How to Grow Your Business with Retreats, Seminars & Mastermind Groups – In Just 7 Minutes with Michelle Villalobos

 Discover what business model works for you that can help you grow your business and get you sales while protecting your energy Learn how aligning your business to yourself and what makes you happy is crucial Understand how investing in retreats can make you gain more riches without the constant burnout Resources/Links: Wanting to Know How to Turn Your Business into a Lifestyle-Friendly, Impact-Driven, and Retreat-Driven Passion Project? Learn more about the powerful effects of incorporating retreats into your business: www.retreatstorichesroadmap.com Summary Have you often been feeling stressed and have constant burnout because of your business? Are you trying to find ways how you can make your job less stressful and more fulfilling? Do you want to know how you can align yourself to your business through the promising effects of retreats and seminars? Michelle Villalobos is the host of the Awaken Your Inner Superstar Podcast, creator of the Superstar Business Breakthrough Weekend & Retreats to Riches Course. In this episode, Michelle talks about how you can ditch the burnout and stress in exchange for more money and lesser business hours. She also shares the powerful impact of investing in retreats, seminars, and events on your business and how it can help you start your self-alignment journey as well. Check out these episode highlights: 01:25 – Michelle’s ideal client: “I work with thought leaders and industry leaders. So, into specific industries, and each industry is people who are looking to evolve and lead the evolution of their industry. So, we’re working with people who want to lead others, essentially.” 01:53 – Problem Michelle helps solve: “Really it comes down to an alignment. Essentially, the problem is that these people, these thought leaders, often get themselves into business models where they’re exchanging time for money. And they’re selling their expertise.” 02:54 – Typical symptoms that clients do before reaching out to Michelle: “Well when there’s a lack of alignment, there’s a lack of joy. And that’s one of the biggest, sort of, common threads, it’s like people thinking- and I went through this. This is how I came up with this.” 04:02 – Common mistakes that people make before they find Michelle’s solution: “I would say the mistakes they’re making are the same mistakes I made, which is the following- really optimizing for money, optimizing for significance versus optimizing for alignment. And what that means is it’s like working from the outside in.” 06:10 – Michelle’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): “Well, one of my favorite things, it’s not exactly what we’ve been talking about, but it’s “sell it, first figure it out later”. I find that so many people get caught up with trying to have an idea. And then they go create the thing and they put it all together.” 06:52 – Michelle’s Valuable Free Resource (VFR): Check out Michelle’s Roadmap: www.retreatstorichesroadmap.com 07:25 – Q: How did you figure all this out? A: And essentially, I had a massive breakdown in my business, my life, my health about seven, eight years ago. And it was like the dark night of the soul, everything fell apart Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode: “Energy precedes outcome.” -Michelle VillalobosClick To TweetTranscript (Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast) Tom Poland 00:10 Greetings, everyone, and a very warm welcome to another edition of Marketing the Invisible. I’m Tom Poland beaming out to you from little Castaways Beach in Queensland, Australia, joined today by Michelle Villalobos. Michelle, good day. A very warm welcome! Where are you hanging out? Michelle Villalobos 00:25 Right now? Just about 30 minutes south of Austin, Texas. Tom Poland 00:28 Oh, keep Austin weird, right? That’s what we want to do. I remember the t-shirt in the lobby of a hotel, and the conference I went to there was “Keep Austin weird.” I quite like that. Michelle Villalobos 00:38 Thank you. Tom Poland 00:39 So, for those of you who don’t know Michelle, she’s the host of Awaken Your Inner Superstar Podcast, which I reckon the world needs because so many people are solopreneurs. We get beaten up. We beat ourselves up. And the reason you’re a superstar, is we do have a gift that we can bring to the world. And Michelle’s special gift is to awaken your special gift and help you to realize you’re a superstar. She’s the creator of the “Superstar Business Breakthrough Weekend & Retreats to Riches Course”, which brings us quite nicely to this beautiful alignment, Michelle, between what you teach and what you do. I love that! The title is- to demonstrate that alignment, “How to Grow Your Business with Retreats, Seminars, and Webinar Groups”- mastermind groups, I should say. Webinar is on my brain. So, Michelle, our seven minutes is going to start now. Please, let us know, who’s your ideal client? Michelle Villalobos 01:25 I work with thought leaders and industry leaders. So, into specific industries, and each industry is people who are looking to evolve and lead the evolution of their industry. So, we’re working with people who want to lead others, essentially. So, consultants, speakers, authors– people like that are my ideal clients and my favorite people to hang out with also. Tom Poland 01:47 Fantastic! Thank you for that. Question number two, tell us about the problem you solve. Six and a half minutes left. Michelle Villalobos 01:53 Really it comes down to an alignment. Essentially, the problem is that these people, these thought leaders, often get themselves into business models where they’re exchanging time for money. And they’re selling their expertise. So that’s a very obvious easy way to get started and make money. And it kind of has an upper limit where you can’t make more hours in the day, or you start to work yourself into the ground. So, the problem is usually that there’s a lack of alignment between their business model and the vision for their life and for their health and for their happiness and for their, you know, to fulfill their purpose, even. Tom Poland 02:30 Right, so it’s like that time constraint is the bottleneck or it’s the break that stops them from going faster. Thank you for that. Question three, five and a half minutes left. One of the symptoms you’ve just described is people are running out of time, but they’re nowhere near fulfilling their potential, and their gift to the world is constrained by the calendar. What would you say are some of the other typical symptoms that people are experiencing with this problem that you help them with? Michelle Villalobos 02:54 Well, when there’s a lack of alignment, there’s a lack of joy. And that’s one of the biggest, sort of, common threads, it’s like people thinking- and I went through this. This is how I came up with this. It was because I thought I’d be happy. You know, if I did all the things and I got all the degrees, and I made all the money. And I became known and wrote books, and this is supposed to make me happy. And what they find is that they’re not happy. And so, there are deeper layers of alignment to bring the business into- not just the business model, but the purpose, the mission, the clients they’re working with– all these different pieces bringing them into alignment, really to start from joy, so that joy gets infused into the thing they’re creating and the things that they’re saying and the speeches they’re giving, and the books they’re writing. And so, the joy gets infused into that and gets disseminated and spread out into the world rather than this kind of belief that, “Well, if I do these things, then I’ll find joy.” Tom Poland 03:45 Right. So, approaching it from joy being the source of it. That’s very interesting! Four and a half minutes left. I almost hate to move this along because it’s so interesting, but we need to. Question four is what are some of the common mistakes that your clients are making before they find your solution? Michelle Villalobos 04:02 I would say the mistakes they’re making are the same mistakes I made, which is the following- really optimizing for money, optimizing for significance versus optimizing for alignment. And what that means is it’s like working from the outside in. For example, “I want to change my business” or “I want a new”, you know, “I want to start something new” and starting from “Oh, I wonder what the market wants? What’s the market opportunity? What are my clients asking for?” Those are all really important questions, but beginning from the outside in is kind of a recipe for misalignment because you end up getting pulled in the direction of these forces that are not necessarily coming from your deepest innermost desires and destiny. Tom Poland 04:45 Right. So, would you say that you’re looking, therefore, with your clients to find that sweet spot between what they’re passionate about, what they’re on Earth to give to the world, and what’s going to work well in the marketplace, as opposed to starting from the marketplace and trying to put a square peg in a round hole? Michelle Villalobos 05:02 Exactly! And my belief, and what I’ve seen happen again and again is when you start with that alignment piece, what brings you ...