Episode 135 - Lynan Saperstein, The Experience Experts
What would be possible if your work felt in complete and soulful alignment with your deepest sense of self?
And how do you get there?
Find out in this week’s episode as Christine her guest dive into how and why deep, reflective pauses can create space for us to collectively heal and find the right path forward.
This week’s Soul of Travel Podcast guest is Lynan Saperstein, Owner, CEO, and Chief Marketing Strategist of The Experience Experts. Lynan is a luxury marketing strategist who has been intuitively guiding the launchpads for retreat centers & boutique hotels to consistently get more bookings and revenue for over 12 years.
Lynan and her team offer a comprehensive, full-service approach for all your digital marketing needs, including a high-converting & driving-traffic online presence, big-picture business growth strategies around the dynamic retreat & wellness market, and increased profitable lead generation. The end result is your property and brand transformed from being virtually unknown to a highly-coveted and booked-solid destination or experience. She is currently based in Colorado with her partner & new baby girl, sharing her online marketing wisdom and hosting entrepreneur immersions called The Trailblazer’s Retreat.
Listening to Our Inner Wisdom
When Lynan’s mentor pointed out that her time in New York City was depleting her energy, Lynan had a hard time believing that running a marketing agency in NYC wasn’t what she was supposed to be doing. But travel was a part of her routine, and every time she left, she would come back with more open, expansive, inspired energy.
“For me, that was the deeper wisdom on entrepreneurship – that’s where my genius lie.”
While Lynan wasn’t fully ready to admit that travel was her future quite yet, she took on a client in Costa Rica and then ended up spending months on the property.
When she began to open herself up to travel experiences – to embrace the entirety of the experience fully, the “pure distilled truth about a property,” as she says, she could apply this to her marketing strategy. She sees this as her life force energy, helping her to experience other cultures and perspectives and live her truths of curiosity and inquiry along the way.
Solo Female Travel & Location-Independent Living
When Lynan first found herself hopping from unstable internet to hotel lobbies so that she could take calls and continue working while on the road, traveling solo as a female and working while traveling wasn’t yet a part of the travel landscape as expansively as it is now.
She began booking clients who would fly her to the location and then began building her business, systems, and team to support this type of work and lifestyle.
Christine comments that as entrepreneurs, we’ll often sit down and write our business plan – never told to lean into the small steps and lean into the shifts that simply…happen. But with this perspective, this flexibility allows us to grow into more aligned, soulful, and intuitive work.
Lynan remembers waking up a few months into the project, meditating on the beach before going to work, and starting to tear up at the realization that this felt so right. She also shares that finding that alignment isn’t permanent and that it, too, can shift with time.
Lynan also reminds entrepreneurs that it’s our birthright – and everyone’s birthright – to share our unique gifts with the world and to create companies, and work, that brings that light into the world.
Getting “Stuck” in India
Two weeks into what was supposed to be a three-month trip in Asia with stops in Thailand and India, the pandemic of 2020 shut down the country of India. Lynan found a way to continue working, going to the library in the middle of the night to make her calls back to the US. She couldn’t get on a plane, go to another hotel or retreat center, or create.
But she got to be still. And in that stillness, she found herself healing the need she had previously had to continuously stay in motion.
Once she was able to travel, Lynan made it to Thailand, and was able to experience slow travel in a completely new way. She recognized that the hustle culture and pressure that she had been placing on herself was not the answer; while in that balanced, calm space, Lynan was able to hold space for others in moments of struggle and also meet and get to know her own shadow side.
She also took the opportunity to complete yoga teacher training, yet another gift she had been putting off, and is grateful for the period of expansion she was able to experience during these few years.
Lynan remains committed to supporting travel organizations that create opportunities for people to tap into that deep wellness, healing, and growth.
Soul of Travel Episode 135 At a Glance
In this conversation, Christine and Lynan discuss:
What it takes to make living a location-independent lifestyle a reality
How Lynan brings intuition and expertise together to create unique marketing strategies for her clients
How we can bring intentional and mindful travel experiences into our family lives
Opportunities for families to travel and have transformational experiences together
Lynan’s unexpected experience living in India and Thailand in 2020 and 2021
Entrepreneurship as a pathway to growth
Join Christine now for this soulful conversation with Lynan Saperstein.
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Related UN Sustainable Development Goals
Sustainable Development Goal #3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
Sustainable Development Goal #8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.
Sustainable Development Goal #9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.
Sustainable Development Goal #11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
Sustainable Development Goal #12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.
Sustainable Development Goal #15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.
Resources & Links Mentioned in the Episode
To learn more about The Experience Experts, visit the website!
Learn about Trailblazer’s Retreats here!
Visit your local bookstore or the author’s websites to find your copy of Braving the Wilderness by Brené Brown or The Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath.
Follow Lynan and The Experience Experts on your favorite social media network!
Connect with Lynan on LinkedIn or Facebook, or follow The Experience Experts on Instagram!
About the Soul Of Travel Podcast
Soul of Travel honors the passion and dedication of people making a positive impact in the tourism industry. In each episode, you’ll hear the stories of women who are industry professionals, seasoned travelers, and community leaders. Our expert guests represent social impact organizations, adventure-based community organizations, travel photography and videography, and entrepreneurs who know that travel is an opportunity for personal awareness and a vehicle for global change.
Join us to become a more educated and intentional traveler as you learn about new destinations, sustainable and regenerative travel, and community-based tourism. Industry professionals and those curious about a career in travel will also find value and purpose in our conversations.
We are thought leaders, action-takers, and heart-centered change-makers who inspire and create community. Join host Christine Winebrenner Irick for these soulful conversations with our global community of travelers exploring the heart, the mind, and the globe.
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Credits. Christine Winebrenner Irick (Host, creator, editor). Carla Campos (Guest). Original music by Clark Adams. Editing, production, and content writing by Carly Oduardo.
