7 Reasons You Should Totally Host A Vision Board Party This Year

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

The holiday season is busy enough - with work holiday parties, visiting the family, spending time with your younger cousins that keep trying on all your clothes and stealing your makeup - why should you go out of your way to host yet another party? 

First, vision board parties don't only have to be at the beginning of the year and they don't have to be formal. If you can get a couple of friends together, you can host a vision board party at any time. 

Second, even if you are juggling the high demands of holiday season, it's still a great time to host a vision board party. At the beginning of the year, most people are already reflecting on what they've done in this year and thinking about what they want to accomplish for the upcoming year. Vision boards are a natural fit during this time of the year. 

Still not convinced? 

What if I added on the fact that vision board parties can be really (really!) inexpensive! There are many ways to work around the costs by working with friends to host the event together. 

Related: How To Successfully Host Your First Vision Board Party

Here are my eight top reasons why you should definitely host a vision board party this year: 

Have An Excuse To Drink Wine With Friends

I don't ever really need an excuse to drink wine with friends, but it's nice to pretend I do. During the year, us ambitious goal-getters are so focused on the next milestone or the next big to-do item that we rarely have time to simply catch up with each other. A vision board party is a great opportunity to invite your friends over and re-connect just to chat.

Related: 9 Crowd-Pleasing (and Affordable) Wines You Need At Any Vision Board Party

 

Work On Your Goals

When I was invited to my first vision board party, I was in a terrible place in my life. That invitation prompted me to start thinking ahead. I started to ask myself questions like: 

• What do I need to change in my life?

• What do I really want in my life next year?

• What goals do I want to set?

You'll notice that simply knowing your vision board party is coming up will help you start having those same conversations with yourself. 

Related: Creating A Vision Board? Make Sure You Have These Three Goals First

Create A Visualization

The best thing about a vision board party is that you have time and opportunity to bring your goals and ambitions and turn them into a masterpiece. At a vision board party, you have locked in a specific time to think through your goals and find the images and quotes that directly align with what you want to accomplish in your life. 

Related: What Magazines Should I Use For My Vision Board Party (Effective List of Do's and Don'ts

 

Brainstorm and Talk Over Ideas With Friends

It's great to have ideas and goals that you want to accomplish, but you might be surprised what happens when you put your ideas in a room of ambitious friends. They'll start sharing their experiences with similar goals and what happened to them in the past. You'll learn all about what worked and what didn't. You might even learn some new ways of tackling that goal or new resources that you've never heard of before. They might even know a great person to connect you with to help you accelerate your goals. 

Make New BFFs

The first vision board party I ever attended was hosted by a friend and I didn't know most of the people in the room when I got there. However, after spending hours talking about who they were, where they are currently in their life and what they want to accomplish, I felt like I knew them for years. Vision board parties put people in a room and encourages vulnerability from every person. With a group of people all sharing their truth, it's impossible not to make new friends. 

Related: 10 Girlfriends You Must Invite To Your Vision Board Party

Share Your Expertise

Vision board parties are not all about getting information and connections from others, you also get to listen to goals and struggles that other people are dealing with and offer your own advice. 

 

Enjoy the Positive Vibes

I have never been to a vision board party that was not full (and possibly overflowing) with positive energy. Everyone in the room is highly optimistic about their goals, ready and willing to share their experience and expertise and there's wine.

Hosting a vision board party can be the best way to reconnect with friends (and maybe make new ones) for the best cause ever - walking into your best life ever. 

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party? 

1. Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.

2. Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts. 

3. Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.
   

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Please join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!

The Easiest Getting Started Guide To Entrepreneurship (even if you don't have a business idea yet!)

You can't scroll through Facebook without seeing yet another entrepreneur peddling their sure-fire way to make millions on the internet...

...  in just a few short months.

... without spending any money.

... without building an email list.

... without any experience.

The list of unlikely events goes on.

In a world of hyper growth and an increasing need to tell the world about our wins, it's easy to believe that everyone has it all together except you.

"These online entrepreneurs can make entrepreneurship look much more glamorous than it actually is," says Eva Janotta of Simply Put Strategies.

