Behind the Host with Amanda Williams

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Transcript from the Episode

[00:00:00] Liam: So welcome along to another behind the host episode, and I'm really overjoyed today to have Amanda Williams. So Amanda Williams is better known as Amanda, the traveling realtor. She's a private money lender she's bought and sold homes in all different models, including lease options. Um, she's licensed realtor and serving buyers and sellers and investors since 2013.

[00:00:23] Liam: She's the founder of. Carolina furnished rentals.com. Uh, she specializes in midterm stays, and this is something which I think a lot of people listening in are gonna be really interested in is, is how they get midterm stays. A lot of the time we're talking about short-term stays. Um, she's also now, uh, diving into health and wellbeing retreats, um, and all of this is based in Mexico.

[00:00:46] Liam: And on top of that, she's also a best selling author, which is amazing. There's so much there. So. Thank you, Amanda. And welcome along. Um, thanks for joining me today.

[00:00:56] Amanda: Thank you so much for having me and you are too. So we're all authors together. Isn't that

[00:01:01] Liam: exciting? brilliant. Isn't it? It's uh, a bit of a change.

[00:01:04] Liam: Um, we were saying we all met up in, uh, London last week, um, for the book launch. And, uh, we were saying that you guys across there have all gotta get together at some stage and really, you know, celebrate this cause it's a massive thing. So thank you so much for, for joining us. Um, What we're gonna do today for, for those of you listening, uh, we're gonna dive into Amanda's sort of midterm rental business.

[00:01:26] Liam: We're also gonna talk about opportunities and you know, just how you can create passive income, uh, through short term rental. So, um, Amanda, just, uh, introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your story, about how you got started in this space. Yeah,

Amandas Story

[00:01:41] Amanda: absolutely. Well, I think you did a great job. Uh yeah, we, we got started, we had long term rental portfolios and, um, my dad got sick, so we took him down to Mexico for some cancer, uh, therapies down there, alternative treatment therapies.

[00:01:56] Amanda: And so instead of letting our house sit empty, we threw it on Airbnb, just thinking, Hey, we might be able to make a little bit of money, um, to help pay. Expense of going down to Mexico. And within the first two weeks, we actually made more money. Um, it paid our entire mortgage for the month. It paid for our condo that we were living in, in Mexico at the time.

[00:02:18] Amanda: And we're like, oh wow. I think we're onto something. And so that was like the first, you know, that was our first we house hack. That was our very first one. And then from that point forward, it just like went crazy. I think we picked up, uh, we had nine open within a 12 month period.

[00:02:33] Liam: That's amazing. And when it comes down to that first ones, was, was there any steep lessons?

[00:02:38] Liam: Because of course, if, um, you know, if you're looking to, uh, sort of move away in that side of things, was there any steep lessons with that first one that you took into the rest of them?

[00:02:50] Amanda: No, we really, with the first one, um, just cuz it was our, you know, our personal property, I would say we had a good lesson with our third one um, that was about the time that we were, uh, we were flipping this house and I was like, let's not sell it.

[00:03:05] Amanda: Let's just keep it. And so we kept it, turned it into a short term and then, um, the well went out on us and so we owned the property. Um, and then we literally, it took us three months. To annex into the city and then run the city water because we, we couldn't dig a new well. And so we literally had to sit empty for three months and that sucked so,

[00:03:31] Liam: wow.

[00:03:31] Liam: So no income during that time. No.

[00:03:35] Amanda: Nope. So that's, that's really what opened our eyes to the arbitrage model. And that's when we started renting the properties from the landlords and then putting them into our portfolio and renting 'em that way. And then we just started arbitraging everything else. So

[00:03:48] Liam: for the arbitrage side of things, so for the UK listeners that is rent to rent where you're, you're, you're taking the property, you're renting it and then you're renting it for a short period of time.

[00:03:58] Liam: Are they the same ones that you still have now in your business that you do for these midday sort. Terms stays.

