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[00:00:00] Annette: Our recording cut out towards the end, so you will hear the audio switch to Zoom. This is just a heads up.

[00:00:07] Sarah: Welcome back for the great episode. My name is Sarah Karakaian.

[00:00:10] Annette: I am Annette Grant, and together we are– 

[00:00:12] Both Annette & Sarah: Thanks for Visiting.

[00:00:13] Sarah: We’re going to kick off this episode like we do every week, and that’s sharing one of you who’s using our hashtag on Instagram, #STRShareSunday. We will share you here on the pod, on YouTube, into our email list, maybe some free marketing. Annette, who are we sharing this week?

[00:00:26] Annette: Today we are sharing @highlowstays just like it sounds, Highlow Stays, and it is a dome in Brazil. And it is in the middle of the wilderness. It is a teeny tiny dome, but you have got to check them out. They are making it happen. One of the most notable things I want you to check out is, a, how they’ve utilized the space in this dome and how they’ve broken it up and have their sitting area, and their bedroom, and their kitchen area.

But the highlight, please go to their link in their bio and go to their actual Airbnb listing. The shots that they have, every single photo in their listing is so intentional and so well done. I think we could all learn multiple lessons from the way they are showing exactly where the dome is.

[00:01:18] Sarah: They have some aerial photos of it. They have lots of photos of people utilizing the space. So really giving your imagination, letting you really feel what it would be like to experience the place. But I think they have done a phenomenal job with every single one of their photos. And we’ve been getting a lot of emails lately about people. They don’t feel like they’re getting booked as often as they were.

 You’ve going to be competitive, the number one that you are selling with your photos, everyone. So I encourage everyone, take a look their listing photos, take a look at your listing photos, and see how you could uplevel your listing. I think they have an Oculus that their guest can use. 

[00:01:56] Annette: Yes. Oh, if you take a look at the amenities that they have and the way they have them displayed, mm-hmm, yeah, they definitely have the Oculus. Yes.

[00:02:02] Sarah: That is amazing. And that actually parlays really well into today’s episode because today we are going to talk about design, hmm, my friends, but not just any kind of design. Not just a pretty picture of a West Elm vignette. But truly eye-popping scroll, stopping creative designs. 

We have Bridgette here. She’s a 24-year-old Airbnb host, Airbnb interior designer, stylist, and content creator. She runs her businesses with her boyfriend, and we are so excited to have her on the show today and to dig into how she got started. And what it’s like having these eye-popping designs on Airbnb, especially right now when times are so competitive. Bridget, welcome to the show.

[00:02:48] Bridgette: Thank you guys so much. I’m so excited to be chatting with you.

[00:02:51] Sarah: So Bridget, I do want to let you know, we are a niche podcast. We talk about short-term rentals, but the one topic that comes up a lot from people who want to share their story on our show is design. And we’re not just a design podcast, so to get designers on our show to have a chat about design content, we’re super, super selective. 

And when we saw your Instagram page, I was like, we have got to get her on this show because you think out of the box, but then you somehow figure out how to bring it all together, where like, I want to stay in your space because I’m going to be inspired to not only just have a great time, but even just for my own rentals. So tell us how you got started. Where did this all come from?

[00:03:32] Bridgette: Yeah. So first of all, thank you so much. That’s really nice of you. We definitely strive to have weird ass listings, so hopefully I can cuss on here. Um, so our story is really interesting. I say our, it’s my boyfriend Bleu and I, and his name is Perfect Bleu for what we do. Basically in 2020, we both graduated from San Diego State and that was peak COVID time.

We’re like, what on earth do we do? What is life? We’re just watching Ozark and drinking White Claws with our roommates. Things were really strange. We didn’t get to graduate. We were in a dark place where we’re like, we can’t work. I taught at Core Power Yoga. He taught at Orange Theory.

That’s how we met. And we’re like, we can’t do that. We can’t really do anything. So what can we do? And we had a friend that did Airbnb arbitrage in San Diego. And so we got into Airbnb arbitrage that way through a friend that had given us advice on how to do it. And then from there we realized we can do this decorating thing a lot cheaper and a lot cooler by finding thrifted items.

So we started going to Goodwill because we could do that during lockdown. We were allowed to go to Goodwill with our mask on and stuff. That was our high of the week. We’re like, let’s go to Goodwill. So we would go to Goodwill and we’d find little furniture pieces or unique pieces that we could just update with paint or spray paint or, I don’t know, even just things that were already updated but people just got rid of, and we started furnishing our Airbnbs, we had two, with that furniture.

And we’re like, okay, this is weird because people are buying a lot of brand new stuff, and ours not only is cheaper, but it looks way cooler. And I’m like, you know what, I should try to do a mural on the wall. I’d never done a mural. I did my first mural and I was thinking, okay, either this is really easy or I might be slightly good at this.

So we had our Airbnbs running and then Bleu and I decided that we wanted to stop having those Airbnbs be functioning. It was just taking up a lot of mental space and we wanted to focus on other places. So we decided to purchase a Sprinter van and we converted our van to travel across the country.

