The Complete Retreat Podcast

The RetreatHelp Origin Story: From Corporate Burnout to Conscious Business Consulting

• Ian Vogel • Episode 1

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In this first episode of The Complete Retreat Podcast, I sit down with my co-founder Jarrod to share our story.

We talk about how we went from burning out in corporate jobs to finding healing through retreats, and eventually creating RetreatHelp.

If you're curious about the people behind RetreatHelp or wondering how two guys from completely different backgrounds ended up helping retreat leaders build thriving businesses, this episode is for you.

We get real about our struggles, breakthroughs, and why we're so passionate about the retreat industry.

Visit https://retreathelp.com/discovery-call to schedule a call with us!

#entrepreneur #wellnesstourism #transformationalretreat #consciousbusiness #podcast #retreatbusiness #businesscoach #businessgrowth

01:08 Meet the Co-Founders: Jarrod Allen and Host
04:53 Jarrod's First Retreat Experience
07:15 Ian's First Retreat Experience
12:29 The Impact of Retreats on Personal Growth
14:54 The Growing Retreat Industry
24:36 The Future of Retreats and Wellness Tourism
33:36 A Transformative Experience in Sonora
35:43 The Power of Community
37:04 Ian's Diverse Retreat Experiences
43:20 From Car Sales to Ayahuasca
52:09 A Journey Through the Cannabis Industry
54:44 Building RetreatHelp

About RetreatHelp:
RetreatHelp is an end-to-end business consulting and marketing systems provider founded by Ian Vogel and Jarrod Allen. Their mission is to simplify the business of retreats, helping conscious leaders sell out their events faster, increase revenue, and have a greater impact with less stress.

The RetreatHelp team specializes in helping retreat leaders streamline and scale their businesses through their comprehensive Four Pillar System: marketing, sales, technical systems, and business operations.

Using cutting-edge technology, AI integration, and automated solutions, RetreatHelp enables retreat facilitators to focus on creating transformative experiences while reducing manual workload.

Additional links:
✦ Website: https://retreathelp.com/
✦ Podcast Website: https://retreathelp.com/podcast
✦ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/retreat_help/
✦ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1462938347760779
✦ RH Private Community: https://community.retreathelp.com/login

Ian:

I've seen both ends of the spectrum from downtown LA doing a, ayahuasca, I dare call it a ceremony because there was really nothing ceremonial about it, My interpretation was two demons on the other side of the room. Like just scrolling social media, lit up really brightly in this dark room.

jarrod allen:

And,it's so interesting how life as we start to get into alignment, brings all these things in together to become important in hopefully, something that is really part of your calling of what you're meant to do

HypeMiC & FaceTime HD Camera:

What is up and welcome to the Complete Retreat Podcast, where we talk to retreat creators and retreat industry experts about what it takes to build a thriving retreat business. Now, I am super excited to get this going. This podcast has been a long time coming. And I'm so looking forward to being able to share awesome conversations and really valuable insights with everybody who listens. Typically, I'll be talking to somebody different every week from around the industry. But today, in honor of the very first episode, I decided to do something a little bit different. In this episode, I'll be talking to Jarrod Allen, who, with myself, is the other co founder of RetreatHelp. com. Now, we spend a lot of time talking to retreat business owners and helping them get their business from where they are now to where they want to go. But we don't spend much time talking about ourselves. Very little time, if any, actually. So we thought it would be a good idea to share a little bit about our backstory. And to talk about how we got to where we are today. Both Jarrod and I have quite a bit of experience in the retreat industry, both running retreats and participating in retreats. So this is a little sneak peek into our history, a little walk down memory lane, if you will, regarding how we got started in the industry, what draws us to the industry, why we're so passionate about retreats, and, just the things that light us up about helping retreat business owners. So I hope you enjoy this conversation with myself and Jarrod. We'll be doing these fairly regularly, him and I speaking together, usually about specific retreat related topics, but yeah, this is a special episode so we decided to do something a little different.

Ian:

my friend, JJarrod what's going on today? It's good to speak with you. been speaking for a little bit, but you know, we've. Talking about having this conversation for a while, the fact that, we interact with so many people and are constantly talking about our business. we've, I figured it'd be a good opportunity. And, you and I both decided that we should take some time and talk a little bit about ourselves, which is something we don't do very often. Again, we're usually focused on talking to other people about their business, what we can do to help them get to where they want to go. The whole purpose of the Complete Retreat Podcast is to bring value to our clients, potential clients, people in the retreat industry, people who are interested in going to retreats, people who are thinking about maybe starting a retreat business, people who have been in the retreat business for a long time. There's always more to learn. I mean, that's my belief anyway, and I think I could speak for both of us that. There's always more to learn, and there's always opportunities for growth, and the more we can connect with each other, the more we can learn from one another the better things are, all around, and you never know when you're going to get that little negative, of wisdom or information that can have a really big impact on your life, your business, whatever you're doing. this is going to be fun. It's going to be fun. It's something we've, again, not done ever really especially in this context. And my hope is that the people who watch this can get little bit more of a feel for who we are and what we're about, where we came from, our prior history and experiences to give some more context about the kind of work that we do with RetreatHelp and why we're so passionate about what we do and why we do what we do. just saying that before we really get into it, do you have any initial thoughts, anything has anything come up for you?

jarrod allen:

completely agree and like, we always say this when we're having these conversations that, We've had hundreds of hours of conversations, and we always say this, we should have recorded that bit, that'd be a really good podcast. We've had, we've gone on for like two hours before, just like talking about all sorts of stuff, whether it be, a lot to do with retreat, spirituality, mindfulness, all this sort of thing. And I think, yeah, this is a really good thing that, we can record a little bit and record this and share it with other people. And, I think it's a definitely a great idea and something that we'll be doing a lot more of. Absolutely. So yeah, I'm just really grateful to be having this conversation with you and being able to share it with other people. And yeah, thank you everyone for listening also.

