Gather 'Round - Lessons, Leaps, Learnings

IT’S BETTER IRL.

Amazing weekend with amazing people. Our hearts are incredibly full, and very grateful for all the positive feedback so far.

Today we’re going to go over some highlights and also some of the “entrepreneur” moments that we dealt with throughout the weekend.

If you joined and loved it - thank you! We would love for you to share The Fountain with any friends you think might enjoy/appreciate it.

If you missed this one we’re so excited to see you at the next event. ❤

⏳ Estimated Read Time: 6 minutes

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GATHER ‘ROUND

With only about 6 weeks to promote the event, we set out to host 50 people for our first In-Real-Life Fountain gathering. 65 showed up. That alone told us that this mattered and was needed.

We were humbled by the trust you all put in us. There was representation from cities across Canada and even a few from the US - but the collective mindset was definitely open and aligned.

We started the day bright and early at 7am, to take on Paul’s Tomb. In classic entrepreneur fashion people showed up early with a ton of energy.

What stuck out immediately was all the intermingling. A lot of people showed up by themselves, but those who didn’t were talking and learning about people outside of their group.

At the end of the hike we all faced our fears (of heights and the chilly water) and jumped in the lake.

After a quick reset at home (and a few last-minute touch-ups), guests arrived at the venue. We served my signature morning smoothie, handed out gift bags, and settled in.

I delivered the keynote I normally give to companies and students across North America, followed by a live Q&A with Ria and I.

The room was alive. We talked marketing, sales, entrepreneurship, and life, with a lot of laughs and even more thoughtful moments.

We then got into my personal fave, the “Dream Card Workshop”. Everyone got their own worksheet, while Ria and I explained what a dream card was, how to form it, when to refer to it, and why it was important.

We took out all 21 dreams cards I’ve done since 1999. We got to see in action people’s values, dreams, priorities, and a new sense of purpose after the session.

After the session everyone even got a laminated card to put in their wallet and take with them everywhere they go.

Chris is truly an inspiration. Starting with a few jokes, Chris quickly got into his life outlook. The whole crowd was left in awe. Our biggest takeaways from Chris where messages of resiliency, not taking life too seriously, and to just get out there.

It’s clear there are excuses in Chris’ life. He figured out how to live completely independently, and how to inspire others. If you haven’t already you should follow him on socials, and follow along on his journey as he’ll be doing his 22nd marathon in Chicago this Fall 🤯!

We made a conscious decision to break bread with a small group after the event. We limited it to 20 seats and it was the first part of the event to sell out. Held at the upbeat King Taps downtown Kelowna, the energy was great as Ria and I jumped around all night so that we could chat with everyone.

At every seat we loved to hear the sharing of ideas, models, strategies, stories, and everyone in The Fountain community who were really invested in getting to know (and learn from) each other.

We had everyone from real estate agents, business moguls, content creators, sales, motivational speakers, entrepreneurs, video game designers, and people searching for their “next” big idea.

We sourced a variety of beautiful (mostly local) items for all of our guests including SAXX goodies, SONDR travel deodorant, custom hats from Friends of Felix, custom bags from Market Bags and travel mugs from Okanagan Lifestyle.

This wouldn’t be The Fountain without us sharing some of the missteps it took to reach the destination this weekend. With events, things go wrong just like when starting a business. You can prepare for everything but at some point you gotta solve a problem (or 3).

We were hosting an outdoor event, and the rain began to come down in the middle of my first presentation. Nobody panicked, we put the umbrellas up, moved a few people out of the way and continued on. We knew rain was a possibility, although we were actually more worried about intense sun! So, although the weather kept us on our toes, we calmly acknowledged the situation, shuffled some guests in a little tighter, and continued with the storytelling.

Later, the wind came in fast. So fast that our backdrop fell, shattered glass and broke a tile (sorry mom).

The rain passed in time for the pool party but it wasn’t exactly sunny so we ended up having a great idea-sharing party on the large deck (thank you Aaron DeSilva for the beats!) - overall, the weather was probably better than beating hot, but not quite what we planned.

Lesson: sandbags are important. Stay calm when things don’t go as predicted, leadership includes your vibe and attitude.

We had a plan for showing the slides that accompany my presentation. That plan included a 10 year old tv that wasn’t cooperating the day before. Nothing a quick trip to Best Buy couldn’t fix, but we also didn’t have a plan on the how to change the slides, or to the two different presentations without it looking choppy.

So in our run through the hour before we put it all in one slideshow to make the transition smooth. Also not to mention our 9 year old daughter catching a few spelling mistakes on the run through (thank you Paisley).

Lesson: always do a run through. And keep younger people around for their ideas, solutions and keen eye ;).

We had an incredible seating arrangement set up. Gift bags, with handwritten name tags on them. We sat people strategically.

We didn’t think of what if people walk in 5 minutes into the presentation? Are they going to awkwardly look for their place? After the breaks are done, do people remember where they are sitting and do they want to just end the conversation they are having? Those were blindspots we missed in the preparation and made seating a bit awkward during the event.

Lesson: don’t overthink it.

Thank you so much to everyone who was a part of this special first event and came with an open mind. We would love to hear what you thought: What you liked, what we could do better, and where you think we should go next!

What guests are saying:

We’re so excited to see you guys at the next event and thank you to everyone that came to The Fountain’s first ever Gather ‘Round.