Love notes via Instagram:
Thank you Laura for a life changing experience filled with love & grace❤️ — Kimberlee Jaynes
Wow. 🔥 Wow. 🔥 Wow. 🔥 Wow. 🔥💛🧡 — Carolyn Rebuffel
Retreat Wrap-up:
When the idea for Divine Hustler started to form inside of me, I didn’t really know what it was going to become. I knew I felt called… that I had hard-earned wisdom to share. That Divine Hustler was inside of me, and others, and we all need to wake up, bring her out.
Basically, I’m a wannabe-preacher’s daughter. All my dad ever wanted was to be a preacher. He wanted it so much he forced us, his six children, to be his congregation; and he would hold church on Sundays in our living room, and require us to do bible studies.
So, feeling this call inside myself, I went into this Divine Hustler manifestation kicking and screaming.
And then I had the uncomfortable realization that I’ve been doing to my children what my father did to me; albeit preaching the gospel of self empowerment, personal development, spiritual enlightenment, healthy eating, fitness; biohacking the spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical realms.
In my hunger and passion, I inadvertently was doing to my children what my dad had done to me!
Clearly, I needed a wider audience…
Thus I had found my higher calling, however, I still had to wait and see what it wanted to become.
Relying on my Human Design type (Generator) and my emotional authority, I would only take action when energy felt light. And when I was confused or didn’t know what to do, I would wait, and trust.
The three years it took to get to this point, of having completed leading my first retreat, a dream come true, feels like a long time, but the pausing and waiting for the inner knowing allowed me to get exquisitely clear.
Now I know: My calling is to work with other beauty makers and help them by sharing my story and giving them access to the tools that have helped me.
There were roadblocks and stagnations along the way. Culprits being moments when I was trying to force Divine Hustler to be just another generalized inspirational persona on social media. I was getting tripped up on what my message and my audience should be.
If you know me, you know I am someone who is never short on things to say when I’m channeling.
During the slowdowns and stagnations, I’d feel pressure to post, but I wouldn’t give in — for days or weeks — until I felt inspired again. I wouldn’t post before I was ready, because I didn’t want to write anything that didn’t feel authentic.
Recognizing that my message was specifically for Beauty Makers helped to open the channel.
Another barrier to becoming was the feedback I was getting from others, and my own internal fears that Divine Hustler would water down my Interior Design firm brand; and that spreading my energy between two businesses would deplete me. It is true that my Interior Design business needs my time and attention, but it turns out that the more energized I feel about Divine Hustler, the more resourced I feel about LMB Interiors, making my design firm ultimately more structurally sound and more profitable.
Let’s be real, the doubting is available at any time…
Even up until the moment women were arriving for my retreat, I was doubting myself — which is also typical of my Human Design type; even when we’re sure, we’re never really quite sure.
One of my favorite learnings from the process of creating this retreat was — for some things, if you wait till the last minute, it only takes a minute.
For example, I knew I needed to put together a workbook. I wasn’t sure how that was going to happen, but as the retreat grew closer, it started happening. I found a graphic designer, I wrote a draft, I created the structure of the event and worked with my editor to develop the content the weekend before the retreat; I finalized text in the final days; and picked up the books from the printer as the shop was closing the night before the retreat…
Even if you are a planner, have you ever noticed how if you plan too far ahead, everything completely changes. I trusted that my workshop, and my supporting materials, would come together, and I truly let go.
As soon as the retreat got going, I could see the shifts that were beginning to happen. It was so exciting!
I had a goal, a hope, that every Sister Goddess who attended would have a moment where they felt a connection to their own grief or sadness — a retreat is one place where one can experience a field of safety. I wanted to create a safe space for Beauty Makers to access our shadow, feel our scarier emotions.
I wish I had taken photos of the women when they first arrived, and how they looked when they left. The change was so profound to witness.
I felt the impact it had on all of them, to be in held space and witnessed, in sisterhood.
We show up at transformational retreats like this, especially if it is the first time, feeling a bit intimidated, maybe engaged in a story of not belonging, certainly not knowing what is coming, feeling that anxiety.
And by the end, we were all gushing with love and reverence for each other and gratitude for the tools. I had hoped for and was awed by the open-hearted sharing of resources that happened between us as we all shared our connections, our beloved upholsterers, contractors, the intake questionnaires we use for our new clients.
I couldn’t really know until I started experiencing for myself what was possible for these women.
Since the workshop, we’ve continued the connection in a group text. I am thrilled to watch as they support each other and practice the tools on their own without my prompting!
And the food, by the way, was amazing…
Even how I found the chef for our retreat felt like inspiration and magic.
She is a sales rep for one of the vendors for my interior design firm. I like her, and so I had started following her personal instagram feed. The beautiful food she was cooking and photographing, I could tell from the passion and curation that it was quality!
One day, I told her, “Your zone of genius is to be a chef! Why have you not said yes to this higher calling?”
She gave the obvious answers, a busy life as a mom and a sales rep for a major brand….
Recently, I ran into her at a dinner party. I said: “I’m creating this retreat and I need a chef, and you’re the one!”
She said YES.
Her first retreat as a caterer, my first retreat as Divine Hustler. It was a win-win.
One of many wins, for all of us.
***
Retreat Testimonials
As I was driving to the Divine Hustler retreat, I had feelings of doubt, as this was out of my comfort zone. After being immersed in the retreat for three days, I fell deeply and madly in love with myself! Why have I lived so long with self-hatred and doubt about who I am? Laura taught me the mental tools to allow my heart to open to the universe and allow change to happen within me. I entered the retreat in an energy-poor state and left in an energy-rich state. The universe responded immediately.
When I walked into my office Monday morning equipped with the tools Laura taught me and the exhilaration I felt from listening to Laura’s teachings for three days, we received four inquiries from potential clients who were interested in our services! We lost one employee, and the universe immediately brought us potential energy-rich candidates. The office is now buzzing with all kinds of possibilities. There is no limit to our potential. Thank you Laura for this gift! — Dimitra Anderson
***
I hadn’t realized that I was a ‘spiritually curious Beauty Maker’ until the post for the Divine Hustler retreat popped up on my Instagram feed. The description resonated with me, and I felt drawn to meet other like-minded interior designers. I couldn’t believe how quickly I connected with the other women on the Divine Hustler retreat, and I give credit to Laura for setting the tone with her humor, vulnerability, and honesty that immediately put us all at ease.
She created a supportive and fun environment where we could be transparent and open. We learned and practiced tools to embrace our feminine intuition, bring positive energy to our work as Beauty Makers, and to approach our businesses and personal lives with a more holistic lens. I am as excited about these new tools as I am about having connected at such a deep level with my fellow Beauty Makers. — Ellen Nystrom
***
Attending the Divine Hustler retreat gave me an opportunity to self-reflect, meet other like-minded designers, and explore different ways to create change in my career as well as my personal life. We don’t always get time to just be with ourselves and other women in a space that has very few barriers so that we can fully be ourselves, but Laura created that environment very easily and quickly so that we were all comfortable together, feeling like old friends who could honestly share with each other.
I feel like I grew as a person as well as a designer and came away with a new set of friends and a new sense of community. — Carolyn Rebuffel Flannery, Associate ASID
