Speaker 1: 0:00

So you want to launch a subscription box and don't know where to start? Girl, you are in the right place.

Speaker 2: 0:06

I'm Julie Ball and I'm Renee Gonzalez, your host here at Subscription Box.

Speaker 1: 0:11

Basics a podcast for new and aspiring subscription box entrepreneurs wanting to avoid overwhelm.

Speaker 2: 0:17

So grab a coffee, some pen and paper and let's have some fun.

Speaker 1: 0:22

Hey everybody, Welcome back to Subscription Box Basics. Renee and I are here today to do a box besties retreat recap. It's been a couple of weeks. We've decompressed and we want to tell you all about it because it was so amazing, Right.

Speaker 2: 0:40

Renee yes, even though it was still a few weeks ago, I feel like I'm still writing in that high of seeing everyone in person, so I can't wait to talk about it and relive it today.

Speaker 1: 0:49

Oh, I know, and I actually just before this podcast, this recording I did a coaching call with Lauren from Delightfully Hot, who is at the event, and she is. She has had so many takeaways from the retreat and she just had her bucket filled so much, which is really great to hear that in person. So the plan here today is we're going to walk you through what went down at the retreat and we're going to share a lot about the swag bag and if you check the show notes, there's going to be a link where you can actually win one of our box besties retreat swag bags, which were such a huge hit. Shout out to all the sponsors. We're going to talk about them later on in the episode, but yes, we are going to give one away.

Speaker 2: 1:32

We love a good giveaway, and this is one you're going to want to enter, because I can't wait to tell everyone everything that's in it. It was awesome, yes.

Speaker 1: 1:39

And this is a good example. If you're listening and you've been thinking about doing a giveaway, we are using the King Sumo software for our giveaway. This is the same software that we recommend our subscription box students to use when they're launching or when they just need to grow their email list. So you can take a page out of our book and use the King Sumo software. So, all right, let's just paint the picture. Renee, I'm thinking back on it right now because the juxtaposition of where we're at, or at least where I'm at right now, versus a couple of weeks ago is crazy, because I'm literally sitting in my office with a electric blanket because it's cold outside. And last week I was in Pennsylvania with my family and it was cold and rainy. And I'm just thinking back of that that one day at the pool, when it was just all the barefoot business meetings my new favorite hashtag. So, OK, why don't you start? Paint the picture of where we started. I guess would be day one when we did the mixer.

Speaker 2: 2:38

All right. So day one was, for some people, travel day. Some people came on Sunday, but Monday was our official day one, so everyone was able to travel and check in and just unwind and relax on their own until we had our mixer, which officially kicked off at 6.30 at night. It was awesome. It was low key and casual, but such a great free to having a day altogether, which was our day. Two was our long day, but it was really nice to get together that first day one that night and officially meet people, because even Julie and I, even though we had connected with everyone online, there were people we hadn't had real conversations with, even online yet a lot of people hadn't met. Some people only met once and only knew each other a little bit. So it was a really good day one to get to know each other.

Speaker 1: 3:32

Yeah, we had taken these conversations that were basically just in the Facebook group we had. We did have a Facebook group so that the women could talk a little bit, they could find roommates if they needed to or whatever, but man, it was just so good to have them in real life. I don't know if you mentioned this. We were at the Land Shark bar and grill and this is the place that the other two times Renee and I went to Fort Lauderdale. We went and enjoyed rooftop drinks and a view of the ocean. We were this time it was a little bit windy so I was a little concerned. There was a storm the night before but it all cleared up so it was perfect.

Speaker 2: 4:07

We sat around the table and add appetizers and drinks and just got to know each other and it was so lovely and I think Renee and I were actually the first ones to leave and everyone else, stayed and got to know each other, which was just a testament to like the caliber of women that were there and their commitment to invest in everybody else and getting to know each other and I feel like you talked about the weather a little bit, but I feel like this is a really good lesson for anyone that is listening to, because you and me had our dream scenario of what things would turn out like, but we were in Florida and we were there at the tail end of questionable weather season hurricane season yes, so we knew we needed a plan B, we needed a plan C, and we rolled with the punches and our group was so amazing too, and they were awesome.

Speaker 2: 5:01

There was a few events throughout the three days we were together that we were like this is what we're going to do, but we might have to pivot, and everyone was so understanding, so awesome, and the weather progressively got better throughout the week. So that was amazing too, and it really wasn't even bad weather at all. It was just when the blue give us some hair, some volume to myself, I love it.

