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567. We Made $5 Million From Airbnb Hosting (Here's What We've Learned) · Thanks For Visiting

• 1:04
  Sarah Karakaian: Welcome back to another great episode.
• 1:06
  Sarah Karakaian: My name is Sarah Karakaian.
• 1:08
  Annette Grant: I'm Annette Grant, and together we are...
• 1:10
  Annette and Sarah: Thanks for Visiting.
• 1:12
  Sarah Karakaian: Annette then I have generated $5 million hosting on Airbnb, but it's not from one property, and it definitely hasn't been overnight.
• 1:19
  Sarah Karakaian: Over a decade of building, making mistakes, fixing them, and figuring out what moves the needle, and from working with hundreds of students inside of our private coaching program, Strategic Host.
• 1:29
  Annette Grant: And the things that move the needle the most are almost never what hosts expect.
• 1:34
  Annette Grant: The biggest lessons from $5 million in hosting are not about the properties.
• 1:38
  Annette Grant: They're about how you run the business around them.
• 1:43
  Sarah Karakaian: So in this video, we're gonna share with you seven lessons that will save you a lot of time, money, and headaches.
• 1:50
  Sarah Karakaian: One of them might even save your business in a week when everything feels like it's falling apart.
• 1:56
  Annette Grant: Lesson one, track your finances correctly from day one.
• 2:03
  Annette Grant: If there is one thing that we would go back and do from the very, very...
• 2:06
  Annette Grant: Actually, before the very first booking, it is this.
• 2:10
  Annette Grant: Separate bank account for the business.
• 2:13
  Annette Grant: Separate credit card for all property expenses.
• 2:16
  Annette Grant: Clean books from day one, not when things calm down or you get your first reservation.
• 2:22
  Annette Grant: Day one.
• 2:25
  Sarah Karakaian: Cause when your business income is mixed in with your personal finances, you cannot see your business clearly.
• 2:31
  Sarah Karakaian: You don't know what you're making.
• 2:32
  Sarah Karakaian: You don't know what you're spending, and come tax time, you are untangling months of transactions that should have been clean the whole entire time.
• 2:40
  Sarah Karakaian: A bookkeeper, a CPA who understands short-term rentals, a structured profit and loss statement, otherwise known as a PNL.
• 2:48
  Sarah Karakaian: These are not expenses you add when the business gets bigger.
• 2:52
  Sarah Karakaian: They are the foundation that tells you whether the business is working or not.
• 2:56
  Sarah Karakaian: This structure reduces your liability, making sure that what happens at your business belongs in your business and does not touch your personal life, and can protect you from being audited or being sued.
• 3:08
  Annette Grant: We have worked with so many hosts who are fully booked, calendar packed with reservations, and they have absolutely no idea if they are profitable because they have never run the numbers correctly.
• 3:19
  Annette Grant: Do not be that host.
• 3:21
  Annette Grant: Structure your financers the way you would structure any business because that's what hosting is.
• 3:26
  Sarah Karakaian: All right, lesson number two, you have to spend money to make money.
• 3:31
  Sarah Karakaian: Hosts will invest six, seven figures into a property and then hesitate to spend a few hundred bucks a month on a bookkeeper, let's say.
• 3:39
  Sarah Karakaian: That gap in thinking has cost more hosts more money than almost anything else we've seen.
• 3:47
  Annette Grant: A team around your business, that is not overhead.
• 3:49
  Annette Grant: It's the thing that lets your business function.
• 3:52
  Annette Grant: An attorney who sets up your structure correctly from the start.
• 3:55
  Annette Grant: Your CPA who finds deductions that you didn't even know existed.
• 4:00
  Annette Grant: A bookkeeper who keeps your numbers current.
• 4:03
  Annette Grant: An excellent cleaner you trust completely with your property.
• 4:06
  Annette Grant: An inspector who protects that property, and a coach who helps you see what you can't see yourself when you're trying to scale.
• 4:13
  Annette Grant: We are not saying hire all of these at once.
• 4:16
  Annette Grant: We are saying plan for them and stop treating each one as an expense you'll add later when you can afford it
• 4:23
  Sarah Karakaian: And I'll tell you this, desperate hiring is the most expensive kind of hiring.
