My Year of Acceleration! A review and special gratitude.
How do I even begin to express how amazing 2023 was! I am literal tears as I flip though my album to pick a few highlight photos to share. I mean I could in no way give this year proper credit in a reel. I mean this is maybe 2% of the photos I took.
First, I just want to express my gratitude for each and everyone of you who have allowed me to support you as your strategist, retreat host, speaker, friend, and for those who have shown support and love for me and my calling though a likes, shares, or a sweet message. A special shout out to my family, friends, and most importantly to God for all the blessings.
Now, my word was ACCELERATE so buckle up because this word unlocked so many incredible things.
Also, before I share all the greatness I have to be transparent and share some of the not so glorious moments because not everything is sunshine and roses and I don’t always have my shit together.
Crying in my bathtub more times then I can count because sometimes being a wife, mom, and business owner is hard AF
Overwhelmed and frozen by grief. The loss of my sister although it has been several years hits me hard an out of nowhere and puts me in a dark and lonely place
Private court battles and navigating some really tough shit
Snapping at those I love because I am human and even though I do well most of the time I can still lose my shit from time to time
Long talks and tears with my circle about raising these amazing but challenging teenagers
A health issue that came out of nowhere that I had to give a lot of time and attention to
Regretting a situation and the way I handled it. I suffered a massive trigger and didn’t handle it well and hurt someone else in the process
Thinking who the hell am I to do this and for sure held myself back more times then I can count.
I do my best to share the real and the raw and to be honest most days and most of the time my life is pretty amazing, but just like you I have moments I am not proud of, make mistakes, cry in my bathtub, and feel like I just want to give up and I think it is so….important to share this part too.
January - March
This quarter is going to be one to beat!
Kick-started the New Year with my sweet husband with a private getaway at the Shiloh Morning Inn where I woke up before the sun and wrote my gratitude out in a letter to God and asked for him to direct my steps in 2023 and he did just that!
Traveled solo (my first overnight stay in a hotel alone) to Dallas for the very first The Creative Educators Conference and will be back again for year two in just few short weeks.
Came back for a few days with the family and to do some epic strategic planning VIP Days with a few in state and even welcomed a client from Colorado to strategize for 2023.
Then it was time for REACH RETREAT 2023 in COST RICA. This was a scary AF (largest investment) I have made to date in expanding my business and betting on myself. I signed a $30K contract to take my Reach Retreaters on an international retreat, and many of them had never been out of the country. You must know I signed the contract, and made payments in complete silence for 7 months before I knew if anyone would say YES! 18 badass women said yes and let’s just say it was a trip of a lifetime and one we will never forget.
In addition to those wild and amazing things it was time to put my word where my mouth was and I birthed the ELITE ACCELERATOR MASTERMIND. This has by far been the best creation I have made in regards to my coaching. A hybrid of all the ways I love to serve and creates massive acceleration. I mean I am super freaking obsessed with the mastermind and can’t wait to kick-start our 2024 mastermind in just a few weeks!
Also, we had lots of outdoor time with the family which is odd for January but nature is my jam and glad my family is open to my wild adventures.
Oh, I can’t forget our epic Ladies Conquering Goals Mom’s Day at the Zoo. My community was on board with wearing matching shirts, leaving kids at home, and going out for a fun day of connection and just being big kids.
April - June
Again, another quarter to beat! It may just be the trend.
These months are typically my favorite as the weather in Oklahoma starts to show off and everything turns green making my trail runs even more epic.
April was a big month from fast pitch softball season being in full play for our girls, heading to Texas with our kids and the Bleer family to see the amazing Trent Shelton in his first personal event since the pandemic. We even got to meet him face to face and our kids enjoyed every second of it. Another amazing moment in April was when my sweet client Donna flew in from Indianapolis and we did a VIP Day and gathered our Reach Retreat OKC ladies from our Costa Rica retreat together for a candlelit dinner and to see Donna while she was in town.
May was a month for being on stage and I had the honor of speaking on stage again for the IHT Ladies Brunch. This year was on John 13:7 and I spoke to a room filled with women on having a servants heart and using your gifts to make impact in the world. It was extra special as my daughter Leah, my mama, and my sister Desi got to attend and see me pour God’s message into the world. I also got the opportunity to serve and speak to the Legend Senior Living community for their annual mother’s day tea party. This was such a fun opportunity and will be doing it again in 2024.
May also kick-started our lake season and our framily as we call our friends who are like our family all got together for memorial weekend and spent some much needed time on the boat and in the water.
June is my birthday month and it unlocked year 32 and I bet you can guess where we spent it. At the lake with of framily for a long…..5 day weekend of camping, fireworks, good food, and making memories. I could not have asked for more.
June also brought me to stage as a speaker for the We Rise women’s business conference. I had two amazing days of connection and the opportunity to speak on Ditching the BS of Business Ownership and taking #intentionalaction towards creating a business that serves your life and not the other way around. A true highlight of the year, and I am now returning for the 2024 conference as the Keynote Speaker!
This quarter just kept on giving from connecting with amazing women at the OKC Women in Business events, hosting my Ladies Conquering Goals pool party, attending the ladies brunch events, seeing and supporting my client Suzann Wade in hosting her very first retreat, having my client Dana fly in from Ohio for the LCG event, retreat, and to having a VIP day in person with me, and I know I am missing more.
July - September
Holy hell do you see what I mean by all the emotions. This is only the halfway point and it didn’t stop.
July was our first month to kick-off the ACCELERATE event! Yes, I know it is wild how my word of the year always shapes my life and business in such incredible ways. This Accelerate event was 4 powerful months of pouring into local entrepreneurs. Wait until I share with you how the Accelerate event evolved for 2024. It is pretty freaking epic.