Ian:

Oh yeah, absolutely. I guess a good place to start is, Jarrod, what was your introduction, what was your first retreat? How did you get into this, or like, what was the beginning, starting point for you in your journey with getting into the retreat industry?

jarrod allen:

Yeah. I mean, looking back, like I, I don't, No, when I first went to a retreat, if I really understood the concept of a retreat or what was actually going on there, but looking back now, like, and realizing that first retreat I went to was probably, mean, it was an ayahuasca retreat and that's a contributing factor, but it's also the actual retreat going to that retreat. Was probably one of the most pivotal points in my life in regards to where I am now over six years later as well. So yeah, I mean, I came into the retreat space, I came to my first retreat looking to work on myself, looking at trying to, shake off some stuff that had really been holding me back for many years. Stuff that I couldn't really seem to be able to touch on my own, no matter what I was doing. And yeah, I went to an ayahuasca retreat in Australia. And it was very good. Considering Australia is a little bit of a grey area when it comes to plant medicine, so that everything has to be a bit underground. Considering it was underground, they were extremely professional and delivered the retreat really beautifully. One thing that I find really interesting about this retreat as well, and now I've been to so many retreats and different ones participated and, we'll get into the other stuff after as well about, the roles that we've had in regards to leading retreats and creating retreats. But one of the funny things I was thinking about this today actually is that That first retreat, I still get emails from them, like, as well, I mean, like, being in their system, I still get emails, like, once a month with, like, their newsletter and telling me about upcoming stuff that they have going as well, and I think that's it's really interesting. Yeah, that was my first, that was my first retreat that I ever went to, and it was extremely powerful and did really steer me in a direction, and I do believe that's why I am here. Now doing what I do, what we do as well. How about you? What was what was your first retreat? Um,

Ian:

What I think of a retreat, I think of a transformational experience. And for me, if I really see It was when I was maybe 11 or 12 when I went to Bible camp. if I'm really honest with myself, that was the first experience that I would consider retreat like. In retreat, your, a retreat breaks up your pattern. It's a pattern interrupt for your life. it takes you out of your comfort zone, takes you out of your normal, whatever you're doing, puts you in a completely different environment, typically with different people and in a completely different context and there's usually. Some sort of goal or like theme, you're trying to accomplish something, whether it's plant medicine, yoga, adventure, retreats, whatever it is. given that's my definition of a retreat, it would have to be when I went to Bible camp when I was young.. And I remember specifically like specific things about a couple of years in the summer, I went when I was pretty young. Relatively young in that age range from like 10 to 11 12 13 something like that. I went two summers in a row and I still have distinct memories from those experiences. If you had asked me about like the, my school teachers, who my school teachers were during that time, or what other stuff I was doing, there's just I would, I could probably figure it out if I sat and went back and tried to think about it and like really piece it together. But those experiences were very memorable. And I would say that those were my first, my very first exposure to a resource in that. In that context. And then. Again, yeah, maybe almost 10 years ago when I started doing plant medicine retreats, ayahuasca here in the U. S., and that was really, same for me, very pivotal and changed a lot in my life. was living in Las Vegas at the time, just very lost, I was working in the shipping department of a scuba gear wholesaler warehouse based out of Las Vegas, of all places, a really miserable job, really did not want to, did not want to be there, did not know what I was doing with my life. And then, and yeah, it changed my life. The end. Just the everything about it. It was like really the community aspect meeting so many like minded people. And I felt at a time in my life where I felt really isolated, really changed a lot for me and brought me community. I'm still friends with a handful of people who were at my very first ceremony. We still, I still communicate fairly regularly with several of them, which is even thinking about people from high school or other periods of my life, there's just not a lot, not that same kind of bond. That I experienced with. those people so yeah, that was And after that it was there's no turning back for me. It was I didn't necessarily jump into facilitation or leading retreats or organizing At that point, but it was a steady progression for me Of continue like keep continuing to show up and show up and people start to trust you You start to take on a little bit more responsibility over time. And yeah for me it was just yeah years of Progressing slowly, getting to the point where, yeah, now I've got a lot of experience have been all over the world, South America, Asia, done retreats all over the world. North America and in different contexts again. So like yoga teacher training in India, spent time in Nepal, Peru, Columbia. So it's been a really and unexpected journey that, that since my very first retreat that I, I would have never, I would have never anticipated having so many adventures mostly good and mostly enjoyable. A lot of, also some that were not whatsoever enjoyable, but yeah, coming from a small, very rural town in middle of nowhere, Minnesota. Yeah. It's. It's been fun and I'm looking forward to seeing where, where this path continues, given the fact that in doing what we're doing and communicating with so many really cool retreat leaders and powerful people who are out there doing incredible work, it's opening up some pretty cool doors for us to be able to potentially have some really awesome experiences. So I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes.

jarrod allen:

Yeah, absolutely, man. It's yeah, absolutely. I think it's a really interesting and something to always remember as we mentioned that, remembering that, these singular experiences, whether it be for a weekend or a week or whatever it might be. really do have the opportunity to change people's lives. And it's very, it's not saying that sometimes the retreat's going to change, but it can be the direction and the new perspective, the new understanding that they're gaining through this. And always keeping that as a core value, it's really important because again, just like we're speaking about, you know,

Ian:

