Hello listeners.
Speaker:Welcome back.
Speaker:My name is Sarah Karakaian.
Speaker:I am Annette Grant.
Speaker:And together we are--
Speaker:Thanks for Visiting.
Speaker:We are officially so close to TFV Con, and we are beyond excited to invite
Speaker:you to our hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
Speaker:And when Annette and I are putting together the content for the event,
Speaker:we wanted to come up with a theme.
Speaker:And right now, we are getting emails from you, DMs from you,
Speaker:any way you can get ahold of us.
Speaker:We're hearing that the market is shifting.
Speaker:It's different, and you're really wanting to figure out how to own your short-term
Speaker:rental business in a way that works well for you, and your family, and your goals.
Speaker:So we've named the conference, obviously, TFV Con, but it's Own Your Future.
Speaker:And so every speaker that we have is coming to speak on a topic that
Speaker:will truly help you take ownership of your hospitality business.
Speaker:You don't have to rely on Airbnb, although it will continue to be
Speaker:an amazing tool in our tool belt.
Speaker:And so all through the month of August, we're going to bring some
Speaker:of our speakers onto the podcast and share a little bit about what
Speaker:they're going to speak on, obviously, provide you value here on the podcast.
Speaker:Get youhyped.
Speaker:But get you hyped to come and hear them speak and connect
Speaker:with them in person in Columbus.
Speaker:Real quick, a little bit about TFV Con.
Speaker:When you get to Columbus, Ohio, whether you fly in or you drive in, there's a ton
Speaker:of drivable destinations around Columbus.
Speaker:Horse and buggy.
Speaker:Train.
Speaker:Bus.
Speaker:Whichever way you get here.
Speaker:If you fly in, once you land, you are a 10-minute Uber ride
Speaker:from the airport to the hotel.
Speaker:Once you get to the hotel, there's so many restaurants, and cafes, and shops, and
Speaker:these are locally owned, really amazing spots for you to enjoy while in Columbus.
Speaker:So you're not going to need to rent a car, and you're going to be with all
Speaker:your hosting friends and buddies, and you can obviously connect at the conference
Speaker:with all that conversation, but then of course, take the learning offsite with
Speaker:the fellow hosts and connect there.
Speaker:But with that, today, we're going to chat with you about the woman who
Speaker:we've brought on as TFV Con's MC.
Speaker:So Ashley Nobles is going to be our MC.
Speaker:She's going to be there for the opening night party and for both
Speaker:days, but she's also going to keynote.
Speaker:What has you so excited about her keynote, Annette?
Speaker:Because this is something that every single listener of the podcast, every
Speaker:single attendee at the event, whether you have your primary residence,
Speaker:your short-term rental, your friends, family, everyone can participate in
Speaker:this opportunity that Ashley is going to not only bring to the show today,
Speaker:but really dig in deep on at our event.
Speaker:So let's talk a little bit about Ashley's expertise.
Speaker:Ashley is an interior designer, real estate investor, business coach,
Speaker:and short-term rental superstar that specializes on the location
Speaker:rental side of the short-term rental industry since 2015.
Speaker:So she's been doing this for a very long time, and she's got a
Speaker:ton of tested strategies to get you success as quickly as possible.
Speaker:She's hosted thousands of photo shoots, events, meetings, film productions,
Speaker:worked with influencers and content creators across multiple properties,
Speaker:serving guests such as Google, Netflix, Facebook, and many more.
Speaker:And before you count yourself out from these opportunities, because
Speaker:you live in wherever USA, Ashley is going to talk about that on the
Speaker:podcast and how you have opportunity.
Speaker:And we know this to be true because even the middle of Ohio, nowhere,
Speaker:Ohio, not even Columbus, literally, I don't even know the county's name
Speaker:to be honest, we were able to work with a production to use a short-term
Speaker:rental of ours to create content.
Speaker:So her online courses and coaching programs have helped over 5,000
Speaker:people create six and seven-figure success stories by starting location
Speaker:rental businesses of their own.
Speaker:It is still a very hot industry that you can partake in.
Speaker:And I believe it is the future.
Speaker:Sarah and I, during this episode, talk a little bit about how we have
Speaker:just recently used a location rental.
Speaker:And I think that this is something that if you haven't done it,
Speaker:you're going to want to do it.
Speaker:And the last but not least about Ashley, I will never forget sitting
Speaker:with my mom over the holidays, watching, yes, one of those Hallmark movies
Speaker:about the dog holiday or whatever.
Speaker:And I look up, and I'm like, Mom, that's my friend Ashley's
Speaker:place with the Hallmark movie.
