We were lucky to catch up with Anna VanAgtmael recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Anna, thanks for joining us today. It’s easy to look at a business or industry as an outsider and assume it’s super profitable – but we’ve seen over and over again in our conversation with folks that most industries have factors that make profitability a challenge. What’s biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

The majority of the population spends money on their health and wellbeing last. It can be easier to justify upgrading your home or spending money on your family than investing in your mental and physical health. The wellness industry is a billion dollar industry, so people are investing in themselves, it just feels like a longer sales process than say replacing the roof on your house.

Most of the wellness professionals that I know personally having bleeding hearts and want so badly to help their clients. I’ve watched them over the years offer trades, consistently undercharge for services, or even do “favors” for free.

With client’s hesitation to invest in things like massages, yoga, acupuncture, retreats, travel, etc. combined with wellness professionals undercharging for services, there is a challenge of profitability for these business owners and burnout rates are high.

Every single client that I’ve helped plan their retreat is overly concerned that no one will come and that they will lose money and will often want to lower their ticket prices as a result of this anxiety. This is why we spend so much time talking about profitability and charging reasonable rates. I can’t stress enough that it’s the difference between running a profitable business versus operating a really expensive hobby. And if you’re taking a loss or barely making a profit, you will not last in the retreat industry for very long.

But the fact is it’s still the business owners lack mindsets or fear of poor sales that is creating the challenge. People are willing to invest, they just need to be convinced you’re the right fit for them.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Wandering Roots focuses on helping women escape on effortless adventures they need to make them feel alive without the stress of planning their own getaway. I have never met anyone that has regretted getting away or investing in themselves, but I have met plenty of women that regret not doing it sooner.

When I’m not hosting retreats, I mentor women in wellness on how to host transformational and profitable retreats because I have a huge bleeding heart for helping people avoid the same terrible mistakes that I’ve made, #expensivelifelessons. I spend most of my time convincing my clients to get out of their own way because (as you know,) it takes real courage to get past the barriers and excuses we are all guilty of creating to not have to dip even a toe outside of our comfort zones.

But that is always where the magic happens. Outside our comfort zone…

This whole thing started with a car accident. And being injured required me to step outside of my comfort zone constantly.

That accident led to all the things you would expect, surgery, chronic pain, a huge dose of humility, being unbearably lonely, and questioning every single basic, boring life choice I had ever made. Which then led to completely abandoning the comfortable life I had spent the last decade creating. I finally faced the never-ending question of…

“Why am I not thrilled?”
… and had a moment of clarity (let’s be real, the one thing spending 14 weeks in a neck brace will give you is a crystal clear perspective).

So I took the next natural steps and started a retreat company, (duh,) because what else is a 30-something girl living in Michigan in the dead of winter to do besides actively fight her dandruff?

I began tearing my entire life down and rebuilding it.

I started to pursue what I actually desired (strange concept), which is this:

I wanted my life to fell like I was constantly being attacked by a pile of puppies (in the best way of course)…
At least that much joy is required.

Wandering Roots is all about inspiring you to go after whatever weird thing or goal it is that you want while also pausing long enough to celebrate and feel how incredible life can be when you get out of your own way (puppies not included).

How’d you meet your business partner?

My co-hosts that have been on by my side since the beginning and have hosted 16 retreats with me all over the world.

I first met Elise Kutt of Mod Bettie Portraits back in 2017, when I booked a glamour + boudoir photography session. I was in the middle of burning my life down and saying “yes” to all of the things that I really wanted to do but kept making excuses not to do them because frankly they scared the hell out of me.

Elise not only restored a confidence in me that I had lost but also inspired me to make a huge career change. I wanted to help people in a real way like she was, so I took the natural next steps in convincing her to be my bestie. She took my branding photos, built my website and signed on as a co-host for my first retreat (August 2018) without us really even talking about it. I know what you’re thinking and yes, she’s not only the most talented human being on the planet, she’s also the kindest. Her endless support and faith in me is one of the few things that keeps me going.

Fast forward two months where the second retreat I ever hosted was scheduled for fall 2018 in breathtaking Banff. One month before the retreat, my chef cancelled on me. In a panic, I posted in several FB groups asking if anyone was interested in the job. Enter Abbey Hunter, of the Mortals Cafe and the Hot Spot, the coolest, calmest, most capable human I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Abbey and I exchanged a few DMs and then she came to my yoga class at a local gym and stayed after to meet me. We ended up talking for 4 hours and I booked her flight the next day. On her way to Banff, Abbey was delayed by over 12 hours and they lost her luggage for 48 hours and she just went with the flow while making meals from scratch that blew my mind. Strangers that share clothes due to lost luggage will remain friends for a lifetime, I just know it.

Words can’t accurately describe how grateful I am to have these two by my side for the past 16 retreats and how thrilled I am when guests get to experience their magic and charm.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Like many, COVID was very hard on my business. When the stay home order was first put into effective, I delayed and rescheduled all of my retreats in hopes that this would all be over soon. But as we all know, that wasn’t the case. After many reschedules, I ended up canceling retreats for 18 months. When your plans and all of your reservations don’t go the way you had hoped and you have zero clue when your travel business can go back to “normal” it results in a lot of sleepless nights.

The hardest part of this whole situation was that I had just quit my corporate job at the end of October 2019. I was a lab manager for 13 years and made a good living and was approached on two separate occasions by my previous employer to come back in 2020. While I hesitated, I said no and humbly road out the storm. Throwing in the towel and going back to easy money seemed more than appealing but my intuition kept talking me off the cliff of giving up and reminded me that I wasn’t interested in going backward.

I just hosted a retreat in Sicily that was delayed 2 years because of COVID and it was emotional on so many levels for me. But good things are always worth the wait ;)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.yourwanderingroots.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourwanderingroots/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourwanderingroots

Image Credits
All photo credits are Elise Kutt of Mod Bettie Portraits