The Complete Retreat
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.
Join us as we explore how to navigate the rapidly growing retreat industry and create successful, abundant lifestyle businesses that change people's lives.
Ian is the host of The Complete Retreat Podcast and cofounder of RetreatHelp.com, a marketing systems provider and business consultancy that specializes in helping retreat creators increase profits, with less stress.
The Complete Retreat
How to Build Authority & Run a Successful Retreat Center w/ Chris Kirkpatrick
Join me for an amazing conversation with Chris Kirkpatrick, who took a massive leap by purchasing a retreat center in the Dominican Republic jungle. Chris shares his journey of moving his family from a comfortable suburban life to running Zaria Retreat Center, and reveals powerful insights on building authority platforms that create genuine connections.
Discover why "disconnecting to reconnect" creates the perfect environment for transformation, whether for business masterminds or personal growth retreats. Chris explains how creating a space where people can unplug from technology allows for deeper connections and breakthroughs.
Learn Chris's approach to authentic marketing that focuses on adding value rather than manipulation, and why clarity about your true purpose is essential before building an authority platform. This conversation is packed with actionable wisdom for retreat creators, business owners, and anyone looking to make a bigger impact.
About the Guest:
Chris Kirkpatrick is an entrepreneur and retreat center owner who, in January 2024, made the bold move to sell 90% of his possessions and relocate his family from a million-dollar suburban home to a jungle retreat center in the Dominican Republic. After a successful career in financial services and marketing, Chris now runs Zaria, an eco-retreat center hosting transformational experiences.
With over 1,600 YouTube videos and extensive experience building authority platforms, Chris combines his business expertise with a passion for creating spaces where people can disconnect from technology and reconnect with themselves and others.
Chris is also the founder of the company LIFE180 and the author of the groundbreaking personal finance book "Cash Flow Hacking".
About RetreatHelp:
RetreatHelp is an end-to-end business consulting and marketing systems provider with a mission to simplify the business of retreats, helping conscious leaders sell out their events faster, increase revenue, and have a greater impact with less stress.
We specialize in helping retreat leaders and conscious business owners streamline and scale their businesses through our 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.
Guest Links:
✦ Chris’ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realchriskirkpatrick/
✦ Zaria Retreat Center Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/visitzaria/
Podcast links:
✦ Website: https://retreathelp.com/podcast
✦ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/64GwMQE2QPLqDE9fFxIFR2
✦ ApplePodcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-complete-retreat-podcast/id1784541260
✦ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@RetreatHelp
Additional links:
✦ Website: https://retreathelp.com/
✦ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/retreat.help/
✦ RetreatHelp Private Community: https://community.retreathelp.com/login
✦ This video was made with DeScript, the best AI enhanced video recording and editing software in the known Universe: https://get.descript.com/5f13gxl2u8m3
If you're trying to be totally present and you're in your phone and you've got your laptop and you're doing emails and you're dealing with business back home and doing all this stuff all the time, you're not wholly present with the people that you're there. You're never going to get the full experience that you're after. And what I love about this is that there's no cell phone reception in our town. we moved from suburbia, living in basically a private neighborhood with a million dollar house and a cul de sac on a golf course to living in the jungle. And it's like the road to even get to this place is like, you feel like you need an off road vehicle to get there. We packed up. we Sold about 90 percent of everything that we owned. We took the rest of the 10%, we put it in a storage unit. My wife and I took our three kids, 13, 10, and six, on January 1st, we took over operational control and purchased this Retreat center And so that, that has been an interesting journey on its own.
HypeMiC & FaceTime HD Camera:What is up? Welcome to another episode of the Complete Retreat Podcast. Today's guest is my friend Chris Kirkpatrick. Chris has a fascinating story. A little over a year ago, Chris bought a retreat center in the middle of the jungle in the Dominican Republic. He packed up his whole family, left his very comfortable life in suburbia, and moved to a Caribbean island. I hear a lot of people talking about how they'd love to own a retreat center someday. The thing is, Chris actually did it, and he shares his story about how he got there and what it's been like the first year of owning a retreat center. From living on a golf course to the jungle. But before moving his family to the Dominican, Chris had built a successful career as an entrepreneur and a business owner. And in this conversation, Chris shares some of his tips and secrets around marketing, how he successfully created an authority platform, what that means and how he leverages YouTube to help support his business and his lifestyle. Chris shares a ton of very useful and valuable tips when it comes to marketing yourself, building your brand, whether you're a retreat creator, a retreat host, whether you own a retreat center. There's something in this podcast for everyone. So let's just get into it.