Speaker:So I just had a little moment where I was freaking out that the
Speaker:movie was filmed at her house.
Speaker:It was a really fun moment.
Speaker:But let's get on to the episode, Sarah.
Speaker:Ashley, welcome back to the show.
Speaker:We are so excited to have you here.
Speaker:Thank you so much.
Speaker:I am so excited to be here.
Speaker:Good to see you both again.
Speaker:All right, listeners, we have to start this episode off, though,
Speaker:with a little story because Ashley is tuning in from Boston.
Speaker:She normally lives in Southern California.
Speaker:And Ashley, can you just really quick, because it's so
Speaker:good, why are you in Boston?
Speaker:Live from Boston.
Speaker:So I actually won this trip on The Price Is Right a few months ago.
Speaker:And, uh, yeah, I won two trips.
Speaker:I won a trip to Boston, and then I won a trip to Fort Lauderdale,
Speaker:and a mini bar, believe it or not.
Speaker:Oh, wait.
Speaker:So that is coming in the mail.
Speaker:But, uh, yeah, a girlfriend of mine invited me on The Price
Speaker:is Right back in, gosh, April.
Speaker:We went.
Speaker:I randomly got selected, went up there, met Drew Carey, played the game,
Speaker:and fast forward, I'm in Boston now.
Speaker:So happy to be here with you guys.
Speaker:We just love that.
Speaker:And listeners, we're not just saying that because it's super cool.
Speaker:I mean, you're actually the second person I know that won
Speaker:something on The Price Is Right.
Speaker:I used to work with a guy that won a car on Price Is Right,
Speaker:randomly, but he was trying hard.
Speaker:He had the t-shirt.
Speaker:He was going for it.
Speaker:But listeners, the reason that I wanted Ashley to bring that up is Ashley is
Speaker:going to be the MC of our conference.
Speaker:And she is really excited because we're going to do some games, uh, and they're
Speaker:going to make sure that the attendees are going to be winning some things.
Speaker:And so it was just fun to know that Ashley's recording this while she
Speaker:was the winner on Price Is Right.
Speaker:So if that has been a dream of yours, go for it.
Speaker:Maybe you can make it happen.
Speaker:You never know what will happen.
Speaker:So listeners, we've been in talks with Ashley for a little while now.
Speaker:She's agreed to not only be the MC of TFV Con 2023, which, again, is happening
Speaker:this September 24th through 26th.
Speaker:You still have some time to grab your early bird tickets.
Speaker:Plus, you probably heard an ad about another code that you could use
Speaker:to stack on some discounts there.
Speaker:So the time is now to buy your ticket, but we wanted to bring Ashley on to the
Speaker:podcast because Ashley is not only going to emcee the event with her amazing
Speaker:personality and her deep knowledge of the furnished rental industry.
Speaker:And I said the word furnished rental very purposefully because Ashley is known for
Speaker:a particular niche of furnished rentals that we're going to talk a little bit
Speaker:about the podcast today because she's also going to keynote about this very topic.
Speaker:Because I know a lot of us right now are feeling that market shift,
Speaker:wanting to get creative with our furnished rentals, and overnight stays
Speaker:are not the only thing you can do inside your rental to be profitable.
Speaker:So Ashley, share with us a little bit about-- gave a little intro, but about
Speaker:who you are, how you got into furnished rentals, and a little bit more about this
Speaker:niche that you have become the expert in.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:I could talk about this stuff all day.
Speaker:My husband Brett and I, he's not with me, but we actually got started in short-term
Speaker:rentals in general back in 2015.
Speaker:Started off with overnights.
Speaker:So we started off with Airbnb and quickly transitioned to what we
Speaker:popularize the term as location rentals.
Speaker:So very similar, but it caters to a little bit of a different demographic and
Speaker:a different type of guest, but a lot of the hospitality aspects are the same.
Speaker:You just have guests coming to your spaces during the day, and you're
Speaker:charging them on an hourly basis.
Speaker:Now, the term location rentals is a broader term that pretty much caters
Speaker:to anything and everything, anybody coming into your spaces, which can be a
Speaker:residential space, or a commercial space.
Speaker:But any use.
Speaker:So for events, small and large events, like parties, um, dinner parties,
Speaker:bridal showers, all the way up to big conferences, and you also have meetings,
Speaker:so corporate off site meetings where people can come and use your spaces
Speaker:as well as film production, which is the sexier, fun, really awesome side
Speaker:of the location rental industry where anyone from a small influencer to a
Speaker:big budget movie, or television series, or commercial would come and rent your
Speaker:space for a few hours, a few days.
