Building a Million Dollar Business on AirBnB with Julie George

Welcome to Alex and Annie. I'm Alex. And I'm Amy. And we are so excited to have another amazing guests today. We have Julie George, all the way from Australia. Joining us, Julie, welcome to the podcast.

Oh, good. I get it from Australia. It's lovely. It's lovely to catch up with two, two of my girlfriends.

Oh, we're so excited to have you.

I feel like you're a new member of the blonde mafia. So we're glad to have you.

Thank you very much. I'll look it's exciting. It's some 7am here Wednesday in Australia. So I'm, I'm a few hours ahead of you girls. I like to joke that the future is bright. But how bright is the future of short term rentals at the moment? Do you feel like we're on the cusp of something huge?

Oh my gosh, yeah. And the funny thing is we've been I feel like we've all been saying that for the last five years or so. But now it's even more so I mean, it COVID has definitely brought so much attention to our industry that you know, it's just it's unbelievable how many people now finally know about our product and we'll get into some of the things that we like and don't like about that. I know one thing I don't like is that they call everything that we do in Airbnb when it's really something that's been around for a long time but but there's a lot of people yourself included who have built their business right from Airbnb so that's super

you know, I joke about getting a facial tattoo one day if it Brian Chesky wants to pay for it.

Well, you you have an amazing story to tell. So how about just for our listeners that aren't aren't familiar with your story? Can you give us some background on who Julio Georgia is and and how you came into short term rentals.

My favorite story to tell thank you for asking. The very short version folks if you're tuning in for the first time you haven't heard this crazy blonde Ozzie speak prior is that my claim to fame is that I've done that the full 360 and short term rentals 2016. I started with one property, my own, fell in love with short term rentals, and then decided to turn it into a property management business. I had property owners who were desperate for a solution they were looking at, you know putting long term tenants in their properties, or selling at a loss in the market I was in and I was able to come in with this solution. Let me take your fully furnished property. Let me listed on short term rentals on Airbnb, I'm going to charge you a commission, but you're going to get the benefits have a better return on investment, you're going to be able to use your property. And I'm going to look after it like it's my own. So with that theory with a great framework in place, I was able to scale my business up to 130 properties and over $8 million income within a two and a half year period. Just prior to COVID. I don't know if I had my crystal ball out. But just prior to COVID I sold my business, I had somebody come along and offer a big fat check. It was the ultimate payday handed over the keys to my business I by that stage written a book a best selling book called Million Dollar host about my journey. And I wanted to travel the world I wanted to come and hang out with my American friends. I wanted to teach others how to do this business. So it all sort of fell into place. And that's exactly what I'm doing now. I get my thrills out of helping others and mentoring and coaching and seeing people build from maybe a hectic hosting position up to a scalable hospitality business.

That's, that's really amazing. And I think just again, in the short amount of time I've been in and around vacation rentals for better part of 25 plus years without trying to date myself. So I started when I was like four. But

you Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh. It's okay.

It's okay. Yeah. So I think it's it kind of goes back to like, you know, it's everybody comedy, like we're on the cusp of something. But I've been on the cusp of something for a very long time and have worked for several management companies and the profitability within vacation rentals has been elusive for a lot of people. So for what you did in a short amount of time is nothing short of spectacular. So of course everybody wants to read your book. And I mean, I can't wait to I've started it I can't wait to finish it. So I think one of the things that interesting to me is that you use a real estate component to it and having been on the management side of things and worked with realtors in very hot vacation rental markets where the realtors were more They were focused on trying to sell the real estate than they were really trying to help people be profitable with that real estate. How to do is that something that's similar in Australia? And if so, like, how did you navigate that? Because I think that that's a challenge for anybody,