ian-vogel_1_02-18-2025_114347:So Chris I would love to hear about what the last year of your life has been Because when I met you about a year and a half ago You were Packing up your whole life in Arizona and getting ready to move to the Dominican Republic because you had just purchased a retreat center So yeah, please You Please, let me know what this last year has been like for you and your family, because it's, it was a whole
chris_1_02-18-2025_134345:it's been crazy. So yeah, January well actually it was December 31st, New Year's Eve, 2023. Uh We packed up. we Sold about 90 percent of everything that we owned. We took the rest of the 10%, we put it in a storage unit. My wife and I took our three kids, 13, 10, and six, and actually 12, 12, nine, and five at the time. And we moved them. Down to the DR. And so we landed at 11 PM on the 31st of December. So New Year's Eve. And then we drove across the Island when we landed. And by the, it was like 1 AM by the time we actually got to our destination. And on January 1st, we took over operational control and purchased this Retreat center it was actually like an eco hotel that we are converting into a retreat center. And so that, that has been an interesting journey on its own. Right. So all of last year you know, we spent time relocating, getting used to living in a third world country in a developing nation in, and not just like, if you've ever been to the Dominican Republic, which I know you have, I mean, you know, the area well, right, you've been there. And so. moving to a Caribbean island where You know, there, maybe you move into the city, like Santo Domingo, you could move to the Dominican Republic and go to Punta Cana or Santo Domingo or Santiago or Porta Plata. And there's a lot of access to resources and so on and so forth. We are out in the middle of the jungle in a fishing village with very instable power. And it's like the road to even get to this place is like, you feel like you need an off road vehicle to get there. And so. we moved from suburbia, living in basically a private neighborhood with a million dollar house and a cul de sac on a golf course to living in the jungle. And so it was like just a wild polarity, right? Like, just major a major shift and it was exciting. And moving and being in that environment had a lot of challenges. What I did love and what I do love still is, you know, we have this place and the property where we purchased is just it's the only little magical place on this earth. It's got an amazing energy around it. I've really loved the process of Working on converting it from an eco hotel to a complete retreat center. That is still a work in progress. You know, last year had plenty of challenges. I'm sure we'll get into that, but really what we decided is when we bought the place we had planned initially having all these goals for expansion and growth and all this stuff. And very quickly, I realized that I was a little over my skis. I was going a little too fast and and things didn't work down here the way that they work in the United States. You gotta operate differently. You gotta build differently. Like you gotta have different relationships with different people. And luckily we know a lot of the right people. But what I also realized was that the. We had a responsibility to take what we purchased, the asset that we have, which was the hotel with 10 rooms and a beautiful property in a unique place in the jungle. And we had to take and maximize what we had before we built out and expanded. And so last year, our first year, we had 13 retreats that we hosted and ran throughout the entire year. And now, so far in 2025, we already have 22 retreats on the books. And so we're working on building those out. And obviously, my goal is to get the 30 retreats this year throughout the year. And ultimately next year, I want to have 46 retreats. So we don't have to operate as a hotel at all anymore. The goal is to have 46 retreats. Throughout the year and then have 6 weeks of downtime that we can work on maintenance and, you know, fixing the property up and given key employees time off and so on and so forth and go from there. But last year, going through that process, I would say the 1st, 6 months. Was kind of me bringing my American way of doing things down there and just fighting and just pressure and fighting and kind of like feeling like I kept coming up against this wall and I wasn't in a flow, so to speak, you know what I mean? I was just trying to be a sledgehammer to everything that I was doing, which is like, let's face it. It's the American way, right? Like I just, things had to be done. They had to be done a certain way on a certain timeframe. And if they weren't done the way that we needed them, you know, up to a certain code, then. It, I wasn't happy and I, you know, I was just having a lot of friction with everybody I was working with my wife and I were having a challenge with everybody we were working with, like on the construction side, on the rehabilitation of the property side, and then I just hit the place where I realized, okay, this is never going to be. Up to United States code standard. So just settle into that, get comfortable with being uncomfortable, ease into it, just get in flow and realize the magic and the beauty of what that could be for what you can build out of it and allow it to be a bit more rough and allow it to be a bit more Caribbean jungle, right? It's just, there's a magic in that as well. And so, you know, we've had to shift our expectations, but I think in doing that, it's allowed us to get to this place now where we have an amazing staff. I think people are living and working and operating in flow. It's been amazing for us at this point in time to have the right people in place that help operate it. I think we have the best. I would argue we have probably one of the best staffs in the entire Dominican Republic for any kind of eco retreat center like this, especially for our size of a property. And yeah it's just been really fun. I think one of my favorite parts has been building relationships with the people that come down and run retreats there. Because those, I mean, some of the coolest people, right? And so, to me, that's been selfishly one of the, one of the best parts of the whole deal.
ian-vogel_1_02-18-2025_114347:Sounds like you, you went down there with an idea of what you could do to change the place, change the environment. These changes that you wanted to make, and A year later, the thing that actually changed is not so much the, the retreat center, but more so
chris_1_02-18-2025_134345:Oh, yeah, for sure.
ian-vogel_1_02-18-2025_114347:really interesting. And, you know, I'm sure a lot of people can relate to that homeowners and people, whenever you buy a home or a property, you have all these ideas and when you put yourself in that environment. You start to learn that it's easier and more, helpful to kind of start to go with flow and find a natural rhythm of that place than to, as you said, just try to, hammer home and get things done. And it's, you know, I've been to, to Zaria and it's not like you can just go to the home depot and get some two by fours and some nails to build the deck. I mean, like you said, it's. It's out there and you do almost need a four by four or four wheel drive to, to get to where you're at. It's, you know, that's what makes it so magical. In one part because there's not a lot of people out there and the people who go there, they want to be there and they have to make an effort to get there. But when you do get there it's, in my experience, it was 100 percent worth, yeah, worth all the effort to get there. So that's a really, interesting, perspective on how the space, Changed you as much if not more than you changed the space and you know with the plans moving forward I was there for a Like a business retreat, essentially like a business mastermind. And what was that? The first retreat that you hosted at Zaria?