One day, Eva found herself the proud recipient of a pink slip. (Not really, she just lost her job.) Rather than finding a new job, she decided that she would go out on her own, break the mold and build a business. 

I bet we've all thought about that at one point or another, but Eva decided to go for it!

In our #SideHustleGoals video series, Eva shares exactly how she did it - from start to finish. 

What Should You Consider Before Becoming An Entrepreneur? 

Your Current Lifestyle

Eva credits her willingness to jump into entrepreneurship head first in part to her life stage. She was young, bright-eyed and busy tailed and ready to take on the world.

Being young offers more than a playful innocence. You also have the best of both worlds - a youthful outlook on the world and flexibility in your habits. In many cases, you'll also have no family to support. (Entrepreneurship is a bit more of a risk when you have a child or two.)

 

Your Current Expenses

Eva was renting a small bedroom in a home shared with several other renters. Because of this, her cost of living was very low. She had flexibility in her living expenses and she didn't have a family to support at the time. Without a ton of huge expenses, she was confident she could take a chance on herself to start a business.

your Ability To Reduce Your Income

Essentially, you'll need time to build your dream. Time is something that's very limited - especially if you're working 40 hours a week at your 9-to-5 job. Eva was able to reduce her income because she reduced her expenses. With less bills to account for each month, she wan't in a huge hurry to find a job after being laid off. 

Get More Hours To Put Towards Your Business

Eva only needed steady income that would cover her dramatically reduced expenses. To ensure she would still have enough time to work on her business, Eva started working a part time job at a grocery store for 3 days a week.

How Do You Get Started?

The first business Eva built was a professional organizing business.

She enjoyed organizing her things and thought that professional organizing would be a great direction to take her life next. She planned go into people's homes and counsel them on what items to let go of, what to keep and how to arrange their things. 

 

Test Your Idea... On Real Clients

She got started immediately by out an email to her neighborhood listserv. She didn't charge her first few clients for her services. Instead, she offered to organize their things in exchange for testimonials.

She quickly got referrals and clients from around the neighborhood and her little business was off the ground.

By simply testing out the professional organizing business, she was able to validate that there was a market within her community that would pay for these services. 

Don't Be Afraid To Walk Away

Something unexpected happened once Eva worked with a few clients: She realized that professional organizing wasn't a good fit for her. #GoFigure

Eva could tell pretty quickly that professional organizing didn't make her happy the way she envisioned so she shut down her professional organizing business. 

"Stop things when they don't feel good" - Eva Janotta

Test out your product or service among a small number of users to see how you feel about them before building out your business.  

(Pro tip: Don't start your business by spending your time and money building websites and creating branding. Instead, see if there is a market out there for the business you would like to start AND see if the business is something you'd be interested in doing by simply trying it out first.)

Eva sees this as a huge success  because she didn't not waste much time or energy building out a business and marketing plan for a business that didn't align with her vision for her life.

Pivot, When Necessary

After one #EpicFail, I would've totally been sitting in a corner, licking my wounds, but not Eva! 

She leaned on one of her past experiences when a friend came to her needing help with social media. Eva was officially in the social media marketing business.

It turns out that online marketing felt just right and energized Eva in a way that professional organizing did not. Her business grew from word of mouth and her clients (who totally loved her work) started telling people other about her.

Over time, things started to pick up pace.

Use All The Tools In Your Arsenal

Eva leaned heavily on her past experiences to become a brilliant social media marketer. You can always take skills that you already have to build something that will be valuable to your community. What skills do you already have that could add tremendous value to someone else? 

Take Baby Steps

Remember that job Eva had at the grocery store?

Once Eva's social media business started to grow, she noticed that she didn't have enough time to do both.

Rather than completely lose her stable income from the job, she decided to work less days over time as her income from Simply Put Strategies started to grow.

After her first year of business, Eva dropped from 3 days to 2 days per week.  Just six month later, she dropped to 1 day a week. Finally, Eva made the leap into becoming a full time entrepreneur after two years of business. 

 

It Doesn't Happen Overnight

Entrepreneurship is not a sprint, it's more like a marathon. Take your time learning how to build it right. Build a strong foundation on which to grow your dreams.