totally a challenge or was a real to just prior to getting to short term rentals, I was working as a broker, and I was sitting in home open homes board, and But it occurred to me that if I was going to start the short term rental management business, I had to be seen by other realtors in the industry as being a collaborator, as being somebody who supported and was going to be their friend, not their competition, not someone who's going to steal those properties off them and put them into a different market. So here's a little insight for anybody who's listening in right now, you need to approach local real estate agents and offer make them an offer of how you can help them from the short term rental space. And so I would go into, I would find luxury listings, overpriced luxury listings that were furnished, and I would go into the open homes at those properties. And I would say to the realtor, let me help you sell this property, because that is what is important to them. So and that would be like, how and and I would say well, let me write up a report, let me do a free appraisal report on what we can achieve with income on short in short term rentals for this particular property. And it was very much like a long term leasing comparison report. So I'm putting up two other comparisons in the area, I would put in a paragraph of information about what needed to be done to this property to turn it into a short term rental, linen Wi Fi, such as some basics. And then I would say, here's a range of what you could achieve per night on that property. And if you need someone to manage it for you, you called Julie do it. So that was the call to action on the bottom of the reports. So I would do on those reports just to assist and give these real estate agents a sales tool to help them sell their properties. So that was my first roading when we became buddies, then I would say to them, how about we put the property on short term rentals while you're trying to sell it, I'm going to clean it regularly. I'm going to block it out for your open homes, I'm going to we're going to be able to work together to offer investors try before you buy come and stay a night in this property before you put your big fat check down and buy the place. And so real estate agents bloody loved it. And they were so excited to do business with me. And with the understanding that if I was to manage the properties, and they were to come up for sale again, if the owners wanted to sell, I'd refer back to them. So it was a really lovely, it was a building a really strong strategic relationship. But you've got to go in folks from viewing real estate agents as collaborative friends, not competitors.

Right. Absolutely. That's such a good take on it. I'm curious, what was the vacation rentals, short term rental industry like in your area prior to Airbnb coming on the scene? Like were there companies that had been around for a long time? I mean, I know in our market and in North Myrtle Beach, and also where Annie is and Panama City Beach. There's a lot of these companies that you know, their legacy is that they've been in business for 2030 years. And so when we hear Airbnb is this new thing, it's a new platform. But for us it's not. It's not a new thing. And short term rentals aren't a new thing. But there are still a lot of people that aren't familiar with these vacation destinations that have that history. But I'm just curious what what it was like in your area, right prior to the rise of Ota, OTA websites,

it was very similar to probably the two areas you're in so it's nothing new. There were plenty of vacation rental managers, there were lots of lots of service departments. So there were a lot out there. What it was that I came in and did differently was I just leveraged that Airbnb, you know, the, the marketing tool of Airbnb. So if I could put Airbnb property manager in my title, and I became the end, what I did is I built my built my own personal brand to become the Airbnb expert. In my location. That was the secret that was the secret sauce, to be honest, as soon as that logo up and I probably naughty for doing that on my shop front because I actually had a physical. I was waiting for Chesky to turn up with his lawyers and go get a kiss. He saw that hey, we were bringing in $8 million in three so he probably actually I should have got more than a bloody Kieran from that guy. But

yeah, you would think so. Right? Like, come

on. Yeah.

You send him a copy of your book.

I did one better. I've dropped it on his desk. No way. My here's my claim to fame. I passed him in the hallway. I couldn't reach out and touch him because it'd be creepy. But he has one of these on his desk in San Francisco. That's so cool. I just love them. But honestly, Alex, the answer to your question, nothing new. All I did was I just leveraged that the name Airbnb is marketing and boom, Shakalaka we're on a winner.

Wow, I feel like homeowner acquisition has changed a lot over the years to that, you know, now we're seeing more of that emphasis of for business development, we really need to be focused on exactly what you just said that we need to be making those partnerships with real estate agencies and really working with the, with the realtors, because it's all this new blood that's coming in and buying these rentals that they don't know about the condo worlds or the you know, the companies that have been around for a long time. So, and a lot of them think they can go ahead and just do them themselves. But, you know, back, that was a thing back in the day, I feel like and then it kind of went on and went away. I mean, most of our business development has really just been about, you know, selling our services and comparison to our competitors within our local market. And it's just it's shifted, I mean, that's kind of the more old school traditional way of doing business development, who in our position, now it is back to that, you know, really making that collaborative relationship with realtors and other different types of agencies there. But I love how you brought in the interior design part of it, too. I think that's really, that's really interesting, because that's another yet another thing that you brought to the table that, you know, helped them and provided a service that made their job easier.