[00:04:06] Amanda: Yeah. Yep. We've got rid of some of 'em. Um, but the majority of the ones that we have right now are, uh, they're either arbitrage or we're just doing a straight up marketing. So we're partnering with the landlord and just marketing for them.

What made you grow your arbitrage portfolio?

[00:04:20] Liam: And when it comes down to the arbitrage model, what, what made you consider that to, to grow your portfolio?

[00:04:27] Amanda: I didn't wanna run into the same situation that we had just ran into, you know, sit and vacant for three months. You know, if, if, if I had been renting that property, I would not have had to pay the, the rent on that property because couldn't live in the property.

[00:04:41] Amanda: So that's what really opened my eyes to the arbitrage model. That's really cool. And anyone else, and not even considering the over $10,000, it costed me to annex in and to run the water to the property. You know? Wow.

[00:04:54] Liam: Yeah, there's, uh, there's a lot of learnings there and I, we often get asked and I know the, the listeners of this would be interested.

[00:05:02] Liam: Um, what sort of things would you have to consider before going into the rental arbitrage and did your background as a realtor help you with, with getting into that sort of side of things?

[00:05:12] Amanda: It really did. Um, because my pitch to the landlords, you know, going in is, Hey, you know, I'm a local real estate broker.

[00:05:20] Amanda: Um, I use these properties for my clients. And at the time I just started thinking like, okay, maybe this could work. So my whole pitch was like, Hey, I'm gonna market this property. Um, for my people who are coming into the area, thinking about moving here, maybe they're in between buying and selling. And so that was really what I pitched and just the universe.

[00:05:40] Amanda: Funny things, right. That's exactly what our business looks like today. And so we probably, 90% of our guests are all relocating to the Raleigh North Carolina area. And so they're coming in, they're staying in our properties and then, you know, one of our agents, I'm not personally selling anymore, but one of our agents is selling them a house.

[00:05:59] Amanda: And so it's, it's a beautiful win-win for all of us.

[00:06:03] Liam: Wow. So that model then, so you've not only just, you know, you've got your property from the, from the landlord, you, then the people who come stay with you, you're then able to sell them through the realtor business as well. So that's, that's, that's pretty spectacular.

[00:06:17] Liam: And. For the people listening who want to get into that kind of market, where in, in the UK, definitely there's a lot of, um, you know, sort of properties going through and the convincing time has taken a long time at the moment. So that means there's quite a lot of people who are looking for somewhere to stay.

[00:06:34] Liam: They've sold their house, or they're looking to buy a house and live somewhere short term. What sort of things should owners be considering to be able to get into that market? And what are the benefits for offering these kind of midday terms? So not just over a weekend or a week, actually looking for, you know, looking after your guests for longer periods of times.

[00:06:55] Liam: And just as a, as a, on top of that question, what's kind of lengths of time. Are we looking at for, for the people staying.

[00:07:02] Amanda: So we market 30, 60, 90 day. So that's pretty much what we're saying is, Hey, come stay with us 30, 60, 90 days at a time. Um, we never kick them out of the property. So if they do, you know, if they come in and they say we wanna stay 60 days or whatever.

[00:07:17] Amanda: Um, we just say, you know what, we're gonna block this property for you. And then once you find a property, once you're ready to move forward, just give us like a 15 day heads up and then we'll start marketing at that point and we'll have it full within that 15 days. So they really like that because they're not pressured.

[00:07:34] Amanda: Into purchasing a property. And so they really know, you know, what neighborhood they wanna go into and all of that. And it works out very good for them. That's cool. Um, yeah. What was your other question? I had something,

[00:07:46] Liam: so when it comes down to, if, if. The hosts which are listing, how would they reach out to say local, um, local estate agents and realtors, uh, and what sort of things should they be talking about?

How would other hosts partner up with local realtors?

[00:07:58] Liam: How could they partner up with, um, with local realtors and, and get these people staying in their properties?

