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421. 2024’s Most Loved Episodes: Profitable Strategies, Listener Favorites & Major Wins
[00:00:00]
Welcome and Listener Shoutout
Sarah Karakaian: Hello, welcome back for another great episode. My name is Sarah Karakaian.
Annette Grant: I’m Annette Grant, and together we are Thanks for Visiting.
Sarah Karakaian: Let’s start this episode like we do every single week, sharing one of you are incredible listeners who show up and go to strshare.com to share their listings so that we can then share it here on the podcast.
on our Instagram account to our email list. Now, who are we sharing this week?
Annette Grant: This week we are sharing @Mileawaystowe. Again, that’s @Mileawaystowe. And wow, this is a farmhouse from the 1850s
Sarah Karakaian: I made Annette repeat that and she’s like, so it must be haunted.
Annette Grant: But I’m not mad about that. No, I like, it means that there have been amazing people there and I want to get to know them.
Right. And I want you all to go to the Instagram, give them some love, but [00:01:00] number one. There is some beautiful, beautiful, beautiful wallpaper going on in this property. So, kudos. We love wallpaper. It is looking amazing. What I want to, for you to focus on, is going to Their direct booking site, which is in their link in bio.
And it’s just a really well done site. Simple, but clear. And I love, they have this little section of fast facts. I love that. Like instead of like FAQ, I like that it’s fast facts and they are just ready for families for couples for generational families coming in. So this is just so well done. And in the Instagram feed, you will actually see, and hear from the host and she will tell her story.
So make sure to check that out.
Year in Review: Gratitude and Insights
Annette Grant: But I want to thank because this is a year in review [00:02:00] episode. So I want to thank each and every one of you that we’ve had the pleasure of sharing your STR. On the podcast and put this on your to do list, your goal list for 2025. If you have not been on the show, if we have not shared your short term rental.
Please go to strshare.com, give us your information and we have, 52 episodes next year to hopefully get you on the podcast. And I just want to thank each and every one of you that have given us your information, allowed us, I like to say guests in your home for being able to share your property with all of our listeners.
And we just appreciate you.
Sarah Karakaian: This is going to be a sappy episode where we look over the past year 2024. And give a lot of thanks, practice gratitude, go over the most listened to episodes. On the Thanks for Visiting podcast for this year, which give us a lot of insights into what hosts are interested in and what they’re passionate [00:03:00] about and what they’re focusing on.
So we’ll give you that summary once we go through these top episodes. But we do want to start this episode by thanking you all for tuning in each and every week. I think 2024 for hosting has been interesting. It’s an election year and that always does interesting things
to travel
Annette Grant: To not only travel but spending Yes, and so if this is your first year hosting During an election year.
Be mindful. We will have more in the future. So really just pay attention to the way that people, like Sarah said, the way that they travel, the way that they are spending during those years. So it’s not a surprise if there is potentially a dip when those election years come around.
Sarah Karakaian: But now that the decision has been made in terms of the results of the election, no matter what way you wanted it to go, the decision has been made.
And so 2025, I’m hoping. People are settling [00:04:00] into what is going to be in 2025, and they can get back to traveling, to enjoying themselves, and to investing in experiences, which we know, not just in the travel industry, but when it comes to any sort of experience, consumers are still craving.
A better experience over products, over physical things. And I know that we can take that into 2025 and really level up our own hosting skills. But let’s get into it now.
Top Episodes of 2024: Introduction
Sarah Karakaian: Without further ado, we’re going to talk about the top seven episodes of 2024. So even if you’ve listened to every single thanks for visiting episode this year, I’m Well, hopefully you have a little bit more time between, you know, Christmas and New Year.
Whether, you know, no matter what you celebrate, the world tends to slow down. And so if you want to get caught up on that education, these are all really educational episodes.
Annette Grant: Mm hmm.
Mm hmm. For sure. So let’s start
Episode 321: Dynamic Pricing vs. Cleaning Fees
Annette Grant: with episode [00:05:00] 321. And this was Pricelab’s Dynamic Pricing versus Airbnb Cleaning Fees.
Insights from Monique DeLorenzo.
Sarah Karakaian: We had Monique on. So it’s episode 321. Any of these episodes, if you just go to thanksforvisiting. com forward slash the episode number, and we’ll link to them in the show notes as well, you can re listen to these episodes. But 321. And the reason we had Monique on, I’ll never forget frantically emailing her this year because she was, one of our members in our community at one point.
She is a host of a beautiful A Frame. One of our original STR shares and podcast listeners. And then, I love it because, she decided to go all in on the short term rental world and now works at Price Labs. So I emailed Monique and I was like, can I please have you on the show? Because our hosts are all up in arms about these cleaning fees.
There are some hosts out there that are kind of trying to build in their cleaning fees into their pricing strategy because they’re afraid if they have it separate, they’re going to be more expensive.