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Soul of Travel Episode 135 Transcript
Women’s travel, transformational travel, sustainable travel, women leaders in travel, social entrepreneurship
Christine:
Lynn Saperstein is a luxury marketing strategist who has been intuitively guiding the launchpads for retreat centers and boutique hotels to consistently get more bookings and revenue for over 12 years. As the c e o of her world renowned digital marketing agency, the experience experts, Lynan and her team offer a comprehensive full service approach for their clients' digital marketing needs. She's currently based in Colorado with her partner and new baby girl, sharing her online marketing wisdom and hosting entrepreneur immersions the Trailblazers retreat. In our conversation, Len Ann and I discuss living a location, independent lifestyle and what it took for her to make that happen. Her unexpected experience living in, in India and Thailand in 2020 and 2021. How she brings her intuition and expertise together to create unique marketing strategies for her clients, and how we can bring intentional and mindful travel experiences into our family lives. Love these soulful conversations. We rely on listener support to produce our podcast. You can support me in amplifying the voices of women by making a donation on PayPal. The link is in the show notes. Join me now for my soulful conversation with Lynan Saperstein.
Christine:
Welcome to Soul of Travel podcast. I am very excited today to be joined by Len Ann Saperstein, who is a retreat leader and luxury marketing strategist. Um, she's also the founder and chief business strategist at the Experience Experts. And this is a really kind of fun conversation because we met several years ago in a virtual meeting space, um, and then have followed each other, you know, as you've kind of traveled around the, the globe. But now we're both in Colorado and, um, it's just kind of weird to kind of be finally meeting in person, if you will, and having a conversation. I'm so grateful to kind of bring that connection together and in invite you into this space because I've really enjoyed the, all the things I've learned from you in, in the other, you know, context. And this is fun to kind of shift gears and learn more about your work with retreats and marketing and this other zone of genius that you have. So, welcome to the podcast so much. I'm so glad to be here, <laugh>. Um, well, as we get started, the first thing I'd love to do is have you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about who you are in the space of travel right now.
Lynan:
So I live and breathe travel. It's something that, um, I would say in my top values just travel, adventure, um, transformation is, is are both all up there and they sort of integrate together in my company. So we're the experience experts and we're marketing and advertising agency for boutique travel destinations, but we really dialed in really toward the end of the pandemic time, um, to our specialty, which is wellness and transformation. So retreat centers, um, venues that wanna hold space for people's growth, people's expansion, people's healing. And um, I've worked with properties all over the world on almost every continent. We haven't done anything in Antarctica yet. I'll get there one day maybe. Um, I'm just really passionate about marketing because I think there are so many hidden gems in this world and they're just existing in like a black hole and nobody knows about 'em.
Lynan:
And they're just giving this five star service these amazing experiences that they've curated or built from their dreams. And my goal is to build that platform to illuminate, to create a way for those hidden gems. And, and I love the analogy of sort of the lotus, A lot of them have been in the mud, they've been in the muck, and they don't know how to be seen. They don't know how to increase their visibility. And so that's what I do. And I'm, I'm someone who's passionate about personal growth and spirituality. My own personal journey since I was 16 years old, going to seminars, reading all the books, um, and then eventually attending retreats and big conferences. And I have some event production, uh, background as well. So integrating all of that in. And I'm still hosting my own retreats. I had one last year in Mexico. Um, but mostly supporting retreat leaders and retreat venues, um, to really launch and share all the magic that they hold.
Christine:
Yeah, thank you for outlining that. And I think what's so great and what I see in the work that you do is how well you are able to bring all of those things to this. So I think, you know, one way that someone might look at marketing a destination or, you know, a property is so different than how you look at it and you really, I feel like have an ability to really uncover the magic, get to the, the roots of things and tell that story in a way that is so like personal and true to a place. So it's like it really does come alive, like the lotus, like I love that analogy cuz I feel like that's what I, what I have seen and witnessed and the way that you can bring some of the other things about you that are really, you know, unique and maybe you wouldn't try to mix with travel marketing.
Christine:
Like you are able to really do that in a way that I think is, is so cool and like just really personifies who you are. So I think it makes so much sense. Um, so I love to get into that as we move through our conversation. But, um, first I would love to hear more about why travel is some so important to you. Um, it is definitely one of my values as well as, you know, transformation and connection and, um, healing. Like all those things are so important to me. But how did you discover that that was your path and, and what kind of led you in into that, that area and of focus?
Lynan:
Well, I'm someone who's always loved to travel and learned so much about myself on the, the adventures and the journeys that I've been fortunate enough to be on. You know, I raised money when I was a teenager and went on a trip with some my Girl Scout troop. Um, but I was running a, a marketing agency in New York City living there. And my mentor was like, your energy is so like dead <laugh>, it's just like dropping. But I would go on these trips, you know, I would save money and go on this trip. I went on this very long trip to India. I would come, I came back and she said, your energy is just like open and expansive and you're so inspired. And for me that was the deeper wisdom on entrepreneurship. That that's where my genius lie. And that's where I was being called, but I wasn't fully ready to admit that to myself yet.
Lynan:
Right. Cause I was living the dream. I was living in New York City, you know, if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. And I really had to surrender. And I, I ended up getting a client in Costa Rica and they invited me to come down and I was meant to go down for a couple weeks. I was there for many months, <laugh>. And I basically lived on the property and my roommates thought I was never coming back. You know, they were like, do you want us to do something with your stuff? Like, what's the plan? But I really found that when I was on the road, when I was at a property and I could fully experience it first, the land, the property, what it spoke to, but then the really interacting with the people and holding space for them and getting to know them and then really experiencing the experiences that they were creating at the property.
