how to go on a retreat location scouting trip for (almost ... · how to go on a retreat location...

How to Go on a Retreat Location Scouting Trip for (almost) Free!

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How to Go on a Retreat Location Scouting Trip for (Almost) FREE!

Sheri Rosenthal


So you’re dreaming of running an absolutely incredible transformational destination retreat… & you simply can’t wait to jet off to an exotic location with some of your best clients! Perhaps to Bali or Costa Rica? Or somewhere more unusual like Morocco or Croatia?

Hmmm… so many options and places to explore!

But what if you’ve never been to the location before and want to scout it out yourself first?

Or you’re already running a retreat in an amazing destination and you’d like to tack on a vacation and explore some more options for the next time you run your retreat?

One of the most exciting aspects of running retreats – besides the absolutely amazing joy of seeing the transformation on every participant’s face – is seeking out fabulous locations worldwide!

After all, wanderlusting entrepreneurs like us are travel junkies for sure and we

love to pack our bags, hop on the next plane and go in search of our next adventure!

We adore wandering through the souks of Morocco, sampling the perfectly spiced food or picking up a gorgeous rug to bring home… Making it to the summit of the red rocks in Sedona and envisioning your peeps gazing out there with you… Exploring the temples and marketplaces in Thailand or Vietnam… Sigh…

So how can you travel the world checking out places to hold your next transformational destination retreat and actually get those trips paid for – or at least be able to write them off as a business expense?

In this guide, we’re going to let you in on two insider travel secrets that will help pay for your scouting trips. First, we’ll cover how you can write-off your travels as a business expense (yep – we’re going to talk some accounting here) and then we’ll address my favoriteway to travel that you might not be familiar with - Travel Hacking.




If you’ve been wracking your mind on how to pay for your scouting trip or travel for (almost) free, then you’re in the right place!

So let me ask you a question – if you had a choice of paying for a scouting trip with after-tax dollars or pre-tax dollars, which would you choose?

Okay, okay… for those of you whose eyes glaze over when it comes to taxes, write-offs and deductions – let’s do a super quick (hopefully painless) overview of what after-tax and pre-tax means.

Every time you earn a dollar, the government takes a percentage for itself.

So let’s say you are in a 25% tax bracket, then for every dollar you earn, you pay 25 cents to Uncle Sam in the United States – or the taxman in your home country.

So would you rather pay for your scouting trip by being able to reduce the total amount you owe on your income (i.e. pre-tax dollars) and therefore lowering your taxes and leaving more money in your pocket or would you rather pay it out of the 75 cents you have left after you’ve paid your taxes (your after-tax dollars)?

I certainly hope you picked pre-tax dollars!

Why? Because you are getting more bang for your buck if you deduct your scouting trip as a legitimate business expense – which then lowers your overall income, causes you to pay less taxes AND have more money to spend as you please, than if you paid for it on your own with your after-tax 75 cents-on-the-dollar.

So what can you deduct using this pre-tax dollar strategy?

Let’s say you decide to fly to Paris to check out hotels for your next retreat. While you are there you go shopping at Galeries Lafayette and then go to Ladurée for their to-die-for macaroons. You also book appointments with five hotels for tours of the premises and end up having lunch with the manager of one of the hotels.

Your time spent touring the hotels, as well as your lunch with the hotel manager, would be deductible – however your time going to Galeries Lafayette and Ladurée would not.




Even if you are staying at one of the hotels you are considering using on your next retreat – if your trip is not 100% business-related then you are most likely not going to be able to deduct 100% of that hotel stay.

Let me be very clear here. Just because you go away on a scouting trip and visit a hotel or two that you might use for your next retreat does not mean that you have the ability to write off the entire trip.

While these tips apply regardless of what country you are from, no government is going to be okay about allowing folks to vacation with pre-tax funds – but you certainly CAN write off a good portion of that trip. You are just going to have to be diligent about documenting your expenses and scouting expeditions.

So I haveThree Recommendationsthat you must follow:

• After reading this guide, discuss the exact details overwhat is considered a legitimate deduction from anaccountant in your country. I am only giving yougeneral concepts here!

• Keep a log of your activities with the time spent inbusiness-related scouting trip endeavors versus yourpersonal ones, along with your receipts. This way youcan prove exactly what you were doing whatpercentage of the day.

• In addition, I would take brochures from each placeyou visit with your notes recording your experience ateach location. Pictures taken on your phone would alsobe a good idea (proving you were there) and keepingthe business card of the person at the hotel that youspent time speaking with.




Now let’s say you are on your retreat and you decide to stay an extra week to enjoy yourself with your family and you want to check out some other locations in the area for your next retreat. Keep in mind that if the main purpose of the trip is for business and you have a meal or two with family or friends, the travel expenses (air, hotel, etc.) would be a business expense and the meal or two would need to be paid with personal funds.

