May 20, 2025 • 27 mins
Marketing strategist and Airbnb superhost Deborah Smith shares powerful insights on automation, authenticity, and strategic habits that transform real estate and business success. She reveals proven strategies for building systems that simplify operations while generating consistent leads and building meaningful client relationships.
• Set up automated systems that handle repetitive tasks to reclaim time and mental energy
• Build trust by communicating proactively and managing expectations upfront with clients
• For Airbnb success, document all FAQs and weave potential issues into your listing narrative
• Present yourself with integrity and clear communication to build a reputation that generates referrals
• Thoroughly research your market before starting a real estate or Airbnb business
• Share your authentic story and values to attract clients who resonate with your approach
• Establish daily habits focused on self-care, positive mindset, and relationship building
• Cultivate connections with 3-5 key people every day to strengthen your professional network
• Remember that consistent small actions create the foundation for achieving larger business goals
For more insights, tools, and inspiration, visit Deborah at www.deborahcsmith.com.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Obviously, there's a lot of great platforms out there
that help investors these days.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Welcome to the 5 Questions Podcast, where we
unlock real estate and businessinsights one question at a time.
Welcome to the 5 QuestionsPodcast.
I am your host, mario Lamar.
I'm so excited today.
(00:27):
Our guest on today's show hasbuilt multiple successful
businesses.
She is a marketing strategist,super host with Airbnb and
podcast host herself, debra CSmith.
Debra, welcome to the live showtoday.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Hi, mario, thank you so much for having me.
I'm grateful to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
The concept of the podcast is five questions,
either about real estate orbusiness, and we get straight to
the point you ready.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Yeah, I'm ready.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Okay, First question I have for you what's your
background in marketing andautomation?
Have for you what's yourbackground in marketing and
automation.
How can real estate investorsand maybe Airbnb hosts use smart
systems to simplify theirbusinesses?
Speaker 1 (01:13):
This is my favorite question.
Is your first question how?
to simplify is where I spend alot of my time with my clients
and just thinking about for myown life, because when you run a
business of any kind, doesn'tmatter the niche, but I imagine
as just as well for real estateinvestors and for people hosting
Airbnb you spend so much timecerebrally thinking about your
(01:37):
business planning, executing,communicating, cleaning up,
reviewing.
There's a lot of timeenergetically invested in your
business, so if you can set upautomated systems that take
anything off your plate, you getback a little bit of your lived
experience, like more time foryou to do the things that you
love take care of your body,time with family, whatever you
(01:59):
want to do with your life,instead of just being constantly
working for your business.
So when I think about systemsthat simplify automated systems,
it's really any system that cantake a repetitive task inside
your business off your plate.
So obviously there's a lot ofgreat platforms out there that
(02:20):
help investors these days.
I mean, that's true for anybusiness as well.
Like our, technology has reallyevolved, so there's a lot of
ways to save time using AI tocreate an assistant, using, you
know, smart email marketingplatforms to build a list, all
that stuff, but I would imaginefor real estate investors that
one of the top concerns is leadgeneration and that primarily
(02:44):
you know thinking about, inorder to keep your income at the
threshold that you want it at,you need a consistent flow of
both buyers and sellers.
So and this actually is truefor any business too so what I
love to teach my clients how todo is create a very compelling
(03:06):
invitation into your littlecorner of the internet through
automated systems, so that youcan have your lead generation
kind of ongoing at all times.
And what that could look like isyou know, there's a lot of
different ways to do sort ofwhat I call top of funnel, which
is what we all call top offunnel, which is the way, the
moment that someone firstbecomes aware that you exist in
(03:28):
this part of your business.
So if somebody is out therethinking about selling a house,
or buying a house, or buyingproperty or selling property,
they, they become interested insearching for a real estate
agent or you know somebody thatcan help them with that.
Yeah, only at the point whenthey realize I'm ready to take
action.
So, interestingly, with realestate, I mean, I'm sure there's
(03:49):
a lot of people that troll theinternet and just sort of think
about it for a long time.
But you want to startconnecting with people at the
point where they've taken a stepinto the realm of like I might
buy a house in the next twoyears, or we might want to buy,
sell our house in the nextcouple of years.
What could you put out thereinto the world that lives for
free on the internet, thatstands alone on like a static
(04:09):
web page, that might attractthat early thinker and let them
know oh, there's a person outthere who's educating people,
who's building relationshipslong before they're actually
ready to buy.
So a great example of this is Ihave a friend in New Orleans
who's getting ready to sell ahouse and she said to me she's a
single mom, so I'm like let mehelp you out a little bit.
(04:30):
She said I'm going to probablyhave to sell this house in like
a year from now and it's reallyoverwhelming to me.
I said I got you, let me dosome research.
I Googled, you know, local realestate.
Whatever I put in some searchterms into Google which is 90%
of how people use the internetis they go to a search engine
and type in a keyword or two Iput in her neighborhood and
(04:53):
immediately a couple of realestate agents popped up that had
created a very thoroughchecklist All the things you
need to think about if you'rethinking about selling your
house.
I didn't even think twice aboutputting my email address in
there.
Now, I don't live in NewOrleans so I'm not necessarily
their ideal client, but I nowhave this checklist.
(05:13):
I send it to my friend.
I say to her hey, this companyis local in your neighborhood in
New Orleans and they createdthis amazing resource.
It might be a good resource foryou.
She goes to the thing she getson their mailing list.
She has their checklist.
Now she's looking at their logoand their brand marketing
(05:33):
elements.
That's sort of subconsciouslyin the background, is running in
her mind.
Now her supercomputer isthinking about them when she's
thinking about who do I rely onfor the help I need when I do go
to sell?