Lynan:
Then I was able to translate it to all the different things I knew about marketing and advertising and take that essence, take that pure distilled, uh, truth about the property and put it on a website, put it in social media, put it on, you know, email marketing. And then people felt it, you know, and then there was these like bursts and these sparks and, and then the property was able to grow and, and be seen. So for me it's like life force energy. It helps me not be a white girl from the suburbs. Um, it helps me experience other cultures and I really believe it's where I come the most alive. And if you look at my astrology, I've got my moon in Sagittarius. So just, there's a lot of adventure and, and curiosity and inquiry and there's a lot I have to learn by traveling all the little points on the globe. Mm-hmm.
Christine:
<affirmative>. Um, I, I love that you mentioned your, we were just talking about astrology before this, and I, I think it's, for me, I love that as well. That's a kind of a tangent, but that you, how much you can learn about yourself and validate the way that you feel like you are when you see that laid out. And so for you, I, I know for me too, like I'm really drawn to community and everything basically for me lands somewhere in the realm of community. Um, and even travel is within that. And so, um, I think it's so helpful for, for people to undersell, understand themselves that way and then their business and then for like, for you to realize, okay, this is how I can do what I do best. And it, it says so right here so I can go ahead and go for it. I think that's such a cool experience to have. Um, so you did travel, you begin to travel quite a lot and align that with your work and became really, I think, determined to live a location, independent lifestyle and, and create business that supported that. Um, how did you, how did you do that and how did that impact like your growth at that point in your life?
Lynan:
I did it slowly at the beginning because I was terrified. Um, and back then, barely anybody was doing this. This was over 10 years ago and barely any women were doing this. Like solo, solo, female travel was not even a thing. And I went to Costa Rica, that was the first place. And um, I didn't even bring my laptop. I had an iPad with a keyboard and um, I had very unreliable internet. It was doing calls in the back of bars. I mean, I was doing the very best I could. I was paying for like fancy cocktail at a fancy hotel just so I could use their wifi. Um, so I, I learned slowly. Um, and I found community, right? So there, there was a woman, Natalie's <inaudible>, who I don't even believe she does this anymore, but she was the suitcase entrepreneur New Zealand, and she did some mentorship for me.
Lynan:
Um, and then I got, um, clients and I would really encourage them to fly me out. So that was really one of the bigger pieces. And a lot of them were properties so they could house me quite easily. And so that was part of the process was like building that into contracts, building that into proposals, um, and then delivering once I was there, and really immersing myself in the culture and in that, in that dynamic of their company. But then also being able to experience that place and live there and be a part of that community. And so I, I got a client in Italy and I got to spend the summer in Puglia on the heel of the boot. And, um, and it was transformational. It was challenging, it was stretching me, you know, like I, you know, I, I, I wasn't allowed to drive a moped, so I had to drive a bicycle around and, you know, but, but I had such, such a, a fun adventure.
Lynan:
And then it just built from there. I really built my whole business. I built my systems. I, my whole team was virtual. My whole team was all over the planet and in different time zones. I was building my network in different continents. So I was getting referrals, I was being, you know, oh, everyone in Costa Rica knew who, who I was and who the experience experts were. Then I was working in Italy. Everyone in Italy started to know about us. You know, we had a handful of clients in Indonesia. So it was just starting to spread, um, and then let that guide the company. And now that's the momentum that it still still carries
Christine:
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, I think that that's really beautiful to understand like kind of starting small and leaning into what feels good and then just kind of doing the next thing and seeing where it goes. And I know as entrepreneurs and business owners, you know, we sit down and write our business plan and this thing that we're working toward seems so impossible cuz it's so far away. And I we're not really told, I think to just take those small bites or lean in and then shift and then lean in and shift and then you're not on even on your business plan anymore. You know, you're somewhere else out there. Um, but I think that that really allows us to grow in the right directions. But it's so contrary to I think a lot of the coaching and support that we can get as entrepreneurs. And I know I've felt that in my own journey over the past five years. Like, I'll think this thing sounds great and people are thinking, well that doesn't feel very aligned with what you said you were doing. And um, so we'll talk more about, you know, really leaning into your intuition. But it sounds like that was important in your journey as well to, to kind of just take one thing and then add on to the next and the next and the next.
Lynan:
And, and it's been so expansive cuz I, I was in that, at that property in Costa Rica and I remember waking up like about halfway, uh, a couple months in and on the beach meditating before I went to work. And I was like, this is, I was like, tears in my eyes, you know, on my knees in the sand. Like, oh my God, this is my life. And that was 11 years ago, you know? So there was even more I had to grow into, but I was already starting to build the pieces of my, my dream job that I had to create because it didn't exist yet.
Christine:
Yeah. Oh. And I've definitely had those moments. I mean, I was just leading a retreat in Alaska and I was like, what the, this is a, this is like what I do and this is insane. And it's like, it's so beautiful and I love it so much and it doesn't feel like this could possibly be work. And maybe we could even, this wasn't on our list, but to talk about this a little bit is like, what, what do you do when you actually love what you're doing so much that you, I sometimes feel like I fall off because of that. Like, I think, well this can actually be the thing that's work because I love it and I'm connecting with incredible people even doing this podcast. Every time I get done with an interview, I just like, I just am usually my face hurts because I'm smiling so much and I can't believe I just spent this time connecting with another person and hearing their story and honoring their journey. And I'm, I just, it doesn't seem plausible that this is a thing that we could do. How did have you come up against that as well? I mean, those moments are, are overwhelming sometimes
Lynan:
I think there is a ceiling for everybody, for happiness, for growth, for, for peace, for, you know, just like feeling in alignment. And I've definitely been there and it's not permanent. You know, it's not like a glass ceiling that exists and you keep bumping up against it every time you push it a little bit, you give yourself a little bit more space. Um, but while you were saying that, I mean, I definitely have had that experience, but I really believe that this is what is everyone's birthright for their purpose or for their journey in life. And that this is the way that jobs, jobs are actually meant to be created and companies are meant to be created. We're not meant to be worker bees and cogs in a wheel. We're meant to be all sharing our unique gifts. And, you know, some people are leaders and some people prefer to be behind the scenes.