Yeah, absolutely. Well, a lot of people would come to us and say, we've got an empty two bedroom apartment, we would love to do what you're doing. But we haven't got it furnished, and we don't worry, we'll do. Yeah, we can take care of that. And, you know, so there's just these multiple income streams of management, interior design, you know, just being able to even acting as a broker to find deals. So some people would come to me and say, I really want to do it, but I don't have a property. And I can fix that. Yeah. And in fact, you know, that was my first client that I had in the property management business, she came to me and she said, I really want to have a positive cash flow property. And I just laughed at it. Well, I didn't laugh out loud. I tried to sneak up behind I don't exist, but let's create. We'll find one that you want to vacation will dress it up, we will, we will get it ready for short term rentals, because you don't live in the area, I'm going to manage it for you. So I had, I had the sale of the property, which was a, you know, one income stream, I had the furniture set up and the the interior design. So there was another chart. And then of course, I had the management fee on top of it. So there's three sources of income from that one client. And then the best part about this lady was she rang me six months later, and she said, I am so happy with what you did. Can you go and do it again. We went from second property for her she isn't still has not seen that property to this day. But But I think if you can identify the pain points, and you can become the problem solver the solution to those issues. Hello, folks, there's a there's a little business in there for you. Yeah,

speaking of pain points, I think that a lot of people find a need philony You know, find a problem and find a solution. A lot of us have come to where we are in our career because we had some pain point or something painful that happened, whether it be a learning experience a job firing a loss of a job, whatever it be, what was your what, what drove you to get into this business or to you know, to really have the drive to make this business successful for yourself? Did you have an experience prior?

Yeah, I did. Alright, it's just the three of us, right? Yeah. You're still friends having? This is probably something I've never really talked about on nothing on 1000s of podcasts. I've talked on stages. I really want to talk right. But yeah, when you know, when you talk pain points and what was a real driver to get into this business? I was always I guess I was, you know, exchanging time for money as an employee from for many years and working in corporate businesses. You know, I was working as a phonebook advertising salesperson for a very long time. So the good old yellow pages, selling those ads for 10 years. I was out there, you know, knocking on doors doing commission only it was hard work. But that was before we had good old Google to look up out. But I got to the point with that business, I reached the pinnacle of being, you know, a national sales manager. I had a couple of 100 sales reps underneath me. I was working my ass off and it was, you know, it was not just Monday to Friday, it was seven days a week I was just busting it out. I was traveling away from my family I had my son at the time was an employee Early teams. And it it got actually to the point where I suffered a burnout, I had a complete breakdown. And it's been hard to talk about actually read. But it was, it got to the point where I, I collapsed. And it was like I'd had a stroke.

Oh my gosh,

couldn't talk couldn't walk couldn't function, I just was staring at walls. It was it was like, so the stress basically, I had just completely fraud from my brain or, but for six months, I was out, I couldn't, I had to learn to really come back again. And I guess that I was hot look, it was really hot. And it just, it really brought me I just didn't feel any support from the people I was working with, I really came out of that guy, I can't do that, again, I can't be in a corporate environment where I'm busting my ass. And the result is I'm in a fetal position in the, you know, on the ground. You know, I need to find something that's going to give me flexibility allow me to have a lifestyle balance, allow me to be my own boss, bring me in, you know, I don't, I don't like being told what to do. So not a great employee. But I just I needed to find something that was going to give me that freedom to you know, if I was going to have one. And even today like I you know, if I get stressed, I get scared about that stress. Because that stress stress can do some awful things to your body, which I saw firsthand. So I wanted to find some sort of lifestyle that I could get into and some sort of environment that I could create for myself, where I was going to be able to have a day off. Like if I needed to, if I could feel a stress coming on, right off to meditation or off to get a massage or acupuncture I tried all sorts of things to get back in. Actually, it was a it was called adrenal adrenal gland burnout anyway, but it was bloody awful. And I would never wish on my worst enemy. So. So that's when the concept of short term rentals, you know, the opportunity presented itself when I took on my own first property. And I, I thought, right, well, I can do it myself. So why can I do it for others, but very quickly, I needed to put in a framework and a support system in that business that allowed me to work on my business, not in it, and I talk about that a lot in other on other podcasts. And, and everyone thinks, oh, Julie, Dude, she's smart business woman, she must be just wanting to work on your business, not in it, the truth of it is girls is that I don't handle stress real well. And if I don't do that, I could be another in another fetal position on the ground, you know,

