How I Reset Myself in Tulum - Part 1
On May 17th, 2021 I embarked on a digital detox retreat. Why? Because I have not traveled for a LONG time and I felt like I have reached bottleneck for my blog so I needed a reset and also an opportunity to learn from other content creators that are better than me!
This digital detox retreat is organized by Dear Alyne (in the below photo), if you don’t know who she is, she is a powerhouse in bringing interesting stories around the world to the world through her travel and living. She also loves rescuer street dogs and cats. Last but not the least, she is a Facebook content creation guru and has 2.8M followers.
I met up with 17 entrepreneurs from 10 countries in Tulum Mexico. I have never met Alyne in person before and never attended any of her previous retreats or master classes so I really didn’t have much expectation as to how this retreat would go.
You know how sometimes in life you experience something and right away you know this is going to be great?! Well, this happened to me the moment that Alyne opened the retreat Villa door for us…
Alyne rented out this entire Villa - Prana Boutique Villa for the retreat group, which I think greatly contributed to how much fun we ended up having! The villa has a total of 10 rooms. Some are standard rooms and some are suites. There is an in-house restaurant, a swimming pool, Yoga shala, and open fire area for amusement. I felt in love with this boutique hotel immediately and I am certain I will be back there again!
Day 1: Getting to know each other
I loved how Alyne and the team used icebreaker games to help us get to know each other instead of having us introduce ourselves one after another. One of the games was two-person holding a balloon in our hands and we took turns to ask each other questions to get to know each other while we were dancing. We also had the chance to play the traditional Mexican game - hitting a piñata. Though I got used to associating piñata with games kids play at kids' birthday parties, I ended up having a lot of fun anyway. Sometimes being able to play like a child brings the simplest joy, right?!
After some fun in the pool, we made vision boards. Vision-board is a visual way to present your goals for the future. We were asked to create a vision board for our next year’s goal. My goal for next year involves three things:
Work on improving overall health by continuing to eat better and exercise more (Can’t emphasize more, health is the basis for anything else in life!)
Increase the total follower for Style Right to at least 120k.
Kick off the research and planning work for launching my own brand
Getting invited to Tier 1 fashion brands such as Chanel, Dior, Fendi events, or fashion shows. This is probably the most aggressive goal among all. But why not, you will get big by dreaming big, right?!
The first night ended with a led-restorative yoga session at Yoga shala. It was perfect for me after long travel and a day of back-to-back activities. I went to bed feeling leveled and happy.
Day 2: From investing to Acro yoga to Tango
Day two started bright & early with workshops from various people. The first workshop was Alyne sharing her finance and investment story. I learned Alyne’s income streams, how she became a millionaire when she divorced at the age of 28, how she also loved to invest in duplex, her total assets, and more…I was amazed how transparent and open she was when it comes to her finance. I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised because I am kind of the same way… If sharing your story and your experience with others bring light or positivity to other’s life, then why not?!
After Alyne’s workshop, it was my turn to share my journey and learning on real estate investment. I felt honored and to have the opportunity to tell everyone my real estate investment story and how I became a millionaire through that in my early 30’s. I hope all of my retreat friends walked away with some learnings from me and felt empowered to start their journey of achieving true Financial Freedom. I summarized my sharing to a few bullet points here to share with all of you or as a recap for my retreat friends if they happen to read my post. Hopefully this would benefit all of you one way or another:
The investment Journey starts with saving, big or small! Start saving now! First bucket of gold don’t just drop from the sky onto your lap…
You don’t have to wait until you have a big chunk of money to start a real estate investment. You can always have your family member, friends or boyfriend join you in the investment. (If in doubt, try to remember my story of how I borrowed money from my boyfriend at the time who is now my husband to buy that apartment in Beijing that made me a millionaire. :) )
Don’t ever use cash to buy any house! Learn to use bank money to invest in real estate or any other investments as long as you are confident you can bring back a return that is higher than the bank interest rate.
Don’t buy any house that comes with HOA even HOA is cheap.
Ideally buy properties that are either duplex, triplex, four-plex or single house that can be converted to a duplex. It maximizes the rental income compared to a single house or condo.
Real estate investment doesn’t end even after you buy the property. Always keep your eyes open for interest rate changes so you can refinance to get a better rate.
Depend on what your goal is with real estate investment, the strategy could be different for everyone.
We also did Acro-yoga in the afternoon. Even though I had done Yoga for more than 10 years in the past, but I had only tried Acro-yoga once many years ago and I remember I wasn’t really into it. However, the teachers we had were both so good, they had really interesting energy and vibe that made the movement looked sexy and fun. Below is a picture of me in a flying bird position with one of the teachers.
As if we hadn’t learned enough for the day, I had the opportunity to teach one more thing for day 2 - tango! As you know (if you have been following me for a while), I have been dancing and performing Tango for 13 years, and I was asked to teach a Tango intro lesson. I was shocked at how much everyone was into it and I even found three very natural Tango dancers after an hour and a half lesson. It was so rewarding to see the smile on everyone’s face when they were enjoying themselves …
Sorry for the long post, but it is a bit of different program. It is exactly why I decided to break this post to 2 parts. Stay tuned for Part 2 of Day 3 to Day 5 post loaded with outdoor exploration, cultural experiences, and many more craziness/fun activities…