[00:08:06] Amanda: For the existing host, right? Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. So I would just reach out to, um, to the top brokers, you know, in your area and just tell them that what you wanna do and tell them, Hey, you know, you can market these properties.

[00:08:19] Amanda: You can come in, you can do your videos, you can do whatever you want to attract the re the relocation clients coming in. and those realtors are not necessarily gonna get any money from the, the client staying in the property, but they will get those referral fees. And so as a realtor, what would be smart would be to friend, a lot of host and go into their properties, create little good goody bags, you know, with the, with your card on it.

[00:08:45] Amanda: And then have the in the messaging is really where it comes in. Um, in the messaging. When someone books just ask them, Hey, what brings you to the area? Oh, I'm thinking about moving there. Oh, great. I have a great realtor. If you don't already have somebody, can I refer you and it's as easy as that. And so if the, if the landlord is not licensed, now they legally cannot get paid any referral fees.

[00:09:07] Amanda: Mm-hmm um, but if the landlord is licensed, then they can work in a referral fee as well. And then just giving that referral over to that.

[00:09:16] Liam: I like that. That's really cool. Cause that's a win, win, win. And, um, certainly here in the UK. So we sometimes host people in between homes in the same way and the biggest bonus for the, uh, you know, the Latin agents and the state agents we deal with is it just gives them a solution.

[00:09:32] Liam: For putting someone somewhere so they can sell and move out of their house and they get the quick sale while they're then sorting out another house for them as well. So, um, yeah, that is, that is awesome. So when it comes down to your, um, your properties at the moment, which how, how many properties do you manage currently?

[00:09:51] Amanda: We have 18 in our portfolio right now. That's cool. We're not really managing though. We're not, we're not managing for anyone else.

[00:09:58] Liam: And so these are all just the, the rental arbitrage or owned model, uh, or partner. We own ‘

[00:10:03] Amanda: em, uh, we arbitrage some of 'em and then we've partnered with, um, uh, I think we have two investors at the moment that pretty much just come to us and say, Hey, we'll buy whatever houses you want us to buy as long as you can fill 'em.

[00:10:17] Amanda: And we're like, okay,

[00:10:18] Liam: so that's cool. That's cool. I mean, if we talk a little bit about that side of things as well, so when you've got that kind of, um, trust from an investor, what. Is the decision making about properties that you would take to your investor. And what sort of things do you look for?

[00:10:35] Amanda: Our bread and butter is a three bedroom, two bath, two and a half bath.

[00:10:39] Amanda: Um, in a certain area of town, that's gonna be appreciating, we have some new highways going in and some new stuff that we know about, like Costco's going in, stuff like that. Um, so I'm always looking for areas that are gonna get them their appreciation, hopefully , um, it's been pretty highly lately. Um, so that's really it.

[00:10:57] Amanda: And. Anything that we can bring in three to $4,000 a month is just, we know we can rent it. We know it's gonna be easy breezy, and that's just our clientele coming in. And so, um, really, I mean, it's, it's not that much. It's just like, Hey, it's gotta be updated or you have to update it.

[00:11:16] Liam: Yeah. So, and the reason you're updat it is that to make sure it's right for the guest and to add the, the, the value to it as well.

[00:11:23] Amanda: Well more. Yes. I mean, both, I guess, but for us we don't wanna represent and put our clients in something that's not, you know, up to par.

[00:11:32] Liam: Yeah, absolutely. It's gotta be on brand, I

[00:11:35] Amanda: guess. Yeah. Yeah. And they're all single family homes, you know, that's another thing like a market, like I'm not gonna stick you into an apartment.

[00:11:42] Amanda: mm-hmm um, it's gonna be an actual. On usually a half acre of land. And so that really helped us, um, when COVID hit, because my whole pitch was, Hey, come quarantine with us. You know, you're gonna get a house on a half acre, maybe even an acre of land and you can play in the yard, you can go outside. And a lot of these people that were from New York city and Los Angeles, they were like, oh my gosh, I can come down to North Carolina and I can actually like have a life.

