EP 237 True North Leadership: Building Profitable Men’s Retreats with Brent McCann

In this episode of The Retreat Leaders Podcast, Shannon sits down with Brent McCann, founder of the True North Retreat, to talk about the rising tide of men’s retreats—and what it takes to make them successful and sustainable. Brent shares how he transitioned from corporate HR into the retreat space, the lessons learned from his first Sedona retreat (including the power of trusting the process), and how he’s now crafting a profitable, aligned retreat business.

They dive into:

• Why men book differently than women—and how to speak directly to them
• Pricing strategies that work (and how Brent raised his profit margin from 1% to 30%)
• How to design high-impact experiences that create transformation and build community
• What it looks like to scale retreats with intention, alignment, and purpose

Brent's upcoming True North Men's Retreat in Austin (Oct 23–26) is designed for men at a crossroads—ready to step out of the noise, zip-line into clarity, and walk away reconnected to purpose. 

 

Connect with Brent: https://truenorthretreat2025.com/

 

The Retreat Leaders Podcast Resources and Links:

• Learn to Host Retreats
• Join our private Facebook Group
• Top 5 Marketing Tools Free Guide
• Free Top 11 Tips for Building an Email List 
• Get your legal docs for retreats 
• Join our private Facebook Group
• Join our LinkedIn Group
• Join me in London

 

Thanks for tuning into the Retreat Leaders Podcast. Remember to subscribe for more insightful episodes, and visit our website for additional resources. Let’s create a vibrant retreat community together!

 

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Transcribed With Podsqueeze

Shannon  00:00:00  Welcome to the Retreat Leaders podcast, your sanctuary with retreat experts. Where we spill the tea on retreat success. Here we dive into crafting transformational guest experiences. Talk about how to avoid pitfalls and unlock marketing secrets. Whether you're a seasoned guru or a budding enthusiast, we've got the inside scoop for you. Join us as we learn how to flourish in this magical world of retreats. Hey guys! Welcome to or welcome back to the Retreat Leaders Podcast at Shannon. I am super stoked about my guest today. Before we started recording, I told our guest that I don't have enough of them on my show or enough of them. You know that I see in the retreat space. So welcome Brent to the show. I'm so excited you're here.

Brent 00:00:44  Thank you. Shannon, it's my pleasure to be here. I appreciate the time.

Shannon  00:00:48  Yes. So Brent is a retreat host. And what I meant by there's not enough of them, or at least I don't see enough of them. And so maybe it's just not on my radar as much as it should be, is that there's not enough men hosting men retreats, in my opinion, and Brent hosts men retreats that look absolutely fantastic.

Shannon  00:01:06  But I don't want to take away too much of your thunder, Brent. So why don't you just tell us all about who you are, what you do, and what brought you to where you are now?

Brent 00:01:13  Absolutely. Thank you. So, I'm a previous corporate, employee. I was a, you know, a mid senior level HR leader for about ten y