Lynan:
And there was periods in my life where I preferred to be on the team and, and really be a team player. And there was some other times I wanted to step out on stage and there's different payments in that time and there's different energy exchanges and I've been given gifts that weren't financial, that were more priceless than any money you could put in my bank account multiple times in my life because I've chosen this path. And this path hasn't always been easy and it has stretched me. You know, one of my biggest quotables is that entrepreneurship is the greatest and the most luxurious spiritual journey you can give yourself because everything on your karma, dharma life path that's meant to come up to be healed will show up on that entrepreneur path. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, I've worked with versions of my mother so many times, I cannot tell you, but it's just another aspect and it's a proxy for me to move that energy and to heal it and to communicate and, and, and through that person and I, the other thing I've experienced is through these trips, you know, the people I've met, the serendipity, endless.
Lynan:
Endless because I've shown up. And that's what I really believe people step onto that, that dharmic path, which is, is what you've done with your retreats, the right retreat, attendees come up, they're your mirrors and your triggers and, and you can just keep showing up for it and it will hurt. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and it will be painful and it will be the highest highs and the most joy and the most happiness you've ever experienced in your entire dreaming. Anything you could imagine. It's beyond that.
Christine:
Yeah. Um, I, I just have to go back and listen to this again later when I can reflect on what you just said. But I feel like yes, like there's so much in that that feels, um, incredibly resonant and it is like, I'm so glad that you acknowledged. It's like it's not always beautiful and easy and in fact it more times than not, it is not beautiful and easy. But there's also some beauty in that, the fact that it's not. And I just think all the time when something, when I'm about to start something else for my business and I'm like, okay, are we ready to grow through this? Because it's gonna be so bad <laugh> for a little bit of time. Um, but, but it's also really rewarding cuz you're, you're doing this like, you know, for yourself and with yourself. And so it really is such a growth process and thinking like, before this podcast started three, almost three years ago, like my kind of intu intuition was telling me that you are gonna now use your voice. Like this was the message the universe kept telling me. And um, I was thinking, well, I don't think so because I really like to disappear and that doesn't feel like me. And that's probably not true. And I just kept hearing it and then all of a sudden, you know, this podcast unfolds and I'm Oh, I see what you did there, <laugh>. That was really clever. But I think like what you were saying, it's very much your path of growth and it's really profound when you can start to witness that.
Christine:
Um, well, I would love to then kind of talk about speaking of things we don't expect and growth that we weren't really leaning, expecting to have. You had a very, um, unexpected experience during the pandemic that led you to living in India and Thailand and really then becoming the recipient of a lot of the work and healing that you had created for others. You had time to bring that to yourself. And I would love for you to share a little bit about that experience.
Lynan:
Yeah, so just like what you said, um, we got stuck, you know, we were on a, me and my partner were on a three month trip. Um, so, you know, we hadn't closed a lot of loose ends in the US just, you know, we were meant to go to India. He was gonna lead a retreat in Thailand. And then I was speaking, um, on a cruise ship in Italy. And then we were gonna come back. And lo and behold, about two weeks in, you know, India shut down and, you know, nobody knew how long it was gonna be, so we just kept being like, we're gonna hang out in India, you know, and then it cut to like, almost nine months later, we were like, oh my God, do we live in India now? You know, I'm just like, what happened? But you know, for me there was so many people creating right at that beginning of the pandemic, there was like, everything was going online and it's where I had been for so long.
Lynan:
So I was like ready, you know, guns blazing and I had the worst internet I've ever had and I was stuck at this guest house. We could not leave the property <laugh>. We were like sealed and if we left the property, they were like, you can't come back. So I had, I got special permission to use this library that was on the edge of the property that had internet that I found out, but it took me a month and they would let me go at night so I could do us phone calls, but even then I was pissing them off. I was, the, the night guard hated me. I was there till like two or three in the morning. I mean, it was a whole thing. But we were super isolated. We, we saw maybe five people for three months. Um, and I couldn't create.
Lynan:
And so what I got to do was relax <laugh> and I couldn't get on a plane and I couldn't go to another hotel, so I got to sit and be still, and I got to meditate in the home of meditation. Right. Um, and I was in a beautiful town called Orville, which is very famous for meditation and got to heal my nervous system and got to face the, um, intrinsic knee jerk reaction. I have to move to the next place, to the next thing, um, to the next exciting, you know, stimulating thing that that's gonna come on my path. And that was really beautiful, really challenging. Those first few months were, I couldn't even go to like a restaurant. I was going nuts. Um, but my partner is a yoga teacher and there was so much great wellness on the internet and I was able to sort of drop into that.
Lynan:
Um, and I got to focus, I, I love detoxing, I love cleansing. I've worked with a lot of detox properties and my friend was running a bunch of free detoxes and I was like, I've nothing other else to do. I've always said I can't do this because I need my energy. And I sat and I did, I think we did like four liver detoxes one every month. And we were just feeling like on top of the world we had access to all this clean food. And so we just dropped in. And I think for me, you know, when I look back at it at that time, and then even our transition to Thailand, which was even more free and even more healing, you know, it was just like there was no one in Thailand were on these beaches by ourselves. We were going to these resorts and they were just grateful that I was in the country and they could talk to me.
Lynan:
So they were like, do you wanna come stay for a week? I was like, yes, sounds great. You know, and having these beautiful lunches with the marketing team and the general managers. But it was a, a slowdown for me. It was a massive exhale. It was like I'd been holding my breath for 10 years, um, and I'd been, you know, it's this whole like hustle, you know, versus alignment, you know, in culture with, with entrepreneurship and running your own business. I was like running very masculine. I was pushing, um, you know, yeah, right before the pandemic I wrote this like $2 million business plan and, you know, pay and the mentors and then instead it was like, how many clients can I retain because all their hotels are closed? You know, how can I keep myself on retainer because they need the help and how can they pay me?