[00:12:09] Amanda: During COVID and that was refreshing.

[00:12:12] Liam: The nice thing about that is that you really understand your, your niche. So, you know, who's coming to stay, um, you know what they're after as well, like you say, own private entrance, little bit of land, that they are family homes. They already want to move to the area.

[00:12:26] Liam: So they want to find out about the area and you're perfectly placed to, to do that. So that sounds really like a perfect business model about knowing your niche. Um, I really like that. So. What we're gonna do is we're gonna dig into your, um, your daily routine when it comes down to hosting these people.

What is your daily routine?

[00:12:46] Liam: Do you get involved in the hosting now, or is that done through, uh, you know, sort of your team and what sort of, um, do you use sort of a PMs and that side of things? Um,

[00:12:56] Amanda: Yeah. So at this point, um, we had our, our website built out for us. Mm-hmm and so everything's on our website, all of our properties, all that.

[00:13:04] Amanda: We have our, um, our, our, our chat little girl on there. Um, we have our contact form, all of that. So when someone goes to our website, um, they cannot book. They have to send in a, either a chat request or a contact request, and then that'll come over to us. Um, my business partner, Alex, my other half, um, he contacts them and has a conversation with them, sees what's bringing them into the area, what the situation is.

[00:13:32] Amanda: Do they have dogs, da, da, da. Um, and then we figure out what area they wanna be in. And really it's like, what do we have available for their dates? Because we don't really have that much. um, so that's, that's our process. And then, uh, and then he gets everything from them and then sends that over. We have a form that goes into our CRM system that he fills out.

[00:13:54] Amanda: And then that goes over to our, um, we have someone that we pay act as a manager for the company. And so then she uses that to create the lease. Um, we do a 28 day. Because, um, 28 days keeps us into short term rental laws. So in case someone doesn't want to leave, we can make them leave. Um, so we stick with that.

[00:14:18] Amanda: And so even if they're in our property for three months, they're gonna be signing three different, sometimes four different leases with us. Um, just because it's like, Hey, here's the. And you sign and you pay and you get to stay, but you don't pay, you don't get to stay. And so, um, that's what the manager does for us.

[00:14:34] Amanda: So she sends over the invoices and the leases and all of that stuff.

[00:14:38] Liam: What I like about that model is that you've got your, um, you're protecting yourself. You're doing your due diligence, you know, your local laws, which is something which everyone can take away from this to, to find out your local laws, make sure you're compliant and.

[00:14:51] Liam: Also, you've got a lead magnet there where they're landing on your website. They know exactly what it is you do. You've got your contact form. And, uh, we were at the short day summit last, last weekend, there was, um, you know, the, the information around how many, uh, guests now like to message or have a contact before booking.

[00:15:10] Liam: Uh, you know, sort of your, your place. And that seems as to, to be what you've got there, where they're actually sending you the details of what they need and you're matching them up with, if you can help them. What, what do you do if there's people that you can't help? Is it a case of, of sort of, uh, just say, no, we can't help or do you just keep their details on file in case you get cancellations?

[00:15:28] Liam: That sort of thing. I.

[00:15:30] Amanda: So I, I teach this too, and I have a bunch of the agents. So any agent that partners with me with E XP, I give them my course. I help them get everything up and going. I help them start this business. If that's something they wanna do. So between, um, Alex and I and our agent. That have raised their hand and said, Hey, we wanna do this too.

[00:15:49] Amanda: Um, just in the Raleigh area, we represent over 50 properties. And so if I don't have one, then I'm sure one of us has something , um, that would be available in that time slot. And if not, I am also friends with a lot of other hosts in the area. Just cuz I used to run some of the investment groups in the area, um, when I lived there.

