Hi, welcome to the networking spark. Neil, thank you so, so much for joining us today.

Thank you for inviting me.

Oh, it's wonderful to have you on. Give us a little bit of an insight of who you are, what you do and what drives you.

Well, let's start with the last one. What drives me is creativity. I've been creative all my life and just love it. And I. What drives me is people. I love people. I run an Airbnb business. That's my exclusive income at the moment from my own home. I have wonderful people from all over the world and I think this month I've had something about 56 guests. I've got seven rooms in the house and they've all been lovely. Actually, this month's been a record month in many ways, so it's really exciting. But the.

There's a lot of guests coming in and out quite quickly for seven rooms in a month, so they just. They just stay for a short amount of time. Right.

Yes. I'm in a university town, so this is university marked. It's September and I don't know if you want that known in the recording, but it's fine.

It's fine. It's going to be out next week. It's fine.

Well, it's September and of course it's university changeover. So I've got lots of parents and kids coming and staying and settling in and people looking for accommodation, and I've got a big tranche of regulars who come because they work locally and do the Saturday two days in the week. I've had some guests actually been with me for more than five years on a weekly basis, which is amazing. Wow.

So what led you to be an Airbnb host?

Well, before this. Well, the last 20 years, I've been one of the owners of a corporate event team building company, and my role was being a creative director to basically, it was an excuse to create my own inventions and have a market that bought them. And in 2016, things or three of us around the business, in 2016, two of us were sensed that things were going wrong with the company. We couldn't quite work out why. And then at the end of the year, we made some changes at the board. But prior to that, I decided everyone should have a second income. Well, Crikey, I've been told that all my working life, you need a second backup income. So I'd had a go at network marketing and hadn't been very successful at that in terms of monetary value, but I was talking to my neighbor at the beginning of the year and she said, how are things going? I said, well, I'm really worried about my finances. I knew her well. And she said, well, have you heard of Airbnb? And I said, of course I have, and gave her a lecture. And then when I finished, she said, well, have you thought of doing it then? You've been talking about renting out your spare room as long as I've known you, which is ten years, and you've not done it. I had a lodger, but I. I had an empty spare room. So I thought, wow, that's something I could do. My uncle had just given me 500 pounds under the Christmas tree a few weeks, a week before, and I didn't want to spend it on credit card debt or anything, because I wanted to multiply that money more than just make a difference of three pounds a month of the interest. But I didn't know what to spend it on. That room needed a complete overhaul, so I spent that money overhauling the room. Listed it on the 30 January, woke up the next morning and someone had taken it. And that guy stayed with me for 15 months as a weekly boarder, but he's only meant to be there for a week. So at the end of the week, he said, can I stay? I said, no, because the room's booked out with someone else, but you can. You can stay on the sofa bed if you like. So he said, okay. Then I realized I could make that into a room to put on this, on Airbnb. So he said, can I stay another week? I said, oh, terribly sorry, but someone's coming over to the Netherlands, so you can stay on an airbed in the living room. He said, okay. And that's how it grew.

So where do you live, Neil? In a shed in the garden.

Well, I started. I started just moving around. In fact, I. In 2017, in March 2017, I got a call from my business partner. I was actually on a property development course. And he said, I knew it was bad news because it's like getting the call from the school, unexpected hour from the headmaster, what have they done? And he said, we can't pay the wages this month. We're going to have to liquidate the company. So that was not very good news because we had 400,000 pounds worth of personally guaranteed debt outstanding, which the two of us were going to be liable for, and then we had to buy the company back, which is another 100,000. So, overnight, sorry. In one phone call, the two of us were jointly and several in debt to the tune of half a million pounds, which is not a good place to be. Fortunately, I had the backup income from Airbnb, which was ticking over nicely. But then I went into Superdrive and I made. I did whatever I had to bring money in. Obviously, we bought the company back and we slimmed everything down and we got it back stable again and actually managed to pay the debt off in four years. But because I was in Superdrive to bring money in the. I did anything I could. I sold space in my garage, I sold my own bed and slept under the table in the conservatory. I never told my guests where I actually went. I slept in the shed. I even managed to sell the. I split one of the master bedrooms into two to double the floor space. And Alistair, who was my first guest, eventually ended up sleeping in the building site of the room because he was. Circumstances led into that. So he said, well, you have the airbed in the conversion. Well, it's happening if you like, ten pounds a night. And he said, yeah, okay, you just do what you have to do when your back's against the wall. So, yes, so you've been on quite.

A journey, Neil, and you've also proved that it's always a good idea to have a second stream of income and to create something that you can fall back on. Right?

Definitely.

That's a huge proof.