Speaker 1: 5:24

I had such a great night that night but honestly, it had been a long day where I had traveled. The day before we were preparing for everything, so we did head in and we started, you and I, renee. We started getting ready for hosting the women the next day, because we didn't mention this yet, but we had a suite at the Mark Rederville hotel, and so what that meant is that we had almost like this living room in addition to the bedroom in the bathroom, and so we brought some chairs in, we had it set up, we instacarded some food and some drinks so that everyone will be very comfortable, and it worked out so well with the size group we had. And one of the reasons we did that is because one, when we were talking with the event coordinators at the hotel, they had some options for group events, but when they told us about conference rooms, it just did not feel on brand, it did not feel our vibe and we needed to make sure that we had good space available but space for creativity. We wanted to make sure people were comfortable.

Speaker 1: 6:32

It had room, but it also felt good and cozy. So we got the suite and it had a couch. We had some extra chairs and a desk Again had some snacks. We also had this amazing veranda balcony, and so picture this you open the big glass doors and you walk out to this veranda, which was Probably as big as the bedroom and the living room together, had chairs and tables. If you look to the right, you saw the ocean. If you look straight, you saw the strip of land and all the hotels and the restaurants. Then you look to the left and you see the intercoastal waterway. It was just stunning. I had some of those moments where I just stood there just in pure gratitude, just in awe of I can't believe we made this happen. I just felt so happy.

Speaker 2: 7:24

It was such a good space because when we were all in our little living room area, we were able to take breaks. People were able to step outside but still be within our room. They were able to leave if they wanted to, but it was nice to just step outside and see that view and get that reminder of where you were. Then the last day, too, jump in ahead, which we'll talk about. But we even were able to use people were able to use that space if they wanted to too. It was the room was again one of those things that we're like oh, we had saw conference rooms, but we hadn't seen the room in person. So we're like this might be a little bit of a gamble, but it worked out better than we could have pictured it. It was such a great space.

Speaker 1: 8:04

Yeah, if you guys know, renee and I, we will just roll with it, it will figure out a plan B. We just it was one of those moments where we're like, okay, fingers crossed, let's book this, let's hope it works, if not, we'll figure it out. That's such an entrepreneurial attitude that you guys might relate to is like that figure it out attitude. So it worked out really well. You're right, that balcony veranda was great for a coworking space. Later there was an impromptu photo shoot, like it was just so great. So let's talk about day two, which was Tuesday, and we started off the day with just hanging out, getting to know each other. We had some icebreakers, we did a mad lives for our icebreaker and we were crying, laughing. It was so much fun. And then we, we learned everybody's story and I love that about the living room. It was cozy and it was intimate and it felt like we were just having a girls weekend, like we were sitting around, everyone got to tell kind of their launch story, their why, and we got to know everyone very quickly. There were tears early on and I had to tell you, tell this story really quickly. I'll keep it short.

Speaker 1: 9:16

So one of the women at our retreat, had actually been a Sparkle Hustle Grow subscriber since 2017.

Speaker 1: 9:25

And her name was Karen and she's sitting there and she's telling her story about.

Speaker 1: 9:30

She used to get Sparkle Hustle Grow for motivation and it helped her have a dream about what she wanted to do beyond the career that she was in.

Speaker 1: 9:41

And, I kid you not, she reaches into her purse and pulls out a tote bag that we sent in a Sparkle Hustle Grow box in 2017. And if she pulled it out, it's hot pink. It said hustle, with heart and through tears, she says this bag is a reminder to me of my dream and I take it with me everywhere. Oh my gosh, the whole room just like crying tears of gratitude and just so grateful to not only be a part of her story, for her to be a part of our group, but it just reminds you as a box owner that even when you don't think what you do matters, it does it matters to someone. Maybe that's the only thing that was keeping someone going that month, where maybe that's the only gift that they got for the whole year. There's all these scenarios you can run in your head, but it was just so so impactful, and she said if Julie can do it, I can too.