Likewise the opposite is also true – if your extra trip is primarily personal and you are spending most of your time with friends and family, then the travel expenses would need to be considered a personal expense.

The bottom line here is that you cannot write off your entire trip unless it is spent entirely conducting business and you can prove it to be so. But you certainly can write-off a good portion of your trip that is for business and that is a great savings to you – as well as another exciting trip logged in your passport and memory!

Hope that is 100% clear.

Travel HackingOkay, now that we’ve completed accounting basics 101 – it’s time to move on to travel hacking because I have A LOT to say about that subject - which is going to save you thousands and thousands of dollars a year. Ready?

First and foremost, every wanderluster should be educated in the art of travel hacking because that is going to be one of the easiest ways of getting your flights and hotel rooms totally paid for without layng out a dime.

Travel hacking you ask??

Yes, indeed. And it IS an art.

Many entrepreneurs tend to shun using credit cards the way I am about to share with you, but this is THE number one way to easily rack up miles and earn free hotel rooms and flights worldwide. So do allow me to explain WHY you need to know about this strategy.




issues managing money it’s better you deal with that sooner than later. I don’t want you opening a whole bunch of credit cards, spending outside of your budget, and then getting in debt. That IS NOT the idea here and it is bad karma. Be strategic and smart with your credit my friends!

So if you are ready to be responsible with your money AND you want to be business-savvy, then you can use credit card companies to your advantage. Credit card companies are constantly doing promotions to get you to sign up with them – they really want your business. They actually cut deals with the airlines and hotels to be able to offer these "bennies" to you, which is awesome!

The key is to pick the credit cards that are going to give you the best deal overall. Many will happily give you 25,000 miles but if you can get 50,000 or more that is obviously much better! So I would focus on those if you can. Even if they only give you a thousand dollar line of credit – that is fine – start wherever you are right now. You can always ask for more credit later – so do keep that in mind.

First of all, beyond the obvious benefit of racking up tons of points that you can use for scouting trips and travel plans – if you are careful about the cards you open to get mileage – you will be strategically accomplishing an additional critical task in your business: building your credit.

Why is this important? Well if you want to grow your business so that you have the ability to do a large program or product launch using Facebook, Pinterest, or Google ads, then you are going to need mega-room on your credit cards to do this. I’m talking $10,000-100,000 or more in available credit.

So getting credit cards that you can charge your daily and business expenses on is smart – as long as you are paying off your balance every month, of course. Then when it comes time for your program or product launch, you have access to the credit you will need to fund your ad campaigns.

And now here’s my warning: If you have trouble managing your money, you better deal with that issue right now. I mean it. You cannot build a million dollar business without credit and if you have



Now I know many of our international friends may be saying that they don’t have access to those kinds of deals – but you can normally get an American Express card worldwide and they do some pretty cool things with mileage which I’ll be talking about shortly. So there’s no reason anyone, anywhere in the world, can’t use travel hacking.

In addition to the obvious benefit of accruing miles for travel – these cards can also help you get to elite status faster. So do pay attention to what airlines you tend to use the most and put your focus on them. And if you are going to be jetting off around the world on your retreats – or running a mobile business while you travel, then you are going to want to have elite status and be able to whiz through security, bring free baggage, board the plane early, receve first-class upgrades & partner tickets and so much more!

Also, it is important to pay attention to the additional offers each card makes once you register. For example, I get extra miles for using one of my cards in certain restaurants which is awesome! But I had to actually sign up for that program once I owned the card.

The key to getting this strategy to work is to use your credit card for every purchase you make – and I mean EVERY purchase – even if you are buying a pack of gum. Seriously. I never carry more than 20 bucks with me and I charge everything I can possibly charge on a card.

IMPORTANT TIP: I have cards specifically for my business and cards specifically for personal purchases and you should too as it is critical to keep your business expenditures separate from your personal ones. That goes for your checking accounts too.

NEVER co-mingle funds and if you have only one bank account please stop reading this right now and go create a business checking account that you are going to be paying off your business credit cards and expenditures from!

Now let’s go back and talk about American Express for a moment. They have a fabulous program where you can book a flight through their travel engines and then pay for PART or ALL of that flight or hotel with your miles - which is pretty freakin’ awesome.




There are a few other cards that work similarly – and this is great because you don’t have to wait until you have all of your mileage to book that deal. So for example, if you have a $1000 flight but only have enough mileage to cover $500 worth of the ticket you can still book that flight and only pay half for that ticket! Score!

Here is a list of credit cards from Amex that are associated with travel benefits:https://www.americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/

For my Canadians: you’ll want to check out this card f you use Air Canada a lot to fly:https://www.americanexpress.com/ca/en/content/aeroplan-platinum-card/

Just starting on your credit card journey?

