May 12, 2025 • 21 mins
Good News with Twanda Black ft Marie Fratoni... Marie Fratoni is a sought-after Business Coach, Professional Speaker, and Transformational Retreat Leader and Best-Selling Author. She is a Champion of Women!
Marie’s programs provide relevant content, revenue-generating strategies, and uplifting events that boost confidence and business savvy. She loves helping her clients double or triple their income. Her coaching expertise guides clients in four areas: networking, speaking, sales, and leading events.
For twenty-five years she has led popular retreats, in the U.S., Caribbean, and predominantly in Italy, designed for busy professionals, who want a magical getaway to rest, relax and rejuvenate.
Marie lives in the Atlanta area and works globally helping women entrepreneurs connect and prosper. She is a popular speaker for live conferences and online events.
Marie’s programs provide relevant content, revenue-generating strategies, and uplifting events that boost confidence and business savvy. She loves helping her clients double or triple their income. Her coaching expertise guides clients in four areas: networking, speaking, sales, and leading events.
For twenty-five years she has led popular retreats, in the U.S., Caribbean, and predominantly in Italy, designed for busy professionals, who want a magical getaway to rest, relax and rejuvenate.
Marie lives in the Atlanta area and works globally helping women entrepreneurs connect and prosper. She is a popular speaker for live conferences and online events.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Thank you for joining me today on Good News with
Twinda Black, where we are discovering some of the most
inspiring trials to triumph stories and empowerment moments. Call up
a friend and let them know it's time for some
good news.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Welcome to Good News with Twinda Black. I am your host,
where we talk with folks from all walks of life
about their good news because ultimately, now if your brothers
and sisters are doing well, we should be celebrating them.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Sit back, relax, and enjoy this.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
Next guest, Marie Fratni, joins me.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
She is a sought after business coach, professional speaker, and
transformational retreat leader we're going to tell you about that
in a minute, and a best selling author. She champions women.
I love that met her over the weekend and loved
her energy. She is a sassy veteran, you know, and
(01:16):
because I know, I'm over sixty, so, but she's a
sassy veteran.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
And I like that about it. I love her energy
and that she's doing what she loves in life. How
are you this morning, Marie?
Speaker 4 (01:26):
I am doing good now that we got ourselves set up.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Hello, yes, yeah, So have you always been a business coach?
Where did your career start, How did you start and
then moved or did you move into business coaching?
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Well, you know, in early days, I was a therapist,
a psychotherapist, and I read a hotline and I worked
with individuals and families and did a lot of community training.
And so from there because kind of you know, I
worked in corporate America, did lots of corporate training programs
and leadership communication, sales, all of those things. And then
(02:03):
you know, when coaching became cool, I got certified and coaching.
So but I've been doing the same thing since I
was in my twenties, kind.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Of over and over actually, right, in different positions.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
Exactly, in different iterations, you know, to make things relevant.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah, I could say you're being a therapist.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
I can see that. I can see that.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Do you practice anymore?
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Do you do any of that anymore?
Speaker 2 (02:28):
No?
Speaker 4 (02:28):
I don't. But you know, knowing how people work and
how people think and how people act is very useful,
and there's lots of ways to do that without having
it be therapy. You know, That's right. So I'm grateful
for those skills and that knowledge.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
That's so true. So tell us about your business coaching.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Oh well, it's super fun, you know. It's like you
mentioned and said, I'm a champion of women. I work
predominantly with women. Occasionally I have a man client, but
I market to women for sure, and I helped them
in four areas. One is really to help them be
visible and profitable, and I do that through savvy networking,
(03:07):
successful and soulful selling because a lot of people don't
really know how to sell or know the sales process.
They've just never had to generate their own revenue for themselves. Speaking,
I've been coaching speakers since the mid eighties, and so
I call my program the Savvy the Speaker Savvy VIP Experience.
And then the other one is retreats and events. I've
(03:29):
been leading events for forty years. That's amazing, all kinds
of events online, offline, you know. Yeah, so we all
want to be seen more, we want to be heard more.
