February 15, 2024 • 32 mins
I've made $80,000 hosting on Airbnb and have a perfect 5 star rating
If the idea of random people hanging out in your home gives you the creeps, no worries—I've been there, done that, and made close to six-figures along the way. Learn to leverage rental arbitrage and strike the balance between profit margins and personal boundaries.
BONUS: the worst things guests have done during their stay in my personal home.
In this solo episode, I tackle:
- How to feel less awkward about strangers sleeping in your bed
- What it takes to maintain a five star rating on Airbnb
- How I manage guest turnover when I'm living in a different country
- Where I store my personal items when hosting Airbnb guests
- A list of essential items to stockpile
- How profitable hosting on Airbnb is (my exact numbers)
Resources:
- Free workshop: Design Your Best Self
- Get 10% off your first Fiverr order with this link
- Start Hosting on Airbnb with this referral bonus
About the show:
Sam Laliberte - entrepreneur, digital nomad and freedom seeker, hosts the Freedom Lifestyle Podcast to expose people to the many ways you can design your dream life and unlock your own version of the freedom lifestyle. Her guests have empowered themselves through flexible work as a way to “have it all” - financial, location AND schedule freedom.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello freedom seekers .
I am back with another soloepisode for you, and this one is
how to host on Airbnb, so howto actually make money on Airbnb
by renting out your place likea total pro.
You are going to hear thesecrets from someone who's made
almost $80,000 on the platformin 5 years, somebody who has a
(00:27):
perfect 5 star rating, and alsosomebody who lives in the house
who my things are in the housetoo, because I'm hoping that
some people listening to thisepisode are those people who
feel uncomfortable with Airbnbbeing their place, who just feel
weird about it.
They can't imagine havingsomebody actually in their place
(00:49):
.
So we're going to talk aboutthat.
We're going to address thosecompletely fair and completely
normal feelings.
I'm going to share with you howI've personally been able to
move past that, because, ofcourse, I feel that way too.
I'm human.
I have nice things, I care alot about vibe and the energy in
my home, so totally fair.
But then I'm also going to tellyou how I've been so successful
(01:12):
on the platform.
I'm going to share with you theworst thing that has ever
happened while hosting on Airbnbin the last 5 years, and I'm
also going to share with you howI'm able to get a 5 star rating
consistently.
But before we hop into today'sepisode, I need to tell you
about this week's sponsor,fiverr, the world's largest
marketplace for freelanceservices, and by now you already
(01:35):
know I'm a freelancer on Fiverr.
It's actually become my talkchannel for attracting new
clients, but I bet you didn'tknow that I'm also a Fiverr
client myself.
In fact, whenever I have aproject or an idea in my
business, I go to Fiverr firstto find other freelancers who
have services that can bring myproject to life.
(01:57):
Whether I want to speak withsomebody about growing my
YouTube channel or get helpcreating graphics for the launch
of a new ebook or digitaldownload I'm releasing, or maybe
I want some music to create formy new podcast season, I
challenge you head to Fiverrcomnext time you have a project but
you don't have the time toexecute it.
(02:19):
I have been so pleased by howmuch space and freedom this
creates for me, and if you'renew to Fiverr, you can use the
link in the show notes for 10%off your very first order.
So let's get into it.
First and foremost.
So many people have shared withme I just can't imagine having
(02:43):
someone sleep in my bed, or ifpeople are at my house like I
don't know, I live there fulltime, I have so many things,
where would my things go?
Or what if they go through mythings?
What if they like look throughmy underwear drawer or I don't
know, like go through mypersonal journals?
Or what if they steal something?
Okay, totally fair.
(03:05):
The worst thing that has everhappened to me while hosting
someone on Airbnb is they dranksome of my beers and they were
completely honest about it.
They actually made themselvesvery at home.
I'll share with you something abit strange.
But they messaged me while wewere traveling and they said hey
, I hope you don't mind.
I saw some beers.
Those are okay to drink, Iassume, actually they're not,
(03:27):
but okay.
So they drank some of our beers.
Well, now we got a label maker.
We have a tiny little label ona top shelf.
We basically have, like thistwo shelf area that they would
have seen the alcohol.
The lower shelf is completelyempty.
The top shelf has some of ouritems in it, including, I guess,
our beers.
And now we have a little labeland we're cheeky and it says
(03:49):
Thank you for not drinking ouralcohol.
We've added that hasn'thappened again.
And the same person.
The other thing they did is abit weird when I tell people is,
he know, like a loofah.
You know when you're showeringand it's that foamy ball not
foam, but that ball and you getit at the drug store and you
bring it into the bath showerand you put some soap on it and
(04:12):
you use it to scrub around yournaked, dirty body.
Well, similar situation in mybathroom.
So in our master bathroom it'sbasically a big mirror with the
two sinks and two cupboardsunderneath.
How we do it is one cupboard weleave all of our items in and
the next one is completely empty.
So they have that whole onesection of the vanity completely
(04:35):
empty, separate cupboards,totally clear, and the other one
is clearly like, stacked up,nicely organized, but that's our
items.
Well, this person went in thereand took my used Lufa and was
using it and, again, wasn'ttrying to hide it.
They left it in the shower whenI came home.
So I saw that it was there andthat they were using it.
A little bit cringy, but yeah,that is the worst thing that's
(04:58):
happened in five years.
About $80,000 made on theplatform.
Nothing else has gone wrong.
No one has stolen from me, noone has made any major damages
to my home, and there's a coupleof things that I do that I
think really allow for that tohappen and have mitigated my
risk.
A big one is no one can stay atmy home for less than 30 days,
(05:21):
so you can have this filterturned on on Airbnb with the
minimum number of nights thatsomeone has to commit to booking
before they can stay your house, so minus 30.
This is huge.
When you have this, you attractsomeone who is there to stay
your home, to make it their home.
Maybe they are there to remotework.
In my case, they will rent outmy house because they want to
(05:43):
ski a lot over the winter, andso I do a minimum 30 days.
This also can typically allowyou to get around various types
of regulations.
We own a townhouse, so thereare eight units that are all
neighbors and we share someresources.
It's called Estrada in Ontario,it's condo fees in the US.
They have some term that I'mforgetting right now.
(06:04):
But yeah, we're some sharedresources and some shared rules,
and in our Estrada and ourcondo townhouse unit, if we are
renting our place out for 30days or more, we don't need to
get each other's permission, andso that's really attractive.
And then also in our provinceit is not considered a short
(06:25):
term rental, and so we've beenable to get around those
regulations.
So just by doing the 30 days,not only do you attract somebody
who's not just there to partyfor the weekend, but you're also
getting away with someregulations that likely exist in
your city.
So that's a big one.
Another one is they have to havereviews, and so I only rent out
to people that have a trackrecord on Airbnb Definitely more
(06:49):
than one, because it's reallynot difficult for somebody to go
give someone a review.
In fact, we hacked that when wefirst launched our house on
Airbnb and we had no reviews.
We got a couple of our friendsto rent out the place for a few
days.
This is unethical.
We was a five star review andthat is what we did, so pro tip,
(07:10):
that really worked for us, andso they have to have several
reviews.
