1st of the Month Bonus Episode: Alex’s Next Big Leap, featuring David Meltzer LIVE from Blue Wire Studio

Alex Husner  0:03  
Welcome to Alex and Annie the real women of vacation rentals. I'm Alex.

Annie Holcombe  0:06  
And I'm Annie.

Alex Husner  0:07  
And we are here today for the February 1 first of the month bonus episode, we've made it through the first 31 days of January, anyhow, was the first month of the year for you.

Annie Holcombe  0:19  
I really honestly thought it was June. But January was, I don't know, January has been absolutely crazy. It just feels like there was so much packed into post new years that I haven't had a chance to breathe yet. How about you?

Alex Husner  0:33  
Yeah, I would say the same. I think it was a very eventful January for more reasons than one. And we'll get to some of those things in a little bit. But there was definitely a lot going on in the conference scene both. You went to Ironman and in person. And then you and I both were on to virtual conferences that we want to touch on before we get to some other news. But tell me a little bit about IMS, when I went to that last year. And it definitely was a very different experience than the traditional vrma or darme conferences that we go to. But what was your experience? Yeah, so very

Annie Holcombe  1:06  
interesting. It was it was definitely a different crowd. It was more the STR crowd. But it was also more of the high level in terms of like people looking for investment and people looking to invest. So there's a lot of like banker types, investment groups, there was a quite a few people that I met with that have some interesting technology that they've developed kind of for all of STR and so I think those will be coming out sometime this year. I you know, I'm really curious to some of them that I did meet. But I do think it really highlights the need for an opportunity to connect STR and the VR world a little more as one because again, they definitely are operating in different lanes and having different focus area focuses, you know, I was on a panel and one of the things that we talked about was you know how to optimize your not your listings, but your revenue within a rentals, like how to decorate it, and how to how to do these things. And I was on with Mark from Minoan, he was wonderful, of course, and then a couple of other people from the STR space, but they really talked about the need to customize your rentals and make them so specific that you're creating a unique experience. And I come at it from a place of like, well, if you're looking to scale, you don't want to customize everything because it's really hard to take care of from an operational standpoint, but they're not thinking scaling hundreds 200 300 They're thinking I might have one or two. So it's again, a different world. But then from a conference standpoint, there was no parties, there was no gatherings, there was no welcome receptions, there was no welcome from the people that were hosting the events, you really felt like it was kind of business, very business very more transactional than I think some of the conferences that we're used to go into where it's really about the camaraderie and the relationship building. I didn't get so much of that. So I definitely think there's you know, maybe there's an opportunity for Alex and Annie to like, you know, put some flair into their conferences in the future. I

Alex Husner  2:53  
hope so. Yeah, I agree with you. It's almost like it's like a headless conference, like you don't know who's behind it. You don't know, really, you know what the organization is. And that was the experience that I had last year, too. But I do agree. It's like those people, they are hungry for information. I feel like the sessions are very strongly attended. And people are just dying for any bit of information. Yeah. And you know, they're, they're new to the space. So things that we know, is just kind of stuff we've, we've known for a long time is brand new information to some of these people. So yeah, I'm sure they got a lot out of your panel. I'm sure that was well attended. And yeah,

Annie Holcombe  3:28  
I was actually sort of surprised. I figured nobody would come because I usually get stuck in the panels that aren't really well attended. But again, I think they only run two concurrent. So the rooms are kind of split in half. So again, uh, you know, good topics. So substance over a course of like a day and a half, you know, there was quite a number of people there. But it was interesting, because there was one point where I was standing with kind of like our, you know, posse of people from the classroom and all that was like Steve trover, and lino Maldonado. And, you know, just the people that we know from the business, and we were all kind of looking around going, like, we don't know any of these. No, nobody knows exactly what anything was. It's like, you know, who's Steve, Steve always goes out and meets all the people and we're staying around like, well, you know, I'm thinking, Steve, you need to go meet all these people. So we can make these people you know, but we the odds are, we're not going to see most of these people a second time around. And I think several people did say they were going to build fates conference in Nashville, and then maybe one or two of those other like, kind of the, again, the STR focus conferences. So it was, I'm glad I went it was it was definitely a learning experience, to say the least. But on the heels of that we did our second desta con with Jen Barbie and her team and so much fun. I mean, they're just such great people. And I think we've been able to infuse our people into her people and the worlds have just, they didn't collide. They just completely created this big bang of opportunity for both sides. And I know for her and several people like some of the folks from Gasteig and some of the things that they're doing in their world, it all kind of has just fit together like this great little puzzle, and it was really exciting to be able to be back with them again. Yeah, and

