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so this is the really dark side of Airbnb this is what no one tells you and it's the Godhonest truth of what it's like running an Airbnb we've been doing this for 7 years since 2018 and we're just going to be honest with you let's dive into it okay welcome back everyone Michael and Katrina here with STR Wealth Academy where we talk about all things short-term rentals and how to build long-term wealth now this is your first time to the channel welcome make sure

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you like subscribe hit that notification bell to be notified anytime we release new content now in today's video what we really wanted to talk about was we got a kind of a shocking and interesting note from a colleague of ours they basically told us that they are considering leaving the industry altogether and what was really surprising about this note was that just a few weeks prior you know we were getting all this communication about how they were going to go

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full-time with their spouse how they had all these plans how every you know they loved it this was great and then in few short weeks a complete flip and 180 and I'll be transparent with you this isn't the first time we have seen this like this is something I've seen quite a number of times and we just wanted to do a real honest kind of deep dive with you guys into the our experience of short-term rentals and what you should know before really getting into this and

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this is kind of the dark underbelly of Airbnb that no one talks about so we just want to have an honest conversation with you because what we often see from other peers in our industry is that the opportunity in the short-term rental space is very poorly portrayed in terms of how passive the opportunity is how little work there is to short-term rentals how it's kind of a set it and forget it kind of business that you just have to click a few buttons and tap a

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few little you know screens here and there and all of a sudden all your financial problems and woes are going to go away and kind of frustrating it's kind of BS too and I'll be completely honest guys it's not some quick rich scheme you know it's not click money like this is not like something that you can just get into it and make the millies with right like you really have to come into this with intention and also and this is probably

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the biggest thing I could say to anyone and any of our students is going into this with the attention and intention of starting it as a business that is the number one thing and I think just kind of reflecting on it why you know we've seen this in you know the past 7 8 years in this industry like a lot of people getting in and then there was like the great exodus like they called it Airbnb bust and you know I think why is because it is such a low barrier to entry to get

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into um you know comparatively in real estate right you don't have to purchase property to get into it um some you know you can lease a property or you don't even have to lease a property you can just partner with landlords So because it's that low barrier to entry people are just getting in getting in they're like "Oh this has been great money but they don't really realize like all the implications and actually how to start a business." Well and the thing I think

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that's really shifted over the last number of years is that although the barrier to entry might be essentially the same in terms of you know you have to have a property and you have to get it online what's really shifted over the last number of years of short-term rentals in particular is that the barrier to success has gotten so much higher than it used to be because we're essentially exiting what I like to call like the early adopter and opportunity

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phase with short-term rentals and now we're kind of getting into the professional phase of short-term rentals where you have to treat this like a business and you have to approach it with a sense of excellence and professionalism because the novelty factor of just simply being able to stay in someone else's house that ship has just sailed a long time ago guests expect a lot more people value a lot more for their dollar than they used to

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they're a lot less forgiving than they used to for you know mistakes that happen which inevitably will happen in short-term rentals so you got to really know what you're doing if you're going to get into this and if have realistic expectations on what it's going to take in order for you to have success in this industry and I even kind of reflected in our own market that we run over 70 short-term rental listings and yes the majority we do not own and I look at it

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there's been lots of other managers that have come in and they're getting super close to us we're like "Oh great." you know like we see some other and like there's enough of the pie guys like we're humble enough to be like "Please go ahead and surpass us right?" Like there's there's enough of the pie that you know everyone can make money in this industry but what I've seen time and time again is they get to about the 40 50 even 60 listing mark and then they've

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just gone crash and either I've seen them go down to about 10 listings or get completely wiped out and I've seen that honestly about five times even in like these really big managers and they've just crashed and burned and I think there's a real reason behind this and it's because they're not treating it like a business they don't have the infrastructure behind them to actually carry that capacity and do it right so what I think what a lot of people think

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Airbnb is compared to what it actually is are usually two very different things what a lot of people still seem to think it is is that you simply have to go get a property any kind of property doesn't really matter trust me it matters you just have to essentially put some random furnishings in there so you grandma furniture from the marketplace Craigslist anywhere just put it in you know take a few pictures put a listing online and then all of a sudden you know

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the cash is just going to start rolling in right and the reality is is that Airbnb and short-term rentals it's a hospitality based business so people want to have a pleasant experience they want to have a place that's clean they want to have a place where they feel safe they want to have a place where they can create memories with their family and a lot of people have become so disillusioned where they just think all you have to do is just set it and

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forget it and everything is just going to be wonderful and fine but now we're entering a phase where you really have to bring your agame not only if you're going to survive but if you're going to compete and then also thrive in where we're going in short-term rentals in 2025 and beyond yeah and this is what's really huge even just on the platforms itself like professional hosts are really outperforming a lot of these kind of mom and pops or people just getting