You know ID verified on Airbnb,which is a thing, and now
Airbnb even has a setting.
I was helping my mom get set up.
She's finally ready to AirbnbOne of her properties We'll see.
She hasn't had a guest yet, butshe's been really blocked by a
lot of these things that I'vealready talked about.
(07:32):
So setting up her platform, andnow Airbnb has a filter where
only people who have reviews canreach out to you or requests to
book at your place.
So that's great.
In terms of the minimum numberof days, you can actually give
people a discount, and sosometimes if someone makes a
request to do less than 30 days,I say, well, actually you're
(07:57):
saving a ton because my 30 dayrate makes the daily rate much
more affordable and I'llactually kind of convince them
or see if they might be open tostaying for the 30 days and
economically it makes sense andthat's actually worked out a
couple times.
So you can give people a weeklydiscount, a monthly discount, I
think like a 60 day discount,so you can also incentivize
(08:19):
people to stay longer.
Again, that's just going toattract the person who is likely
not going to mess with yourstuff, steal your things, do
damage to your property, andeven in the event that that
happens, airbnb has your back.
Look up the different types ofinsurance and support that
Airbnb provides.
It's like a no questions askedsituation.
(08:40):
They are so good about helpingyou out if something happened.
Again, nothing's happened to me, but I know people who have had
issues, typically, honestly,when they do the weekend rentals
.
I'm always a little like Idon't know, nervous when I see
my friends renting out theirplaces for a weekend here or
three nights here, because youjust never know who you're going
(09:02):
to attract.
You just don't know, especiallyif you have many bedrooms in
your house.
So that's another big thing.
If you have can sleep sixpeople, eight people again.
That's also going to attractmore of a group setting.
We have a three bedroom house.
We only say that four peoplecan stay.
That's like another way toreally make it more intentional
(09:23):
about what is your propertybeing used for, what type of
event is happening in your space?
So those have been superhelpful.
Now, regarding this sleeping inyour own bed and how that can
feel totally weird, I have acomplete, separate set of sheets
, duvet, comforter, towels formy guests.
Literally they stay in thecloset when I'm home and then
(09:46):
the first thing I do when Ileave, I put those on the bed
for the cleaner, wash my sheets,my towels and have them waiting
for me when I return.
So a separate set of things cango a long way.
And then don't tell me you'venever stayed in a hotel.
Don't tell me you live a lifewhere you are only ever sleeping
in a bed that you've slept in.
If you are staying in hotelsand you're comfortable staying
(10:08):
in hotels, how is it anydifferent than somebody sleeping
in your bed?
Think about it.
I know it can feel weird, butreally, really, really think
about it.
You do this all the time.
So get a separate set of sheets, get a separate comforter, and
that is one way you can feel abit less weird about it.
I also have a rule where mycleaner has to have come to the
(10:29):
house before I go back.
This is something Jared and Iset up from the beginning,
because when we got our newhouse, we designed everything
ourselves.
We picked out all of thefurniture.
It was the first time weweren't just doing hand-me-downs
from mom.
Side note thanks mom.
She has been so generous withme over the years.
She had a home staging andinterior design business and we
(10:50):
just always just give me stuffshe didn't need.
Well, when I moved across thecountry, she didn't give me as
much stuff.
So I got to pick out my firstcouch, my first bed, my first
duvet, my first artwork, thiscozy little chair I'm sitting in
right now, which I get so manycompliments on the like sherpa
loungy chair.
I picked all of these thingsout myself and I felt
(11:14):
uncomfortable with people beingin the space, and I didn't want
to come back to a space thatdidn't feel like it was mine and
that it was just my home, andso the cleaner comes before I
even arrive.
So when I returned to my house,my house is spic and span.
I don't want to see thecondition it has been left in.
I think that that is veryimportant to me, that there's
(11:37):
not a clear presence, thatsomeone else has been living
here, and I mean it's notperfect.
One of our guests they cooked alot of meat.
Jared and I are vegan.
We don't eat meat.
Bacon had never been likecooked in the cells before.
We're the first ones to live init, and so there was some
really you know vegan meat, freeenergy in the air.
(11:59):
And, as much as I would like tosay, you have to be vegan to
rent my house.
It's actually not a bad idea.
I don't have that as arequirement, and so, yeah, I
came home and the house justkind of smelled different.
You could just sense that therewas meat that was cooked in
here and so open the windows.
For a week I brought out myincense to clear the energy, lit
(12:25):
some candles, turned on thediffuser and after about a week
it was fine.
And in those moments where therewas like a little annoying,
things happen.
Sometimes the furniture getsmoved a little bit here and
there.
Maybe they didn't like a lampin a room, or maybe they what's
another example some likecushions and pillows from the
(12:45):
bed moved down to the couch, ora blanket that's usually in a
bedroom was down in the livingroom area because maybe they are
watching a movie.
Sometimes those things happenand the cleaner doesn't catch
them and it's like, ooh,somebody else was here.
But then I just remind myselfthat I was getting paid to
travel.
I was not paying for rent intwo different places.
(13:07):
Which who wants to be doingthat?
I'm in Costa Rica at the timeof this episode and I'm paying
$1,500 a month for a two bedroomjungle home, minutes from the
beach, and I'm making over$3,000 a month on my house, and
so that is how much money I'mactually keeping.
In terms of Airbnb, how the feeswork is actually so much better
(13:31):
for the host than for the guest.
So, to host your place onAirbnb, to allow Airbnb to
basically bring the traffic toyou, have the website where all
of your photos are for them toprotect you in case anything
happens, they take 3% from thegross total.
So whatever the person pays,they get 3% of that.
And then the guest fee is over14%.
(13:56):
And so it's actually One of thetrends I'm seeing more and more
is guests wanting to bookoutside of the platform, and I
mean I've even done it with mygirlfriends.
We have these big girls weekendsand it's like, oh my God, I
thought it was going to be this,and then everyone has to add an
extra 15%.
It is wild.
I think it's quite a bit.
(14:16):
And so another big trend ispeople will say hey, do you
think we can work out a dealoutside of the platform?
I have done it, but I only doit if the person has already
rented from me.
So I have a lot of repeatcustomers.
Right now we're in Costa Rica.
A guy who had stayed at ourplace for two months last year
is back again for two monthsthis year.
(14:36):
Sure, we're happy to do our ownseparate deal.
There's some trust alreadyinvolved.
We have built some rapport andrelationship.
I'm cool with that, but reallyit doesn't make that much sense
for you because Airbnb is onlycharging you 3% and giving you
so much protection.
So I think it rarely makessense to do that.
(14:56):
You're really hooking up theguest in that case, and so it's
got to be somebody who thatthat's worth it for.
So that also gives you an ideaof the arbitrage that can happen
when you're making money onyour home but then spending less
to live somewhere else.
I wouldn't say for us it'shugely profitable, to be totally
honest.
We have a mortgage, we haveutilities, we spend a lot on our
(15:20):
cleaner, which I'm going totalk about in a second.
We have I don't know propertyinsurance, who knows Like the
list just goes on and on of allthings you have to pay for as a
homeowner.