• 4:29
  Sarah Karakaian: When you are at your wit's end and you need someone like yesterday, you don't have time to look for the right person to sit, to sit in that right seat.
• 4:39
  Sarah Karakaian: You don't have time to train them properly.
• 4:41
  Sarah Karakaian: You don't have bandwidth to onboard them well and give them that experience coming into your business that you want them to have, and you end up with someone in a critical role who was never set up to succeed
• 4:52
  Sarah Karakaian: in the first place.
• 4:53
  Sarah Karakaian: So I want you to hire before you fully need that person.
• 4:57
  Sarah Karakaian: The onboarding will be better, the relationship will be better, and the results are going to show that.
• 5:02
  Annette Grant: And we need you to have a mindset shift here.
• 5:05
  Annette Grant: Your team is not an expense.
• 5:07
  Sarah Karakaian: Mm.
• 5:08
  Annette Grant: They are an investment, and they might show up as an expense on your PNL, but truly they are the best investment in your business.
• 5:16
  Annette Grant: Lesson number three, back up everything.
• 5:19
  Annette Grant: We believe in having backups for our backups, and here's what we mean by that.
• 5:24
  Annette Grant: Backups from anything from your spare keys all the way to some of your appliances.
• 5:30
  Annette Grant: Backup keys so a guest is never locked out waiting on you.
• 5:34
  Annette Grant: Backup cleaners so that when your primary cleaner calls off on a Saturday morning before a checkout, you're not scrambling.
• 5:42
  Annette Grant: You need to have backup coffee makers, backup small appliances.
• 5:46
  Annette Grant: And for your bigger ticket items like an AC unit, refrigerator, you might not have a spare, but at minimum you need to have a plan in place for when they go down so you don't have a guest crisis
• 5:59
  Annette Grant: that turns into potentially a bad review or a refund.
• 6:03
  Sarah Karakaian: Or both.
• 6:04
  Annette Grant: Ooh, you got them.
• 6:06
  Sarah Karakaian: It's the moment that you don't have a backup is the moment you need one.
• 6:10
  Sarah Karakaian: A guest arrives and the AC is down on a hot weekend.
• 6:12
  Sarah Karakaian: You don't have a backup unit, you don't have a technician available on a Saturday, or they cost so much money to come to you on a Saturday, and you're now in a crisis that is going to cost you
• 6:21
  Sarah Karakaian: money, a bad review, or both.
• 6:23
  Sarah Karakaian: The cost of having that backup sitting somewhere in your operation is nothing compared to what one failed stay can cost you.
• 6:31
  Annette Grant: So we want you to go through your property right now and ask, "If this failed during a guest stay, what is my plan?"
• 6:38
  Sarah Karakaian: Mm-hmm.
• 6:38
  Annette Grant: And if you don't have an answer, that is your either next purchase or your next plan.
• 6:46
  Sarah Karakaian: By the way, helping you build out your operations, thinking ahead, building out your standard operating procedures, this is the exact work that we do with our private clients inside of our coaching program, Strategic Host.
• 6:58
  Sarah Karakaian: I want you to join us live and see if it's a right fit for you.
• 7:00
  Sarah Karakaian: The link is in the description to save your seat.
• 7:04
  Sarah Karakaian: All right, lesson number four, build a brand identity.
• 7:07
  Sarah Karakaian: The riches are in the niches.
• 7:09
  Sarah Karakaian: When you have a clear brand identity and a set of brand standards, every decision is gonna get easier.
• 7:15
  Sarah Karakaian: What properties you buy, how you set them up, what kinds of guests that you want to attract, what co-hosting clients you take on if you're a co-host.
• 7:24
  Sarah Karakaian: The brand becomes your filter, and you stop spending time wondering whether something is the right move because the standard already is going to tell you.
• 7:34
  Annette Grant: And listen, brand identity, it is not just a logo or your color palette.
• 7:40
  Annette Grant: It is a scorecard.
• 7:42
  Annette Grant: Does this property meet our standards?
• 7:45
  Annette Grant: Does this client align with how we operate?
• 7:47
  Annette Grant: Does this amenity fit the experience we promise guests?
• 7:51
  Annette Grant: When you can answer those questions off a very clear set of standards, you're not making decisions by your gut every single time.
• 7:59
  Annette Grant: You are running a business with a compass and with intention.