Actually going to like serve the people [00:06:00] up more, the algorithm, like give them like the shine over people that were still charging the cleaning fee.
Sarah Karakaian: And I will, I remember, and I’m not going to tell you what it is cause I want you to re listen the episode cause it’s just a good educational episode about pricing. At the end Monique drops this awesome tactical tip that you can implement into your business.
So you gotta go listen to it and relive it. But long story short, The outcome of that episode was there is room for all of us to structure our fees any way that it really works for you. And at the end of the day, it’s about testing. It is about trying things out, tracking it over, whether it’s, depending on your booking window and your seasonality, it could be tracking it over two weeks, four weeks, six weeks, and then seeing, so instead of having that, Annette says, you know, facts over feelings, we can feel a certain way, but when you actually track it, write things down and look at it, you’re like, Oh, actually.
I am beating the market and my cleaning fees are separate. Yep. And wow, that makes things easier, so I can
stop worrying about that.
Annette Grant: Let the numbers and the data make the [00:07:00] decision for you.
Episode 333: Effective Facebook and Instagram Ads
Annette Grant: The next episode in our top seven was episode 333, how to make Facebook and Instagram ads that drive bookings, and you’re going to want to check this out.
If you have ever thought about running paid ads. for your property. Please give this a listen.
And maybe it’s not even you running them, maybe it’s someone else running them for you. But we definitely want you to understand that you should have In your budget, and it should be reflected on your P& L, there should be a section for marketing. For your property, you are a small business. You have to have some sort of marketing budget.
We’re not saying that has to be, on Facebook or Instagram ads, but we do encourage you next year, have that line item and whether it is, putting flyers up in a coffee shop, making your own business cards for your property that you pass out, being in a local, newsletter, a local newspaper, or a digital newsletter that you could partner [00:08:00] with.
Please put your marketing budget there, but listen to this episode to give you, that thought of where do you want to spend those marketing dollars.
Sarah Karakaian: And it’s coming from a standpoint of a super small business. And when I say super small, I mean mid to low six figures every year. And how we need to look at paid ads and what sort of budget would make sense for business owners that that deal with that sort of revenue each year in their business.
Annette Grant: And I want to encourage you, even if your marketing budget is 100 to get those business cards where your friends and family can book with you, you know, so start somewhere. But please, if you don’t have a marketing budget, I want you to add that in for 2025. The next episode of Sarah, you’re a dog mom.
I’m gonna let you take this one away.
Sarah Karakaian: Oh, I love this episode. It
Annette Grant: was with, Sara, and she came onto the show.
Episode 335: Welcoming Dogs to Your STR
Annette Grant: It was episode 335. Welcoming dogs to your short term rental.
Sarah Karakaian: Yes. Episode 335. Sara Sokol came on the podcast episode and she dug into her [00:09:00] reasons for going all in on being, not even dog friendly, she calls it dog welcoming because it’s such a part of her brand.
And I was telling Annette as we were preparing for today’s episode that yes, it is a great episode for anyone who is pet curious. in their hosting business. But beyond that, it is an episode in how to market.
Because
Sarah decides that this is a vertical that she is going to go all in on and individualize her business from her competitors in her marketplace.
Everyone, the way she talks to her guests, and I’ll give you a little spoiler alert, when she sends out her check in instructions, She’s actually talking to the dogs.
Yeah, if she can get the pet’s name, she includes it in the welcome message.
And like, hi Fido, we are so excited to welcome you and your owners to our product.
I mean, it’s so cute.
Annette Grant: And the thing that I want to say about it is that if you are someone that has not welcomed dogs. and [00:10:00] you are down in the dumps about your revenue and your bookings, please rethink this for the new year. And listen to this episode because what Sarah is saying, the way that she talks to the Pets helps to ensure that her home is taken care of.
Sarah Karakaian: It’s really good.
Annette Grant: Because we hear so many hosts that do not allow pets the fear. So that’s why we really want you to listen to this episode. I want to let you know, look at the stats. People want to travel with their dogs and in this episode too, Sarah says like her repeat guests, her direct bookings, because people know that not only are their dogs allowed to be there, like she said, they are welcome there and she is equipped for them.
So if you have been on the fence about this, please listen to this episode and decide. And we always encourage everybody, again, like Sarah said, with the cleaning fees. This is the same thing with, being pet friendly. Try it. [00:11:00] Test it out. Again, as a small business owner, you should be testing out your pricing.
You should be testing out your ads. You should be testing out those amenities that might bring in more revenue, which could be pet
friendly.
Sarah Karakaian: Absolutely. So that’s episode 335 with Sara Sokol, all about being pet friendly. Again, it is a masterclass in marketing too. So I want you to think of it with your marketing hat on and you can replace “pet friendly” with anything.
You know, yeah, what, what your like, your niche is, your guest avatar, like who you want to welcome there. Right.