So I wouldn't say it's likesuper profitable, but I would
say it's basically break even.
We'll make anywhere between3,000 to 3,500 a month from
(15:41):
Airbnb, and that's about what itcosts us to have our house.
I mean, I will say I'm payingoff my mortgage.
So there's that and definitelygetting help paying for that.
You could be making way moremoney.
We are absolutely leaving moneyon the table.
For sure that is something thatme and my husband argue about.
He would love to be making moreon it.
I'm pretty happy with theamount that we are making.
(16:04):
People are making way more,especially if you're doing the
weekend rates, of course, like,I think, our daily rate.
If you just rented it, what islike, I don't know, 250 or $300
a night, we could easily cleanup by doing few nights here, few
nights there, but it isn't justwant to be what we want to be
doing for our home.
So, yeah, money is great.
(16:25):
It's completely passive income.
You do have to pay taxes on itand I do submit that income
because it is very muchtrackable and it's in the Airbnb
platform and they give youformal tax documents at the end
of the year.
So you do report it on yourincome as self-employment income
.
You are taxed on it, but at thesame time, because you're now
(16:46):
making self-employment incomewhich maybe this is your only
self-employment income Maybe youhave a job that gives you a T4,
that has a boss, and this isyour one side hustle.
Well, that one side hustleallows you to benefit from
something that all of usentrepreneurs benefit from,
which is being able to write offexpenses so you can write off
(17:09):
various expenses that youincurred to generate that income
.
So you can write off your rentor your mortgage for that month
or the utilities that youincurred that month.
Or maybe you had to buydifferent soaps and different
products for the house ordifferent coffees.
Maybe you upgraded a thing ortwo.
(17:30):
You know, when we upgraded ourTV in our house, for sure we
considered that towards one ofour expenses for this Airbnb.
We got a really nice fire tablefor outside.
Yeah, definitely that adds tothe value of our Airbnb listing.
It's literally written in ourAirbnb listing.
So you also yes, you are taxedon that income, but because you
(17:53):
are, you're also allowed toinvest in your house and treat
those as business expenses.
So look into that as well.
Those things all make me feelreally okay, with the slight
stench of meat that I came homefrom my vacation to that
particular trip.
Okay, a good cleaner is yourbest friend when you are hosting
(18:16):
on Airbnb.
Anytime, we've tried to becheap and look for someone who
has a lower hourly rate.
Again, this is going tocompletely vary based on where
you are in the world.
Listening to this, I know wehave a global audience here.
I love you.
In Canada, in British Columbia,a low hourly rate for a cleaner
is like 3035.
And anytime we're like, oh,let's try to get for that, we've
(18:38):
been disappointed, they quit.
We come home and we do a finalcheck and it's still not good
enough.
We even had one time we were inour trip.
We were in Italy on our triphaving our first night out for
dinner, and we got that messageno one wants to get, which is a
message from your Airbnb guestcomplaining about something.
They got to the house and itjust wasn't that clean.
(19:00):
It wasn't perfect.
Airbnb guests have highexpectations, I find, and so,
yeah, it was a cheap cleanerthat we had used and we had to
now find quickly because thesepeople were staying in our house
for a month, we couldn't losethem and they have 24 hours to
leave and Airbnb will help themout.
So we had to find a cleaner.
We're in Italy in our romanticdinner, it's nighttime, we're
(19:23):
scrambling, we find anothercleaner, organize it for them to
come to the house the next day,make sure they're okay with
that, give us a chance to makethis right.
The cleaner comes, fixes it.
They're happy, okay, great.
So now I try not to worry toomuch about that.
If a cleaner is reliable, ifthey're able to like, sometimes
we'll go traveling for fourmonths and within those four
(19:45):
months I might have three orfour different guests coming,
and so you can imagine it's aquick turnaround time.
It's a couple days between oneguest leaving and another guest
coming in and I can't be there.
I can't be there to helpstockpile items, to check if
there's enough soap, to makesure there's a coffee bag for
them.
I can't be there to make surethe bed is perfectly made.
(20:05):
So your cleaner is like yourteam member Some people like.
It's very common for people topay and a job that people will
have is Airbnb manager and homemanager and their job is to do
this for you.
Well, I just have a really,really great cleaner and that is
priceless, and so don't besurprised if you're paying
anywhere from $40 to $50 an hourfor a cleaner who's going to do
(20:29):
a great job and is going to bereliable, when you're on the
other end of the world andthey're running this very
important customer facingbusiness for you.
You can also charge your guestsfor that.
So you'll notice when you setup your Airbnb hosting profile,
you set your daily rate, butthen you can also have an add-on
fees.
So I honestly can't even thinkabout what some add-on fees
(20:50):
would be right now.
But cleaning is definitely themain one, so you can just set a
flat rate.
I think ours is 300 for us toclean the house and we spend
maybe a bit more than that to doit really well.
Okay, so good, cleaner is yourfriend.
Another thing that is yourfriend is stockpiling, and so if
you have the space in your hometo have an extra closet where
(21:15):
you can keep at bulk hand soap,dish soap, laundry soap, toilet
paper, coffee and tea, shampooor body soaps, cooking basics
like oil, salt pepper, and maybegifts Like if you're doing a
welcome gift, like a bottle ofwine or anything like that like
(21:35):
you give to your guests, thegift I wouldn't say is a minimum
basic expectation, buteverything else I said that is
the minimum.
Like if you want to at leastget a four out of five, you need
to have those things stocked.
And so I have those items inbulk and I keep them in an
upstairs closet that the guestsdoesn't need to go to, and so
(21:56):
that's easy.
The cleaner comes, they gothrough the house, they refill
the items as needed.
We're good to go.
I didn't always have a housewith a lot of this space, and
you might not either.
You might say, sam, I don'thave a closet where I can put
all this stuff.
I mean, I'm putting all of mypersonal items so that they can
have my empty closet Totallyfair.
In that case, your cleaner canlikely do this for you, and so
(22:19):
what I had done in my oldapartment is I would have a list
of the items that I would wantrestocked for the guest and the
cleaners I would say come to thehouse, start the laundry, right
.
So laundry is the thing that'sgoing to take the most amount of
time.
If you got to do towels orsheets and all of that to flip
over the guests, start thelaundry, take your list, go to
(22:40):
the store, go buy all theseitems, come back, restock them
and continue your job.
That also worked really well.
Of course, that is countingtowards the cleaner's time is
doing these errands and youmight not get the products you
want, but all these things aresolvable.
Stockpiling is huge.
Another really great way to savetime is to digitize your
(23:02):
welcome experience or your homemanual, and so there's those
frequently asked questions thatevery guest would ask you right.
What is the Wi-Fi password?
Is there a code for the garage?
What is the garbage schedule?
How do you work heating orcooling?
What are the checkoutinstructions, anything that
someone has repeatedly asked you.
(23:22):
You want to just keep that allin one place.
Not only is it going toprofessionalize your experience,
it's going to make it a verysmooth for the guest.
It's also going to be easierfor you, like if you're
typically on a trip enjoyingyour life.