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in for quick money and that's for a reason there is so much strategy with it knowing what market to go into knowing what types of properties what types of amenities what types of design like there's so many different elements that come into this and we've seen it from you know the early days of Airbnb to even where we are now like you definitely need to know what you're doing in order to not only survive but thrive in this type of industry so when

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you're looking at that this is exactly what we coach and train on too um when anyone coming in here and it's I think more like important today to be able to really know what you're getting into and having odds in your favor really for success and when you look at it so like even right here you can see in the circle of our training right now like we literally cover all of these aspects and it's for a reason it's like there's guest messaging right there's pricing

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strategy automations making sure you're setting up the listing for success you're automating all the different elements and it's not just automating to make it easier but also for guest experience they don't want to have to message you they don't want to talk to you they want to be able to get into a property have exactly what they're know what they're doing and be able to have a really great experience 100% what we've seen time and time again is that when

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people come into this industry it's kind of the Dunning Krueger effect i don't know if you've heard of this before where basically people come into it where they see they have uninformed optimism where they are really really excited about what this could potentially do for them but then as soon as they actually get into it they realize very quickly there's a lot more to it than what it appears to be initially and then they quickly drop off

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into what you call the valley of despair right and this is kind of the major first test for a lot of people where they're either going to stick it out and figure it out or they're simply going to bounce out and try another opportunity and then just simply repeat the cycle over and over again now if you are getting into this or if you were currently in this the key is if you're in the valley of despair is that you have to ask for help if you want to get

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out of it and you have to keep going even though it feels really hard and challenging honestly guys one of the easiest things to do is give up and I'll say it like we've thought about it many many times so just like is this worth it when we had you know a call at 2:00 in the morning and then it is it's always the easy answer is to give up but and people look at us now over 70 properties we've had over $13 million in bookings since we've started and people are like

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oh you guys and you make it look so easy it's just like such an easy business that you did overnight right and it's like and even the technology has caught up but it's incredible and the thing is is people only see the end result they don't see anything that came before that and that's even why we exist with our coaching and training because you can just shortcut that you don't have to go through all the pain and the school of hard knocks like we do to have to get to

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where you are but the thing is is like you have to make that choice it's like are you going to stick it out figure this out and then get to those results you're looking for or are you going to give up and then that next opportunity that comes you're just going to give up again right so really you can get into these cycles so this is something as a coach and as a trainer and someone just been there done that as well and you know we still have those kind of rough

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days it doesn't get easier it's all the journey it happens more often than you think to be 100% honest with you it's like how we approach the problems for sure it's just different now the kind of the reframe I'd like to share with you that you might find helpful is that rather than approaching this business with the lens of if I could just figure this out so that I don't have any problems anymore you have to come into with the expectation that when you're

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starting a business you're going to have nothing but problems almost on a daily consistent basis now what's really interesting about business is it's I often say it's the ultimate personal development program that you could possibly put yourself on because it is going to show you your flaws it's going to show you your weaknesses it's going to show you your tenacity where you have fears and doubts and then you have one of two choices you can either back down

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and then bounce off and try to find an easier opportunity which essentially the pattern of what you're going through of is going just going to keep repeating itself over and over again or you're going to learn what you need to learn understand what you need to understand and then make yourself make the journey up the mountain out of the valley of despair and then all of a sudden you're going to look back and go "Wow look." Was that was that even a problem how did

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that even happen yeah and I mean really just like this is kind of the question I'm going to end this but it's like what would you rather do that 9 to 5 you know and just say oh it didn't work or through it and then you know develop yourself learn those skills and guys skills for business can be applied to any business and this is really true this is a short-term rental Airbnb business for sure but we've started many other business from this and we're going

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very quick with them because we've learned just business skills so this is such an incredible way to grow and self-develop and once you really get to these different levels every level has a new level that's 100% true you're going to really succeed with it right so this is really our message for you is like what's the alternative and are you ready to level up so hopefully you enjoyed today's video we just wanted to have an honest conversation with anyone that

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might be going through a challenge might be having some feeling this with their Airbnb business like don't worry you're not alone just know that you are a normal person you're not weird you know these are very normal things to feel but at the same time these are signs that if you can overcome these challenges then the next level is on the other side of that and you are going to look back at yourself and go like "Wow I'm a completely different person because I

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was able to persevere and overcome those obstacles." So let us know your thoughts in the comment box below again if you thought this was helpful like subscribe and make sure you hit that notification bell so you're aware the next time we drop our next video on this channel we're going to be releasing a lot more content to you guys here so we're really really excited if there's anything you want us to go further in on on some of these topics just let us know in the

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comments below and we'll see you in the next video see you there guys