 

Get Ready For The Ride

Becoming an entrepreneur isn't nearly as glamorous (or fast) as many social media posts might lead you to believe. In fact, Eva will be the first to tell you about how emotionally challenging being an entrepreneur ban be. But if you're up for a challenge and ready to build something of your own that you can be proud of go forth and prosper, my friend!

It's totally do-able! 

xoxo

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party? 

1. Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.

2. Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts. 

3. Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.

 This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

---

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Please join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!

Vision Board Party Planning: How To Set Ticket Prices For Your Event

So, you've decided to host a Vision Board Party? Congratulations!

Vision Board parties are super fun & transformative parties where friends connect and chat about their goals while enjoying wines and cheeses. Then, they create a visual image of what they want their future to look like.  #goalcrushingandhavingfun

I have been hosting Vision Board parties, potlucks, and conferences for the past four years (so I'm clearly a huge fan!). Deciding whether your event should be free or an event with paid tickets is a pretty easy decision to make. 

Related: How To Plan An Unforgettable Vision Board Party

Why Should You Charge A Fee?

I recommend charging people to attend your event when you've put a significant amount of energy into the planning stages of the event, and you've spent money to host it. 

 

Things You Might Pay For

Our first vision board event was a huge production. We spent weeks putting together speakers, sponsors, decorating the space. There was a legit agenda and vendor tables. In this conference-style type of event, we paid a lot of money in advance.

Here's a list of things that you might have to pay for to host a vision board party.

Materials

The most important items you'll need for your vision board party are the materials used in making a vision board. That means that you'll need magazines, poster boards, glue and scissors for every person that attends your event. 

Related Posts: 

• What Magazines Should I Use For My Vision Board? Effective List of Do's and Don'ts

• 5 Unique Ways To Create A Vision Board That Fits Your Style

Speakers

Depending on how you'd like your event to flow, you might want to invite someone to speak at your event. I've done several of these events where I'll teach how to build a Vision Board, how to create a vision or best practices for goal setting.

Bringing in a speaker will require that you spend time researching influencers and leaders, pitching to have them to speak at your event and then coordinating their appearance with their team. Some speakers will require a fee to speak at your event - these fees should be accounted for in your ticket pricing. 

Related Content: 5 Ways to Become a Vision Board Party Speaker

Space

If you're hosting a Vision Board party for 10 or more people, I would recommend getting a space that will accommodate a larger audience. You'll need a space for the food to be served and another space that will hold a larger group, sitting at tables. 

Food/Drinks

When it comes to food and drinks, I recommend going with food options that aren't too messy. Since people will be making the Vision Boards during your event, make sure you choose foods that will not make your fingertips greasy. (In general, I'd stay away from buffalo chicken wings. They're tasty, but they do make it difficult to flip through magazines!)

Also, make sure you check with your event space. Some spaces do not permit red wine to be served at events. (It's incredibly difficult to clean up!) 

Related: 9 Crowd-Pleasing (and Affordable) Wines You Need At Any Vision Board Party

Related: What Kind of Food Should You Have at Your Vision Board Party

Decor

At our first event, we purchased DIY photo booth printables from etsy and a few other inspirational messages to have around the room as decoration. You may want to have the decor match the theme of your Vision Board party. If you do buy event decor, then you can add the cost of that into your ticket price. 

Pros and Cons to Charging A Fee

Pros

• You have an opportunity to break even on your event (and maybe even make a profit)

• The people who buy a ticket will actually show up. (When an event is free, only a small portion of the people who sign up will actually show up.)

• You’ll have an accurate head count for food and drinks.

Cons

• Less people will register for your event.

• You have to create an event that is worth the price of admission.

 

How Much Should You Charge?

If your Vision Board party will be a larger production and you're spending a significant amount of time on it, you may be hoping to make a profit. Here's how to walk through your pricing your party.

Cover Your Expenses

At a minimum, you'll definitely want to cover your expenses. This will include everything I mentioned above (and anything else you end up buying for your event). 

You may have been able to get cash sponsorship or some other type of donation (like the food or drinks). If you received any cash sponsorship, you can subtract this from your cost of expenses because this is money that you can spend on your event that's not coming directly out of your pocket.

You can create a simple, preliminary ticket price by just taking what you spent and dividing it by the total number of attendees you expect to have at your event. 