Alex Husner  5:00  
she did a great job with the production of this show. And I love how she kind of teed it up that this is not only is it a live in person online conference, but it's also she said, Think of it like filming a Netflix documentary that these these panels ended up getting a ton of views after the show. And so she's got a lot of industry, people that go back and they want to go through the information. And I think it was a great conversation, it was the follow up to our panel that we did last year that we are not Airbnb. So what are we, and the group of people that were in attendance that day, I don't know that there was any overlap of the people that were there last year. So we kind of started from the beginning of what that means that it's not a negative or derogatory thing against Airbnb, but that we're trying to define for the people that don't understand that what professionally managed vacation rentals is and what it has been as an industry for decades. And I think, you know, bringing in the DMOS is super important. Obviously, you and I have a lot of experience in working with them in Myrtle Beach, and in Panama City Beach. And a lot of these, you know, destinations, they're not really sure how to engage with these new property managers with the hosts. And even with the legacy property managers, there's a lot of destinations that they're heavily flooded with the hotels, but the property managers and property management companies just really are not involved with their DMOS. So that's obviously something that, you know, we've got some creative ideas and things that we talked about with people that reached out to us. So great opportunity for us to connect with more people on that side. And then of course, a week later, this was we had to two weeks in a row of this of similar topics. But yeah, we did STR virtual summit for women with Stacy St. John. And oh my gosh, what I

Annie Holcombe  6:48  
loved it, I have never had so much interaction. And just like, again, I think it was kind of like taking like, just a little session of the Women's Conference of AMI high notes Women's Conference and moving it to online, being able to see in real time like people ask questions, and people go like, yeah, that's how I think and oh, my gosh, tell me where to find this. And what are you talking about? I've never heard this, you know, it was just, it was it was so great did the engagement and the positivity that was happening just real time right in front of us. I loved it.

Alex Husner  7:16  
Yeah, I agree with you. I've never been on an online summit before that had that level of engagement. And each I was in two different sessions, one for direct bookings, and then one about bridging the gap between SDR and VT and professionally managed vacation rentals. And both of them had a minimum of 200 people in the audience watching and asking tons of questions. The interesting thing is, again, a lot of people on this side, they're asking questions that I mean, they don't know where to even go to get a website, they don't know how to distribute to other places besides Airbnb, they don't, they don't know what they don't know. And but they were very thirsty for information. And I feel like, gosh, there is just a huge window of opportunity for us and within the space to be able to get this information out to these people because they need help and they want to grow in their entrepreneurial. And this is a great group of women that Stacy has put together she's got her Facebook page and group has I think like 40,000 followers. So she's she's built such a really cool thing. And that was a fun panel. We're trying to see if we can get that file so that we can release it actually as an episode. Yeah, that would be so great. Yeah, it was a great conversation. We had, of course our besties we had maidwell and Elaine stitcher with us and then Stacy taken us through the content but was a lot of fun. So thank you to Stacey, to Jen and to I am in Yeah,

Annie Holcombe  8:40  
it's been a great month, I need February to be just a tad bit slower. But, um, because we don't know how to sit still. You've like been really doing some wild all over the place things as well as a wild it's not wild. It's exciting. You had the opportunity to go spend some time with David Meltzer at his studio, at the Wynn in Las Vegas, which is like, super cool. And of course, I was all about it because it was a blue studio. I thought that was just great. Yeah, little pink in there would have been all our colors, right? So tell me a lot about and I wanted to kind of let it all happen and like just let you be, you know, just absorbed into it. So really want to hear like how that all came to be and maybe a little bit of a recap, and I know what we're going to be able to do is share the recordings of the recording that you had within this episode to come. Yeah,