Podcasts are so hot, you know, and they're just so
in and you know, you give voice to people that
would really like to be more visible. And then of
(03:50):
course from there, most people want to be profitable, so
that's what I help them do.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Absolutely tell us about the Transformation retreat. You are a
leader in this and you know, listening to you last week,
you it was light bulbs going off in the entire room.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
I don't know if you noticed.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
That, but if you could have seen the reaction of
the folks that were sitting in that room, going, oh
my god. Some people were just writing because that idea
you just gave them life.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
So talk about the transformational retreats.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
Well, you know, you just said it. You know, sometimes
just speaking about them as transformational, you know, it inspires people.
And that was my intention, was not too much to
teach how to do a retreat, but to really encourage
people to consider adding retreats to their business. And it
was really fun to hear that a few people while
I was talking, they were on buying domain sites.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
Right, So you know, transformational retreats are, you know, a
way to get away, you know, because sometimes you know,
like I'm sitting at my desk now, and you saw
some of the difficulty I have with my setup here
in my office. I have what I have in my house,
you know, and it's nice to just change your environment
and eat different food and sleep in a different bed
(05:09):
and wake up in the morning and see different sights
and be inspired by all that the world has to offer.
And when you travelize that you expand, and when you expand,
there's a lot of thoughts that can come in and
so it contributes to us greatly in ways sometimes that
we can't even imagine.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
You know. Yeah, yeah, Now your spot is Italy and
I went on your site and you've got a few
trips coming up this year. So why the love of Italy?
Tell me what happened? How did this remark?
Speaker 4 (05:41):
Well, I'm Italian, what can I say? And so I
kind of grew up that way. And you know, Italy
is the number one travel destination in the world, That's
what condi Nast magazine says. But I just went there
and I just feel at home there. So as a
Ritre leader, it's very important for me to feel comfortable
(06:03):
and to allow and to help my participants feel comfortable.
And it's just this because so many wonderful It's like
the United States. It's so many wonderful parts of the
United States as well, but Italy has so many different pockets.
I love to go to Tuscany and Amalfi and Rome,
and you know, there's just so many beautiful places. So
(06:23):
Italy has been I've connected with some people. And sometimes
when you do things over and over again, even in
our business, even in our life, they magnetize to us,
you know. And so I think that's happened. And then
people said, oh, I want to go next year, and
oh I can't go this year, but I want to
go next year, and I want to go next year,
and then the next year is kind of pulled together
(06:45):
and thread it together. So now it's been just about
twenty years.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Wow, twenty years.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
And it's a great testimony to leave those Absolutely, it's
a great testimony to realize you can create anything, and
if you follow the spiritual breadcrumbs, there are things that
start to occur for you and it takes on a
life of its own. You know that. I'm just like
the steward to it, you know.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
And your groups aren't big retreats don't have to be
these huge things, right.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Oh no, I mean it's not really a tour, although
we do tour different places. We do go to have
our excursions, and pretty much every day we go to
a different site. So people have a beautiful travel experience.
But I would say, you know, somewhere between eight and
ten people is very much an average trip. I think
The most I've ever done is fifteen people, and we
(07:39):
oftentimes are there with another group, so we kind of
share community and have our meals together and you know,
make friends. And you know, most of the people that
come on the retreats with me are either clients, they're
future clients, they're past clients, current clients, or sometimes they
have the spouts of clients or the sister of a
client or the son of a client. And so we
(08:03):
just make it available. I make myself available for people
to have some business conversations. And so if we're looking
or some people are looking at could I do this
as a retreat leader? Could I invite my community here?
And so, you know, it can become a research and
development and R and D kind of a trip where
people can start to see themselves and do their own investigation,
(08:26):
put together their own retreat for the following year. So
it can work out very nicely for people.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
How long do you think a retreat should be?
Speaker 4 (08:36):
Well, I think you can. I mean a friend of
mine is leading a retreat up in Connecticut next this weekend,
and it's like a one day retreat, you know, and
it's what you know, when you come together for a
particular person, and you're kind of in a container, you know,
a sacred container for the theme and the promise of
the retreat. It can be you know, any time when
(08:57):
we go to Italy, we're there from Saturday to Saturday.
We're usually there for a week. And then when we
go to Italy, because you're flying on an airplane, you know,
nine hours or whatever to get there, most people are
going to stay some extra time and they do their
own trip, you know, on their own, either before or afterwards.
But I've done retreats here for two days. I've done
retreats in the States here in Atlanta for three days.