Lynan:
You know, it was really dire, dire straits. And because I was in a really balanced place, I was able to hold a lot of beautiful space for people, um, through Zoom. And I was able to face a lot of my own demons. My, a lot of the things I'd been escaping from for many years mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And unfortunately that's the shadow side of travel. Some of us really use travel as a mechanism to not feel mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so I really sunk in and I got to feel, and I did a yoga teacher training that was for like the soul of women and really felt all the feelings. Oh my God. I was like, water works, like every day, crying, feeling everything. But I, I helped plan, I think I told you this, I helped plan, I don't know, at least 12 yoga teacher trainings over the years and I'd been there, you know, but I was on the back end, I was on logistics making sure would have they need, and I told myself, when I have a month to give to a yoga teacher training, I'll do it.
Lynan:
I never did it. And then I had the opportunity, I said, if I don't do it now, I'll never do it, you know, and now I have a baby. So even more difficult now to do it. And so I really just, I, I gave myself the gift of so many things that I had been putting off so many things that I knew would help me. So many things I, I'd been exposed to, but I had never fully deep, deep dived into. Mm-hmm. And it was such a gift. And so I had a very different experience during the pandemic. I didn't have stress, I didn't have fear. I had a lot of deep healing and a lot of deep release. Um, and a lot of expansion on the other end.
Christine:
Yeah. Um, I just keep kind of thinking of this notion of, in that moment that the universe was just like putting this cup over you and you're like, you will just stay here. Um, I, I feel like there's so many of us and, uh, myself included at points, I'm like, did I manifest this whole thing because all of the lessons I'm having to learn because this happened, or the the challenges that this keeps putting in front of me feel like they're mine. I mean, I know so many of us had that at the same time, but it was such a weird experience that I feel like when something so seemingly powerful for you, it feels like it couldn't be for everybody else. And so then you kind of are looking around and like, wait a second, I'm so sorry <laugh> that I did this for everybody, but it was the only way I was gonna sit still. Or, you know, this was the only way I was going to speak. Or, you know, there, there were so many people that had these really powerful transitions during the pandemic and it was because it, the pandemic happened. And I feel like you and I could probably really pick that apart <laugh> in a lot of ways,
Lynan:
But, well, well, the native, native American traditions, a lot of their elders said this was the great pause and that we collectively did manifest this. Mm-hmm. Because we were too spread out, too frenetic, burned out. Mm-hmm. And those of us who really took the time to take the exhale, were able to benefit from it versus let it take away from from our life.
Christine:
Yeah. Yeah. Um, well I, I'd love to now get a little bit more into the work that you are doing, um, so that we can share that. And I feel like, you know, we talked a little bit about how this energetic part of yourself really has been aligned with the marketing. So I, I'd love to hear from you how kind of you some of that intuition to work with your clients, also to really choose the clients you're working with. Cuz I know that you have seen a transition towards really attracting more spiritual owners or owners that really ha have other people's interests at heart. And I think that's part of where they get stuck in the mud. I know that's for me, like when you're really thinking about other people, you are sometimes forgetting to help yourself kind of come out of that situation. So how do you both kind of find the right clients and then help, like nurture them through that process?
Lynan:
Let's see if I can break all that down. Um, so one of the other things I gave myself during Covid was I, I did a quantum, uh, energy heal training. And I did that while I was in India. And it was something again that I wanted to do for so many years. And so I think I even opened up a portal to my intuition more deeply than I ever had before. And I used to call myself an intuitive nomad, you know, people like digital nomad. And I was like, yeah, I like the computer part. It makes everything easy. But I really feel like I'm called by my intuition called to a certain country. You know, I would get an inquiry on my website and I would instantly know I was going to a place and people were like, just from that like two line sentence, yep.
Lynan:
That's where I'm going next. And I could feel it and I could feel that pull. And so I am different, um, in some respects just cuz I'm working in the retreat space and, and I'm, we've narrowed that in with, with the marketing agency. But really I orient myself differently. I really feel into people's energy. Um, I also, I make jokes for like almost every property I've worked with, like, it's like a coaching healer, you know, relationship and like things are coming up, like tragic things have happened to some of my clients while I was working with them, but I was there and I was able to support them. So it's more than just marketing. There's so much more that we can hold space for with, for another human being, especially because they're holding space by owning a property by, by ushering this in. So I think that's one of my unique, uh, selling points, if you will.
Lynan:
But I think it's something people feel, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, they feel it in my website because I put that in there and some of my marketing materials, but they feel it on a sales call with me. Like, huh, this feels really good. Who's this woman? You know, I wanna come back with her. Um, and you know, and, and over the years I've, you know, I used to call, we used to call ourselves, um, a boutique travel marketing agency. And so we worked in all aspects of travel and I've done everything for like yachts and, you know, shopping center. I mean, I've done all kinds of crazy marketing, but they were not aligned, right? They were not always. And so what I started to look for was that common denominator of like the client that felt so good to get on the call with or that I was so excited to support.
Lynan:
And there was always this like tendrils of live events. Even the shopping center in Sedona, you know, they have a chapel on the property, you know, they, they host weddings. They, they do, um, native dance ceremonies in the middle of the property. So there was always these like little t tendrils of things I would get really excited about, but I wasn't always leading with them and it wasn't always what I was connecting on. And I'd say when the agency came out of sort of the darkness or the shadow of the pandemic last year in 2022, it came in fast. It was like a flood, but it was a lot of spirituality. And it, it was interesting. I hadn't done anything specific with my own marketing, but it was just energetically what I was attracting. Um, and I think it's what the collective is craving and asking for.