She's got their colors in hermind, their name, their logo,
it's just like that.
And she's using their checklistto check things off as she
prepares.
She's on their email list.
Well, guess what?
When it came time to startlooking for a real estate agent,
(05:55):
they were the number one callshe made.
So I think, that was a lead gen.
That was a long play for them,right, she might not use them
for a year, but that thing isout there for free.
Update it a couple.
You know, maybe you update acouple times a year.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
But that's one person , so imagine the thousands of
people.
Maybe your friend was a yearfrom now, but maybe the neighbor
was six months and thensomebody else was three months
away, and so it just goesexponentially.
And you're right Automatedsystems, using even AI, like you
(06:30):
said, is more and more commonand more and more successful.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Yeah, true, and I think if you just think about
not everybody, I mean you haveto play the numbers game with
business.
So if you want 10 people atyour party, invite 100.
If you want 1,000 people atyour party, invite 100,000.
It's kind of the law of 10ssort of consistently still works
, even though we're in newterritory with technology and
communication.
(06:54):
So I think if you are aninvestor or if you're a real
estate agent or whatever roleyou play in that business system
, having a list, generating alist and tending to that list,
continuing to feed them little,small bits of nurturing content
that helps them, keeps you topof mind when they're ready to
(07:14):
buy, they're going to think ofyou because you've been subtly
peppering them with a little bitof nourishment here and there
and again.
That's consistent for reallyany business nourishment here
and there and again, that'sconsistent for any, really any
business.
And I did think about for Airbnbhosts, something that saved me
a tremendous amount of time.
I'd say my first two to threeyears doing hosting Airbnb.
(07:38):
I was just learning what getsgood quality guests in the house
and you have a guest come inthat it's almost like they're
your best friend, coming tovisit you for the weekend or
whatever.
Because the way that I didAirbnb in New York City was I
have a two-bedroom apartment andI would open up one half of my.
Luckily, with the layout of myapartment, I had two different
entrances and shared commonspaces were central and it was a
big floor through so I couldhave a guest come in, let
(08:03):
themselves into the apartment,go to their own entrance, enter
their own guest room, feel likethey were in their own apartment
in New York City, but then Iwould still be there.
I lived there while they wereguests.
So creating a sense of spacefor them and privacy was a big
deal.
And the way that I did that wasupfront.
I took some time upfront toreally think through what would
(08:25):
all of their questions be.
Airbnb is really good at givingyou like prompts to create your
guidebook, but there's more toit.
So after about two or threeyears I collected all the
questions that I got asked overand over and over again and I
took the time to really writeout frequently asked questions
that aren't in your guidebook.
And it was about myneighborhood, it was about my
(08:46):
apartment, little things likeeverything from like where to
put the key when you're leavingat the end of the day, which is
obvious thing you want toinclude.
But you know, in my oldBrooklyn apartment there was a
little you know fidgety thingabout the hot water so little
things that always came up overand over again.
Instead of having to constantlycommunicate with these people so
that I could give them autonomy, space, privacy and also have
(09:08):
my time back and not have todeal with them constantly, I
started cataloging all the FAQsand then I wove those into the
top.
When people go to your Airbnbpost listing they read usually
the first two to threeparagraphs to make sure that
it's a good match for what theywant out of a stay.
(09:28):
I wove those things into thestory of my life in New York and
my apartment.
So I would say things likeyou're going to love this old
sort of classic New Yorkbrownstone.
It's still got the finickyfaucet that you know gives it
its personality, like I wouldweave it into the story.
(09:48):
And then it's not somethingthey complain about.
They're not going to write thefaucet dripped, because I'm
literally advertising I have adrippy faucet and you would
think that that would be anegative right, but instead it's
charm because I positioned itas charm.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
And they expect it.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
And they're expecting it.
And I think with Airbnb ifanybody's doing Airbnb hosting,
the name of the game with Airbnbto get you five-star reviews
every time is put it all in yourlisting.
If you have a cat upstairs thatscreeches every third day like,
tell them what to expect.
And then so we had noise on theweekends outside my apartment
windows and it was nothing Icould control, but it was
(10:24):
something people consistentlysaid was a little bit hard for
them.
I put a white noise machine, Igave earplugs and I wrote it
crystal clearly in my ad.
People have said the streetnoise gets loud on the weekends,
but it didn't deter thembecause and I list all the ways
that I'm offsetting the noiseand so they feel confident that
(10:45):
I'm aware I care, I'm giving youthe best solution I can.
And then they you should readmy reviews.
95% of them say there is a lotof street noise on the weekends
but, just like Debra said, thetools she provides really.
So it's even double points forme because not only is it now
not a negative, they're like shegot out in front of it and that
(11:07):
really helped.
So it makes me look even more,I guess, like that's why I think
you get the super host.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Listed.
It's good.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
And talking about successful, being successful and
for your example, brings us toour second question.
You've built multiplesuccessful businesses, from
mobile juice bars to onlinecoaching.
What key lessons fromentrepreneurship apply to, maybe
, real estate investing?
Speaker 1 (11:41):
I think broad stroke when you are presenting yourself
as the agent of your business,when you are the face of your
business, especially with realestate agents, the way that you
present yourself.
It's so important that I meanenergy is everything Really.
(12:02):
Every exchange that we makebusiness is about making money
right, and I use air quotes onlybecause money is just another
form of energy.
So the exchange that we makewhen we do business again is
really just creating minipartnerships.
Every single sale, every singleconversation, it's you and your
energy infused into whateverthe thing that you do or sell.
(12:27):
So I think having integrityaround your values, knowing your
values, I think presentingyourself as a trustworthy like
building trust really right.