Alex Husner  9:28  
yeah. So we're actually we're gonna teaser for the end of the episode. There's about nine minutes of content that I got to record with David and the blue wire studio at the Wynn and just to give a little bit of backstory, so David Meltzer, he is a entrepreneur influencer. He's like a Gary Vee, you know, that level very well known within that side of inspirational business leaders has done amazing things in his career. And just as been somebody that I've you know, really closely followed for the last couple years. His podcast is called the playbook and he has incredible people on To show and just I love the message that he that he shares. And I love everything about his essence and read his books. It was a Saturday or late December, and I was listening to one of his shows, and he had some business people on the show. And I was wondering who they were. And I thought, You know what, like, next time, we're in Vegas, if we're out there for vrma, or for a conference or something, we'll just go over to the when. And if he's there, like, we'll just ask him if he's on our show. And well, yeah, maybe just yeah, if not, we'll you know, go go to the lobby and have a drink. And we'll leave. Two days later, I got an email directly from David inviting me to this mastermind out there, and a VIP dinner. And I thought this has got to be fake. I mean, I've been, you know, visualizing it in my mind, and I get this email. And I'm like, I can't believe this. And so I responded. And he wrote back right away, got me connected with his executive assistant, Nick, and had a great call with him. And he was like, We want you out here. This is a limited opportunity. We only invite 20 people to this. So I'm not sure how I made that cut. But I was like, I'm going and went out there and really went into it with no expectations. I didn't ask a lot of questions. I've this has really served me well. And a good lessons I've recently learned of just going into things with a completely open mind and not trying to know everything about it before I get there. Because honestly, everything around every corner, it was a surprise and it was just so much fun. And I couldn't believe the people that I got to meet in doing that. And just not having expectations was kind of a good thing that I'm going to try and carry that with me for the rest of the year. But he had Dane Cook there with him. They did a dinner where David and Dane were on stage. And I got next to sit and I got to sit next to Dane at dinner really interesting guy i i knew of him obviously. I mean, he's a celebrity and a comedian. But I was blown away by the stories that he shared that were he wasn't on stage to be a comedian, he was telling some really meaningful stories about about his life and lessons. And that was really cool. But also got to connect with people from all different industries. And the thing with David's group of people that he works with that these people are all either part of his coaching programs are part of they've been to other masterminds with him or they're somehow involved in his community. But his biggest thing that are one of the biggest things he teaches is to be more interested than interesting. And to always ask how you can help somebody else. And like, I almost felt bad because everybody was asking, they wanted to all know about me, and they wanted to ask me how they could help. I'm like, what about you? They were all just so I mean, just open arms and it came at a good time for me because yeah, we're gonna we're gonna get to this other announcement here in a minute. But you know, really just needed some some good advice on you know how to how to take next steps in a career and move forward with with courage. Obviously, that was my word of the year that I announced on last month's episode, but got some really good advice on a lot of different things out there. So excited to learn more about that community. We've actually got we're recording with David on the middle of the month this month. So that episode will be coming out on the podcast within this month of February, which is super exciting. I didn't even have to ask him like he came up to me and we was talking a little about you and I and what we're doing with the show and he was like let's do a podcast while and I had no idea what he meant. But he was like, I'll come on yours and then he was like, tomorrow there's there you'll see a surprise and I mean, he asked me to record in his studio with him while I was there. And that's the nine minutes that's gonna come at the end of this episode. I was nervous. I was super super nervous and

Annie Holcombe  13:43  
probably I saw you did amazing so you were Oh,

Alex Husner  13:47  
it was it was nerve wracking but definitely studio goals for sure unreal studio in there but yeah, it was amazing experience got to see will i am this was actually something that is so cool. Yeah. And what oh my gosh, what a inspires brilliant. Yeah, yeah, he's huge into AI which I had no idea but he's oh really okay big big business person to beyond being Majid or magician.

Annie Holcombe  14:11  
He's a magic behind the

Alex Husner  14:15  
Black Eyed Peas and his history there. But when we first got into the blue wire studio, that second day, everybody was was standing as the back wall and you know, Vegas I mean, it's really it's a lot walking around in heels and of course, I'm gonna still wear my shoes. I stuck it out but there were two chairs in the front like big, nice leather chairs and nobody was sitting on them and I just kind of pushed my way through and I said excuse me, do you mind if I sit there? So I sat down and as David's talking to all of us he's up on the on the set and he said to Nick as assisting says we'll hear yet and I didn't know who he was talking about. He's like, Yeah, wills here. And so they asked everybody to leave and David Sybil, he was like a few people can stay and so they David, let me and another lady sitting in the other chair, and then two others stay in the studio for the interview with Will i am and so will I m comes in. I didn't know that's who it was. I turned to the guy behind me and asked, he's like, yeah, that's, that's where I am. And I just I couldn't believe it. So that just surprises at every corner, which was just super exciting and fun but all around great experience and I'm excited to be able to share that con so happy for

Annie Holcombe  15:24  
you. I'm like egg like, you know, adjacent to a for me a famous person now.