(09:20):
You can do anything. I think it's a question of
what's your intention for the retreat, what's the theme, what's
the context, and then look at how you can put
it together.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
It's amazing.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
I mean, like I said, light bulbs were going off
all over that room. And I love a good retreat myself.
So let's switch and talk about your books. You have
to Well, do you have more than two?
Speaker 3 (09:41):
I know too.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
I have three actually okay, but two of the ones
that I've wrote myself with that I'm the main author
for them. They're collaborative books and then another one that
I did with another colleague of mine was a collaborative
book for people that were in a mastermind together. So
you know, these are perfect expressions of my business, which
is about helping people be more visible and profitable. So
(10:06):
we usually put them together with really cool people that
have done some wonderful things that are inspirational stories that
I think other people, other women and even the men
who are connected to other women want to see or
dads want to get them for their daughters. And it
gives people an opportunity to stand for something, to have
(10:27):
a transformational story. And then we do a lot of
things around the promotion of the book to help them
get that out into the public. Some people really want
to speak a lot and actually make money from their
book or use the book as a segue to get
speaking engagements, and you know, it's just kind of a
(10:48):
fun thing to be able to do to help a
lot of people. Inside again another container, you know, absolutely
growth and development.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Social leadership tools for a new way of being.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
What does that mean?
Speaker 4 (11:02):
Oh, it's great. This is a group of people that
were part of a mastermind that I was with. Most
of the people were part of that mastermind and that
was the theme that the leader created, and each one
of us put together a particular thing that made a
difference in our business that becomes almost like a staple.
So in that book I wrote about the power of
(11:24):
having building a global network by having virtual coffees with people.
Most people don't take the time to have a conversation
with someone just to say who are you and what
are you all about? And who do you serve? And
you know, how do you do what you do? And
some people just go in and go, Hi, my name
is Marie. Would you like to buy my fifty thousand
(11:44):
dollars program? They don't even know anything about me, so
they're not taking time to cultivate and nurture a relationship
because people buy people that they're connected to. Yeah, virtual
coffees are They're a great way to just get to
know each other and begin to develop relationships because you know,
no one is going to want to do anything with
(12:05):
me unless they know who I am and how I
think and what my philosophy is, and you know how
I serve people and I think people are very cool,
And we don't often take the time to give people
the grace and space to share who they are and
when I'm listening and when I'm speaking with people, I'm
not just listening to them, but I'm actually listening for
(12:27):
them because I think, who do I know that they
might be a good fit for Who do I know
in my community that might be a great resource for
them or good collaborative partner with them. So it takes
time to do it, but I mean I would much
rather take the time. So I've built from starting just
one coffee at a time, one coffee at a time,
(12:48):
one virtual coffee, one virtual veno if it's after five o'clock.
You know, you can really build a global network easily
that And it's a staple like meat potatoes in your business.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Your other book Inspiring Women, Purpose, Passion and Power in Professionalism,
and you.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Put together fifteen women and their stories.
Speaker 4 (13:12):
Correct, correct, Yeah, I mean great stories. These are people
that are accomplished women. They've done things that they've said
they would do, and their stories are It's hard because
they've had good lives and good businesses and to kind
of narrow it down for a chapter is probably the
most challenging part. And yet you know, when I invite them,
(13:35):
almost everybody says the same thing. They go why do
you think I'm inspiring? You know, I mean it's pretty common,
but they are inspiring. And the books have had some
really good press and they've done very well. They've all
been Amazon bestsellers, which is always fun. And then they're
also available on Barnes and Noble, and then people can
(13:57):
carry their own books and market their own books that
different events and speaking engagements, and I get mine a
way as different prizes or different bonuses or different things
like that. It just depends on, you know, what we
can do and what the host of the event allows
us to do. So, but it's been a fun project
to take on in my life. And speaking of doing
a third one.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Oh nice, nice, So again I went on your website
and you have two or three trips coming up, retreats
for the three.
Speaker 4 (14:31):
Actually, yeah, all right, I open Is it open to anybody?
Speaker 3 (14:39):
How do you get people in there?