Speaker:But they're typically only there during the day.
Speaker:Now, the really cool thing about location rentals is you can
Speaker:do it in any type of market.
Speaker:A lot of people think, oh my gosh, this is probably only going to be
Speaker:effective, or really profitable, or successful in big markets like
Speaker:Los Angeles, New York, Chicago.
Speaker:I'm in Idaho.
Speaker:Is that going to work for me?
Speaker:And the answer is yes.
Speaker:We have been doing this since 2015.
Speaker:We teach people how to do this.
Speaker:Coaches.
Speaker:We have an online course, and we've helped over 5,000 people from all
Speaker:over the world, all throughout the country, small towns and bigger markets
Speaker:alike, be really successful with this niche and short-term rentals.
Speaker:And it's a lot of fun.
Speaker:You can get really creative if you're into interior design.
Speaker:Um, if you like events, if you like meetings, if you just like hospitality in
Speaker:general, and really opening up your space to have people in there to have a good
Speaker:time, it's a lot of fun, and of course, there's lots of money to be made, but you
Speaker:can get really creative, which I love.
Speaker:You can go into whatever direction you want that suits your lifestyle, your
Speaker:financial goals, your property even.
Speaker:So there's a lot of flexibility, which is why we love it and why
Speaker:we're so passionate about helping other people learn how to do it well.
Speaker:For all the listeners, Ashley is from Columbus, Ohio.
Speaker:It's why she's also near and dear to our heart.
Speaker:We did not know her well.
Speaker:She lived here, but that's okay.
Speaker:We're Buckeyes at heart.
Speaker:And her husband moved to LA.
Speaker:Your first property though, you were doing overnight stays.
Speaker:You were doing Airbnb.
Speaker:Can you talk about going from Airbnb and then that first hit of a location rental?
Speaker:And I know you'll really get into this most likely at our event, but
Speaker:that transition, and because it's so much different with an hourly rate
Speaker:versus a nightly, talk to us about going from Airbnb to a location
Speaker:rental and how that happened.
Speaker:Was it a 100% Airbnb and then you just flipped the script,
Speaker:or you were doing both of them?
Speaker:How did the transition happen?
Speaker:We started off with Airbnb, and we've been doing that for about six months or so.
Speaker:Going really well.
Speaker:Our occupancy was great.
Speaker:Booking rate was really good.
Speaker:We had a guest.
Speaker:Um, and this is back before we had self check-in with our Airbnb.
Speaker:So I was checking everybody in and out.
Speaker:And, uh, I was checking out a guest, his name was Isaac, I will never forget.
Speaker:And he pulls me aside, he's handing over the keys, he's like,
Speaker:oh my gosh, I loved your space.
Speaker:I had a great time.
Speaker:Thank you so much.
Speaker:But I had a question for you.
Speaker:You ever considered opening up the space for photo shoots?
Speaker:I'm a photographer, I need to shoot some content to update more of my portfolio,
Speaker:and this place gets great lighting.
Speaker:I just love the design of it.
Speaker:I think it's perfect.
Speaker:It's got great energy.
Speaker:Do you guys ever open this up for photo shoots?
Speaker:And at the time, I was not familiar with location rentals at all.
Speaker:We were very new to short-term rentals in general, only having done Airbnb for
Speaker:about six months, so I knew nothing.
Speaker:We knew nothing about this.
Speaker:But at that moment, a little light bulb went off, and I'm like, huh.
Speaker:I mean, I'm not opposed.
Speaker:And so he's like, okay, great.
Speaker:Well, what would you charge me if I just wanted to shoot here from 8 to 5 today,
Speaker:or a certain day that we would set up?
Speaker:And I'm like, uh, I don't know.
Speaker:$500?
Speaker:And at the time, he looks at me kind of crazy.
Speaker:And I thought it was because I way overcharged him, right.
Speaker:And keep in mind, we were charging $100 a night.
Speaker:This is way back in 2015.
Speaker:For an overnight fee.
Speaker:So I'm like, ah, $500, but I wasn't charging him enough, turns out.
Speaker:Um, but he's like, all right, I'll pay you $500.
Speaker:Fast forward, we started charging around 150 an hour for that size shoot,
Speaker:and it was probably five to 10 people max between models, photographer,
Speaker:any other crew members that he had, and that's where it took off.
Speaker:It was that one interaction with Isaac.
Speaker:We started doing some research.
Speaker:We started finding other platforms to post on other ways
Speaker:to market our space effectively.
