Legal Essentials for Running a Successful Retreat with Cory Sterling

By Catherine Kontos

In this episode of RetreatBoss The Podcast, host Catherine Kontos is joined by Cory Sterling, a lawyer, small business owner, and author of The Yoga Law Book. Cory shares his expertise on the legal aspects of running a retreat, offering practical advice on protecting your business and managing the risks involved. They discuss the importance of proper legal agreements, negotiating contracts with international vendors, and the crucial need for insurance. Tune in to learn how to safeguard your retreat business and ensure smooth operations, no matter where your retreat occurs.

Key Takeaways:

The Biggest Legal Mistakes in the Retreat Industry: Not having industry-specific agreements in place, even when working with friends or family.
Legal Agreements You Need: A liability waiver, retreat participant agreement, and media release are essential to protect your business.
Handling International Vendors: Tips on negotiating terms when working with venues and vendors abroad.
The Importance of Insurance: Why insurance is as vital as having solid legal contracts to cover potential risks.
Screening Retreat Participants: How vetting participants can prevent disruptions and legal issues during retreats.

Watch the episode here:

Legal Essentials for Running a Successful Retreat with Cory Sterling

When it comes to planning a retreat, there are ways to get it to go from average to incredibly transformative. Welcome to Retreat Boss™, where we speak about inspired travel for fun, transformation, and profit. Guest experts will give you their tips and tricks on creating the most impactful retreats, both for you and your clients. Whether you want a meditative getaway, a wellness trip, or a business escapade, we provide you with the best advice in organizing and hosting a tremendous event. Join Catherine Kontos as she talks with fellow experts about creating exclusive and successful retreats. Dive deep into the most unique activities, the best destinations to visit, and the most uplifting trips out there that you can discover. Here is your host, Catherine Kontos.

Hey, everyone. Catherine Kantos here from RetreatBoss. I’m here today with Cory Sterling, a lawyer, small business owner, author of The Yoga Law Book, fitness instructor, yoga teacher, and Pilates teacher. I don’t know. That’s like magical. What a combination of everything. He operates an online law firm that loves working with our leading business owners. Welcome, Cory.

Thank you, Catherine. Thank you for having me. And it’s a creation. All the different things that I tie together are a combination of my passions. So it’s awesome to be with the Retreat Boss herself. Thanks for having me.

Yeah. And you are where?

Right now, I’m in Puerto Escondido, Mexico. In Oaxaca province.

Beautiful. So you do this, you travel a lot, right? Because of what you do? Kind of.

I travel a lot because I love traveling a lot. Before I started my own law firm, the number one rule, I had two rules about making my own law firm. Number one was that I got to do it from anywhere around the world, that I would always get to travel because travel is my biggest passion. And the number two is that I would work with awesome, amazing people. And those are my two rules, and I’m living them.

Yeah. Thank you for being in this space because when you’re doing anything in the space of wellness and consciousness, anything in the retreat space, even marketing, is different. You know, the law is the law, but, you know, there are ways to approach it with my people, you know, my tribe, my community, where if it becomes too overwhelming, the wording and stuff like that, they get scared. And that’s most people, but especially heart-centered, conscious entrepreneurs, they don’t like too much of that because they’re very. And the thing is, this is the mistake they make. They just trust doing business or partnerships and stuff like that. And I tell them? No, I don’t care if it’s your best friend. You have to write something down if they’re working for you.

So, what’s the number one mistake that happens in this space?

The number one mistake is not having customized, specific industry-related agreements; that is really what it is. And you hit the nail right on the head because many people will be running retreats with their friends, or it’s just friends and family, or they’re doing it with their best friend. I’ve just seen every situation possible play out. I have a whole library of stories of different things that have taken place when I’ve had to help clients. And at the end of the day, if something bad happens, you want to have a signed legal agreement that outlines how everyone should behave if that bad outcome occurs. So if someone makes a deposit and then wants a refund for it, if your partner thinks that they’re entitled to more money if a venue cancels, if you have to cancel, if you are buying someone a ticket to help out but they don’t want to help out, what are the repercussions? I’ve been through every situation, and the antidote for all of it is to customize specific legal agreements.

