161: Insider Retreat Stories with Cheyenne Morris

Sabrina: Welcome to the Shoot at Straight podcast, where honesty meets heart and real talk actually means something. I’m your host, Sabrina Gehart, and each week we get vulnerable, practical, and just a little bit bold so you can feel seen, supported, and ready to take the next step in your photography journey.

Let’s go.

Welcome back to the Shoot at Straight Podcast. My friends. Today is gonna be a super fun episode that I’ve honestly wanted to do for a while, but it was just a matter of like logistically getting it scheduled so that we could have this chat. But I have my super good friend to Cheyenne Morris with me today.

Cheyenne is really an insanely talented photographer based in Austin, Texas, and I’ve known her for, uh, five years. Let’s call it five years, right? She is also not by her choice, by MA by force. She is my route to Rise retreat coordinator. I roped her into that position and I won’t let her leave. And over the years you have heard me talk on the podcast about Route to Rise retreats, alumni retreats, education blueprint retreat.

I can’t believe it, but we have now hosted nine retreats together, which. Is wild to think that time flies like that. It seems like just yesterday that we were hosting our first retreat and we were so nervous and didn’t know what we were doing and just kind of figuring things out. But over the past nine retreats, we have accumulated a lot of stories, a lot of things that have happened.

We’ve made so many memories at this point. The vast majority of them are so good and so incredible, Cheyenne, and I thought it would be fun to share some of the messy and chaotic parts. Of what it takes to make these magical retreats happen. We’re gonna pull the curtain back. We’re gonna let you see what, you know, some of the things that didn’t go so well or as planned or little blips that we’ve had, and I think this is gonna be a really fun and funny episode.

So stick with us. But before we get started, my dear friend, will you introduce yourself to the listeners

Cheyenne : I’ll, so my name is Cheyenne Morris and I am a family and brand photographer based in Austin. I’ve known Sorna. Yeah. For five years. She met me when I was just starting out right before COVID, or maybe it was during COVID too.

So that’s kind of how we, how we met. And she has guided me along the way and we’ve been stuck together ever since.

Sabrina: It’s been fun. I, I met Cheyenne through a coaching experience and she actually lived near me at the time, and so she was kind of local. We had never met, but she was technically local to me.

Then you moved to Austin and that’s what kind of brought us together. As far as the retreat coordinator position, uh, the very first ritualized retreat was held in Austin and. Way back then, uh, feels like so long ago. Uh, way back then, I wanted to hold the retreat somewhere relatively local to me, Austin, Texas is about three hours, and that just felt safer to not have to fly to go to a place that I was relatively familiar with to, and knowing that you lived in Austin, I reached out to you and I was like.

Hey girl, I have this crazy idea that I wanna host this retreat. I know I’m going to need a wing woman. I know I cannot do this by myself. You live in Austin. Do you wanna help? And so it was really, it started from the perspective of I wanted somebody who had like hands on the ground who could drive the neighborhood where the rental house was, who could look up yoga studios and chefs, and had like a real solid pulse on the area.

But what ended up happening is we hosted that retreat and it was everything and more that I think either of us could absolutely have imagined, and it was so magical. And the story goes, I think I’ve told this on the podcast before, but the story goes, the retreat’s over and we’re like taking out the trash and making sure all the linens are taken off and like doing the, you know, the stuff you do when people leave an Airbnb and all of the students and attendees had left and it was Cheyenne and I, and I’m like giving her a hug and I’m thanking her for all of her hard work.

And I start. Ugly crying, like weeping. And that may not be a big deal to some of you, the listeners, but I don’t cry in front of people like that is not something that I do. I am not an easy crier, even by myself. I, I don’t know, I have a wall around that. That’s probably something to discuss in therapy, but it, it’s not normal for me to do that.

And so hear me say that and know that like that’s how emotional I was, that I could not even keep it in. And I am weeping and I’m like, oh my gosh, I couldn’t have done this without you. Oh my gosh, you, you know, and then you’re crying and it was this whole mess. And. I took some time after that retreat to just reflect and really ponder like, can I do this again?

Because I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t sure if root to Rise was a one and done if it was just magical because of the moment in time and the women that were there. Like was it a repeatable experience? And then when I decided, yeah, I wanna try this again, but let’s go somewhere fun. Yeah, I reached out to Cheyenne and I’m like, so do you wanna make this a position?

Like, do you wanna come along with me and see where we can go and how we can do this? Yeah. Let’s, let’s make this a thing. I need you to like be my person and. Here we are, nine retreats later and we’ve been coast to coast all over the country.

Cheyenne : Yeah.

Sabrina: Well what’s so

Cheyenne : funny about the Austin one is then when you were like telling, like thanking me so much, and I specifically remember at one point telling my husband, I don’t know, like I don’t feel like I’m like doing enough.

Like I don’t know that I’m like. Helping as much. Like I don’t, you know, I just didn’t because it was the first time that I was like, I wanna help, but I don’t wanna be in the way of anybody else anyway. And so then when you were like, you did so much, and I was like, I did, like, okay, good. Yeah, so like I, but it’s funny because like each time we do it now I feel like I have a better pulse on like, okay, this needs to be done, this needs to be done.

And. You know, the first time I was like, am I doing enough? Am I done? Am I doing too much? Like so when you were, when you were thanking me so much, I was like, yes. I wasn’t just like an extra body.

Sabrina: Yes. And now we both had that energy, that first retreat of like, is this going well? Is everything perfect? Like we were just on every moment of the day up super early, wanted to be the first ones up, wanted to be the last ones in bed.

It was just. We were carrying so much ’cause we just didn’t know. And now we’ve settled into this really sweet routine where we don’t have to be on as much. We are can relax into having like actual downtime. And because we know that this well-oiled machine is magical and it’s energetically, it’s become a lot easier I think.

Yeah, definitely. Even though we’ve had things go wrong, it’s just been so great. So the first retreat we did after Austin was we decided to take it all the way to California and we went to San Diego. Even though at that point it was the second retreat, that was a big leap for us. ’cause we went from local to out of state.