Speaker 4 (14:42):
Well, I market to them, you know, I email and
I'm posting a lot, you know, on social media, and
there's a lot of people that know. The first one
is coming up in June and it's been sold out
for over a year, but a couple of people had
to withdraw and postpone their trip just due to stuff
(15:02):
happening in life, because life happens to all of these. Yes,
So there's two spaces that are open, and if people
have an interest, they can reach out to me and
I'll have a conversation to make sure that the trip
is right for them and they're right for the trip.
And then in September, I'm going to a place that
I love that I think it'll be my eighteenth retreat
(15:24):
at that location. It's also in Tuscany. It's a beautiful format.
It's like a thousand plus year old former monastery that's
had miracles happen there. It's this inside is beautiful, the
outside is beautiful. We're going to do some ballooning over Tuscany.
You know, there's usually some wine involved in some wine tastings,
(15:45):
involved in a cooking class, and then some wonderful conversations,
some meditations and beautifully seeing all the different Tuscan towns
and adventures. And then over New Years we're going to
meet I know right, We're going to meet in Rome,
and then we're going to drive out to the area
of Italy called Umbria, and which is where the town
(16:07):
of Assisi is of Saint Francis of Assisi, which is
just so sweet and beautiful, and that town Boaths or Fieto.
We're going to stay at a beautiful spa hotel and
we have openings there as well. And we are going
to be experiencing the world famous Umbria Jazz Festival, where
(16:28):
they bring jazz grades from all over the world every
year at New Year's and then once in the summer.
So we're going to participate in the in the Jazz
Festival over New Years. And I've spent New Year's Eve
in Italy watching the fireworks from the rooftops of Rome.
It's magical and so much fun.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
So, Marie, are your retreats Are your retreats for relaxation?
Speaker 4 (16:50):
What are they for a little bit of everything? You know?
For fun? For sure? Because we want to have fun.
I mean why go to Italy if you're not going
to go have fun? Right, fun, relaxation, There's time to chill,
there's time to relax. It's time to take a nap
or sit by the pool, or get a massage or
a spa treatment. Then there is the transformation, which you know,
(17:14):
sometimes just the trip itself allows people to grow and
expand in ways that they never expected. You know, they
have to be somebody different than they are at home
with their family. And then and then the last one
is that sometimes you can make some profit from your retreats.
You know, not every retreat is profitable or not everything.
But I work with the third party that it's actually
(17:36):
their business. And I've been working with them for a
long time because they have the licenses and the liabilities
to sell travel and accommodations and things. And what I
do is, I'm like the pipe piper. I'm the chief
inviter and then I set the stage and I make
sure that the transformational promise of each retreat is met
(17:57):
by all of the participants. And we have safe we're guided,
we have assistance for us. It's a beautiful way to travel.
And you know, a lot of people like myself, we're single.
You know, we don't have a spouse, we don't have kids,
we don't have grandchildren. During the holidays, people want to
do something. They don't want to stay home by themselves, right,
so I provide a way for them to come out
(18:19):
and live life with other people that want to do
the same thing.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
So now is it for women only or can men
come as well?
Speaker 4 (18:27):
Men are always with us you know, I market it
to women. Most of my audiences women, but they're married,
you know, they've got boyfriends, they've got sons, they've got
son in laws. So we usually always have men with us.
It's heavily more women because that's who I hang with.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
But yeah, yeah, yeah, So.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
We're welcome for sure.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Tell everybody where they can go to learn more about you,
get your books, if they need a business coach, all
that good stuff, and then learn more.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
About your retreats. Give them that information.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
Well, thank you so much. Well, the easiest way to
check me out is to go to my website, which
is just Get Clients Everywhere dot com and there's a
tab there that says travel with Marie, and it's got
all the information about the retreats though probably be some
new ones being added soon for twenty twenty six. And
(19:21):
if people want to have a conversation with me, and
maybe they're looking at what's next, or they want to
figure out how they could grow their business and be profitable,
be mindful in a very changing environment that we have
going on now, they're welcome to have a conversation. I
provide a complimentary session called a business breakthrough session. They
(19:43):
can find me on LinkedIn at so you know, I
love to have conversations and people want to have a
virtual coffee or they want to share their website with me.
It's fine. But my books are there. Have a card
deck that's on there that's called Connect and Prosper because
that's what I'm all about and people to connect and
to prosper, and so this card deck that's available on there,
(20:05):
and yeah, there's just a lot of fun ways to
participate with me.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
All right. And the website is get Clients Everywhere dot com,
Get Clients Everywhere dot com. Marie Frontoni joins us today.