Speaker:And fast forward, we grew to multiple properties, scaled to
Speaker:serve a bigger business, and now we teach people how to do it.
Speaker:But that's how it started, all just within our Airbnb with a
Speaker:guest who pretty much changed the trajectory of our business model.
Speaker:Do you think that listeners that are paying attention right now, that a
Speaker:little light bulb is going off for them?
Speaker:How easy is it if you wanted to do both?
Speaker:I want to do overnight stays, and I want to test location rentals.
Speaker:Is that possible?
Speaker:Is that an easy thing to transition from hourly to overnight?
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:And I think a lot of Airbnb or experienced Airbnb hosts who are familiar with
Speaker:overnights or even direct bookings have an advantage because you have a
Speaker:furnished space, you have experienced servicing guests, giving them that
Speaker:five-star experience, you understand that side of the business, and so
Speaker:transitioning into location rentals, I won't say it's really easy, but it's
Speaker:not going to be as complicated as if you're brand new to the game in general.
Speaker:So you have a good edge there.
Speaker:But as far as what we call the hybrid model, so doing overnights
Speaker:and doing location rentals, you're in the driver's seat.
Speaker:You're in complete control of your business.
Speaker:So you can turn it up.
Speaker:You can turn it down.
Speaker:You can turn it on.
Speaker:You can turn it off to your preference.
Speaker:I think taking a slower approach in the beginning is the smart thing to do just
Speaker:to get your feet wet, but for markets where, let's say, seasonality is a huge
Speaker:factor, where you have really, really slow periods for overnights, or you
Speaker:live in a market where it's a vacation town, and then the other nine months
Speaker:of the year, it's a little bit slower, that's going to be where you can really
Speaker:rev up on location rentals and start taking daytime off site meetings, daytime
Speaker:photo shoots, events on the weekends.
Speaker:Or if you're in a market where you have slower-- maybe you're very busy
Speaker:on weekends but your weeks are a little bit dead, or they're a little bit
Speaker:slower, it's a great model to turn on.
Speaker:And you're listing on all these different platforms, there's lots of different
Speaker:marketing strategies and resources you can use to put your space out there to
Speaker:get them booked for these hourly bookings.
Speaker:But taking the hybrid approach is definitely doable.
Speaker:You definitely have to stay organized, stay on top of your calendar, but if
Speaker:you start to consider, okay, in most cases, you can take your night rate.
Speaker:So for us, for example, our nighttime rate was $100 an hour at that time.
Speaker:We initiated our business taking that overnight rate
Speaker:and making it our hourly rate.
Speaker:So you can start to do some calculations in your mind and say, huh, okay,
Speaker:your occupancy doesn't have to be as high with location rentals
Speaker:because your profit is a lot higher.
Speaker:The cashflow is a little bit higher.
Speaker:But taking the hybrid approach is definitely effective.
Speaker:It's just all about staying organized, staying on top of your calendar, and
Speaker:understanding your cleaning folks and everything, getting those SOPs in place.
Speaker:But very doable, very profitable, very fun, very busy, but
Speaker:definitely doable, for sure.
Speaker:AD MARKER
Speaker:Let's talk about your TFV Con keynote.
Speaker:What are you going to share there about location rentals that people
Speaker:can't get here on the podcast.
Speaker:Give us a little high level sneak peek into-- and I'll tell you, listeners, this.
Speaker:When we were talking to Ashley about being our MC and delivering
Speaker:her keynote, she insisted on the keynote, number one, happening.
Speaker:And then two, she's like, I'm going to make this juicy as I can.
Speaker:I want my keynote to be enough of a reason to come to TFV Con.
Speaker:So share with us a little bit, Ashley, about what an attendee could walk away
Speaker:with after attending your keynote.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:And it's because I'm so excited about this.
Speaker:I'm so passionate about it, and I think everyone needs to know about hourly
Speaker:rentals and location rentals, just because it's such an awesome opportunity
Speaker:that I think it's overlooked a lot.
Speaker:So I get really excited, but I really want to dig into, and I really want to
Speaker:talk about just the opportunity with the types of bookings that you can attract
Speaker:as a short-term rental host with spaces, the types of spaces you can try to seek
Speaker:out if you are in the acquisition phase of your business or you're ready to
Speaker:start, open up another space or multiple spaces, how to target the right spaces
Speaker:that can be super profitable for you.
Speaker:But I really want to dig into the types of bookings that you can
Speaker:bring in, the types of clients that you can host in your spaces.
Speaker:Since Brett and I started back in 2015, we've seen tens of thousands
Speaker:of bookings at this point.
Speaker:We've hosted Super Bowl commercials.