Then Add Wiggle Room

Most of your event costs will come in those last few days leading up to your event. No matter how much advanced planning you did, there will always be something you forgot - or something you didn't know about. 

When we hosted our first event, we ordered tables and chairs from an event rental place and a u-haul truck to carry everything around. When we arrived at the event renal place, they informed us that they were closed for the rest of the weekend and we'd have to wait until Monday to return the items. That means we had to pay for 2 extra days with the u-haul, an additional expense that we did not plan on. 

Adding a multiple into your ticket pricing will also help to CYA in the event that ticket sales are low. 

How To Make Sure The Experience is Worth The Cost

Depending on the ticket cost for attendees, you can dramatically raise the expectation for your event. (People will be expecting totally different experiences for a $15 and a $99 event.) No matter what you end up charging to attend, it's most important that you deliver on the attendees expectations. 

Clear descriptions on what they will receive with their ticket purchase

When you're hosting a paid event, you have to convince people that they want to buy the ticket but you also want to make sure that they will receive exactly what they expect. You do this by mastering your event description.

Related Content: How to Nail Your Vision Board Party Invitation

Speakers with Credentials

Securing high visibility + influential speakers will increase the value of your event dramatically. People will definitely show up and be pleased with their experience if you have their favorite influencer in the building sharing goal setting gems for the New Year.

Related Content: How to Secure Excellent Speakers Part I

Related Content: How to Secure Excellent Speakers Part II

high quality food and drinks

Who doesn't love food? If you can provide finger foods and great beverages for attendees, they will be more than happy to pay a higher ticket price. 

gift bags

Gift bags are always a nice touch to the end of an event. It gives attendees something to remember the event, even long after the Vision Board fun is over. If you have a higher priced event, it also helps to add more value to your attendees. 

workshops/panels

Your event is only a success when your attendees feel they've reached their goals. Having guided workshops and speaker panels will give attendees more opportunities to learn, be inspired and get their questions answered before jumping into a brand New Year.

Related: How My First Vision Board Party Turned My life Around

How To Host A Vision Board Party For Free

While it's great to be able to make a profit, sometime you just want to rock out with your homegirls and talk about goals. Here's how you can get it done for free: 

 

Crowdsource Everything

This means have your friends provide all the materials. Everyone can pretty easily bring their own boards, scissors, glue and a few magazines from home.

Make It A Potluck

You can have the event be potluck style where everyone brings both a dish and a bottle (of wine, alcohol, or whatever) to share.

(Side note: I always recommend asking potluck attendees to bring both a dish AND a drink. I hosted one event where I instructed to bring a bottle OR a dish and we ended up with 12 bottles of wine and no food. You may also want to specify to have the dishes be items that aren’t super messy. You don’t want to get greasy fingers or dip on your Vision Board!)

Host it at home (or a free space) 

This takes away the cost of a space for your event. Just make sure whoever's home you're using is large enough to accommodate the whole group.

 Whether you host a vision board party for your close friends or for a large group, they're guaranteed to be a ton of fun! Once you get people in a room together talking about their goals (with lots of wine) you're going to have a great time. 

I’d love to hear how your party goes!

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party? 

1. Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.

2. Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts. 

3. Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.

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This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

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About the author

Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Please join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!

How My First Vision Board Party Turned My Life Around

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Vision boards have gotten some great press lately. From giving you an opportunity to decide on what you want out of life and being a stellar way to visualize your future, vision boards have become a staple in goal-setting communities.

Of course, we must turn everything into a mimosa-and-wine-driven experience, including the way we set goals. Thus, the need for a vision board party. 

I never believed I could build a vision board and my dreams would come true. I was pretty much born a cynic. I struggle to believe anything I can't physically see with my own eyes. (No one could verify this whole vision thing that's supposed to change your subconscious with cold, hard facts.) 

I believed I'd create my own luck through hard work and perseverance. I didn't need some silly imaginary vision to be successful.

Then there was the quarter life crisis. (I didn't believe in that either, by the way, until it happened to me.) 

 

I was struggling with my entire life...

After spending four years planning on going to medical school, one summer away from home at a medical program and one month in India shadowing doctors, I was rejected from every medical school I applied to.