Episode 339: Fighting Restrictive Hosting Laws
Annette Grant: Next up, we have episode 339, We Fought Restrictive Local Hosting Laws, and Won. We love this episode just to recap Callie and Bob bought a property and this is a word of caution This is one of those interesting things where they bought it in a city But it was like actually in a county or maybe in this like
their realtor was not
trying to get the sale trying to close the deal, but it doesn’t matter cuz they Did not
give up
give [00:12:00] up.
They were like this is a small roadblock and Wow, we were so impressed. We can still remember Callie’s PowerPoint which we know a few other people shout out Ellen has used that that PowerPoint to also fight local restrictions anyone also, so please listen to that because This is one of those things, if it hasn’t come to your town yet, this is something that will, at some point in time, be a topic of conversation, so we want to equip you, and for those of you that don’t know, Sarah and I met at a city council meeting, so it is important to show up, and represent yourself, and, and make sure that the whole community knows what you are offering, not just the guests, but also, small businesses in your area, so check that out.
Episode out. Next, we have, actually I want to say one more thing about 339, that episode. They did, you guys, they also did some, Preventative things like hey, like would the [00:13:00] noise monitors help and like some of the things that the town was Nervous about they got ahead of it and was like this is what might be one of the issues that we’re gonna already say Hey, we have these this is how we take care of it and nip that before it could even be an issue
Sarah Karakaian: I should give a shout out to our friends over at Rent Responsibly to if you don’t know who Rent Responsibly is This is what they help hosts do Like, all in, this is what they do, is help equip you, if you’ve never had a conversation with your local jurisdiction, you don’t even know what to say, they have equipped hosts all over our country, all over the U.
S., I don’t even know if they’ve done it abroad, actually. But, yeah, please join
their newsletter for next year, also. Rent Responsibly. We’ll put them in the show notes as well. Yep. RentResponsibly.org All right.
Episode 347: Optimizing Supply Inventory
Sarah Karakaian: Episode 347, optimizing your supply inventory as an Airbnb co host.
You guys can’t see what just happened, but Sarah like just sat up so straight in her chair because she got so excited to talk about optimizing your [00:14:00] supply inventory. Okay. Let’s do it.
This is a year wrap up episode.
So I’m going to make this about me for a minute. And what my year has been like in 2024.
And I think the other hosts can appreciate this too, but I need to be more myself in 2025. Okay. And let my freak flag fly. And that includes showing up that way with all of you. As a Thanks for Visiting Co-Founder, I sometimes bury it or I might hide my passion a little bit because I don’t want to be too, “too much”, but I’m going to try to not worry about that this year and that’s laughing, but I’m serious about this.
Okay. It’s been going on in my brain a lot.
Annette Grant: I love it. I’m here for it.
Sarah Karakaian: Annette, you have a business coach that you work with and what does she say when someone says they’re too busy or they can’t find something or what does she say to you? To the whole crew and how many people does she coach a year? Give, give thousands, thousands.
Give perspective. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Annette Grant: Um. You’re sloppy. You’re sloppy. It’s sloppy. You’re not taking care of your calendar. You’re not taking care of your space [00:15:00] So if you are someone right now, I’m just I’m gonna give you a dose of it if you’re telling everybody you’re too busy And things aren’t organized, you need to check yourself and let’s get this dialed in.
But I do agree with you, Sarah. You, for those of you that don’t know, I can share this. Sarah and I did meet at that City Council meeting, but also, and she doesn’t remember, but our first date as friends, I asked Sarah, because Sarah, still is, but she was licensed. She was like schooled on professional organization.
She did that in New York City and then she also did it when she moved to Columbus. I had Sarah come to my Airbnbs and organize my supply closets. You might think this is like, Annette, why did you need help with this? But I needed A. She is an expert, she’s trained, but I needed a second set of eyes. I had just been in those closets.
For so long, like living in my own, I couldn’t [00:16:00] even figure out what would be a better way to organize it. So, if you have a friend that has that skillset, bring them over to your supply closet, let them do, and I know I can share with you, I, and this works now. I brought some of those skills over, get everything out of that closet.
You got to empty it and then reconfigure it. But that. Organization changed. It changed the game for me. It changed the game for my team at the time, and it’s also what Sarah said. Her freak flag was flying. I was like, I need to link arms with this girl because I need my whole life to be this organized.
Sarah Karakaian: It’s physical organization. It’s also your digital organization. And this episode. Combines all of that because
Annette Grant: finances
sloppiness. You are going to lose money when you are sloppy with your finances And you are time is money when you are sloppy with your time and when you’re sloppy with your research You’re gonna be buying things but Sarah and I will tell you this now we still we do those audits of our closet and we’re like Why do we have this much shampoo and you start doing the math of like this is literally [00:17:00] cash sitting in here So when you are sloppy with all these things that goes directly to your bottom
line
Sarah Karakaian: Absolutely.
