Today we’d like to introduce you to Garry Capko.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Garry. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
It may sound cliché to say that the idea for Like Om Retreats was born out of my passion for yoga and travel, but it is the truth… Well, sort of. My professional background is in actuarial science and for the first few years out of college, I worked at a large insurance company. I had a very atypical role that allowed me to travel all over the world and eventually to Argentina, which stole my heart on sight. I would end up leaving that job to move to Argentina permanently and make my way where I lived happily for four years dipping my toes into the world of entrepreneurship. It was also during this time that I discovered yoga and developed my passion for the practice. However, it wasn’t until after leaving Argentina that I came up with the idea for a yoga retreat business.
As many intense, passionate love affairs typically end, so did mine with Buenos Aires. It was time to move on, but I wasn’t sure to where just yet. Rather than try to force a move I wasn’t ready for, I decided to travel for a year and focus on my yoga practice. Naturally, I made plans to attend a few yoga retreats during this time. My experience at these retreats is what gave rise to my current retreat business and operating model.
In a nutshell, the retreats I attended were mostly disappointing overall. Expectations of the experience aside, they were just sloppy from an organizational standpoint; things in my opinion that could have easily been fixed. Specifically, communication before the retreat was extremely vague or nonexistent. Arrivals and departures were chaotic and not thought through. The descriptions of the location, retreat center, rooms, and meals were often very misleading. Finally, the teachers themselves were not leading the group outside of the one to two classes per day.
Overall, there were too many surprises and too many things going wrong that dampened the overall retreat experience. In many cases, it was impossible to lose yourself in the retreat because there were too much chaos and disorganization in nearly all aspects outside the classes. And then there’s the issue of money and specifically the unjustified prices being charged.
I’m certainly not saying that every retreat was like this, but the majority of them were and yet people were still paying to go. With the bar set so low, I knew that I could do the whole thing better from start to finish and began to think how exactly I would do things differently if I were in charge.
The very first principle that I came up with was that I would never run a retreat in a place that I hadn’t personally been before. For me, the most important aspect of a successful retreat business is building a network of trusted, reliable retreat centers and the only way to do this is to visit in person. In my scouting trips, I make the journey that the retreat goers will make; I sleep in the rooms they will purchase; I eat the food prepared on site, and I practice in the yoga shalas where classes will take place. Overall, I sample the experience so that I know with certainty that what I’m selling is worth the price I’m asking.
Scouting trips also serve another purpose: they allow me to better match a retreat leader to the right retreat center for the experience they intend to cultivate. I view the retreat experience as a balance between three components: the retreat leader or teacher, the retreat center, and the group. Therefore, most of my work at the very beginning of putting a retreat on the calendar is determining how to best fit these pieces together. As I’ve already mentioned, scouting trips are crucial to understanding what a retreat center offers in terms of objective features such as rooms, food, and yoga shala, but I’m also looking to wrap my head around the vibe of the place.
During the initial stages of a retreat, I will also spend a lot of time with the teacher to understand their vision for the day to day experience they’ll be providing. From there, we’ll select a retreat center and begin developing the right marketing material that hits the group we’re looking to bring. At a high level, the retreat experience sits on a spectrum with an all-inclusive vacation with some exercise on one end and a deeply secluded, spiritual trip on the other. My goal is to determine where each of my retreats sits on that spectrum and then provide a smooth experience from start to finish. This means timely, clear communication. For both the group and the teacher, I aim to take care of everything so that they have the full capacity to focus solely on living the retreat experience.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Every retreat has been a learning experience and usually for unexpected reasons. At the end of the day, my company organizes trips so issues with people and travel logistics have always been expected and planned for. As someone with an actuarial background, the ability to identify, assess, and manage risk is a skill that I’ve been honing my entire career.
Overall, I was extremely well-prepared for my first few retreats so that even with a few minor hiccups, they ran smoothly and were a success. Any issue or problem I encounter in a retreat is noted and addressed in subsequent retreats so that I create this cycle of refinement for myself.
The area where I’ve encountered the most trial and error has been scaling and streamlining the sales process. One of my goals for 2019 was to build a website that was able to take orders and provide payment plan options to remove a person from the process so that I could focus my time on the other organizational aspects of planning and running a retreat that had to be hands on. Streamlining and automating the sales process would also allow me to run more retreats (i.e. scale).
To put it mildly, this was not as well-received as I’d hoped; people were not willing to book such a thing without having any interaction with a human on the other end. Further, I believed that building a sleek website and putting a lot of effort into social media promotion would be the key to sales only to discover that I was attempting to force an operating model that my customers weren’t open to and frankly, did not help to distinguish my company from others. I’ve found that people want to know who they are talking to on the other end. As I scout every retreat center and test-run the retreat experience before bringing a group, I’m in a position where I can answer (nearly) every question with firsthand experience. This has turned out to be my biggest asset when making sales and keeping the process smooth leading up to the retreat. Developing relationships with customers has also led to a lot of repeat retreat goers.
In the end, I abandoned the idea of streamlining sales in favor of building a sales strategy centered on building one-on-one personal relationships and I’ve found this to be very successful. You have to listen to the market and if nearly all of your retreats sell out, that’s the market telling you that you’re doing something right.
Please tell us about your company.
Like Om Retreats offers complete end-to-end retreat services with a focus on Central America, South America, Bali, and soon to be Portugal where I’ve built a vast network of trusted retreat centers. I work with retreat leaders to plan, organize, and execute retreats by matching them with the best retreat center based on their vision and needs to ensure the desired retreat experience for the group of retreat goers. Once a retreat center is selected Like Om Retreats handles all pre-retreat operational activities including contracts, payments, inquiries, scheduling, travel logistics, and coordination of marketing material. We are also onsite for the entire duration of the retreat where we will be at the airport to welcome the first guest, ensure a smooth retreat, and then see the last guest off at the end.
As far as I’ve seen, Like Om Retreats is the only retreat company that takes a holistic view of organizing and running retreats. This means understanding that a successful or great retreat requires the three components (Teacher, Retreat Center, Group) to be in harmony with each other and on the same page regarding the retreat experience being offered. Too often other retreat organizers/leaders focus only on the logistical piece of putting a retreat together without paying enough attention to (or even realizing) that there is a matching or alignment aspect between the 3 components involved.
A great retreat is one where people leave rejuvenated, recharged, uplifted, and potentially (hopefully) positively changed as they return to their everyday lives. This is accomplished by working with high quality retreat leaders (with a clear vision or helping to set a clear vision) and finding the best space for them to execute this with the best group. I start with this idea and build the retreats out from there.
This is and always will be a passion project. My goal is that the retreat has a positive impact on someone’s life. I view my role as the person that creates the space and opportunity for growth and transformation and then brings a group there. It’s always rewarding to see people smiling and enjoying themselves on the retreat, but nothing makes me happier than seeing the effects of the retreat long after the retreat has ended. Long-standing friendships have formed on our retreats and in many cases, the retreats have provided the opportunity for people to hit the ‘pause’ button, step back, and perhaps make changes so that they can live happier each and every day. For me, that’s what Like Om Retreats is about
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.likeomretreats.com/
- Email: info@likeomretreats.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/likeomretreats/
Suggest a story: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
