Are you stuck?
Launching your first Short Term Rental (STR) listing on Airbnb can seem a bit daunting. It's like opening a new 500 piece puzzle and spreading out all of the colorful pieces in total disarray. At which point you may be thinking, “Oh #@!%, there is a lot to take in here.” And yet, you have this picture on the box of the end result that is so compelling and you believe with time and focus it will eventually come together, right? So, you study the pieces, you organize and you experiment with this piece and that. Eventually... you get stuck, frustrated, exhausted and you walk away for a bit.
I’m sure, if you are reading this post, you have caught a glimpse of this fantastic STR industry and its many rewards. You have been a guest at an amazing Airbnb rental property or maybe you have a friend who is wildly successful at hosting and you thought “This is awesome! If they can do this so can I… right?!” But the research can be overwhelming and the analysis paralysis is real.
You may still be studying, number crunching and questioning whether you have the right skill set, financial resources and time to be a host. It seems the more we research and learn the more we realize how much we don’t know and understand. This industry is baffling that way. It seems so simple and it draws us in only to leave us overwhelmed and unsure if we have what it takes to really pull this hosting thing off.
Let me share a little shift of perspective that may help you get unstuck as an aspiring host. What if becoming a host is something you can only learn by doing? And, what if the the picture you are pursuing is taking its unique identity and shape as you work it - like a piece of clay on a potters wheel? With this perspective we realize that it’s not so much a puzzle we have to put together but, a journey we must go on.
Now that’s not to say there is no strategy involved or vision to pursue. We can and should take wise steps to prepare and begin our journey. There are tried and true principles to create a solid foundation for our hosting business and we will go through those together in due time. But trust me when I say, no Superhost ever began their hosting career knowing all they needed to know before they began. Most hosts simply begin with an end in mind and learn as they go.