Speaker 2: 10:38

So, beyond the stuff that you delivered in Sparkle Hustle Grow, just that reminder that you did it, and she has this dream that she's still in pre-launch but she can do it too, and I think that's so powerful also, and just a reminder to yourself that all of us, as entrepreneurs, you have these highs and these low lows, and when you're at that low to remember there are reasons you started this. There are other people who are doing this. You're doing it different and you're doing it your way, but you can do it. So it was, just right off the bat, such an impactful day, and we told all our box besties this, but I really feel like I took so much out of the whole experience too, and it was so invigorating and just motivating for me to be in that room too, so it was really a win.

Speaker 2: 11:27

Another thing, too, that I don't think you mentioned yet, julie, as we didn't start till nine o'clock, which was big for Julie and I because we're in both, not morning people, which works out very well for us. So everyone was able to sleep in a little bit. Everyone was able to get a little bite to eat. We did have snacks, but then we also, throughout the day, took breaks. We really encouraged people to leave if they had to. It was really you could come as you are. I know Julie put clothes on, but I was in sweats and leggings, so we would close on like you have clothes on.

Speaker 1: 11:59

You have clothes on. You just had loungewear on Loungewear, but everyone was comfortable, like we had posted in the Facebook group come as you are, we want you to be comfortable. This is meant to be not a corporate conference. This is different.

Speaker 2: 12:17

Yeah, I think it really helped people feel comfortable, but not only our setting, just being who you are in that setting, the self, it was awesome.

Speaker 1: 12:26

Having that small room, I really think, created the environment that every woman there was needing. One of the things when I had talked to Lauren on that coaching call earlier, she had really said that when she gets out of her warehouse or she already has a product-based business when she gets out of her office, out of her warehouse, she's. I cannot believe how many creative ideas fire in my brain, like when I'm driving by myself or when I get into an environment like this where I can throw ideas not just against the wall but up in the air for all these other women to help me work through it. Just it makes such a big difference. Okay, back to the agenda.

Speaker 1: 13:06

On Tuesday morning. One of the things and you may if you're ever running a retreat, this may be helpful to you. But instead of mapping out every 30 minutes, we just said, okay, from nine to 10, we're doing relationship building. From 10 to 12, we're doing workshops. We had it mapped out of what workshops we wanted to do or how we were going to build relationship, but it gave us this flexibility that we felt like we didn't have to be like with a timer. Okay, so stop what you're doing right now, let's move on to the next thing. It just allowed things to flow more organically and really provide the opportunity to get to know each other. So some things took longer than we anticipated, but it was okay because we had built in that flexibility. So if you ever run a retreat or even some sort of like online event, unless you have to be super regimented about that schedule man, it just helps so much to have the flexibility.

Speaker 2: 14:02

Yeah, and again it goes back to that, just like going with the flow, having your plan B, we got to everything we wanted to talk about over the course of the two and a half days, but again there were some things that on that day too, we were like, oh, maybe we'll talk about fistering workshops, and we ended bumping it over to day three because things were just flowing and the conversations were going a better direction than we could have even imagined.

Speaker 1: 14:26

Yep Okay. So after the morning of workshops and we just did some little things too we had all kinds of resources we did our unboxing that morning too, which I should call it an unbagging because it was the swag bag. So I have the list of sponsors that participated. They were so generous in participating and donating amazing items, not just any old items, but really intentional items. So I'm going to walk through those really quickly. If you are interested in learning any more about some of these vendors, we're going to have them all linked with some information in the show notes. There's some custom items here that, if you are a box owner and you're looking for custom items, we got you, we got your vendors right here. So if you're watching the video on YouTube, you'll see this, but otherwise we're going to try and paint the picture here.

Speaker 1: 15:17

We got these tote bags. They're turquoise tote bags. They're really thick. They have a flat bottom, which I really love. These were created by Bello Rose Designs. They're a veteran owned business out of Indiana, family owned. They do custom designs where you can have your logo put on literally anything, or they can even create some design for you and then print it. They hand print all this stuff. So it's really intentional and Sarah was so great to work with. So on the front of the bag it says life is a journey that's not measured in miles or years, but in experiences and that's a Jimmy Buffett quote how perfect. And it says Box Besties Retreat 2023. And on the back is their logo. So everything was packed into this and everybody loved these bags.

Speaker 2: 16:08

I used mine on the way home as my little personal item. The flat bottom was clutch it was awesome.