Though I'd graduated from college with a 3.85 GPA, ran several clubs on campus and was highly active in the community during undergrad, no one would hire me. 

Finally, I suffered the worst break up of my life (so far) which meant that I had to move out of my home and find a place to live... while losing my primary source of income... while losing the only future I planned on.

It felt like my world was crashing down around me and there was nothing I could do about it. 

I started reading books. I started a blog or two. I started freelancing at nights and waitressing on the weekends.

It wasn't enough. 

I started to accept that this was my life now. I couldn't save myself. 

My girlfriend invited me to her Vision board party...

No matter how hard you try to hide it, you friends always know when you're struggling. (I could barely have a conversation without crying so I wasn't hiding anything. Everyone knew I was having a hard time.)

Luckily, I have amazing friends that want the best for me (and I'm sure you do, too). My friend invited me to a potluck-style vision board party where everyone brought in one dish and one bottle of wine. 

I met several women her were farther along in their own personal journeys. (I think I was the youngest person in the room.) Over entirely too much wine, we swapped stories of struggle and triumph and dreams for the next 365 days. 

Related: How To Successfully Host Your First Vision Board Party

What I really got out of that experience...

I was not alone.

Everyone struggles at some point in their life. Personal pain and failure is not a direction result of your age, how you grew up or your educational background.

We all feel it.

Life ebbs and flows.

Some women were making difficult life decisions. Others were hopeful that they'd find what they were looking for. Others, still were building empires. 

At any point in life, I could become one of these women. 

I, too, could turn my life around.

Before attending the vision board party, I struggled for so long I started to feel like this was going to be my life and it was about time I got used to it.

I stopped believing that I could change my life.

I didn't believe I was capable of making a big life change. I believed that the doors were shut. I screwed up too early. I was incapable.

Then, I talked to other women who'd been there, done that and lived to tell my story from a point of triumph. They encouraged me that my dreams were valid. 

I, too, could succeed. 

Related: 8 Mindset Shifts To Create Abundance (when all hope is lost)

I was worthy.

My self-esteem was severely lacking. (That part is obvious.)

I was so deeply depressed that I thought no one would want to talk to me. I was terrified anyone would ask me what I did for a living (my response would be "I fail for a living"). I never mentioned my school because it was a small liberal arts college no one's ever heard of.

I believed I was overall unworthy of friendship, mentorship or anyone's time. 

In my head, I was a loser. 

Not only were people excited to talk to me, they told me that I was worth more than I was giving myself credit for.

I was not unworthy. I was unaware of my worth.

I could choose.

Prior to that vision board party, I was letting every new tip, ad, or vision of success drive my actions.

If some online guru said they made a ton of money using social media or blogging, I tried it. I was willing to do anything and leaving my success completely up to whatever convoluted idea came my way. 

After failing in my career, relationship and finances, I didn't trust in myself enough to choose what felt right for me. 

Creating a vision board forced me to do what I hadn't done in over a year. I asked myself what I wanted to happen in my life next.

I did not have a fully developed goal, but I walked away from the party believing that I could choose something that aligned with my personality.

Here's What Happened the Following Year...

I got some of my peers together a few weeks later to complete my vision board. I wanted my friends to enjoy the shared experiences and crowd-sourcing of ideas that I felt at my first vision board party.

After replicating that feeling of inspiration and excitement about life with my friends, I wanted to have that feeling more often. 

• I created a local community group where women met monthly to share things we've learned, talk about goals and hold each other accountable.

• I decided to figured out what I wanted out of my life.

• I started taking online classes in anything that sounded remotely interesting.

• I deeply pursued the coding.

• I decided to go back to school.

By the end of that year, I started to see glimpses of what my life would become if I continued down this path. That was the year I found my passion. The following year, I cut my expenses, quit all my jobs and went to grad school fill time. The year after that I graduated with a job in my field, effectively tripling my income. 

It all started with everything I learned at my first vision board party.

If you're wondering whether to host a vision board party this year, do it. Even if you feel like your life is going well right now, do it for a friend. 

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party?  

1. Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.

2. Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts. 

3. Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.

---

About the author

Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Please join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!