Lynan:
Um, they weren't just looking for boutique hotels, which are my specialty and I love them. But, you know, I was working with a beautiful boutique hotel in, in Baha called the White Lodge. But they have a teca, they have a medicine woman, you know, um, Maria Elise, she comes in, you know, with her Copa, she leads sweat lodge, she does cacao ceremony, like authentic cacao ceremony. Her family grows the ca cow, you know, it's not ju and then she was working with their spa to create these treatments. I mean, she has a ayahuasca massage, you know, like that feels like that releases the DMT in your brain. It's like, whoa. And, and I would get so excited. And so I think on those type of sales calls, those people were like, we wanna work with Anne. She gets it. And you know, the property that we are working with in Columbia that's opening a big healing detox center.
Lynan:
I mean, consistently what the owner said to me was like, you get it because you live it and you're doing this. He's like, you've done liver cleanses, you've done these detoxes. You've, you've done the meditations. He's like, I don't have to sit and explain it to you. And so I think, you know, this is like the nuance of wellness, right? We're not just talking about spa, not just talking about taking a relaxing vacation. We're talking about taking people really deep into their psyche. We're taking them deep into nervous system healing. We're bringing in indigenous traditions of the land, um, that we've, for the most part forgotten. Um, but that have worked for thousands of years for many different cultures. Um, and they're rising because they're needed. They're rising because we are desperate to heal. And so for me it's, it's been this really exciting journey of, you know, walking, walking my talk.
Lynan:
These are the things that I love. These are the things that I've tried my best to share. You know, the retreats that I've been hosting, they're, they're called trailblazers retreats. I always said what I was doing was curating what was working for me. You know, over that year it was the healers, it was the venue, it was the destination that like really was a catalyst for my life. And then I was just bringing my tribe there and giving them the gift of it. And that's the same thing I do with properties. There's some sort of essence of magic that they, you know, there's a reason that they wanted to build this property there, the reason why that whole team came together. And I just need to figure out what it is and then help them share that message, find the language, and find the visual storytelling and, and help them dial down their offerings. Cuz sometimes they wanna share everything mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, but, you know, without triggering everybody, because there's a lot that gets brought up. Um, and so I feel, you know, just extremely fortunate, like you said, to meet the people that I've been able to meet, to go to the places, beautiful spaces I've been able to visit. I just like, I am, I bow in deep gratitude because I get to do this for living. Mm-hmm.
Christine:
<affirmative>. Um, yeah. Thank you. Uh, I, I think I love so much that, you know, the thing of of the clients saying, you know, that you get this and they don't have to kind of find language for their essence. I think that's really hard to do, especially, um, for ourselves. So it's great that you can kind of come in and then help that take shape. Um, because I think we have these moments and these emotional connections and these things that are very intangible. Um, and then you have to try to sell. It is, it's a really hard thing to do, especially when it's really close to you. I also find that to be true with my retreats as well. Like, I just, for me, I'm, I'm like one, I just want to give you this gift. Like I, I want you to have this experience.
Christine:
It will mean so much to me. That kind of goes outside of every like, marketing messaging thing that we're taught as well. And then, you know, this idea that something is, is really not understood by most people, then you have to find a way to tell them what it is without kind of destroying what it is. Which I think also I have, you know, this is something very slippery for me, but in watching what you do, I feel like you have a really a, a beautiful way of being able to do that or to kind of bring that out of people if they don't see it in themselves. And that's really what I was thinking is that I think for some of these people that you're working with, this might be the first time they're really feeling seen in this way. And so the gift that you're giving them is just that recognition of something that maybe they know to be true about their land or their property or their gift or their wisdom.
Christine:
And you are showing up and seeing it. And that's just such a powerful exchange in and of itself that I think that that's, that is a real gift that is happening. I would imagine that that maybe is energetically a little bit of, of, of what's bringing those people to you because they know that you are seeing it. And you were saying, you know, being on the calls with the people getting very excited because they feel that in you. And we were talking about that before we got on this call that that's the same, the very first zoom call we were on, I'm like, whatever that is right there, I need to like be adjacent to it and have felt the same way. And, and I love when that happens between people and it kind of goes again to like, is this business or is this just self? And it, it's so cool when those things kind of start to, to come together and override one another,
Lynan:
That's pure connection, right? There's nothing contrived or manipulated to have that type of connection. And, and when people get seen and feel that way, the visibility, it's this confidence that like intrinsically, innately grows, you know, maybe before they were hiding but they didn't realize it. Or even there was a way they were energetically keeping, you know, the property safe and not growing it, not letting it be full or booked out, booked solid. Which is one of my big things I want people to have. And then they like, okay, you can see me cuz there are people who would get it and then, you know, then the floodgates can come in and then all the people who've been again, literally crying themselves to sleep, searching high and low for you can locate your property, can locate your retreat experience. And they can be like, ah, the answer to my prayers mm-hmm. <affirmative>, they can say, yeah.
Christine:
Yeah. Oh. And I think, you know, that's one of my motivators too. Like every time I think, uh, I'm, I, I don't have the energy to keep doing this or to keep creating these experiences, I just think of that person who's sitting there waiting for it. And I'm sure that's the same driver for you. Like, you get to reach so many people actually like through your work because you are being a catalyst to this for these, these businesses and these properties and the, the magic that they're kind of waiting to bestow upon somebody else. I think, um, it would, for me that would be a really powerful experience to be able to kind of witness that happen. It
Lynan:
It is. And then you get in the weeds and you forget that's what you're doing. Yeah. Like, you know, you just, we were just talking about creating a business that's for you and for your own self, but the we reason we're being pulled or drawn or drawn forward into our best selves is so we can give, so we can be sort of vibrating and rippling this impact out. And actually just this week somebody sent me a voice message I hadn't heard from a while and just said, thank you for your impact in my life and thank you for being a leader in so many people's lives. And right now there's a lot going on in my life where I don't feel so outward and I don't feel like I'm impacting that many people's lives. But you realize just these, that for me that's the scalability to retreats and to travel is that we have the opportunity and we have this privilege of, of reaching many, many people. You know, I've worked in a hotel that has 333 rooms, right? So the marketing that's gone out for that has reached, you know, every single time that hotel's full and then everybody who's just following that hotel. And so what an opportunity would it give?