So every single sale is abouttrust.
I decided to buy my car fromthe car dealership where I trust
.
The guy gave me all the rightinformation and he's not going
(12:48):
to screw me on the backend withextra fees.
Building trust and buildingrelationships is the cornerstone
of doing business.
So I think real estate agents,your best quality is having some
integrity, clear communication,really speaking clearly and
succinctly, knowing your product, knowing what you're putting
(13:10):
out there and then just reallybuilding solid relationships
with people, considering yoursellers and your buyers.
Every single one of those is amini business partner for you
and really treating them the wayyou would want to be treated,
just having integrity.
Building strong relationships,strong partnerships because your
net worth is in your network,right?
(13:31):
So all of those relationshipsyou don't know where down the
road in life someone's going torefer you If they can say she
was excellent to work with, thatwill still always be the
greatest form of marketing,right?
Nothing competes with word ofmouth.
Nothing is stronger than myfriend told me she was great.
No advertisement, no amount ofmoney spent on an ad buy will
(13:52):
compete with my friend told me,to call this person.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
You're absolutely right, Because especially in
real estate, it's a big circlebut at the same time it's a
small circle.
So if you have a good name,people will know.
If you have a bad name, peoplewill know.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Yeah, people will find out.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
So you're absolutely right, whether, whether it's a,
a business, a coaching or, likeyou had, you know, uh juice, uh
juice bars.
Be yourself, be true, be honest.
Same thing applies to realestate.
Yeah yeah, You'll get clients,you'll get referrals and you'll
(14:33):
succeed.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Yeah, I really think trust, like I was saying, trust
is something that we have toearn with our clients.
It doesn't just come for freeand there's ways that you can
build that subtly into all theways that you show up.
Into all the ways that you showup and that's one of the things
I love about the internet isthere are just a vast number of
(14:54):
opportunities to sort of precedewhy you are a trustworthy
person.
It is partly the image, yourpersonal brand, the wording and
the pictures and everything thatyou use to sort of present
yourself.
But there's a lot of otherlittle subtle ways in which you
can build trust.
One of them is, you know,educating around your topic or
(15:15):
your niche, like I was saying,those digital assets that you
can put out, that don't take alot of time to create,
especially with AI, but packageup some of your knowledge and
allow you to connect with peoplebefore you even ever meet them.
That goes a long way withpeople before you even ever meet
them.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
that goes a long way.
That brings us to our thirdquestion, and in talking about
helping and other people, yourmission is to help women
solopreneurs thrive.
Now what advice would you giveto someone wanting to start,
maybe, a real estate or anAirbnb business with little
experience?
You already touched on somepoints in the first question,
(15:53):
but let's elaborate a little bitmore.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
So something that I made a mistake at in my first
business, and something thatI've seen a large number of my
clients make a mistake around,is the sort of seedling point in
creating your business.
People tend to fudge theresearch, and what I mean by
(16:18):
that is you are passionate aboutsomething.
You're like I know, I want todo this, I want to help people
with this thing.
It lights me up, I am called toaction.
It's a calling of mine.
That's 90% of the time we starta business.
We just feel passionate aboutsomething.
Then you have to stop and sortof put your passion in the back
(16:39):
seat for a second and throw onan analytical cap and do some
really serious research aboutyour industry, about that niche,
about your area, specificallyhow you think you're going to do
business.
Who else is already doingbusiness in that way, in the
style that you might do it inthe area that you live in?
What's already out there?
(17:00):
Who's already brought this ideato market?
How are they doing it?
Get detailed.
Do the analytic research tofind out is this viable?
Do I have the right personalitycharacteristics to continually
show up in the way you have toshow up for that type of
business to be successful.
Because I actually have twofriends who became real estate
(17:20):
agents and then after almost ayear and a half or two years,
they gave up because theydecided what it takes to do that
business is not in my corebeing.
I don't have what it takes.
They literally decided it'sjust not who I am.
It requires a personality and askillset that I don't want to
continue cultivating, and thenthey stopped doing it and it was
(17:41):
kind of a detour for their lifeinstead of it being.
I mean, it's every thing we dowith our lives is a stepping
stone to the next thing.
But I think people I've seenpeople try to start a business
where they didn't do enoughresearch and then it really
either it keeps you frombecoming profitable for a longer
it takes a lot longer to becomeprofitable, or you burn out and
quit because it's not a goodmatch for you, or that area of
(18:06):
the marketplace is so saturatedthat it's just a constant grind.
It just that's what happens isif you don't really know what
you're getting yourself into.
So for real estate agents andfor Airbnb hosts, how's it going
in your area?
You know Airbnb ebbs and flowswith local legislation, right?
So in New York.
We had a huge hit September of23.
(18:27):
They lost the hospitalityindustry in New York city.
City lost their legal battlewith Airbnb, I'm sorry, won the
legal battle and Airbnb wasrelegated to shut down any
listing where the host was notpresent while hosting.
So it became you had to.
Everybody lost their ability tohost unless you got a special
(18:50):
permit.
To get that permit you had tofill out this very extensive
application with a new officethe governor created and it
changed the marketplacedrastically.
So my listing went fromconsistent inquiries to bonkers
(19:14):
numbers of messages Like I wasone of the few people that got
the permit because, because Iwas already a business owner in
New York city and I understoodthe red tape, I first of all we
got denied.
I got denied when I applied thefirst round for a whole bunch
of reasons that were kind of notreally right.
So I called, found out that theoffice of the governor's you
know short-term housing wasbrand new.
The people working there didn'teven know their jobs yet.
Having worked with the DCA andall the different legislative
(19:34):
offices in New York City to getmy food vending permits, I was
like, oh, this is just someguy's first day on the job.