chris_1_02-18-2025_134345:was the first one I hosted. Yeah, we had other retreats there, but we also, for my company, Life 180, and Hannah, my wife also ran a retreat last year. And we're also running now couples retreats that we're hosting together. And so we run some of our own retreats. I'll tell you, we're probably gonna run three or four of our own retreats this year, but the place is not designed for us to just host our own retreats. Our real objective is to be a container, right. To allow. Other retreat hosts, whether it's people that want to work in different modalities from breath work to just conscious business masterminds to yoga to adventure retreats to all over the board. We have kind of, access to all of it. The goal is to create a container where people can feel safe and to realize that our property size is pretty much perfect for 20 to 30 people. To come down to be able to access and have a private property all to themselves, built into a cliff with private meeting spaces, a private pool, private ceremony spaces, whatever you need and you have access to all of it. And we're, you know, a stone's throw from the beach. Basically, we have all sorts of excursions that people can do everything from adventure to tranquility, hiking the tallest waterfall in the Caribbean to, all these different things, zip lining and, exotic beaches and catamarans and whale watching and all this different stuff that kind of comes into play. And so we, we were located in this really unique space that's close enough to a lot of the excursions where we can get there really easily, but also isolated and far enough. So you have this tranquil space to be yeah I love it. So, our main focus, while we do run retreats that we host, The main focus is in a perfect world, I'd love to have say, 40 to 42 retreats a year that we bring in influencers and retreat hosts that are just looking to have a a good container with people that share values. You know,
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ian-vogel_1_02-18-2025_114347:Yeah. And the space that you have there is really diverse and unique and close to so many cool things. You can walk down to the beach and. You know, like I said, I was there for a, more of a business mastermind. And I, I could have not imagined. How putting a business context for the mastermind in such a beautiful and like holistic and just natural setting. Like How the just the space that we're in had such an impact on the business mastermind itself and the things that we're able to take away and, having the ability to really connect with the other people in the mastermind, usually when you think of business mastermind, often you think of hotel lobby or hotel ballrooms or some rented room in a hotel. Yeah. Some convention center somewhere. And this was such a departure from that. And I know you've done a lot more business masterminds than I have. So I'm curious. You know, given your perspective and your experience, what it adds to the experience of something like a business mastermind or something you might not necessarily think about putting in the middle of the jungle of the Dominican Republic, like what can that add to an experience?
chris_1_02-18-2025_134345:Well, you know, it's interesting. So we just did a retreat and the cool part about this is. We call it, I call it disconnect to reconnect, right? So when, let's face it, we're all so connected in our lives and our devices and you know, with our tasks and our responsibilities and all these different things, it's so hard to be fully, wholly present, right? It's fair. Like it's almost impossible. And so. What I love is this process when people come down and do a mastermind and I call it a conscious business mastermind. That's what really works where we are. It's not a conference. It's a conscious business mastermind. And the reason that it works is because people come down and the goal when you do a mastermind is to be totally present with the people that you're masterminding with, right? Like that is the goal. Now, when they come down, If you're trying to be totally present and you're in your phone and you've got your laptop and you're doing emails and you're dealing with business back home and doing all this stuff all the time, you're not wholly present with the people that you're there. You're never going to get the full experience that you're after. And what I love about this is that a, there's no cell phone reception in our town. So that's awesome. We have star link. Right? But the cool part is, and so I'm going to use the example here. We just did this for the first time where a group came down and there was 14 of them and they came down and the goal and the guy who was leading the group was like, listen, I want to allow people so they could be connected a little bit, right? Like in the mornings that give them like an hour and a half window. We give them 90 minutes in the morning to connect and do their work, check emails so they could feel like they were doing their thing, but that he gave them a window and they knew that they had that one time that they had to work. And he said, outside of that, I literally want you to cut Starlink off. Like do not allow them to access the internet. And so we literally got to toggle people's connection on and off and there was no escape. And so the crazy part, and you probably relate to this is. I, for me, I've been through this several times going to ayahuasca retreats and so on and so forth, like going down into the jungle and disconnecting at first, it's like, Oh my God, I got all this stuff. I got to get done. And it's like, you kind of get like a little anxiety, like of all the things and what's going to happen and how much work is going to be there when I get back. And then after about 24, maybe 36 hours, you just kind of go, ah, screw it. Like. I can't do anything about it. I might as well just settle into this flow that I'm in for this journey. And after the first day and a half, the next five and a half, five days or so just become some of the greatest connection. It's where you can get more of the in depth work done. It's where you have some of the biggest realizations and the biggest breakthroughs you know, that you could possibly find. And, you know, that's where the power happens. And for me, That's what I love about a location like we have. And that's one of the things that I didn't even realize it when we bought it. That's really what was what attracted me to it. Like that at the end of the day, having that type of location where you can disconnect to reconnect, where you have this place that is like, Really spiritually in tune. I'm going to call it a vortex cause it's really a magical like energy on the property. But then also it's a flexible enough thing where you can kind of create what you need to create, right? So if whatever you have as a retreat leader to come down, whatever kind of container that you want to create, you can create intentionally. And a lot of places you can't do that because no matter what you want to create. You're powerless in the sense that you're always connected to the internet and so on and so forth. And so to be able to just flip that switch on and off is a real powerful tool.
ian-vogel_1_02-18-2025_114347:And I, you know, I think this is a trend we're going to continue to see and it's something that's starting to emerge where people in the business world are starting to, you know, they'll take their team, they'll take their, you know, the leaders in their business and they'll like disconnect them, get them away from the everyday routines and do a pattern interrupt so that they can You know, get back to connecting with each other and really start to unlock new ideas and creativity because when you're stuck in these everyday rhythms, you know, we all get into our patterns and the more deeply entrained we get in. In those patterns the less creative we can become in a lot of areas and looking at the world we're in now, things are changing really rapidly and being able to be creative and to adapt in a business sense to the changing times is going to be super important. so so I foresee people moving, you know, the team leaders doing more of that. And. And utilizing spaces like the one you have to do more team building exercises and have those experiences. I mean, we went on the zipline. We, when I was there and we did, we went to a deserted beach. That was pretty wild that we took that, that catamaran through the crazy waves to get out there. I mean, it was a, it was an awesome experience and. Yeah. Those things that we did, those excursions, those more team building type experiences, they were really memorable and they helped, to enhance the experience overall and, help to create those breakthroughs. I know I had a pretty significant breakthrough and just a lot of things shifted for me when I was there, and I know a lot of other people did on the team as well, and. And the kinds of relationships that were built. I mean, I still get on a call every two weeks with a lot of the guys that were at that, experience.
chris_1_02-18-2025_134345:And it's been like nine months since the first one, right? So you guys have been doing that for a long time.