It was also the energy of, is this repeatable? So we weren’t really sure, you know what I mean? So we were still a little bit on, I wanna say like a little high alert that whole time. Um, really trying to fill every moment and make everything as perfect as possible because it was, is, was the question of are we doing this again?

Is this going to be amazing? And my favorite memory of San Diego, and honestly it’s one of my favorite retreat memories, out of all the retreats we’ve done. Was our welcome dinner that night and Oh, it was so good. It was, we had, I have never laughed so much and so hard. I went to bed that night and my cheeks actually ached from smiling and laughing for hours, hours, hours.

And part of it was like we. We had a great chef. We had like, our server was hilarious and she was like giggling at us while trying to, not like eavesdrop, but also like, how can you not, because of some of the things we were talking about. It was such a good group of women. We also really consumed a lot of alcohol.

Um, and not in a bad way. I don’t want the listeners to hear this in a bad way. We weren’t driving. We were safe. It was fine, but that, that meal. Tops are consumption of all the retreats we’ve ever had and it showed, and how much fun we had.

Cheyenne : Well, I think everybody just like meshed so well from like minute one, which I mean, I think, nor we’ve been so lucky that everybody has, we’ve never had an experience where people did not mesh well.

But that night in particular, it was just like all the stars aligned and everybody was immediately comfortable and at ease. I, and I say this as the person. Who was not drinking because I was taking videos and I was taking pictures and I was still wanting to be very much so like, okay, I, I still have a job to do, but like, as the persons who is still, you know, enjoying the dinner.

But I was like taking a step back and being like, every single one of these women is comfortable, is having fun and is. Just loving this dinner. It was, it could not have been better.

Sabrina: And that was interesting because again, it was the second time we’d done it, we were kind of testing the waters, like was part of the original retreat so magical because so many of those women already knew each other.

That first retreat we had, uh, I wanna say. It was 50% Texans, or maybe it was more than that. And so there were people who came from DFW, from Austin, from areas, and they already had at, at bare minimum, an online relationship with each other. Like was that part of it that everybody was just already comfortable and San Diego was quite the opposite?

San Diego was actually a really good test for me as an educator because that group had women from all over the country. All of a sudden, my reach had expanded so greatly. But that brought in the question of is everybody gonna jive together? Like what’s this gonna be like? And I remember, I don’t know if you remember Danielle saying this, one of our attendees who was local to San Diego, she attended the retreat.

She told us after the fact that she had told her husband going into the retreat. I’m probably coming home tonight and like. Spending the nights at home. ’cause like, I don’t know what this is gonna feel like. I just wanna go for like the learning, but I think the nights may be weird. And she said literally she got into that dinner and she’s like, nah, I’m not going home.

Nope. This is a party. Yes.

Cheyenne : Everyone’s fun. And the best part is too, is like you. Have people online. And so everyone’s a little bit timid, like you’re still learning about people’s businesses and then you get together and you’re like, oh, this person is hilarious. This person is not what I expected. And so it was just really fun to like get everybody together and in person.

It was a really good litmus test for how things were gonna go later on.

Sabrina: Yeah. Yeah. It was. We try really hard to let the retreat be where, yes, we’re there for business growth and education, but also as like time away as women, like we just need time with other women. And so we talk about a lot of stuff that is not business related.

We talk about parenting and spouses and all kinds of stuff comes up. That’s what happens when you get women in a room together. But we really foster those kinds of conversations, which really helps people. Get like that deep connection and you can really learn about them. And that’s where they become like true friends and not just, you know, business friends.

You ask questions every once in a while. So San Diego was incredible from the get from the get go. And immediately, immediately I was like, oh yeah, no, this is these retreats. Yeah, we’re, we’re go, we’re a green light. We are moving forward. And I had actually hoped that that would happen. So I had already planned the next one and.

I guess the internet had a ton of FOMO from seeing San Diego. ’cause I actually had people DMing me while we were in San Diego. Can I join? Can I join the next one? I don’t wanna wait for enrollment. Let me in,

Cheyenne : like count me in right now.

Sabrina: Yeah, exactly. And I was like, okay, so next we went to DC So then we went to the other end of the country and.

DC was a small but mighty group. That is the smallest run we’ve ever had, and it was actually perfect for the women who joined for the personalities that joined. We had such an incredible weekend and so many. Really transformational changes came out for the women in that group that were, they like left, extremely clear and extremely intentional in what their next steps were.

And because the group was smaller, we were able to have, you know, longer and more in depth conversations and stuff. And it was just really fun. One of the things that we love to do at the retreats is we do a headshot swap and we leave it for the end. We always pair it with, uh, well, not always. Most of the time we pair it with our dinner out because, you know, we’re all dressed and ready to go out.

Anyways, in DC this was our, this was our last night and we, we had all these hopes and dreams for our headshot swap and literally. For just the two hours that we were doing that, not leading up to it, not the day before, not even after it was pouring rain our, and we were in this, you know, cute little house, but it wasn’t the brightest to begin with.

Cheyenne : It was so dark. And, yeah, I was gonna say, and when you say it’s pouring rain. It was like it was nighttime. Yes. Like, could not be worse for photos. Yes,

Sabrina: yes. The worst case scenario, the kind of scenario that photographers who use natural light only walk into a house and go, oh my gosh. And you’re like, oh no.

Yes. We had an incredible brand photographer there with us. Shout out to Amanda. She was taking footage for me, like retreat footage to use on my website in a marketing and stuff while we were there, but she said that as part of the weekend she would be happy to take headshots of everyone, which we’re all thrilled with because she was crazy talented, which, yes, we were all like, oh my gosh.

This is such, such an amazing perk. She’s insanely talented. And she wasn’t concerned because she’s a professional and she knows how to use her camera and all of that. But even still, I, I wanna say she was shooting at like 18,000 ISO

Cheyenne : crazy high. It was

Sabrina: insane. And we

Cheyenne : still had to be very strategic with opening doors and facing the windows and yes, I mean, she pulled out some serious magic because they turned out fantastic.

Sabrina: Yes. And then, but you were like, it was not Oh, and I was so sad. And when things like that happen, which you’re gonna hear story after story of this. When things like that happen in a retreat, my heart just sinks because part of the experience isn’t perfect. And I know that I bring in understanding women, but I just, I, you know, I want it to be perfect for every attendee.