So this episode is incredible. If being organized, getting organized, “isn’t a skill set that you were born with” or something that you have easily adapted, listen to the episode because we walk you through what to do to streamline your inventory. All right. So Wendy, is a coach inside of our membership and it was one of her goals for 2024 to get her.
Now she’s a cohost. So on her invoices to our clients, it was important to her that she made it clean and organized and clear. So she created an inventory program and she has it so dialed into what the house is, how many guests that the house welcomes into what the owner could expect to be charged each month for the consumables.
Whether you’re a co host or not, you can dial in your inventory management to be this dialed in. Now, here’s the thing with organizing. [00:18:00] It is okay to leave yourself a 10 percent buffer, all right? There is times when you, sometimes, yes, I even will put my socks aside of my bed and not in my hamper. I judge myself in that moment, but the next morning I wake up, I pick it up, I put it in the hamper.
So when your inventory, like you said, you’ll go and look at our shampoo and like, wow, I let that slip. You just get back into it and that’s okay. But listen to this episode, get pen and paper out. And obviously because it’s one of those most downloaded of 2024, you are all interested in taking your organization to the next level and this episode will help you
Annette Grant: Yeah, it will reflect on your bottom line.
Episode 391: Revenue Management 101
Annette Grant: Next up, we have episode 391, Revenue Management 101 with our ace when it comes to revenue management, Colleen Prochaska. And here’s the deal. If I just said revenue management 101 and you think that is bookkeeping? You need to listen to this episode, okay?
I cannot tell you how many times I’m [00:19:00] talking to hosts, and I ask them who their revenue manager is, and then they tell me about their bookkeeper. Your bookkeeper is not your revenue manager, so that’s the course before Revenue Management 101, because you need to know what that is, but please.
Listen, if you even listen to this episode, I want you to go back and listen to it again because there are several tips in there that Colleen goes over and she gives you like daily, weekly, monthly, how she does a revenue management for our properties. And so I know there’s some things in there that you probably missed the first time.
And we have some exciting stuff at the end of this. Episode where we are going to help you with that revenue management in 2025.
Sarah Karakaian: It was a good one.
Annette Grant: And again, we
do,
Sarah Karakaian: we actually did a live, we saved one of our, at the end of every month.
All of our numbers come in. So the first week of the next month, we digest those numbers and we go through them and we record them. And so Colleen does this live with me on that episode because sometimes I get it. You talk about the overarching concept of something you’re like, no, but how do you do it?
In this episode, we bring out a Google spreadsheet. We put these columns, we [00:20:00] have these, so it’s, it’s very tactical and I think that’s why it was so well received as a
podcast episode
Annette Grant: and they’re going over KPIs like your ADR, your rev par, and so those are things, if you don’t know them now, by the time you listen to this episode next year, we want you to understand those.
The seventh episode, a top one of all these top seven episodes.
Episode 405: Gap Night Strategy
Annette Grant: 4 0 5 was a simple strategy to add thousands to your Airbnb revenue, if you have not listened to this episode, please wait till the end of this one, but run don’t walk to
Sarah Karakaian: It’ll bring money into your business and talk about you can do it manually. You can do it. Uh, did we say what it is? You can.
Annette Grant: Nope. It’s the gap night strategy. Yeah. Okay. And Some people call them a plethora, there’s like a laundry list of things that you can call it. You could call it a half day stay, you could call it a gap night stay, you could call it an orphan night, but essentially a gap night is if you have a gap in your schedule and there is no [00:21:00] one checking in, checking out, like at a reservation that you already have.
This is about squeezing the juice. And the dollars out of all of the current reservations that you have, because here’s the mindset shift here. Your guest has already chosen you. They’ve already spent that money. Why not? If you have an open calendar, ask them if they want to check in early.
Ask them if they want to continue their stay. You will be shocked at how many people will take you up on this. And here’s the deal. You need to get in the practice of this. It just needs to be part of your process and your messaging with your guests. Again, if you can, if you have the days available, but this is an excellent way for you to increase your revenue.
You don’t even have to go out and get any more guests.
Sarah Karakaian: if you do leverage some technology, if you have the route, the budget to have certain technologies the technology will know if there is a vacancy
it’ll know that you can set a time in which you can send this offer out to them. Three days before the stay, a week before the stay. It depends on your booking window, what’s best for your [00:22:00] property. And you can test this and tweak it a bit. And then it’s automatic.
And then when the guest responds, either with a yes or a no, if it’s no, okay. If it’s a yes, then you kind of come in there and you can personally tailor to their needs and their requests. Boom. It’s like. Free money. You know what I mean?
Annette Grant: And I want to share, we’ve been like, this has been a hot topic all year inside our membership.
And so many of our members have taken action on it. It doesn’t matter what their location is. It doesn’t matter the size of their home. They are seeing success.