So we made our van, obviously, cute with flat tile and we went off and we’re going to go figure out what the heck to do. I was 22. He was 23 or 24, and we’re like, let’s just go and maybe figure out a new place to live. And at that point we were in San Diego and we traveled to, I think it was 28 or 30 states for four months.

It was not good. I’ll tell you that. It was cool experience, but band life is very glamorized where I was like, this is going to be gorgeous. We’re going to be living the time of our life. In reality, I’ve never been uglier. I’ve never been dirtier. I smelled so bad. I was going to the bathroom in the most random spots possible and what an experience that was, but I will say, definitely rent a van before you buy and commit. That’s my one hack right here. 

But we found this building in Nashville that allowed Airbnb arbitrage. Again, at the point we didn’t have money to buy a house. We couldn’t qualify. We were just young and figuring out life. We headed to Nashville and we signed a lease for a unit there that’s in the heart of– basically a block wave from Broadway. 

And we realized, okay, there’s several hundred units in this building, or I want to say there’s 180 plus units in there. I can’t remember the exact number. But we’re like, how can we stand out beyond everyone else considering the rent is so expensive. We have to pay 25% a month to Airbnb.

How can we make this really badass? And so we’re like, let’s just go wild. Let’s do the craziest murals, let’s do wild wallpaper. Let’s find weird pieces and just make it super bachelorette. Because we knew that Nashville was very bachelorette vibe.

That is just the heart of Bachelorette. So we got cow print wallpaper and we did pink squiggles and yellow bathrooms and crazy peel and stick wallpaper that was rental friendly. I thrifted a bunch of weird hand chairs, which started my hand chair love. And from there I started posting on TikTok, which I didn’t think anything of it. I was just sharing kind of the journey of what we were doing. 

And I got quite a few followers on TikTok. I now have about, I think 415,000 on TikTok from starting from that Nashville Airbnb. And from there we had people that were like, oh my gosh, can you do mine? And my imposter syndrome was like, no. What is that? Why would you ask me that? I don’t know what I’m doing. I just did this and I don’t know. 

Turns out I actually am a little bit good at it. And we started doing jobs and we started going on a completely different route of our life. And now we just started this interior design/decorating Airbnb staging company.

 Now that’s basically our full-time job. So we do a bunch of Airbnbs a year. We did two commercial spaces last year on top of it. And then now I do content creation with that as well. And I work with really cool brands and I actually work with Airbnb too on their content creation side. So yeah, that’s how our wild journey began.

[00:08:29] Sarah: I have so many things to unpack out of your intro there. But the number one thing I want to unpack because this just Annette and my vibe, is like, the whole imposter syndrome, and you just gave something a try, and you trusted yourself to lean into something. I just think that’s really admirable because it can be scary, especially when you decided to share it for the world to see too, not only just on TikTok and Instagram, but in your guests too. You trusted yourself, and I think that’s super cool. 

[00:08:55] Bridgette: Thank you.

[00:08:56] Sarah: Where do you think your ability to– because here’s the thing, you I went to interior design school. 

[00:09:02] Bridgette: Ooh. 

[00:09:02] Sarah: It’s hard to do what you do, to mix patterns and colors while it still is not driving you nuts and give you a headache. There’s difference between being inspirational and just too much. You know what I mean? So what do you think about your upbringing or your past or is there anything that you did where this may be– or is it just innate talent of yours?

[00:09:26] Bridgette: So it’s so interesting. I did not go to interior design school, which is why I feel like–

[00:09:32] Sarah: No, don’t go because they’re just going to ruin you. Don’t do it.

[00:09:35] Bridgette: That’s what I think. I’m like, I don’t want them to crush my creativity. So my mom and my sister are pretty creative. My mom actually used to do murals back in the day, and I grew up going– instead of getting a babysitter, I would just sit on the stair while she did murals.

But her murals and my sister’s art was very realistic. They could just draw me and it would look exactly like me. And so when I would just draw my little hearts, I was like, okay, these are so ugly. This is not art. I didn’t think that it was real when I compared myself to what they could actually do that was just insane art.

So I never channeled that because I was like, I just don’t have what it takes. I would always draw squiggles and random shapes that connected with each other and it wasn’t the same in what I thought art was. And I think maybe even back in that time, in early 2000s, it wasn’t as popular to have that style.

So I just didn’t do anything with it. So I think it stems from having those creative juices a little bit there. And I also have a personality of I don’t give a F what anybody thinks of me and just live this wild, bold, probably inappropriate life where I just say what’s on my mind. And I told you I pooped on the side of the road.

So I just have that personality where I’m like, just do it. Who cares what other people think? Try and mix colors and patterns. And so I think both of those factors played a part into what got me started where I am today. But I do agree, it is really hard to mix those colors and patterns and I have seen people do it where it looks unique, and I’m sure there’s a niche for that, but it is something that for some reason, I don’t know how I know that, but it’s just inside me. I don’t even know how to explain how I know what I’m doing. I just do it. Nike.