You do not want to be going backand forth explaining to your
guests that it's an inductionstove top which requires these
special types of pans which arein this drawer.
(23:43):
You might not be familiar withit.
Here's how it works.
We have a passive house.
Okay, there's some quirks to it.
Our windows and our doors theyopen and close in kind of a
weird way.
We also have a secret mirrordownstairs that's actually a
heater.
So I have all that informationin one document and I just send
it to the guest.
(24:04):
Airbnb even allows you to haveautomatic messages set up.
So 24 hours before the guestsarrive, have them send this.
A lot of this can just be run,rinse and repeat, and the more
you do this, the more passivethat income comes, baby.
Another one that we had to putin our very important
information is you don't wantyour neighbors to get annoyed
(24:27):
that you're doing this, right?
The worst thing that can happenis your neighbors have an issue
with this and they bringattention to it.
They either try to create a newrule in your strata, they
contact somebody about it.
You don't want that.
You want to keep your neighborshappy.
Of course.
You want to be a good neighbor,right?
We have an issue at our housewhere you have your own private
(24:48):
garage for your car, but thenthere is some outdoor parking
near our building that lookslike it's visitor parking.
It's not visitor parking One ofour neighbors.
Those are their lots.
They don't have a big garage.
You don't need to know thesedetails.
What you need to know is in thepast, our neighbors have been
annoyed if anyone visits me andthey accidentally park there.
(25:08):
Okay, bold that.
Put that nice and big in yourrulebook.
Any of these things that you canget ahead of.
That is how you're going toAirbnb like a pro.
We've talked a lot about someof these basic items that you
want to have in stock for theperson.
This is one of them.
Having this house manual withthis information about why, if I
password and all of this, it'sbecome the standard.
(25:30):
Having salt and pepper, havingoil to cook with, it has become
the standard.
In fact, when I go as a gueston Airbnb to someone else's
place and I don't see thesebasic items there, I'm very
turned off.
I'm like, wow, you're beingreally cheap.
The fact that you don't evenhave just these basic essentials
for me, I would say that's thestandard.
(25:51):
Are you going to get afive-star review from that?
Ultimately, you want to go alittle above and beyond.
You want to make your guestsfeel super comfortable.
You want to make them feelreally taken care of.
These are little things.
Maybe it's a vacation home foryou and so you're not always
living there, which means youmight not have things like an
(26:12):
umbrella at the door.
Little thing like that.
Have an umbrella for them.
Maybe it's a rainy day.
We have a couple games, a deckof cards, maybe some coloring
books if children are going tobe staying there, a few
different items forentertainment that they can
enjoy.
A couple of workout items weleave out an extra yoga mat.
(26:36):
We have some little Pilatesbands that we'll put out there.
Food storage containers.
That is huge.
If I'm renting out a place fora month, I'm going to be cooking
.
I'm going to have leftovers.
Where am I going to put them?
Having a proper set of foodstorage containers, that is like
a five-star experience for me.
Having a blow dryer in thebathroom, maybe some hand cream,
(27:00):
definitely a clothing iron.
If I'm here to do business,those little things are going to
make a difference.
It's going to make them feelmuch more taken care of and much
more just.
I don't need to think abouteverything.
Everything I need is here.
Maybe you want to pull out alocal taxi card or information
about your favorite restaurantsor things to do in town.
(27:23):
All of these little things justmake them feel like, oh wow,
they're being quite generouswith me.
That's the feeling you wantthem to have, just taking away
any guesswork for them of thingsthat they might have to
navigate and deal with whilethey're on likely vacation in
your home.
Finally, about where do yourthings go?
(27:43):
I've alluded to this where in alot of the cases, I'll just
clear out half of the shelvesand then leave them open.
Honestly, it's obvious, otherthan that one person who went
and drank the beer or used myLufa.
Everybody else can figure itout.
We have a three bedroom house.
Two of the bedrooms have thebed in them and made for you and
(28:04):
a closet with not a single itemin there other than hangers for
you.
The third bedroom acts as anoffice, with a closet, and it's
stacked to the max.
You literally can barely openit, because every item that
Jared and I own, that we are nottraveling with, is hung in this
closet and in these shelves,and that's clearly where all of
our stuff is.
I don't have a single lockeddoor.
(28:26):
I don't have a single lockedcupboard.
A lot of people do this.
I think that if my house camewith a closet already, with a
key and a lock installed orsomething easy to do sure, I
have a crawl space downstairs onthe lower level, which is huge.
We put a ton of stuff in therememories, festival clothing,
(28:48):
clothes for the season that it'snot Right now.
All my winter gear is going togo in there while I'm traveling
to Costa Rica, and that closetis full.
It's open If they want to spendtheir vacation going through my
memory bin and finding photosof me and my friends from high
school or the latest birthdaycard that my dad gave me that I
(29:12):
hold on to go for it, honestly,go for it.
I am really not that privateperson.
I have a person.
I guess my most valuable itemsare typically on me.
I've got some nice jewelry.
It's usually with me.
I've got a lot of electronicsto run my business.
They're usually with me.
My car Meh, we have to find aplace to park that.
(29:36):
Other than that, I'm okay withthem going through my items.
I can't imagine them needing todo that or wanting to do that.
So I hope this episode made youfeel slightly more comfortable
with the idea of renting onAirbnb.
Like I said, when I am livingin my jungle home in Costa Rica
(29:57):
and I'm paying my $1,500 a monthto live there, the last thing I
want to be doing is paying$3,000 to have a house sit empty
back in Canada.
That just doesn't make sense tome.
I think there's also a bit of ahuman rights opportunity here.
I think there's also somethingto be said.
With a lot of places there isn'tenough supply of even housing
(30:20):
and living.
The first people that we everhosted our home to was a company
had reached out and they saidthey are bringing a family to BC
, to Squamish, where we live,and until they get settled and
find their forever home, we wantto set them up for a month and
the company paid for them tocome live in our house for a
month, and so often you can bereally helping somebody make a
(30:43):
transition.
We actually, when we were on atrip last year, I think when we
were in Italy the person whostayed for a month they ended up
writing us a note at the endsaying we loved your house and
loved being here so much that webought a house while we were
here and they moved to Squamish.
So that is also really sweet.
I know so many people who arestruggling to find apartments in
(31:04):
different towns and findhousing and are looking on
Airbnb.
So there is a lot of demand forthis, and if your house is just
sitting empty I mean, thesharing economy is real friends
you might as well let somebodyelse enjoy it, and there's
definitely a way to do it whereyou feel really good about it,
not only in your bank account,but in your physical space,
(31:25):
because our physical spaces theyare so important.
Right, it's literally where wedo our best work a lot of the
time.
That's all I have to say, ifyou do want to sign up to be a
host on Airbnb, hey, let themknow.
I sent you.
I'm going to include myreferral link in the show notes
that you can become a host.
We both get a significantamount of money I think it's
(31:45):
almost $500 between the two ofus once you actually host your
first guest.
So, of course, I'm going toinclude that referral link there
Until next time.
Friends, enjoy your freedom.
