The number that actually matters: how many guests you need before the retreat pays for itself.
A retreat can have a beautiful price and still lose money. The price tells you what each guest pays; it doesn't tell you whether the retreat works. For that you need one number, and it's the number most first-time leaders never calculate before they commit the deposit on the venue: how many guests it takes before the retreat pays for itself.
Until you cross that line, every cost is coming out of your pocket. After it, every additional booking is close to pure profit. Knowing exactly where the line sits changes how you plan — how hard you push enrolment, when you can relax, and whether the retreat should run at all this year.
Split your costs in two. Fixed costs don't move with how many people come: the venue, the staff and teachers you've committed to, the marketing you've already spent. Whether you fill four beds or fourteen, those bills are the same. Variable costs rise with each guest — chiefly food, but also materials and per-person transfers. One more guest, one more set of meals.
Take the price one guest pays and subtract what that guest costs you to feed and host. What's left is their contribution — the amount each booking throws at your fixed pile. Break-even is simply the point where enough contributions have stacked up to cover the fixed costs entirely. If a guest's price doesn't even cover their own food, no number of bookings will save it; that's the first thing the simulator checks.
Hope fills the room to capacity; experience plans for it three-quarters full. The simulator shows your profit at full, 75% and 50% capacity so you can see how much slack you have. If the retreat only works at 100% attendance, it's fragile — one cancellation and you're underwater. If it clears break-even at half-full, you can breathe. Price and group size both move that line; if it doesn't pencil out, revisit your pricing before you revisit your dreams.
No sign-in. Enter your costs and price, see how many guests it takes — and a shareable result you can come back to.
What to actually charge — anchored to your costs, your margin, and the market you are really in.
Leader Chapter 3Where your next guests actually come from — matched to your audience, your budget, and the hours you have.
We're writing this out one chapter at a time. Leave your email and we'll tell you when the next one lands — and hold your progress so you can pick up where you left off.