And when something like that happens, I’m just like, dang it. I mean, it’s nature. There’s nothing we can do about it, but it’s frustrating. But what ended up working out in our favor was that night we had planned to go to our friend Natasha’s house. She lives, she’s a local to dc. She lives in Georgetown, and her building has this incredible rooftop space.

And the weather cleared. And so we went to her house for, you know, like drinks and hanging out before our dinner plans as a group. And so we actually went up to the rooftop and did more headshots up there. So the ones in the house were salvageable and people still use them and you would never know. But that was kind of the saving grace, where I was like, okay, we’re up here on this incredible rooftop with incredible view.

Incredible view. Yeah. Like this. Yeah.

Cheyenne : You can see like the national monument, like, I mean, it was, it ended up being beautiful and after and had like

Sabrina: evening light. So, and we were the only ones up there, so it felt like very special, you know. Um, so that ended up being a really cool experience because we got to have, you know, we were welcomed into a home.

We got to have drinks, we got to go up on the roof and have that experience. And then we walked to dinner from her house, which was really cool to get to see a little bit of Georgetown and stuff too. So that was really special about the DC retreat. Okay, so the next retreat we hosted was in Charleston in January, and that was an invitation that only went out to pass Route to Rise students.

So that’s why we call it the Alumni Retreat. It’s something that my students have been asking for. They’ve been wanting an experience to get together again. And so that was another test that was a. Is this gonna be valuable to anybody? They say they want this, but do they really want this? You know, what are we gonna do?

Yeah. What are we gonna do? We’re not gonna, it’s not gonna be the same format is the, is the normal Route Rise retreat. And so we came up with a plan for how the retreat was gonna go. It was gonna be more. Togetherness, less business, but still some business mixed in. And we were gonna plan it the same timelines, similar format to our regular retreats.

We’re gonna have, you know, some yoga and some dinner and a chef and all that. So we knew kind of how to go into the planning logistics, but Charleston posed an interesting situation that we did not expect. What

Cheyenne : was that? It was very unexpected, given the fact that Charleston is a very, like a destination where people go for in groups.

You know, uh, bachelorette parties, birthdays, like, it’s, it’s sort of like Nashville where women gather. It’s a popular spot.

Sabrina: Yeah. It’s literally a girl’s weekend destination. When we were trying to figure out where we were going to eat on the last night together, we could not find a place in all of Charleston that would accommodate our group, a group our size, which.

Was shocking because there was only, what, 13 of us,

Cheyenne : right? Yeah. And beforehand, I, before these retreats even happen, I am scouting restaurants and I am looking at reviews and I’m trying to find places that have a cool vibe, that have great food that you know, would really accommodate a group of our group of our size.

Literally everywhere I called was like, oh, I’m sorry, six is our maximum. I’m like, excuse me, six. Of them were like five because it had, everything is so small that they don’t accommodate large groups. And so that was a fun surprise,

Sabrina: literally part like, like Cheyenne said, you, you do all this research to scout out like all of the cool things and you kind, you know, you always send a list to me and you’re like, check these out.

And then we kind of ranked them and it was one of those things where we ranked them, but then we went through every single one. ’cause we were getting desperate. We’re like, okay, well anything, anything at all. And so that was actually pretty shocking. Um, Charleston, you need to do better. How do you not ask us some party rooms?

Yeah. Like, I don’t understand. And we were not, we were calling months in advance. So this is not a, this is not a situation of they didn’t have availability because they were booked. No, no, no. They didn’t have availability because they would not put us together, which. Was insane. So listeners, if you have a, a place in Charleston that seats large groups, please hit me up because I would love to go back to Charleston or here’s a business venture for you.

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Um, it was so frustrating. And the other thing about Charleston was we had a very, very unexpected cold snap where remember it got down to freezing or below freezing. And so like the Airbnb people were like, drip the faucets tonight. But Charleston was in a panic because it doesn’t normally get that cold.

And it was. Quite frigid, um, while we were there in the mornings, which was fine. It didn’t ruin anything, but it was kind of unexpected. Um, that was such a fun group though. And after that weekend where again, it was a different format and we did more fun stuff, more togetherness and less business. Everyone loved it and it was totally a success.

And we were like, okay, well the alumni retreat is now a go. We will do this every year and it’s something that we need for different reasons and we just had so much fun playing games and shopping. Oh my

Cheyenne : gosh. The first

Sabrina: night,

Cheyenne : yes. Of the right, left center game.

Sabrina: Again.

Cheyenne : So fun. The first night where you were just like, this is fantastic.

It was,

Sabrina: everything’s so much laughter, so fun. Absolutely absurd that I won the first two rounds of the game that I introduced to the group. I was like, no, no, no, no. Like I cannot take this, this stack of money from you. Yeah, I cannot. I literally cannot. I’ll just put it back in the pot and we’ll play again.

Play again. But yeah, we absolutely had a blast and it just really solidified the community of women that we have and. How well we’ve created this experience where women feel relaxed and open and in a place to feel seen. It’s just, it was really super fun. So after Charleston, let’s see, after Charleston, we did Florida.

Destin, Florida. Yep. Yeah, so Florida was our biggest retreat we’ve ever had. I wanna say there was, I don’t know, 16 or 17. It was a large group. It was the largest group we’ve ever had. The house, it was up there was the largest house we’ve ever had. Obviously we had extra beds, which was insane. Insane with that many bodies.

The house was absolutely perfect and stunning, and that retreat went start to finish so well. I could say at the end of it when it was over, but going into it, I was so stressed out about the weather. I was freaking out because we had two beach sessions, two beach sessions planned, two indoor sessions planned and.

It was supposed to rain like the whole time.

Cheyenne : The whole time. Yep.

Sabrina: And literally, I think I checked the weather leading into that week, and then especially like the few days before, probably a hundred times, probably more than that because I was just, I was praying, I was asking all of my friends to pray. I was freaking out that the beach session sessions wouldn’t happen.