For new American Express® AeroplanPlus® Card Cardmembers, you can earn 5,000 Bonus Aeroplan® Mles after your first use of your approved card. The annual fee for this card is $60 a year.

If you have credit and do not have an American Express card yet - you might opt for the American Express® AeroplanPlus® Platnum Cardmembers, earning 40,000 Welcome Bonus Aeroplan miles after you spend $1,000 n your first three months of Card membership. The yearly fee for this card s $499 a year.

They also have a Gold card, which is in between the two cards above, giving you 15,000 bonus Aeroplan miles after you spend $500 in your first 3 months of Card membership with a $120 annual fee.

My Canadians also have the option to apply for a Scotiabank credit card with either American Express or Visa. The mileage benefits are not quite as good as the aforementioned cards but they are still worth having.

Now if you are an Aussie or Kiwi – you can look into these cards for your use:

ANZ Frequent Flyer Cards - these will get you Quantas points:https://www.anz.com.au/personal/credit-cards/frequent-flyer/



https://www.americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/

https://www.americanexpress.com/ca/en/content/aeroplan-platinum-card/

https://www.wanderlustentrepreneur.com

https://www.anz.com.au/personal/credit-cards/frequent-flyer/


HSBC Platinum Qantas or HSBC Premier World Mastercard Credit Cards:https://www.hsbc.com.au/1/2/personal/credit-cards/compare

Virgin Atlantic Flyer Cards:https://www.virginatlantic.com/us/en/flying-club.html

Citi Rewards Credit Cards:https://www.citibank.com.au/aus/credit_cards/creditcards.htm

NAB Velocity Rewards Premium Card:https://www.nab.com.au/personal/banking/credit-cards/product-selector

For our United Kingdom friends you can look into the British Airways cards, or the FlyBe card:http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/executive-club/collecting-avios/credit-cards

https://www.flybe.com/card/

IMPORTANT TIP: As with any and all credit cards, please pay attention to the yearly membership fees associated with that card. Many will wave the fee for the first year – but you need to be prepared for what comes after those first 12 months!

Make sure you read all the card benefits too to see if it is worth it to you to pay the yearly fee - for example, I travel a lot and I love the American Express lounge benefits, I use them all the time and it is well worth it to me.

You’ll also want to pay attention to the interest rate that you receive from them (should you carry a balance on your card) which will be based upon your credit score.

In addition, you should know that there are cards that are specifically deemed “business cards” and they normally are the ones that you must pay off each month – you CANNOT carry a balance on them! So make sure you are VERY clear on what you are signing up for.



https://www.hsbc.com.au/1/2/personal/credit-cards/compare

https://www.virginatlantic.com/us/en/flying-club.html

https://www.citibank.com.au/aus/credit_cards/creditcards.htm

https://www.nab.com.au/personal/banking/credit-cards/product-selector

http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/executive-club/collecting-avios/credit-cards

https://www.flybe.com/card/



One of the most critical benefits of using these travel hacking strategies is that my credit has been positively affected in the best of ways. Now, when I sign up for a new card I normally receive quite a large amount of credit - which is totally fantastic as I do bigger and bigger program and product launches in my business each year.

And second, I have been able to use my credit cards in my business in lieu of having to apply for a small business loan when needing to expand my business. This has been critical to my success and has allowed me to rapidly scale my business taking me from zero to 7 figures in two solid years.

Now I know there are many of you who will say that you don’t have good credit – but that’s okay. Apply and get whatever cards you can and start re-building your credit.

To be utterly transparent here – I partnered with a “supposed” friend around eight years ago in purchasing two investment houses and when the market crashed she took off leaving me with those homes on my credit. They eventually went to deed-in-lieu (which is one step above a flat-out foreclosure) trashing my credit score which was always hovering around 810 and crashing it down to 610.

Despite that unfortunate transgression, I have been able to open 5 credit cards since then with a total of around $100,000 dollars of credit. Amazing right? Right now my credit score is hovering around 725 and I suspect that once that deed-in-lieu falls off my credit report it will be right back to 810 again. If I can recover from this kind of credit crash and build a successful business, then you can too.

IMPORTANT TIP: Every six months you are allowed to ask your credit card companies to increase your credit limit. Make sure you set your calendar to remind you twice a year to call every card you own and do just that. The reason this is important is because if you use more than 30% of your credit on any card it will negatively affect your credit rating. But if you keep increasing those levels the amounts of your charges will become smaller as your limits increase. Make sense?

So at this point in time you might be asking yourself: What does Sheri have in her wallet? Of course I am happy to share my favorite credit cards that I have picked up here in the USA the past couple of years.