Christine:
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. Um, well one of the things that we had talked about, and you kind of alluded to being more inward in this moment, is you being a new parent. Um, which we also could talk about so many of the magical things with that, and I think, um, like reframing parenthood and motherhood and like magic of all of that. But you had mentioned that you were really craving a retreat and you've been se you know, searching out for them and, and any time that you mentioned you would love to bring your child with you, the doors are kind of shut. And then I was thinking about that and you know, how powerful it is to have, you know, an experience of growth like that and why wouldn't we wanna have that with our children and like really travel in a meaningful and rich way as a family and then also have moments of personal growth for ourselves and with our partner.
Christine:
Like that's such a a, a nurturing and rewarding way to travel. And yet as when you mentioned that I have thought, I've never seen something that really exists like that. I mean, anything that's really marketed to parents is this very like, separatist experience or like you can just go ahead and put your kid in kids' club for the whole day and then you can do whatever you wanna do. Or there's nothing that feels like what I think maybe you and I might be craving and maybe it exists out there somewhere, but I'd love to talk about like one, what would be the value for that? Do you see yourself really looking for that experience and have you witnessed that anywhere in your travels where people are really creating that kind of growth experience for families together?
Lynan:
I'm still searching, it doesn't exist. I won't name an event, but they specifically have language on their website. Like, parents take a break and leave your kids at home. And they compared it to why you don't take your dog on a retreat or on a vacation. And I thought that that was messed up <laugh>. Um, but I think, you know, there, there's something called Mastermind talks and by an amazing guy named Jason Gaynor and he just brought families, but he still is keeping them separate from the main group. So families have their own experience and there's some overlap. So I think understanding that families have a different, uh, need, they have a different schedule, I think is is part of what he understands. Cause he has a family. Um, you know, anytime I experience something like this, I always say it's like a void. It's where I know I need to go fill my energy, because often in my life I can't sit, I sometimes I will sit back for years and someone else will create it, someone else will create it and then they don't.
Lynan:
So then I gotta go do it <laugh> or at least get it going. Um, so I feel like that's what I'm being drawn to. But you know, there, there isn't, you know, and I've been in all inclusive, you know, uh, uh, hotels for a while and exactly what you spoke of the kids club or it's just like, let the kids get hooked up on sugar and throw them in the pool and, you know, you know, parents need a break and what is it if we have like parents have growth for them and kids have an experience and I've had people bring their children on my retreats, mostly older children, you know, nine to 16. Um, but what does it look like if babies come, and I've been to retreats where babies came and they had part-time childcare part the time they came in. Um, but what does it look like?
Lynan:
Again, the village, if you think of how villages operated and even how a lot of ceremonies were often, you know, created in, in tribal situations, the babies were there, the children were playing, you know, they're, um, not, uh, disruptive because they know how to interact in those spaces and they're being exposed to that stuff while their brains are growing, while they're developing their perspective on the world. And while they're developing a nervous system and they're with these people who are healing or growing or are connecting and they're like, oh, this is helping, you know, they're trusting. Um, and so yeah, I don't know what it looks like just yet. I haven't seen it. It's where I'm looking high and low. Um, yeah, I just found out there's this sort of wellness all inclusive in Mexico that has a, a child piece that has like Waldorf. And so my next thing is to go down there and check it out. But you know, from what I've seen is no, not yet. And what does it look like if we open that up and what does it look like if we look back to some indigenous cultures and how they've integrated children into their healing and their community and their growth. But yeah, again, it's, we've got a ways to go.
Christine:
Yeah. And I think so powerful. I mean, I know your, your daughter is very young and my, our now, um, my youngest is now eight, but like the things I've learned through them and through their like experiences and awareness and like their, their like innate connection to all the things before we kind of start scrubbing it down, um, is so powerful. And to think if you actually kind of traveled in a way or you know, healed together in that way, the things that you can learn from them. And one of the, the, the most kind of profound and like terrifying and beautiful things as a, as a mom, when my youngest daughter was probably like three, she just kept waking up at night crying. And she was, she just kept saying like, and I think this was right in the pandemic too, but like, she's like, this world is too hard.
Christine:
I just wanna go back to where I was. And like we watched the movie Soul together. I don't know if you've seen that one yet, but when she watched that, she just cried and I was like, man, like if I could figure out a way to know what, you know right now, I can't even imagine. But she like came to this earth like so wired in a different way and I try to be really conscious of that. And so then you think if you could, if you could be traveling like this and experiencing, and obviously we can cultivate this in our own daily lives, which I'm sure you do and I try to do as well, but the idea of something kind of be being geared towards a community of people or you know, groups of people traveling in this way. And I know a few people that do, um, like transformational family retreats and they spend time like kind of writing letters to one another and they use these different elements of healing.
Christine:
But I think it could be really important because I think, um, you know, again, if we're gonna talk about our paths of growth parenthood, holy cow, talk about mirrors and everything else that gets held up to you on a constant basis. I'm, I hear myself all the time, I'm like, this is triggering me right now. Just give me one moment. And even I heard one of my kids the other day be like, I feel like this is triggering me right now. It's like, okay, maybe I've relied upon that statement too many times, but I think we just haven't explored maybe parenthood as a growth process and then this kind of, when this is our, the way we know how to grow is travel and, and retreats. Like I think it's a natural place for us to step in and be like, Hey, what exists for this? I would love to see it.
Lynan:
Me too, me too.