Thanks for listening to anotherepisode and if you haven't
heard yet, my husband and I arehosting a free online workshop
together that's going to helpyou define and design your
(32:09):
version of your best self thisyear.
I mean, it's one thing todecide what you want to do this
year, but have you really takenthe time to identify who you
need to be to get there?
This is going to be aninteractive and activity based
free workshop where you'llidentify the two words that are
going to guide you this year.
(32:30):
You are going to define yourideals, discard the distractions
and derive your destiny.
To get a better sense aboutwhat I'm talking about, head to
what'syourfreecom, slash my bestself and you can sign up for
the free webinar.
Hello freedom seekers .
I am back with another soloepisode for you, and this one is
how to host on Airbnb, so howto actually make money on Airbnb
by renting out your place likea total pro.
You are going to hear thesecrets from someone who's made
almost $80,000 on the platformin 5 years, somebody who has a
(00:27):
perfect 5 star rating, and alsosomebody who lives in the house
who my things are in the housetoo, because I'm hoping that
some people listening to thisepisode are those people who
feel uncomfortable with Airbnbbeing their place, who just feel
weird about it.
They can't imagine havingsomebody actually in their place
(00:49):
.
So we're going to talk aboutthat.
We're going to address thosecompletely fair and completely
normal feelings.
I'm going to share with you howI've personally been able to
move past that, because, ofcourse, I feel that way too.
I'm human.
I have nice things, I care alot about vibe and the energy in
my home, so totally fair.
But then I'm also going to tellyou how I've been so successful
(01:12):
on the platform.
I'm going to share with you theworst thing that has ever
happened while hosting on Airbnbin the last 5 years, and I'm
also going to share with you howI'm able to get a 5 star rating
consistently.
But before we hop into today'sepisode, I need to tell you
about this week's sponsor,fiverr, the world's largest
marketplace for freelanceservices, and by now you already
(01:35):
know I'm a freelancer on Fiverr.
It's actually become my talkchannel for attracting new
clients, but I bet you didn'tknow that I'm also a Fiverr
client myself.
In fact, whenever I have aproject or an idea in my
business, I go to Fiverr firstto find other freelancers who
have services that can bring myproject to life.
(01:57):
Whether I want to speak withsomebody about growing my
YouTube channel or get helpcreating graphics for the launch
of a new ebook or digitaldownload I'm releasing, or maybe
I want some music to create formy new podcast season, I
challenge you head to Fiverrcomnext time you have a project but
you don't have the time toexecute it.
(02:19):
I have been so pleased by howmuch space and freedom this
creates for me, and if you'renew to Fiverr, you can use the
link in the show notes for 10%off your very first order.
So let's get into it.
First and foremost.
So many people have shared withme I just can't imagine having
(02:43):
someone sleep in my bed, or ifpeople are at my house like I
don't know, I live there fulltime, I have so many things,
where would my things go?
Or what if they go through mythings?
What if they like look throughmy underwear drawer or I don't
know, like go through mypersonal journals?
Or what if they steal something?
Okay, totally fair.
(03:05):
The worst thing that has everhappened to me while hosting
someone on Airbnb is they dranksome of my beers and they were
completely honest about it.
They actually made themselvesvery at home.
I'll share with you something abit strange.
But they messaged me while wewere traveling and they said hey
, I hope you don't mind.
I saw some beers.
Those are okay to drink, Iassume, actually they're not,
(03:27):
but okay.
So they drank some of our beers.
Well, now we got a label maker.
We have a tiny little label ona top shelf.
We basically have, like thistwo shelf area that they would
have seen the alcohol.
The lower shelf is completelyempty.
The top shelf has some of ouritems in it, including, I guess,
our beers.
And now we have a little labeland we're cheeky and it says
(03:49):
Thank you for not drinking ouralcohol.
We've added that hasn'thappened again.
And the same person.
The other thing they did is abit weird when I tell people is,
he know, like a loofah.
You know when you're showeringand it's that foamy ball not
foam, but that ball and you getit at the drug store and you
bring it into the bath showerand you put some soap on it and
(04:12):
you use it to scrub around yournaked, dirty body.
Well, similar situation in mybathroom.
So in our master bathroom it'sbasically a big mirror with the
two sinks and two cupboardsunderneath.
How we do it is one cupboard weleave all of our items in and
the next one is completely empty.
So they have that whole onesection of the vanity completely
(04:35):
empty, separate cupboards,totally clear, and the other one
is clearly like, stacked up,nicely organized, but that's our
items.
Well, this person went in thereand took my used Lufa and was
using it and, again, wasn'ttrying to hide it.
They left it in the shower whenI came home.
So I saw that it was there andthat they were using it.
A little bit cringy, but yeah,that is the worst thing that's
(04:58):
happened in five years.
About $80,000 made on theplatform.
Nothing else has gone wrong.
No one has stolen from me, noone has made any major damages
to my home, and there's a coupleof things that I do that I
think really allow for that tohappen and have mitigated my
risk.
A big one is no one can stay atmy home for less than 30 days,
(05:21):
so you can have this filterturned on on Airbnb with the
minimum number of nights thatsomeone has to commit to booking
before they can stay your house, so minus 30.
This is huge.
When you have this, you attractsomeone who is there to stay
your home, to make it their home.
Maybe they are there to remotework.
In my case, they will rent outmy house because they want to
(05:43):
ski a lot over the winter, andso I do a minimum 30 days.
This also can typically allowyou to get around various types
of regulations.
We own a townhouse, so thereare eight units that are all
neighbors and we share someresources.
It's called Estrada in Ontario,it's condo fees in the US.
They have some term that I'mforgetting right now.
(06:04):
But yeah, we're some sharedresources and some shared rules,
and in our Estrada and ourcondo townhouse unit, if we are
renting our place out for 30days or more, we don't need to
get each other's permission, andso that's really attractive.
And then also in our provinceit is not considered a short
(06:25):
term rental, and so we've beenable to get around those
regulations.
So just by doing the 30 days,not only do you attract somebody
who's not just there to partyfor the weekend, but you're also
getting away with someregulations that likely exist in
your city.
So that's a big one.
Another one is they have to havereviews, and so I only rent out
to people that have a trackrecord on Airbnb Definitely more
(06:49):
than one, because it's reallynot difficult for somebody to go
give someone a review.
In fact, we hacked that when wefirst launched our house on
Airbnb and we had no reviews.
We got a couple of our friendsto rent out the place for a few
days.
This is unethical.
We was a five star review andthat is what we did, so pro tip,
(07:10):
that really worked for us, andso they have to have several
reviews.
You know ID verified on Airbnb,which is a thing, and now
Airbnb even has a setting.
I was helping my mom get set up.
She's finally ready to AirbnbOne of her properties We'll see.
She hasn't had a guest yet, butshe's been really blocked by a
lot of these things that I'vealready talked about.
(07:32):
So setting up her platform, andnow Airbnb has a filter where
only people who have reviews canreach out to you or requests to
book at your place.
So that's great.