Thank you so much for spending this time with Marie.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
Thank you, it was so fun to meet you. I
just appreciated your energy and your invitation and just your
generous heart. Thank you so much for doing what you're doing.
And if we might be able to return the favor
for you.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
My pleasure, my pleasure. All right, Thanks so much for
joining me for good News.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
If you'd like to be a guest, you can reach
out to me at good News at thepgnetwork dot org.
You can catch good News on pgntv dot org. And
I'll see you next time for some good news God
bless you, you
Thank you for joining me today on Good News with
Twinda Black, where we are discovering some of the most
inspiring trials to triumph stories and empowerment moments. Call up
a friend and let them know it's time for some
good news.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Welcome to Good News with Twinda Black. I am your host,
where we talk with folks from all walks of life
about their good news because ultimately, now if your brothers
and sisters are doing well, we should be celebrating them.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Sit back, relax, and enjoy this.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
Next guest, Marie Fratni, joins me.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
She is a sought after business coach, professional speaker, and
transformational retreat leader we're going to tell you about that
in a minute, and a best selling author. She champions women.
I love that met her over the weekend and loved
her energy. She is a sassy veteran, you know, and
(01:16):
because I know, I'm over sixty, so, but she's a
sassy veteran.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
And I like that about it. I love her energy
and that she's doing what she loves in life. How
are you this morning, Marie?
Speaker 4 (01:26):
I am doing good now that we got ourselves set up.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Hello, yes, yeah, So have you always been a business coach?
Where did your career start, How did you start and
then moved or did you move into business coaching?
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Well, you know, in early days, I was a therapist,
a psychotherapist, and I read a hotline and I worked
with individuals and families and did a lot of community training.
And so from there because kind of you know, I
worked in corporate America, did lots of corporate training programs
and leadership communication, sales, all of those things. And then
(02:03):
you know, when coaching became cool, I got certified and coaching.
So but I've been doing the same thing since I
was in my twenties, kind.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Of over and over actually, right, in different positions.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
Exactly, in different iterations, you know, to make things relevant.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah, I could say you're being a therapist.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
I can see that. I can see that.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Do you practice anymore?
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Do you do any of that anymore?
Speaker 2 (02:28):
No?
Speaker 4 (02:28):
I don't. But you know, knowing how people work and
how people think and how people act is very useful,
and there's lots of ways to do that without having
it be therapy. You know, That's right. So I'm grateful
for those skills and that knowledge.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
That's so true. So tell us about your business coaching.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Oh well, it's super fun, you know. It's like you
mentioned and said, I'm a champion of women. I work
predominantly with women. Occasionally I have a man client, but
I market to women for sure, and I helped them
in four areas. One is really to help them be
visible and profitable, and I do that through savvy networking,
(03:07):
successful and soulful selling because a lot of people don't
really know how to sell or know the sales process.
They've just never had to generate their own revenue for themselves. Speaking,
I've been coaching speakers since the mid eighties, and so
I call my program the Savvy the Speaker Savvy VIP Experience.
And then the other one is retreats and events. I've
(03:29):
been leading events for forty years. That's amazing, all kinds
of events online, offline, you know. Yeah, so we all
want to be seen more, we want to be heard more.
Podcasts are so hot, you know, and they're just so
in and you know, you give voice to people that
would really like to be more visible. And then of
(03:50):
course from there, most people want to be profitable, so
that's what I help them do.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Absolutely tell us about the Transformation retreat. You are a
leader in this and you know, listening to you last week,
you it was light bulbs going off in the entire room.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
I don't know if you noticed.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
That, but if you could have seen the reaction of
the folks that were sitting in that room, going, oh
my god. Some people were just writing because that idea
you just gave them life.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
So talk about the transformational retreats.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
Well, you know, you just said it. You know, sometimes
just speaking about them as transformational, you know, it inspires people.
