Work Retreat

I left on Thursday night for my work retreat on the Eastern Shore. While I was on my way, Michael called to let me know that he and his wife had just picked up the others from the airport and they were on their way too but would stop for dinner. I met up with them at the restaurant and it was really nice to have this initial introduction on completely neutral territory. It was really nice. I didn't eat and they were all finishing up when I got there. Bibi, our Marketing person, rode with me to free some space in the SUV they were all in. Siobhan, our Community Services Consultant, lives in DC and she, along with Michael, the Insurance Broker and visionary/founder/funder, Michael's wife Cate and their son Bodhi, and Zach, our Enviornmental Services Consultant were in Michael's dad's SUV - along with all of their luggage! Along the way, Bibi and I realized that we had met before when we went with a group to a Redskins game with Michael about 6 years ago.
Anyway, after a not-so-quick stop at the store, we arrived at Michael's parent's weekend/summer home in Cambridge. The home is a ranch style house with an expansive front lawn on the banks of the Choptank river - the river is very wide and resembles the intercoastal waterways as it is brackish water and has beaches along the shore. In the back, there is a pool and a "little house". I always referred to this as the pool house but it is really just a little house. The downstairs is a study with a half bath and a pull-out couch and up a flight of lighthouse-style wooden steps there is a bedroom with pitched ceilings and a full bath. Bibi and I shared the little house so I got privacy to pump and she was able to conduct her night time routine of sleeplessness without disturbing anyone else.
After we all got settled in and unpacked, we hung out and played some games and got to know each other a little better. That first night, I didn't get to sleep until after 1am. I was up on Friday morning at 6:30 and went for a run, took a bath, and met up with everyone in the kitchen for a light breakfast at 8. We were ready to get started at 9. We set up our work space in the room with a picture window that stretched across the front of the house facing the river. This window is about 4 feet tall and 6 feet long. We began with some exercises that got to our individual motivations and expectations of the retreat and our commitment to the project of establishing and running this company. Throughout the day, we discussed our working relationships with each other, an overview of the business model, we defined our target market, and after a 3 hour conversation and coming together, we were able to define the company in a concise way that had not been done to date. By the end of the day on Friday, we had established that The World Benefits is a services provider that integrates environmental, social, and wellness initiatives into employee benefit plans. We ended for the day at 10pm.
Friday night, I had a hard time going to sleep after the mental overstimulation of the day...I was exhausted. On Saturday morning, I was up at 7:30 and, after a quick bath, I went over to the kitchen and met Freddie, our DC-based wellness consultant and soon after that, Scott, one of Michael's friends who has an MBA and can give us advice on our business plan and service offerings, arrived. So, the 8 of us gathered again and began to hash out our services and sales lifecycle. After lunch, we began to compile our "business blueprint". As we continued down this line of discussion, we concluded that we needed to set exact budgets and determine how many clients we would need to break even and if that client goal is attainable. After this exercise, we did determine that it is viable and that meant a lot to all of us - obviously. Sunday morning came quickly and we got stuck into reviewing and hammering out the client lifecycle which was the final piece to the puzzle before we can determine our marketing strategy. Freddie and I left after a quick photo session at 1pm. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get much in the way of marketing hammered out but we were able to define many of the components that will help Bibi start that process. It is exciting and feels great to have had this opportunity to get to know each other better.
Chris did great at home and Cole was fine with me going. It was sweet to see Rhys's face-wide grin when he saw me for the first time and the squeeze around my neck when Cole woke from his nap and realized that I was home was so warm and nice. He hugged me tight and said, "I missed you so much!" That makes it all worthwhile.
We got a lot of work done and there is so much more to be done but it was a wonderful experience and the level of energy and enthusiasm within the group makes me feel like there is nothing we can't do.