There was another, Jess, there was another really important factor about running an Airbnb business through that time. And that was when I came home. I mean, all sorts of nonsense was going on at work during that process. As you can imagine. Anyone who's been through it knows what I'm talking about. And when I came home, I had guests to look after. Therefore, if I wanted them to stay, I had to think about them. I did not have the time or could afford to think about me and therefore my. Well, if I was going to talk about anything that was happening at work, which was pretty shitty at times, I had to find the funny side of it to amuse my guests from a.

Man that's just told me he doesn't swear.

When I said swear, I couldn't think of another word.

It must have been bad. Go on.

And put me off now.

Oh, I'm sorry, but you're talking about going through a hard time.

That's right.

That's a really important thing to share.

So in finding the funny thing to talk about to my guests, it took the sting out of it. To me. It helped me to find, because I actively had to look for the funny side to tell them what was going on. And so therefore it took the sting out of the. The real situation. I mean, you just got to. When you're doing what you have to do. I went to a network marketing, I went to a network property network thing and I was telling everybody what I was doing after about a year of this. And I could see everybody in the audience going. And they came up to me after I could never do what you're doing because I was running. Running a seven room hotel, basically, and recovering a company full time there. And they just said, I can't do that. In my head, I didn't say it to them, but in my head I was thinking, of course you can't, because you don't have a dream big enough or a nightmare big enough. If I don't do this, I'm potentially going to lose my. I'm going to lose my house. And I'm not prepared to do that. And therefore I just need to do what it takes to make it happen. And we did. And then, of course, Covid happened.

Yeah.

So lockdown, and we're in an events company. So overnight we had to reinvent ourselves and start making stuff online. So we actually, there was my nephews. Sorry, my niece's boyfriend had visited at Christmas, and he's a total geek, he loves programming. And over dinner, I was saying, so what do you do? And so he told me. And I was going, right, another trait. How can I add value to you? Who can I put you in touch with? How can I use you to help you, to help boost your business by employing you for something we can do. We're a plywood company, we make physical stuff. We don't do nerdy online stuff. Anyway, come march, April. What did I need? Ah, a geek. John.

Yeah. It just brings to you it's good to have a very diverse network of people around you. Right. You never know when you're going to need them, even if you think you don't at the time.

Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. But I'm sorry. Yeah. So he invented two. We gave him a brief for two games online, which actually absolutely smashed it in October. We had three events booked between then and Christmas. That's not good. Second lockdown was announced. The phones melted because of all the work we'd done between April and October, because of the promotion, because of the innovation, because we're just getting out there doing it. We did whatever we could that we could do online. And in the first three weeks of December 2020, we did 320 events online. Turned over. No, we turned over 320,000 pounds. In three weeks, we did 137 events online. And on the last day before Christmas break, we were at 04:00 in the afternoon. We still had ten events running. Anyone who was computer literate, we just said, right, you're on. We were working around the clock. We did everything we possibly could. We had teams on and we had the virtual office by having all of us were on the teams all day, although we were in our own place. It was most bizarre three weeks I've ever had. And we cleared the debt, basically, at the end of that. So thank you, Covid.

I was going to say, it sounds like you thrived in Covid. A lot of people did. You know, a lot of people talk about the. The horrendous nightmares they had in Covid, but for some people, they totally thrived. Me included being a yoga teacher. I found that people needed me to jump online and they needed what I was giving and teaching more. So. So things picked up in Covid, and it sounds like they did for you, too. What sort of events were they, Neil?

Well, on online ones, well, one was we did family fortunes, basically, so on Zoom. And then after the general brief, everyone would go into a little breakout room where they had an independent host who ran family fortunes with the spinny wheel. And our survey says we called it. Our survey says we didn't call it family. And it was amazing. We had people in that zoom room from Australia, America, Russia, Ukraine, topical Denmark, but all around the world were all playing family fortunes. We did it for one of the days.

It's quite british, really. So amazing to have a global audience.

Well, it's called family feud, I think, in America. So it is a franchise. So people did get the clue. Yeah. It was just the most amazing, amazing time.

Incredible. Listen, what's your journey that's kind of led you to do that, to organize those events? Obviously, we talked about you getting into an Airbnb host and what's led you to that. But what's your journey been before that, Neil? Just lead us into that a little bit.

Well, when I was six, I knew I wanted to be an inventor and I was greatly inspired by my great grandfather who. Who was born in Norfolk, but at the age of 30 something, he went out to Kenya, where in 1903 or eight or something, where there was nothing. And he was the first person to grow tea commercially in Kenya, so basically changed the nation's industry. And he built a church because he was an architect. In Norfolk, he founded a school because he had four daughters, so had to school them somewhere. And it just grew. And it's a thriving girls school to this day with over 200 students, and I was hugely inspired by what he did. I met him, we were there in 66, 68, but I cannot remember any conversation with him. But that's not the point. The point is his actions inspired my inspired.

And he obviously must have done really well because tea's a huge industry.