Let me just call them and geton the phone, and that 20 phone
calls later I got the permit.
So persistence, but it just Igot to.
I mean I I didn't price gougebecause I didn't want to be a
jerk, but I could have tripledmy cost and not even had and
(19:56):
would have like it was really.
So you have to do the researchand find out what's happening in
your area and know yourcompetition and then ask
yourself do I have the desire tomeet this marketplace where
it's at?
Does it look like something Ican actually?
Speaker 2 (20:14):
do Leave the emotion out of it and analyze the
business before you start it.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
We're going to move on to the fourth question and
that we have something in common.
As a podcast host yourselfMindset to Market.
What role do you thinkstorytelling and personal
branding play in business andmaybe real estate success?
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Great question.
First of all, I love podcastingso much and I love that we're
having this conversation rightnow because we met at a podcast
festival and I think it's anamazing way to connect with
people.
I think that it sort of beganat the end of 2023.
(21:01):
There was a shift to onlinemarketing in the pandemic.
People planted seeds.
People were out of work right,they couldn't make money.
They started getting innovativePlatforms responded and made
things simpler.
Technology caught up.
Now, in 2023, I think westarted seeing the solopreneur
(21:21):
industry just really start toboom and generate lots and lots
and lots of new online businessowners, solopreneurs,
entrepreneurs and I think whatwe're seeing now is the age of
the personal brand right,everything is about your
personal story and when we shopnow, we're really listening to
your story and deciding if weresonate with your background,
(21:45):
your why, your unique, specialcharacteristics, if we have
aligned values or not, and sostorytelling is everything.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
I would say it's the number one thing because People
want to do business with peoplethey like.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Not just people.
They like people, they feelthat they can trust.
I think trust is thecornerstone of a business
transaction and you can buildtrust when you tell us your
authentic story.
Let us into your real,vulnerable personality and life
and you will build lifelongclients.
So it's not just we used to bevery glossy in marketing and
everything had to be like youlook perfect, you sound perfect,
(22:23):
you've got the flashy ads,everybody's like you know,
perfect headshots.
Those days are gone.
I think TikTok changed that.
People want real, authenticstorytelling and so I think, get
comfortable telling you knownuggets of your personal story
so that we can get to, so thatwe can relate.
We can relate with you and I'lltell you where it really
(22:45):
matters is in your personalvalues, because, for example, I
mean it's not just political,but I would say whether or not
people feel safe.
Like if you're a member of theLGBTQ community, you're not
probably going to want to workwith somebody who might not like
you.
If you are, you know there's alot of ways in which sharing
your values, sharing your beliefsystems, really helps people
(23:07):
predetermine whether or not theyfeel safe, even starting a
conversation with you.
So you might be eliminatingsome people from your buyer pool
, but you're going to be openingthe doors to a lot more people
by being authentic andforthcoming about
characteristics and parts ofyour personality.
So tell us your story.
Let us get to know you and seeif we find relatable points.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Yeah Well, this brings us to our fifth and final
question for today.
You're a firm believer in smalldaily habits that creates big
results.
What mindset shifts have helpedyou grow as an entrepreneur and
maybe could help real estateinvestors too?
Speaker 1 (23:50):
I love this question.
I think we often plan big goalsin business and in real estate.
There's an opportunity to makea lot of money, and so we think
we're motivated often by thatdream result that we could get.
And so we think we're motivatedoften by that dream result that
(24:28):
we could get the big money, theluxury of having time, sale of
a house or you know so.
But what gets to those biggerresults in our life and in our
businesses is consistent dailyactions.
So a habit that I have createdthat I think is very valuable is
I start my morning, a morningroutine essentially, and it
includes not just confidencebuilding and self worth building
techniques, I guess, Like I dothe I do the mindset work of
(24:54):
positive affirmations and thekind of thing that really help
you show up and present yourselfas confident, because you know,
at the end of the day,entrepreneurship I sort of I
would say a stalwart componentof entrepreneurship is having
confidence.
You have to go into the onlinespace and show your face and
talk about your thing and soundlike you know what you're
talking about and look good andall that stuff.
(25:14):
That requires motivation.
You've got to be motivated andI think belief in your
self-worth is a big part of thatconfidence building.
So I like to do self-carepractices in the morning that
really invest in my tank beingfull.
For me, that looks like eatinghealthy, nutritious meals,
taking time to exercise and movemy body in a way that feels
(25:36):
good to me, you know, makingsure that I'm basically healthy,
hydrated, had a good night'ssleep, all the basic stuff so
that I'm not running on empty.
So taking care of your health,but then also the mental stuff.
I mean it sounds cheesy, butaffirmations and the sort of
subconscious work of believingin yourself and that what you
bring to people's lives isvaluable, and and starting your
(25:59):
day off with positiveaffirmations genuinely helps set
you up for success every singleday.
And then the other thing that Ido as a top of my first part of
my day is I review who are thekey people in my day that I want
to make sure that I speak to,because I truly believe that
relationships are what movebusiness, and so I make sure
(26:20):
that I'm connecting with threeto five people every single day
who are touch points for me,that it doesn't have to be a
business transaction, it canjust be a hey, how are you doing
?
But I'm cultivatingrelationships every single day
because, at the end of the day,having that network also builds
confidence.
And so those little tiny thingstaking care of your health,
taking care of your mind, makingsure you're dialed into
(26:42):
positive thinking and thenconnecting with other
like-minded people and buildingyour relationships- yeah, debra,
thank you so much for takingthe time to be with us today.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
It was such a pleasure to discuss with you
your knowledge, your tricks,your tips, and hopefully our
listeners take some of them ontheir journey with them.