[00:11:16] Sarah: Just Do It. Nike. Yes.

[00:11:17] Annette: Well, how do your clients, obviously you’re helping clients now, do they give you full– can you be the creative director, or I know when you start to do client work, it’s glamorized a lot to get clients, but they can say, hey, you have full creative direction. How have you found that now that you’re starting to work with others?

[00:11:38] Bridgette: Yeah. That’s a great question. That was one of my fears because I was nervous that someone was going to tone down our style or burst my bubble a little bit with being like, that’s just too wild. So I was really worried about that. But actually, every single client that we’ve ever had says, I know nothing. Please go and just make it cool. 

And that has been everything for us. I really think that if we hadn’t had that from the start, I probably wouldn’t be where I am. Having those clients that support you and like you for who you are and your style. Now I feel like I would not work for somebody that didn’t say, Bridgette, we believe you. Full creative freedom, girlfriend. Just go. 

I also feel like I couldn’t probably do a person’s residential home because not a lot of people want to have a McDonald’s sign in their home. So I think it’s really cool to have the vacation rental niche doing that because people are like, I recognize that I don’t want to live here, but I know how important it is to have people want to stay at my space, so go for it, girl.

[00:12:42] Annette: Love that.

[00:12:42] Sarah: What components of being a host previously, do you bring to your designs?

[00:12:48] Bridgette: Yeah, that’s super helpful. It’s super helpful doing it, and it’s super helpful pitching because I think number one, people are like, okay, this girl doesn’t have just pretty style, but she can actually make it, so she understands the data. I’m not going to say she understands the data.

Bleu, my boyfriend is just this total numbers guy. He handles all the Airbnb data and stuff like that, but he fully understands– we have clients sometimes that will reach out to us and they live in Kentucky or somewhere random and they’re like, we really want to pay you to do our arbitrage unit.

 And Blue is like, you know what man, from an Airbnb host standpoint, from these numbers, he’ll run the numbers, run the AirDNA, he can tell you, I truly don’t think it’s worth it for your return. So we really are good with, is it worth it for your location to hire us? If not, maybe virtual is a great aspect that we can do that’s cheaper, obviously. But I also think we have something special, which I actually don’t know if other decorators or designers do this where when we go into our client’s space, it’s an empty box most of the time, and we make it full Airbnb ready. 

So we live in the space for the week while we’re doing it. So we test out the beds. We test out the pillows. We know it’s comfortable. We use the showers and the water. We sleep in every bedroom. We install the ring cameras. We understand the August lock or whatever lock you use. 

We know that you need every little detail because we’re living in it and we’re also hosts. And we’re also picky. I know when I like it at Airbnb and when if someone doesn’t have it, I’m like, ew, what’s wrong with you? So I think that is really helpful because it just lets the client know that we’re on the same page and we fully know your expectations and we can make that happen for you.

[00:14:23] Sarah: Well, and you’re experiencing it from the guest perspective too, which I think Annette and I champion this a lot too. We call it your truth telling friend. Have a friend come stay in your space who’s actually going to tell you what your bed actually feels like and what the water pressure actually feels like. Because if you don’t face the music now, your guests are going to tell you. Whether it’s in a review or if it’s actual feedback, they’re going to tell you. So the fact that you provide that for your clients, I’m sure you know this, but that’s a huge plus, to be able to just tweak things too before they get to that paying guest component.

[00:14:55] Bridgette: Absolutely.

[00:14:57] Annette: I want to know, if you can share, where is a design gone wrong or you installed something either in one of your personal spaces or for a client and you thought it was going to be a hit and it ended up not working out. Just to help our listeners when they’re trying to be creative with things. Is there something that’s a hard no now that you’ve tried before?

[00:15:17] Bridgette: That’s a great question. Luckily, most things have worked out really well, but I think sometimes, maybe this isn’t the correct answer, but for some people doing it themselves, I think sometimes if you don’t have the background or experience and you want to, let’s say copy my style like we talked about earlier, unfortunately, you have to have that eye a little bit or the knowledge to create something unique.

So I think sometimes people can see something that they like and try to make it their own. And unfortunately the colors– this is a good example. I’ve experienced this before where before I got good at color theory or understanding the colors and which ones to choose at my bear book.

You’re choosing colors that are too neon, and you’re trying to achieve a pink look, but then it looks like strange bubblegum, hot pink. So I think that is– I guess that leads me to why it’s important to hire someone that knows what they’re doing because little things like that can make a mistake for you just trying to copy someone that has a great style and not being able to implement it sometimes doesn’t work.

[00:16:22] Sarah: I think that’s great advice because you can see something and if you don’t know– especially even if it’s a color that’s worked in one space, but then you have completely different lighting in another space, going to change the tones and how that– especially with your designs that are– I mean, you have to be tight with those decisions because then it can just– one little wrong move and it could be off and be not pleasant versus, like I said, crazy inspirational things, looking your photos.