And that was my intention, was not too much to
teach how to do a retreat, but to really encourage
people to consider adding retreats to their business. And it
was really fun to hear that a few people while
I was talking, they were on buying domain sites.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
Right, So you know, transformational retreats are, you know, a
way to get away, you know, because sometimes you know,
like I'm sitting at my desk now, and you saw
some of the difficulty I have with my setup here
in my office. I have what I have in my house,
you know, and it's nice to just change your environment
and eat different food and sleep in a different bed
(05:09):
and wake up in the morning and see different sights
and be inspired by all that the world has to offer.
And when you travelize that you expand, and when you expand,
there's a lot of thoughts that can come in and
so it contributes to us greatly in ways sometimes that
we can't even imagine.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
You know. Yeah, yeah, Now your spot is Italy and
I went on your site and you've got a few
trips coming up this year. So why the love of Italy?
Tell me what happened? How did this remark?
Speaker 4 (05:41):
Well, I'm Italian, what can I say? And so I
kind of grew up that way. And you know, Italy
is the number one travel destination in the world, That's
what condi Nast magazine says. But I just went there
and I just feel at home there. So as a
Ritre leader, it's very important for me to feel comfortable
(06:03):
and to allow and to help my participants feel comfortable.
And it's just this because so many wonderful It's like
the United States. It's so many wonderful parts of the
United States as well, but Italy has so many different pockets.
I love to go to Tuscany and Amalfi and Rome,
and you know, there's just so many beautiful places. So
(06:23):
Italy has been I've connected with some people. And sometimes
when you do things over and over again, even in
our business, even in our life, they magnetize to us,
you know. And so I think that's happened. And then
people said, oh, I want to go next year, and
oh I can't go this year, but I want to
go next year, and I want to go next year,
and then the next year is kind of pulled together
(06:45):
and thread it together. So now it's been just about
twenty years.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Wow, twenty years.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
And it's a great testimony to leave those Absolutely, it's
a great testimony to realize you can create anything, and
if you follow the spiritual breadcrumbs, there are things that
start to occur for you and it takes on a
life of its own. You know that. I'm just like
the steward to it, you know.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
And your groups aren't big retreats don't have to be
these huge things, right.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Oh no, I mean it's not really a tour, although
we do tour different places. We do go to have
our excursions, and pretty much every day we go to
a different site. So people have a beautiful travel experience.
But I would say, you know, somewhere between eight and
ten people is very much an average trip. I think
The most I've ever done is fifteen people, and we
(07:39):
oftentimes are there with another group, so we kind of
share community and have our meals together and you know,
make friends. And you know, most of the people that
come on the retreats with me are either clients, they're
future clients, they're past clients, current clients, or sometimes they
have the spouts of clients or the sister of a
client or the son of a client. And so we
(08:03):
just make it available. I make myself available for people
to have some business conversations. And so if we're looking
or some people are looking at could I do this
as a retreat leader? Could I invite my community here?
And so, you know, it can become a research and
development and R and D kind of a trip where
people can start to see themselves and do their own investigation,
(08:26):
put together their own retreat for the following year. So
it can work out very nicely for people.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
How long do you think a retreat should be?
Speaker 4 (08:36):
Well, I think you can. I mean a friend of
mine is leading a retreat up in Connecticut next this weekend,
and it's like a one day retreat, you know, and
it's what you know, when you come together for a
particular person, and you're kind of in a container, you know,
a sacred container for the theme and the promise of
the retreat. It can be you know, any time when
(08:57):
we go to Italy, we're there from Saturday to Saturday.
We're usually there for a week. And then when we
go to Italy, because you're flying on an airplane, you know,
nine hours or whatever to get there, most people are
going to stay some extra time and they do their
own trip, you know, on their own, either before or afterwards.
But I've done retreats here for two days. I've done
retreats in the States here in Atlanta for three days.
(09:20):
You can do anything. I think it's a question of
what's your intention for the retreat, what's the theme, what's
the context, and then look at how you can put
it together.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
It's amazing.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
I mean, like I said, light bulbs were going off
all over that room. And I love a good retreat myself.
So let's switch and talk about your books. You have
to Well, do you have more than two?