Yes. Well, he just did it almost like a little hobby. So he did about ten acres of tea, proved it worked, sold it to the locals. Therefore he was the first person to grow tea commercially. And then the big boys came in, the big farmer said, well, this works, let's do this. And then it sort of. He inspired the. Inspired the whole.

The big boys.

Yeah, the industry. Inspired the industry, yeah.

But also you as well. And there's always one person in our journey that's an inspiration and I think it's really great to focus on that and talk about. So where did that lead you?

Well, when I was at school, the 6th form did a pie chart. What do you want to be when you grow up? And I said, inventor. Great excitement. When the pie chart went up on the school notice board, I went eagerly to see where inventor was. It wasn't there. There was a lump called miscellaneous. So lots of train drivers, accountants, doctors, lawyers, all that. No, no.

So you didn't fit in the box?

My six year old brain said, I can't be an inventor then.

Wow.

Isn't that stupid?

Yeah, that's the school system, isn't it? And that's often where entrepreneurs, like, do not fit in that box, and therefore they eventually go off and do their own thing. So what happened when you decided that, you know, or school decided that you couldn't?

Well, they didn't decide. I decided, yeah, from what they were saying to you, they didn't. They didn't realise the impact of that little slight school miscellaneous. And then when it came to careers advice, at the end of schooling, Jess, this is the conversation verbatim. He said, so what are your a levels? That's in the sciences. He said, well, you can be a microbiologist. I said, what do they do, sir? And he said, well, you know, look down microscopes and watch baked beans go moldy, that sort of thing sold. I said. I said, got any other ideas, sir? And he said, well, he could be a doctor. No. And then he said, anything else? And then he pulled out his trump card. He said, well, he could always be a vicar. So I was like, I'll think about it. So I joined the Royal Navy, they sent me to university, and then at the end of the year, one man, one sentence changed my life, because whilst at university, I just made stuff. I just had an idea I'd make it. I just did it. I just did it. And then one day he walked through the room and he said, do you realise you spend more time making things than you do studying? I went, no, I don't. All defensive. He said, yes, you do. Look at it all pointing around the room. And then he said, do you realize you can make a living making things? I said, really? He said, yeah. Why don't you talk to my girlfriend's cousin? She makes stuff for the theatre, she makes stuff for film, she does shop fittings, she does film television work. She's a prop maker. I said, a what? A prop maker. All right. So I looked up prop making in the special effects and down in Clarkwell, because we're in north London, went down to Clerkenwell, I rang up some and said, I'm thinking of leaving the Royal Navy to do what you're doing. Can I come and have a cup of tea and have a chat with you? And he said, yeah, sure. So when I went into his studio, it was like I'd walked into heaven. There was the snake from Raiders of the Lost Ark. You know, the one that does that load of rubber and powder cables in the corner, there were some glasses from Dame Edna Everidge that was used in the show that I'd actually been to see. Yeah, we made those. And he said, yeah, we did. We did these guns here for Outlander, which starring Sean Connery. He said, it's basically. It's just a carburetor from a mini with some barrel and a bat on it. Looks pretty good, though, doesn't it? Oh, this is real.

So did that then allow you to start inventing things?

So then I. Then a series of events led me to working the theatre and learning how to make things by being a theatre prop maker. Put Phantom of the Opera in the first time in 1986. God, climbing. That was ages ago, wasn't it?

Doesn't feel like that one again.

Yeah, 40 years ago. It's still going. My claim to fame. Yes. I worked on the set of Phantom of the Opera. He did all the fiberglass work, which is brilliant. And then in the late seventies. So every night when I went home, I'd invent toys to try and make a. Get a royalty income from toy industry, so didn't have a television time thief, just made stuff. I got represented by an agent. I got about four or five toys put in front of toy companies, which is actually quite an achievement in itself, because they get so many, so much rubbish presented to them. Nothing came of it. I spent thousands of pounds in patents and goodness knows what else in materials. I spent thousands of hours making stuff. And when I got to my mid thirties, it looked like, well, you wasted your time, haven't. You haven't made a penny, you've just spent thousands and wasted hours. That's what it looked like. But as I tell anybody now, nothing you do is wasted. Because in the mid late nineties, I came across, completely by accident, the corporate event, team building world. There was an advert, I rang up, what's a corporate event? They told me some rubbish to sell it. So I turned up and then I saw what they were doing. I thought, this could be so much better. I've got the skills and the imagination to make something really better. And then in 1999, founded my own company, made my first product, a product called Hell spells. Doesn't mean anything, but that product, over the last 25 years, has turned over millions and millions of pounds and so have all the other products that I've made under the own guys. And everything that I've made is as a result of what I did in my twenties and early thirties. If I hadn't done that, I couldn't have done what I did.