[00:16:09] Amanda: And uh, and so I know a bunch of people who were doing this too, so the, I can always find them something if I need to. Um, so I feel pretty confident in that and if I find them something, we still get the referral, you know, for, for them buying a house. And so I still pass that referral over to one of my.

[00:16:27] Liam: That building of community in your local area and be becoming the go to person, you know, is such an important thing. And we're speaking to another host, um, Nancy from, from Texas earlier on today, and she said the same that she gets involved with the local community. She builds, uh, bridges with the local hosts.

[00:16:46] Liam: Also, you know, the local sort of, uh, councils and, you know, sort of, uh, all the businesses in the area. And that means that when. They get a lead, they're gonna refer them to your website. And of course, when you've got that lead that you can't take, you're sharing out that, um, that potential guest and that potential business to, to other places.

[00:17:05] Liam: So to represent 50, I, I guess it's a case of, you can fill your 18 first with the main contracts. And then, you know, you can hand over the, the overflow, which is such a good business model and, uh, becoming oversubscribed is, is so important. So that is amazing. So. One of the things we mentioned just before the call is something that you're doing, uh, now different to your midday business.

Amandas new business

[00:17:28] Liam: And I'm excited to talk about this. So it's a health and wellbeing retreat. And, uh, yeah, just talk us through this, this new business that, that you're launching.

[00:17:37] Amanda: Yeah. So I've been in Cabo since June of 2020. Um, I literally came here for a real estate mastermind that I'm a part of and I didn't leave I literally did not take my flight home.

[00:17:51] Amanda: Fair enough. Um, and so, yeah, I've been here for now almost two years and, um, an opportunity came across about a month ago and it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. And so right now, um, we are in the process. We're under contract on a property, one mile from the downtown Cabo San Lucas marina. And, uh, right now it's just a, it's a compound on almost a acre of land and half of it's developed.

[00:18:21] Amanda: So there's a, there's a main house. There's pool, hot tub gardens like amazingness. Um, and then the other half has not been developed. And so we are creating a retreat center there. Uh, we're adding 15, uh, domes kind of like Y styles. And so we're adding 15, um, one bedroom, one bath Ys domes, along with an event center.

[00:18:48] Amanda: Oh gosh, a commercial kitchen maids quarters. So we can have maids there all the time. Uh, all kinds of amazing stuff. So what we're gonna do with this and the idea behind it. It's any type of event. So if someone wants to plan their wedding, have their reception, have a party, whatever they can do that. Uh, or if a bunch of friends wanna get together, they can come down, they can rent the whole place.

[00:19:10] Amanda: Um, or what's most dear to my heart is putting on retreats. So like health and wealth retreats, um, even wellness retreats, cuz I'm super into the holistic wellness and you know, Curing cancer and just all of, I, I love that stuff, cuz we've done that before. And so I'm pretty passionate about it. Um, so yeah, we're gonna be doing all of that.

[00:19:32] Amanda: Other hosts will be able to bring in their clientele and run their own retreats through the center. And then I'll be partnering with a lot of other people as well and, and running all kinds of cool events out of there. Who knows what's gonna come out of that place? I have no idea.

[00:19:47] Liam: The passion absolutely comes out of you.

[00:19:49] Liam: And I, I can, I can kind of picture what it's gonna be like, just from the way you've described it. And certainly in a world, which is now opened up where people are able to travel again, they want to be outside. They want to go to events. They want to go to retreats and that sort of thing, I can see how popular that's gonna be.

[00:20:05] Liam: So. Uh, really sounds really good. And is that gonna be a separate wing to the business? So one of the things we always talk about within Boley and is, is knowing your avatar and having the right kind of website, talking to the right kind of people. Is this gonna be a separate win to the separate business altogether?

[00:20:22] Liam: Um, is it gonna be connected in any way?