Speaker:We've hosted big brand names like Nike, Google, Facebook,
Speaker:Amazon, Netflix, Lifetime movies.
Speaker:And these payouts are very big.
Speaker:They're pretty significant.
Speaker:A lot of our students, a lot of the people that we coach, your
Speaker:overhead, your mortgage, your rent on a property can be paid in a
Speaker:single day with one single booking.
Speaker:And it's a really exciting thing to start thinking about if you're a numbers
Speaker:person, if you're business-minded, you're like, wow, I mean, just the
Speaker:profitability alone, but the opportunity to network and really just meet a
Speaker:lot of amazing people is endless.
Speaker:So I get really excited to talk about that and how easy it is to get
Speaker:started, especially if you have an existing space, but if you own property
Speaker:or rent property, there's a lot of opportunity doing arbitrage as well.
Speaker:There's a lot of co-hosting opportunity.
Speaker:There's just so much flexibility with this business model that
Speaker:it's too good not to talk about.
Speaker:So I've got a lot planned, and I'm bursting at the seams.
Speaker:I don't want to give too much away right now, but there's a lot to talk about, a
Speaker:lot to learn, and I'm hoping I can cram it into my slot actually, so really excited.
Speaker:The good news is Ashley's going to be with us the whole entire time there.
Speaker:And I know she will be also mixing at all of our parties
Speaker:and hanging out with everybody.
Speaker:One thing I do want to mention listeners, you probably heard
Speaker:Ashley say they have a course.
Speaker:Well, they are retiring that course.
Speaker:So I don't want you to think, oh, we don't need to come to the conference because
Speaker:I'm going to join their course later.
Speaker:Well, they've been doing it for quite some time.
Speaker:I'm going to close doors to that so they can focus on just emceeing our event.
Speaker:Just joking.
Speaker:But I want people to know that this-- we'll share a small story just about
Speaker:location rentals, is that Sarah and I just did an hourly location rental in
Speaker:Portland, and it was for a photo shoot.
Speaker:And again, it was from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
Speaker:We were in and out with our lovely-- we did have a team, so there was, I
Speaker:think, probably eight of us in there.
Speaker:But trust me, when we saw our American Expressville at the end of that location
Speaker:rental, we were like, what are we doing?
Speaker:Ashley, help.
Speaker:Please help.
Speaker:First of all, and hopefully, we'll have that host on the show at some
Speaker:point in time too, because literally, we were following along of her day.
Speaker:It was their primary.
Speaker:So listeners, this is something, I wasn't anticipating giving this hot tip out, but
Speaker:the location rental that Sarah and I just rented, it was their primary residence.
Speaker:When you're at TFV Con, maybe you have a partner that has a little
Speaker:resistance to like, I don't want anybody else sleeping on my bed,
Speaker:or I don't want to go overnight.
Speaker:Our host there, she was very clear that this was their
Speaker:home, which was unbelievable.
Speaker:Stunning.
Speaker:Unbelievable.
Speaker:Actually, you guys will see pictures from their property on our website
Speaker:soon, but she said that her and her husband, it is their number one asset.
Speaker:And it was just paining them that there wasn't any income coming
Speaker:from that part of their portfolio.
Speaker:And she had actually taken a hiatus.
Speaker:She was an interior designer, and she needed to take a break.
Speaker:But again, they needed to fill in some of her income.
Speaker:And again, it was so painful that their primary residence
Speaker:was only money ever going out.
Speaker:So she started doing location rentals.
Speaker:I mean, we watched her on her story that day.
Speaker:She was out shopping.
Speaker:She's like, had to leave the house for the day.
Speaker:And she needed to get back in because her daughter had a recital
Speaker:that night, and we were out.
Speaker:And so she just really opened our eyes to, oh my gosh, you have any space, even
Speaker:land, there are people out there looking.
Speaker:Again, Sarah and I are from Columbus, Ohio.
Speaker:We flew to Portland for this specific event and did that location rental.
Speaker:You'd think when she put that up, she was like, oh, I think there's going
Speaker:to be two girls from Columbus, Ohio here needing a place to shoot content.
Speaker:So I just want to offer that up.
Speaker:That was a great way for her to have her primary residence on there.
Speaker:So listeners, if that is also piquing your interest of-- you've been like, oh
Speaker:my gosh, I'd love to open up my home for some stays, they could be the hourly.
Speaker:So you're not having to remove all your things all the time and
Speaker:be able to sleep in your own bed.
Speaker:How many people do you come across, Ashley, that do that on
Speaker:just their primary residence?