Speaker 1: 16:13

I used mine last week when we went on a family vacation. It was our snack bag, so yay for that. Another one of our big sponsors, of course, was our friends at Sub-Summit. If you guys haven't heard us talk about Sub-Summit then you probably haven't been listening to many episodes, because I swear we talk about Sub-Summit in so many episodes. But they came through and provided us with some really great notebooks. It is a navy blue notebook with Sub-Summit logo on it, and they sent us a whole bunch of t-shirts, so everyone got to walk away with a t-shirt too. Sub-summit is in Dallas next year. It's going to be in June. We are going to have all the information in the show notes, but that's one of those events that Renee and I go to every single year and we highly recommend it. It's a lot of fun. Very different than the retreat that we created, this is more of like an expo, with speakers and workshops and all kind of like live podcasts and things like that, and then after party.

Speaker 2: 17:11

That's never to be missed.

Speaker 1: 17:13

Oh yeah, they also have the after party and the cube awards. We were lucky enough to win a cube award a couple of years ago and it was such a treat. It was a community choice cube award, and so if you haven't heard of the cube awards, that's where they have all these different categories. It's kind of like the Emmys right or like the Grammys for the subscription box industry. It's great, and you'll be hearing more about Sub-Summit in the next couple of months because their tickets are going on sale very soon, before the end of the year. So stay tuned. We'll be giving more information on that.

Speaker 2: 17:46

Another item we had was from subscription box designs. It was a custom made just for our group mug and it says but first coffee and all around the mug was all different actions that subscription box owners take Like currently. You want to read some of them, yeah.

Speaker 1: 18:08

Design new products, write a blog post, share box opening plan the next theme and the gals that designed this. They actually are subscription box boot campers that started their own box called Bunny Funbox, and they're graphic designers, as that's what they are as a trade, and they now run subscription box designs. So if you need like a box design or if you need stickers, they included some cute little stickers too. They created the design of this mug. I'm obsessed with this mug.

Speaker 2: 18:42

It is so cute.

Speaker 1: 18:43

It is just so cute. It's colorful and it's very niche to the subscription box industry. But if you want something like this for your box, then you can reach out to Kate and Jess at subscription box designs and they'll design something custom for you. Well, the next sponsor, good old Sparkle Hustle Grow Thank you so much, carol, for contributing. She sent everyone a clutch from CJN work and inside the clutch I thought this was, this was clutch. I thought this was super cool. She actually stuffed the clutch bag with a set of pens and a little handwritten note from Heartworm with a discount code to join Sparkle Hustle Grow, and that's such a good example of how to activate a sponsorship. So not only did she provide a great item, but it had this like surprise element.

Speaker 2: 19:38

Another item is one of my favorite personal development books Badass Habits by Jensen Chary and that was from Abby, from Smart Ass and Sass, and she also included a little weekly planner pad as well. So that was bundled all in a little bag and if you're watching the YouTube video, julie's currently struggling to get it up in the bag.

Speaker 1: 20:07

The planner pad and the book were very lovingly put together in a little bag with a great sticker that said Smart Ass and Sass, but I could not get it out of the bag because I was trying to be quiet. So, anyhow, I'm back. If you're watching the video, you can see how cute the planner pad is. Renee is over there cracking up at me, sorry, guys.

Speaker 2: 20:29

Yeah, and the book is literally. I have it in book form and I also have it on Audible and Julie, I think you do too and it's one of those books that I reference all the time, I listen to all the time. So such a great book for our group, because habits are one of those things that I think. Myself, as an entrepreneur, tried to avoid getting in a routine because I was like, oh, I work for myself, I don't need a routine, for years. And then once you're like, oh, this makes my life so much easier because I know what to do on a daily basis. I need a plan for a weekly basis. So Badass Habits is a great thing if you're looking for a routine to read, because it really helps just your whole life run so much smoother. So check out Badass Habits, enter our giveaway, because that's one of the things that will be in there. I love.

Speaker 1: 21:18

Jensen Sherrill, the author of that book. She is just one of those authors that I go back to regularly. So thank you, abby at S'more, nass and Sass for donating that bundle, and if you love S'more, nassie and Sassie stuff, then go subscribe to that subscription box because it's super fun. But two, if you're looking for items for your box, abby has a great shop of excess inventory that we can connect you with her if you're looking to include some of that stuff in your own box, and so I think that's such a win when we as subscription box business owners can support each other. I can't tell you how many times I've bought excess inventory from other boxes and other boxes have bought from my excess inventory, so it's such a win. So thank you, abby.