July also was the month our framily (friends that are family) loaded up and took a trip to Gulf Shores Alabama where we stayed at the Seaside Palms home that my client and friend Megan Henderson did the branding for. This was a dream trip where Preston and I took our parents and made memories we will never forget.
August marked another insane month and making memories with the kids at the lake, getting them back into school, slow pitch softball season kicked into high gear, football practices were at play, and I flew on a airplane by myself for the first time ever!
Your girl flew into Phoenix, caught a car to Scottsdale, and attended the Powerhouse Women Conference where I met and learned from a few of my virtual mentors in person. I personally met and had my book signed by Amy Porterfield, Hugged and chatted with Lindsey Schwartz, and heard my girls Lori Harder and Jen Gotlieb speak. This trip was a little wild, overstimulating, but also led me to a lot of self reflection, and even had a massive wake me up from my sleep calling about my Reach Retreat.
This month also marked the start of the Weekend of Intention retreats. My audience was requesting for me to do retreats a bit shorter in length and specific to working directly with me as their business strategist for a full weekend. So I made it happen and we hosted our first sold out Weekend of Intention retreat in Norman at Hillside Manor. It was a power experience and I can’t wait until next month's retreat where we are casting the attendees 2024 vision.
September is always a massive month as two of our three babies have birthday’s. Our two youngest turned 14 and we had birthday parties with their friends. We also hosted our annual Throckmorton Labor Day weekend that included camping out on our land, lots of good food, fires, visiting our redneck river escape to play in the mud, and then spent a full day on the boat at the lake.
The icing on the cake for September was wrapping up a powerful 6-months of the Elite Accelerator Mastermind with a retreat in the Ozarks where we all came together for a extended weekend of connection, strategy, photos shoots, and celebrating the expansion these ladies had over the last half year. The magic, tears, laughter, and growth this weekend created will forever be a treasured memory of mine.
October - December
Wow, where does the time go you guys? Feels like it was just yesterday we were in Costa Rica.
October my husband and I headed back to the Ozarks for our own little weekend away at The Ozarker lodge to celebrate 7 years of marriage with good food, hot tubbing, and hiking lakeside.
We did a fall camping trip with the Bleer fam where we carved pumpkins, ate delicious food, went to fall parties with the kids and their friends, co-hosted the Ladies Conquering Goals Sip and Snap with Paige Rains Photography and prepared for the big Sedona Reach Retreat.
November was a wild freaking month of VIP Days, speaking, and preparing for Reach Retreat Sedona.
This retreat was over a year in planning and preparing to create a life changing experience and it was just that. Over 20 women met in Phoenix before heading to Sedona for 5 days of reflection and expansion. Our speakers and leaders brought the fire, our chef killed it, and our collective group of ladies could not have been anymore perfect. To see some more behind the scenes of Reach Retreat you can see our IG here. Oh, and personally this was my first of the Reach Retreats to sell out! This was a massive dream of mine as a retreat host and made my heart want to explode knowing our house was full!
Now, it got even wilder. On our all black night of Reach we shared where we were headed for 2024 and all but 1 spot for our 2024 retreat was claimed. Our ladies were ready to come back next year and were not going to hold off on claiming their spot. After some adjusting for our 2024 sleeping arrangements we were able to make room for only 2 more ladies. As soon as I sent our first email to our waitlisters our November 2024 retreat sold out! Guys, this is record breaking and something I dreamed of for years and years as a business owner.
Now post sickness that hit in late November I planned all of 2023 to take the month of December off of client facing work to plan for 2024 and to spend intentional time with my family. I did just that. I am writing this on the final day of the year and can say this is by far my best year yet! I had record breaking sales, record breaking launches, dream trips, served and gave back unlike never before, held boundaries, released things no longer serving me, bet on myself, took scary but intentional action, had more time off doing things I loved with those I loved, and after 7 years as an entrepreneur can say I have a business that serves my life, allows me to use my gifts, and makes my heart want to explode.
To end the month on an epic note we celebrated our oldest daughter Kora turning 16, attending her drives education course, and had our own fun Thanksgiving celebration out on the town with a day filled with ice skating, a movie, sushi, and cracker barrel.
Oh my gosh I almost forgot to mention I also spoke on Abundance in Dallas at the Boss Vision Conference and had two of my sweet friends Krista and Diana there to support and cheer me on. This was a big moment for me.
The Grand Finale
If you read this far know I freaking love you and your support of this wild journey that is my life does not go unnoticed and myself and my family is honored to have you as a part of our lives and the impact we have been called to make on this world. God has and continues to move through us and I know and trust 2024 will be another epic year but in this moment is seems unreal that this is our life.
I hope in sharing all of this that you see the RIPPLE EFFECTS you have on those around you and that you are capable of living the life you always dreamed of. You can take action in 2024 to change your life and in return change the lives of others all around you.
Make 2024 the year you take chances, bet on yourself, pray more, live more, and dream bigger than you even think possible.
“The life and business you desire is closer than you think!”
Love you so much friends!
Danielle
A special shoutout to my photographers and team for 2024
Evergreen Photography Costa Rica Retreat
Paige Rains Photography Headshot for my what’s popping newsletter
Ashley St. Clair Photography My first Boudior Shoot and Sedona Retreat
Danielle Villemarette Branding and Weekend of Intention Retreat
Mackenzie Morris My Assistant for all of 2023
Naomi Marquez My Assistant for all of 2023
Brittney Suttle My life saving CPA
Anna Pruitt My amazing bookkeeper