The kickoff weekend · Lake Cowichan

Three days on the lake.
A real plan for the year.

North Shore Haven, Lake Cowichan, November 27 to 29. 10 to 12 people, one house on the water with a private dock, a cedar sauna, a cold plunge and a hot tub. A chef, early mornings, and long conversations at a table. You leave Sunday with two things: a full strategic plan for your business and the year ahead, and a plan for the rest of your life, both challenged by people who care enough to push.

Where
Lake Cowichan, BC
When
Nov 27 to 29, 2026
Seats
10 to 12, invite only
The point of it

You won't start with a blank page, and you won't leave with a vague feeling. You leave with a plan for the business and a plan for the life.

Four weeks before the weekend you'll get the prep work: the strategic planning template, an honest inventory of every part of your life, and a first draft of where you want to be. The day it goes out we host a call to walk through it, so nobody's guessing what a section means. Two weeks out, a second call to check where everyone's at and unstick anything that's stuck. You'll have done the thinking before you arrive. The weekend is for the part you can't do alone: getting challenged, seeing what you've been avoiding, and committing to something in front of people who'll remember.

Two tracks, one plan. Saturday morning is the whole life: where you are, what matters, what you're avoiding. The rest of the weekend is the strategic plan for the business: the numbers, the big bets, what stops, what starts. The life plan sets the direction. The business plan is how you get there.

The cedar sauna at North Shore Haven with Lake Cowichan behind itThe sauna, on the shore
The shape of the weekend

Enough structure to do real work. Enough space to enjoy it.

Friday
01

Connect

Arrive in the afternoon, settle in. Appies and drinks from the chef. Then introductions around the fire: who you are, what you've built, why you said yes, and what you want from the weekend. After that, nothing scheduled. Just the fire, the lake, and the room getting to know itself.

A fire pit on a lakeside deck at nightFriday, after dinner
Saturday
02

Vision, then build

Early group hike, sauna, a big breakfast. The morning is a facilitated look at the whole life: where you actually are, what matters, what you're avoiding. Worked in pairs, shared with the room, ending with a one-page picture of what matters this year.

The afternoon is the strategic plan for the business: revenue and targets, the two or three bets that actually move it, what you stop doing, what you start, and the assumptions underneath. Worked in small groups where two people challenge each one. Then downtime, sauna, the lake, a proper dinner, and the fire.

The sauna heater at North Shore HavenSaturday, 7:15 a.m.
Sunday
03

Breakouts, then hot seats

Morning routine, breakfast. Breakout rooms, grouped by industry or stage of business, poke holes in every plan. You rebuild it and set your first ninety days. After lunch, the hot seats: your plan, your commitments, and who's holding you to them, said out loud. We close with what happens Monday, and what the room does from here.

  • Official end mid-afternoon Sunday, November 29
  • Optional: stay Sunday night, dinner in town, no schedule, head home Monday the 30th with coffee
The house

One house on the water, and everything you need to think clearly.

North Shore Haven sits right on Lake Cowichan. A cedar sauna and cold plunge on the shore, a hot tub, a private dock, trails out the back door, and a fire that doesn't go out. The house is ours for the weekend, and nobody's watching the clock.

The dock on Lake CowichanThe dock
The fireplace at North Shore HavenFriday night
The cold plunge at North Shore HavenSaturday, after the sauna
Practical

What's included, and what to expect.

Included

  • Two nights at North Shore Haven on Lake Cowichan
  • Chef-prepared food: Friday appies, Saturday breakfast and dinner, Sunday breakfast, lunches both days
  • Drinks Friday and Saturday evening
  • Cedar sauna, cold plunge, hot tub, the dock, the hikes, the lake
  • Prep work before you arrive
  • A written strategic plan for your business and the year ahead
  • A one-page whole-life plan with your first ninety days
  • A photographer for the outdoor and social parts, never in the sessions

Expect

  • Everything is part of it. The 6 a.m. hike, the sauna, the sessions. You're in for all of it
  • Bring a laptop, a tablet or a notebook. The plan lives in a spreadsheet; how you take notes is up to you
  • The prep work done before you arrive. Nobody starts from a blank page on Saturday
  • Your numbers with you: last year's financials and this year's forecast, whatever state they're in
  • What's said in the room stays in the room. We say it out loud on Friday and we mean it
  • Real work on the business, and honesty about the parts of life that aren't one, in front of peers
  • Fun. This isn't a planning conference or a therapy weekend
The cost
$1,200 per person

That covers everything in the Included list: two nights at the lake, the chef and every meal, drinks Friday and Saturday, the sauna and the rest of the house, the prep work and both calls before the weekend, the photographer, and your written plan. Sunday night's optional dinner out is the only thing on you.

RSVP

The kickoff weekend

10 to 12 seats.
Invite only.

If someone in the room pointed you here, tell us who you are and one of us will reach out for a conversation. Not a pitch. A conversation about whether this is the right room for you, and whether you're right for it.

RSVP