You know, the in-home ones we could work around and make happen if it’s raining. The beach ones, I mean, like, we’re not going out there in the rain. Right. You know, there’s no contingency plan for that. Yeah. And so we were scrambling and figuring out like, what are we gonna do? What are we gonna do? And we ended up, the opening night of the retreat normally is just togetherness.

Normally it’s happy hour. It’s a beautiful chef, uh, prepared dinner. It’s conversation. We don’t dig into anything right away. We just kind of settle in as a group. But that particular evening was the best weather. It was supposed to be gorgeous. And I was like, I think we’re just gonna show up and do a session real fast, can’t risk it.

And then the next morning looked okay, but then it was like downhill after that. Yeah. And so. We just kind of made the executive decision to front load the entire retreat. I remember everybody arrived. We actually texted everyone and we were like, check in early, because luckily all the girls had arrived earlier in the day and they’d been hanging out.

So we texted everybody to check in like an hour earlier to. And our chef was extremely accommodating, and she was like, yes, I’m totally flexible. We can do whatever you need. And so literally everyone arrived and I was like, grab a drink. We’re going up onto the roof, we’re having a powwow. And I just kind of explained to everybody that the weather was not on our side, but we were gonna make things happen and I needed them to be flexible with our schedule.

And that meant we were going to do three sessions in the next 12 hours. And it was gonna be a lot energetically, but we were gonna make it work. And, uh, we did. So we immediately went to the beach, did our first session, which was stunning Weather

Cheyenne : could

Sabrina: not have been better. I mean, it was like what Florida Sunset Beach Dreams are made of.

Absolutely, absolutely stunning. Every single thing could not have been better. It was gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. So that was really a great way to kick things off because in the back of my mind I was like, at least we had one good session. If everything else goes downhill, at least we had one. Then the next morning we woke up very, very early.

I wanna say we started at like seven 15 or something, but we did headshot swaps basically with breakfast. Like eat, have your coffee, go around the house, on the roof, outside, do your headshot swapping. And then we had our first model family come to us. And then immediately when they left, we had the next model, which was actually a branding session.

We had that model come, so by like noon on the first full day, we had done three sessions and head shots. We had done all of the sessions, which ended up being fine. I mean, all of the work that everybody got was beautiful and the lighting hung with us. But what happened was. Our schedule really opened up because normally it’s like, we’ll do like a session in the morning and then we’ll do some working time in the afternoon, and so things are a little more spread out or we have some downtime and all that, and we went so hard and fast.

That by the time lunch happened on the first day, I was like, well, 60% of the retreat’s done and we still have two full days. Everybody take a nap. And then literally, and that’s what happened. We, the storm came in, I remember it was super dark that afternoon. And photographers know like energetically, you come off of a session and you’re tired, you come off of that many sessions back to back, to back to back.

We were all just kind of toast. And so we had like a two hour break where everybody just did their own thing. I wanna say two thirds of the group napped and then the other half just like sat in silence in different H parts of the house. And did, you know, email or editing or whatever it was like, it was kind of weird.

To have that, that heavy of a downtime. But I think it actually ended up being beautiful because as moms and business owners, we don’t have that

Cheyenne : Exactly. You, everybody got to have a little bit of, a little bit of quiet time where you’re not overstimulated and everybody got to just kind of come back to neutral and everyone kind of did their own thing for a while and then everyone was ready to go again.

Sabrina: It was just crazy. I mean, because you guys, I Nacked. I would never, I would never, which never happen. Yeah. I am not a that kind of leader where I’m like, all right guys, hang out by yourselves. I’m gonna go nap. But literally everyone was napping and I was like, ICI could lay down for a little bit. Yeah. So it doesn’t sound bad.

Yeah, it was crazy. And then. The rest of the time was great, and then we ended up getting to do kind of a surprise bonus session. We had wanted to do it one of the evenings, but again, the weather didn’t really cooperate and so we ended up doing it at sunrise the morning that everybody checked out, which worked out well for the vast majority of the group.

I think only one person had to leave, maybe two had to leave earlier and miss it, but it was a bonus session. The only reason we had it is because our guest educator was extremely pregnant, and so we did a maternity session with her and that was. Like mind blowing

Cheyenne : again. Could not have been better. Yeah.

Could these images could not have been more beautiful.

Sabrina: Yeah, it was insane. The only downside to that was it was quite cold and we were on, yeah, we were on the beach. Everybody had their shoes off ’cause we were in this wet sand obviously. Um, but by the time we left, everybody’s feet were numb.

Cheyenne : Yeah. You made a point where you’re like, well, I just can’t feel my feet anymore, so let’s just keep going.

Sabrina: Yeah. It’s might as well. The light’s gorgeous. Let’s go with it. That retreat ended up being a real lesson in flexibility, but I think it gave us the confidence to know that like we can shift the schedule drastically if we have to, and it’s gonna be fine.

Cheyenne : 100% gave us the confidence to be like, we can pivot when we need to.

Sabrina: Yeah.

Cheyenne : And it was. And it was perfect.

Sabrina: Yeah. And it was absolutely also that

Cheyenne : bonfire, like shout out to the bonfire there too. That was so, yeah,

Sabrina: that was a special thing we did. Instead of having a dinner out on our last night, we decided to do a bonfire and it was super, again, we weren’t sure the weather was gonna work out.

We were afraid it was gonna up raining. Yes. Like what

Cheyenne : happens. Yes, yes.

Sabrina: But it ended up being fine. It was not. We did not get a pretty sunset. We didn’t have that. It was a cloudy evening, but it was still such a cool experience and a fun way to like end the retreat. It was super unique. Are you ready to uplevel your photography business with more ease, profit and clarity?

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Palm Springs. This was just this past January. Uh, we had, once we got there, that retreat was. Start, start to finish. No notes, like absolutely no notes. Yeah. Uh, we had the best chef. We had so much fun together. Our house was absolutely insane. Weather was perfect. Everything was great. But getting there was a little bit of an issue.

Very stressful. Yeah. We that we had some ice in a lot of the country that shouldn’t have ice that Yeah. In weird places. And yeah, so it was causing kind of flights to shift and whatnot. And so, uh, myself included, there were a few people that had to make some kind of last minute pivots. To make sure that they would get there in time.