In terms of the minimum numberof days, you can actually give
people a discount, and sosometimes if someone makes a
request to do less than 30 days,I say, well, actually you're
(07:57):
saving a ton because my 30 dayrate makes the daily rate much
more affordable and I'llactually kind of convince them
or see if they might be open tostaying for the 30 days and
economically it makes sense andthat's actually worked out a
couple times.
So you can give people a weeklydiscount, a monthly discount, I
think like a 60 day discount,so you can also incentivize
(08:19):
people to stay longer.
Again, that's just going toattract the person who is likely
not going to mess with yourstuff, steal your things, do
damage to your property, andeven in the event that that
happens, airbnb has your back.
Look up the different types ofinsurance and support that
Airbnb provides.
It's like a no questions askedsituation.
(08:40):
They are so good about helpingyou out if something happened.
Again, nothing's happened to me, but I know people who have had
issues, typically, honestly,when they do the weekend rentals
.
I'm always a little like Idon't know, nervous when I see
my friends renting out theirplaces for a weekend here or
three nights here, because youjust never know who you're going
(09:02):
to attract.
You just don't know, especiallyif you have many bedrooms in
your house.
So that's another big thing.
If you have can sleep sixpeople, eight people again.
That's also going to attractmore of a group setting.
We have a three bedroom house.
We only say that four peoplecan stay.
That's like another way toreally make it more intentional
(09:23):
about what is your propertybeing used for, what type of
event is happening in your space?
So those have been superhelpful.
Now, regarding this sleeping inyour own bed and how that can
feel totally weird, I have acomplete, separate set of sheets
, duvet, comforter, towels formy guests.
Literally they stay in thecloset when I'm home and then
(09:46):
the first thing I do when Ileave, I put those on the bed
for the cleaner, wash my sheets,my towels and have them waiting
for me when I return.
So a separate set of things cango a long way.
And then don't tell me you'venever stayed in a hotel.
Don't tell me you live a lifewhere you are only ever sleeping
in a bed that you've slept in.
If you are staying in hotelsand you're comfortable staying
(10:08):
in hotels, how is it anydifferent than somebody sleeping
in your bed?
Think about it.
I know it can feel weird, butreally, really, really think
about it.
You do this all the time.
So get a separate set of sheets, get a separate comforter, and
that is one way you can feel abit less weird about it.
I also have a rule where mycleaner has to have come to the
(10:29):
house before I go back.
This is something Jared and Iset up from the beginning,
because when we got our newhouse, we designed everything
ourselves.
We picked out all of thefurniture.
It was the first time weweren't just doing hand-me-downs
from mom.
Side note thanks mom.
She has been so generous withme over the years.
She had a home staging andinterior design business and we
(10:50):
just always just give me stuffshe didn't need.
Well, when I moved across thecountry, she didn't give me as
much stuff.
So I got to pick out my firstcouch, my first bed, my first
duvet, my first artwork, thiscozy little chair I'm sitting in
right now, which I get so manycompliments on the like sherpa
loungy chair.
I picked all of these thingsout myself and I felt
(11:14):
uncomfortable with people beingin the space, and I didn't want
to come back to a space thatdidn't feel like it was mine and
that it was just my home, andso the cleaner comes before I
even arrive.
So when I returned to my house,my house is spic and span.
I don't want to see thecondition it has been left in.
I think that that is veryimportant to me, that there's
(11:37):
not a clear presence, thatsomeone else has been living
here, and I mean it's notperfect.
One of our guests they cooked alot of meat.
Jared and I are vegan.
We don't eat meat.
Bacon had never been likecooked in the cells before.
We're the first ones to live init, and so there was some
really you know vegan meat, freeenergy in the air.
(11:59):
And, as much as I would like tosay, you have to be vegan to
rent my house.
It's actually not a bad idea.
I don't have that as arequirement, and so, yeah, I
came home and the house justkind of smelled different.
You could just sense that therewas meat that was cooked in
here and so open the windows.
For a week I brought out myincense to clear the energy, lit
(12:25):
some candles, turned on thediffuser and after about a week
it was fine.
And in those moments where therewas like a little annoying,
things happen.
Sometimes the furniture getsmoved a little bit here and
there.
Maybe they didn't like a lampin a room, or maybe they what's
another example some likecushions and pillows from the
(12:45):
bed moved down to the couch, ora blanket that's usually in a
bedroom was down in the livingroom area because maybe they are
watching a movie.
Sometimes those things happenand the cleaner doesn't catch
them and it's like, ooh,somebody else was here.
But then I just remind myselfthat I was getting paid to
travel.
I was not paying for rent intwo different places.
(13:07):
Which who wants to be doingthat?
I'm in Costa Rica at the timeof this episode and I'm paying
$1,500 a month for a two bedroomjungle home, minutes from the
beach, and I'm making over$3,000 a month on my house, and
so that is how much money I'mactually keeping.
In terms of Airbnb, how the feeswork is actually so much better
(13:31):
for the host than for the guest.
So, to host your place onAirbnb, to allow Airbnb to
basically bring the traffic toyou, have the website where all
of your photos are for them toprotect you in case anything
happens, they take 3% from thegross total.
So whatever the person pays,they get 3% of that.
And then the guest fee is over14%.
(13:56):
And so it's actually One of thetrends I'm seeing more and more
is guests wanting to bookoutside of the platform, and I
mean I've even done it with mygirlfriends.
We have these big girls weekendsand it's like, oh my God, I
thought it was going to be this,and then everyone has to add an
extra 15%.
It is wild.
I think it's quite a bit.
(14:16):
And so another big trend ispeople will say hey, do you
think we can work out a dealoutside of the platform?
I have done it, but I only doit if the person has already
rented from me.
So I have a lot of repeatcustomers.
Right now we're in Costa Rica.
A guy who had stayed at ourplace for two months last year
is back again for two monthsthis year.
(14:36):
Sure, we're happy to do our ownseparate deal.
There's some trust alreadyinvolved.
We have built some rapport andrelationship.
I'm cool with that, but reallyit doesn't make that much sense
for you because Airbnb is onlycharging you 3% and giving you
so much protection.
So I think it rarely makessense to do that.
(14:56):
You're really hooking up theguest in that case, and so it's
got to be somebody who thatthat's worth it for.
So that also gives you an ideaof the arbitrage that can happen
when you're making money onyour home but then spending less
to live somewhere else.
I wouldn't say for us it'shugely profitable, to be totally
honest.
We have a mortgage, we haveutilities, we spend a lot on our
(15:20):
cleaner, which I'm going totalk about in a second.
We have I don't know propertyinsurance, who knows Like the
list just goes on and on of allthings you have to pay for as a
homeowner.
So I wouldn't say it's likesuper profitable, but I would
say it's basically break even.
We'll make anywhere between3,000 to 3,500 a month from
(15:41):
Airbnb, and that's about what itcosts us to have our house.
I mean, I will say I'm payingoff my mortgage.
So there's that and definitelygetting help paying for that.
You could be making way moremoney.
We are absolutely leaving moneyon the table.
For sure that is something thatme and my husband argue about.
He would love to be making moreon it.
I'm pretty happy with theamount that we are making.