That is music to my ears. That's beautiful to hear. And for so many as well, because it's just a lesson to know that all of the work that you put in, even if it feels like you're getting nowhere, could one day lead somewhere right, which is inspirational.

There's more to it than that, Jess. One of my hobby horses at the moment, or cliches, I tend to find my saying it. I've got a lot of kids coming through from the university, through my Airbnb, and, you know, they. They need to be told how it is, you know, rather than what they think it is. And so I find myself often saying, when you want something in life, start knocking. Just do something. Have an idea and do something. And then I stand in front of the door in the kitchen and I said, one thing you can do is stand there. I just stand still looking at it, and I turn to them and go, is anything going to happen? And they go, no. I say, of course it's not. You've got to start knocking. You've got to start knocking. Now what am I doing? I'm taking action. In taking action, I'm worth watching. Here's the catch. You don't know who is watching you. Time and time again in my life when I've been knocking here, it's been that door that's opened a door I didn't know existed opened for me. And I'll give you a very quick example of the toys, because I spent hours and hours making a particular toy. And I was told, if you want something, always go and talk to somebody who's got it. And my father's neighbor, who was a multi millionaire, and we were on holiday altogether. And I said, john, sorry, I've just been triggered by this. That's fine. I said, john, can I have some advice, please? What should I do next? And he said, I'll back you. I said, no, that's not what I'm asking for. I'm asking for what should I do next? How can I progress my, you know, what should I do? I'm not asking for money. And he said, that's all right, I'll back you. I said, I can't accept it. And he said, well, if you change your mind, let me know. And later on, I changed my mind. And he paid me 1000 pounds for five months when I came back from traveling because I went into the sort of late gap. Gap. Gap. Six months. When I came back, he paid me 1000 pounds every month. And he said, if you make any money out of it, then sure, give it back to me with a thank you added to it. He said, if you don't. Don't worry about it. It's fine. My gift.

Wow.

Well, nothing came of it. And I was triggered because I saw him this weekend, literally, and he's well into his eighties now, and I gave his wife a big hug and I said to her, you have no. You have no idea. You have no idea what that did. It wasn't the money. Sorry.

Bless you. It was the belief.

Yes. Yeah, absolutely. I wasn't planning for this.

That's okay. I need to go on that journey with you.

It's the belief. Yes, absolutely, 100%. And my uncle did the same when he gave me the 500 pounds that started off the Airbnb. It was the belief, you can do something with this, Neil, that I can't. And I have.

We have these key people that we come across in life that really mean so much and can be life changing for us in so many ways. And I think it's really important to voice that and to tell them and to speak about it and feel the gratitude. Right?

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

And now, knowing what that belief has done for me, it's my turn to pass it on.

I love that. Thank you so much for sharing that. I feel quite emotional listening to you. So how do you plan to pass it on then, Neil?

Well, I can. My home, my kitchen table is the best place at the moment. I know that. Sorry, I'm just tidying myself up. When, when the student is ready, the teacher appears and there are a number of kids who come through the house who are willing to listen and we have great conversations. I'll give you just one example. So there's a young lad from Vietnam, he's called Malcolm.

That doesn't sound like a very vietnamese name.

It's his anglicized name, Malcolm. And he was one of the film crew who asked from the university, who asked if they could use my house as a location and I'd had a film crew about 18 months before who had a total shower. So I was going no. And I said to my business partner, how do I politely say no to this? And he just said, have you seen the film the yes man? I said yes, I have. She said, well say yes then. You never know what's going to happen. So I said to Malcolm, I will see you at 09:00 tomorrow morning, Saturday morning. He said okay. And in my head, because of the experience I'd had before, I said to myself, if he is 1 minute late, that's it, nothing's going to happen. The clock went to 09:00 and it's a radio control clock which means that was the time. No sign of him. At 5 seconds past nine the phone rang. Hi Neil, it's Malcolm here. I'm outside. I'm terribly sorry the directors got lost but we'll be with you within the next five minutes. And as he walked through the door I said, well done. I said if you hadn't done that we wouldn't have had a conversation. And he said, I miss. I was late for my dream job in Vietnam and I was shown the door. I was so sickened by myself I had to leave the country so as not to be. And I've come here and I said to him, well, what you lost by not getting that job, you far outreached the gain in, gain from the lesson it taught you. And he said, I'm never going to be late again. He said he was brilliant. He ended up being one of my guests, paying guests. He worked for me at the, on the event company. He did some filming work and stuff and we're still friends today. He's, he has, he went, he left university and went to two job offers in Vietnam and very excited and, and then about three months ago got a message from him saying, Neil, I got your, I got my dream job of working on reality television and it's all thanks to the, to listening to what you had to say on your journey. One of the things I did to him, I said to him, if you met a Hollywood producer on the train, what five questions would you, if you met a Holly produce producer, what five questions would you ask them? He said, why are you going to introduce me to a Hollywood producer? I said, listen, you need to be prepared if you might meet them on the train, they might be sitting next to the plane, you might just be at a shop counter. You need to have your questions ready so you can ask them. Bang, you're ready. And they used to question him and say, have you got five questions? Oh no, not yet. And then after about a month he said, I got my five questions. He said, great, I'll introduce you to a Hollywood producer, my cousin. If he hadn't done the work, I wouldn't have gone out of my way, was the point. He knocked by getting the questions. I opened the door he wasn't expecting. He had half an hour conversation with my cousin. He took me out to dinner after as a thank you and said that's the best conversation I've ever had in the film industry because neither of us had an agenda. It was just a genuine chat about the film industry. And so that is showing the belief and tiny example of how to pass it on.