• 8:05
  Sarah Karakaian: I mean, another example, we have seen hosts take on co-hosting clients that were wrong for them from the first conversation because they didn't have the same standards that the co-host has, and that wasn't defined well enough to know
• 8:16
  Sarah Karakaian: what a no looked like.
• 8:19
  Sarah Karakaian: Every one of those relationships cost them time, energy, and in most cases, a lot of money.
• 8:24
  Sarah Karakaian: So if you define your brand standards early, what do you stand for?
• 8:29
  Sarah Karakaian: What do you stand against?
• 8:30
  Sarah Karakaian: What are you excited to, um, deal with?
• 8:34
  Sarah Karakaian: I.e., are you pet friendly?
• 8:36
  Sarah Karakaian: Are you not pet friendly?
• 8:37
  Sarah Karakaian: Do you have to have your...
• 8:38
  Sarah Karakaian: all the properties that you manage or buy by the beach?
• 8:41
  Sarah Karakaian: Do they all have to have a garage?
• 8:43
  Sarah Karakaian: Do you, uh, you know, I don't know.
• 8:50
  Sarah Karakaian: And that's what's another good brand standard, um, with, you know, with your, with your team.
• 8:52
  Sarah Karakaian: How do you all talk to each other?
• 8:53
  Sarah Karakaian: And so if someone talks in a way that doesn't align with your brand standard that you already set in place and decided on, it's a lot easier for you to know that you already have to have a tough
• 9:03
  Sarah Karakaian: conversation.
• 9:04
  Sarah Karakaian: I'm not saying that setting your brand standards makes everything necessarily easy, but it does keep you streamlined, and it will save you a lot of extra headache and money.
• 9:15
  Annette Grant: Lesson number five, guest feedback is a gift.
• 9:19
  Annette Grant: It may not be the gift that you you were, you were anticipating.
• 9:22
  Annette Grant: You're going to get a bad review.
• 9:25
  Annette Grant: You are going to have a guest question something you did.
• 9:27
  Annette Grant: You're going to have a co-hosting client push back on how you manage their property.
• 9:32
  Annette Grant: How you handle those moments matter more than almost anything else in how you grow.
• 9:37
  Annette Grant: Every piece of negative feedback, it carries so much information.
• 9:43
  Annette Grant: For every person who takes the time to tell you that something wasn't right, you better believe there were probably ten guests who felt the same way and honestly just didn't say anything at all to you.
• 9:55
  Annette Grant: When a guest mentions the same problem that was in a review from three months ago, that shows a pattern that you didn't address.
• 10:05
  Annette Grant: That feedback, those hard clients, they actually teach you the most.
• 10:09
  Annette Grant: A client who pushes back on your management fee forces you to get clearer on the value that you are delivering.
• 10:15
  Sarah Karakaian: Mm.
• 10:16
  Annette Grant: A co-hosting relationship that goes sideways, it teaches you what your contract was missing in the first place.
• 10:24
  Annette Grant: A guest complaint that leads to a, a whole policy change, that saves the next 50 guests from having the same experience.
• 10:34
  Annette Grant: Listen, none of it feels good in the moment, but all of it makes you better.
• 10:38
  Annette Grant: We say, um, I had a coach a long time ago, she said, "The breakthrough is in the breakdown," and that's what happens sometimes with your property and your business.
• 10:47
  Sarah Karakaian: The hosts who grow the fastest are not the ones who never have problems.
• 10:51
  Sarah Karakaian: They're actually the ones who treat every problem as a data point, and then they actually act on it.
• 11:00
  Sarah Karakaian: Lesson six, don't just be on Airbnb.
• 11:04
  Sarah Karakaian: Airbnb is a great platform, okay?
• 11:06
  Sarah Karakaian: Annette and I are the first to say it.
• 11:08
  Sarah Karakaian: It has done so much for our business, right?
• 11:10
  Sarah Karakaian: And I'm sure so much for yours.
• 11:12
  Sarah Karakaian: It is also someone else's platform.
• 11:14
  Sarah Karakaian: If Airbnb changes its algorithm, I mean, not if, when it changes its algorithm, changes its fee structure, or decides to do something that doesn't work for your business or for the way that you like to operate, you have
• 11:26
  Sarah Karakaian: built everything on that one platform that you have no leverage and now no options.
