Adventures in Posada

Back to the blog! I’m so, so, so excited to be prioritizing my blog in 2020. I hope that you find this a place of inspiration, knowledge, and community, and I would love to hear from you this year!

On that note, I figured the best place to start would be a sharing a mix of two of my favorite things- travel and community.

Planning for The Posada.

Back in December 2019, I planned a retreat for some women I work alongside in Monat. I wanted it to be a weekend of training, fun, connection, team and business building, and support. Events aren’t typically my strong suit or “spiritual gift,” if you will, but this was a long time coming, and it ended up being one of the most special things I did last year. I know team building retreats may not be a regular thing you do for your business, but I wanted to offer up a behind the scenes look at the planning that went into this, in case this is something you’ve wanted to do!

Day one:

Relaxed arrival day. I don’t know about you, but I need uncomplicated travel days. The thought of airport travel and then having to rush to get work done right when arriving is a nightmare, so I wanted the day to be relaxed. Everyone arrived in Tucson, stopped at the grocery store, arrived at the Posada (about 30 minutes outside of Tucson, bordering the Saguaro National Forest), chose our rooms, got comfies on, and spent the rest of the day hanging out, talking business and life and just enjoying each other’s company.

Day two:

Content shooting day! In the world of photography meets direct sales, I love having a day where we can focus purely on content creation. One of the things that makes our team unique is that we rely solely on our own content to share the Monat brand with our personal brands, and I feel content creation is the best way to showcase that. I hired a dear friend and very talented photographer to fly in from upstate NY to spend the day shooting photo, and I found the most incredible videography team to come and shoot video as well. Finding a local videographer was as simple as researching the hashtag #tucsonvideographer and then picking through to find someone who had a vibe that matched mine. Jen and her team were absolutely incredible, I’m already trying to come up with reasons to work with them again!

Day three:

Financial training day. This was something unique to my team that I discovered not many others focus on, but it’s so needed! We spent the morning with my financial advisor who flew in from the DC area, and the knowledge and guidance he poured into us was so, so good.

Joshua Tree House

On a regular basis, I seek out new areas of the US I’ve never been, and I do this via Instagram! If you can believe that. I scout locations, venues, lofts for rent, simply by following accounts I love and seeing who they collaborate with and keeping up with connecting with other business builders I’m inspired by.

I stumbled across the Joshua Tree House a while back and put myself on their mailing list. When I received an email that the Posada in Tucson was pre-booking, I emailed right away.

Book the venue first, figure everything else out later.

Mariah, the property manager for the Posada, was a dream to work with. She was quick on emails and communication, professional and courteous, and so, so sweet. She also offered up some much needed assistance in getting vendors squared away for dinner, a private yoga session, and anything else I needed. I can’t recommend her or the Posada enough.

A trip to remember

The trip was everything I had hoped it would be and more-- plenty of rest amidst training, collaborating, the creative process, and community.

If you’re currently building a team or working towards community in your profession, I strongly recommend putting yourself out there and creating a safe space/getaway for like minds to collaborate. Being self-employed can be lonely and hard. Having a community is necessary to build each other up while building business and creating an impact.