Notes from Chris

Episode 1200

Amy Gilbert was fortunate to achieve her first side hustle success before she turned thirty. In 2011 she opened her own B&B called The Giving Tree, and it was a hit from the beginning. One reason was her awesome hospitality and target market. She provided a full gourmet breakfast to vegan and vegetarian foodies.

All her guests received healthy green smoothies, vegan breakfast burritos and gluten free pancakes. (I’m getting hungry!) On top of that she also offered private yoga lessons for any guests who wanted them. The Giving Tree was a real garden of Eden, and without any snakes.

All that meant that in Amy’s first year of running things, she was booked solid. While the constant flow of visitors was great, it highlighted a big problem with her business model. It simply wouldn't scale. For every person coming for a vacation, Amy had to hang at home for her own staycation!

So she decided to switch destinations. After five years of running her B&B, she began offering her skills and talent to other aspiring B&B owners. She’d teach them how to create the perfect B&B and if they wanted, manage the whole process for them. She called herself The Trendy Host.

Soon enough, she went from B&B bookings to client bookings. She received her first request from the owner of a highly luxurious rural property in her local area. The owner’s first question was “Is my place a good fit in such a rural location?”

For Amy, it was a no-brainer. It was a unique place, perfect for Airbnb. The property could accommodate up to sixteen guests and would bring in a lot of money if listed well. She quickly made a deal to manage the property on Airbnb on the owner’s behalf.

The arrangement was simple, Amy would handle the listing based on her expert knowledge. Following that, she’d take care of the cleaning and turnover after each guest to make sure things were spick and span in time for the next one. In exchange, she’d receive twenty-five percent of the total revenue generated. Since this was a large property, there was a real opportunity to make real money. All these efforts have brought her a total of eleven Airbnb rentals that she manages which, in total, brought in over one hundred thousand dollars of revenue last year. Of course, there are some expenses, including commercial liability insurance and paying for a bookkeeper—but it’s a high-margin operation.

While Amy certainly sees more property management in her future, she isn’t sleeping in and missing new ideas. She plans to create products for Airbnb owners around the world to sell online. Things like welcome packages and upscale amenities.

To go from Airbnb owner to Airbnb manager to Airbnb business tycoon is no small feat. But Amy has done it all without pressing snooze.

 

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  MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Learn more about Amy and her business at her website, The Trendy Host.

SEE ALSO:

• Flight Attendant Touches Down on $50,000 Super Bowl Profit: A Dallas-based flight attendant discovers a way to capitalize on the football craze by providing rentals for the big game and making herself and nearby homeowners a slice of the money pie.
• Mochi-Making Empire Produces Profits and Delight: Drawing on her Japanese heritage, a Bay Area teacher offers mochi classes using Airbnb Experiences.
• Interior Designer Starts Boutique Airbnb Alternative: She’d stayed in her share of iffy and icky Airbnbs, and wondered why there wasn’t a better service for boutique, well-designed homes. Now there is.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

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