well, and somebody has to work on the business, right? I mean, you have to have, and you have to have people that work in the business. And that's, gosh, you just said so many different things to unpack there. But I think that is such a critical part of being a leader in a business is knowing when you when you need to be in the weeds, and when you need to be, you know, the the higher level that's looking out and seeing what's coming down the pipeline. And you know, it's it's interesting, I, I for myself, personally, I think I create my own stress, I have a very good work environment where I'm at that, you know, I don't, I don't feel like I'm being told what to do or anything like that. And really, I create my own anxiety, if I have it. And that's just really I think about the business all the time, because I'm passionate about it, but the times where I actually feel like I can separate myself and what I do get that break normally is when I am working on the business when I am talking with other colleagues like you to beautiful women and, and friends when we go to conferences, because it's like that gives me the peace of being able to exhale and you know, take that break and still do what I love but you know, have that different view to see it just from the outside. But that's that's hard for a lot of people to do. I mean, if you're, you know, a solo entrepreneur or small business, you don't have the staff that can help you. It's you know, to be able to get to that point of scale. You have to create those processes and you know, just routines I guess that make way for you to have that but it's not easy.

No, it's definitely not and unfortunately, I didn't I didn't realize it until I hit rock bottom. And then I went I don't never want to be here again. Like I never want to have to rely on anybody else for my income I will need to create my own income when you are able to have a lifestyle balance and, and he's he's a little secret girl so I'm gonna get of course a lot of people assume that I must be super busy. All the time that I must be like, You know what everyone says to me? Oh, you must be work so hard, Julie, I don't

love that. I love that

I work smart. I don't work hard. And in the last five years since probably since 2015, when I suffered that burnout, I have well, actually, sorry. Now, let's get it probably the last three years since 2018. I have probably worked on average between 10 to 15 hours a week. That is it, because wow, I used to work

it No, my gosh, you're definitely doing it. Right.

And I guess, you know, one of those years for the last 12 months that I ran my business, and I and that's when I was over in San Francisco meeting, you know, Mr. Cesky, and hanging out in Mexico and Hawaii, because that's what I wanted to do. Because I could, I had the teamwork in the team in place, I had the, the framework in place. And I remember I used to turn up to my office and the girls would say, What are you doing here? Don't touch anything?

Yeah, exactly. Working on the business, we got a handle, they're

creating Emma because, you know, obviously, the, my team knew what how my business ran better than I did. And I was like, This is great. Yeah, when I sold my business, I kind of got used to not working. So I'm bloody love. Like, I'll jump on Zoom calls, doing coaching for a couple of hours a day, by about 10 o'clock in the morning, I'm finished. And then I can go for a walk or I go to, you know, go up to the museum, or I'll go to the park or whatever I'm doing, get some nails done or whatever,

your your hero. So what do you do now? I guess that's a good segue into since after you sold the business now, what do you do?

So now, my, like, I just love, love, love being able to help others. And, and, you know, what I've basically realized is I've got all of the the knowledge of how I scaled my business, and all the forms or the templates or the frame, you know, the systems that I use, I've now given those or sorry, I don't give that away. But I mentor and I coach and I, I help others put those systems into their businesses to scale up from maybe they might have five properties, and they're working 24/7. So there's a lot of short term rental operators out there doing everything, because I can't see how they can't do everything I can to get out of the weeds, how am I going to get off that spinning wheel. So that's where I can come in now and go right, put this system in place, hire this VA, use this form for your orders. And and then suddenly, I'm seeing that the changes in people, you know, being able to go off on vacation for themselves for the first time in years or, or turning their phone off and not having to sleep with their phone. So that's what I'm doing. I'm working with a company lint index, and we we run a 90 day group coaching program. But But otherwise, apart from that I'm doing lots of US public speaking gigs. I'm on clubhouse once a week on Sunday afternoons three to 5pm Pacific Standard, we do a I do a free session then. But But lots of coaching and lots of speaking and and, you know talking to amazing people like yourselves that you're just connecting with the industry and helping others helping others is my passion. Now I get goosebumps when I get messages saying, like, I got one yesterday from a lady who I'd been mentoring for a couple of years. And she said, Julie, I just haven't hit my first million dollars. And I was like, yes. This so. So it's so cool.

