October 2019 Q & A #3: Get More Faster

Questions and Answers   How many units do you have and how long have you been in the business?    J currently has 37 units and has been in the process of getting to this point for nearly 15 years. He had to find a way to make money without trading time for dollars and real estate was the path he took.   How do I have my prices on Lodgify use AirBnB and Booking.com but ignore the prices on Home Away?   If you’re on the basic plan for Lodgify, it automatically ignores Home Away. J currently still uses the basic plan since the professional plan is still in beta. If you have multiple accounts, you will need to work directly with them to avoid certain errors.   How should we structure a deal for a 100 units if the other party wants to sell the property in five years?   It’s all down to the contract and how the services are signed for. To make things easier, use two separate entities, one for the property and one for the services involved.   How do we add a 0 to our income?   We will never out earn our personal growth. The image you have of yourself is part of the challenge. Part of the process in business is personal growth and consuming information with the intent of being a better person in all areas of life. Personal growth doesn’t just happen. Any idea given to you has a certain level of value to you. What you need to do to make sure you becoming better over time is to not just collect ideas, but also implement them. The majority of us don’t realize what might be in the way that is holding us back from the results we want. You have to set aside time dedicated to self improvement and find those blind spots. When you’re ready to take on that task, you will find the information that will move you further along the road. It’s not a three day process, it will take time to get there but it can be done.   Is the sofa bed you have in all your units custom made?   The sofa bed is custom made each and every time. One size does not fit all in our market.   A question about Ring camera and AutoLock   Anytime we talk about a system, it’s about efficiency and a single point of failure. You can save money buying an individual system, but you will pay with additional power requirements or lack of redundancies. Especially once you start to scale, this is why we’ve put together packages that help with that.   AirDNA gives my area a B+, does that rating bear any weight?   It all depends on how the data was collected, you won’t know for sure until after operating in that area for about 12 months. Scott and his team have a ton of work to improve the service, right now J puts more weight in their trend data instead of absolute numbers.   I want to run a short term rental business with my parents basement, should I speak to the HOA first or just do it?   We try to run everything above board and documented. Typically HOA’s are something we avoid but that doesn’t mean you can’t work with them. Get a copy of the CC&R;’s so you can find out exactly what the HOA says about short term rentals. It can mean having to only run a 30 day minimum model or having a conversation with the HOA if you want to do something different.  Make sure who you are looking to serve is in alignment with the property type you are looking to work with.   I’m not sure about money in my situation, what would you do to find financing and get started as quickly as possible?   Sometimes it’s what we assume and become confident of without ever having actually researched it that can sink us. Being income challenged or credit challenged is irrelevant. Your job is to understand the problem of the customer, in the case of the landlord they have a vacancy that they need to fill. Your solution is filling that vacancy.  If you know how to solve the problem, that’s where you start the conversation. At this point, that's where the capacity question comes into play. Having cash in the bank or the ability to raise capital is the answer.  Sometimes we just need some help to see our way around these roadblocks that we put in front of ourselves. That’s where personal growth comes in.   Is the time factor the only benefit between renting and owning in the short term rental business?   The biggest benefit is actually the experience component. By leasing a property and going through the short term rental model you can get the experience without pledging all your capital upfront. That can come in later stages of your business, and inevitably that’s when you will encounter different roadblocks to work through. Many of us know exactly what to do, but we never do it. It’s not just about the knowledge, it’s about taking action.   Am I going to have payment problems if I connect to Lodgify and start doing all the payments through Stripe?   At this point J is trying to avoid being the one processing the payments for reservations and additional services. This configuration is basically what J is doing with his business to achieve that.   When you are presenting at a BNI with property managers in the room, what main points do you hit on?   Property managers get hit up for a number of things they don’t want to do. The easiest business you can ever get is to ask for the business that people are throwing away. Ask them if their owners ever ask about short term rentals. How they respond will give you an idea as to how to proceed. Highlight how you work with other people and solve their problems.   How do I secure financing if my business credit is developing slowly?   Within the mastermind program, there is a module that goes over the three different kinds of financial structures we recommend. Check it out. Sharpen the saw. Have a plan to develop your personal growth. Don’t get stuck in information gathering mode, you have to go out there and apply. Understand how you learn and figure out where your roadblocks are and go find out what you need to get around them. You want more, so get out there and go get it. When we labor under correct knowledge, we can develop our own luck. Links: cashflowdiarypodcast.com Cashflow Diary on Audible cashflowdiary.com/action Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe to the show on iTunes and Stitcher Radio!