But thank you again foraccepting to come on the show
today.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Thank you so much for having me as a guest.
I love this conversation.
It was great, thank you.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
We'll talk soon.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Thanks for tuning into the 5 Questions Podcast.
If you enjoyed today's episode,don't forget to subscribe, like
and hit the notification bellon our YouTube channel so you
never miss an episode.
Stay tuned for more insightsand tips to transform your real
estate and business game.
See you next time.
Obviously, there's a lot of great platforms out there
that help investors these days.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Welcome to the 5 Questions Podcast, where we
unlock real estate and businessinsights one question at a time.
Welcome to the 5 QuestionsPodcast.
I am your host, mario Lamar.
I'm so excited today.
(00:27):
Our guest on today's show hasbuilt multiple successful
businesses.
She is a marketing strategist,super host with Airbnb and
podcast host herself, debra CSmith.
Debra, welcome to the live showtoday.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Hi, mario, thank you so much for having me.
I'm grateful to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
The concept of the podcast is five questions,
either about real estate orbusiness, and we get straight to
the point you ready.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Yeah, I'm ready.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Okay, First question I have for you what's your
background in marketing andautomation?
Have for you what's yourbackground in marketing and
automation.
How can real estate investorsand maybe Airbnb hosts use smart
systems to simplify theirbusinesses?
Speaker 1 (01:13):
This is my favorite question.
Is your first question how?
to simplify is where I spend alot of my time with my clients
and just thinking about for myown life, because when you run a
business of any kind, doesn'tmatter the niche, but I imagine
as just as well for real estateinvestors and for people hosting
Airbnb you spend so much timecerebrally thinking about your
(01:37):
business planning, executing,communicating, cleaning up,
reviewing.
There's a lot of timeenergetically invested in your
business, so if you can set upautomated systems that take
anything off your plate, you getback a little bit of your lived
experience, like more time foryou to do the things that you
love take care of your body,time with family, whatever you
(01:59):
want to do with your life,instead of just being constantly
working for your business.
So when I think about systemsthat simplify automated systems,
it's really any system that cantake a repetitive task inside
your business off your plate.
So obviously there's a lot ofgreat platforms out there that
(02:20):
help investors these days.
I mean, that's true for anybusiness as well.
Like our, technology has reallyevolved, so there's a lot of
ways to save time using AI tocreate an assistant, using, you
know, smart email marketingplatforms to build a list, all
that stuff, but I would imaginefor real estate investors that
one of the top concerns is leadgeneration and that primarily
(02:44):
you know thinking about, inorder to keep your income at the
threshold that you want it at,you need a consistent flow of
both buyers and sellers.
So and this actually is truefor any business too so what I
love to teach my clients how todo is create a very compelling
(03:06):
invitation into your littlecorner of the internet through
automated systems, so that youcan have your lead generation
kind of ongoing at all times.
And what that could look like isyou know, there's a lot of
different ways to do sort ofwhat I call top of funnel, which
is what we all call top offunnel, which is the way, the
moment that someone firstbecomes aware that you exist in
(03:28):
this part of your business.
So if somebody is out therethinking about selling a house,
or buying a house, or buyingproperty or selling property,
they, they become interested insearching for a real estate
agent or you know somebody thatcan help them with that.
Yeah, only at the point whenthey realize I'm ready to take
action.
So, interestingly, with realestate, I mean, I'm sure there's
(03:49):
a lot of people that troll theinternet and just sort of think
about it for a long time.
But you want to startconnecting with people at the
point where they've taken a stepinto the realm of like I might
buy a house in the next twoyears, or we might want to buy,
sell our house in the nextcouple of years.
What could you put out thereinto the world that lives for
free on the internet, thatstands alone on like a static
(04:09):
web page, that might attractthat early thinker and let them
know oh, there's a person outthere who's educating people,
who's building relationshipslong before they're actually
ready to buy.
So a great example of this is Ihave a friend in New Orleans
who's getting ready to sell ahouse and she said to me she's a
single mom, so I'm like let mehelp you out a little bit.
(04:30):
She said I'm going to probablyhave to sell this house in like
a year from now and it's reallyoverwhelming to me.
I said I got you, let me dosome research.
I Googled, you know, local realestate.
Whatever I put in some searchterms into Google which is 90%
of how people use the internetis they go to a search engine
and type in a keyword or two Iput in her neighborhood and
(04:53):
immediately a couple of realestate agents popped up that had
created a very thoroughchecklist All the things you
need to think about if you'rethinking about selling your
house.
I didn't even think twice aboutputting my email address in
there.
Now, I don't live in NewOrleans so I'm not necessarily
their ideal client, but I nowhave this checklist.
(05:13):
I send it to my friend.
I say to her hey, this companyis local in your neighborhood in
New Orleans and they createdthis amazing resource.
It might be a good resource foryou.
She goes to the thing she getson their mailing list.
She has their checklist.
Now she's looking at their logoand their brand marketing
(05:33):
elements.
That's sort of subconsciouslyin the background, is running in
her mind.
Now her supercomputer isthinking about them when she's
thinking about who do I rely onfor the help I need when I do go
to sell?
She's got their colors in hermind, their name, their logo,
it's just like that.
And she's using their checklistto check things off as she
prepares.
She's on their email list.
Well, guess what?
When it came time to startlooking for a real estate agent,
(05:55):
they were the number one callshe made.
So I think, that was a lead gen.
That was a long play for them,right, she might not use them
for a year, but that thing isout there for free.
Update it a couple.
You know, maybe you update acouple times a year.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
But that's one person , so imagine the thousands of
people.
