afford to come depending on obviously the cost.
[00:12:17] And then once that purchase happens, what happens now? Have you seen that meme on? I don't have TikTok, so I'm gonna say it on reels or whatever where it's if I don't know if I get to a place and there's no parking, I'm turning around and going
[00:12:29] Danielle Wiebe: home. Yeah, totally. I'm not on TikTok either, by the way, so I'm like I don't know what's going on there, but
[00:12:35] Lauren: But that's what we say to our clients once they purchase that ticket, you need to over communicate with them, because everybody's life is busy, and I'm the worst event attendee. As an event planner. I read my emails 10 o'clock at night, the night before, and I'm like, okay, where do I have to go?
[00:12:50] What do I have to do? And unless it's very easily accessible to, in one email, a know before you go, I'm not gonna know what I'm doing and then I'm gonna feel frustrated and I'm [00:13:00] not gonna feel supported. So my number one point is communicate. Communicate often and communicate really clearly to your audience, regardless if it's a one day popup, like if it is a popup in Toronto, what does the parking look like nearby? Are you going above and beyond and purchasing them parking passes so that they feel super supported? Or did you get valet? Like how can you make your attendee feel like, oh my God, they really took care of me. And then above and beyond that, just like paying attention to the small things.
[00:13:27] Is there a dietary restriction? Is there an accessibility restriction? And you've gone above and beyond to help think about that. Do they only drink oat milk and not almond milk and have you stock their fridge? And just really paying attention to the human part of an event is going to exceed expectations.
[00:13:43] And that's like the feedback we get all the time. Oh my God, you actually listened to me. And I'm like, it's not that hard. People are so focused on the profit or the how it looks on social media that they forget to actually care about how the attendee experiences. So if you focus on that, everything else will [00:14:00] come together.
[00:14:01] Danielle Wiebe: So good. I really love that you said the communication piece because I think that is so key and so important. And I think it's so interesting how, we can just assume that, oh, like all the information is here or there, or they can just check, this link or the website or whatever.
[00:14:18] But it's like communication is so key. Overcommunicate almost because people are, like you said, people are busy. People have so much going on. And especially if someone has paid and invested in something. And if they played a high price point for it too, like they wanna know those details beforehand.
[00:14:38] And so making sure that you have those available for them and I think we can sometimes second guess of. Oh, am I being annoying? Am I communicating too much? Am I sending too many emails? It's I feel like when it comes to something like. , it's never gonna be too much because they have put down their hard-earned money , to be there and so creating that experience for them.
[00:14:59] And it [00:15:00] actually makes me think of a conference that I just went to and they did this so well. It was a two day conference and We got emails leading up to it and then also the morning of, and then reminders in the evening.
[00:15:10] And I was like, they're on it as far as their communication. And it really did make a big difference. And it made me think what can I be doing with our events to almost overcommunicate because I think that's so powerful. And then I love that you said the details cuz I think, agree with that. I think the magic is always in those kind of small little details that people think of.
[00:15:30] And so I would love to hear your perspective how would you do that cuz I, of course, you're talking about like retreats and different things too. But if someone's wanting to host like a larger event, for example, for their business, how do you create maybe those little moments within that event when it's also catered to a larger audience. Cause like you might not be able to necessarily like you said, stock their fridge with like oat milk. Like I love that, but it's like, how can you maybe create those [00:16:00] little key touches for people when it's a larger, more scaled event?
[00:16:04] Something like a conference or something like a a multiple day event or something like that.
[00:16:10] Lauren: Totally. I have so many answers to this question, so I wanna take it a little bit back and first really understand, is that what your audience wants? Do they want that big, full scale multiple day event?
[00:16:22] Because what we see time, by time again, is that all of our prospects, our clients, are trying to market to a brand new audience and. What they want. So they'll be like I think I need to put on this big conference. And I'm like have you asked your audience? And they're like, no. I'm like maybe start there.
[00:16:39] And then the audience actually ends up telling them, no, they want a really boutique retreat and they'll pay five times the price. So before we get into those details, like I would say really understand your audience and sell to the current audience that you have. Don't try and focus all of your sales on an audience that you don't know.
[00:16:55] I think there's time and a place for that. And there's definitely a strategy that you can use with like affiliates and [00:17:00] speakers and all that type of stuff. But really focus on doing exactly what your audience wants cuz it'll make it easier to wow them instead of trying to convince someone to come and then they're picking apart your event.
[00:17:10] So that's step number one. Step number two is again, it's gonna come down to the little details. Are you asking them dietary restrictions on the registration form and then actually following through with those dietary restrictions? Like the amount of events that I've been to where I'm like, I'm vegan and gluten free, and I can literally eat nothing on the menu.