Well, it sounds, there's a lot of synchronicity there and it sounds like you were almost put on his path for a reason and you've really changed and opened so many doors for him and I love that Neil, I always say, because I run a networking business and some people feel a bit funny about going to a networking event and they feel a bit awkward about going and speaking to people. And I always say, you never know when you go and speak to someone face to face what doors will open for you, but as you say, you have to go and knock, you have to take that action and you have to make the effort to go and get to know people and you never know what paths will open up for you when you do or vice versa.

I would make a suggestion to anyone who's watching this, listening to this, who has a problem with that engagement of going to a network meeting or meeting other people if you go there, there's two ways you could go there. Three, I suppose. One is I'm just here, that's not going to achieve anything. The other is what can I get from other people? I'd recommend the third one, which is, what can I give to other people? How can I help somebody in this room? And if you go with that, it's not about you, it focuses on the other person. And the first thing you need to know when you want to help somebody is, what do they want help with? When people come through that back door of my house, one of my first goals is to find out what their ambition is. I don't sit them down and say, what is your ambition? No, of course not. But everything I'm asking them is, why are you here? Or what are your plans after this? And I'm subtly trying to find out what is your goal? Because when I know that, I'm in a position to be able to help you, perhaps, but if you don't tell me, I can't help you. Help means give a piece of advice, put you in touch with somebody. There was a lying lad, literally last week, literally last week, someone over from Ukraine, he's 17, he's starting a foundation course. And he was sitting. He came back. He came back to give me a bottle of wine to say thank you for running him and his mother down to the station, which was just a, you know, I did a taxi run for them completely as a gift. And he came back and he said, I'm 17, they won't sell me any alcohol, so I haven't got it. Sorry. That was fine. I said, sit down here, have a join in the meal. So he did, and he told me about his course and he said, it's really not what I'm expecting. And I said, what are you trying to do? Architecture? I said, okay. So I picked up the phone, rang, a retired architect friend of mine said, would you like to have a mentor for a bit, a 17 year old lad, and just help him out? Because in my head, both of them will get something from it. He'll get the joy of teaching and he'll get the benefit of learning. And they said, yes, and they're going to meet up next Thursday. How easy was that? What do I get out of it? Nothing. Why should I? I don't. But people did that for me, so pass it on.

Passing it on is like the ripple effect, isn't it? I think you're a really heart led person. Would you say that you are?

I try to be, yeah.

Because we need more people like you here in world, to be honest. Kerryl, you were told.

I was told at one of the network marketing meetings, I went, something was hugely impactful on me. He said, how do people feel when they leave your presence every time? Do they feel better about themselves or worse, about themselves? The choice is yours. And I thought, oh, my goodness, that's so true. Right? Everybody leaves. My presence every time is going to feel better about themselves. Even if it's just to say, really, really love how you polished up your shoes. I mean, yeah.

There's a famous saying, Neil, by Mayor Angelo. It's not what you say to people that makes an impact, it's how you make them feel. They'll always remember that they're not necessarily going to remember what you said, but they'll always remember how you made them feel.

Absolutely, yes. And we can all add value to others simply by saying, thank you, that's enough. When there's a street cleaner down the road and I'm passing, I'll wind the window down and say, just want to say thank you for cleaning the street. I live here. I really appreciate what you're doing, and then just drive off. What impact has Matt made on her? Hopefully she goes, I am appreciated. I'm not just a thing that wanders around the streets. And she'll then hopefully feel pride with her work because it's noticed. I was sweeping the drive of my house and a passerby stopped and said, I just want to say your house is always so neat and tidy and I always get pleasure when I look down your drive. That was about eight years ago. I never knew. I just did it for me. I didn't realize it impacted others so good. Why can't we do that for others?