Speaker 3 (09:41):
I know too.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
I have three actually okay, but two of the ones
that I've wrote myself with that I'm the main author
for them. They're collaborative books and then another one that
I did with another colleague of mine was a collaborative
book for people that were in a mastermind together. So
you know, these are perfect expressions of my business, which
is about helping people be more visible and profitable. So
(10:06):
we usually put them together with really cool people that
have done some wonderful things that are inspirational stories that
I think other people, other women and even the men
who are connected to other women want to see or
dads want to get them for their daughters. And it
gives people an opportunity to stand for something, to have
(10:27):
a transformational story. And then we do a lot of
things around the promotion of the book to help them
get that out into the public. Some people really want
to speak a lot and actually make money from their
book or use the book as a segue to get
speaking engagements, and you know, it's just kind of a
(10:48):
fun thing to be able to do to help a
lot of people. Inside again another container, you know, absolutely
growth and development.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Social leadership tools for a new way of being.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
What does that mean?
Speaker 4 (11:02):
Oh, it's great. This is a group of people that
were part of a mastermind that I was with. Most
of the people were part of that mastermind and that
was the theme that the leader created, and each one
of us put together a particular thing that made a
difference in our business that becomes almost like a staple.
So in that book I wrote about the power of
(11:24):
having building a global network by having virtual coffees with people.
Most people don't take the time to have a conversation
with someone just to say who are you and what
are you all about? And who do you serve? And
you know, how do you do what you do? And
some people just go in and go, Hi, my name
is Marie. Would you like to buy my fifty thousand
(11:44):
dollars program? They don't even know anything about me, so
they're not taking time to cultivate and nurture a relationship
because people buy people that they're connected to. Yeah, virtual
coffees are They're a great way to just get to
know each other and begin to develop relationships because you know,
no one is going to want to do anything with
(12:05):
me unless they know who I am and how I
think and what my philosophy is, and you know how
I serve people and I think people are very cool,
And we don't often take the time to give people
the grace and space to share who they are and
when I'm listening and when I'm speaking with people, I'm
not just listening to them, but I'm actually listening for
(12:27):
them because I think, who do I know that they
might be a good fit for Who do I know
in my community that might be a great resource for
them or good collaborative partner with them. So it takes
time to do it, but I mean I would much
rather take the time. So I've built from starting just
one coffee at a time, one coffee at a time,
(12:48):
one virtual coffee, one virtual veno if it's after five o'clock.
You know, you can really build a global network easily
that And it's a staple like meat potatoes in your business.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Your other book Inspiring Women, Purpose, Passion and Power in Professionalism,
and you.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Put together fifteen women and their stories.
Speaker 4 (13:12):
Correct, correct, Yeah, I mean great stories. These are people
that are accomplished women. They've done things that they've said
they would do, and their stories are It's hard because
they've had good lives and good businesses and to kind
of narrow it down for a chapter is probably the
most challenging part. And yet you know, when I invite them,
(13:35):
almost everybody says the same thing. They go why do
you think I'm inspiring? You know, I mean it's pretty common,
but they are inspiring. And the books have had some
really good press and they've done very well. They've all
been Amazon bestsellers, which is always fun. And then they're
also available on Barnes and Noble, and then people can
(13:57):
carry their own books and market their own books that
different events and speaking engagements, and I get mine a
way as different prizes or different bonuses or different things
like that. It just depends on, you know, what we
can do and what the host of the event allows
us to do. So, but it's been a fun project
to take on in my life. And speaking of doing
a third one.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Oh nice, nice, So again I went on your website
and you have two or three trips coming up, retreats
for the three.
Speaker 4 (14:31):
Actually, yeah, all right, I open Is it open to anybody?
Speaker 3 (14:39):
How do you get people in there?
Speaker 4 (14:42):
Well, I market to them, you know, I email and
I'm posting a lot, you know, on social media, and
there's a lot of people that know. The first one
is coming up in June and it's been sold out
for over a year, but a couple of people had
to withdraw and postpone their trip just due to stuff
(15:02):
happening in life, because life happens to all of these. Yes,
So there's two spaces that are open, and if people
have an interest, they can reach out to me and
I'll have a conversation to make sure that the trip
is right for them and they're right for the trip.
And then in September, I'm going to a place that
I love that I think it'll be my eighteenth retreat
(15:24):
at that location. It's also in Tuscany. It's a beautiful format.
It's like a thousand plus year old former monastery that's
had miracles happen there. It's this inside is beautiful, the
outside is beautiful. We're going to do some ballooning over Tuscany.