[00:16:46] Annette: Our videographer, we were talking about it earlier today, there’s some spaces they’re just trying too hard and then it ends up looking like– 

[00:16:54] Sarah: They’re trying too hard.

[00:16:54] Annette: They’re trying too hard to be this themed Airbnb. And there’s this fine line between design and themed out to try to get the bookings and it just ends up missing the mark or being cheesy instead of being well designed.

[00:17:08] Bridgette: Yes, I totally agree. That’s actually a great point because I think sometimes if you looked at my page and you took for me that, oh my gosh, I need neon signs and I need cute wall art, but you go on Amazon and type neon sign and you take the first one that you see that says– I hope that you guys don’t have this neon signs. No, I’m looking at your designs right now. 

[00:17:28] Annette: We don’t have any neon signs, so you’re good. 

[00:17:30] Bridgette: If you get any a sign, and it’s one from Amazon and itsays–

Till Death Do Us Party or something, which is cute, but it’s like that is the first thing on time that comes off on Amazon. And if you want cool wall art, but you just go to Home Goods and you don’t achieve that, you’re trying to copy something but, unfortunately, it looks like corporate. It doesn’t look the way you’re trying to make it. 

So for us, we always try to source unique art from Etsy or even from thrift stores, or neon signs that are custom made. So I think it’s easy to see something, but trying to make that happen, yeah, unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out in their folder.

[00:18:04] Sarah: Mm-hmm. Which I think is great for designers like yourself because, and I’ll say this, listen, if you want to do the short-term rental thing, especially now, you want to stand out, you have a great market, but there’s a lot of competition, it’s just like any brick and mortar store you see. If you just throw up white blank walls and really terrible overhead lighting, it’s not going to be a good experience to come in there.

So having a professional who does this, who has the eye, who understands not only from the investor’s perspective or the owner’s perspective and the guest perspective, that’s just a recipe for a long-term business and for you to exist for a long time. My question for you is, you get these blank slates, how do you get inspiration for each of your designs? What starts it for you?

[00:18:48] Bridgette: So my style is very pink, orange, girly. I have a style that I will always have my go-to colors, be. I have a color scheme for most projects. I will incorporate the same five colors in all of it. But, and I’m sure a lot of the listeners do Pinterest, Pinterest is fire. That is the key to setting up a theme, and to getting a mood board, and to understanding your concept.

So for each job that we do, I have just an ongoing Pinterest board of my style. And I’ll just dig into those, my pins and then I’ll put it into, okay, this one’s going to be the Scottsdale Bachelorette house. So I’ll pull from there and I’ll be like, oh, I like this saying for a neon sign, or I like this wallpaper or this bed frame. And I’ll pull those things from there. So that’s where it stems from. I feel like that’s where it begins.

[00:19:41] Sarah: I love that. What’s your favorite one so far?

[00:19:44] Annette: She doesn’t have a favorite.

[00:19:45] Bridgette: Great question.

[00:19:45] Annette: They’re all her favorites. She can’t her favorite child.

[00:19:49] Bridgette: Hey, I love them all, but I really like, we just did one in, um, in Joshua Tree. I don’t know if you know Josh and Patrick. I don’t know. Probably not. So we did these two really cool guys there. We did their Airbnb. They had an Airbnb already and it was super just live, laugh, love vibes.

And we came in there and they’re like, we need you to help us. Can you just make it cute? Can you just fully redo it in your style? How much money would it take to make this space badass? And we fully went in there, we straight up painted the house pink. The outside of the house was brown and now it’s pink.

So we bought $1,200 worth of disco balls. The outside’s pink, every room is filled with funky murals and wallpaper. We got, a, alien. A really strange alien that’s just sitting on a bench with a neon sign above it that says nothing to see here. And it’s just obviously ironic. We got on Facebook, a old Volkswagen bug shell.

I saw that and I was interested. I was like, what can we do with this weird shell? In Joshua Tree, there’s huge desert. So the backyards are always so big and you don’t have anything to put there. So we put this random bug shell and we painted it this teal blue color. So it’s sitting there with cactuses on the inside, just photo opportunities.

And then we got a mannequin on Facebook marketplace and we ripped the head off and put a disco ball as the head, and now it’s this disco mannequin. And the whole vibe is pink disco bachelorette vibes. And it’s just really cool because they gave us full creative freedom, but they also wanted it to be girls, which sometimes clients are full creative freedom but make it a little bit more family oriented so you’re not using hot pinks and stuff. But still, do what you do, girl. But family vibes, not bachelorette. So they were like, just go for it. So that was really, really fun to do.

[00:21:36] Annette: Since you’re sourcing not the usual furnishings, can you give us some insight on how much you charge for this? How do you plan out budgets when things are thrifted? Because we know you’re spending a lot of time on it, so it’s like, how are you creating these bids for these projects? Are they 10,000? Are they 20,000? Are they 30,000? Does it depend on room? How are you creating your pricing strategy, if you don’t mind sharing? 