ian-vogel_1_02-18-2025_114347:yeah. And I look forward to it every every two weeks we get on a call every Friday afternoon and
chris_1_02-18-2025_134345:It's
ian-vogel_1_02-18-2025_114347:I haven't seen any of them in person since then. But that's, you know, it's, Again, disconnecting a lot from, the internet, from your everyday life allows you that space to to form these new connections and have the kind of breakthroughs that people are looking for, if you're in a position of leadership within your business, there's nothing more fulfilling than seeing the people who are on your team grow and expand and have new experiences and push themselves outside of their comfort zones. I know we saw a couple of people get on a zipline who we first got to, they said, Oh hell no, there's no way I'm getting on that zipline. And then everybody else is doing it. They're like, you know what? I think I can, you know, I think I could do it. And they did it. And that was a big moment for some of those. You know, for some people, and it doesn't, it may not seem like much, but as a business leader or retreat leader, somebody who's got a team creating those kinds of opportunities for people and curating that space, that's going to allow you those opportunities, whatever it is, is I think kind of overlooked When people are planning retreats, they're like, okay, how much can we get done? How much can we pack in? How many speaker, how many guest speakers can we get in? Like, what can we pack into this limited amount of time? And based on what you're saying and my experience, you know, maybe leaving a little bit of room for flexibility and space and openness, that may get you greater results in the long run than trying to pack so much into, you know, tightly into a small, you know, just a few days.
chris_1_02-18-2025_134345:Yeah. I mean, you creating an environment in a container a that allows people to do that and then creating an itinerary that enables people to really connect with themselves and then connect with the other people in the group as well, I think it's one of the, one of the things that we're missing the most in this world is connection with other humans, like true connection, not just like. We're connected on social media, right? Like not that we're just having these surface level conversations. But when you put together a program and itinerary for an event and the itinerary is focused on building depth and working through things and working through challenges and. Learning parts about yourself that you maybe have never explored before. And then once you do that and you start scraping away at the surface levels of people, and then you create space and allow people to explore, allow people to journal, allow people to work deeply within themselves. And then. You create space where they can all connect with each other and talk about and integrate what the experience has been like during that. That's where real relationships are forged. Like, that's it. And I think that's why you guys are still talking all the time, because you all went through that experience together. And with that, now you have this common thread where you shared this experience and nobody else will understand that except for you guys that were there together going through it together. It's kind of like people, and I don't want to equate it to this, but it's similar to people who are platoon mates in war and going through these experiences and you know, they're, they have a brotherhood, they have A thing because they went through something unique that nobody outside that would be able to understand. And so, it's different, but it's very much the same at the same time, you know?
ian-vogel_1_02-18-2025_114347:Yeah, and that just brought up thoughts of my very first ayahuasca retreat that I went to was like almost nine years ago at this point, and I'm still in contact with some of the people that, that I met at that very first retreat. I mean, the guy who sat on my left, one of the person who was right next to me, he's still a good friend of mine. And I still communicate with him fairly regularly. So, creating, or, putting your team or, Getting people out of their comfort zones allows people to open up in very unique ways. And opening up facilitates a deep connection for people who are, for other people who are in that group and sharing that experience. again, I foresee businesses doing this more and getting, you know, pushing their teams further and further out of the comfort zone in this sort of a setting that's still very comfortable. I mean, the food Azaria was. Off the chain. It was so good. I mean, I'm sure you get that. You probably hear that a lot
chris_1_02-18-2025_134345:good. It's it like we got so lucky with our cook with our chef.
ian-vogel_1_02-18-2025_114347:Shout out to willie
chris_1_02-18-2025_134345:amazing. Yeah. And actually, we got a group coming in tonight as we're filming this. I'm going down bringing the family down. We're gonna have dinner there with a group of seven or eight people that are coming in. And it's going to be the first time I've eaten at the retreat center. And like, Two months. So I'm excited to go down and have some of Willie's cooking. It's going to be good
ian-vogel_1_02-18-2025_114347:Yes, I mean It's and it's cool because it's far enough out there to where it does You know gets people out of their comfort zones and there still are comforts and amenities the beds are nice. The food is great. So people can really focus on what they came there to focus on I spent The two weeks in the jungle in Peru a few years ago, and they were like, they were, it was beautiful. It was amazing. And there were bugs. Like you just, there was a lot more variables in that situation. It was awesome. It made the experience what it
chris_1_02-18-2025_134345:Yeah. Yeah.
ian-vogel_1_02-18-2025_114347:And in the context of, you know, of hosting a transformative retreat or experience for, people you want to be able to, to a certain extent, control the amount of variables that you introduce into the container and when you introduce those variables into the container, that's having the option to. To push people outside of their comfort zone, rather than, you know, you're just in the jungle with no fly net and you're going to get eaten by mosquitoes, like, like,
chris_1_02-18-2025_134345:Well
ian-vogel_1_02-18-2025_114347:the comforts that are available there, although while they are somewhat basic, they, you have everything that you need and all the bases, the foundational bases are covered. So you can really, you know, get down and focus on, what you came there to focus on.
chris_1_02-18-2025_134345:totally. And one of the reasons we chose to come to the Dominican instead of Costa Rica, which is the other place we were looking is because nothing in the Dominican Republic wants to kill you and everything in Costa Rica or the Amazon or whatever. It's full of poisonous stuff that literally is just. Wants to eat you, wants to bite you, wants to like poison you, wants to like it's nuts. And so, I remember the first time I came here and tour the property and walked through the jungle and the guy that was walking me through, and I had just been in Costa Rica. And I get out of the car out of his little jimny and we started walking through the jungle and I'm like booted up, like got my legs covered and all this stuff. And he gets out in his shorts and flip flops and he's walking through the jungle. I'm like, dude, Austin, what are you doing? You're going to get killed. And he's like, what are you talking about? And I'm like, what about all the poisonous stuff? He's like, that doesn't exist here. And I'm like, okay, we're in like that to me, like to knowing that we're going to move down here with our kids and let them just run through the jungle and roam free without having to worry about like, are they going to, Run into a spider or a frog or an ant or, you know, a snake or something like that is going to get them, you know, it's cool. Now I'm not saying we don't have bugs or something like that, but like nothing here is dangerous. So once again, this goes to your state of mind as you go in a lot of people that are already a little uncomfortable. It makes it a lot easier to know that, okay, you're going to be uncomfortable enough seeing a bug, but to know that bug is not going to be dangerous to you allows you to just like decompress a lot, right? Because let's face it, most Americans, most people that live in a more developed. Existence are really uncomfortable going into the jungle, right? And knowing that they're exposed in so many different ways. And so to be able to have a a space where people can kind of get that exposure without the risks associated with what the assumptions of that exposure look like is pretty awesome.