You know, there's usually some wine involved in some wine tastings,
(15:45):
involved in a cooking class, and then some wonderful conversations,
some meditations and beautifully seeing all the different Tuscan towns
and adventures. And then over New Years we're going to
meet I know right, We're going to meet in Rome,
and then we're going to drive out to the area
of Italy called Umbria, and which is where the town
(16:07):
of Assisi is of Saint Francis of Assisi, which is
just so sweet and beautiful, and that town Boaths or Fieto.
We're going to stay at a beautiful spa hotel and
we have openings there as well. And we are going
to be experiencing the world famous Umbria Jazz Festival, where
(16:28):
they bring jazz grades from all over the world every
year at New Year's and then once in the summer.
So we're going to participate in the in the Jazz
Festival over New Years. And I've spent New Year's Eve
in Italy watching the fireworks from the rooftops of Rome.
It's magical and so much fun.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
So, Marie, are your retreats Are your retreats for relaxation?
Speaker 4 (16:50):
What are they for a little bit of everything? You know?
For fun? For sure? Because we want to have fun.
I mean why go to Italy if you're not going
to go have fun? Right, fun, relaxation, There's time to chill,
there's time to relax. It's time to take a nap
or sit by the pool, or get a massage or
a spa treatment. Then there is the transformation, which you know,
(17:14):
sometimes just the trip itself allows people to grow and
expand in ways that they never expected. You know, they
have to be somebody different than they are at home
with their family. And then and then the last one
is that sometimes you can make some profit from your retreats.
You know, not every retreat is profitable or not everything.
But I work with the third party that it's actually
(17:36):
their business. And I've been working with them for a
long time because they have the licenses and the liabilities
to sell travel and accommodations and things. And what I
do is, I'm like the pipe piper. I'm the chief
inviter and then I set the stage and I make
sure that the transformational promise of each retreat is met
(17:57):
by all of the participants. And we have safe we're guided,
we have assistance for us. It's a beautiful way to travel.
And you know, a lot of people like myself, we're single.
You know, we don't have a spouse, we don't have kids,
we don't have grandchildren. During the holidays, people want to
do something. They don't want to stay home by themselves, right,
so I provide a way for them to come out
(18:19):
and live life with other people that want to do
the same thing.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
So now is it for women only or can men
come as well?
Speaker 4 (18:27):
Men are always with us you know, I market it
to women. Most of my audiences women, but they're married,
you know, they've got boyfriends, they've got sons, they've got
son in laws. So we usually always have men with us.
It's heavily more women because that's who I hang with.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
But yeah, yeah, yeah, So.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
We're welcome for sure.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Tell everybody where they can go to learn more about you,
get your books, if they need a business coach, all
that good stuff, and then learn more.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
About your retreats. Give them that information.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
Well, thank you so much. Well, the easiest way to
check me out is to go to my website, which
is just Get Clients Everywhere dot com and there's a
tab there that says travel with Marie, and it's got
all the information about the retreats though probably be some
new ones being added soon for twenty twenty six. And
(19:21):
if people want to have a conversation with me, and
maybe they're looking at what's next, or they want to
figure out how they could grow their business and be profitable,
be mindful in a very changing environment that we have
going on now, they're welcome to have a conversation. I
provide a complimentary session called a business breakthrough session. They
(19:43):
can find me on LinkedIn at so you know, I
love to have conversations and people want to have a
virtual coffee or they want to share their website with me.
It's fine. But my books are there. Have a card
deck that's on there that's called Connect and Prosper because
that's what I'm all about and people to connect and
to prosper, and so this card deck that's available on there,
(20:05):
and yeah, there's just a lot of fun ways to
participate with me.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
All right. And the website is get Clients Everywhere dot com,
Get Clients Everywhere dot com. Marie Frontoni joins us today.
Thank you so much for spending this time with Marie.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
Thank you, it was so fun to meet you. I
just appreciated your energy and your invitation and just your
generous heart. Thank you so much for doing what you're doing.
And if we might be able to return the favor
for you.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
My pleasure, my pleasure. All right, Thanks so much for
joining me for good News.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
If you'd like to be a guest, you can reach
out to me at good News at thepgnetwork dot org.
You can catch good News on pgntv dot org. And
I'll see you next time for some good news God
bless you, you
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