[00:22:02] Bridgette: For how much I charge or the material or both?

[00:22:05] Annette: Both. Whatever you feel comfortable sharing. Yeah.

[00:22:08] Bridgette: Yeah. I’m totally fine sharing. How we work with our clients, and when they’re like, well, how much is it going to cost for the material? Because that’s obviously a huge important question. We tell them for the material only, not our services, it’s going to be 25 to 3,500 per space.

So we average it out. So if it’s a four bedroom and then there’s two baths, that’s six; a living room, that’s seven; the kitchen, that’s eight; the dining room, that’s nine; the backyard, that’s 10. So 25 to 3,500. We can do 25. We prefer when clients can meet a little bit more in the 3,000 range just because you know how expensive extra linens are, beddings, and all that stuff, can openers. You know what I mean?

Those little things that you wouldn’t think about are, but that’s how we priced for that. So we try to stick with that for the budget. And then when we get there, we try to leave 500-ish dollars for the Facebook marketplace fins, like the gumball machines or the weird random things that you would never expect to see.

You don’t even know what’s going to happen. But we always try to leave a little bit of extra for that when we’re there. But that would be the price. So we actually did a client’s space a few months ago in Phoenix and this was actually a bigger property than we thought it was.

There was an extra bedroom. It was one bedroom, but it was split. So it was basically two different bedrooms and we were really confused on how– we didn’t quote for that. So we’re like, oh my God. We need to maybe come up with the slower budget. And they wanted to keep it really simple.

They already paying us with obvious an investment, but their budget was $21,000 for five bedrooms, a huge game room, a backyard with a pool, plus all the extra lanes, all the extra stuff. It was really difficult to do, but we did achieve it and it still is really badass in that property. Actually, I can go into this later, but they revamped the property from an already function Airbnb, and they’re making 44% projected revenue more than what it was before. Just investing 20,000, which, yeah, I guess that sounds like a lot, I mean, that’s a lot of money, but in the grand scheme of things, how much did you buy the house for?

[00:24:08] Sarah: Right. Did they tell you that example? Do you know, since we’re talking about their data, did they tell you how long it would take them to make that return back? If it’s 44% more, but how long until they like– because if it’s a couple years and you’re going to be in this game for five or 10, that to me is a good investment.

[00:24:25] Bridgette: The first year. So they would make it all back in the first year. I’ll go into that, but how much we charge, so yeah, there’s a quote for how much it would be for the material, and then we charge for in-person starting at $19,000 for labor. But to note, we are paying for the trash dump. We are paying for the furniture builders, we’re paying for the painters that paint the solid colored walls.

 This is including our flights, our food, all those accommodations, that’s what it starts at. We have a 10% material mockup, 15, depending on how far you are for that as well. But they ended up paying, I think, $23,000 in total for us. They paid $21,000 for it, so that’s what, 44, 43 or $44,000. And if on average the person before them was making a $100,000 a year, if they’re making $44,000 more, in one year you’re making that back. 

So I fully understand when we pitch ourselves to clients sometime they’re like, oh no, no, I’m not paying. I’ll do it myself. It’s fine. But in reality, the most important part is the way that the aesthetic looks. When you’re scrolling like you said earlier, you need to have a scroll stopping listing.

That is the most important part. You honestly could probably have outdated light fixtures and outdated flooring and a bathroom that’s not the cutest. If it’s decorated cute, nobody cares about that. I mean, there are some people out there that I’m sure will be Karen’s, but in the grand scheme thing, the design and decorating is the most important part and the cherry on top.

So investing that to know that you’re going to make your money back in one year and you’re going to be making significantly more than your next door neighbor is worth that investment. So I hope that answered your question.

[00:26:02] Annette: Yeah.

[00:26:03] Sarah: 1,000%. Everyone’s going to wonder this too. Do you do eDesign? Will you do something that they can then implement?

[00:26:09] Bridgette: Yes. So this is new. We actually didn’t do this before because once again, imposter syndrome. We were like, we’re in person, we can do those murals, obviously implement it. In person was just learning how to do all of it fully. Now that we have been doing it for so long, we feel really comfortable to just start doing virtual design.

So actually, yes, I was going to announce it to my Instagram this week actually. We’re doing virtual design. For a full home it would start at $5,000 and go up a little bit, if it’s a management, it’s obviously going to be more than that. But starting at $5,000, make it attainable for other people, we would basically have mockups of every single space.

An Excel sheet with all the furniture to the T, the pricing, the link for everything. They would order it themselves, but they would also get allocated time for a FaceTime call if they were installing or had any questions. The one thing about virtual is you wouldn’t have us to do the custom murals, which is part of the reason why our pricing is so expensive.

If you’ve ever worked with a muralist, you know they charged from 20 to $50 a square foot at least, so that’s two to 5K for a 10 by 10 wall. So that’s why when we go there, we do four or five custom murals for our clients. So the space is super unique. So you wouldn’t get that. However, I have a lot of connections to muralists in different locations that I could always design a mural for them and then send them the mockup, have someone else come and implement that as well. But yeah, starting at $5,000, you get everything you’d need. You get allocated FaceTime call, and then a line sheet of all of the information.