ian-vogel_1_02-18-2025_114347:Yeah I totally agree. And I was not aware that the Dominican Republic is, has less venomous and dangerous creepy crawlies than other Caribbean islands.
chris_1_02-18-2025_134345:there's nothing here man. The only thing here that is poisonous at all are these little scorpions And I mean, I'm from Arizona. So to me, that's nothing, you know, like they're you get bit by scorpion. Don't get me wrong It's gonna suck but like it's a we don't have that many of them be if you get bit It's like it's literally you don't have to go to the doctor. It's just like it sucks It hurts for a couple days and then you're good, you know,
ian-vogel_1_02-18-2025_114347:yeah, so, one other thing that I wanted to talk about in this conversation and knowing you and knowing your past, like I think of you as an incredible marketer, and you've done a large variety of businesses and have had a lot of success in business before this current venture with Zaria. And one thing. That I've learned from you that stuck with me and that I now help teach other people and show other people how to do. And an idea that I introduce people to often is the idea of building an authority platform. And that's something that you've done, again, in a different business context, but you've done it very well. And If I'm not mistaken, that's, you know, part of building that authority platform has allowed you to have a lot of options and has allowed you to do some of the things that you're doing now and has created opportunities for you. So, you know, I'd love to hear a little bit about your experience in maybe first. How do you describe an authority platform? What has your experience been like building your authority platform? And for people who may be listening to this how can retreat lead leaders, retreat creators, people who are maybe running retreat businesses, like what are some practical things that people can implement in their own marketing strategy that they can take away from the success that you've had?
chris_1_02-18-2025_134345:It's funny you say this. So I was having a conversation with my 13 year old daughter last night, nightly and she was just like talking to me about wanting to, we've got her into horseback riding and all this stuff, she's got lessons. She goes to this barn locally and gets, whatever, every week. And we're trying to get her to start doing her own YouTube channel. And I'm like, listen, if you're going to do this and you want to create, we'll give you more time there, but like start filming videos, start doing this, start doing that. And you know, she's 13 year old teenage girl. So she's just coming up with excuses why she can't. And then I literally said to her last night, and it's funny because me and my wife were like sitting across from her, me and Hannah were sitting across from her, kind of mocking her, but playfully having fun with her too, and we're like, look around, like, do you know why we have all this? YouTube because of YouTube, right. And then like everything we came to is like, you realize all the things that you love in life started by me being willing to film videos on YouTube before I knew what it would become. You know what I mean? And I didn't realize how, and I was just having this conversation with her and kind of having fun and playful and mocking her and trying to also like, incentivize her to get to go and, you know, do it and get started. Because if she could do it now, I mean. Man, her life would never be the same, you know? But that goes back to, for me, my authority platform started in, in the financial space, you know, and I just believe that I guess I would define an authority platform is I don't have a pure definition for it, but this is what I, how I kind of explain it is that no matter what you do, there are people that are looking for you, period. Right. And they want your service. They want your intellect. They want your expertise. They want your coaching. They want. Access to your community, they want access to your relationships, they, like, whatever it is, right? You have something unique inside you and I believe everybody has something unique inside them that, that was our God given, our divine given talents, abilities, skills, whatever, that you were put on this earth to be able to share and that, and I think it's our soul's purpose and soul's journey to be able to identify and find what those things are to be able to go do it, you know what I mean? Like that, that for me, that's, to me, that's what life is all about. That's what this journey is all about. And so really interesting because I didn't start off thinking I was building an authority platform, but what happened was I just created videos and then what happened is I started making YouTube videos and then people kept commenting on them after a couple of years and then I was like, Oh my gosh, they're making all these comments. I got to create. Ways to help them. And so I started creating funnels and websites and other PDFs and landing pages and different things that would add value to the people that were asking questions. And before you knew it, I had this big platform, you know, and the bottom line is this, is that the people that need you, whether they find you or find somebody else they're going to go online and they're going to go search. And I, as much as I don't like Grant Cardone. He says this the best I think that I've ever heard is he says it's not the best product that wins. It's the best marketed product that wins period. So it's not about like, and I've heard so many people say, Oh man, Chris, I'm so talented. I've got such an ability to make such a difference in so many people's lives. If I could just get in front of the people, if I could just, you know, if people just knew about me. Imagine the difference in this world I could make. Well, then you need to go make your authority platform. Like how are people going to know about you if you don't have a place for them to go find you? And listen, like you got to have a social media presence. You got to have a process. And I think social media is the top of the funnel, so to speak, right? It's the easiest way that people can identify you, be made aware of who you are, what you do, and then make your content congruent with what your offer is, with who you want to serve, make content that is designed to be. Marketing towards the people you want to serve, add value to those people. Don't create content. Don't go out and build your platform saying I have an objective of creating X amount of revenue and getting X amount of conversions and all this stuff go out. I was talking to my wife cause we're launching our new business thrive hive, which is a new podcast and all this stuff that is going to be integrated into what we're doing at Zaria. Because there's so much synergy there, but she's creating content. And I said to her, she was like, I don't know what to make for content. To really connect with people and convert people and get them to really see the value. And I'm like, well, first of all, you're thinking about it wrong. If you're, If you're really trying to force that. You're then you're in your head, like get out of your head, get into your heart and think about if you like, where do you have the ability to actually purely, truly authentically add the most value to people? Right. And what makes your heart sing? What do you want to share with people? Right. And so I said to her, I said, my question to you, babe, is if you were to die tomorrow, what are the 10 things that you can think of the top 10 things? That you will have wished you could have left behind your top tips, skills, wisdom, insights mindsets, processes. Like, what would you want to share? Like, what do you think your 10. Most impactful things that you could leave behind that would benefit humanity, that would help people go from where they are to get to where they want to go, help them close that gap and help actually make an impact in people's lives, not making it about how do you close people into a deal? How do you get them to sign up for a retreat or anything of that nature? But how do you just serve them without expectation? And what value do you believe that you could leave behind? And dude, she's, she started crying. She's like, Oh my gosh, I never thought about it that way. And so for, you know, she's up there
ian-vogel_1_02-18-2025_114347:I'm getting emotional thinking about the, you know, as you're saying that. Hmm.