Christine:
Um, well, before we end our call, I just wanna give you the opportunity to let people know how they can find you and work with you if they're not already just appearing in your space. And then, um, I have a few rapid fire questions for you.
Lynan:
Sure. So that experience experts com, we're on Instagram, we're on Facebook. You can find me personally on Facebook, um, and LinkedIn. I love to connect with people. I often say on podcasts, if you hear something that resonates, if something is popping or sparking, please reach out. I have literally hung out with people who heard me on a podcast and they've become dear friends of mine. So it's not foreign to me for that to be happening. Um, and yeah, we do work with venues, we do consult with retreats and um, and we work all over the world and we are selective, but if we aren't the solution, I will really, I would be my pleasure to help you find somebody who can support you. I, I know there are these hidden gems and I want to make sure that they get illuminated all over the planet. I'm also available to speak at retreats <laugh>, so if anybody's hosting anything and I sad, resonates, love to speak at events.
Christine:
Excellent, thank you. I would definitely, um, just like really validate what you've said because sometimes people hear people say that and they think, well, they mean that except not for me. Um, and I, I would, um, just like to honor that I, I feel like that is offered in the, in the truest way for an in invitation for connection. Um, so the first question I have for you is, oh, and this is gonna be perfect, but what are you reading right now? I don't know that this is what you're reading right now, but I know you had a book right when we sat down, so maybe
Lynan:
Both. I'm actually reading Braving The Wilderness by Renee Brown and also lots of little kids board books. Um, but uh, a book that I'm always reading and sharing with clients is this book, the Power of Moments, um, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. Um, come back on and talk about that love.
Christine:
Yeah, that would be great. Um, also, I'll have to share with you some of my very favorite board books, <laugh>, because that is such a fun experience with the, with kids. Um, what is always in your suitcase or backpack when you're traveling?
Lynan:
Um, packing cubes. I love them. They help me keep my life in a suitcase. Organized.
Christine:
Yeah. I have so many Qs and satchels and things for organization. It's probably,
Lynan:
And I would say my laptop stand. My portable laptop stand my roost. That's probably also key so I'm not reaching over. Mm-hmm.
Christine:
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, that's good for me to think about as I'm preparing for a year. Cuz I was looking at that, I'm like, is that a necessary thing? It feels like it would be really nice to not be doing this, um, to Sojourn is to travel somewhere as if you lived there for a short while. Where is a place that you would still love to sojourn?
Lynan:
Oh my gosh. So many places. Um, right now at the top is Egypt.
Christine:
Uh, what do you eat that immediately connects you to a place that you've been
Lynan:
Chai tea? Um, I have it a couple times a week. Takes me back to India.
Christine:
Yeah. Um, who was a person that inspired or encouraged you to set out to explore the world?
Lynan:
Um, a woman I call my entrepreneur mom. Her name is Donna Bravada. She does like PR marketing and she's brilliant, but she couldn't travel cuz she had a son and now she's, she's doing invert. She just turned 50 and her son is graduating from college now she's gonna start traveling and now I'm having children and I'm not traveling. And she always said that that would happen and that I would be her consultant. She would travel all the places that I had been. And she's already, she lived in Costa Rica at the Yoga Retreat Center that I worked with during the pandemic and worked from there.
Christine:
Yeah. Oh, that's amazing. Um, let's see, two more. Uh, if you could take an adventure with one person, fictional or real alive or past, who would it be? I
Lynan:
Was gonna say the first thing that happened in my head, uh, Amelia Earhart, um, uh, on her plane and go around I guess the Caribbean or the Bermuda Triangle where she, she disappeared.
Christine:
Yeah. Um, so Soul of Travel is for honoring, uh, women in the travel industry. Who is one woman that you admire and would love to recognize in this space?
Lynan:
You know, I, there's so many, uh, I just, a lot of the female hotelier, um, they probably don't know their names, um, but just their <inaudible> and fire and creativity and some of 'em are interior designers. Some of 'em come from money. Um, but just I've been, had the pleasure of working alongside a handful of them and they, to be in a really male-dominated space, um, that's very old school, very backwards sometimes in it's thinking. Um, but keep innovating, travel and keep innovating experience. Uh, I admire them all so much and everything they continue to create Yeah. Even when they get kicked out of their companies, which happens a lot.
Christine:
Yeah. Um, well thank you for, for bringing that into the space of conversation. That might be another thing to come back to. We'll have like the Lin Ann, part 2, 3, 4 here after this <laugh>. Um, but I really appreciate you joining me for this conversation and sharing your magic with us. It's been so great to be able to share this space and I hope that a lot of people walk away inspired and kind of thinking about things differently and, and maybe excited about moving through things in a different direction.
Lynan:
Thank you for having me. Really. Cause I love getting to know you Christine, and I believe we planted a lot of seeds today. Yeah.
Christine:
Thank you. See what grows. Yeah, absolutely.
Christine:
Thank you for listening to Soul of Travel. I hope you enjoyed the journey. If this sounds like your community, welcome, I'm so happy to connect with you. You can find more about the ways you can be a part of the Soul of Travel and Lotus Sojourn community@www.lotussojourns.com. Here you can find out more about Soul of Travel and my guests. You can also find the Lotus Sojourns I Guide for Women, as well as my current book, sojourn, offering an opportunity to explore your heart, mind, and the world through the pages of books specially selected to create a unique journey. You can find me on Facebook at Lotus Sojourns and join our community, the Lotus Sojourns Collective, or follow me on Instagram, either at Lotus Sojourns or Soul of Travel podcast. Join the Lotus Sojourns mailing list. I look forward to getting to know you and hopefully hear your story.
You can find me on Facebook at Lotus Sojourns on Facebook, or join the Lotus Sojourns Collective, our FB community, or follow me on Instagram either @lotussojourns or @souloftravelpodcast. Stay up to date by joining the Lotus Sojourns mailing list. I look forward to getting to know you and hopefully hearing your story.