(16:04):
People are making way more,especially if you're doing the
weekend rates, of course, like,I think, our daily rate.
If you just rented it, what islike, I don't know, 250 or $300
a night, we could easily cleanup by doing few nights here, few
nights there, but it isn't justwant to be what we want to be
doing for our home.
So, yeah, money is great.
(16:25):
It's completely passive income.
You do have to pay taxes on itand I do submit that income
because it is very muchtrackable and it's in the Airbnb
platform and they give youformal tax documents at the end
of the year.
So you do report it on yourincome as self-employment income
.
You are taxed on it, but at thesame time, because you're now
(16:46):
making self-employment incomewhich maybe this is your only
self-employment income Maybe youhave a job that gives you a T4,
that has a boss, and this isyour one side hustle.
Well, that one side hustleallows you to benefit from
something that all of usentrepreneurs benefit from,
which is being able to write offexpenses so you can write off
(17:09):
various expenses that youincurred to generate that income
.
So you can write off your rentor your mortgage for that month
or the utilities that youincurred that month.
Or maybe you had to buydifferent soaps and different
products for the house ordifferent coffees.
Maybe you upgraded a thing ortwo.
(17:30):
You know, when we upgraded ourTV in our house, for sure we
considered that towards one ofour expenses for this Airbnb.
We got a really nice fire tablefor outside.
Yeah, definitely that adds tothe value of our Airbnb listing.
It's literally written in ourAirbnb listing.
So you also yes, you are taxedon that income, but because you
(17:53):
are, you're also allowed toinvest in your house and treat
those as business expenses.
So look into that as well.
Those things all make me feelreally okay, with the slight
stench of meat that I came homefrom my vacation to that
particular trip.
Okay, a good cleaner is yourbest friend when you are hosting
(18:16):
on Airbnb.
Anytime, we've tried to becheap and look for someone who
has a lower hourly rate.
Again, this is going tocompletely vary based on where
you are in the world.
Listening to this, I know wehave a global audience here.
I love you.
In Canada, in British Columbia,a low hourly rate for a cleaner
is like 3035.
And anytime we're like, oh,let's try to get for that, we've
(18:38):
been disappointed, they quit.
We come home and we do a finalcheck and it's still not good
enough.
We even had one time we were inour trip.
We were in Italy on our triphaving our first night out for
dinner, and we got that messageno one wants to get, which is a
message from your Airbnb guestcomplaining about something.
They got to the house and itjust wasn't that clean.
(19:00):
It wasn't perfect.
Airbnb guests have highexpectations, I find, and so,
yeah, it was a cheap cleanerthat we had used and we had to
now find quickly because thesepeople were staying in our house
for a month, we couldn't losethem and they have 24 hours to
leave and Airbnb will help themout.
So we had to find a cleaner.
We're in Italy in our romanticdinner, it's nighttime, we're
(19:23):
scrambling, we find anothercleaner, organize it for them to
come to the house the next day,make sure they're okay with
that, give us a chance to makethis right.
The cleaner comes, fixes it.
They're happy, okay, great.
So now I try not to worry toomuch about that.
If a cleaner is reliable, ifthey're able to like, sometimes
we'll go traveling for fourmonths and within those four
(19:45):
months I might have three orfour different guests coming,
and so you can imagine it's aquick turnaround time.
It's a couple days between oneguest leaving and another guest
coming in and I can't be there.
I can't be there to helpstockpile items, to check if
there's enough soap, to makesure there's a coffee bag for
them.
I can't be there to make surethe bed is perfectly made.
(20:05):
So your cleaner is like yourteam member Some people like.
It's very common for people topay and a job that people will
have is Airbnb manager and homemanager and their job is to do
this for you.
Well, I just have a really,really great cleaner and that is
priceless, and so don't besurprised if you're paying
anywhere from $40 to $50 an hourfor a cleaner who's going to do
(20:29):
a great job and is going to bereliable, when you're on the
other end of the world andthey're running this very
important customer facingbusiness for you.
You can also charge your guestsfor that.
So you'll notice when you setup your Airbnb hosting profile,
you set your daily rate, butthen you can also have an add-on
fees.
So I honestly can't even thinkabout what some add-on fees
(20:50):
would be right now.
But cleaning is definitely themain one, so you can just set a
flat rate.
I think ours is 300 for us toclean the house and we spend
maybe a bit more than that to doit really well.
Okay, so good, cleaner is yourfriend.
Another thing that is yourfriend is stockpiling, and so if
you have the space in your hometo have an extra closet where
(21:15):
you can keep at bulk hand soap,dish soap, laundry soap, toilet
paper, coffee and tea, shampooor body soaps, cooking basics
like oil, salt pepper, and maybegifts Like if you're doing a
welcome gift, like a bottle ofwine or anything like that like
(21:35):
you give to your guests, thegift I wouldn't say is a minimum
basic expectation, buteverything else I said that is
the minimum.
Like if you want to at leastget a four out of five, you need
to have those things stocked.
And so I have those items inbulk and I keep them in an
upstairs closet that the guestsdoesn't need to go to, and so
(21:56):
that's easy.
The cleaner comes, they gothrough the house, they refill
the items as needed.
We're good to go.
I didn't always have a housewith a lot of this space, and
you might not either.
You might say, sam, I don'thave a closet where I can put
all this stuff.
I mean, I'm putting all of mypersonal items so that they can
have my empty closet Totallyfair.
In that case, your cleaner canlikely do this for you, and so
(22:19):
what I had done in my oldapartment is I would have a list
of the items that I would wantrestocked for the guest and the
cleaners I would say come to thehouse, start the laundry, right
.
So laundry is the thing that'sgoing to take the most amount of
time.
If you got to do towels orsheets and all of that to flip
over the guests, start thelaundry, take your list, go to
(22:40):
the store, go buy all theseitems, come back, restock them
and continue your job.
That also worked really well.
Of course, that is countingtowards the cleaner's time is
doing these errands and youmight not get the products you
want, but all these things aresolvable.
Stockpiling is huge.
Another really great way to savetime is to digitize your
(23:02):
welcome experience or your homemanual, and so there's those
frequently asked questions thatevery guest would ask you right.
What is the Wi-Fi password?
Is there a code for the garage?
What is the garbage schedule?
How do you work heating orcooling?
What are the checkoutinstructions, anything that
someone has repeatedly asked you.
(23:22):
You want to just keep that allin one place.
Not only is it going toprofessionalize your experience,
it's going to make it a verysmooth for the guest.
It's also going to be easierfor you, like if you're
typically on a trip enjoyingyour life.
You do not want to be going backand forth explaining to your
guests that it's an inductionstove top which requires these
special types of pans which arein this drawer.
(23:43):
You might not be familiar withit.
Here's how it works.
We have a passive house.
Okay, there's some quirks to it.
Our windows and our doors theyopen and close in kind of a
weird way.
We also have a secret mirrordownstairs that's actually a
heater.
So I have all that informationin one document and I just send
it to the guest.
(24:04):
Airbnb even allows you to haveautomatic messages set up.
So 24 hours before the guestsarrive, have them send this.
