Latest / Thanks For Visiting / 246. Hosting Hotline: The Power of Education in the Airbnb Industry

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246. Hosting Hotline: The Power of Education in the Airbnb Industry · Thanks For Visiting

• 0:00
  Sarah: Hello.
• 0:00
  Welcome back for another great week.
• 0:02
  My name is Sarah Karakaian.
• 0:04
  Annette: I am Annette Grant, and together we are--
• 0:06
  Both Annette & Sarah: Thanks for Visiting.
• 0:07
  Sarah: And this is the--
• 0:08
  Both Annette & Sarah: Hosting Hotline.
• 0:09
  Sarah: If you don't know what the Hosting Hotline is, I'm going to tell you.
• 0:12
  Head on over to thanksforvisiting.me.
• 0:14
  In the upper right-hand corner is a red button, it says "Ask TFV".
• 0:19
  You click that button, you can record your question, and we'll air it on the show.
• 0:22
  We'll chat about it.
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  And if it's a question that you've been having in your mind, believe
• 0:28
  us, our listeners want to know some thoughts behind it too.
• 0:32
  So get your questions answered, help us create content on this
• 0:36
  podcast, and get involved.
• 0:37
  With that, we've got a great question and we hope inspires all of us to level up.
• 0:42
  Questions: Hey, there.
• 0:43
  I was just curious when you first started if you joined a group to learn how to
• 0:48
  do more stuff with short term rentals.
• 0:50
  Did you just start from scratch and figure it out on your way?
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  I want to eliminate as much as possible.
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  I've been studying a lot of Mike Sjogren's group and, uh, he's one of
• 1:00
  the top guys obviously that I follow.
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  And, uh, I love your material and I just had some questions
• 1:06
  like how you got started.
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  Do you co-host?
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  How long have you been doing it?
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  Where do you see things going?
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  Is there a market you're really paying attention to?
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  Things you're avoiding.
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  Sarah: Good question, Bobby.
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  And we want to unpack this.
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  So Annette, can I interview you real quick?
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  Annette: Yeah.
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  Sarah: Ask you Bobby's questions.
• 1:22
  So how did you get started?
• 1:24
  How did you tackle your first short-term rental, and did you learn from someone?
• 1:28
  Annette: Two things.
• 1:29
  I started from scratch, but I quickly realized I needed some help, and I
• 1:35
  was super fortunate that the Airbnb Open was happening, I think right
• 1:41
  after I opened, I can't remember, this is the last Airbnb Open that--
• 1:45
  Sarah: Can you do two things?
• 1:46
  What year was this and what is an Airbnb Open?
• 1:48
  Annette: I think it was 2018, and Airbnb Open was this giant convention,
• 1:54
  if you will, that Airbnb put on.
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  They actually shut down every theater in a good way.
• 2:00
  They rented out every theater in downtown LA.
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  You guys, Lady Gaga performed.
• 2:06
  Yes.
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  What was happening here?
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  So they never did it again probably because they spent a ton of money.
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  But what I want to say for that, I started from scratch.
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  I knew nothing.
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  I made countless mistakes.
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  Going to that event and investing in that event.
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  I remember I slept on my friend Brad's couch.
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  Thank you, Brad and his lovely wife let me sleep on their
• 2:27
  couch because they lived nearby.
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  But that event was so eye-opening for me and it really changed
• 2:33
  everything I thought about Airbnb.
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  I met hosts from all over the world and let me tell you the
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  one takeaway from that event.
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  I did not have instant booking on when I went to that event and every host there
• 2:46
  basically like, aw, aren't you cute?
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  Because I was scared to turn on instant booking.
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  And they were like, do you understand what you're doing to yourself?
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  It was getting around other hosts like that that was my first taste of, oh
• 3:03
  my gosh, there's so many other people out here that are doing this and doing
• 3:06
  it well, and I can learn from them.
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  But when I left that event, then I was back on my own because
• 3:12
  back then it was really just their, um, the Airbnb host board.
• 3:17
  And it was like you would go on there and the threads hadn't been--
• 3:22
  Sarah: Attended to.
• 3:23
  Annette: In years and you're not really talking.
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  It was everybody just throwing their thoughts out there
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  but no real back and forth.
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  And then I didn't feel connected again until I met Sarah at
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  the city council meeting.
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  But I was completely from scratch.
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  I wasn't really a Facebook user, so I don't know if groups-- I never even
• 3:39
  looked outside of my sphere for help because I had a ton of hospitality
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  experience in resorts and restaurants.
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  So I thought-- and I had customer service experience, so I drew a lot from that.
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  That was a long-winded answer, but man, I wish they would bring Airbnb Open back.
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  But you know what we're going to do?
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  We're going to bring a TFV Con and we're going to-- that's what we're doing.
• 4:01
  Sarah: We are bringing TFV Con.
• 4:02
  Annette: That's our live event, everybody.
• 4:03
  So get ready to mark your calendars.
• 4:05
  Sarah: And if you're like, yeah, what the heck is that?
• 4:06
  Don't worry.
