Refine Your Plan: My Conference Experience and the Road to Nashville
I recently had the opportunity to attend the Refine Your Plan conference, a transformative event that left me inspired and ready to take my planning game to the next level. When I look back on my recent conference experience, the memories flood in like a joyful montage…and most of it is in my conference journal already! Just a bit more to add in to pull it all together. Picture this: a car packed with planning supplies, snacks, and three of my besties—Wendy, Mandy, and Carmen—embarking on a road trip that promised adventure, laughter, and a few surprises along the way. Our journey was dotted with scenic views and even a trailer of adorable little piggies that warranted a spontaneous photo session. It was the perfect start to an unforgettable event.
Road Trip Shenanigans and Unexpected Laughs
Our road trip was filled with belly laughs and the kind of conversations that only happen on long drives with close friends. The playlist was…well, it was Sirius XM, so it was the Message because that’s what I typically leave it on, the snacks were plentiful (I came home with leftovers), and the excitement was palpable. Of course, there was the hilarious video my husband sent me about forgetting his undies at home, which I had to share with the world (you can check it out here).
Crafting Memories and Hotel Hijinks
Once we arrived, the fun continued in the hotel lobby where we dove into our memory journals. One particularly funny moment involved Wendy demonstrating her desktop vacuum. As she proudly showed me how it worked, she managed to spill eraser shavings all over her shirt. Without missing a beat, she quipped, “Guess what? There’s a vacuum for that,” and proceeded to vacuum her shirt. The laughter and camaraderie in that room were simply priceless. We had some great conversations with the hotel front desk staff as well…we had to befriend them so they wouldn’t mind us taking over the lobby. 😉
Airbnb Adventures with the Directors
This was the first year that Natasha did something special for the Directors. Staying in an Airbnb with the other directors was like a retreat within the conference. One evening, we sat around coloring paper tea cups and saucers…I mean, it might’ve been forced crafting as Natasha made us complete this task before we could see the first set of new goodies. But it was more than just crafting; it was bonding over shared passions and dreams for our community. Taco night was a highlight, filled with delicious food and inspiring discussions about the future of our company and how we can continue to grow and support our brand ambassadors and customers.
Home Office Tour
The Leader portion kicked off with a tour of home office, which is always a revelation, especially for the new leaders seeing it for the first time. Witnessing the behind-the-scenes magic of how everything is made brought a new level of appreciation and excitement, and we left with a fun conference coaster to start off all the amazing goodness that Natasha shares with us.
I was super happy that Kathleen and Theresa let me snap selfies with them this year! They are the awesome ladies who pack our orders and make sure we get all the right things!
Team Bonding
After the home office tour, the leaders met up at Troy Bowl for a couple hours of team bonding and friendly competition! I can’t say that my scores of 75 and 53 were anything to write home about, haha, but we had so much fun playing the game, telling stories, and laughing together at all of the gutter balls and missed pins while cheering on several spares and strikes. We did have several ladies break 100 though, so that was awesome! We loved Lisa’s bowling shirt…RTFB! After bowling, it was time to head out and check into our AirBnB (finally!!), clean up, and head out to our fancy schmancy leader dinner!
Leader Dinner + Day 2 Highlights
Our leader dinner at Coldwater Cafe is always a highlight of the week. The food is ah-may-zing and the company even more so. I chose the filet (with garlic smashed potatoes and grilled broccolini) and English tea cake for dessert (which must be saturated in a sweetened melted butter…but it is sooooo good). The laughs continued, with a few tears when Teri toasted Natasha for all that she has done to build and grow this company.
The following day was a day for the leaders to meet and greet, learn from each other, and get the first peek at the fall collection. First up, we exchanged gifts, and I gave Dawn, my fantastic pacing partner, a hand cross-stitched design featuring her team logo with inspirational quotes written around the matting in the frame. Her reaction—a flood of tears and a heartfelt hug—was incredibly moving and reminded me of the deep connections we build in this community.
Then we heard from Natasha about The 12 Week Year, which you know is one of my favorite books! A couple things that stood out to me the most:
- Drop what isn’t serving you. Just because you’ve always done something doesn’t mean you have to continue to always do it. Whether it’s something you provide to your customers, your team, or even for yourself, if it’s not actually providing consistent value that is worth the time investment, is it wise to continue to do it? Food for thought.
- Work as if you’re about to go on vacation. I know that I was much more focused the week before conference because I had so.much.to.get.done. Now, it makes it harder to pay attention to the details, so there were some things that could’ve been done better, BUT, I got more done that week than I typically do. What if we worked like that all the time? (I don’t mean seven days a week…you need breaks!) How much more could we accomplish?
- Your time is at least as important as others. How many times do you put yourself on the back burner? Me too! It’s important for us to recognize our own importance when it comes to where we are spending our time – whether that is ensuring you have time to work your business and work towards your goals or scheduling consistent time for self-care, we need to do better about protecting our own time.
Celebrating Our Brand Ambassadors
Friday and Saturday brought even more joy as the rest of the brand ambassadors joined us. It was so good to meet some of my teammates for the first time in person! They were all absolutely precious and I enjoyed seeing their excitement about being at conference. I’m pretty sure they all left with quite a few new friends, and that is success to me!
We celebrated the dedication of the Harmony Heroes with a special team dinner, fun awards for things like consistency, marketing excellence, and travel milestones, and of course, lots of laughter and swag.
The big reveal of the fall catalog on Saturday was a high point, filled with excitement and sneak peeks of new products.
Embrace Your Weird: Inspiration from Bob Corrigan
Bob Corrigan’s speech was another highlight, urging us to embrace our weird and create pattern interruption in our marketing. His words were a powerful reminder to ditch the normal and do what no one else is doing. In our conversation afterward, Bob’s advice about being a collector without needing to be a completionist really resonated with me. It was liberating to realize I could still be a collector without the pressure of having to own every single item. I have a LOT of Tula XII products that I absolutely love, but I don’t have all of anything. Wendy and Teri collect charms; Carmen collects teenies and charms. I collect…the things I like. And that is fine with me.
Looking Forward to Nashville
As if the conference wasn’t already incredible, Natasha announced our very first incentive trip—a weekend wanderlust to Nashville! I am beyond excited to work towards earning this trip and to spend even more in-person time with my planning besties. The time we have together at conferences is never enough, and this trip will provide more opportunities to strengthen our friendships and expand our team with new faces.
Join Us on This Journey
If you’re reading this and feeling a spark of excitement, I invite you to join our team. The experiences we share, from conferences to incentive trips, are not just about business—they’re about building a community, making lifelong friends, and creating memories that will last a lifetime. You can start earning points towards the Nashville trip on August 1st, and our next conference is just around the corner next summer. Don’t miss out on these incredible opportunities—join us and be part of something truly special. Send me an email or comment below and let’s chat!