chris_1_02-18-2025_134345:Marketing. Like I, I can't stand. So I do marketing a lot different than most people. Most people think about marketing as selling and listen, there's an element of that has to happen. Don't get me wrong, but really from an, from marketing perspective, we got to. I look at it very selfishly, like I have a big significance drive and I just want to help the earth, right? And I believe that money follows value. And if we create enough value, money is just a scoreboard like, you know, to show us how impactful are we being, you know? And I don't believe that there's any product or any service or any retreats or any, anything that's going to change. our life with one thing. It's we need to become who we need to become to create the life that we want to live. We need to put the work and we need to take accountability. And we need to be really clear on what we, what a life that matters to us looks like, right? I mean, you and I, we're friends, we're good friends, right? And so we have a lot of shared values and at the same time, If you were to write out what a pure life that truly matters to Ian Vogel looks like, it's probably going to look fairly different than what a pure life that matters to Chris Kirkpatrick looks like. And while there may be some overlap, you're going to have so many unique nuances to your version that I'm going to have. And so, what you need to do to create your life that matters is probably going to be a little bit different than me. And while we can have overlap and collaboration and all this stuff, It's important that you are really clear on what a life that matters to you looks like. And then once you're clear on that, then build your authority platform, right? Because now you're going to be able to go out and create. Create content that's authentic to you. That's real. That's full of integrity. That's going to connect with the people that you actually purely want to serve because I know so many people and guess what? I've done this. I've made this mistake. That's how I've gotten to this conclusion where I know how to build things. I could sell anything to anybody. Don't get me wrong. I'm a great salesperson in that way, but I've learned to not do that because of the fact that when I did that in the past, I made sales, but what happened was I made sales to the people that I didn't want to work with. You know, and then before you know it, I go down that path and I've got this group of people that I have to serve and I'm responsible for and I don't enjoy my life at that point in time. So to me, the goal of building an authority platform is just it's your mountaintop to stand on, to be like, this is who I am. And this is where I am. And if you want to, if you align with this, if you align with me, if you, if we share these values, if we, you know, you want to go on a similar journey, This is the path that I've taken to get here and let me share it with you. And now through social media and then creating sales funnels and registration pages and free downloads and lead magnets and like all these different courses and offerings and retreats and events, like that's. You, you got to have a process and a flow that people can go through to, to connect with you. And you got to make it easy for them to get into your world, you know, and you got to have what, you know, what we call a value ladder, which is like allow people to get in easy, build a relationship with them over the time and let them ascend through that process with you. That's really what it comes down to. But don't lose yourself and don't the thing I can't stand about. And this is something I was a huge fan of Russell Brunson. Don't get me wrong. I love Russell. I think he does a lot of really good for the industry, but there's a lot of stuff out there in regards to like the NLP stuff that is designed to train and train people to like it, I don't know. It's like designed to manipulate people. You know what I mean? That's NLP was never designed to be a sales tool, but a lot of people have taken it and twisted it. And use for sales, especially on online sales funnels and opt in videos and all this stuff. And, you know, I just think there's a responsibility if you're going to go down that, make sure you're doing it from a place of full integrity and not just trying to convert people, you know? I would just say it's important first and foremost for you to live a fully authentic and high integrity life for yourself. So you know that whatever you're doing, you're going to be completely fulfilled in, and that's, that, that's the key to everything. And if you do that, it doesn't matter if you get. A hundred thousand followers or a thousand you don't want, it's not about volume or the numbers. It's about having the right people that are, that you're actually going to be able to make an impact on because you could have a hundred thousand followers with a low engagement rate and nobody actually signing up because they're not the right people is the thing that I find funny with all the egos out there that are buying followers. And trying to look bigger and more important than they are. And it's like, I'd rather find somebody with 500 followers that has a high engagement and that has maybe 20 or 30 people in their life that they're actually making an impact on, like to me, that's what this is about. And I promise you, if you do it that way, your life is going to be more fulfilling. And you're going to enjoy the process along the way. And guess what? Like the ripple effect is going to be much greater. And I love the phrase, be willing to go slow to go fast. And that's what I mean by this. Like if you do that and you can just build this ecosystem where you can actually serve and build people in a way that is in alignment with what, with how you naturally show up, you're going to be fulfilled. People are going to want to come in and experience what you have to offer. And as you can help them elevate, guess what? It's just going to spread. It takes a little longer to do that. But, you know, life is going to be more fun along the way.