Maybe your friend was a yearfrom now, but maybe the neighbor
was six months and thensomebody else was three months
away, and so it just goesexponentially.
And you're right Automatedsystems, using even AI, like you
(06:30):
said, is more and more commonand more and more successful.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Yeah, true, and I think if you just think about
not everybody, I mean you haveto play the numbers game with
business.
So if you want 10 people atyour party, invite 100.
If you want 1,000 people atyour party, invite 100,000.
It's kind of the law of 10ssort of consistently still works
, even though we're in newterritory with technology and
communication.
(06:54):
So I think if you are aninvestor or if you're a real
estate agent or whatever roleyou play in that business system
, having a list, generating alist and tending to that list,
continuing to feed them little,small bits of nurturing content
that helps them, keeps you topof mind when they're ready to
(07:14):
buy, they're going to think ofyou because you've been subtly
peppering them with a little bitof nourishment here and there
and again.
That's consistent for reallyany business nourishment here
and there and again, that'sconsistent for any, really any
business.
And I did think about for Airbnbhosts, something that saved me
a tremendous amount of time.
I'd say my first two to threeyears doing hosting Airbnb.
(07:38):
I was just learning what getsgood quality guests in the house
and you have a guest come inthat it's almost like they're
your best friend, coming tovisit you for the weekend or
whatever.
Because the way that I didAirbnb in New York City was I
have a two-bedroom apartment andI would open up one half of my.
Luckily, with the layout of myapartment, I had two different
entrances and shared commonspaces were central and it was a
big floor through so I couldhave a guest come in, let
(08:03):
themselves into the apartment,go to their own entrance, enter
their own guest room, feel likethey were in their own apartment
in New York City, but then Iwould still be there.
I lived there while they wereguests.
So creating a sense of spacefor them and privacy was a big
deal.
And the way that I did that wasupfront.
I took some time upfront toreally think through what would
(08:25):
all of their questions be.
Airbnb is really good at givingyou like prompts to create your
guidebook, but there's more toit.
So after about two or threeyears I collected all the
questions that I got asked overand over and over again and I
took the time to really writeout frequently asked questions
that aren't in your guidebook.
And it was about myneighborhood, it was about my
(08:46):
apartment, little things likeeverything from like where to
put the key when you're leavingat the end of the day, which is
obvious thing you want toinclude.
But you know, in my oldBrooklyn apartment there was a
little you know fidgety thingabout the hot water so little
things that always came up overand over again.
Instead of having to constantlycommunicate with these people so
that I could give them autonomy, space, privacy and also have
(09:08):
my time back and not have todeal with them constantly, I
started cataloging all the FAQsand then I wove those into the
top.
When people go to your Airbnbpost listing they read usually
the first two to threeparagraphs to make sure that
it's a good match for what theywant out of a stay.
(09:28):
I wove those things into thestory of my life in New York and
my apartment.
So I would say things likeyou're going to love this old
sort of classic New Yorkbrownstone.
It's still got the finickyfaucet that you know gives it
its personality, like I wouldweave it into the story.
(09:48):
And then it's not somethingthey complain about.
They're not going to write thefaucet dripped, because I'm
literally advertising I have adrippy faucet and you would
think that that would be anegative right, but instead it's
charm because I positioned itas charm.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
And they expect it.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
And they're expecting it.
And I think with Airbnb ifanybody's doing Airbnb hosting,
the name of the game with Airbnbto get you five-star reviews
every time is put it all in yourlisting.
If you have a cat upstairs thatscreeches every third day like,
tell them what to expect.
And then so we had noise on theweekends outside my apartment
windows and it was nothing Icould control, but it was
(10:24):
something people consistentlysaid was a little bit hard for
them.
I put a white noise machine, Igave earplugs and I wrote it
crystal clearly in my ad.
People have said the streetnoise gets loud on the weekends,
but it didn't deter thembecause and I list all the ways
that I'm offsetting the noiseand so they feel confident that
(10:45):
I'm aware I care, I'm giving youthe best solution I can.
And then they you should readmy reviews.
95% of them say there is a lotof street noise on the weekends
but, just like Debra said, thetools she provides really.
So it's even double points forme because not only is it now
not a negative, they're like shegot out in front of it and that
(11:07):
really helped.
So it makes me look even more,I guess, like that's why I think
you get the super host.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Listed.
It's good.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
And talking about successful, being successful and
for your example, brings us toour second question.
You've built multiplesuccessful businesses, from
mobile juice bars to onlinecoaching.
What key lessons fromentrepreneurship apply to, maybe
, real estate investing?
Speaker 1 (11:41):
I think broad stroke when you are presenting yourself
as the agent of your business,when you are the face of your
business, especially with realestate agents, the way that you
present yourself.
It's so important that I meanenergy is everything Really.
(12:02):
Every exchange that we makebusiness is about making money
right, and I use air quotes onlybecause money is just another
form of energy.
So the exchange that we makewhen we do business again is
really just creating minipartnerships.
Every single sale, every singleconversation, it's you and your
energy infused into whateverthe thing that you do or sell.
(12:27):
So I think having integrityaround your values, knowing your
values, I think presentingyourself as a trustworthy like
building trust really right.
So every single sale is abouttrust.
I decided to buy my car fromthe car dealership where I trust
.
The guy gave me all the rightinformation and he's not going
(12:48):
to screw me on the backend withextra fees.
Building trust and buildingrelationships is the cornerstone
of doing business.
So I think real estate agents,your best quality is having some
integrity, clear communication,really speaking clearly and
succinctly, knowing your product, knowing what you're putting
(13:10):
out there and then just reallybuilding solid relationships
with people, considering yoursellers and your buyers.