And I’m telling you, Thousands of dollars a month, some people, and they are like, what in the world? It is changing their business and we want to offer that to you. This is such a simple thing because we say this all the time. You only get 365 days of inventory, so we got to try to sell as many as possible.
Call for Podcast Guests and 2025 Goals
Sarah Karakaian: Our episodes where we interview hosts, which by the way, if you want to be on the Thanks for Visiting podcast and you have something to share that our listeners can actually take away and implement, we are always looking for high quality [00:23:00] content, especially if they’re from hosts like you who are doing the darn thing.
So all you have to do is go to thanksforvisiting.com/apply. We really are. vicious about not letting people come on who just have something to sell. Now, if there is something to sell that’ll really help hosts, we’ll consider it. I’m not saying that, but if you can tell here, these top seven episodes, we don’t take this information lightly that you guys are hungry.
for tactical education to help you up level your business. And so if you’ve got something to share, like Callie and Bob, they wrote in and told us like, we think that we could really help listeners know how to better chat with their local legislation to win, you know, again, they were told they could not host.
So anyway, thanksforvisiting.com/apply and you could be on the podcast and just help us make 2025 the best year yet for our podcast.
Annette Grant: And this is a little personality of Sarah and I. Sarah and I will say we are vicious. I will say we are
discerning and kind [00:24:00] about who comes on the show.
Sarah Karakaian: And I’ll say I’m relentless. I am.
See I’m letting my freak flag
fly.
Annette Grant: No, I love it. I love it. And I’m going to let them know that this is how we roll. Okay, next.
The rest of this episode, we’re going to give you a deep dive, a kind of like a reflection of this year and looking ahead in 2025.
If you haven’t yet been able to dig into any of our personal story on our land journey, this has been something that Sarah and I had on our goal list. It has been years in the making. We want to be very transparent about that.
The Land Purchase Journey
Annette Grant: It was not an easy journey. We’ve been documenting it for you.
You can go back and listen to that, but as it sits today, we actually purchased the land, closed on it in 2024, but we started looking at it in 2022, not that land. We just started looking at land in
general.
Yes. In the
Sarah Karakaian: Hocking Hills, Ohio area.
Annette Grant: So that was 2022, 2023, we found some, we even put a deposit on some, we let it go, let it go, like, like, we let 40 grand go, it came back, and we are now the [00:25:00] proud owners, and we do have two mirror homes sitting on it right now, where we need to build them out, and then our cabin, but we are diligently working on that again, 2022.
Slow and steady wins the race there.
Sarah Karakaian: Okay. So Annette and I, we’ve
Annette Grant: been digging into our pocketbooks.
Sarah Karakaian: Yes. Okay. Okay. So first of all, we’ve been digging in our own pocketbooks, which we knew that was going to happen. And then we got our act together and we did start cause listen, we want to practice what we preach because that way we know how hard it can be
maybe you have another full time job. Maybe, you’re hosting a bunch and then you have this other project that you’re trying to get off the ground. We. Get it.
Financing and Private Lenders
Sarah Karakaian: So we were like, guys, we need to prioritize finding a private lender on this property and we know that we can offer them great returns.
So if you’re interested in any of that, like, write, sarah@thanksforvisiting.com let me know. Because we have a lot of big plans for this property and we cannot do it without the help of, a private lender. So we are. Actively, we’ve got one person. And there’s going to be
Annette Grant: phases
Sarah Karakaian: So
Annette Grant: if it’s [00:26:00] not something you’re interested in now, there will be a phase two, phase three.
Sarah Karakaian: If you’re interested in the short term rental world and, or in glamping and believe in it, and you believe in Annette and myself, but you don’t necessarily have the time to do it on your own and you want some great returns on, on funds, we could talk about that. But we did find someone to help us with this first tiny little phase.
So that’s been great.
Renovation Challenges and Partnerships
Sarah Karakaian: And, uh, we’re renovating a cabin that was existing on the property it is really hard because it’s like you see a lot of these competitors in our area who have these incredible properties and this first cabin we’re doing, it’s going to be so cute and cozy, but she definitely is a base hit, right?
She’s not going to be this like destination cabin for people to come and see, but it is What it’s gonna get some cash flow onto the property. So it’s a lesson in slowing down to speed up doing quality work We have another partner on this and they’re incredible family. We had them on the podcast as well The Navarro’s and so it’s also a lesson in Annette and I know how to work together And I actually have been friends with the Navarro’s for years And so while we’ve never worked together, [00:27:00] I know how to communicate with them, but it’s quite different having Annette Me and my husband.
Mike and Ingrid, right? That’s been an interesting dynamic, a good one, but we’re having to learn.
Annette Grant: I can’t, I can’t be as bossy.