Alex Husner  15:28  
Oh, God, I don't know about that. But

Annie Holcombe  15:32  
super exciting. Well, I'm glad you got to do that. Because I think I hear you teased a little bit. It came at a time when you needed a little guidance. And there's only so much guidance as me as your like, you know, work wife can provide you and I know you were kind of soul searching some things that you wanted to do. And I think it was it was really good to help you find that balance. So with that you made the decision to leave costs ago. And you know, a year ago, you and I were both like, you know, we talked about last month, like deer in the headlights so much going on new, both new jobs, everything was just really the world was our oyster in front of us, and what are we going to do with it. And so you know, it's been crazy year for both of us. And I think things didn't necessarily go the way you anticipated. And so we just like in your soul, you knew something needed to change, you made the decision to leave Kosovo, and you're now going to be full time kind of doing podcasting and doing our first our say our first love the umbrella love of our podcast, which is aha moments. And so I thought maybe this is a good opportunity for you to kind of tell us that process and kind of why you left and what you're looking forward to doing with this new time. Yeah,

Alex Husner  16:39  
absolutely. And, yeah, it was a tough decision. And you know, I think the world of Kosovo and all the amazing people that work there that I got to work with over the past year. But you know, at the end of the day, I mean, my my core strengths are in marketing. And that's really what I wanted to get back to. And this past year going out doing these market visits, and just seeing different operators, it was eye opening, and it was fun. And it was amazing for me to see how much of a need there is out there for these managers that they need help with marketing and yeah, 13 years with condo world, I really built up a lot of experience on direct bookings and business growth strategies. And you know, really getting in the trenches on on how to market condos how to market these beach homes, how to grow a brand that lives on its own land and is not dependent of OTAs. And I need to get back to that that's really where I am. That's what I love. And that's where my talents are. So we made that decision and wish them certainly the best of luck and believe in the product. I believe in what I was selling for Costco. I believe in the franchise model as a whole. I think it's it's genius. And I think they'll continue to do great things. But as I made this decision, and what does that look like next for me. So one thing with the podcast, obviously, this has always been, you know, a side hustle for both of us, it's become something more than what we ever had dreamed and open a lot of doors for both of us. But I want to be able to put a little bit more time to it to growing it and developing different opportunities for you and I to be able to share these stories of the property managers and suppliers in our space in a meaningful way. And I've got some cool ideas with it. We're also we have obviously, or not, obviously, but we have our book connecting the dots that we have started on, it still needs some work now. And hopefully I'll be able to put some focus on that. But aha moments, the business that is the parent company of the podcast, we started that a little bit over two years ago. And we without also knowing who knew that who knew that that was going to come in handy for all of this to but aha moments is going to be able to take on a lot of different things. So for me, that is what I am going to be doing consulting work under. So talking to some different fractional cmo type roles and advisory roles with companies and just going to start pursuing that for the immediate future. I'm taking a little bit of time, I definitely want to take some time and work through what that looks like and build this out in a thoughtful way. But I'm super excited, I think the sky is the limit for what you know we can do with the show and, and different ways to bring property managers in and for me to be able to work with them on a closer level is gonna be really exciting. So that's where we're headed with all of this. And still, I've said you early on, I want to share this journey with our listeners. I'm in the trenches just like Michael James, as a property manager that he shared on last month's first of the month bonus episode, but I think it's important to share these things and you know, hopefully inspire other people that have been thinking about the same that it's scary to take a big leap and there was certainly a lot of fear in that decision. But I believe in following the signs and knowing when it's time to do something different and just trusting your gut and really listening to that and in The next segment that I had with David, he actually asked me about that. So it's a good segue into that. So without further ado, please stay tuned. This is the segment that I did with David Meltzer at the Wynn hotel in the blue wire studios.

David Meltzer  20:15  
Today Meltzer here live at the Wynn hotel in the greatest studio that ever has been created, especially for podcasting. They got incredible podcasts are here, the blue wire studios in the lobby of the win. I am David Meltzer. Welcome to the playbook, Alex Husner,

Alex Husner  20:31  
thank you so much for having me, this is like a dream come true to be here. And just it's been an incredible few days with you and your team. Well,

David Meltzer  20:37  
complements will get you everywhere. And you have been in an expansion in your career, not just from the Alex and Annie podcast, but you've actually have expanded into your own business called aha moments. And it's not easy coming from a C level executive of a successful business to go out on your own toes is going to start with that challenge itself, the fear that may be inherent in what I call expansion, expanding our self image and opportunities, options and touches a favor, what was your biggest fear, all

Alex Husner  21:15  
of it, to be honest, and I mean, the last two years has been an incredible journey. I was with one company for 13 years and went to a different company for the past year. But that was a big leap a year ago. And then this is now another big leap for me. I think there's fear at all parts of it. But one thing that I've learned along the way is recognizing the signs how important that is. And being able to, you know, stay cognizant of that, as you're trying to look back and connect the dots. And just making sure that you're listening to the right content, I listened to your podcast religiously, and just following the signs of you're meant to be somewhere else, you're supposed to be doing something different. And taking action to get it done. Because inaction is where you really start to just ruminate. And that fear just starts really building. You

David Meltzer  21:59  
know, I recommend your podcast to so many people because it's reflective. And I think your new business is also reflective of the four areas of attention that I want to give people intention for. And when I say that, your business and your podcast involve one, your personal values, to obviously your experiential values. But what makes it so unique is that you really discuss within the context of this is your personal life, this is what you want and want to experience. But along the way, you can provide value to other people as well, and give to them, but also receive value from others. And how have you reconciled? What I call the basic four tenants of my day, personal experiential, giving receiving values into the podcast, but also into your business?