The number one mistake is not having customized, specific industry-related agreements. – Cory Sterling

Can I ask you something? I have two questions about that. If somebody says, I don’t want to hire a lawyer. I don’t have the money, it’s just my friend, it’s my sister, it’s my brother, it’s my mother, can they still write something up, just for clarity, and have each other sign it? What’s the minimum somebody could do if they really are against hiring a lawyer and creating that whole legal process due to the intimacy of their relationship?

You can. You don’t. For example, all that’s required for a contract to be formed is offer acceptance and consideration. And another word for consideration is that something is exchanged between the parties, right? So you and I have this agreement. I’ve made an offer to you, and you accept it. Something can be exchanged between us. It could be a pair of sunglasses, it could be $100,000, it can be whatever it is. There has to be something that’s exchanged between the parties. So it’s not like you need a lawyer to bless a legal agreement, and that’s not how it works. But the benefit of working with lawyers who understand this is that they’ve been through the problems and issues that are going to arise in your relationship.

So many times. I’ve worked with over 1,100 clients. I’ve drafted thousands of agreements in my life. If we’re talking about running a retreat, I can tell you these are the issues that I’ve been through with my clients and the basis of the agreements that we’re using. We’re constantly updating based on the different experiences that I see clients go through. It’s always something new and exciting, and unfortunately for the clients, it’s not exciting. It’s usually frustrating, scary, and terrifying because they think they’re going to get sued, go bankrupt, or whatever’s going to happen. But the benefit, really, of working with counsel, it’s not so much that there are these magical panacea words on a piece of paper, but it’s more the expertise of someone who has been through a certain situation time and time and time and time and time again.

If my sister and I are writing up a document, and I have no experience writing documents, I’m definitely not going to cover all of the problems or issues that would likely arise in the situation. That’s where Counsel comes in: someone with experience, someone who’s been there before, who knows what problems, and then has the agreement to proactively address those problems.

So, a lot of my clients deal internationally, right? They have. They’re maybe based in, I don’t know, somewhere in the US, and they’re going to Mexico, Bali, Europe, or whatever. I know if there’s something. Do they have to do something different with their contracts when dealing with venues and vendors that are out there? I’m not talking about their personal clients, but because of their clients, I understand they’ll have their contract, but what about, like, the vendor in, I don’t know, Italy and all of that stuff? What would you suggest that they do have their contract? Or it’s usually been especially venues, and they’ll be like, no, you’re signing my contract, and that’s it, you know.

Yeah. It’s similar to the landlord-tenant relationship, whereas it’ll be very, very rare that a landlord would accept a tenant and draft a lease and have that be binding in the relationship because the lease is the one document that is most heavily favored to one party, that it always protects the landlord significantly more than it protects the tenant. And in a retreat space, let’s say, for saying Portofino as an example, or Lake Como or somewhere in Italy, they’re not going to accept your document. And also, you’re on their turf. You’re in their territory. So it would be very, very difficult for you to have that apply. The practical guidance that I would offer in that situation would be to make sure that you trust the person who you’re working with as best as possible and have the relationship be as flexible as possible so that there’s the least amount of money out of pocket that you’re giving to secure it, and that it’s someone who’s reputable and has a good reputation. That’s the best advice I can give because, in that context, you’re in their backyard, and you’re going to be signing their agreement. It will probably be in another language, and that’s understandable. But you could still negotiate what they have on their contract.

Totally. You could say, hey, these are the payment terms that are comfortable for me, or I have a dropout date of about 31 days before I can drop out, and all I have to pay is my deposit or all of these different things. Everything can always be negotiated in every situation. But if the question is, what would I say to someone who’s negotiating with an international venue who wants to use their agreement? Yeah, you can negotiate, but I wouldn’t go into that with the expectation that they will sign your agreement. Like, I never sell retreat venue agreements internationally. That’s. I just, I wouldn’t even take my clients. I wouldn’t take someone’s money for that because it’s not going to. They’re not going to accept it.

What about vendors, though? Like a local chef or a local facilitator?

Yeah, in that context. The reality is that legal documents have two primary objectives and two primary ways to help as best as possible. One is, in a practical sense, communicating expectations openly and honestly.

Okay.