And it all ended up working out just fine. But it was a little messy going in. And I remember actually that week I was talking to Coley about like, what do I do? Do I leave early? Do I not, you know, all this, I’m freaking out. And uh, she’s like. You know, girl, I always booked two flights before anything like this.

And I was like, right, well, why are you just now telling me this?

Cheyenne : You know, this is pertinent information I needed to know.

Sabrina: Yeah. She’s like, from now on you need to book two flights, one for a day ahead of, and then one for your regular day, and then cancel the one at the last minute. I was like, okay, well noted.

That’s actually really smart for something like this. Um, but otherwise, Palm Springs was incredible. It was just a little nerve wracking getting there because I was afraid that people were gonna be, you know, canceled last minute and all of that. We also had in our most recent retreat in Savannah, a pretty big issue.

Nobody else thinks it’s a big issue. I’m still, how many months later is this? I’m still really still ruminating over it. Really. I’m still really, really disappointed to the point that I don’t know that I’ll do it the same way that I’ve been doing it. ’cause now that I’ve been burned, I am kind of like, I need to maybe learn a lesson.

But listeners, here’s what I do. You’ve probably seen online that we give a lot of swag at our retreats. I’m a gift giver. That is my love language. I love to spoil people, and that’s what happens when you come to a retreat with me. You’re gonna have a whole bunch of goodies. Well, you know, the very first retreat we had in Austin, obviously I drove.

I drove and it was great. You know, the back of my car looked like I was moving, you know, I had so much stuff, but it was fine. It was convenient. After that, when we were flying to different parts of the country, I was like, I’m going to mail the swag ahead of time to someone that lives there because I don’t wanna pack all that stuff.

I don’t want, it’s literally an extra carry-on, uh, or an extra checked bag. When we went to Charleston, we didn’t know anybody that lived there, so I actually had an extra full check bag. Bag, yep. Full of swag that I took home empty. Okay. Very heavy. That’s just, yeah, very heavy. It’s just silly. When somebody, when somebody lives there, I just mail them stuff and I mail it to ’em, you know, a week ahead or 10 days ahead and they drive it over.

And that worked out in dc it worked out in like Palm Springs. It’s worked out everywhere. It did not work out in Savannah. Um, it did not work out in Savannah, and I’m still heartbroken over the fact that. I don’t remember, was there weather going on? Is that what happened? Like what was, I don’t remember what caused such drastic delays.

Cheyenne : I know it was just unreliable mail. And the thing is, is like that’s also like part of the welcome is that it’s all set out so nicely on the table for when people arrive. And it’s just kind of part of the aesthetics of the house for when everybody gets there. And let me also tell you that Sabrina thinks about the swag for a long time.

Like she is. It is very intentional. Every single item is just very like very Sabrina. And so I know that this was a big deal for you, that you were like, I cannot believe. That I am here empty handed for you. It was huge for everyone else. We’re like, oh, it’s, it’s fine.

Sabrina: Yeah. I, uh, I, I, I still, it’s still really, really irks me because you’re right, it is like the, the welcome is everybody comes in and then they get all these presents, and then we have this incredible chef dinner.

The whole day. One is about spoiling these women. That just felt like a really big missing piece to me. The other part that was frustrating was that we had a couple of women at that retreat who had been at a retreat before, so they knew the difference. If it would’ve been a whole lineup of women who’d never been at a retreat before, I probably could have like gotten away with it.

But the fact that there were a couple women there who had been before that was really frustrating, but. The swag never arrived. Uh, no. It did arrive. It just, it was after the fact. It was like weekly. We didn’t get it until the retreat or after the retreat was over, and so then the person I had mailed it to had to mail it all the way back to me, which is also super annoying.

Then I had to wait for it. Then I had to split it up and package it and wrap it cute and mail it to each individual person. It ended up being such a headache. The attendees actually thought it was kind of fun ’cause they were like, we thought the retreat was over and then we got all this fun stuff in the mail.

Yeah. It’s like, it’s not done. You still get fun. Yeah. It was just such a bummer. So honestly, I don’t know if I’m gonna do that anymore because. It was just heartbreaking and I really hated not having the stuff. Maybe, maybe the lesson is I just need to mail it way earlier, like weeks ahead of time. Yeah, yeah.

You know,

Cheyenne : maybe that’s what we try next time because

Sabrina: I mean, I remember we went to Target as, as we do like pre retreat, getting our stuff and I stopped and thought real hard about, do I get some stuff here? Do I just get some stuff so that they have something? But fiscally, I couldn’t, like, I was like, I can’t justify spending hundreds of dollars when they are, I’ve already spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars.

You know?

Cheyenne : And everything that you had gotten was so good though too. So like, it was also very much so worth the weight too. Yeah. Yeah. ’cause there were a few things that were a little bit different and, you know, you kind of change it up a little bit, but, and they’re all so good that like, it’s always, it was totally worth the wait.

Sabrina: It was a bummer to not get our group sweatshirt photo. Um, that was a real bummer, you know. We, we take a group sweatshirt photo at every retreat because the sweatshirts are different at every retreat. And we didn’t get that in Savannah, which is such, was such a sad moment. We’ve been in some really cool houses.

We have been in some really cool houses, um, over all these retreats that we’ve hosted and with really cool amenities and layouts and decor and in cool locations. Um, I’ve been really, really happy with everywhere that we have stayed. When we hosted the education blueprint, which was also in Austin, that was, I guess about a year ago last summer.

Summer 24. That one had the coolest amenities though. Don’t you think

Cheyenne : I talk about that Airbnb like regularly to like anybody that will listen.

Sabrina: Yes. It had like a gym in the garage including a sauna.

Cheyenne : Sauna with red light and everything had,

Sabrina: yes, and literally we all just like rotated in and outta that thing.

We had like a sauna schedule. It was incredible. It was such a nice little perk. It had, oh my gosh, the book wall. That was phenomenal. This book wall, you guys was literally floor to ceiling, probably, I don’t know, let’s call it five feet wide. Four feet wide filled with books. Like good books and just a variety too, like, yes.