Speaker 1: 22:03

Moving on to the next sponsor was Kimmy Wilson. Oh my gosh, I absolutely adore her, and what she created for us in the swag bag was such a unique experience. So everyone got this little jar of shower fizzies. When we talked to Kimmy, we said we need like a signature scent for our beachy retreat, and so she created this scent for us. It's called peachy colada and it's beautifully packaged in a container. This one's three ounces, so it's a great little size if you wanted to get something like this to put in your own box. And she tied on these little wooden spoons because the product is actually like a powder, almost like a bath bomb deconstructed Instead of it being one. It comes in the packaging where you just put a couple of spoonfuls in your shower and it smells so good and I'm sure Renee is probably cringing right now, but I'm gonna give you TMI. We also use this like Poo-Poo-Ree in our bathroom because we were sharing a hotel room. Let's just be honest, we're human and so we just sprinkle a little bit of this in the toilet and the whole bathroom smelled lovely. But this peachy colada has such a great beachy vibe scent.

Speaker 1: 23:18

She was an amazing vendor to work with. I've also tried some of her other products as well, and I'm obsessed with her sugar scrub. She created a sugar scrub in the same scent for me and I absolutely love it. So if this is something that you might be able to put in your own box, highly recommend working with her. Her information will be in the show notes, and what I love about Kimmy is one she's just awesome, like awesome small business to work with. But two she created this cool video of behind the scenes when she was actually making the product for us, and that's like activating the feature. So you'll find a link to that video in the show notes as well, if you wanna see behind the scenes. And that is exactly the type of content that would go great as like a real on your social media if you're featuring her in your box.

Speaker 2: 24:10

I was gonna make sure you mentioned the video because it is such a great takeaway for anyone listening. Whether it's to get videos from people who include products in your box or to create your own videos, it really is just another element of content and marketing that's so organic. So that was awesome. The next item was from the subscription box planner gals, and they included a hair tie with the little insert. It says messy bun, get your planning done. So they packaged it so cute. They just put the hair tie right around their little insert and we had a subscription box planner, a 2024 version.

Speaker 2: 24:53

We were the first little group. It was the day it came out and sales are currently open. So if you haven't got your planner yet, you can definitely go to their website. We'll have it in the show notes and you can check out their planner. But our retreat attendees got to see and feel and touch and look through the planner. I know a lot of them ended up purchasing it right then and there, while they were able to look at it. We love, obviously, those girls they're Becky and Jess are some of our box besties too. And so timely, because we talked about Q4 planning. We talked about planning for 2024 and to really be able to see and feel and have their planner and have their planner on sale was great timing.

Speaker 1: 25:39

And this planner is not just any old planner. This one was made with subscription box businesses in mind. You won't find anything like this anywhere else and it's actually, once you get into it, it's really a framework. It has marketing tips, it has checklists, it has content planners. It's really great. We actually are a proud affiliate of it. So our link is subscriptionboxplannercom. Slash Julie, and when you do buy the planner, they have both physical copies and digital versions of it. You can check it out on their website. If you use our link to purchase your subscription box planner, you're gonna get our secret sale workshop as a bonus. So go in the show notes, grab that link, order your planner.

Speaker 1: 26:20

So the next thing that we had in the bag was from the MJW group, and this was a digital download. So often we forget what software we have because maybe we saw a deal here and we subscribed there and then we got this deal over here. We have way too many software. So what they did at the MJW group was so cool. They created this software audit download. So basically, on this insert card that they gave us along with a pen, they had a link so we could all download this software audit and you just copy the template and then you start adding in your own information. It's one of those things that you probably wouldn't do on your own, but once you have the template, it makes it super easy. It helps you organize your passwords, it helps you organize and understand how much you're spending on a monthly or annual basis on your software, and one of the things that I learned when we were preparing Sparkle Hustle Grow for sale is that I had software that I probably hadn't touched in two years and I was still paying for it, and so doing an audit of your software can save you so much money. So all of our retreat attendees got this free download from the MJW group.

Speaker 1: 27:34

Thank you to all of the sponsors. We were so grateful that we were able to provide this bag full of so many goodies. We threw in a few of our own goodies. We had a little out of office keychain, subscription box, basic pen, some pineapple pushpins and this cool little cell phone holder. So it's like a tripod, but not a tripod. Instead of having the tripod bottom, it has a clip that you can clip onto desk surfaces you can clip onto the airplane tray table, and so we had a couple other little things in there, but we were just so blown away by the generosity of our sponsors.