Yeah. I heard a story recently, if you don't mind me sharing one, which is there was some people on a bus and it was the most horrendous bus journey. There was huge traffic jams. Everyone just wanted to get home. When people were getting cross, people were losing their temper and just. Everything just kept going wrong. And the bus driver stopped the bus and he stood up and turned around to his passengers and he said, look, we've all not had the best day. It's blatantly obvious, but I'd like to do something for you today. And what I want you to do when I drop you off, I'm going to hold my hand out and I'd like you to put your troubles into my hands and leave them on this bus so that when you go home, you not carrying them with you. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to stop by the river lately later, and I'm going to throw them all in the river. And that just totally changed the mood. And everyone smiled and then everyone was expectants, so that every time he dropped somebody off, his hand would come out and they would go with a big smile on their face and just drop into his hands. And it just changed the whole bus journey and changed everyone's mindset. Words can just do so much, right?

Yes, absolutely.

So you're talking about asking your students and your guests what their ambitions are. Do you have any ambitions at this, from where you are today? Do you have any ambitions?

What I'm currently doing is with my podcast, which is the Airbnb superhost, where I actually talk about what I'm doing here. My ambition there is to help people to change their circumstances. And I've said that very deliberately that way. Change their circumstances is not just financially. I'm teaching people what I'm doing to make my place work really well, to encourage people to be able to do the same thing or have the confidence to do the same thing if they wish to. But in everything that I'm saying, I'm actually sharing all the people skills, the business skills, and all the other tips and tricks that I've learned over the years. I'm sharing that and weaving it into the story of the, of the podcast. So if you were to listen to the podcast and I've told you that you'll now smell it, we'll see it. But if I didn't tell you that, you just think I'm teaching you how to run an Airbnb business, but I'm not, if that makes sense. And my ambition there, I listened to Brian Chesky. I was on a webinar with him, the founder of Airbnb, and he says one of his comments was, Airbnb is now viewed as a sort of landlord, a short term landlord situation. And he said, that's not what it's about. It's about hosting other human beings, showing them the best of your city, being a human. In fact, their early slogan was travel like a human. That's what Airbnbs actually all about. It's not about being another sort of tenancy arrangement. And so I'm trying to give people encouragement to do that understanding of how I can say life works. But that's a bit. A bit broad, isn't it? A bit of a claim, a lot.

Of layers into simply being an Airbnb host. And I would guess that many people could be an Airbnb host without realizing that maybe you just have a room in your house so you could be an Airbnb host. Right. If somebody is interested in discovering more about this, where would they find your podcast?

Well, if you just put in the podcast, the Airbnb superhost, it'll pop up on Spotify and apple and various other platforms. So it's not difficult. Difficult to.

And you've been running it for quite a while.

Yeah, it launched in March and it's got really good traction, which I'm really pleased about.

You've got a lot of listeners, haven't you? A lot of downloads. You're helping a lot of people around the world.

Hopefully. Hopefully. I have had people from 40 countries around the world. I've had the opportunity to showcase England and I've had the opportunity to learn about their country. I've had the opportunity to share over 2000 stories with guests in terms of listening to what their experiences and some of the things that my guests tell me, I just think, what's my problem? Wow, you've been through that. Crikey. And it has been the most enriching experience that I think I've ever done, and I absolutely love it.

So you interview people and post them once a week. How does it work?

At the moment, it's solo content. It's once a week. Yes. And then when I run out solo content, I do actually. I am actually interviewing other hosts on the side as a bank of material for later.

I think that's incredibly brave, by the way. Solar contents.

It's not quite as easy as it looks.

I don't think it sounds or looks easy at all, to be honest. Obviously, I interview people on my podcast, so all I have to do is sit and ask some nice questions and allow my guests to do the talking and find some, you know, beautiful, draw out some beautiful advice and inspiration for other business owners. So that comes naturally to me. But the thought of just sitting there and talking to me sounds quite a much bigger task.

It is a very big task. It's 15 minutes, but it's about two days work because it is all scripted. It's all to keep it on point, as you probably gathered. I'll waffle on and ramble off and all sorts of things. To give an example, I was going to talk about the customer journey of Airbnb and that was going to be one episode. Fortunately, my partner, who's an author, recognized that it shouldn't be one episode. And we got ten out of it. Actually, we got eleven out of it because I was just going scatter gun. So focus. Keep it tight.

Yeah. Would you say the podcast is your legacy, Neil.

Well, you know, I was really, I was. I was thinking about that the other day because. Yes, but it wasn't. That's not what it was about when it started. I just sort of realized when I was thinking about it the other day, I was thinking, that's 23,000 downloads in six months. That's five, 6000 hours of me being listened to. That scared me. Well, I thought, what, okay, what are the impact of that? What does that mean? I'm thinking that's potentially going to be there forever because it's in the cloud or whatever. Yeah, I better be really careful what I say, haven't I? Yeah, but the fact, the fact that.

You'Re bringing so many layers into it, as in you're nothing. Just talking about being a podcast. Sorry. Being an Airbnb host even, you're giving real life advice and just bringing in so many aspects to it that therefore, yes, it is your legacy and you're giving and you're creating this ripple effect that you've been talking about. Those that have served you, you're now passing it on to others, which is beautiful.