ian-vogel_1_02-18-2025_114347:Well, that's super powerful and very impactful. And the one thing that, that really struck me, cause I'm in the beginning stages of a side project and it's been, percolating for years, and now it's, getting closer to the surface and I just have had some hesitation around it. Well, you helped bring some clarity to something. And it was clarity. Like, get clear with what you want, I mean, I've heard you say this before, start with the end in mind, have a clear destination for where you want this thing to go, know who you want to serve, know what you want to say, like, at what you were telling, you were saying. Hannah, your wife, I felt like you were speaking directly to me. It was like, Oh, before I get, in front of the camera and start making all these videos, it's really going to be in my best interest to be very clear what kind of videos that I want to make and what kind of message I want to send and who I want to be speaking to specifically, I could start making videos. And just start throwing stuff at the wall But then there's going to be a much longer slower start and a longer period of trial and error if I could take some more time in the beginning And I think this would be applicable to everybody like when you're starting a marketing journey or starting to market something like the amount of time you spend in the beginning and i've heard this other places like One minute spent in planning is equal to 10 minutes of execution. So like you'll save yourself so much time if you just go slow in the beginning, get really clear on your direction and so that you're not having to course correct as much along the way. So you can just focus on what you're doing. And I think that's such a poignant piece of advice And I hope that really came through for people like getting, like before you do anything, spend time with yourself, know what you really want for you and who you want to work with. And be clear on the value that you provide to the marketplace and to the people that you work with and focus on that. Focus on what you know and focus on the things that feel good and the things that you actually want to talk about. And to know those things, it might take a little time in the beginning to sit with yourself and really plan it out, write it out, get on chat, GPT, think of, you know, do some, come up with some ideas. But whatever it takes.
chris_1_02-18-2025_134345:You know what I've done recently, and me and Hannah have both done this, and I would encourage every single person to do this, is spend time journaling. And, but here's the deal, journal in ChatGPT. And the reason is because when you journal inside of ChatGPT and dump all of your thoughts, all the good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful the just nasty, like whatever real positive vibes that you have, whatever self limiting beliefs you have, just journal it all there, right? All your aspirations, all your fears, everything, just put it all in there. And the reason for this is because that allows. to really get to know who you are and what I've realized is, and this is something Hannah and I've both done is by doing that. And as you're building your brand and also doing your other kind of technical marketing stuff, you can then ask chat GPT to help You build out a marketing plan that is more authentic and help and i'm telling you I did this the other day I'm rewriting my book cash flow hacking right and in this I asked I said listen I want to change what this is about because the first version of cash flow hacking was very linear It was very focused on one thing and I want it to be a more vast thing to really help people holistically with their finances And be in alignment with who I am today. Cause the first time I wrote the book was four years ago and I'm a wildly different person today than I was back then. Right. And so I want the spirit of the book to embody who I am today. Not who I was back then and not who I was when the brand was created. And I want the brand to evolve with me because. It's important to me, and so because I'd been journaling and because it knows all my technical stuff, cause I use it a lot on the insurance and financial strategy side, real estate investment side, all that stuff. I was able to say, listen, here's how the book was. And I, you know, whatever, and here's what I want it to be based on what you know about me, based on all of our conversations, all of my journaling, what would you say are the things that I could work into this book? And the ways that I could like find my new authentic voice. And because only because I was, I literally had dozens and dozens of pages worth of journaling in it, was it able to pull it out? And I'm telling you within five minutes I literally, I was almost in tears. I had, I was like, Oh my gosh, like this is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen how I felt about how I was going to be able to convey who I wanted to be holistically, not just in the financial space, but as a business leader, as a leader. As a person that wants to help men break through and become who they need to be to live the life that they want to live as husbands, as fathers, as business conscious business leaders, as you know, getting financial security as a retreat host is somebody who wants to help that whole space. I mean, that's a lot to like bring in together. You know what I mean? But it did it. And like, I'm telling you, I would have had to pay a consultant 50, 000 to help me come up with the same thing. But because I just unloaded my life into Chat GPT for like a six month period, it was able to do it for me. So if you're not using Chat GPT, you need to be doing it.
ian-vogel_1_02-18-2025_114347:Yeah, and I, you know, I think these, like the way that you're using it as a tool and like journaling is so valuable, I mean, just whether it's on pen and paper or whether it's in something like chat GPT, The amount of data that you can potentially give to an artificial intelligence to analyze and, I've been working with AI a lot over the last few months in different contexts. And I've noticed, it's really good at some things and some things it's not quite so good at yet, but what it is the best at is analyzing data and finding patterns and taking large pieces of data. And. and picking out and identifying the patterns and things that it sees repeatedly over and over again. And I'm guessing, when you went through that process, it probably picked out patterns that you hadn't identified within yourself. You know, with all the amount of data that you gave it, it, was able to see things that were coming up over and over again, that to you may be passing or maybe unconscious, but it's like, Oh, boom, here's all these things.
chris_1_02-18-2025_134345:It's not just the patterns. It's and yes you're right it identifies patterns but what it did for me is, and I'm sure everybody watching this whether you're an influencer in any space, you have, your unique ability and your unique ability to you just feels natural, right? Because it's your unique ability. And so sometimes it's harder for you to be able to identify some of these processes and frameworks and so on and so forth. And so for me, what was interesting was when I read the output from it, I was like, Oh my gosh, that it all just made so much sense. And I was like, Why was I not able to identify that myself? Why was it so hard for me? Why did I not see this? It was all the things that I say in all these different conversations. And I've got, 1, 600 YouTube videos, right? So, and I've uploaded my books and all my transcripts, and I've got this thing. It knows me better than I know myself, obviously at this point in time, right? And so when I did it, it was able to take everything I said, the good, the bad, the ugly, and mixed in with the journaling. It knew what I didn't want to write. Like that's important. Right. And knew who I want to be in the world. It knew what I considered fulfilling and it made sure that the outputs were completely in alignment, not with just what I wanted to create, but what I wanted to make sure was avoided in that creation, and so to give that output, it was like, it was a life changing moment. You know what I mean? And It's pretty cool. And that's the thing though, is like, I'm constantly evolving. Everybody should be constantly evolving. That's what this life is about is growth. It's the journey. It's not the destination. And so, that's why, circling back to the beginning is like when it comes to marketing, when it comes to doing all this stuff, building a business whether it's running a retreat or just building a business or whatever, you need time for yourself. You need time to just be wholly present. And I think going to masterminds, going to events, going to. Experiences that will allow you to get to that place to unplug and get to know yourself on a deeper level so you can do the work to hit that next level. That's the magic in this life to me. And. I think it's sad how few people are doing it. And I think selfishly, that's been the greatest gift and blessing of buying the retreat center is getting to know people in that getting to spend more time inside of those containers with people that are on those journeys. It's just made, I feel like it's just made me a more conscious and aware person to help me in all these other areas, you know? But I will say that it's not all, it's not all easy, right? Like it's been, it's hard too. Like doing that work has taken time away from things. And that's where I say sometimes you gotta be willing to go slow to go fast. And for me, I had to pump the brakes on a couple of things. I had to do some stuff. But now I'm going to be able to go three times as fast as I would have been able to go before. You know what I mean? And so, it just makes sense.