Yeah, and I mean, for me personally, that's one of the things that really draws me to doing this work of, in the context of RetreatHelp where our whole mission and our whole goal is to help retreat. Business owners and retreat creators do what they do better, connect with more people, have a thriving business, be able to run a business. That's more, more streamlined and easier to run and more automated so that they can focus. on their given modalities and really continuing to excel at that and help change people's lives. the ripple effect that can come from just a single retreat. You think about all the participants, like, and I've thought about this many times, like, Somebody who attends a retreat, that retreat doesn't just change their lives. I've seen it over and over again. People who are either like parents or people who are in families, if they're able to positive beneficial change in their life, in a way a parent can relate to their children, if they have some epiphanies or aha moments, or they're able to come to terms with some things and, And make changes in how they relate to people that changes the parent that changes the parents relationship with their parent that changes their relationship with their children and what their children learn from their parent is how they're going to relate to their parents like the amount of real substantial long term change that can come from these kind of retreats and different sort of transformational events is just It's hard to quantify and it's a really special thing. So, so it's, yeah, to me, it's super exciting. And, yeah, I'm just, never been so excited about work I am in doing this because I know the kind of impact it can have on the world. You and I both understand the statistics around the retreat business and how it's evolving and how rapidly it's growing. So I'm curious to hear from you about your take on it. And like, what makes you so excited about doing what we do and where you see this going and how it impacts the people around us and the retreat participants.

jarrod allen:

Yeah, absolutely. Just which will obviously flow into this as well, remembering that really important point, like, at its core value, being heavily involved in something At quite a big scale and having the ability to help people be able to deliver their motalities so they can make those impacts is just massive for me, why I actually mentioned that beforehand is that yesterday I actually got a message from a participant from one of our retreats down in Columbia about 12 months ago. And she spoke about how that retreat was a big turning point for her and I didn't realize what she'd gone and done and she she was living in the US at that point and doing like graphic design and all this sort of stuff. But, really wanted to break free and move into something else. I heard from her yesterday. She got my number. I had changed my number a little while ago from a friend as well. And she's now this is all coming back to obviously remembering how much of an impact these retreats that we're all delivering can impact people's lives. But basically, yeah, she's now down in Argentina. She's got like a team of app builders and she's trying. She's building this app based around Helping people with Parkinson's disease be able to do certain types of movements and meditations and stuff every day to try and help them through that, through, living with Parkinson's, that's just an example of like how a well delivered retreat can not just affect the person, but then have a carry on effect of something that could potentially help hundreds, thousands of people, so, yeah. But I mean, there's that impact. There's a human impact of it, which is obviously a key driver. It's a massive thing. And it's probably the key. I know it's a key driver for both of us. and being able to help people deliver these beautiful retreats, but it's also very personal for me. And I feel like it's probably very similar on the same side of this for yourself as well. Is that like, let's be like really honest, like the world's a bit of a shit show at the moment. There's a lot of anxiety. There's a lot of depression. There's no, just no what's the word I'm looking for? But it, There's just nowhere for people to go sometimes and they don't know how to, deal with this stress and deal with this anxiety or deal with this lack of direction. And for me personally, like the retreats were the answer, no matter what it is, if you're doing yoga, if you're doing meditation, mindfulness, no matter what it might be, these containers are so, so unique. They're incredibly unique, like not just because of the modality that you're practicing, but also that. Community that you experience. You mentioned before as well. Like we've lost touch with that. And I feel like these retreats seemed as one of the first times I really saw a genuine community again. I didn't even, I was like, geez, what do you mean? Like, people come together to, like, help each other through their crap and the stuff that they want to release and let go of. It was the first time I'd seen it and I was like 35 years old and it's like a genuine container and I think it's just remembering these containers are just so unique. So, incredibly excited about about RetreatHelp and just, it's just very special to me, to us. I know a hundred percent and just really looking forward to working with some. And we already are working with some really incredible, beautiful people who are making really big impact. Yeah, that's probably the big, one of the big drivers for me are those things just to begin with. But you know, there's a, there's a million things, what gets me excited about it. But I really do see it going in a really beautiful direction. We both do some retreats of our own and we plan on doing some RetreatHelp stuff as well. So being able to still have your boots on the ground as well is super cool as well. So how about yourself?

Ian:

Yeah, I mean, I second that and especially the post covid area era. I think covid really illuminated some issues in our with our society and some things that people were experiencing that maybe. Wouldn't have been brought to the forefront and wouldn't have been in such a way without the lockdowns and without the situations where people were so isolated for long periods of time. I think people were already feeling that a sense of isolation in a more intangible way, but that just punctuated what people were already feeling and, brought it to the forefront of, oh. Oh, this, there's something not right about isolation, people in our Western society particularly, there's an epidemic of depression and anxiety different psycho, like psychological disorders that are just almost ubiquitous that it's just across the board, the word from kids to adults, men, women it's pretty new. Pretty wild. The psychological issues that our society is facing, and my belief is that lot of that can be alleviated just through community. I mean, if you look at studies they've done about blue zones, where they talk about, where a blue zone is an area where people live to be older and healthier. Then the average that's I know like Fiji is a blue zone. Many like Amish, the Amish communities are typically blue zones. The Seventh Day Adventists in different like religious communities. People live to be an older age and healthier but these blue zones, they appear all over the world and people have studied them and they find that there's a couple of contributing factors that really lead to somebody being healthier for longer, which one is community, and one is, Purpose and that kind of ties in with spirituality, like a religious, usually a religious context to it and community those are the two main things that drive health and longevity and again, Touching back on the COVID thing, I think we saw there was a major deterioration of people's mental wellbeing and psychological health during that time. And like, I think it clicked for a lot of people like, Oh, it's isolation. It's not good. So moving to like, how do we remedy that community is community is huge. And you and I have experienced the power of community and how seemingly random people can come together Over the course of a weekend and have a unique experience that will never be had again in a, in a container that just can't be replicated same retreat provider working at the same location doing the same step in order of the delivery of their retreat. We'll never deliver the same retreat. participants play a huge role overall experience. Like, the participants make the retreat. As much as the retreat leader and the environment. Like, it's all synergistic. It all works together, hand in hand. And Being able to experience that in a tangible way, energetically, connecting with people to, to co create something. There's just, there's so much healing in that. And it's something that lot of people have lost touch with. I mean, I think it's built into our DNA and into our psyche. That this is a healthy and something that, that is nourishing in a deep way to, to have these group experiences. And I believe consciousness is changing on this planet I that's how I see it and I think it's hard to deny that and we're I believe we're moving towards more Of communal experiences, more communal living. And there's evidence, I believe, to support that. the old structures are starting to deteriorate. The top down, masculine, dominated, hierarchical, of society it's starting to get weak and wobbly and it's there, you can see cracks in the foundation. believe we're moving towards a, more of a communal, not necessarily communism not living in a commune, but more community based more connection with community style living. And we're, I mean, we're seeing that in, think a reflection of that. Is the fact that the retreat industry is growing so rapidly And you know the stats a little bit better is growing very rapidly just defer to you and get your take on like the direction you see the industry going and how that's how that connects with, like, the vacations, vacation rather than like, going to a retreat rather than a vacation, because I know you and I have had, have had this conversation, so I'd love to hear your take on that.

jarrod allen:

Yeah, absolutely. There's like a couple of different points in there as well, I mean to talk. About stats. One thing, like, I'm not like a major geek about stats, but I do like them because they're very true. There's a lot of a lot of truth in statistics and numbers, right? And so, through this process of looking at the statistics, especially for retreat business or wellness tourism, right, which is retreat business, essentially people going to different places from where they usually live to participate in wellness activities these statistics on their own and how dramatically they're growing is just pure evidence of like, this is what people want to do now. And we can look at the reasons, the reasoning why, which we'll talk about in a second. But I really do like these statistics because it is people, it is showing that, people are looking for alternatives and they're looking for different ways. And, what we're talking about here is like, why is that? And like you mentioned before, like community growth, new modes of consciousness, new modes of being. Becoming in the forefront of people's drivers in this day and age. So, yeah, I mean, to look at the statistics on like wellness tourism, for instance, from a period of around, now don't mark me on the exact numbers, but the period from around 2012 to 2018, it doubled from, I think it's around 430 something 430 billion to nearly 900 billion post pandemic. It still didn't go back to the 2012 numbers, like even through that little period there, there's, it was still yeah, around 500, I think it was around 500 billion during this sort of pandemic years up until around 2024 what was really crazy though, no, 2023 is that in 2023 it came back like even further, like it got up Very close to a trillion, and then They're projecting by 2028, which is like, we're nearly say three years away that it's going to be worth like 1. 36 trillion. So, and it's growing like, yeah, I think per annum at like eight or 9%. So it's like, it's crazy. Like, and that's, to me, it's not about the money. It's not about what you're looking at the money side of it. That's irrelevant. It's more looking at the growth and what's, what is this growth showing us? And it is showing us that people are looking for, rather than going to Cancun, drinking pina coladas at an all inclusive. I'm sure that they're still valid. It's okay if you want to do that as well. But it is really exciting because it's like people are going, look, I've got some people two weeks a year, sometimes, in Australia, you get four weeks a year paid back, well, you get 20 days. So it works out to be four weeks once you stitch in the weekends there, but um, you know, people would, I would work and work, and then you get that little bit of period of time. And I think people are now starting to go like, with this small amount of time, I want to make a change. I want to make a change within myself. And that doesn't mean they want to go somewhere, change their whole life, come back. Get rid of their family in the house and go live in the jungle or something. But it does show that people are realizing that things need to change and I need to utilize this very small period of time that I have where I don't have all these inputs from life to be able to make some sort of foothold in moving in the right direction. And so I think Yeah, I think it's very exciting to see that there's sort of statistics. It's exciting for the, sure, for the retreat industry, but I think it's exciting for society. I think it's exciting for the, showing that's what people want to do with their free time, is, go learn something new, work on themselves, maybe release some of the pain and challenges that are there. They've been having as well. So yeah, I think it's very cool. And that's all the statistics I have in. I don't have any more statistics in my head, but they're pretty close to what the reality of everything that's happening.

Ian:

Yeah, and one of the beautiful things about retreats and, the industry that we're in and the people that we support that it doesn't have to be either or it's not either going to Vegas for the three days and losing your mind or going. To an like a, an Ayurvedic, healing intensive, there's a lot of variety, retreats can have both. And I think a good retreat and I say good, but like, retreats that are effective. And the retreats that really resonate with people is where there's a mixture of a space curated for both healing and relaxation. And taking into consideration consideration that is an absolute requirement for healing. Like, you can't just grind your way into a state of wellbeing. Rest is an integral part of that. And again, I think really effective retreats know that. And they know when to step on the gas a little bit. They know when to, they know when to relax a little bit and give participants time to integrate and do their thing. that means that there is an aspect of time to relax and unwind along with an opportunity grow and as you said, go back to your after the rest time is over, after your, a lot of time away is over, to return to your life, a better version of yourself. I know in, in the US, and I don't know the statistic off the top of my head, but it's shocking how many people don't take vacation. it's absolutely, it's unbelievable how many people don't take vacation in Europe, in Australia, different parts of the world, Europe. I know there, there's a much, much more of a, an emphasis on, we're taking a month off. Like, like it's just, built into the people's yearly schedule of taking extended time away Like a week two weeks at least a couple weeks in the u. s Like it's really gotten to the point where have just gotten used to not Taking time away from work or feeling pressured to not take time off of work for whatever intention or they're given the option to just cash out their vacation time. And if the bills are tight, it's like, well, can just take a pay. I can just take an additional paycheck and that would, that would help me out rather than take the time away where all the studies show taking. Like taking a vacation, taking time away from work actually makes people more productive and help with productivity. So yeah, I think, as you said, I believe we're moving more towards a just societal trend of mixing, like mixing an opportunity for growth with the rest and relaxation and moving away from just like a pure vacation where you, like I said, you go to the beach and sip on Mai Tais too. you can go to, where you can go to a center and maybe have some of that, but also enjoy some other, healing modalities. So, speaking of other healing modalities, I'm, I'd love to hear more about your, the experiences with the different sorts of retreats you've participated in. Because I know, like myself, you've had, experiences in a wide range of different retreats. So curious what the different retreats were or the different that you've experienced are and if any of them really stick out as memorable or as unique.

jarrod allen:

Yeah, it's a it's really interesting. I mean, I'm fortunate enough to obviously have good experience, a good amount of experience on both sides of the fence, as a participant, as I was going along my journey and then switching over to leading retreats and creating retreats as well. A lot of the retreats that I've participated in have been, working with different plant medicines as well. Very consciously, nice and gently. But yeah, working with plant medicines. I've also I've done a bit of meditation stuff and also like Vipassana also, which was really interesting. I count all these as retreats as well.

Ian:

Okay. Okay. very

jarrod allen:

jungle in Ecuador to, being in the desert of Sonora, like all sorts of different things, if I was gonna probably, Say the most memorable one for me, and it's it was a retreat, you know It is absolutely a retreat, but it's like big it's like about a hundred and thirty people is this thing that I like to go to in Sonora in Mexico and basically come and camp and they give you a You get your food and everything included and they do a lot of really beautiful stuff, whether it be from sitting around a fire with some of the elders of the area talking to you about the stars to Temescal and there's some plant medicine work in there as well. And a lot of meditations and yoga, but I think what makes it so powerful, like it's on the beach, it's in this Beautiful, incredible part of the Sonoran Desert is that they even do like a concert at the end as well. Like, and everyone just like dances around until like two or three in the morning by the fire as well. But I think that is so memorable for me because it was a very definitive point when I first went to it a fair few years ago now it's been three, over three years ago where I had a very clear switch to going, okay, like I've been going and doing this work for myself in different places and I became very clear. that I wanted to help. Like I was just very clear that's exactly what I needed to do. And that's what did really start the path to me then going, I'm volunteering in a retreat center down in Columbia and then leading facilitation there for over a year and a half as well. And. It was very memorable. And the really powerful part of that was, is that how these people had, you got like 130 people there and it's a beautiful wello machine. You know how they do it, but it's not, it wasn't ever about being a retreat. They don't even call it, they call it like an encampment, but it's, what was so impactful for me was once again, and it keeps coming up and keeps coming back, is like. Is this community thing? It's just it's massive. Just like being people could just be free. They can take their masks off. They can leave all the baggage at the door and they got to be themselves. And the other thing that was very powerful for me was that, some of the people who were carrying a little bit more baggage when they'll come into the door, which we all have comparatively when we're in a place in society where we're being pushed so much to be individuals. Those people get pushed out to the side, like, Oh, people be like, Oh yeah, it's okay. Like, yeah, I hope you're doing well. Like a text message is how you check in or do you want to have a chat for five minutes? No these are the people who like embrace the most almost, and they were nurtured the most and then I'd see them the next time I went and they're just like this different person, from this as well. So I think that was extremely powerful for me and was very, a big sort of turning pivotal point. Yeah, from my sort of experience with retreats, that obviously the other stuff, what I was doing before and what I'm doing now and what I have been doing is a bit of a different thing, but like for me as a participant that was definitely the most memorable. Do you have a, do you have one yourself here and do you have one that's like the, a particular retreat or a particular place or venue or something that's really stuck with you?

Ian:

Oh man, yeah, there's a lot and like you, I've participated and helped facilitate ceremonies all over the place. I spent three years really trying Working with one of the larger Ayahuasca churches in the U. S. Helping to facilitate all around the country. But on my own, I spent time in Peru, which is really incredible. All over the country. Colombia, I've been there multiple times. I've got a lot of love for Ayahuasca. Yeah for Latin America and man, memorable. Yeah. I mean, so I've seen both ends of the spectrum from downtown LA doing a, an ayahuasca, I dare call it a ceremony because there was really nothing ceremonial about it, but drinking ayahuasca in downtown LA and a rented yoga studio with it was basically a free for all at one point I remember opening my eyes and looking across the room and there were two women who were sitting up and they had a laptop open and they were scrolling Facebook and like chit chatting to each other while we were all everybody had drank the medicine this was after the second dose had gone and I opened my eyes and I look in My interpretation was two demons on the other side of the room. Like just scrolling social media, like lit up really brightly in this dark room. I still have Campbell scars on my arm. The size of, looks like somebody used a like a cigar. to make the cambo burns because they're huge. I didn't even know what cambo was. That was my first experience with cambo. This, at this yeah this experience I'll say. I definitely wouldn't do it again. And I learned a lot from that experience, I'll just put it that way. I learned a lot from that experience. All, all from downtown LA to the jungles in Peru, just all across the board. And like you, I've also done Vipassana, which is really an incredible experience. And I've studied Buddhism. Pretty in depth for several years. There's a Buddhist monk that, that lives inside of me somewhere. He comes out from time to time. I'd say another really memorable experience was the yoga teacher training I did. I taught yoga for a period of time as well. Yoga is a big part of my, even my everyday life now. Something I practice daily, but I spent a month in South Western. India in an ashram out in the jungle. And I consider that to be a retreat. Like the same, again, the same, if the definition of retreat is going somewhere, getting out of your comfort zone and, to learn and grow. So it was definitely that but living in this beautiful temple and eating foods that were very exotic to me and like, no, no plant medicine, no. I mean, it was a very clean and nothing, no external sort of like mind altering substances. It was just a very different, but very powerful experience living in the jungle in India for a month. So, yeah, again, like I said, it's, my, my travels have taken me near and far and I've had a lot of, like, really unbelievably beautiful experiences, a lot of challenging experiences and I'm grateful for all of them because they've helped give me an insight and context to being able to see what works, what doesn't work What to lean into, what to lean away from. And just stoking that fire inside of me as to like what's the power that a well run retreat can have to change someone's life and being able to see that's, what's happening. A well run retreat can look very different in different contexts to different people. What's well run in the United States? What one might consider a well run ceremony in, say, Sedona? It definitely might not look like that if you're in the jungle in Columbia. So, so knowing Knowing that there's no right way or no wrong way to do it. And there are some foundational, fundamental aspects to, to running retreats that generally, if you follow these steps, like have a clean environment and have good food, have safety protocols in place, foundational things that as long as. The basics are covered people generally speaking can have a meaningful and beneficial experience So yeah, it's wow. You just went down a little trip down memory lane know, we've we've talked to this point you know about some of our experiences with the ceremonies and with the medicine and My experience and your experience has been with a lot of plant medicine, but I'd like to rewind even a bit more and I'd like to know more about what you were doing before your first ceremony and just to get some more context about your history and the things that led up to you getting into your first ceremony that, that really changed things for you.

jarrod allen:

Yeah, for sure. I think this is like a good powerful part of it, these conversations as well is that, we've had these conversations many times and Like, I am so grateful now of what I was doing before, like in the sense of what I did do. And it's so interesting how life as we start to get into alignment, brings all these things in together to become important in hopefully, what is the, it's something that is really part of your calling of what you're meant to do. I interestingly which all makes sense as I go along. Yeah, we didn't just like mad magically start doing retreats. And then there's some stuff that went on in the background beforehand as well, but basically I, to try and make it short, like, I finished school and I didn't really come from like a super solid or structured sort of family unit. Good people, don't get me wrong, love my family, but wasn't super, structured. My parents separated when I was quite young. So the reason why I mentioned this is that, when I finished high school I didn't, really have any financial backing or university wasn't really an opportunity for it wasn't something that I could go to university, college in the US, but basically I started like washing cars, right? Like, so I'm like, all right, I'm going to go to get a job. And I started washing cars and I was like, because I like cars, that's why I thought I'd get into the motor industry. And very quickly I got a trade that's where I was washing the cars, doing major car restorations and accident repairs and things like this. I did that till I was about 25 and then I got into I got into car sales. I was like, all right, I don't want to get like welding sparks and breathing all the dust and doing all the restorations and stuff anymore. So I got into car sales and I quite quickly, I was in, car sales from. 2009 I started working just for like Japanese manufacturer and I worked my way up and I just kept moving my way up and I worked for Mitsubishi, Mazda, Toyota, and then around 2014 I started working for Land Rover, Range Rover and started getting into the prestige stuff and then like 2016 I I started working for Lamborghini. So I was a Lamborghini sales executive for like Two years working in Lamborghini, new cars and buying and selling like supercars essentially, Ferrari, Porsche, all that sort of stuff, what was really interesting at that point in my life is that this around 2018, so 2016, 2018, is when I started 2018 is when I did, started working with Ayahuasca and I did my first retreat with Ayahuasca at that point in time. Because I mean, for me, it was like I couldn't, I needed to release some stuff and I was always like trying to achieve and what I later on realized is it wasn't always necessarily for me. I was just doing what I thought society really wanted me to do and where I could get respect and where I could, get admiration and like, yeah, you know, be one, you're doing well, you've made it, yeah. But, interestingly enough, by 2018, so I'm working for Lamborghini, I've got this nice apartment, everything's going, looking pretty good on the outside, wearing suits every day and all this sort of thing. But I was like really flat on the inside, I just was like. Didn't just that just met, different different shades of myth. It's probably the easiest way to explain it. So it was one of the drivers why I went and worked with ayahuasca. Interestingly after that I stopped working for Lamborghini around that same sort of time and I took a job as a sales manager, so I moved into sales management rather than sales executive managing teams and and It was around that same period where I was like, I'm going to do this for like another two years. I'm going to save up all my money and I'm going to go figure out a better way to live. And it was really interesting. Like when I decided that I was like, I had an exit strategy, I got promoted like four times. I was getting poached. People always give me better jobs. I was performing really well, but it was when I had the exit strategy, which was interesting. So I then went on to being a sales manager, I managed some car dealerships and one was for Subaru and one was for a Nissan Suzuki as well and did really well, like had a good knack for it. And it's Sort of went into these businesses that weren't doing so well and fix them up with process and with process and systems and coached sales executives, trainees through to people who've been doing it for years on how to really consultatively sell. And this was really good for results, so it was very good for the customer satisfaction that the manufacturer had in place and all that sort of thing as well. So yeah, that gave me the ability, therefore the results were really good. So I managed to make it. nothing crazy, but you know, I managed to make a good little amount of money to then save that up and go, okay, I'm going to go over to Latin America, which 2020, I went over to Latin America. I'm going to keep doing some more plant medicine work for myself. Which as I mentioned beforehand, quickly turned into after a little bit of time where I was like, well, I really want to help. And. What I didn't realize at that point, that sort of became my passion, I really wanted to help people get the growth that I had gotten from going to these retreats and from participating in this sort of stuff. And then it all sort of, that's when it clicked in, it started clicking into place, is that I had this business background, this passion, and that's been a bit of navigating. But now, just over the last 12 months, it's really all come together. Wait a minute. I can actually like utilize these skills and utilize these things that I understand that we understand. And that's one of the unique things about our relationship and RetreatHelp is we're both very similar in that regard. I've been able to like converge all these things together. But yeah, I can take this stuff that I've done in a professional context, take the stuff I'm really passionate about and bring them together to really help people with, the structures of their business, like, and how do we make them easier, more efficient? How do we teach people how to, sales, for instance, is like a really dirty word in the, especially when you put sales and wellness together, it seems like they, you know, people sort of resist it, but it's it's understanding sales, like sales isn't like slicked back hair and like pushing people into stuff, sales is, which I was quite good at as a car salesman actually is not pushing people is. Consulting people, showing them building value, showing them how this is a very good solution for the challenge that you've brought forward to this, to this thing. So whether it be wanting a new car, or wanting some growth or whatever it might be, if we understand our clients it makes a big difference. So, yeah, it's a, it's been, it's very interesting ride. And I. I've never been happier. I'm so, just excited about everything that has been going on, what's going on in this exact present moment and what is coming for the future. How and yourself Ian, like, we talk about our past and all that sort of thing as well. I love your story. It's a beautiful story and interesting story as well. So how far back do you want to go back?