So, and it’s, there was a sign on it that was like, feel free to take what you want and leave what you want. And we were like, wait. What? It was literally like a book swap station. It was so fun. Miniature library. Yeah, it was so cool. And then there was an incredible pool in the back and there was, we did yoga in the back in that one because the backyard was so lovely

Cheyenne : because it had like a little mini.

Golf course back there. Oh wait, but circling back to the, to the bookshelf? Yeah. The sign what it told you to do with the books, do you remember?

Sabrina: No,

Cheyenne : the donation. Okay. Oh yeah,

Sabrina: yeah, yeah. I forgot about that. It said to donate to the local children’s hospital. It wasn’t there. Like a little QR

Cheyenne : code or something?

Sabrina: Yeah, there

Cheyenne : was a QR code to donate to the local children’s hospital that were like, they were like, take as many books as you want. We just ask that maybe you make a small donation to Children’s Hospital. And I was like, what? Wonderful people. Yes,

Sabrina: and, and I feel like. When normally when you go to Airbnbs and there’s like books or games or stuff like that left out to use, it gets kind of ratty ’cause people take stuff, you know, or they’ll take pieces or parts of it, you know?

And, but this was just a really cool show of the kind of people that they host because again, this bookshelf was overflowing with books. It wasn’t like there was just a handful left and they were, people were stealing them. It was like incredible books. And so full. The other thing was they had a ton of local art throughout the house, which was really, really cool.

They like really featured Austin local artists, which was neat. And then. Why don’t you tell them about the, what they wanted us to do with the food.

Cheyenne : Oh, yeah. That was so cool. So like, they had a sign in the fridge and in this inside of like the pantry and everything. That was like, whatever food you don’t use, we would encourage you to send it, to bring it down to, can’t even remember what it’s called exactly.

But it’s a, they have different spots in Austin where they’re like. Refrigerator, like spots, pantries for the homeless in Austin. And so they have them in different spots in Austin and they had one that was kind of just down the street and around the corner and they were like, we would really encourage you to donate whatever leftover food you have to the, these homeless pantries.

And I was like, man, these people, they’re just supporting local artists, supporting the local children’s hospital supporting, you know, the homeless initiatives. And I was like, man.

Sabrina: This is amazing. It was so good because honestly, like, you know, the listeners know when you rent an Airbnb and you leave, unless you drove somewhere, if you flew to that location, like you’re throwing away a lot of stuff.

Not because you don’t want to leave it for someone, but because you don’t know what to do with it. But they took the initiative to say, here’s what you can do with your leftover stuff,

Cheyenne : and here’s exactly where it’s,

Sabrina: yes. It was so cool. It was also a really great location because. The access to that. What’s that parkway called or that, that walking area that was right behind the house.

Cheyenne : Oh yeah. Do remember what that’s called?

Sabrina: Where we walked every morning, remember? But yeah, but it’s like paved and pretty and like it’s this whole like bike walking path and it was, we had, um, access to it and so, um, there was a group of women that would walk every morning and that was just another little fun bonus.

I mean, it was July in Texas, so it was 1 million degrees, but you know, it was a good sweat.

Cheyenne : It was like in East Austin and there’s so many like. Fun local coffee shops and breakfast spots, like just so many little, we were just in the heart of a really cool part.

Sabrina: That restaurant that we ate at. I still think about the one that was like all vegan, all gluten-free.

You would never know. You would never know. Oh my gosh. We ordered, I think everything, yeah, I think we ordered everything on the menu to share and then we just all passed around and there was not one skip thing. It was all. Insane. And we had a lot of women in the group who don’t have dietary restrictions and they were like, are you sure about this?

And they loved it too. Wait, why is this so good? Yeah, it was so good. It says no business being this delicious. Yes. I loved it. It was so fun. Okay. Obviously we’ve had a lot of stories and honestly there’s way more stories than this. I mean, we have stories about running out of things and last minute stuff we’ve forgotten and stuff not working, and.

There’s, there’s just always stuff, you know. Um, but we have had one really bad experience. And you know what, listeners, out of nine retreats, I think we’re doing pretty good. Honestly. We just have one bad experience, and I will preface this spy. The women in this retreat we’re incredible. It did not ruin the experience.

We still had a phenomenal time. When, when, when we were in Seattle, we had a very, very poor experience with our chef. I just still, you know, as heartbroken as I am over the swag in Savannah, I’m still pissed about that experience.

Cheyenne : That one has stuck with me.

Sabrina: Yeah, it was so bad. Part of the reason why it was so bad is because, like we said, it’s the chef experience is the welcome dinner.

It’s the kickoff. It’s your first taste of what this weekend is going to be about. And Seattle was our first group ever, I think, where we had all brand new attendees. Isn’t that correct? We didn’t have Oh my gosh, yes. Right. We didn’t have anybody coming back. Correct. I think it was all first timers. I think so.

And so you and I were the only ones that knew just how bad it was, you know? And we were kept trying to reiterate like. This is not how this goes. This is not how this goes.

Cheyenne : It’s almost like the opposite of like of of Savannah, where it was like, okay, you, if none of you knew what this was like, then it would be better.

It was almost like the opposite this time that you were like, oh my gosh. If you guys all had been here before, you would know that this is not normal.

Sabrina: Yes, yes. And you and I were so angry and we stayed up late that night. We won’t get into details, but we stayed up late that night. Everybody else had gone upstairs and was getting ready for bed, and you and I are sitting in there downstairs in the living room, like drafting an an angry email and just Oh, it was not good.

No.

Cheyenne : Well, the thing is, is like neither of us are, you know, the me, you know, the, the Karen of the group. We’re not those people that are like, we want to when we have phenomenal service, like we go out of our way to leave incredible reviews. Tag them, like support these chefs in these, the, the yoga studios.

Like we go out of our way to like let people know when they’ve done a fantastic job, but we are in there just fuming mad, like going to send an email to anybody who will listen. Like, and that was probably why it was so hard was that it was like. It never even got, we ne didn’t even have a great resolution.

Sabrina: Yeah. There was no closure and it was such a frustrating experience. Those women in Seattle, such angels were so kind and gave us so much grace and they kept reiterating, guys, it’s not a big deal guys. We’re fine. We’re still having a good time. You and I were like, but you and I were just like, dang it. You know, this is not how this is supposed to start.