Every single one of those is amini business partner for you
and really treating them the wayyou would want to be treated,
just having integrity.
Building strong relationships,strong partnerships because your
net worth is in your network,right?
(13:31):
So all of those relationshipsyou don't know where down the
road in life someone's going torefer you If they can say she
was excellent to work with, thatwill still always be the
greatest form of marketing,right?
Nothing competes with word ofmouth.
Nothing is stronger than myfriend told me she was great.
No advertisement, no amount ofmoney spent on an ad buy will
(13:52):
compete with my friend told me,to call this person.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
You're absolutely right, Because especially in
real estate, it's a big circlebut at the same time it's a
small circle.
So if you have a good name,people will know.
If you have a bad name, peoplewill know.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Yeah, people will find out.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
So you're absolutely right, whether, whether it's a,
a business, a coaching or, likeyou had, you know, uh juice, uh
juice bars.
Be yourself, be true, be honest.
Same thing applies to realestate.
Yeah yeah, You'll get clients,you'll get referrals and you'll
(14:33):
succeed.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Yeah, I really think trust, like I was saying, trust
is something that we have toearn with our clients.
It doesn't just come for freeand there's ways that you can
build that subtly into all theways that you show up.
Into all the ways that you showup and that's one of the things
I love about the internet isthere are just a vast number of
(14:54):
opportunities to sort of precedewhy you are a trustworthy
person.
It is partly the image, yourpersonal brand, the wording and
the pictures and everything thatyou use to sort of present
yourself.
But there's a lot of otherlittle subtle ways in which you
can build trust.
One of them is, you know,educating around your topic or
(15:15):
your niche, like I was saying,those digital assets that you
can put out, that don't take alot of time to create,
especially with AI, but packageup some of your knowledge and
allow you to connect with peoplebefore you even ever meet them.
That goes a long way withpeople before you even ever meet
them.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
that goes a long way.
That brings us to our thirdquestion, and in talking about
helping and other people, yourmission is to help women
solopreneurs thrive.
Now what advice would you giveto someone wanting to start,
maybe, a real estate or anAirbnb business with little
experience?
You already touched on somepoints in the first question,
(15:53):
but let's elaborate a little bitmore.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
So something that I made a mistake at in my first
business, and something thatI've seen a large number of my
clients make a mistake around,is the sort of seedling point in
creating your business.
People tend to fudge theresearch, and what I mean by
(16:18):
that is you are passionate aboutsomething.
You're like I know, I want todo this, I want to help people
with this thing.
It lights me up, I am called toaction.
It's a calling of mine.
That's 90% of the time we starta business.
We just feel passionate aboutsomething.
Then you have to stop and sortof put your passion in the back
(16:39):
seat for a second and throw onan analytical cap and do some
really serious research aboutyour industry, about that niche,
about your area, specificallyhow you think you're going to do
business.
Who else is already doingbusiness in that way, in the
style that you might do it inthe area that you live in?
What's already out there?
(17:00):
Who's already brought this ideato market?
How are they doing it?
Get detailed.
Do the analytic research tofind out is this viable?
Do I have the right personalitycharacteristics to continually
show up in the way you have toshow up for that type of
business to be successful.
Because I actually have twofriends who became real estate
(17:20):
agents and then after almost ayear and a half or two years,
they gave up because theydecided what it takes to do that
business is not in my corebeing.
I don't have what it takes.
They literally decided it'sjust not who I am.
It requires a personality and askillset that I don't want to
continue cultivating, and thenthey stopped doing it and it was
(17:41):
kind of a detour for their lifeinstead of it being.
I mean, it's every thing we dowith our lives is a stepping
stone to the next thing.
But I think people I've seenpeople try to start a business
where they didn't do enoughresearch and then it really
either it keeps you frombecoming profitable for a longer
it takes a lot longer to becomeprofitable, or you burn out and
quit because it's not a goodmatch for you, or that area of
(18:06):
the marketplace is so saturatedthat it's just a constant grind.
It just that's what happens isif you don't really know what
you're getting yourself into.
So for real estate agents andfor Airbnb hosts, how's it going
in your area?
You know Airbnb ebbs and flowswith local legislation, right?
So in New York.
We had a huge hit September of23.
(18:27):
They lost the hospitalityindustry in New York city.
City lost their legal battlewith Airbnb, I'm sorry, won the
legal battle and Airbnb wasrelegated to shut down any
listing where the host was notpresent while hosting.
So it became you had to.
Everybody lost their ability tohost unless you got a special
(18:50):
permit.
To get that permit you had tofill out this very extensive
application with a new officethe governor created and it
changed the marketplacedrastically.
So my listing went fromconsistent inquiries to bonkers
(19:14):
numbers of messages Like I wasone of the few people that got
the permit because, because Iwas already a business owner in
New York city and I understoodthe red tape, I first of all we
got denied.
I got denied when I applied thefirst round for a whole bunch
of reasons that were kind of notreally right.
So I called, found out that theoffice of the governor's you
know short-term housing wasbrand new.
The people working there didn'teven know their jobs yet.
Having worked with the DCA andall the different legislative
(19:34):
offices in New York City to getmy food vending permits, I was
like, oh, this is just someguy's first day on the job.
Let me just call them and geton the phone, and that 20 phone
calls later I got the permit.
So persistence, but it just Igot to.
I mean I I didn't price gougebecause I didn't want to be a
jerk, but I could have tripledmy cost and not even had and
(19:56):
would have like it was really.
So you have to do the researchand find out what's happening in
your area and know yourcompetition and then ask
yourself do I have the desire tomeet this marketplace where
it's at?