[00:27:38] Annette: Cool. I am dying to ask. Let’s dig into a little bit of your growth on TikTok, on Instagram, and how that’s fed into your client base now. Because I know we have a lot of listeners that they want to get into short-term rental design or they want to get into co-hosting, and if you could share with us how you started sharing, how it grew, and how it’s changed the game for you, we would love to learn some of that from you.

[00:28:04] Bridgette: Yeah. Social media has changed the game and changed my life. It’s everything. And I think if you can post on social media, do it. So, like I said, we started in Nashville. I started posting it. Made my name, it’s Bridgette Bitch because I didn’t even think anybody would care. I was like, whatever, let me just throw this out there.

 And it really aligned with our work, it turned out. So I started posting on TikTok because, I didn’t know anybody on there. I was like my friend’s boyfriend aren’t going to see this. No one knows who I am on here. It’s a fresh slate. I was not ready for the Instagram world yet incorporating my real Instagram to what we were doing because number one, the theme of this is imposter syndrome. 

So I was like, I’m not going to change my whole life around for this job. I don’t know if it’s going to be legit. I don’t even know if it’s good. There was always hate on social media. So started there and that was really great because TikTok can grow fast because the algorithm really will launch you far, farther than Instagram.

I think it’s actually harder to build on Instagram because TikTok, for example, brands want to work with you on TikTok more than they do on Instagram because your videos on TikTok can randomly get 60 million views. Instagram, that doesn’t happen. TikTok, your work can be launched far.

You have to have some skill in the editing and making your stuff look good. But it’s really cool because you can be exposed to so many people on TikTok, which then translated to my Instagram. I was ready to take that leap to where I started making my personal Instagram aligned with my full Instagram.

So now I only have one Instagram where I post on there. And basically I make one video, I try to post four times a week if I can, and I just post the same thing on my TikTok and on my Instagram, and it has been amazing. There are people emailing us all the time asking for our work. A lot of those don’t turn out like always. People are blown away by the price or they just were curious about your pricing or whatnot.

But it is so good for connections. We’ve connected with so many investors and amazing podcasters like you guys were I would never have if I didn’t have my social media following. I also think that it’s really cool because it gives me some type of credibility where it makes me seem more legit than maybe I even am.

 I have this following so people are like, wow, she must– obviously I think we’re doing well and we’re good at what we do, but it gives you a lot more credibility. It’s really cool because you can start working with brands on social media. Like I said, I work with Airbnb, Target, Amazon, eBay, Behr Paint.

 I do all these collaborations and make money off of that and free product and more credibility. But long story short, post on Instagram, post on TikTok. And one thing I will say is that I think a lot of people are afraid of what other people think of them. And they’re afraid to start being vulnerable with who they are.

Showing a different side of them to the world, and afraid of that hate or whatever. People are going to hate you no matter what you do. And people are going to love you no matter what you do. And you have to not give an F. People are going to be horrible. People are going to be wonderful. And that’s just what happens when you’re posting yourself publicly.

I get crazy comments. I posted a video about me disco telling my boyfriend’s lawnmower, and they’re like, oh, I hope your face is covered with bruises. And it’s honestly fun. You have to laugh. That’s horrible, obviously. That’s really effed up, but you have to have the lighthearted view of, I don’t really care. That you must be very sad. So that’s actually [Inaudible] when I say it out loud, but I think posting, consistently, sharing and not caring. Reels do really well. I’m sure you guys know all about this.

[00:31:45] Annette: Ooh, I love sharing and not caring. That’s a good little equip there.

[00:31:48] Bridgette: That can the shirt. Sharing and not– just posting and using trending audios, and posting reels, and sharing your voice, and starting somewhere is really beneficial. And it’s also important for when you have your Airbnb or short-term rental to have an Instagram for your short-term rental as well. You need a landing page for them. You need somewhere people can scan a QR code and bring you there. That’s what we always try to implement in our listings. Somewhere they can come and find you. 

Or I do a lot of marketing on my social media of the Airbnbs that we do. I tag them and they get like 2,000 followers from me tagging them and gives them marketing, get some clicks and saves. So long story short, is post the post and make the Instagram for your Airbnb. 

[00:32:31] Annette: No, that’s great. 

[00:32:32] Sarah: And I will just say, it is that recipe of both things. It’s posting and being consistent, but also being who you are because it’s who you are, Bridgette, and letting your freak flag fly and not caring is what makes you special and different and unique, and we’re drawn to that.

Whether we want to hate on you for it or love on you for it, either way, your audience grows, more people see you, and that’s why– the proof is in the pudding, that just being who you are and putting yourself into your brand, whether that’s your designs or your ideas of where you want to invest, how you want to invest, I mean, all the things, just be who you are and embrace that. And good things will come. Challenges will come too, and you just have to know– you have to be really confident in yourself. 