But the good news is we had incredible sessions in Seattle. Oh yeah. Like. Some of my favorite ever, our outdoor family session on the Rocky Beach Oh my gosh. Is like what dreams are made of. And then our two in-home session models, families were just so good like bananas. So Good. And then luckily our farewell dinner restaurant was insane and it made up for everything and it, it was really kind of lovely because we were able to close out the experience.

On such a high note, don’t you think?

Cheyenne : Oh, 100%. It was so good, and honestly it was a disaster at the beginning because of that, or it felt like it, and I took it so personally because I was the one that booked the chef. But I mean, we were, everybody was, again, like you said, everybody gave us so much grace and we pivoted and everyone was so kind about it.

And it ended perfect. I mean, the rest of the, the rest of the retreat again was fantastic.

Sabrina: Yeah, thank goodness for that because. I mean, I really think I was on pins and needles the whole time after that and as you were like, I can’t afford to have anything else. Right, exactly. Like as things went right, I was like, okay, I can start to relax a little bit more, relax a little bit more.

You know? You know what I did love about Seattle is how we got to walk to that coffee shop. Yes. In the neighborhood. That was so cute. That was such a fun little excursion. We did.

Cheyenne : Yeah. We, yeah. And Queen Anne. And like it was again, the weather could not have been better. In fact, I was joking with my husband that I was like, do I just love the Pacific Northwest?

Do I want to live here? And he was like, well, yeah, but also it didn’t rain on you at all. Yeah. And it was perfect weather. He was like, it was probably not. Perfect indication of what it’s always like. But it was

Sabrina: beautiful. Oh, it was absolutely gorgeous. And you know, I’m thinking about these stories we’ve told and we haven’t told any of the stories.

This will be all for a whole nother day. We haven’t told any of the stories of the 24 hours that you and I are there before the retreat starts. And like all the stuff we do. And it’s a lot, it’s a lot like getting there early and getting set up for everyone, getting everything ready. But we also try to give ourself time to like explore a little bit and like.

See the area that we’re in and I felt like in Seattle we really were able to do that because we went down to Pikes Market. Yeah. Flowers. And the flowers. Yes. And we had, remember the, the shrimp that we ate on the street.

Cheyenne : I mean, where else can you just eat like random, like. Raw seafood. Does someone like flings at you?

Sabrina: Yes. We ate the most insanely raw, like not raw, but like delicious shrimp.

Cheyenne : Yeah.

Sabrina: And just on the street. ’cause we like bought it and we’re like, we’re not even gonna take this home. Let’s just eat this right now. Uh, we went and experienced the flowers. We went and saw the gum wall. We like, we walked around.

It was a gorgeous morning. That was so fun to do. So fun. We’re

Cheyenne : losing our minds over the. A stunning bouquet of flowers. Yeah. Was like $10 or something.

Sabrina: Yes. Insane. Anywhere else would be 50 to $60. Right. It was so crazy. And so we’ve gotten to do a lot of really fun things and there’s always so much set up.

We used to consistently have a double grocery cart situation. We have paired it down to one overflowing card, so I feel like we’re doing better

Cheyenne : and I think that we have become more efficient, like with our shopping. You know, at the beginning it was like. I mean, it was an hour plus.

Sabrina: Yes. Now we’re

Cheyenne : like, okay, you we’re here.

We need these, we need these, we need these. And um, I think we’re pretty efficient with it now. Well, and we always do the game of like over under like our groceries and take a picture and

Sabrina: Yes. And it, we’ve gotten so much better than we were for sure. And it’s definitely being able to feed that many women for that many days.

With as much intention as we do because we buy everybody’s favorite stuff. And so like I’m not just buying like a box of crackers, I’m buying four different brands because of different dietary taste and preferences, you know, and we’re buying all the different kinds of candy and all different kinds of drinks and multiple kinds of X, Y, Z, but we’re more efficient about it now and like how much we actually need, and so,

Cheyenne : right.

Exactly. It’s gotten a lot better.

Sabrina: Yeah, but we always have to go to Target inevitably. Yep. Inevitably. Well, one of these times we’re gonna not have to go to Target anymore.

Cheyenne : I’ll leave it when I see it. Yeah. I

Sabrina: just, there’s always, it’s, it’s like a, oh my gosh, we forgot this cord, we need this candle, we forgot, blah, blah, blah.

And it, well, I guess we’re going to target, you know, so,

Cheyenne : and also can we like just take a moment for how. Good. We’ve gotten at making delicious mocktails.

Sabrina: Oh my gosh. Nailing it. We have made

Cheyenne : so many good mocktails over the past few times.

Sabrina: Yes, I agree. So I agree. We totally have. And low key

Cheyenne : mixologists.

Sabrina: I mean, yeah.

The only thing we need to really do now is like figure out how we can have like better lattes and stuff without having to like go to a coffee shop. Yeah. We need to figure that out. Also, you know what story we forgot to tell, this is also in Seattle. Was the car that we rented The key, the key battery dying.

Cheyenne : Oh, that was a

Sabrina: real good

Cheyenne : time.

Sabrina: That That was a fun surprise. That was a fun surprise. Luckily that happened before anyone arrived. That happened. We found that out, like right when we got to the rental house. Like that night, like we got there unloaded, we’d done some stuff and for whatever reason, we had gone out to the car, like maybe a cord had gotten left in the car or something.

Because it was dark and I, I go out there and the car won’t unlock, and I’m like, oh my gosh, the battery to the key is not working and it’s a, and obviously I was able to pop the key out and manually unlock it, but then I was like, oh, dear God, this is a, like a, a remote start car without the key. It’s not going to start.

And so. It was like a lick and a prayer. The next morning getting it started and we drove straight to a place to replace the battery in the thing, and we had to YouTube how to get the battery out. It was this whole thing. It ended up being fine, but we had to be like little pseudo mechanics too. Make sure that we had a vehicle to drive around.

Yeah, yeah. I mean it was, there’s always little funny stuff like that that happens. Little

Cheyenne : some things. Yeah.