That's so exciting. And I think that you pick the right industry to come in to get support. Either I have worked those hours and had those stressors and been part of a startup management company and done things that Alex has done and kind of been on all facets of it. But the one thing that I can say without hesitation is that the community in a broad sense is very supportive. And you know, we talked with some other people recently COVID really kind of brought that to the forefront that we all didn't need to be together to be able to share these ideas now. Great. Yeah, like you said you I think we talked to you you know, fear of missing out when everybody was at vrma and you know, everybody's texting you like Julie, we miss you, you know and it was great to see everybody after two years. But the nice thing about it was we had forged all these amazing relationships with people that we would never have met otherwise through clubhouse through just interacting

the three of us met on Clubhouse.

I just think I think this industry is one of those ones that it's it sort of has all the this the sexy parts of like the hospitality hotel side of the industry, but it's got this this just nurturing spirit within itself. That is just that is separate Um, hospitality in the hotel sector, it's like vacation rentals just has this uniqueness and this charm. That is, it's just the right place to be if you like, if you're passionate about people, and you like to help people and connect with people, it's just the right business to be in.

Well, it's moving so fast, too. It's like, I feel like, you know, if we weren't all collaborative in nature as an industry, it would take us all collectively, so much longer to be growing. I mean, there's, there's so much it's changing on a daily basis. But I definitely remember in my early days at conda world that it was, it was not always like that. I mean, before everybody started going to these events and started participating online, you know, in different conversations. And people were pretty close lipped about, you know, even even things that now are fairly public in most companies and who you used to do your website, or you know, what agency you work with? Things like that. I remember, there was a time where you just it was almost a question you didn't ask. And now it's like, you know, not only what agency are using, but are they doing this tactic? Are they doing that? Are they putting you on this channel? Or, you know, what, what commission are you charging, or you're getting, I mean, there's, you know, we're really sharing some intimate secrets, I guess, about how we all run business. But at the end of the day, I think that goes back to the reason why strategic partnerships, collaboration are so important. And, you know, for us here, it's definitely been the key to our success. And it sounds like it has for you to Julie

totally is just along I love, love, love this industry. He said, collaborative, you we're here to support each other, we're here to motivate each other. We're here to inspire others to replicate the success that we've seen in the industry. And I just at the big, we just have to give each other a big group hug. It's, yeah, I'm really proud of our industry. And I think we can mold we're going to continue to mold it how we want it, but it's just one big lobby, and we all realize there's enough work to go around. So let's help each other out, lift each other up and champion each other. So

yeah, absolutely. Now, there's one video that I watched really, that you talked about how when you're working with these real estate investors that you really relied on traditional marketing, to reach them that you were doing these magazines, and you're doing, you know, some of the more traditional things that, you know, the newer short term rental companies are just completely, you know, veering away from, talk a little bit about that, because that's, that's been something that we've utilized to that we've, you know, keep a pretty strong mix of, you know, we're primarily digital in our marketing, but we still do a good foundation of traditional outdoor print type media to make sure that we're reaching everybody, but talk a little bit about that.

I think, I think initially, when I started in 2016, I realized that I wanted to build a brand in the community so that I had new business coming to me, I didn't want to have to go door knocking for landlords door knocking for property investors, I didn't want to chase people, I didn't want that. That's a pretty, that cold calling is pretty full on and it's not comfortable for a lot of people. So if I could indicate the community become the expert in the area, I would have people naturally coming to me saying, oh, Julie George to look after my property, she's the expert. And so to do that I needed to target the audience that had the properties. And so I identified that, that I'm writing a an article in a glossy magazine, that is picked up by property investors picked up by attorneys picked up by insurance companies, all of the people that would typically deal with a property owner making a decision on what to do with their property. So so it might be a lender, it might be an insurance company somewhere like that. So I wanted to hit those people. So it was magazines that go out to it. All of these people glossy magazines, I negotiated to write I think I did four or five nothing articles, full page articles. And it was just education. It wasn't a sales field there was just purely on here are the top 10 Things you need to do to run your short term rentals. Here are the top 10 earners in the top 10 short term rental properties in the area. And I just simply went to air DNA and got that information and then put it into an article and highlighted how much money can come in on some of these properties. And it was an absolute winner that remember that article in particular because people were going what you can make $1,000 in one year on air through short term rentals. And that was just purely reference back to air DNA. So if anybody can, folks, anyone can do that. You do just look that up in your own area and put it into an article. But of course right next to that particular article was a full page ad for my business host my perfect. The subliminal message was. This isn't my idea, but if you haven't got the time or the know how to run your own short term rental. Kinda Julie and, and people did. And the good thing was that those magazines stuck around for years. In fact, I still go into Doctor surgeries now and pick up a magazine and go, Well, that's my article. So that was a traditional advertising. And that was probably one of the biggest startup costs for me. In fact, when I started this business, here's the other little secret a lot of people don't know is that I put $9,000 into this business when I started, probably about $5,000 went into writing those articles. So there is a cost usually when you're having to print an article. But so well worth it. I also put some money to develop a very good website, like I had to have a very professional image. And I wanted business cards, and I wanted name badges. So what you got to do is when you're adding your community, people need to see, even if you're going grocery shopping, and you have got a name that will live in six, there we go. So someone may go what's led index, they'll spot that conversation. But then the next thing that any of the listeners need to know is you need to be ready with an elevator pitch, you need to know in 60 seconds, how to articulate who you are, what you do, and then a call to action at the end. So it's really important to have just those few things to just to get started. But But yeah, that those were probably my biggest expenses to start with. But quite honestly, folks, you could start if you've got a mop a bucket, a smartphone, you too can be a short term rental manager tomorrow,