Ian:

Oh, man. I mentioned it earlier. I grew up on a small family farm in southwestern Minnesota. Yeah. The about the middle of nowhere. Yeah. Not close to anything really. Very rural, very sparsely populated area and you know going from that to I've lived and lived all over the country, all over the US and traveled all over the world and, I guess my journey has taken me to a lot of places and given me a lot of experiences. I, I went after high school, I went to college and got a degree in microbiology and chemistry. At one point I was very close to going to get a master's degree in genetics and cell cellular biology. But life took me in a different direction and. Went into the healthcare field. I've always wanted to serve. Like I've always had a heart of service. That's just, it's just always been there for me. So I thought healthcare was the way to go. And yeah, I mean, I did phlebotomy for a long time. I had over 25, 000 needle sticks under my belt by the time I ended that and after being in the healthcare industry for a period of time I got very sick and nearly died. On a Thursday night, he, I was on a medication that was supposed to help me. I was, I'd been diagnosed with Crohn's disease and I was, I'd been really suffering for about a year, not knowing what was going on. I was finally diagnosed with Crohn's disease and I was put on a medication and immediately I started feeling better for the first time in like a year. It's like, oh, it, like, this is it, I'm cured I'm better. Lo and behold, two months after that I get an internal bleed, I start to bleed internally. The medication I was taking in the tiny prints on the bottom of the bottles is, can lead to internal bleeding, and for me it did, and it nearly killed me. I essentially had a near death experience, very nearly died, and that was a big turning point for me. That was also my introduction to plant medicine. I started working with cannabis. I was in my mid twenties. Like, for the first time, really really using cannabis. And that was the only thing that made me feel better. Moving forward, I spent several years in the industry. In the cannabis industry, I did all the jobs in the cannabis industry from delivering cannabis to the point where I was running a dispensary in Las Vegas. That's quite profitable nowadays and bringing in a lot of money on a monthly basis. So I got to, I got to go from working in a fortune 500 company in healthcare to, working in the, in management, like same similar sort of situation as you Jarrod, working my way up, up the middle management ladder, finally got to the point where I almost died from the stress I was under. Ultimately it was the root cause of the illness. It was just a manifestation of my displeasure With my external circumstances and the stress that I was bringing on to, going towards plant medicine, something I thought was better and finding myself in a similar situation, working my way up middle management sort of corporate ladder and getting to the point where I was, at the leading this dispensary and learning a lot of really important, meaningful and like learning about business sales, marketing different systems, like really from the ground up And, learning all this stuff, not really understanding why I was having these experiences and why I was in this situation and not really enjoying it. But similar to you, be able to look back at the situation and say, wow, I'm really grateful for that entire situation. In the moment it was challenging and I didn't necessarily want to be there doing that, but now I see, and I trust that life has a reason for everything. And now I can see how all the things that I learned during that time has really helped prepare me for moving into, to entrepreneur, entrepreneurialism, opening my own businesses and learning through that. And. Like how it's all tied together, every little part of the journey is tied together to get to where we are now, to being able to talk to somebody and really pretty quickly be able to assess where they're at with their business, like figure out where they want to go. See where they're at and then figure out a strategy to get there Like when you've seen as many aspects of business and as many businesses as you and I have seen cumulatively You start to see patterns and you start to be able to pick up on what works and what doesn't work and the effective ways to grow a business to scale a business to get from zero to wherever you want to go you start to be able to pick apart the patterns and being able to apply things you've learned other places and in other contexts to the people that you're working with presently. And think we keep coming back to it because it's, I mean, it's really present with both of us in our conversations that we have on a regular basis is like how exciting it is to be able to. Bring the things that we've learned in our past experiences to the retreat industry and help the people that we work with excel and really get to where they want to go with less stress. We're helping people shortcut all the trial and error that we had to go through. It's pretty cool to be able to apply the lessons that we've learned to the businesses of the people that we're working with so that they don't have to go through that period of trial and error that you and I both had to experience in that learning phase. Like we can impart a lot of our wisdom and a lot of the tools and the systems that we've learned and developed ourselves to, to help people have a more effective, more efficient, more easy to run, more fun and enjoyable to operate sorts of businesses. So https: otter. ai But I think that just speaks to the amount of a passion that you and I have for in one sense. Passion for operating effective and meaningful businesses, which goes hand in hand with our other like passion of retreats and transformational experiences. I feel really blessed to have found a founder or created a. The situation where we can express both of those aspects of our talents and our passions in a way where it's people are able to benefit from our expertise and what we've learned. And we are now building a community and we're finding more and more people who are leaning into what we have to share and they, people get a sense that we've actually done the things that were. That we're talking about because we have and we can speak on it from a place of understanding and people are starting to lean in and they see that we're genuine about wanting to help people and the amount of love that we have for what we do. So, In a big ol nutshell, that really, to bring it all the way around to the very beginning, for the reason of having this conversation. If it seems repetitive, it's because it is, in a way, because that's where we are. We just, we always, we're always coming back to that, and like a sense of gratitude and excitement. Every person we work with is different. Every situation is different. There's new opportunities for growth. There's new opportunities to, to help people in new and creative ways and to learn ourselves. I know I know you and I are both constantly on the path of learning and growth. So, that. mean, do You have any parting words, any, anything that you want to say to, to wrap this up? I think we've covered a lot of ground here and long track down memory lane has led us to some, yeah, some cool places. So, really grateful for this partnership with you and for sharing all that and sharing your story, Jarrod. I appreciate that. And, any parting words that you'd like to send us off with?