[00:17:28] It's frustrating. And I'm like, I, why even ask me if you're not going? Deliver on it. So getting really focused on those like minute details, little things. We actually had an event with a client recently where we had a the word is escaping me, but like a sensory station. So if they were overwhelmed from all of the interaction and mingling and music and noise, they could go and like color in a coloring book in the room.
[00:17:53] Danielle Wiebe: That's cool.
[00:17:54] Lauren: Things like that. The same event we did a Color name badges, depending on the comfort level [00:18:00] of post pandemic. So I'm comfortable hugging, I'm good with a handshake or please respect my space. So like thinking about attendee experience, even in a massive event, you can still focus on again, it's gonna come in the pre, so are you asking them if they have any accessibility issues?
[00:18:15] For this specific event, we turned both of the bathrooms into gender neutral. So there was no question of comfort comfortability, it was we're doing this to make it accessible for everybody and how are you thinking about those little things when it comes to a big event? Because AV is gonna be the same at every event.
[00:18:32] Your typical buffet, food and beverage is probably gonna be the same unless you take it that extra level and think, how is the attendee going to experience this? Are we doing individually wrapped food or are we like bringing in a meal from outside for someone? Like really making sure that every experience is really thought out because here's the thing, you're gonna upset someone at your event. Not everybody's gonna be happy, but if you're focusing on trying to make everybody happy, you're gonna fail. So just focus on like doing the [00:19:00] right thing and everybody will be happy. And the right thing is that like attention to detail and really just caring about your people.
[00:19:07] So good.
[00:19:08] Danielle Wiebe: Okay. I kind of wanna dive into that a little bit because I obviously, we host a lot of events too, and you really can't please everyone, but like you said, you can do everything basically in your power to make sure everyone feels, supported and all of that.
[00:19:26] So how do you navigate those? Tricky situations, whether it be during an event or after event, when things don't go as planned. Because as we both know for events and anyone that's hosted events before, there's always gonna be something that doesn't go to plan or something that falls through or something that's messy, whatever that is.
[00:19:47] And so how do you actually navigate like the challenges that come with events in a way that leaves you, that leaves your attendee feeling still supported, even if [00:20:00] it was not a good situation. Does that make sense?
[00:20:03] Lauren: Totally. This is one of my favorite questions because I always say to the team, or like honestly, anyone that ask, event planners are like ducks on the surface we're so calm and so collected, but underneath the water we're like swimming to try and keep our head above water and make it look flawless. So I feel like there's two answers here. If it's like an attendee breakdown, obviously 90% of the time they just wanna be heard.
[00:20:28] 99% of the time, it's actually not something that's happening at the event. It's something that has triggered them or something that's happening back home. So just hold that space for them to vent or give you feedback. But don't take it personally because if 99 other people are having a great experience, their experience is valid.
[00:20:45] But just bless and release it like we do it all the time where we're like, oh, we appreciate your feedback. We'll take that into consideration for the future. Thank you for voicing that and coming to us. If there's a way that we can make it better, great. If not, we respect your decision and like you can either leave or [00:21:00] honestly, we give refunds out so quickly.
[00:21:01] Like I, I'm not about holding money. If you're not happy, take it back. Like it, it, At the end of the day, that person is usually like, oh, you know what, no, you're right. I don't want my money back. I just felt like I needed to be heard. Where issue comes with attendees is when you like fight back with them.
[00:21:17] We always just say like, okay. And then as a team, we'll like debrief and be like that freaking sucked. Or we'll talk about it as a team, but attendee facing, we're like, whatever you need within boundaries. Like I don't wanna be walked over. I don't want people to be yelling at us.
[00:21:30] You just have to like, like I said, bless and release it. There's going to be feedback. Take it for the next time around. And then when it comes to event breakdown, this is. Again it's going to happen like avs not gonna work or we're gonna have a weather call or whatever it is at these different events and there's no way to know what's coming.
[00:21:50] It's more your attitude towards it. So I always say to my team we will not be the event planners that are screaming at a supplier. We will not be like, your group is looking to you for [00:22:00] confidence, for you to calm down and for you to tell them. What happens next and they will follow. We actually had this one event in November and we were at an outside like long table dinner and it started pouring rain, like downfall rain.
[00:22:16] And granted the group that we were with was just like, Magical humans. Like they were like laughing and having fun with it. And we just got up from the table and my team started serving dinner cuz we were like, we need to get this food out. Like we just went with it and we were calling orders and it was like the most beautiful, chaotic event experience I've ever had. But if we were there like getting angry and frustrated and yelling at the serving server like service staff, it would've just like our attendees would've felt that, but instead they were like laughing with us that we like literally are wet dogs serving these like sloppy tacos.