you know, yeah. Well, I mean, you definitely put a big emphasis on personal branding throughout your career, which obviously has worked quite well, I would say. But you're right, you know, you're just you've got to have something to put out there, you've got to have your elevator pitch. We just you can't if you're watching on YouTube, you'll be able to see we just had these made. For Alex and Annie. We're so excited our very first logo where but, you know, one of the things that we connected on when we first started talking to you is we're using the cartoon logos and you had a cartoon logo from your business too. And, and your story about that just made me and I feel so much better about okay, we're definitely keeping the cartoon. So can you tell that story.

I've always these cartoon logos. And actually, in my book I talk about so I used to run a few different businesses like I've had, I've had a crack, I'm a bit of a wannabe entrepreneur. And it wasn't until short term rentals came along that I actually found the magic secret and got it all together. But I Once Upon a Time was running a secretarial business and I had a little cartoon character girl typing. And then I was running a an errand running service like Uber Eats before Uber Eats, I just got the magic formula for that. But I had a little cartoon character carrying shopping bags. And then so naturally, when I started short term rentals, I was like, well, I need a cartoon character holding out some keys. And so I just went to Fiverr. Paid $50 For my cartoon character to to be drawn up, got cold serve all the way through that process. Because you get for 50 bucks. I don't care. You can call me whatever you like. And anyway, I've got the cartoon character. But when I got that cartoon character, and I put it out, so many people were interested, they just it caught people's attention. Yeah, most attention though, when I opened my physical office, I opened a physical office in an industrial type area, lots of trades in the area. I've got this cartoon character of this blonde cartoon character standing up holding keys out in this on this office. I've so many traders will come and go What services do you provide?

Given guesser?

Do I like to have property?

Here it goes back to your you know, be able to get to spark a conversation and so you can start that conversation just with that. So that's that's it again, I think Alex is right, we we kind of vacillated back and forth. And I'm not a I don't like myself out there. So like, to me, it was like the easiest way to be out there because my personality just sort of molded itself really well to the caricature of me. It is really, really great to meet somebody again on the totally other side of the world that was doing something similar. And so it is exciting. But um, I think we're getting close to the end. And I know that we threw some things at you that we wanted to ask you and it could be a multitude of questions. And so I'm gonna let Alex go first. I went first on our last guest and let her draw you with some questions that was burning things we want to know.

Burning Questions, let's say, Julie. Yeah. What is something that you've achieved it that you are the most proud of in your personal or professional history, that when you look back on your life, that's going to be one of those things that is just, you know, a milestone event for you? If

my son is listening, of course But son, because I can't keep a pot plant alive. But I've got a 23 year old. So

that's good answer.

But apart from that it's this. Yeah, writing my book. And you know, the I guess a lot of people have said to me, why did you write a book and two answers to that? It's, firstly, because I wanted to share my story and share my tips and help others achieve. So that's number one. Second one is, it's a legacy, you know, that's gonna outlast me. I've got limited time on this planet. But that book will be you know, grandchildren might be able to read it great grandchildren, and go, Oh, yeah, look what granny used to do.