Speaker 1: 28:11

So that is the official unboxing of the swag bag. Again, we're giving away one of them. The link is in the profile If you want to get in on this. We're only going to have this running for a week, so do not hesitate. Go do that now. Go enter the giveaway. So let's carry on with the rest of the day. After we did the relationship building, a little bit of workshopping and the unboxing, we broke for lunch. You and I stayed in because we needed to decompress. It was a lot of talking, so we stayed in and decompressed. And then what did we do that afternoon?

Speaker 2: 28:45

We went down poolside and we had, as it is now coined, our barefoot business meeting. We got to mastermind at the pool for it ended up being gosh, what a couple of hours we. It was so awesome. Everyone had 10 minutes plotted for to bring a question or a problem to the group and have the collective hive really mindset and give them feedback and help them get through a problem. Everyone did such a good job just giving feedback and people were having breakthroughs. There were tears again, yeah.

Speaker 1: 29:25

Happy tears, though, like those moments of, like you said, breakthrough. It was so great, too, because there was a little pool bar there so we could order drinks and appetizers. We bounced around from the lounge chairs in the shade to in the pool, and that moment there was what I had envisioned for years of what our next retreat is going to include, and it just I was so happy. This is the one moment in the entire weekend where we did use a timer. We said okay, tell us your problem succinctly. You have what did we say Tell us in one or two minutes? Yeah, very quickly. And then you had a timer with 10 minutes where everyone it wasn't you and me just coaching, telling everybody what to do.

Speaker 2: 30:09

It was the collective, it was the hive mind, and that's where I feel like there was so much magic there, really was, and it just so happened to be happy hour down there too, so some people were able to get drinks if they wanted to. Again, it was just this amazing atmosphere to be a part of, and really an opportunity for us to have so much relationship building and so many conversations that were like oh, I'll continue, I'll follow up with you on that, or I can help you with that. Just really everyone leaning on each other and building these relationships that fast forward. Now, a few weeks later, people are still checking in with each other and talking about in our Facebook group, so it's awesome.

Speaker 1: 30:52

Yep, we kept the Facebook group open because that was a common space for them to continue to connect with each other. And what I really loved is at one point during the day earlier we had one of our retreaters. She's really good at creating community and she knows how to do Facebook groups like the back of her hand. By the end of the day, she had already created a Facebook group for one of the other retreaters and was helping her get started on that. There was action being taken. I think that's what a lot of people did after our masterminding by the pool session too. So many of them grabbed dinner together. They continued these conversations beyond the pool, beyond the mastermind session and beyond the time that we had slotted for the group to be together.

Speaker 2: 31:37

And we had intentionally you and me chose to let the group make decisions of how they wanted to spend the rest of the day, so they could have done things together, which they some of them did. They could have had time to decompress and be by themselves, which some of them did. Some of them worked, some of them didn't. It was really once our masterminding ended. It was a choose your own path and create your own adventure type night, and I feel like every single person, whatever they ended up deciding to do, they really optimized their time and so much action got taken by the end of our day too.

Speaker 1: 32:11

Yes, it was one of those moments where it was like women empowering women, like it was, there was no competition, it was everybody trying to to help each other out.

Speaker 2: 32:20

So people had purchased URL.

Speaker 1: 32:22

I know that's right, like someone had bought a new domain because she was rebranding. After having the conversation with everybody, it's those mastermind sessions can really be impacted. Even if it's just 10 minutes, it's you have to think quickly. Everyone was storing in ideas. It was so awesome. It was one of my favorite parts.

Speaker 1: 32:38

So let's talk about then the last day. We basically on day three, which was Wednesday, we slotted the time to be through noon, right. So we said, if you have to travel that day, we're officially done at noon. But we left the doors open at our suite and literally the veranda open too, and a lot of people stayed later and co-worked afterwards. It was just very flexible.