I need to rein it in
Sarah Karakaian: a little. No, you’re a great, actually a great boss. We all, I feel like we all, we have these standing calls, every Tuesday and Thursday morning, we meet on Zoom for 30 minutes so we can keep the project moving forward and I think we all stand up and put our foot down when it’s important to
Annette Grant: us.
Absolutely.
Sarah Karakaian: So that’s what that that’s been that journey. We are hoping to open our door to our first cabin this spring. So we’ll keep you posted
Annette Grant: and we want you guys to visit. We have so many big plans for it.
Hopefully this time next year we’ll be hosting retreats and, things there where we could get to meet you guys in person.
Next has been a huge goal for us. If you do not know, we have been.
YouTube Ventures and Content Creation
Annette Grant: Posting videos on YouTube.
Sarah Karakaian: It’s almost killed Annette everybody.
Annette Grant: They are not just the podcast video. This is YouTube [00:28:00] specific content.
Sarah Karakaian: Yeah, it’s different.
Annette Grant: It’s completely different. So if you have not checked that out, we’ll make sure to put a link in the show notes. Please go subscribe. Check that out. Honestly, so many of those top seven that we were just talking about, we dig in video style, how to be pet friendly, how to do it like revenue management.
We go into, how we organize our, our own storage, areas. So those, episodes that we talked about, they, they’re not the actual episodes on YouTube, but we have corresponding videos that can like layer in and be additions there. And yeah, Sarah said, uh, video is not easy for me, everyone.
Actually, audio is not easy for me, but video has been, there’s been some breakdowns. There’s been some. It might be some tears.
Sarah Karakaian: I want to talk about it.
Annette Grant: Or be some walking away.
Sarah Karakaian: Because you can take this instance, this thing, the YouTube thing, right?
Annette Grant: But I want to do it so bad. I want to serve people so bad.
Because I know that Sarah and I can bring you so much more. With the video element. And it matters. And that’s why I’m [00:29:00] persevering.
Sarah Karakaian: I want to do a little like, Whose idea
was it to start a YouTube channel?
Annette Grant: Was it me, probably?
Sarah Karakaian: Yes,
ma’am. It was you.
Annette Grant: It was me. Because, yes. Video is the
future.
Video is the now.
Sarah Karakaian: So, like, what can our listeners take away from this lesson is like There might be something you know you need to do to, whether it’s help people or get your family a little further along in your wealth building journey and it’s uncomfortable for you and to lean into
it and do it anyway.
Annette Grant: My coach also says discomfort is the currency of your dreams and so that means a lot.
Like that hits for me like the sloppiness and then the discomfort is the currency of my dreams because everything I know that’s going to be Uncomfortable is gonna get me to those goals and I do want to share like this actually it’s kind of a the podcast I was very nervous in the beginning for those of you that don’t know.
This is a fun story, too I tried to do a podcast on my own And I was too scared, too nervous to just get on the mic and [00:30:00] talk. So, when I first started, I always had to have a guest because I couldn’t do it by myself and that’s how Sarah and I met and then I asked her. I had like 10, 12 episodes and those have never been released because I wanted to partner with Sarah.
So, I got over that clearly. We’re on like episode 400 and something now, so but I can, I’m kind of reliving the fear and the,
Sarah Karakaian: how do you do it Annette?
Annette Grant: Judgment, or I don’t even, it’s not even other people judging me. I’m, I’m my harshest critic, but the podcast has meant so much to, to us and to so many listeners that I want to get through that in the YouTube channel.
Sarah Karakaian: With the YouTube
channel and when it’s hard. How, how, because I want to help someone. Like let’s say they’re like, okay Annette, I have to.
Annette Grant: They want to get
on social media. No, we hear so many of you don’t want to put your face on social
media for your property.
Sarah Karakaian: But for them, but they want to, here’s the thing, there could be, you’re also a business owner, like Annette, I want everyone to understand, if Annette told me that it meant a lot to her that we don’t do the YouTube channel and that she could not show up, Behind camera because it is literally like [00:31:00] it will make her the most happy human.
I would of course Have to decide is it more important for me to be in business with Annette or is it more important for me to have a YouTube channel and I would absolutely pick being in business with Annette But she has chosen to persevere anyway, because I’ve given her obviously that support so Annette Can you give someone like a tip or two of how you do it or like how how do you get to the other side?
Annette Grant: I
do
thought work of the why do I want to do it and the why is I know that there are so many people out there that need help that have questions and I think about I just take myself out of because it’s being selfish of like, Oh, I care about, I’ll be honest, like what I look like, or how do I sound?
And it’s like that when you create content, it is not about you. It is about who is receiving it, who is learning from you. The crazy part to me is thinking about it’s not only the host [00:32:00] that will hear our message that I think is so important, but then each and every guest that stays in their property. So I really, I do dig deep and think about that type of impact and I also know the one thing that I love about our podcast and like YouTube is that it’s not fleeting.