Yes, well, do our best.

Sorry, Neil, I didn't mean to interrupt. Were you going to say something?

Going back to an earlier question? Yes, there was an, there was a phrase I heard to whom much is given, much is expected, which I interpret as pass it on. And when I was at school, I was a music scholar, I played the piano, had a music scholarship, but it meant absolutely nothing to me. It meant 10% off the bill from a dad. But to me, in terms of additional tuition, performance expectations meant nothing. And I came out at the end of the school thinking, well, what was all that about? In fact, in the last year of school, it was me who put together a scholars concert and went to the head of music and say, listen, we're all being subsidized and so surely we should be giving something back to the community, the school, whatever. So shall we do that? Oh, that's a good idea, he said. So he did. Then about 1412 years ago or something, the school put out their feelers into the old boys wallets saying, we're building a 2 million pound music department. I did need it, trust me. And would you donate? So I had a chat. I met up with the development officer and said, look, this is my experience of the school and the music. I'd much rather invest in the people, the pupils than in the building. I think I gave a little contribution and bought a square inch of floor or something, but I said what I would like to do because I. Because I can and because of the belief. We're going back to the story with John and my uncle and other people, I would like to offer a scholarship to somebody who is having an x factor about them. So it's not mandatory, it's not a guarantee. No. They've got to qualify. They've got to be the right person. And I will make a contribution of a few hundred pounds every month, every term, for them to have extra tuition in order for them to excel. And that's what we did.

What a great idea.

So I sponsored three kids for five years each. They had to write to me every. At the end of every term, a handwritten letter, because that's a performance in writing it, as to what they've done and what they're going to do next year, all three of them. The first one, I never met, I wanted to be anonymous, but I watched them grow up on the piano stool. Every scholars concert they did every year. So I went to see how they're getting on and. But the second. The second two, I did meet, but I knew what was going on through the head of the head of music, but all three of them have. Two of them said, I have chosen music because of the belief of somebody else when all the expectations from family and so on, whether I was going to be a physiotherapist or an accountant or something, but because of the belief of this anonymous person, I'm choosing to do that. In fact, I met up with Alex, the last penultimate, the middle one, after he'd left. I was down there for the concert. He happened to be there, and he came. I said, come have dinner with us. So he joined us for dinner, and he said, did you ever think of pulling the plug on it? Because the first three years, I just messed around. I said, no. He said, well, I know you're doing that, because George told me. I said, do you ever think of pulling the plug on me? I said, no. And he said, because in year four, I realized what I was doing and I really put my socks up. What I wanted to say to him, but I didn't because it would be belittled, was, Alex. It wasn't about you. It was actually about. All I did was put you on a pedestal by awarding you this. Because you were on a pedestal, everyone around you looked up to you because you were up there. You had to live to that expectation. Because you did live up to that expectation, you pulled everybody else up with you. I knew when you played the Debussy, that you were feeling dreadful with the flu, but I knew you wanted to do it because you'd worked so hard. I then watched you. You stood at the door and every pupil who came through to their performance, you were their biggest cheerleader. You didn't have to do that, but you did do that, and you set an example that I have heard others say they wanted to live up to. He said, well, can I buy the wine? I said, you don't owe me anything. He said, yeah, but he said. I said, no, you don't. He said, well, I want to do something. I said, yes, okay, well, you can pass it on. He said, I haven't got any money. I said, you don't need any money. You've got expertise, you've got time, you've got encouragement you recognize. So when you find somebody who's worthy of it, just give that. Money is not what it's about. Money was the tool that I used in this instance, but you can do all that. And he said, oh, and thought of that. I said, well, go do that. Pass it on. I've lost touch with him. Who knows?

I bet he has passed it on. That will stick in his memory and he's been for, you know, forever. And I'm going to call this episode the ripple effect. I really am. I think it's beautiful, and it's something I like to say within my yoga classes a lot is, you know, just what sort of effects would you like to. I always say, who are you? What's your purpose? How do you want to show up today? And what ripples of kindness can you create in the world? So it's been beautiful talking to you and hearing all of these gorgeous stories. Stories. If you to give some top advice and top tips to listeners that are building businesses, really trying to live their purpose and their passion, could you give some advice and tips?