Speaker:If I had to put a number to it, I'd say 60 to 70% of our student base, our community
Speaker:started out with their primary residence.
Speaker:We did.
Speaker:We did.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:And how would you do that?
Speaker:Would you guys just leave during the day, go to a coffee shop?
Speaker:What did that look like for you and your husband?
Speaker:And I think you have pets too, or you do now.
Speaker:I don't know if you did then.
Speaker:Yeah, we did then.
Speaker:We still do.
Speaker:And it's a great question.
Speaker:You can get pretty creative.
Speaker:So depending on the size, depending on the scope, the scale of the booking, if that's
Speaker:something small like a small corporate meeting with an executive team that just
Speaker:wanted to get out of their stuffy office for the day and chill in a more lax
Speaker:environment, they're not going to be doing anything too crazy, yeah, we'll leave for
Speaker:the day, go run some errands, grab coffee, go get done in the world what we need to
Speaker:do, and then come back to check them out.
Speaker:If it's a bigger scope, heavier footprint, like a movie shoot, a commercial, just
Speaker:something that has more bodies in the space, either myself, Brett, or one of
Speaker:our site reps, which is pretty much a site manager that babysits everybody in the
Speaker:space for the day, they'll stay on site to make sure everything is going well.
Speaker:But with pets, yeah, we usually just put them in daycare for the day.
Speaker:The other good thing about location rentals too is that you don't
Speaker:have to open up the entire space.
Speaker:So you can have certain rooms, certain areas that are off limits, or locked,
Speaker:or whatever, and you can just offer up.
Speaker:We have so many students that have a beautiful kitchen space, and they only
Speaker:take in people that use the kitchen space to film cooking shows or cooking content,
Speaker:but they work in their office upstairs, and they stay in the home the whole day.
Speaker:So you don't have to open up your whole house.
Speaker:You don't have to open up every single room.
Speaker:We have people that have gorgeous backyards and just have people that
Speaker:rent out the backyard space, or the front yard, or an ADU in the back.
Speaker:So you can get pretty creative, and the money's still great.
Speaker:You're really in the driver's seat to discern what you want
Speaker:to offer up to guests and what you want to keep off limits.
Speaker:Ashley, we get a lot of questions about how to effectively be a
Speaker:resource for content creators.
Speaker:What contract should we sign?
Speaker:When do we exchange compensation for photo assets or video assets?
Speaker:When you come to TFV Con, would you be able to speak a little
Speaker:bit to that relationship too, between content creators and hosts?
Speaker:I know that's a really big question our audience has because they have such
Speaker:beautiful spaces that they inherently get these DMs from content creators,
Speaker:and they don't know how to handle them.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:And again, the bookings do look a little bit different than an Airbnb booking.
Speaker:There are different contracts, different agreements, because
Speaker:it's different use terms.
Speaker:They're using the space to do things other than just lay their head down
Speaker:at night, and wake up, and leave.
Speaker:So yes, absolutely.
Speaker:We can talk about all the administrative items, red flags to look out for and
Speaker:green flags to feel comfortable about, and really just how to negotiate
Speaker:that entire transaction because no two bookings are really the same.
Speaker:There's a lot of commonalities, but it can get different, and it's really
Speaker:important to advocate for yourself while also not missing out on giving a five-star
Speaker:service and being a really good host, but making sure that you're protected, you're
Speaker:getting your money, and just doing an all-around good job for everyone involved.
Speaker:So yeah, we'll dig into all that.
Speaker:And I'm going to offer this up on your behalf, Ashley here, but during Ashley's
Speaker:keynote, we are going to do a Q&A.
Speaker:So if there are questions that, um, come up during her keynote where
Speaker:there are only certain presenters that we're carving out that Q&A time
Speaker:for, we've carved that out for Ashley.
Speaker:And like we said, if you have a VIP ticket, we're going to have a VIP
Speaker:mixer, and she's going to attend that.
Speaker:We're also just going to have an opening mixer, and she's
Speaker:going to be there for that.
Speaker:So I just want you to know listeners that we're being very thoughtful about
Speaker:every person that we are inviting to TFV Con because this event is for you.
Speaker:It's for all of us to uplevel.
Speaker:And Ashley, she's not going to be just on stage and then behind the
Speaker:curtain and not open and available.
Speaker:Let's keep these conversations going.
Speaker:And here's the deal.
Speaker:There might be someone sitting at the table next to you that is already
Speaker:crushing location rentals in their area, and they can share that with you.