Sabrina: This has been so fun. I hope it’s given, uh, the listeners a fun peek into everything that goes into our retreats and, you know, the real behind the scenes and all of that. Uh, hopefully we haven’t scared anyone off ’cause that was not the intent.

Um, they really are magical. Despite these little hiccups we’ve had over the years, they’re still just absolutely so amazing. But I wanna end with just some fun, kind of rapid fire questions for you if you’re ready.

Cheyenne : Okay. Let’s do it.

Sabrina: Um, what is a hobby or something fun that you’re pursuing purely for joy this year?

Cheyenne : Ooh, you know what? I have started painting with acrylic paints lately, and, um, I,

Sabrina: ooh,

Cheyenne : I’m not good at it, but I love it.

Sabrina: That’s so fun. Are you doing it just on your own? Are you doing it with the girls?

Cheyenne : No. Yeah, well, the girls are doing a little bit, they, um. You know, they’re perfectionists, so when something goes wrong, they, they quit pretty quickly sometimes.

Um, so it’s something I like to do by myself, but it’s really, it’s been so fun to just like mess around with it and play with, like on canvas and it’s just. Kind of been a fun little

Sabrina: cool hobby. Are you doing it purely on your own or are you like watching YouTube or No, you’re just winging it. Just

Cheyenne : a girl right here.

Yep.

Sabrina: I love that. Um, that’s super fun. What is something that you’re always up to talk about?

Cheyenne : Um, Taylor Swift, duh.

Sabrina: Obviously,

Cheyenne : obviously books and running.

Sabrina: Yeah,

Cheyenne : things I can talk at length about

Sabrina: because you are currently training for your third marathon.

Cheyenne : I haven’t decided if I’m gonna, if I’m gonna do a third round, I probably will not.

I’m for sure doing a half in January. That’s

Sabrina: what you always say? That’s what I always

Cheyenne : say and then I get started and I’m like, what am I mine as well? Yeah, exactly. Mine as well.

Sabrina: Yeah. Where is the one you’re doing in January?

Cheyenne : Just here in Austin. It’s one I’ve done twice before, but Oh, cool. You approach it a little bit differently this time.

Sabrina: Okay. Well that’s exciting. Um, yeah, so if you guys aren’t following Cheyenne, I’ll have everything linked, um, in the show notes, but go follow her for real life running. And all the things that she, and there’s definitely a lot of Taylor Swift, thank goodness she’s in our Ms. K

Cheyenne : creamer. I’m not a fast runner, so if you need to feel better about yourself,

Sabrina: there you go.

There you go. She’s Cheyenne’s In our um, Taylor Swift group chat, which is. At time of recording. At time of recording, August 19th is hopping in the past week. It is blowing up. We’re hopping off. Hopping off? Yes. Um, okay, my friend. Where is your next vacation or travel planned for?

Cheyenne : You know what? This is like the first time that I do not have anything planned right now.

This year was a very high travel year for us. We were on an airplane every month from January to June, and Sabrina, as you know, I am not a fan of being on airplanes. It gives me a lot of anxiety. So the fact that I don’t have any trips planned right now is actually feeling okay for me. I think I’ve hit my quota of airplane rides this year and I’m okay with it.

Sabrina: Okay. I love that. I love that. That’s super fun. Um, that you get to just be a homebody this fall and Yeah.

Cheyenne : I’m school pretty forget about. Yeah.

Sabrina: That’s great. I love that. I know you’re so lucky that you’re not being forced to go on another airplane this fall with me,

Cheyenne : but listen to your credit. There was a lot of, a lot of, um, exposure therapy with airplanes and, uh, I, it has helped.

Sabrina: Okay. We’ll, we’ll take that. Um, okay, last question. What is a business tool or hack that you’re loving right now?

Cheyenne : Oh, for sure. Chat. GPT

Sabrina: Oh yeah.

Cheyenne : Has been, I mean, just making my business so efficient and just like repurposing content and giving me just ideas. I mean, I rewrite things to make it sound a little bit more like myself.

And I mean, granted chat, GPT has learned my brand voice quite well, but you know how sometimes you make little tweaks. It has just been so helpful in terms of efficiency for me this year.

Sabrina: Chatty G is my best friend and I love her so much. Um, I also am, I feel like I should give mine a name. You name her.

Absolutely. I, I, my favorite thing now is yes, I love her for business and I love the support and like you said, the efficiency. But I’m also really getting into like using her as like a health and nutrition coach and like asking her those kinds of questions and I’m like, loving it. Yes.

Cheyenne : Yeah. I was like, give me gluten free dinner.

Recipes for this month, but also, I hate chicken, so help me out. Yeah. And she’s like, there you go.

Sabrina: Yeah. It’s so fun. I’m 45 and so I’m going through all of the like fun hormone stuff and the things that happen as we age. And so I’m constantly asking her questions about like, what should I do about this and should I try this and tell me the pros and cons of this and all that, and it’s.

Just awesome. I’m like obsessed. I’m literally, literally obsessed. I’m totally obsessed.

Cheyenne : I use Chappy chat, GPT literally every single day now.

Sabrina: Yeah. Yeah. It’s, I agree with you. Just so fun. Um, okay, my friend. This was such a great chat. I knew it would be. I’m so glad we finally made it happen. Um, I can’t wait to hear the feedback from this.

Um, hopefully it’s. Good. We didn’t scare people off. Yeah. Say you love us. Say you love us. Say you wanna participate in a retreat. They really are the best. They

Cheyenne : really are. So fun.

Sabrina: Yes. And uh, thanks for your time and everything and we’re gonna have you back on the podcast soon ’cause we’ve got more stuff to talk about.

Cheyenne : Yeah. I

Sabrina: love it.

Cheyenne : Thanks for having me, Sabrina.

Sabrina: All right, we’ll see you next time my friends. Thanks so much for listening to the Shoot It Straight podcast. You can find all the full show notes and details from today’s episode@sabrinagehart.com slash podcast. Come find me and connect over on the gram at Sabrina Gehart Photography.

If you’re loving the podcast, I’d be honored if you hit that subscribe button and leave me a review. Until next time, my friends. Shoot it straight.