Yeah. Can you imagine looking back on I mean, 20 years from now, 3040 50 years from now looking back and reading the story about how somebody first started using Airbnb, who knows what the internet or anything will be at that point. But yeah, that's definitely I mean, that's, that's gonna be a history icon kind of book, I'm sure. But that is a great thing to be proud of. And that's amazing that you could even do that. I don't know where I would even begin with writing a book. But I certainly admire you for being able to do it.

Well, funny, I should say that because I'm about to talk to two of you privately off this podcast, I've got another book in the works at the secret. There's a little book collaboration going on with a few people that you know, in the industry, there's a few short term rental operators, we're all getting together. I don't even know if I'm supposed to be telling this. But

oh, I love it. Another secret

is that there's going to be a book release called hospitable hosts. And it's going to be a collaborative where every short term rental operator that's in the book has a chapter and tells this story. And I want the two of you in that book with me. Right? I saw Alex as I understand. Some of you don't have to know how to write, you don't have to know about editing, publishing, we will you know, the person I'm working with who's pulling this all together will help. And I also will help because I know I'm so excited. This was three years ago, I released this book, but this new one, I can talk about selling my business I can talk about earlier, everything that's happened since then, and but we're going to have people in there that might only have one property talking about their favorite guest experience. But but the two of you are superstars in this industry. And yes, girls. Watch out.

I don't know anyway, you say? I say yes.

Let me check my cat.

No, I think that's great.

That's wonderful. And I think that's another cool thing that's come from this industry is there's all these like innovation and again, collaboration in the wanting to share. And so my question on the sharing node is if Julie of 2021, could go back to Julie who's 21? And say, this is going to be your journey. What are you know, what, what are the highlights of the things that you would tell Julie to look out for and where you ended up, I guess where you are today.

I would say Julie 21 year old Julie, stop chasing boys. That would be the first thing. Stop chasing boys, start looking after yourself and start loving yourself. Do not be looking to make have somebody else make you happy. You've got to get out there and make yourself happy. Trust that everything happens for a reason. Dream big, and then dream bigger. And then just just do it look, take a risk and have a crack. Because what's the worst thing that's going to happen? Yeah,

great advice.

Stop chasing boys.

Right, advise all of it. And probably when you're 21, you're thinking if I had just started saving pennies a little bit earlier, just start my short term rental career down the line. That also would be a good one. But that's awesome.

Well, Julie, thank you so much for joining us for getting up so early. And being so bribed, I would be on my third cup of coffee and not ready for this. So we have so early from Australia time and we're looking forward to the day when you can travel to the states to see us and hopefully we'll see you at Varma in Chicago in the spring, if not in the fall in Vegas. But I know there's a lot of people that are really looking forward to having dually GA in Vegas.

My liver is already quivering.

I was gonna say I'm I'm definitely blocking off time for three of us together for drinks when we're out there. Yeah, absolutely. So Julie, how can everybody find you?

Yeah, sure. So, look, the book is available on Amazon. That's probably the first thing and if you like the book, leave me a good review. If you don't like the book, tell me personally, I had somebody say she sounds like a drunk. Soccer Mom, I was a little proud of that. I do need to get that review like pushed down for yeah review like it again. Otherwise million dollar hosts.com.au has all of my formed my templates if you want to do what I've done and you want the shortcuts just jump on there by the by the documents and then their word documents might put your own logo on it. Create your own business, but but otherwise legends x is the is the company that I'm working through, and it's overnight. success.io. So, but social media, send me a message, folks, I'm human, I'm happy to talk to you and, and I just love watching success stories unfold with others.

Yeah, awesome. Thank you so much. And if anybody wants to find us, you can go to Alex and Annie podcast.com. And you can follow us. Our podcast is on all the major podcast networks. So follow us there LinkedIn social media, we're all Alex and Danny podcast for our handles. And we are going to be giving away five copies of Julie's book for the first five people to leave a review of our podcast. We haven't asked anybody to leave reviews yet because it is only our third episode. So hopefully we can get one or two, maybe hopefully five or more so that our buddy can get a copy of her awesome book. But if you can mention in the review that you listened to the episode with Julie, we will make sure to get you a copy of her book and you can learn all the secrets that she someone showed us today and many more that are inside those awesome pages. So thank you so much for being with us, Julie. We really appreciate it.

Thank you ladies. It's been a pleasure. Thank you, Julie. Thanks, everybody. Bye