Speaker:But Ashley is going to be somebody that-- I think even just during the small time
Speaker:that we've been on, if you haven't had a light bulb moment of either your primary
Speaker:residence, something you could do with your short-term rental, I know everybody's
Speaker:like, oh my gosh, my friend has the best kitchen, or the best backyard,
Speaker:or my mom, dad, my uncle, whoever.
Speaker:It's like, I think you're probably thinking in your mind now that
Speaker:even if you don't have the location space now, I'm sure you're going
Speaker:to start swiping, looking at things through a different lens.
Speaker:And that's what we're hoping that everybody that leaves our event is going
Speaker:to have those new set of glasses on of, see the world of all this opportunity.
Speaker:And there's so much out there.
Speaker:We've been friends with Ashley for a couple of years now, but
Speaker:the reason we became friends with Ashley also is someone else, Dionte
Speaker:Johnson, is going to be talking about experiential design at our event.
Speaker:And you guys, he has a sneaker shop here in Columbus, Ohio, and he bought
Speaker:a property within walking distance.
Speaker:And he has a sneaker wall.
Speaker:It's essentially an extension of his retail location, which is so cool.
Speaker:Those are the type of things that we're going to bring to you at
Speaker:the event of like, wait a second.
Speaker:He owns a sneaker shop, and he's a short-term rental host.
Speaker:And he was already hosting but saw how he could cater to people that
Speaker:were coming in for sneaker releases, people coming to do business with him.
Speaker:He now has the space for them.
Speaker:And obviously, it's a way for him to diversify his portfolio, but it's also in
Speaker:his own neighborhood where his shop is.
Speaker:And so we know Ashley because of that, but that's why I'm saying
Speaker:these location rentals, these retail extensions, the sky's the limit when
Speaker:you have that roof, or you don't have to have the roof, like Ashley said.
Speaker:You can have the backyard.
Speaker:Let's give them one little sneak peek, though, Ashley.
Speaker:Again, we know that you have had success all over the country.
Speaker:For instance, I know a while back, just to give them a little snippet, you had
Speaker:someone that maybe had some warehouse space just sitting there earning nothing.
Speaker:Can you tell us that story a little bit of a vacant warehouse?
Speaker:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker:So this was one of our early days.
Speaker:One of our first students, his name was Eric, and he's going to laugh because
Speaker:we always tell this story, and it's just one of our first success stories.
Speaker:Eric was a real estate investor, and he had properties throughout Arizona,
Speaker:New Mexico, Vegas, and San Diego.
Speaker:Mixed portfolio of commercial, residential, and mixed-use spaces.
Speaker:And he had one particular warehouse in a not-so-great part of town,
Speaker:um, in Southern California that he just could not get a tenant on.
Speaker:It was a commercial space, but it was very run down.
Speaker:It had a lot of repairs that were needed for it.
Speaker:And so it was really hard to make moves on it, but he was underwater,
Speaker:losing money every single month.
Speaker:Couldn't even sell it.
Speaker:So he was just in a really tough spot.
Speaker:Met with us.
Speaker:We're going through options.
Speaker:We're like, hey, listen, put it up there, put it out there.
Speaker:Let's get this out into the marketplace as a location rental.
Speaker:Let's see what happens.
Speaker:And that's the beauty of this.
Speaker:It doesn't cost to list, doesn't cost to advertise, so there's nothing to lose.
Speaker:Put it out there.
Speaker:See what the market says.
Speaker:The worst they can say is no or nothing.
Speaker:So we put it out there.
Speaker:Within weeks, he's getting inquiries, phone calls, emails, from a telenovela,
Speaker:believe it or not, that wanted to-- they were inquiring about using the space to
Speaker:film a season of this telenovela series.
Speaker:And can't disclose the name for NDA purposes, but they
Speaker:ended up signing a contract.
Speaker:He ended up getting $60,000 per month for six months for this rundown warehouse.
Speaker:And the gag is, the funniest part of this, is that they used this space as the
Speaker:backdrop of this drug cartel kingpin's drug warehouse in this telenovela.
Speaker:And it worked perfectly.
Speaker:It was the perfect pre-established set.
Speaker:And believe it or not, how much money they spend in production,
Speaker:they were saving money.
Speaker:The production was saving money by not having to build a set to do this and
Speaker:just going on location at this warehouse.
Speaker:And it caught Eric backed up on all back payments, taxes,
Speaker:insurance he was behind on.
Speaker:$360,000 for six months.
Speaker:Couldn't get a tenant.
Speaker:He wouldn't have made that in 10 years with a traditional lease tenant.
Speaker:I mean, he was sold on it.