jarrod allen:

Yeah, absolutely. Like, and just to touch on that also, like, I think there'll be a whole another episode, like of how you and I met and how they all came into its own thing also as well. But yeah very grateful for you and very grateful for RetreatHelp and what we've created, what we are creating. It's really powerful. Yeah, I think that's the biggest thing, like, is that one thing I really do like about both my history and your history as well is that, and what is that it perfectly clicks into place with with RetreatHelp as well. Is it like, we've both done the 60, 70 hours a week. So we wanted to figure out a better way. We both like grinded it out and jobs that we didn't, that were like Every Sunday at 12 o'clock in the afternoon, I'll be like, Oh, I've only got eight hours of freedom left, but, the stuff that I've learned, the stuff that we've learned, the stuff that you've learned is so applicable to what we're doing. It's incredible. And I guess saying that is that people like. It's just a situation where, like, just realizing if you're a treat creator, it's okay that you're not a sales ninja. It's okay that you're not a marketing guru, and that's completely fine. And, like, to be honest, like, who would want to go do Like, you're not going to go from working in your passion leading yoga retreats to go, Okay, I'm going to go work in car dealerships for the next nine years to get this sort of thing up to scratch or do, the hundreds if not thousands of hours of understanding, digital infrastructure and marketing that you've done here that, I guess what I'm saying is like, through this mindset that both you and I have is that like we've tried to figure out the easiest way and also trying to help people have really beautiful lifestyle businesses that serve them and so they can serve other people better. And, we've simplified so many different things as well in regards to that side of it, to infrastructure, sales, marketing. Let us sort of help you and show you the easy way to do it. So you can just like. Focus on doing what you love, because that was probably actually one of the big, the first things like for my part of it with a light bulb really go ding, it was that I was seeing all these people who obviously had incredible offerings, right, had incredible offerings and incredible very powerful and amazing in their modality. But, like, the marketing was a post on Facebook, a little poster that says, like, click on this button to sign up, like,. It's like, things like that, but there's nothing wrong with that, it's just a matter of going, okay, maybe that's not my strength, so maybe if I can get some help with the stuff that isn't my strength, then we can go a lot further, so. Part in words though, that was Yeah, just really grateful for this. Grateful to be able to do for this conversation Looking forward to, some of the conversations that you're having with people in looking forward to our further conversations. And just thank you everyone for listening. Hopefully you found some little nuggets of gold or found some value in this conversation. I know myself and I've spoken about this before. We don't always necessarily love talking about ourselves, but I really enjoyed the conversation. So, yeah, thanks. Thanks to you as well.

Ian:

Likewise, brother. And yeah, if anybody listening to this has any additional questions, wants to reach out to us, wants to get into contact or in touch with us, we're quite available. Come visit us at retreathelp. com. Check out our website. There's going to be many more podcasts coming out. follow us on Instagram, we got a YouTube channel it's all there and we'd love to hear from you and we'd love to connect with you and, see how we can be of service and grow this community and continue to, yeah, continue to move in the direction of collaboration and working together to, as cheesy as it sounds and as, It's as cliche as it sounds, elevate mankind, elevate humanity and make the world a better place. All those things. It's real. And I know you and I are very optimistic about the future of humanity and where we're going. And. As you said, yeah, it's where it's a kind of a shit show right now, for lack of a better word in the world a, as a whole. And I believe in the power of working together and I believe in the healing power of Mother Nature. And I believe that no matter how destructive some of the structures in society may be that that, Power of destructiveness is no match for the healing power of Mother Earth and that ultimately, yeah, things will prevail in a way where there's going to be a happy ending and a beautiful ending. So, thank you, Jarrod. Thank you all. And yeah, keep in touch and stay tuned for the next episode.