Right. So when the parties know what to expect, and this is when you’re working, and this is what you’re getting paid, what you do and what you don’t do, and how you behave. And, you know, if we’re running a vegan yoga retreat in Italy and there’s a chef who doesn’t speak English who is just going to prepare all of this pork and cured meats and all of these things, like, you need them to understand what’s going on. So, one purpose is to communicate expectations openly and honestly. The other is to be legally protected, that in the event there’s some sort of issue or problem that you have something to rely on to say, hey, well, we contracted you for this, but this is what you did, and this is the agreement we had, being completely frank in a situation where I’m hiring a chef in Italy to cook at one of my retreats if I get him an agreement drafted in the states. We get him to sign it, okay, great. If he doesn’t want to honor it, I won’t be able to sue him in either the States or Canada. So, it’s more of the intention of communicating expectations.

Yeah, yeah. I always say that, like, you know, a lot of times people do create legal contracts, but in the end, it’s like, what are you going to do, chase them if, let’s say, they don’t have anything to their name, for example. Right. They don’t, you know, because maybe you’re going to a country where it’s a developing country, and you’re hiring people locally. You see, it’s more for clarification than actual legal ramifications.

Right. In that context, yet. But also, if you have, if you’re based in North America and you have, you know, you’re either operating as a sole proprietor, or you have a company, and you get people to sign an agreement, it’s. You definitely can enforce agreements in North America, which are more. It’s still not the easiest, most straightforward process, but you have a lot of leverage by having a significantly stronger legal position.

So, what are the three easiest things to get legally protected?

Retreat waiver of liability. So this has to cover all the different activities that you do. If you’re doing snorkeling, if you’re doing stand-up paddle, if you’re doing yoga, meditation, hiking, whatever it is that you’re doing, all of it needs to be included there. The waiver of liability also has to outline what you’re responsible for and what you’re not responsible for. For example, transportation, right? Is transportation included? Are you transporting people from one place to another people and then from one place to another and back or not? So the waiver is like this: This is what we’re doing. These are the risks. If something happens, you’re not holding us responsible, right? Check. Done.

Super straightforward. Second is the retreat participant agreement. That is an agreement that you have with the participants, and this sets out the expectations of the working relationship. So they have to make a nonrefundable deposit so that you can pay for the venue. Right. And secure the space. And in having the nonrefundable deposit and the agreement, the participant agreement, you’re also outlining what is included. This is what is not included. This is the expected behavior.

If you do not behave in this way, you will be asked to leave, and you will not be given a refund. Maybe we don’t allow alcohol. Maybe we don’t allow smoking drugs. Maybe we don’t allow this. Whatever it is, all of it has to be included in the document. Because anytime I’ve had to resolve an issue, I’ve had problems. Wherever people have gotten injured, like hiking and falling off the side of a mountain and breaking their jaw and having a whole lot of problems.

Cool.

The waiver covers us for that. The retreat participant agreement has been more issues where someone’s behaving negatively, disrupting the group, and threatening other people, just like infecting the whole retreat with negativity. And in that context, you want to be able to say, hey, you’re out of here, and you’re not getting a refund because this is the contract that we signed that outlined that. So those are some examples. So those are two. The third would be the media release and social media disclaimer. And that’s where, like, you’re going on the retreat, everyone’s smiling. Sunset.

We’re releasing turtles back to the beach. There are cute baby turtles. We’re having fun. We’re in a circle. We’re at the campfire. I don’t know, we’re doing all these things. I guess this is sort of my vision of what I love to do, too. But obviously, it’s so big on a retreat that you want to capture the images and the video and use that promotion for your next retreat to show, like, because video sells so much better than words and images.

So when you get the media release, it means that you’re allowed to use the video, the photo, the audio, and whatever testimonials you capture for future use. So, if we’re talking about three things, those would be the big three you want to ensure you have secured.

If someone says, okay, I have a contract, do you feel, and all of that, they’re covered. They’re legally covered everywhere. Would they need insurance? Not travel insurance, liability event insurance.

I can tell you in the most simplistic way. If you think of Batman and Robin or if you think of cucumber and Tzatziki, right, you think of law and insurance together. There’s no way that insurance is ever a bad investment. And you always need legal agreements. They, they’re together. It’s part and parcel.

So, here’s the problem with insurance, and I’ll tell you from, you know, my clients’ experiences that live in Canada. They want to travel and do a retreat in, I don’t know, wherever. Okay? It doesn’t matter. Mexico, it is very difficult to find event insurance to cover you for that.