It’s not like, One and done it’s like I know once we get it packaged and up it can live there for a really long time and serve a lot of people
No,
it’s okay I’m where I because I’m I can say that is one of the things I’m most proud of is being able to Because we bring out two episodes a week everybody.
It’s a if you don’t even know everyone so it’s a lot it’s a it’s a lot It’s a lot and there’s a lot of lights and there’s a lot of cameras and yeah, I still get a lot of action. Yeah, there’s a lot of action. Well, I said YouTube is one of our favorite things, but and our podcast.
Membership Success Stories
Annette Grant: It’s all so good, but our membership, whoo, if you have not had Or even heard of our membership.
We have our hosting business membership [00:33:00] and our members inside there. They are crushing it and when they come to calls and they give us their wins, it is like, let’s go. So we want to share with you a couple of things. I’m going to just let’s go over three people just like this week, like just some things that it’s over the course of the year. People are sharing their wins over the course of the year. We’re going to start with Katie. Katie literally increased her earnings by 30, 000 with just two properties this year.
She’s an owner operator. That was her goal was to increase it. And actually she gave us those numbers before the year was actually over. She still had a few dates that she could book. But what we love is she made some calculated upgrades. And so yes, she had invested in those this year, but after this, this is just going to like, compound over time.
Michelle is a co host. Let’s talk about what about her growth.
Sarah Karakaian: Launching 19 properties in 2024. She launched 19 properties. And you know, she wasn’t just throwing them up because [00:34:00] she’s a member of ours. It was calculated. It was at checklists. It is no joke, but We have a ton of co hosts in there. I feel like that’s like the hosting word of 2024 is co host.
People are coming out of the golden age, the gold rush of quote unquote Airbnb in 2021, 2022. And they’re seeing how hard it is. And so these co hosts are emerging from the ashes and it is a hard job, everyone. It is hard. To cohost, but it is also very fulfilling it can be incredibly lucrative and it is to be the best in your area.
I want to say it’s not hard because most people who try
it aren’t good at it.
Annette Grant: Right. Absolutely. Once you can harness the power that you’re like, you know how to host, then it goes back.
Sarah Karakaian: I’m just going to say it goes back to being organized. Okay. Absolutely. So
there are a lot of people, and I’ll again be my freak flag here.
I get that. You make your money when you buy. I [00:35:00] understand that whole real estate mantra. But then you have to treat it like a business. You can’t get this great deal. And I know there’s a lot of gurus out there telling you how to buy a short term rental and I’m all here for it because that’s what they specialize in.
But then what Thanks for Visiting specializes in is taking that and making sure you don’t squander it. You don’t waste it. Operating
your small business.
Yes. That is what we are passionate about over here at Thanks for Visiting. I’m really proud of Michelle and her growth this year, and I’m just excited to continue to be there to support her.
Annette Grant: And again, someone else we want to highlight is Heatherly because these are the, what members are doing inside our membership. Her bookings were down. She’s like, wait, I need to pivot. How am I going to make sure that my property is, Getting the bookings and the revenue that it needs she started leveraging insurance claims to book her larger homes for one to two months Because she was
in Florida during the storms She was like wait a second travelers aren’t coming here But folks that are needing to repair their homes or fix [00:36:00] said homes that need repaired She she dug in and was like she wasn’t gonna have a roadblock. She was like, how can I? lean into what’s happening here and use this to my advantage.
And what’s great now is Heatherly is creating those relationships. Again, this hard work pays off over time. She’s leveraging these relationships. She’s, she has like an affiliate program with people that are staying with her. Like, do you know someone? She is crushing it. So just kudos to not just those three, but everybody that has been just doing the work.
The success comes when the people in our membership do the work and we’re here to support all of them.
Into 2025, Sarah and I want to support you more.
Bootcamp Intensives Announcement
Annette Grant: We want to bring you more options to work with us and we are excited to announce our first ever boot camp intensives because we hear you, we see you, we know you are busy, we know you need accountability,
we know you need focus and our boot camps that [00:37:00] we’re going to have in 2025, we are going to work on one specific thing in your business. And by the end of that boot camp, you are going to have taken action, get a result and move forward. And what we love most is you’ll be equipped then with what you learned during that boot camp.
to repeat it because short term rentals are not set it and forget it or just hire a VA. So you are the CEO of your small business. So we are going to equip you. The first one is in January. And you want to go to thanksforvisiting.com/bootcamp. All year long we will be releasing new boot camps.
But if you want to go there and sign up for the first one. Let’s go. If you wanna finally let us see you be on a Zoom with us so we can teach you, we can dig in with you. We cannot wait for that.
Sarah Karakaian: There is a small investment. It’s $49 because
Annette Grant: we wanna help
you.
Sarah Karakaian: Transformation. We don’t want any,
What is it Annette?,
Annette Grant: the, transformations in the transaction
Sarah Karakaian: when you exchange a little bit of energy with us.