[00:22:49] Cause it was so rainy, but it was like, oh my gosh, that's so funny. We made the best of it. And that's what you have to.
[00:22:54] Danielle Wiebe: Yeah. Oh man, that's such a, I love that answer cuz it's so true. And I think that's often [00:23:00] what holds people back from hosting events is cuz that unknown of what if this goes wrong?
[00:23:07] What if that goes wrong? Or what if this happens? It's that's like the scary part about hosting an event is that, like you said, you know that something, it I don't think I've ever hosted an event where I'm like literally nothing went wrong. There's always something, and it's not that, it's oh this is like such a disaster.
[00:23:26] But there and often, like you said, it's I love that analogy of the ducks. It's the event planner. Like just so sometimes you know, things come up and then you can very quickly solve those issues or solve those problems before they become like bigger. Issues. And sometimes people don't even notice that there was even a challenge.
[00:23:45] When those bigger things come, it's like, how, I love that you said that, like how you handle it, how you react, and then coming up with some sort of a solution of what you can do to just make people feel. Feel heard and feel seen and [00:24:00] and then yeah at, in worst case scenario, gi giving a refund if someone is really unhappy or whatever that looks like.
[00:24:06] Okay. I would love to talk about, because events cost a lot of money to put on. So I would love to talk about like some of the ways that you help clients to be able to host events where they're not having to basically take all the money that they made that year and be like, okay, I'm hosting an event and I'm gonna put all this money into that.
[00:24:28] Obviously there's like ticket sales and different things, but I would love to hear your thoughts on how can you make an event profitable where you're like, it's still a part of your business and able to bring in revenue for you because realistically hosting and planning an event is a ton of work.
[00:24:46] Lauren: Yeah. So I think that's also a thing that holds people back is, okay, I wanna host an event for my community, but one, it's gonna take a lot of time. And two, can I even afford to put this on?
[00:24:58] Yeah. I think it's gonna come [00:25:00] down to expectation. So what we do with our clients is before we even talk ticket pricing, location, any of that type of stuff.
[00:25:08] We talk about profit goals, so we've had clients who are like, I don't wanna make a profit. I just wanna break even. We've had other clients who are like, I wanna make a hundred grand on this event and make it happen. And we're like, okay, those are going to be very different at penny experiences, but we look at your, we build out your budget first.
[00:25:23] That's our number one thing that we build out. And then we have that profit goal in mind. And there's been times when we'll go to our client and be like, okay your goal on this event is 10 grand profit. You have to charge 2,500 bucks a person in order to make that profit because your expenses are this much.
[00:25:40] And they're like I'm not comfortable charging that for my tickets. And we're like, okay, then you have to change your expectation or change the type of experience you want your attendee to have. And where so many people go wrong is they're like, I'm gonna host an event and I wanna charge 50 bucks a ticket and I'm gonna profit 20 grand.
[00:25:56] And you're like, mathematically that doesn't make sense. So totally making [00:26:00] sure that you're doing that. Like pre-work in, okay, what are my profit goals if there's no profit goal? Put a margin in there just in case like an unexpected expense comes up. I'm not even gonna talk about sponsorship cuz we treat sponsorship as a bonus.
[00:26:12] We never ever put it in our event budgets. It's always a profit on top of event budget cuz sponsorship vendor tickets, like that's not guaranteed. That's always like a fun add-on. We always do our budgets based on expenses, ticket price, equal. You are a profit, and I know that's not how, not many people do it that way, but we've seen success with it because it sets that expectation to our clients that, okay, if you wanna profit a hundred grand, you're not selling your retreat for any less than 15 grand and need this many tickets.
[00:26:44] And if that's not comfortable, then maybe lower your hotel rating expectation and kind of figuring it out that way. So my biggest piece of advice is don't go in blind. Like really understand what your numbers are before you launch your retreat. Cuz everyone gets stuck in the I want it to be so Pinteresty and [00:27:00] Instagram and then okay, but what is the number and the foundation of your event actually look like?
[00:27:04] Danielle Wiebe: Yeah. And it's so easy to , to look at other events like, let's say that you've seen on social media or that you've seen, and like you, you don't know, like you have no idea, maybe they actually put up, and that was actually something from that I learned that I had no idea about the event that I went to was like, This was a complete marketing budget for them. And they lost, not lost, but they spent, they invested a lot of money to put that event on, and it wasn't profitable for them. And so it's interesting when you actually start to like you said, work with the numbers and.
[00:27:39] And it's so easy to look at other events and say oh, I want my event to be exactly like that and they only turned this, or whatever, but I also wanna make a profit. It's yeah. And so I love that you said that it's, there's a lot of like strategy that goes along with it and like pre-planning to be able to figure out how to make that happen.