Speaker:And he's pivoted strategies within a lot of his spaces, but that's really just the
Speaker:tip of the iceberg of opportunity with it.
Speaker:And it sounds crazy, but these are the types of things you'll see all
Speaker:the time with location rentals.
Speaker:You don't want to give it away today, but I'm sure part of your keynote
Speaker:is letting the attendees know these top places to list your location.
Speaker:Is that correct?
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And I also want to say too, I have a friend, and I forget the movie now,
Speaker:but she's done one location rental in her entire life, and it was a movie.
Speaker:And it was a Jennifer Aniston movie.
Speaker:And literally, she wasn't listing her space.
Speaker:I'm pretty sure they were doing location scouting, but I can
Speaker:tell you that one movie changed the trajectory of that property.
Speaker:There's a lot of improvements that have been made after that.
Speaker:She has her dream backyard now.
Speaker:And when I say dream backyard, you could basically live out there now.
Speaker:So that one location rental to her was truly a game changer for that property.
Speaker:So they're out there, definitely.
Speaker:So we connected with Ashley, like Annette said, a couple years
Speaker:back, and so she got me thinking.
Speaker:We have properties here in Ohio.
Speaker:Oh, wedidthat horror film.
Speaker:We did a horror film.
Speaker:We also did a pretty big brand that was looking for more of a natural environment.
Speaker:And so we were managing a vacation rental in the middle of nowhere, Ohio,
Speaker:but it was a beautiful property.
Speaker:It had a lot of trees around it.
Speaker:And so there was a three-day location shoot there.
Speaker:And I just went to Ashley's content and helped my owner
Speaker:and myself make that a success.
Speaker:And so that's in the middle of nowhere, Ohio.
Speaker:It wasn't even Columbus, Ohio.
Speaker:It was literally between Columbus and Cincinnati.
Speaker:This brand came and spent money at our property, and it
Speaker:was a fantastic experience.
Speaker:So we are just so excited, Ashley, to have you here in Columbus in just-- we're
Speaker:several weeks out now, everyone, so if you don't have your ticket yet, now's the time
Speaker:to get early bird pricing in super soon.
Speaker:And we are going to ride Ashley's Price is Right high, and Ashley's
Speaker:going to be emceeing some games, and Sarah and I are really excited.
Speaker:We have some sponsors that are giving away just some amazing prizes.
Speaker:So we are going to gamify this event too, and I know Ashley's excited about that.
Speaker:But Ashley, what are you most excited about about speaking at
Speaker:TFV Con and being with everyone?
Speaker:One, I'm excited to see you guys.
Speaker:Haven't seen you in a minute.
Speaker:So excited to see you again.
Speaker:But mostly, I'm just excited to connect with all the amazing
Speaker:speakers that are going to be there.
Speaker:I mean, I've seen the list.
Speaker:Yeah, there's going to be a ton of value.
Speaker:It's going to be a lot.
Speaker:Two days of experts within their industry, I'm excited to meet them,
Speaker:learn from them, apply a lot of the things within my own business, but also
Speaker:really to just teach as much as I can.
Speaker:I'm so passionate about meeting people, learning about everyone's
Speaker:business, their market, their properties, how they got into it.
Speaker:I'm such an entrepreneurial, curious person.
Speaker:And so I'm excited to connect and really give value where I
Speaker:can help out, answer questions.
Speaker:It's nice to be home too.
Speaker:Maybe I'll invite my mom.
Speaker:Of course.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We'll give her a shout-out from stage.
Speaker:But listeners, please, hopefully this has gotten you excited thinking about
Speaker:your property in different ways, but also just another reason to come out.
Speaker:We want to hang out with you.
Speaker:And then you're going to learn all this.
Speaker:I mean, I'm hoping, after Ashley's keynote, that we get so many emails
Speaker:of people that are taking her advice and listing on these alternative sites
Speaker:and getting these location bookings.
Speaker:And then hopefully, this is a challenge for a listener out there.
Speaker:I want someone to email Sarah and I and say, I want to be a guest on your show
Speaker:because I just had the most amazing location rental after they come to
Speaker:the event and they make that happen.
Speaker:And so that'd be a really fun episode to circle back to.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Well, Ashley, thank you so much for your time.
Speaker:We cannot wait to see you in Columbus, Ohio, super soon.
Speaker:Listeners, head to tfvcon.com.
Speaker:Use code PODCAST for an extra discount off of these early bird tickets.
Speaker:You have until August 24th, so hop to it.
Speaker:With that, I'm Sarah Karakaian.
Speaker:I am Annette Grant.
Speaker:And together we are--
Speaker:Thanks for Visiting.