Mm-hmm .
That’ll, [00:38:00] and this is proven not just, you know, in our world, but this is. This is in worldwide right when you put a little bit of your hard earned cash to something you People tend to show up more and show up differently. So it’s a 49 investment. We’re going to have three live trainings, a pop up Facebook group where Annette and I and our whole team will be in there.
We are going to pour into you.
Annette Grant: Like
workbooks that go along with it. You’re like me, that I like to like put pen to paper. We’re going to have replays. This is, we are making this a no brainer. So if you have been listening to the podcast forever, I’m just going to ask you, support us. That is a way to support us.
We pour out every week. We want to see you on this call because I’m telling you on these bootcamps, we are going to change your business. So do something for yourself, uplevel your business, join us in the bootcamps. We got you in 2025.
Sarah Karakaian: And we’ll just tell you the
first one is about listing audits.
Yes. And it’s not, it’s not some listing audit education from 2018.
Annette Grant: Yeah, it’s
not.
Yeah. Okay. We’re going to dig in deep. It is going to [00:39:00] be hands on. We’re going to, and you are going to see major changes.
Sarah Karakaian: Yes. We cannot wait. thanksforvisiting.com/bootcamp.
All right.
Community Engagement and Final Thoughts
Sarah Karakaian: This has been an incredible episode.
We got, we got personal. We did a little bit of a summary of what you guys are all listening to and liking in 2024 so we know what to do more of in 2025.
Annette Grant: And listen.
Email us, hi@thanksforvisiting.Com if there is something that you want us to talk about next year. If you have a story, like some, a way that our podcast impacted you, please.
We would love, you guys, we are just, Sarah and I talking into these mics, so we would love it. any feedback about how a episode has impacted you. You know, if, if, if you have something that we could share with our listeners, but that is what we are here to do is to serve you. And we would love to hear how we can continue to serve you or how our service has impacted you.
That way, that motivates us to keep going and to keep, showing up on the mic and on the camera. [00:40:00] So subscribe to our YouTube. Make sure you’re subscribed to the podcast, but we are here to serve you, so let
us know.
Sarah Karakaian: Alright, more of Sarah’s Freak Flag. I’m going to give you a homework assignment, because I love homework.
Annette Grant: Should they put it in their asana board?
Sarah Karakaian: They should put it in your asana don’t have an asana board. And if you don’t know what an asana board is, I’m sure I could teach you.
That’ll have to be a whole other bootcamp maybe.
Oh, don’t play with me. Here’s your assignment everyone. I want you to do this.
Our business coach, Annette and I have a business coach right now that we’re working with, and she asked us to do this. What is your word for 2025? And to hold you accountable, because thousands of you turn and tune in each and every episode, I want you to all DM us. Thanks for visiting underscore
on Instagram. What is your word? Share it with us. And why? Why is that your word?
Annette Grant: Well, do
you
know your word?
Sarah Karakaian: I do. Give it to me. Less.
Annette Grant: Oh, okay. I was going to say we have three words.
Sarah Karakaian: Our motto, Thanks for Visiting motto for 2025 is less but better. And so then if I had [00:41:00] a, she asked us for a word, Annette, and so our word is less.
So and that whole point is for, at least for Annette and I, we tend to get, we’re, we’re multi passionate. We want to do all the things. But it’s all the time.
Annette Grant: It slows us down. You can’t.
Yeah. Bragging about multitasking. No. It’s impossible.
No, it is. It’s sloppy. We do things.
Sarah Karakaian: So less. And then, of course, our motto, then our motto, but better.
But I just want you to come up with a word. They’ll help drive you in 2025. I’m going to do some fun things with our word Annette doesn’t know yet, but it’s coming to her soon. Maybe you could do some fun things. You can do something simple with it. Just put it on a post it note, put it on your mirror.
So every morning in 2025, it’s not this like new year’s resolution thing and it dies down in February. Really have it drive you through 2025, but I would love to know what your word is. So DM us on Instagram. That’s me on the other end
of it. So let us know.
Annette Grant: And listen, it might be, you know, Sarah and I. On the mic, but you everyone that listens, you are part of the Thanks for Visiting community.
We are your partners. So, know that [00:42:00] we are always here for you and we know you are all working so hard. I’m like getting teary eyed because it is lonely hosting. It is like, it can, it is challenging. It’s so rewarding, but know that Sarah and I, we know that you’re out there. We know that you’re busting your hump, getting things done, taking care of these guests.
We are your, like, Co hosts in crime, if you will, but just know if those days that you feel lonely, like pop on the podcast, send us an email, pop on the YouTube. That is why we create this. So when you need that support, we’ve got your back.
Sarah Karakaian: With that, I am Sarah Karakaian.
Annette Grant: I’m annette Grant, and together we are
Sarah Karakaian: Thanks for Visiting. Talk to you next time.