ian-vogel_1_02-18-2025_114347:Yeah, that's really, beautiful. And I think it just like, as you said, kind of wrapping it up and bringing it back to the, to having that ability to, whether it's take that time to yourself, because, you know, Doing that all that journaling you did took time, you know, inputting all that information. It's like you're sure you're putting it into chat GPT, but chat GPT isn't responding to in real time. That's really time where you're going inward and assessing your own thoughts and your own beliefs and putting it out there.
chris_1_02-18-2025_134345:a hundred percent
ian-vogel_1_02-18-2025_114347:On the backend chat, GPT was able to do something magical with it, the only reason chat GPT was able to do what it did is because you spent so much time and just by yourself in the quiet just doing that work and journaling and looking inward. And, I've facilitated many ceremonies myself plant medicine ceremonies and there's, nothing quite as. Fulfilling as is watching people go have breakthroughs and go through, the kind of experiences that people have at Zarya just like when you're going through a breakthrough yourself You don't realize that the person who's helping facilitate it is also going through a growth and expansion and the people who are holding space like there's You typically don't have that perception yourself, but it's happening everybody You're not you're never in it alone when you're in a group container like that. Like everybody is growing and learning and expanding together at the same time and that's what makes those kind of retreats and masterminds. That's what makes them so, so powerful. If it was just you by yourself in a hut in the jungle, yeah, you'd certainly have profound experiences on your own and people certainly do all the time. And when you add other people into it who are vibrating at the same level or have this similar values and a similar mindset, similar goals, and they're there for a similar reason, it's just a force multiplier. It's like you don't add to the group, you, like your presence there multiplies the amount of energy and what's happening and the amount of transformation that happens within the group. And, I'm. so grateful that I was able to come and visit Zaria and have the experience that I had there. I'm super grateful to have met you and that you're so willing to come on and chat today and have this awesome conversation and share, you know, so much knowledge and so much of your story. Is there anything you'd like to. To end with I'll kind of give you the mic at the very end. Is there, how can people get ahold of you or if people are interested in seeing what you're doing outside of Zarya or if people are interested in checking out Zarya itself, like, Yeah, we'll let people know where they can find you.
chris_1_02-18-2025_134345:Yeah. I would just say the last thing I wanna say is, and I said it a little bit, but it's just kind of my story right now and I feel like it's my life's journey in, in, in what I'm being called to share is that the reason we are all where we are in life is because of who we are. Right. And the gap of, and get really clear on what you want your life to be like. What does a life that matters mean to you? And then figure out where you are and the results that you have in your life are based on who you are and who do you need to become to create that life that matters to you and then you can identify this gap and you can kind of start filling the gap in and and I think doing the work and getting in the right communities and surrounding yourself with like minded people who are on the same or similar journey. Is the key. And you can only do that through groups. So whether you're somebody who looks to run groups and run retreats or whatever, I would say, reach out. We have an amazing space and I'd love to have a conversation about what. It might look like for somebody to host an event at our place at Zaria down in the Dominican would look like and then obviously I would just encourage go to retreats, go, get yourself around those people I've already been, it's February. Whatever middle of February when we're filming this and I've already been to three retreats this year. You know what I mean? And it's just it's a part of my life. And if it, if that weren't such a big part of my life, like I wouldn't be growing at the rate that I'm growing. And so now I realize not everybody has the ability to do that, but. I definitely think, one to one to two retreats per year is something everybody should be participating in, find your tribe and surround yourself with people who see you as a higher version of yourself than you believe in yourself. If you question, if that's out there, it's out there, I promise. You just gotta go find it, spend the time to find it. It's going to be one of the most valuable things that you can do is finding your tribe that believes in you and believes in your message. And then just be willing to grow slow and become who you need to be to build what you're looking to build. That matters. And so that's what I would say. So that said if you do, anybody does want to connect or reach out on Instagram, you can go to visit Zaria at visit Zaria, Z A R I A is our Instagram channel, pretty cool channel. A good content that goes on there. My, my personal Instagram is at real Chris Kirkpatrick. Go follow me there and yeah, I mean, that's, it's pretty much it simple.
ian-vogel_1_02-18-2025_114347:That's awesome. And just to piggyback on that a little bit, like a retreat does not have to be an extravagant adventure around the world. It can be getting together with a few of your closest friends and everybody chipping in on an Airbnb. like where everybody can meet and you can, do your thing, whatever that is. Maybe it's just, maybe it's just get out of your home. Like putting yourself, getting yourself outta your comfort zone, giving yourself an opportunity to have a. A pattern interrupt and as you said, like being around people who can support you in a way that, and people who can support you in a way, and that may see you in a way that you don't necessarily see yourself is going to help lead to growth and evolution in a way that when you're all by yourself, you may not have access to that level of growth at that speed. So. Chris, thanks so much for coming on. I appreciate you and I look forward to our next conversation.
chris_1_02-18-2025_134345:too, man. It was fun. Thanks for having me.
ian-vogel_1_02-18-2025_114347:All right. Take care.
chris_1_02-18-2025_134345:Thanks, brother.