Does it look like something Ican actually?
Speaker 2 (20:14):
do Leave the emotion out of it and analyze the
business before you start it.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
We're going to move on to the fourth question and
that we have something in common.
As a podcast host yourselfMindset to Market.
What role do you thinkstorytelling and personal
branding play in business andmaybe real estate success?
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Great question.
First of all, I love podcastingso much and I love that we're
having this conversation rightnow because we met at a podcast
festival and I think it's anamazing way to connect with
people.
I think that it sort of beganat the end of 2023.
(21:01):
There was a shift to onlinemarketing in the pandemic.
People planted seeds.
People were out of work right,they couldn't make money.
They started getting innovativePlatforms responded and made
things simpler.
Technology caught up.
Now, in 2023, I think westarted seeing the solopreneur
(21:21):
industry just really start toboom and generate lots and lots
and lots of new online businessowners, solopreneurs,
entrepreneurs and I think whatwe're seeing now is the age of
the personal brand right,everything is about your
personal story and when we shopnow, we're really listening to
your story and deciding if weresonate with your background,
(21:45):
your why, your unique, specialcharacteristics, if we have
aligned values or not, and sostorytelling is everything.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
I would say it's the number one thing because People
want to do business with peoplethey like.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Not just people.
They like people, they feelthat they can trust.
I think trust is thecornerstone of a business
transaction and you can buildtrust when you tell us your
authentic story.
Let us into your real,vulnerable personality and life
and you will build lifelongclients.
So it's not just we used to bevery glossy in marketing and
everything had to be like youlook perfect, you sound perfect,
(22:23):
you've got the flashy ads,everybody's like you know,
perfect headshots.
Those days are gone.
I think TikTok changed that.
People want real, authenticstorytelling and so I think, get
comfortable telling you knownuggets of your personal story
so that we can get to, so thatwe can relate.
We can relate with you and I'lltell you where it really
(22:45):
matters is in your personalvalues, because, for example, I
mean it's not just political,but I would say whether or not
people feel safe.
Like if you're a member of theLGBTQ community, you're not
probably going to want to workwith somebody who might not like
you.
If you are, you know there's alot of ways in which sharing
your values, sharing your beliefsystems, really helps people
(23:07):
predetermine whether or not theyfeel safe, even starting a
conversation with you.
So you might be eliminatingsome people from your buyer pool
, but you're going to be openingthe doors to a lot more people
by being authentic andforthcoming about
characteristics and parts ofyour personality.
So tell us your story.
Let us get to know you and seeif we find relatable points.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Yeah Well, this brings us to our fifth and final
question for today.
You're a firm believer in smalldaily habits that creates big
results.
What mindset shifts have helpedyou grow as an entrepreneur and
maybe could help real estateinvestors too?
Speaker 1 (23:50):
I love this question.
I think we often plan big goalsin business and in real estate.
There's an opportunity to makea lot of money, and so we think
we're motivated often by thatdream result that we could get.
And so we think we're motivatedoften by that dream result that
(24:28):
we could get the big money, theluxury of having time, sale of
a house or you know so.
But what gets to those biggerresults in our life and in our
businesses is consistent dailyactions.
So a habit that I have createdthat I think is very valuable is
I start my morning, a morningroutine essentially, and it
includes not just confidencebuilding and self worth building
techniques, I guess, Like I dothe I do the mindset work of
(24:54):
positive affirmations and thekind of thing that really help
you show up and present yourselfas confident, because you know,
at the end of the day,entrepreneurship I sort of I
would say a stalwart componentof entrepreneurship is having
confidence.
You have to go into the onlinespace and show your face and
talk about your thing and soundlike you know what you're
talking about and look good andall that stuff.
(25:14):
That requires motivation.
You've got to be motivated andI think belief in your
self-worth is a big part of thatconfidence building.
So I like to do self-carepractices in the morning that
really invest in my tank beingfull.
For me, that looks like eatinghealthy, nutritious meals,
taking time to exercise and movemy body in a way that feels
(25:36):
good to me, you know, makingsure that I'm basically healthy,
hydrated, had a good night'ssleep, all the basic stuff so
that I'm not running on empty.
So taking care of your health,but then also the mental stuff.
I mean it sounds cheesy, butaffirmations and the sort of
subconscious work of believingin yourself and that what you
bring to people's lives isvaluable, and and starting your
(25:59):
day off with positiveaffirmations genuinely helps set
you up for success every singleday.
And then the other thing that Ido as a top of my first part of
my day is I review who are thekey people in my day that I want
to make sure that I speak to,because I truly believe that
relationships are what movebusiness, and so I make sure
(26:20):
that I'm connecting with threeto five people every single day
who are touch points for me,that it doesn't have to be a
business transaction, it canjust be a hey, how are you doing
?
But I'm cultivatingrelationships every single day
because, at the end of the day,having that network also builds
confidence.
And so those little tiny thingstaking care of your health,
taking care of your mind, makingsure you're dialed into
(26:42):
positive thinking and thenconnecting with other
like-minded people and buildingyour relationships- yeah, debra,
thank you so much for takingthe time to be with us today.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
It was such a pleasure to discuss with you
your knowledge, your tricks,your tips, and hopefully our
listeners take some of them ontheir journey with them.
But thank you again foraccepting to come on the show
today.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Thank you so much for having me as a guest.
I love this conversation.
It was great, thank you.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
We'll talk soon.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Thanks for tuning into the 5 Questions Podcast.
If you enjoyed today's episode,don't forget to subscribe, like
and hit the notification bellon our YouTube channel so you
never miss an episode.
Stay tuned for more insightsand tips to transform your real
estate and business game.
See you next time.
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