Yes, that’s a huge thing. Just knowing who you are and owning it and blocking out the nastiness of the world. 

[00:33:24] Annette: Blocked. Be blocked and blessed. 

[00:33:25] Bridgette: Yes.

[00:33:27] Annette: I also know our listeners, they’re sitting there behind their phones, they want these brand deals. They want to be connected with Target, they want to be connected with Airbnb. Did all of these brands reach out to you, Bridgette? Are you reaching out to some of these brands? Can you talk us through how those collaborations have taken place?

[00:33:46] Bridgette: Yes. So I was on the phone with another designer the other day and she was saying, oh, I only have 2,000 followers. I want to work with brands really bad, or how do I connect with them, whatever. And she said, I don’t think I can, her imposter syndrome, oh my gosh, and so I was like, girl, there is a niche for anyone. Brands want to work with micro influencers. Brands want to work with designers. Brands want to work with you too who are posting and sharing all this information. They want to send you guys mattresses. 

Anyone out there that is showing their voice, even if they don’t have a ton of followings can get brand deals. So for me, how it worked was actually about maybe six months ago, I had a management company reach out to me. My manager named Rachel, she manages all of my brand deals, and coordinates them and negotiates my price and all that stuff, and helps me figure out what I need to do and what I need to submit.

However, before that, I was doing it all on my own. So you need to have your email in your bio, number one, or that little email icon so brands can reach out to you. Because a lot of the professional ones will do it via email. The scammy Amazon ones will do it via DM, so get your email on your bio.

But I actually reached out to a couple brands in the beginning, some smaller companies or some little wallpaper things, and I started by doing really cheap paid collaborations or free gifting in exchange for a video. That is somewhere that anyone can start. I was telling my friend, you could reach out to Rug Bull and say I’m an short-term rental host, I post, sorry, my boyfriend, he knew to be quiet. He’s talking out there. 

I was saying, if you’re a short-term rental host and you have a ton of listings or you’re constantly setting up your listings, you can reach out to Rug Bull and say, “Hey, I absolutely love your rugs. They’re perfect for short-term rentals. I would use them in all of my spaces. Would you consider doing a gifting partnership where I will send you photos that you can use for advertising and you can– for free material?” And they would do that type of exchange. You need to shoot your shot, just like with social media. You need to ask, put yourself out there and be okay with getting denied.

I get denied too. I just asked for a cowboy pool from some little metal pool in the backyard and they’re like, yeah, no. So people always say no, and the big brands will reach out. So I didn’t start getting reached out to by Amazon or Target or Behr until probably six months to eight months ago. So that was relatively new when the big brands wanted to work with me.

 That will come with time, I think. So I think starting with the smaller thing, starting with a bedding company, Brook Linen or Bed Threads or Rug Bull, like I said, Caraway pots and pans, those small companies, messaging them on Instagram and saying, hey, I absolutely adore your product. I use it for all of my spaces.

I would love to know if you do any trades or partnerships. I have this many short-term rentals. I’d love to share on my feed, as well as send you photos for your advertising. Please let me know it works. I’m so excited to hear from you. Just shoot your shot. 

[00:36:45] Annette: Love it. I love that. 

[00:36:47] Sarah: You have been so open and giving, and vulnerable, and detailed so our listeners are going to love this conversation. Is there anything else you want to share with our listeners? They are hosts. They are go-getters. They value the guest stay. Is there anything that we haven’t asked you that you think they should hear?

[00:37:03] Bridgette: I think a fear that people have is niching down a little bit. Obviously, my style is super bold, and I think sometimes people are like, what? I would never want to target only women or family. I wouldn’t want to remove all the men from my market or whatever that may be. But I think the truth is if half the population loves you, and even if the other literally hates you in things that you’re garbage, that’s better than having everybody like you and then leave you in a sea of undifferentiated options. 

Just having a bunch of listings in the same pool all look the same. If you see a bunch of spaghetti, but then there’s that one pasta with vodka sauce, you’re like, oh yeah, I want that one. So I think knowing that it’s okay to niche down a little bit, it’s okay to go a little bit more bold and take a risk. Because truly, people are on vacation. People want to have fun and they want to stay somewhere that doesn’t look like home. They want Instagram photos. They want backdrops. That’s why I always try to incorporate a spot in our designs that are as one wall, I mean all the walls.

I try to, but one specific dedicated wall that has hand chairs and your own sign in a gumball machine because people are going to be posting that. Giving people somewhere exciting to stay. And I think another thing that’s, excuse me, is really cool is that our guests at our national Airbnb, it is so wild and crazy.

People are probably like, that place is probably thrashed. Well, we’ve had zero items broken in two years. We have had it in pristine condition. We never have Karen’s. Everybody is so happy to be there. If the dishwasher is broken, they’re like, hey, just to let you know the dishwasher’s broken, but it is so cute in here.