Alex Husner  22:54  
Yeah, I think it really comes down to authenticity at the end of the day. And what I've learned in the past two years of doing the podcast, as we started this out, as it was just for fun, and there really wasn't a business plan or anything like that, but it took a life of its own, and just really leaning into the whole theory of when you shine your light, you're allowing other people to shine their light as well. And that's really what I've just learned in this process. And in doing that have built great relationships and just, you know, furthered the opportunities. But you know, tying the values in, we've really done a lot of soul searching, Annie and I on on who we are. And as you said, it's like the podcast becomes almost like a diary as a reflective journal of we go back, our first episode was called the aha moment. So it makes sense that that's the new business name. But when we look back on that we were babies. I mean, we had no idea what we were doing. And now fast forward and things have just skyrocketed for us and open doors that, like you said earlier. I mean, we had to get through that fear. We had to take action, we had to have that courage. And it's just been an incredible, incredible journey. And

David Meltzer  23:59  
the as that aha moment, is part and parcel to everything that you do. It's a common thread. with not just the podcast and the business, it seems to be with your own personal life. Again, when we seek or search or wish or hope for the AHA which is to me, an enlightenment or liberation of that light and awareness of, oh, I now know a cheat code or earned a secret that makes things easier for me to do. And you can see that in your career from 13 years in a prestigious company with a prestigious position to an accelerated advanced position for just one year. The aha moments are coming closer and closer together. What are some of the things through experience now that you look for? Since your business is about aha moments? Your podcast was created with an aha moment is there to reveal aha moments for other people for you? What are you looking for to raise the awareness of those aha moments?

Alex Husner  24:58  
I think just other like minded and have visuals and really again, being able to shine the light on those people and sharing their stories. We love connecting with people, we love to be able to tell the real stories of what's going on within the short term vacation rental industry. There's a lot of get rich quick, you get an Airbnb, he has all this passive income, you have a Bentley by Friday, tick tock tock out there. And that's that's not what we what we talk about. We like to share the triumphs, the successes, and you know, the true aha moments of the people that come on our show, you know, connecting with people within our industry, really just taking the experience that I've had in that 13 years and dispelling that into something that I want to help a lot of people like, I think our show has connected us in a way to help people. But now, it's also taking the approach of how do we work more directly with vacation rental companies with the suppliers and the vendors in the space and help them find their aha moments. And that's there's a lot of different ways to slice that. And it's still this is very, very early on, in this big leap. So it's still it's still coming unfolding. But I think being here today is a perfect example of it. I haven't told you the story. But this was probably about three or four weeks ago, I was listening to your podcast on a Saturday. And I remember thinking, you know, next time I'm in Vegas, I'm out here for trade shows quite often, I'm just going to stop by Studio, like maybe I could meet up and you know, maybe get him to come on our show. And literally two days later, I get the email inviting me to this, this mastermind. And I saw that and I'm like, This is just This is a sign that, you know, things are aligning, and you really you have to trust your gut and go with what you're seeing in front of you. Because there's no coincidences. And I think if you keep compounding that effort and the attention, and you know, you're gonna bring the right people and experiences into your life, and this is absolutely one of them.

David Meltzer  26:48  
I always say there's only coincidences, there's only the coinciding of the attention or focus that we give with the intention of what we do say, think, feel and believe. So there's the aha moment that you hopefully may or may not have been looking for in the CES mastermind that we did. And, of course, last night, and what I thought was one of my favorite and most incredible VIP dinners with the who's who have frequency elevating awareness and many aha moments for shared again, and I look forward to sharing, hopefully, wisdom and faith with you to give you more aha moments to give you more cheat codes and secrets to level up in your business and your life. And I know, the reason I want you to participate in that is you're doing the same you're elevating others to elevate yourself you're sharing, learning and listening for what is needed in order to help others. Thank you for providing so many great moments including aha moments here on the playbook. Thank

Alex Husner  27:45  
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David Meltzer  28:24  
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Alex Husner  28:33  
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David Meltzer  28:58  
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Alex Husner  29:09  
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