Shoot me a note. I have a lot of contacts in the retreat insurance space. Anyone can reach out to me because I’m happy to support them.

It depends on the state because they’ll ask you even things like, you know, my clients are American and Canadian. They’re everything, okay? And they’re like, well, where can I get insurance? And I’m like, well, it depends on which state you’re from and where you’re going. So, it’s not a one-fits-all thing. You really have to do some research out there and get it. And many of them will go ahead and not ensure their retreat while they’re away.

You need insurance. You need legal agreements. Full stop. It’s what we call the cost of doing business. And there are a lot of insurance providers in the retreat space who work with our law firm, with whom I have connections. I’m happy to shoot you on an email. You can do your investigating. Yeah, but that’s what I’ve learned about being a successful entrepreneur: You have to delegate and work with trusted advisors or specialists in your own industry.

Insurance, I don’t know the first thing about it, but I know that I always send my people to the same place, and they’re super satisfied. So it’s like, fantastic. Done. Yeah, we love it.

So what is it that? Tell me a few of your examples of the craziest thing that you see people get sued.

Or, you know, a recent story within the past two weeks that I’ve got. Yeah, well, no, there’s a lot. However, one of my clients was running a retreat at a beautiful ranch, and one of the participants was a recovering alcoholic who relapsed on the retreat, lost control, became violent, and had a weapon and was brandishing the weapon. And then they escorted the person out, you know, took care of the situation as best as possible. But then this person afterward was just acting in a really terrible, bullying, harassing way.

Harassing my client, calling the police on them, just creating as many problems as possible for that individual. And it’s like. My client has run a lot of successful retreats and never had any issues. And then it just. Sometimes it happens. It’s like. And so, really, there’s a two-step formula. The first is you want everything legal, like everything written, executed, and signed, so that if you have to enforce your legal rights, you have a superior legal position, and you can.

Secondly, discretion and administration of who you allow to participate in your retreats is a real thing. A screening process is a real thing for who you allow on your retreats. And I’m sure you, Catherine, also have many stories of situations like that in the law. I have a little portion or parcel of that. I have other stories that I could share as well. But it opened my eyes to the importance of just deciding and having a filtering process for who you allow on your retreats.

Yeah. One of the mistakes I find, especially newbies and anybody in a desperate situation, is that they will accept anybody on their retreat without any vetting process. And that’s what ends up happening: not only will they get into trouble with this one individual, but they’ll disrupt the entire group dynamic and energy, and the whole retreat goes to hell, really, because of one person. And if I am going on a retreat and know that they’re not vetting, I’m not even participating. I want to see that they’re being vetted totally.

And I can share my own experience. I’m getting ready to run my first type of retreat. And the call to action is. Click here for. Click here to apply. Like, I will get on a phone call with every person. I will have a Zoom video call with every single person who’s interested. And I will be like, hey, just so you know, this is what, you know, this is the vibe.

This is what’s going on. This is what we’re doing. If any of this doesn’t align, like, you know, and see how they react to that, because I already know. I’d rather. I’d rather have three amazing people who transform, who have a wonderful experience, who really get the most from it, than have 13 people and have one wrong person just because I was like, oh, I’ll take as many people as I can get.

Exactly. Exactly. So, how is someone working with you different from any other lawyer in the industry?

Well, the first thing that makes us different is one, we make law fun. So, law is fun. I feel like we’re having a fun conversation right now. I assume you’re having fun, but it looks like it. So, we make the process much lighter, easier, and simpler than it’s traditionally been. Secondly, we have a very important rule at our law firm. We do not put any language in an agreement that a seven-year-old cannot understand.

Interesting.

So that’s the cutoff. Like, super basic plain English. Like, this is actually what’s going on, and this is what relationship we’re creating. Then the other thing that makes us different is that we do everything at a fixed fee, so there are no hidden billable hours. And I’m not coming back to you afterward and saying, this is what you have to pay, and all that stuff. And then, with our services, we offer unlimited edits, revisions, and support for a period of time. So, cool, we get you the agreements. You’re in love with them, and then there’s a Runway for you to use and get comfortable with them. During that time, you can call or text or have as many meetings as you want with a member of our team.