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  We haven't chatted much about it yet, but it's coming soon.
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  Well, I think what Bobby's wanting to know too is, do you think it's
• 4:12
  a good idea and obviously, here we'll level with you listeners.
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  So Annette and I now have a membership.
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  It's called Hosting Business Mastery Membership.
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  It's been around for almost three years?
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  Annette: Mm-hmm.
• 4:24
  Sarah: Almost three years now.
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  And it is a paid membership.
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  And this is where Annette and I have both come together and gotten our professional
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  connections to also create content behind a paywall where we can get people who want
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  to level up their businesses and invest in themselves professionally to come
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  together and learn from each other, learn from our business the way we've set it up.
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  But then of course, as they go to set things up, it's always
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  very different for everyone.
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  And we've seen the amazing things that can happen when we get like-minded
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  business individuals to learn from a leader, but also to learn from each other.
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  AD MARKER
• 5:00
  Annette: Oh my gosh.
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  I think Airbnb Open might have been 2016.
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  I'm going to go back.
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  I'm going have fact-check myself.
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  Sarah: I think it was.
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  Annette: I think it was too, because I think I met you in 2018.
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  I'm going with 2016.
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  Fact-check with me.
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  Sarah: It's been a while.
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  Annette: Yes, it has been a while.
• 5:13
  Sarah: It's been a while.
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  Annette: What Sarah's talking about, this opportunity to learn,
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  we don't care who you learn from.
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  Well--
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  Sarah: Make sure they're--
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  Annette: We have feelings about who you're going to learn from, but anything that you
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  do, you are now a small business owner.
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  You need continuing education.
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  Things are changing quickly, and whether it's you follow someone online,
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  you follow the news even if it's just getting alerts when Airbnb changes
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  things, when your city changes things.
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  But please, you need to be constantly learning and you need a community.
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  Let's talk about the community aspect and how important that is, Sarah.
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  Let's talk about when we started our small live event.
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  Sarah: All right.
• 5:49
  We did.
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  So Annette and I met in 2018 and then very shortly after, because we are
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  aggressive, self-starters, but we started a meetup here in Columbus.
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  We used meetup.com to get people to come together.
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  But we started a meetup.
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  We had speakers come out of our own pockets.
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  Got pizza and sodas and whatnot, and just got everyone in our
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  area to come together just to be together and learn from each other.
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  How are you doing things?
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  How's your occupancy look?
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  What's your favorite bed?
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  We were just starving for people to communicate with.
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  Annette: Mm-hmm.
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  I just fact-checked myself.
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  It was totally in 2016.
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  Wow.
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  Sarah: It's been a while.
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  Annette: Okay.
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  It was 2016, everybody.
• 6:30
  Yeah.
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  Sarah: So all of this to say, you are short-term rental owner
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  operator, or you want to be, you are absolutely a candidate to invest
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  in yourself and go to a conference.
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  There are plenty now to join a mastermind like Bobby's talking about.
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  We're preaching the choir because we want to say listen to podcasts.
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  Go to YouTube University if you must, as your first step.
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  Facebook groups.
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  Just make sure that you are surrounding yourself around people
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  who are solution-based and not just griping, because as we all
• 7:00
  know, this is a tough industry.
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  Every industry is tough.
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  Any business is hard.
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  So just remember that while it's tough, there's always solutions.
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  There's always ways to overcome and to always be learning.
• 7:09
  Annette: Yeah.
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  And I think we can learn so much from each other.
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  That's what blows my mind about our group is, there are rockstar hosts in here that
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  have been hosting for years, hundreds, if not thousands of reservations, and
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  there's new stuff every single day that they are encountering and improving upon.
• 7:30
  And man, it's just fun to see all the wins in there.
• 7:33
  Sarah: So if you want to join our-- we have a live workshop,
• 7:35
  it's host masterclass.com.
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  We educate and then we open up the doors for you to join our mastermind.
• 7:41
  But if you just want to hop in and look to see what our mastermind's
• 7:43
  about, there is a video.
• 7:45
  You can watch the top of the screen there.
• 7:47
  Annette: We'll put the link, but that is, thanksforvisiting.me/join.
• 7:52
  Sarah: Great.
• 7:53
  J-O-I-N.
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  thanksforvisiting.me-- we'll put that link in the show notes, also
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  our workshop link in the show notes.
• 7:57
  And again, if it's not Annette and myself, if we annoy the heck out of you--
• 8:02
  Annette: No, we don't that.
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  No.
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  Sarah: Well, I just mean if we're not the ones you learned from, just know that
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  there's a lot of opportunities out there.
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  There's a lot of conferences going on, a lot of masterminds.
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  Get involved.
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  Level up your education.
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  Annette: Let'sdo it.
• 8:13
  Great question though.
• 8:14
  Sarah: With that, I am Sarah Karakaian.
• 8:15
  Annette: I am Annette Grant, and together we are--
• 8:17
  Both Annette & Sarah: Thanks for Visiting.
• 8:18
  Sarah: Talk to you next week.