• British Airways Signature Card from Chase:https://creditcards.chase.com/travel-credit-cards/british-airways

• Chase Ink Business Bold Card:https://creditcards.chase.com/ink-business-credit-cards

• American Airlines AAdvantage Aviator Card:https://cards.barclaycardus.com/cards/aadvantage-aviator-red-world-elite-mastercard.html

• American Airlines AAvantage Citibank Card:https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-program/miles/partners/credit-card/aadvantage-credit-cards.jsp

• American Express Business Platinum:https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/credit-cards/business-platinum

Best Deal Credit CardsIn addition to the ones I have listed above, here are the credit cards I feel currently have the best deals that are worth having:

Chase Sapphire Preferred:https://creditcards.chase.com/rewards-credit-cards/chase-sapphire-preferred

Amex Everyday Preferred Credit Card from American Express:https://www.americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/amex-everyday-preferred

JetBlue Card:https://trueblue.jetblue.com/web/trueblue/home

United MileagePlus Explorer Card:https://creditcards.chase.com/travel-credit-cards/united-mileageplus-explorer

Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card: https://creditcards.chase.com/southwest/premier-credit-card


https://trueblue.jetblue.com/web/trueblue/home

https://creditcards.chase.com/travel-credit-cards/british-airways

https://creditcards.chase.com/ink-business-credit-cards

https://cards.barclaycardus.com/cards/aadvantage-aviator-red-world-elite-mastercard.html

https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-program/miles/partners/credit-card/aadvantage-credit-cards.jsp

https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/credit-cards/business-platinum

https://creditcards.chase.com/rewards-credit-cards/chase-sapphire-preferred

https://www.americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/amex-everyday-preferred

https://creditcards.chase.com/travel-credit-cards/united-mileageplus-explorer

https://creditcards.chase.com/southwest/premier-credit-card


Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from Amex: https://www.americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/starwood-preferred-guest/

Marrott Rewards® Premer Credt Card from Chase: https://creditcards.chase.com/marriott/apply

The Hyatt Credit Card from Chase:https://creditcards.chase.com/travel-credit-cards/hyatt-hotels

IMPORTANT TIP: Make sure that if the credit card requires you to USE IT before you can get the bonus points that you can actually spend that amount of money within the time frame they have stipulated! So if a card says you will only receive your 50,000 miles if you spend $5000 in the next three months and you know there is no way you can spend that much in your business then this card is not for you.

In addition, be careful about opening and closing cards. You can put a card you are not using away, but it is not a good idea to keep opening and closing cards – that is going to affect your credit ranking. If you open a card, keep it open, at least for a while please.

One Final Tip for my Travel ProfessionalsLast of all, if you are a travel professional – you know you can take advantage of doing FAM or familiarization trips that the different hotels and tour operators offer. Although they are not free – they offer hefty discounts that often allow you to visit countries for next to nothing and occasionally include international airfares which is even more amazing.

If you do take one of these trips, be respectful – in other words you are on a tour to learn about their properties, this is not a personal vacation where you can go off and do your own thing or refuse to attend any educational meetings they put together because you feel like this is your vacation. You are there due to their good graces and it is important to “represent” for all of us travel professionals and show how grateful you are for the opportunity.


https://www.wanderlustentrepreneur.com

https://www.americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/starwood-preferred-guest/

https://creditcards.chase.com/marriott/apply

https://creditcards.chase.com/travel-credit-cards/hyatt-hotels

Final ThoughtsI hope this ebook has given you some clever ideas on how you can get your scouting trips (and your add-on vacations at the end of your retreats) paid for!

If you aren’t already – do make sure you join our Facebook Community group where you will get the hottest tips and advice on running fabulous transformational destination retreats worldwide!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ILoveTransformationalDestinationRetreats/

And if you love the idea of traveling the world, changing lives, and getting paid to do so AND you want to learn more about the zany bunch of wanderlusting entrepreneurs that created this fabulous little book come on over to: www.wanderlustentrepreneur.com

With love, Sheri


About SheriSheri Rosenthal loves retreats. She loves teaching about them, designing them, planning them, running them, making a great income from them – and she wants you to love them as much as she does.

It all started back in 1999 when she sold her podiatry practice and started studying with don Miguel Ruiz (author of The Four Agreements).

That’s when she went on her first transformational destination retreat and has been obsessed with them ever since (after all, they totally changed her life). She ended up running don Miguel’s business for two years of the eight she worked with him, allowing her to plan and run all his retreats and events.

That inspired her to create her own travel agency in 2003 – Journeys of the Spirit®, where she’s been planning and managing other facilitator’s retreats for the past twelve years.

Currently, Sheri is known as one of the most sought after retreat strategists for coaches, facilitators and authors. She is famous for helping clients plan, fill, and profit from transformational retreats that both change lives and add serious income to their bottom line!




https://www.facebook.com/groups/ILoveTransformationalDestinationRetreats/

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