Typically when I go away, I pack at least three books, my journal and my laptop (because a holiday is a great time to catch up on work!) and load up my Kindle with more ‘just in case’ books!
2005 was the last time I read a non-fiction book.
It was called Tully.
Since then my reading material of choice is always about business, a person who has built a business or has created something extraordinary, or a how-to, personal development type of book, or blog, or podcasts on how to be better at business.
The holiday last month was different.
I boarded the LA bound flight with my family, and I took nothing but the children, the husband and holiday essentials.
It didn’t occur to me until I unpacked my crew and settled into our Anaheim hotel when I couldn’t even look at my phone to check the time that I was digitally toasted.
A business and digital detox weren’t meant to be on the cards. It has never been. Working for myself or others, I like being on; I like to work and like to maximise every second of the day.
Until this moment when I couldn’t stand to look at my phone or even read a menu.
Like a computer slows down and plays up when space starts to max out, I experienced first hand, what that feels like for the mind. Especially when it comes to digital consumption, I think I may have overdosed on information.
Have you ever felt like this?
Sounds crazy yet for all the love I have for business, learning, digital and social media marketing I realised the effects of not having personal boundaries around what I let in and when I let it.
Or maybe I just needed a holiday!
This insatiable need to switch off and the minds refusal to ingest any new information was a welcome rescue remedy to control, alt, delete and remove all the unnecessary data snd thoughts taking valuable space in my head.
Space to think and feel nothing but the sun.
Space to dream.
Space to get clear.
Space to create.
“This is what I want to give to businesses.” I thought to myself.
And on an indulgent morning a few days before returning home, I set my alarm for a 6 am wake up to take a run along Waikiki beach before proceeding to treat myself to a Starbucks iced caramel macchiato…balance! Taking a lounge by the infinity pool, looking over the ocean, sipping on my Starbucks, I had an hour longer to dream a little more before the family woke.
Even captured a pic of this exact moment, with my brainstorming napkin!
Just like I was away with my family, I kept thinking, I have always wanted to take time away to think, and dream, and write, plan and create for my business. Most importantly space and time to get clear on my business strategy, my content and campaign activity and have it followed through to DONE.
No workshop with limited time. No conference with overwhelm. An intimate, quiet and private business retreat, somewhere beautiful with time and space to help small business owners and marketers work on their business.
A few phone calls on my return and I found the perfect venue for a Blogging and Social Media Retreat for business maestros that value the importance of content creation, branding and general digital magic making.
If this gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling of possibilities follow it and start spring with your best foot forward.[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Details for Blogging and Social Media Retreat:” Date: Friday 1st to Sunday 3rd September.
Venue: The beautiful Mansion Hotel and Spa
What You’ll Experience:
- 2 Nights Accommodation
- All Meals
- Free access to Werribee Mansion
- Gorgeous grounds and gardens for morning walks
- FREE Wifi
- Very inviting heated pool
What You’ll Learn:
- Creating content that matters
- Attracting the right audience
- WordPress and design fundamentals
- Website SEO
- Copywriting 101
- Building smart collaborations
- Content Creation, Communication and Editorial Planning
- Social Media Strategy
- Facebook for Business
- Instagram Strategy
- Pinterest for Growth
- Video and Your Business
Retreat Goals:
12 x blogs for your business
Social media and content plan
Confidence to continue to create the digital magic in your business that only you can create!
Investment in You or Your Staff: $1,997 ex GST
The bonus if you book and confirm by Friday 18th August: 4 x 1 hour online mentoring sessions to support your blogging and social media greatness!
If a retreat is not your jam, you may be interested in listening to this weeks Tourism Hub Podcast on iTunes It’s all about Hashtags. Yes, an entire episode on #hashtags, they’re kind of a big deal to leverage your marketing!
‘Tourism Hub Episode 6 – ‘Hashtags 101 for Tourism’
Signing off with a song: 4 Strings – Take Me Away (I used to LOVE this at the clubs!!!).
“Take me away. A million miles away from here”
Big love and excellence to you,
Despina xo
#BeExcellent About Despina: Thank you so much for reading this article. Ignite excellence in people is the reason I get out of bed in the morning, and that is the reason my training and mentoring practice InstituteofExcellence.com exists. I help the experience makers of the small to medium business communities use the power of online tools, tips and strategies to grow their business. This is done via face to face group and one on one training and live online tutorials, delivering a combination of digital marketing, social media and tourism marketing specific business development outcomes.
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