[00:27:55] Lauren: We've also seen two clients who, and there's two different, let's just talk re retreats [00:28:00] for example. There's two different experiences. There is the Airbnb experience and then there's the all-inclusive hotel experience, and then there's like a boutique hotel. There's so many different ways that you can do it, but we have so many people that come to us and they're like, I hosted my first one.
[00:28:13] We rented an Airbnb, we had a private chef and we didn't make any money. And I'm like, obviously I can look at your budget right now and tell you 10 gaps on why you didn't make a bud, or make a profit. The actual experience you want to have for your attendees is probably at a small boutique hotel where it's all inclusive.
[00:28:30] So you're not paying these astronomical prices for a chef, but it's not like your typical 400 room all inclusive where you're getting lost. Like it's finding that location that's gonna pair up with the experience that you want and focus less on, we do not recommend Airbnbs at all for retreats. Like it's just, it's not, yeah. For us it's not, we haven't found it to be a profitable business model at all. And so we just recommend they don't use an Airbnb.
[00:28:57] Danielle Wiebe: Yeah. It's, that's so interesting that you [00:29:00] say that cuz I would've assumed the opposite. Like I would've assumed that like doing an Airbnb would actually be better or easier and yeah, I'm curious about that. Like why do you think that is? Is it because the, you have to bring in everything or...
[00:29:19] Lauren: there's a couple of different things. One is, yes, you have to bring everything in. You have to bring in a chef, or you're doing catering offsite or you're going offsite for a dinner, and then you have to look at transportation for all of that.
[00:29:33] Plus, the one thing that 99% of our clients don't understand with the Airbnb route is that they have to, like at the end of the night when they're tapped out, where do they go? Like how do they get away from their attendees? You're stuck in the same place and it's just a completely different experience.
[00:29:50] Danielle Wiebe: Okay. That totally makes sense and I love that you shared that because I think it's yeah, like I said, it's so, um, interesting to see how other people have done [00:30:00] it, and then you just assume that oh, this is the way that I'm gonna do it. But it just, yeah. I appreciate that there's so much strategy and so much I don't know thought behind, the, even the choice of where you're staying and what food you have and all of those things. So thank you for sharing that. That is so valuable. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We could talk all day, like I said, learn about this.
[00:30:19] But I, we need to wrap up. Can you share with us what are you the most proud of over the past four years of building this business and all the different things that you've been able to do in working with clients. What are you the most proud of your entrepreneurial journey so far?
[00:30:37] Lauren: Oh my God. What a question. That is such a good question.
[00:30:40] I think it's twofold. Like I'm proud that I haven't given up yet because there's been so many times when I'm like, I'm throwing in the tell. And honestly, I think every entrepreneur has this moment when you're like, I'm out, I'm done. So I think just like my commitment to this vision is like what makes me really proud.
[00:30:56] And then also my team, like my team,[00:31:00] been so incredible and I love like my core team members. I think with every business you have the ups and downs and the ebbs and flows and realizing the alignment and all that type of stuff. But I'm really proud of like the people I have in my corner and how authentic and like real those relationships are.
[00:31:19] That's
[00:31:19] Danielle Wiebe: so good. I love that so much. Thank you so much for being on Lauren. Can you tell everyone like what's coming up? How can people find you? How can people learn more about what you're doing? And if they wanna connect with you or work with you or ask you questions, tell us all the places.
[00:31:35] Lauren: Yeah, so we actually on, in April this year, I don't know when this podcast is coming up, but we are going through a really big rebrand.
[00:31:44] So we've overhauled the website, the logo, the colors, literally everything. So that's coming up that we're so excited about. And then we're gonna be launching a new course all about planning and hosting your own retreat or an event or whatever you wanted to add to your business. And we're gonna literally [00:32:00] hand Everything over.
[00:32:01] So templates, processes, everything. Like it's a very comprehensive course, which I'm so excited cuz we can't support more people than we do right now. We just are at capacity. We can't be in multiple places at once. So we decided, let's just like give everybody our process and watch them do it and support them through it themselves.
[00:32:19] So that's coming in May of this year and so Good. And they can follow us just at, on Instagram @modern_collective with an underscore.
[00:32:28] I love it.
[00:32:29] Danielle Wiebe: I love it. Thank you so much for being on Lauren. I appreciate you and I appreciate your time and yeah, definitely connect with Lauren and all the fun things that she's doing and also Instagram stories where you're just, jet setting around the world is super fun to watch as all.
[00:32:45] Lauren: Thank you so much.
[00:32:47] If you love this episode, make sure you screenshot, post and tag us on Instagram at business babes co. Want to know when the next episode goes live? [00:33:00] Subscribe on your podcast app and while you're there, leave us a review. Until next time, keep dreaming big, setting goals and taking action.
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