Yes, of course. I think the top, the top piece of advice was always add value to others. The book atomic habits, if anyone's read it. In the book, James clear says, we all have habits. The catch is we don't know what they are, but they either pull us forward or hold us back. So work out what your habits are so that you can control what they're doing. And when I read that, I thought, I have been so lucky all my life. The right people at the right time have always turned up when I needed them. Like I was talking about earlier about John, the way I got into the theatre industry was literally, I invited someone I met over for dinner. We were going to play. I was going to play a piano, she was going to play the cello. Within about 10 seconds, it was evident my sight reading was absolutely non existent and she was concert level, so that was very embarrassing. And as a sort of distraction, I told her what my plans were in terms of. I'm thinking of leaving the Royal Navy to do that, to make the props and so on. I hadn't told anybody. She was the first person that I told. She went, oh, okay. And then she left. And I thought, God, that was the most embarrassing lunch I've ever had. Next morning at 10:00 phone rang. Hi, is Glynis here? I'm at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. They're starting a prop making course this September. The closing date is tomorrow. I've got the application in my hand. Do you want it? I said, I'll be there in ten minutes, which I was, and got the place. I was the only student on the course. Why? My intention was to add value to her. Come over and let's make music together. That's going to be fun. And when I looked at everything else that happened, why did John come round into my life when I needed a geek? I analysed that. He came because my niece invited him. Why did she invite him? She felt comfortable enough to invite her new boyfriend over. Why was that? Well, because when she came to school ten years earlier or 15 years earlier, because she lived in Africa in the first formative years and then came to school, I made a point for both her and her brother. Every year, one day I would go to their school, place of education to make them feel special. And I did, every year. It was an effort. It was difficult. Sounds pathetic, but it was. I was the only family member who did that that was noticed. So therefore, of course, she wanted to show off her new boyfriend to me. Was that luck? No. I thought it was add value to others. Knock. Just knock, as I've explained earlier, and the unexpected will happen. That's another great thing, another hugely, another really big factor in everything that I've done all my life is people will do things for. For many reasons. Money is not the only one. Most people think I can't afford that. Because I can't. No. Before we press the record button, I was talking about my partner who's just written a book and phantom Pharaoh, available on Amazon. He said, I can't get an all. I can't get. I can't afford an artist to go and I can't get an artist to commission, an artist to do my dream book cover. I said, you need money to do that? He said, oh, no, of course you do. Anyway, half an hour later, I said, I've got an artist for you. He'll do it for nothing. And he did. And the reason I believe he did it was out of gratitude because 20 years earlier, I gave him the first leg up in his career after he left university, the artist, he came and worked for me. I gave him wild and wacky briefs, which he beautifully, elegantly achieved. I mean, the work he did was absolutely amazing. That gave belief in himself. And he's now one of the top artists in the film industry. In his early forties. He was doing it to say thank you because I added value to him then. No, I didn't do that. I paid him. Of course, back then it was just. I was just thinking, you've got a skill. I've got a dream. You've got a dream. Let's marry them and make something fantastic. And that's one of the products that today is turning over hundreds of thousands of pounds.

You know, I absolutely love this, Neil. And it does fall under the umbrella of networking. And how does it fall under the umbrella of networking? Well, I really believe that you need to give. You need to give. As you said earlier, when you go to a networking meeting, don't just stand there and do a pitch, an elevator pitch. Go in there, you find out about people and you give and you build these connections and you never know when that comes back to you. But it often does. But it's giving first, and the more people give, the better the world will be and that will always create this beautiful ripple effect and it will come back. So, yeah, really beautiful message. And I think that's going to round up this networking spark podcast beautifully. So I want to thank you so, so much for all of your amazing stories, advice and message out to the world. And also everything that you're doing right now. All these gorgeous gestures that are paying it forward or paying it back from what's happened to you. So, yeah, well, thank you.

Thank you very much for allowing me to come and share these bits and pieces.

Thank you. And I will look that book up. It was called the Phantom. What? Let me make a note of that. The Phantom.

The Phantom Pharaoh.

Phantom Pharaoh.

It's a really, really. I read it four times. It helped with the editing and it's never got bored of it. My 75 year old stepmom read it out of a sense of duty and said I got so hooked, I couldn't wait for breakfast. When I read the next three, the next chapters.

Lovely. I'm going to look better right now it's on Amazon. Right? And also your podcast as well. I do believe that having 15 minutes episodes is really great because it gives you bite sized chunks to listen to. And perhaps I will take that advice on board at some point and do a second podcast that is just 15 minutes chunk bites because I personally listen to those ones because we're all time poor these days, aren't we? And having a 15 minutes one is a good way to go, I think. Huge congratulations. It's called the Airbnb super host podcast for anyone that wants to have a listen and get inspired and perhaps be a super host themselves.

Absolutely. Yes. Go make the world a better place.

And one last thing. You and I met through networking, through masterminding. And so it's been an absolute pleasure to, to meet you and talk to you in more detail today. And that's the joy of podcasting, that you can really get to, you know, to dive deep into the layers of what makes a person who they are. So thank you, Neil. You've been amazing.

Well, thank you, Jess. Been a pleasure.

Have a wonderful rest of your Sunday. And yes, it is Sunday for us today. Thank you. Gosh, we've gone on a long time, but that's the joy of chatting.