We love it. Thank you so much. We can tell how much love you put into this space. People are genuinely happy because the people that book it aren’t going to funerals. They’re trying to have fun. They’re going for an experience of a lifetime. And it’s okay if not everything is as perfect as it should be, which we always strive for that.

But the people that are there are happy and good and grateful, and they’ll market you on social media, but without even asking. You’ll always get tagged and stuff. So niching down isn’t as scary as it seems, number one. Another thing that I would say is, obviously, I think it’s very important to hire somebody just like we’ve learned from experience with our back house that we’re renovating, we thought we could do it ourselves.

Well, that was the worst mistake of my life. We should have just spent the extra money and hired someone to do it right the first time. I think it’s important to remember that if you think you can do it, go for it. But know that if you do make a mistake, you’re going to have to sell your furniture. You’re going to have to hire someone again.

You’re going to have to redo this stuff and take it off at the market. And it’s easier to just hire somebody first if you can afford it, obviously, which I think should be budgeted in when you buy anything, to hire someone that knows what they’re doing, even if it’s virtual and you have to do it yourself. Um, budget that in because long term it’s worth it. And, yeah, period. It’s worth it. And then I would like to give some tips too. Um, totally talking your ear off.

[00:40:03] Sarah: No, here for it. Give us some tips. 

[00:40:05] Bridgette: Awesome. So mind you, this is for my style, so make sure you look at my Instagram and take this with a grain of salt. If you’re looking for a farmhouse chip and Joanna Gaines vibe, don’t listen to me. But for my style, I always try to incorporate colors that are muted but are bold still. So I’m not choosing neon green couches, and purple, and reds, and these colors that are a little bit intense for a space. I want to make sure that if I’m choosing a yellow couch, it’s more of a muted mustard couch and then adding a blue rug underneath it that’s muted or teal. 

So I always try to add colors, but I never want to overwhelm people with the most insane colors all over the walls sprayed everywhere, which there might be a market for that. Maybe someone that wanted to have a shroom house. But in reality, you want to add color but be thoughtful with it. I can show you my TV stand for an example. It is a pretty bowl and funky, but it’s white. And then there’s simple decor in it that’s colored, but it’s not to the point where it’s overstimulating. So I always try to do things intentionally like that.

And for the bedding, we always try to do white sheets and then put a pop of color on. I’d throw a blanket on top or go to Target and go to the Opal House section, there’s really cute throw pillows that you can just throw on the top. When I’m scrolling through pages and I see people that have like their grandma’s comforter, I’m like, I am not staying there.

So having it look clean, but also with color. Peel and stick wallpaper is, well, you might get divorced if you put it up with your partner. It’s really difficult. But peel and stick wallpaper is such an easy way to transition from a basic room to a really cool room. And I will always say, pick a few locations where you have that wallpaper. Behind the TV, put peel and stick wallpaper. 

On the master bedroom wall, put peel and stick wallpaper, and then maybe in another bedroom if you can do all the bedrooms, the more the merrier. But obviously, you just want to have a couple shots that say I’m fun. So having that peel and stick wallpaper, you can get really cheap wallpaper off Target or off Amazon.

I mean, I definitely wouldn’t use those for my preference, but if you’re trying to ball on a budget, it’s possible. You can definitely find some really cool things. Just adds an accent. Last thing I will say, I absolutely love putting a colored couch. And people might disagree with me on this one. They might not think that.

But when I see a place that has a colored couch with cute little accent pillows, I’m like, oh my gosh, that’s adorable. I absolutely love that. So I think it’s not as hard as it seems. You have to have somewhat of an eye for it. But scroll Pinterest, check out my page if you can’t budget for hiring somebody.

Don’t be afraid to go bold. You don’t have to resort to doing it super, super minimal if you’re in the right location for it. Once again, if you’re in deep Kansas, I don’t even know if deep Kansas is a thing, but if you’re there, maybe not, but know your market. Know if you’re in Scottdale, Vegas, California, bold popping spots, Texas, even Columbus. Know that it’s important and it’s okay to stand out. 

[00:43:14] Annette: Yeah. Love it. And our listeners can still come stay with you in Nashville, correct?

[00:43:18] Bridgette: Yes. Thank you. 

[00:43:19] Sarah: Awesome. We’ll make sure. We’re going to put all the links to all of Bridgette’s things in the, um, show notes. So give her some love because she can always have some additional followers, correct?

[00:43:31] Bridgette: Oh yeah.

[00:43:33] Annette: Always more followers. But this has been awesome. Complete inspiration, um, not only for Sarah and us, but hopefully all of our listeners, to encourage them to be bold and then start sharing a little bit more with everyone. Um, they need to know who these amazing hosts are out there spending so much time on their design and loving it.

[00:43:50] Sarah: Yes. Thank you so much for sharing everything today. My name is Sarah Karakaian. 

[00:43:54] Annette: I am Annette Grant, and together we are–

[00:43:56] Both Annette & Sarah: Thanks for Visiting. 

[00:43:57] Sarah: Talk to you next time.