A lot of this can just be run,rinse and repeat, and the more
you do this, the more passivethat income comes, baby.
Another one that we had to putin our very important
information is you don't wantyour neighbors to get annoyed
(24:27):
that you're doing this, right?
The worst thing that can happenis your neighbors have an issue
with this and they bringattention to it.
They either try to create a newrule in your strata, they
contact somebody about it.
You don't want that.
You want to keep your neighborshappy.
Of course.
You want to be a good neighbor,right?
We have an issue at our housewhere you have your own private
(24:48):
garage for your car, but thenthere is some outdoor parking
near our building that lookslike it's visitor parking.
It's not visitor parking One ofour neighbors.
Those are their lots.
They don't have a big garage.
You don't need to know thesedetails.
What you need to know is in thepast, our neighbors have been
annoyed if anyone visits me andthey accidentally park there.
(25:08):
Okay, bold that.
Put that nice and big in yourrulebook.
Any of these things that you canget ahead of.
That is how you're going toAirbnb like a pro.
We've talked a lot about someof these basic items that you
want to have in stock for theperson.
This is one of them.
Having this house manual withthis information about why, if I
password and all of this, it'sbecome the standard.
(25:30):
Having salt and pepper, havingoil to cook with, it has become
the standard.
In fact, when I go as a gueston Airbnb to someone else's
place and I don't see thesebasic items there, I'm very
turned off.
I'm like, wow, you're beingreally cheap.
The fact that you don't evenhave just these basic essentials
for me, I would say that's thestandard.
(25:51):
Are you going to get afive-star review from that?
Ultimately, you want to go alittle above and beyond.
You want to make your guestsfeel super comfortable.
You want to make them feelreally taken care of.
These are little things.
Maybe it's a vacation home foryou and so you're not always
living there, which means youmight not have things like an
(26:12):
umbrella at the door.
Little thing like that.
Have an umbrella for them.
Maybe it's a rainy day.
We have a couple games, a deckof cards, maybe some coloring
books if children are going tobe staying there, a few
different items forentertainment that they can
enjoy.
A couple of workout items weleave out an extra yoga mat.
(26:36):
We have some little Pilatesbands that we'll put out there.
Food storage containers.
That is huge.
If I'm renting out a place fora month, I'm going to be cooking
.
I'm going to have leftovers.
Where am I going to put them?
Having a proper set of foodstorage containers, that is like
a five-star experience for me.
Having a blow dryer in thebathroom, maybe some hand cream,
(27:00):
definitely a clothing iron.
If I'm here to do business,those little things are going to
make a difference.
It's going to make them feelmuch more taken care of and much
more just.
I don't need to think abouteverything.
Everything I need is here.
Maybe you want to pull out alocal taxi card or information
about your favorite restaurantsor things to do in town.
(27:23):
All of these little things justmake them feel like, oh wow,
they're being quite generouswith me.
That's the feeling you wantthem to have, just taking away
any guesswork for them of thingsthat they might have to
navigate and deal with whilethey're on likely vacation in
your home.
Finally, about where do yourthings go?
(27:43):
I've alluded to this where in alot of the cases, I'll just
clear out half of the shelvesand then leave them open.
Honestly, it's obvious, otherthan that one person who went
and drank the beer or used myLufa.
Everybody else can figure itout.
We have a three bedroom house.
Two of the bedrooms have thebed in them and made for you and
(28:04):
a closet with not a single itemin there other than hangers for
you.
The third bedroom acts as anoffice, with a closet, and it's
stacked to the max.
You literally can barely openit, because every item that
Jared and I own, that we are nottraveling with, is hung in this
closet and in these shelves,and that's clearly where all of
our stuff is.
I don't have a single lockeddoor.
(28:26):
I don't have a single lockedcupboard.
A lot of people do this.
I think that if my house camewith a closet already, with a
key and a lock installed orsomething easy to do sure, I
have a crawl space downstairs onthe lower level, which is huge.
We put a ton of stuff in therememories, festival clothing,
(28:48):
clothes for the season that it'snot Right now.
All my winter gear is going togo in there while I'm traveling
to Costa Rica, and that closetis full.
It's open If they want to spendtheir vacation going through my
memory bin and finding photosof me and my friends from high
school or the latest birthdaycard that my dad gave me that I
(29:12):
hold on to go for it, honestly,go for it.
I am really not that privateperson.
I have a person.
I guess my most valuable itemsare typically on me.
I've got some nice jewelry.
It's usually with me.
I've got a lot of electronicsto run my business.
They're usually with me.
My car Meh, we have to find aplace to park that.
(29:36):
Other than that, I'm okay withthem going through my items.
I can't imagine them needing todo that or wanting to do that.
So I hope this episode made youfeel slightly more comfortable
with the idea of renting onAirbnb.
Like I said, when I am livingin my jungle home in Costa Rica
(29:57):
and I'm paying my $1,500 a monthto live there, the last thing I
want to be doing is paying$3,000 to have a house sit empty
back in Canada.
That just doesn't make sense tome.
I think there's also a bit of ahuman rights opportunity here.
I think there's also somethingto be said.
With a lot of places there isn'tenough supply of even housing
(30:20):
and living.
The first people that we everhosted our home to was a company
had reached out and they saidthey are bringing a family to BC
, to Squamish, where we live,and until they get settled and
find their forever home, we wantto set them up for a month and
the company paid for them tocome live in our house for a
month, and so often you can bereally helping somebody make a
(30:43):
transition.
We actually, when we were on atrip last year, I think when we
were in Italy the person whostayed for a month they ended up
writing us a note at the endsaying we loved your house and
loved being here so much that webought a house while we were
here and they moved to Squamish.
So that is also really sweet.
I know so many people who arestruggling to find apartments in
(31:04):
different towns and findhousing and are looking on
Airbnb.
So there is a lot of demand forthis, and if your house is just
sitting empty I mean, thesharing economy is real friends
you might as well let somebodyelse enjoy it, and there's
definitely a way to do it whereyou feel really good about it,
not only in your bank account,but in your physical space,
(31:25):
because our physical spaces theyare so important.
Right, it's literally where wedo our best work a lot of the
time.
That's all I have to say, ifyou do want to sign up to be a
host on Airbnb, hey, let themknow.
I sent you.
I'm going to include myreferral link in the show notes
that you can become a host.
We both get a significantamount of money I think it's
(31:45):
almost $500 between the two ofus once you actually host your
first guest.
So, of course, I'm going toinclude that referral link there
Until next time.
Friends, enjoy your freedom.
Thanks for listening to anotherepisode and if you haven't
heard yet, my husband and I arehosting a free online workshop
together that's going to helpyou define and design your
(32:09):
version of your best self thisyear.
I mean, it's one thing todecide what you want to do this
year, but have you really takenthe time to identify who you
need to be to get there?
This is going to be aninteractive and activity based
free workshop where you'llidentify the two words that are
going to guide you this year.
(32:30):
You are going to define yourideals, discard the distractions
and derive your destiny.
To get a better sense aboutwhat I'm talking about, head to
what'syourfreecom, slash my bestself and you can sign up for
the free webinar.
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