• 11:31
  Annette Grant: So you need to start collecting your guest emails from day one.
• 11:35
  Annette Grant: Build that direct booking presence.
• 11:37
  Annette Grant: Be on other OTAs.
• 11:40
  Annette Grant: Make sure you're on VRBO, booking.com, whatever makes sense and is available for you in your market.
• 11:46
  Annette Grant: And don't have foolish pride.
• 11:49
  Annette Grant: Don't rule out a platform because you heard something negative about it.
• 11:53
  Sarah Karakaian: Ay, ay, ay.
• 11:53
  Annette Grant: See what it does for your specific property in your specific market.
• 12:00
  Sarah Karakaian: The hosts who have weathered every algorithm change, every fee restructure, every platform update over the past decade are the ones who never put all of their bookings in one place.
• 12:10
  Sarah Karakaian: I want you to own your guest relationships.
• 12:13
  Sarah Karakaian: Build your own audience.
• 12:15
  Sarah Karakaian: The platform gets you started, but your brand and your brand standards keep you booked
• 12:23
  Annette Grant: And lesson number seven, money is not your why.
• 12:28
  Sarah Karakaian: Ooh, explain.
• 12:29
  Annette Grant: This one took us both time to really understand.
• 12:33
  Annette Grant: And listen, you are doing this for money.
• 12:36
  Annette Grant: Of course you are.
• 12:37
  Annette Grant: But money alone will not carry you through the difficult and impossible feeling weeks.
• 12:44
  Annette Grant: The week where three things break at once, a guest leaves you a review that feels deeply unfair.
• 12:51
  Annette Grant: Maybe you have a co-hosting client that's calling you in the middle of the night with a problem that isn't really a problem.
• 12:56
  Annette Grant: Those weeks will happen, and they happen to every host.
• 13:00
  Annette Grant: And the ones who make it through are the ones that have a why that goes beyond just the income and the money.
• 13:08
  Sarah Karakaian: Maybe it's freedom, time with your family, the ability to build something that is yours, proving something to yourself.
• 13:15
  Sarah Karakaian: Whatever it is, you need to know it before you need it.
• 13:19
  Sarah Karakaian: Not when you're already in the middle of a hard stretch trying to remember why you started this business in the first place.
• 13:24
  Annette Grant: Yeah.
• 13:24
  Annette Grant: So it's important.
• 13:25
  Annette Grant: You must do the mindset work.
• 13:27
  Annette Grant: Sit with the question, what is my why outside of money?
• 13:30
  Annette Grant: Write it down somewhere where you will actually see it because there will be a day when your calendar is slow, when your expenses are high, and everything feels way harder than it should be.
• 13:42
  Annette Grant: And on that day, that money isn't going to be enough, but your why will be.
• 13:50
  Sarah Karakaian: So there you have it, $5 million and seven lessons.
• 13:54
  Sarah Karakaian: Get your finances right from the beginning, friends.
• 13:57
  Sarah Karakaian: Trust us.
• 13:58
  Sarah Karakaian: Build a team before you need that team member desperately.
• 14:02
  Sarah Karakaian: Back up all the things.
• 14:05
  Sarah Karakaian: Define your brand standards.
• 14:07
  Sarah Karakaian: What do you stand for, and what do you stand against?
• 14:10
  Sarah Karakaian: Learn from every hard moment.
• 14:11
  Sarah Karakaian: Own your audience beyond one platform, and know why you're doing this before you need that answer.
• 14:18
  Annette Grant: None of these are shortcuts, and all of them compound.
• 14:22
  Annette Grant: The hosts who are still doing this in 10 years are the ones who treated it like a business from day one and kept showing up even when it was hard.
• 14:31
  Sarah Karakaian: Inside of Strategic Host, we help hosts get more nights booked, charge what their property is worth, and stop leaving money on the table.
• 14:38
  Annette Grant: Join us live to see if Strategic Host is the right fit for you.
• 14:42
  Annette Grant: The link will be in the description to save your seat.
• 14:44
  Sarah Karakaian: And with that, I am Sara Karakaian.
• 14:46
  Annette Grant: I'm Annette Grant, and together we are...
• 14:48
  Annette and Sarah: Thanks for Visiting.