Speaker 1: 33:04

But before we got there, we spent the morning doing a little bit more relationship building. We did some reflection from the day before, but then we did some more workshopping. We walked through our quarterly planning framework and we went over the different ideas for short form video. So short form video could be Instagram reels, it could be TikToks, it could be YouTube shorts, whatever. So we had compiled a list of 50 ideas to use for short form videos. Maybe we should make that available soon. Renee, I have to add that to the shop. If we do that. We'll definitely let you guys know, but it was really fun to just walk through each one quickly. Everyone had ideas and everyone then after that was able to implement. So they took their little phone holders, they grabbed a friend, they either did planning or they did some videos. That's when our little impromptu photo shoot happened. So we just did a lot of action taking.

Speaker 2: 34:01

We had wanted the retreat as a whole to be a work hard, play hard, and we had opportunities to work in the sense that we were connecting and brainstorming. But this was our day. That was really our work hard in the morning and really get pen down on paper and take all of those ideas that had been swirling the last couple of days and put them into action by creating a plan.

Speaker 2: 34:25

A lot of people had done short form video before, but there was probably what would you say, julie, split down the middle of people that were uncomfortable with it too. So it was a great opportunity to walk people through. It's not intimidating and the more you do it, the more you get used to it and you don't need to show your face on video. Of the 50 ideas, there were some where you could be in the video or talk about things, but others where you did not have to be on film. And that little tripod that's not a tripod for lack of better words, don't worry, that was in our swag bag was a really cool tool to be able to face it downward if you're using it for an unboxing. So, yeah, we gave people the tools and the time to really get a plan together.

Speaker 1: 35:15

So, all in all, it was a huge success, super happy with how it went. We got some amazing feedback. Not only did it fill their buckets, but they walked away with things that they had learned. They had built relationships and now have a support system and don't feel alone in their business. So I feel like check, check, like those were the things that were really important to us.

Speaker 2: 35:40

And a huge shout out to the people that came too, because our group we had told them this that I want to continue to repeat it. It's just such a dream when you really don't know what it's going to end up and if people are going to mesh and all of these scenarios, with people coming together for that, really the first time in person as a group, and it couldn't have been any better than we would have dreamt it up to be. Every single person that attended was such an amazing woman, such a badass business owner. They really made the retreat and it was great. It was the collective.

Speaker 1: 36:15

They're all our box besties now, I know and everyone contributed, like everybody brought something different to the conversation and was so generous in helping each other. Gosh, okay, I could gosh about this all day, but let's wrap it up here. So one of the things that Renee and I did after the event is we toured the hospitality suite there at Margaritaville In hopes that maybe, just maybe, we might host another one there. If we did that and we were able to use the hospitality suite, we got so many new ideas. It was such a beautiful space that opened up to the rooftop pool. So we'll keep you guys posted.

Speaker 1: 36:54

I don't know if you guys know this about me, but we're rehabbing a cabin here in the Asheville North Carolina area too, and so I'm holding this vision of 2024 hosting a retreat here in the mountains too. So we will have to set up some wait lists, renee, so that if anyone's interested in being a part of these future retreats, that they don't miss out, because our goal here is not to host huge events. We really loved the size of this event. The number was manageable, it created space and time for real relationship building.

Speaker 2: 37:29

Everybody got to know everybody and I think it's definitely the size that we would want right around 10 to 15 people for future retreat and so many people had mentioned that when they were working day to day or at home or with their current friends or family. So many people just don't understand the specific struggles that a subscription box business owner is going through. So even if you have a great support system online or at home, just being able to connect with people that know the exact struggle that you are going to, down to the crinkle cut or what you put in your box it really does make that connection so much easier when you're in person, but really just give you someone to lean on or multiple people to lean on that know exactly what you're going through.

Speaker 1: 38:19

Yeah, I feel like there's so many inside jokes in the subscription box industry and if I wore a t-shirt that says I can't, it's shipping day, you all would get it. Nobody else would get that unless you are a product-based business owner. So I think you're spot on with that, that it makes a difference. I believe that there's lots of different groups, lots of different communities as an entrepreneur that you can be a part of, but these are the people that just they just get it.

Speaker 2: 38:47

If you are still listening. Thank you for being a part of today's episode. Definitely go enter our giveaway so you can earn your very own swag bag filled with everything that were exclusive just to our retreat attendees. So go enter our giveaway. It's only gonna be live for a week, so if you are listening to this live, go fill it out. If it's past a week from when you're listening to Badgist Out, I'm gonna show off. But thank you, guys all for listening. Julie and myself so appreciate you being here with us and we'll be back on future episodes of Subscription Box Basics.

Speaker 1: 39:27

See you then, bye, bye.