What I’ve learned is that teaching a person to fish type of mentality is the best way to get people actually using it. I don’t want to be a service provider where someone always needs to rely on me and my team to use their agreements. Like, cool, let’s set you up. It’s in plain English. You understand what’s going on, and then you use it yourself. And if you have a question, I’m here for you. But I don’t want you always coming back to me, not because I don’t want to support you, but because I want you to be confident in having conversations with venues or with your clients, or whoever it is. So that’s what, those are some things that make us different.

What does your team look like? Can they deal with anybody internationally? I’m sure they are.

Yeah. They’re beautiful people. We have clients. We’ve worked with clients in more than 15 countries. So, the law, obviously, is jurisdiction-specific, but we always draft things to the best industry standards. So again, because of all of the experiences I’ve gone through with retreat clients, I know what they’re going through. I know what needs to be included.

If it’s someone in another country, we’ll say, hey, you should get a lawyer in your local jurisdiction to ensure all of this works. But the travel industry is like the retreat industry, which is similar to other industries that I work in, like yoga and health coaching and pilates and fitness, whereas it’s not always. It’s not specifically regulated. Right. Like, there’s, if you’re going to Thailand to run a retreat, you know, what’s. What rules are going to apply to that particular relationship? Like, you’ve got someone in Mexico who’s flying to Bangkok to do a three-week yoga training session with you, a yoga retreat with you, or something like that. I’m a very practical person.

I’m a very practical lawyer. What I’ve learned from all of my time doing this is that you need something written that supports you, communicates your expectations, and protects you in the jurisdiction where your business is based. And that’s the best thing that, like, that’s the best way to make lemonade from the situation that we’re in. That’s so complex.

Where can people find you, and is there anything that you can offer them so that they can see your work or get to know you a little better?

I have a personal podcast called the Little Bit Different Podcast. So, I don’t want to take anyone from here, but that’s where I share a little bit about my life and what it’s like being a lawyer, building an online law firm, and traveling the world. So that’s how, if you’d want to get to know us. Yeah, we have tons of resources. My website is https://www.consciouscounsel.ca/, and on Instagram, we’re @consciouscounsel, and there’s a ton of resources out there. We’ve got online courses on our website, and you can also send me a message to say, hey, Cory, what’s up? I’ll be like, hey, how are you? Like, very seven-year-old, right? You know, seven-year-olds, the order of the day. That’s the magic number because I’m not cut out to be super serious. So, I like to keep things light, but obviously, my clients’ security, protection, and being at best practices are the biggest priority to me at the same time.

Perfect. There you have it. That’s the legal 101 from Cory today—the basics. Have a contract, protect yourself. It’s the basic thing to do in your business. It is a business. It’s not just a retreat.

That’s where we need to make that difference stand out because lawsuits don’t happen often, but you’re there to protect yourself because when they do, you have to be protected, right? You don’t want to be in trouble and lose your finances or whatever, do you? Is there one last thing you want to say that will stick in my listener’s mind?

Yeah, I will. And I’m going to build off what you just said, Catherine, and that, indeed, lawsuits don’t happen often, but threatening emails do happen often, and someone wanting a refund does happen often. It’s interesting where my legal practice is and really where I operate. Some problems come up in the relationship, such as someone wanting money, someone wanting damages, or someone wanting to hold someone else responsible. And it will be the legal documents that make that situation go away immediately, or if you don’t have the right specific documents, that will let the situation drag on. So it’s all very practical.

And you’re right. This is a business. Even though doing these things is super fun and dreamy, it’s a business with a lot of opportunities, and I want to help my clients keep their doors open and accept more and more opportunities. And you just have to be professional. There’s a level of professionalism that needs to be handled when you’re running retreats. And I’m here to support you. And I thank you so much for the opportunity.

Thank you. Thank you so much for being on here today. I look forward to talking a lot more to you and building on this relationship because I feel like there are so many possibilities that my clients need someone like you and your firm to help them. So I appreciate what you do and hope you keep loving life. Thank you.

Thank you. Yeah, I will. Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Thank you for listening to the Retreat Boss podcast. When it comes to achieving wellness and transformation, nothing is more effective and profound than a well-orchestrated retreat. Achieve huge revenue growth one trip at a time. Want to learn more on expanding your business with retreats, visit www.retreatboss.com. When profitable retreats are made easy, be sure to leave a rating and subscribe to the show www.retreatboss.com/podcast until next time, take care.