[00:20:25] Amanda: It's gonna be a separate business. Uh, we're actually opening a Mexican corporation and I'm actually partnering up with the, a few agents or few actually they are agents. , they're my agent partners here in Mexico. Um, so we're, we're all partnering on this deal and, um, so it'll be ran completely separately, however, Um, we are going to do a lot of our marketing for people who are coming down, who may want to invest in a second home here or who may want to move here.

[00:20:53] Amanda: And so we also have a team of agents here as well that we work with. And so again, you know, those referral fees are gonna be coming through. We have a couple building projects. We have a really nice. Luxury development, about 15 minutes outside of Cabo, that one of my partners that we're doing this with is building.

[00:21:11] Amanda: And then our other partner is building a 74 unit, um, condo complex. And so, and, and that's just, you know, just our group. That's not including everything else going on here in Cabo. It's a great area for, for growth right now. There's a lot of stuff going

[00:21:26] Liam: on. Uh, we do see, I mean, uh, because we've got the, uh, direct book and websites, which Boostly do we get to see where most direct bookings are going through in Mexico is absolutely flying at the moment for direct bookings.

[00:21:39] Liam: And, and you did mention just before the call, that pretty much all of your bookings are, are direct, which is music to our ears. And, uh, it's knowing your niche, knowing where your guests are gonna be coming from and, uh, getting 'em to book direct. So that is amazing. And. One of the reasons for this podcast is to really get behind a host and to give other hosts who are listening ideas.

What advice would Amanda give to herself?

[00:21:58] Liam: So if you was to go back and give yourself a piece of advice at the start on how you get started in this area, what, what would you say to yourself?

[00:22:09] Amanda: Oh man. Oh, well, I mean, we started with only being on Airbnb and um, and then we went and then we, you know, we partnered up with, with gusty, which ended up being a little crazy.

[00:22:21] Amanda: Um, and then we've been through, I think we're on our third website right now, like actually paying to have someone build out a website and it was. Um, it's been a learning experience. And finally, we've got one that like, I'm happy with, you know, so I would say, you know, vetting out whoever it is. That's building out your direct site.

[00:22:41] Amanda: Like, you know, you guys, I think you guys build out the sites for

[00:22:44] Liam: them, right. A hundred percent. We've got, uh, there's two different choices, but there is a couple of different project, uh, products for everyone. So, um,

[00:22:52] Amanda: Yeah. So we may need to talk about the Cabo retreat center site, cuz that's gonna have to be a whole new site.

[00:22:57] Amanda: Hey,

[00:22:57] Liam: let's have a call. Let's have a call. yes.

[00:23:00] Amanda: Um, so yeah, I mean, I, I would say just, just getting all of that, you know, the foundation built, keeping your books. On point from the very beginning. That's huge. I did not do that. I have to say. And also if you're only on Airbnb, you're at a huge risk. Huge, um, I actually lost my Airbnb account and I did nothing wrong.

[00:23:22] Amanda: Like they would not even tell me like why they kicked me off of Airbnb. I had a 4.87 rating, super host over 500 reviews and all of a sudden, just one day everything was suspended. So this went on for months and I was calling two, three times a week and oh, we'll call you back. Oh, we'll call you back. They never called me back and they never told me what I did wrong.

[00:23:46] Amanda: Um, the only thing I could think of is I listed one of my buddies properties here in Cabo, just because like, he's our friend. And he was gonna put it on the market, but it was like a three month period and I listed it and I put his Canadian checking account on there for Mexico property. I'm like, did I break a law?

[00:24:04] Amanda: Like, I don't know. Is that a law? I have no idea. That's the only thing I did that was like, Maybe I did something wrong, but I never got an answer. So we had to create a whole new Airbnb account in Alex's name. Um, but honestly, that's one of the reasons why I'm just like, I'm, I'm not even putting anything else on Airbnb.

[00:24:22] Amanda: Like if I have to, I will. But I am, I preach direct bookings nonstop now

[00:24:28] Liam: music to our ears. And one of the things that Mark Simpson often says is, uh, we can't build our business on somebody else's land, which is, is, is, you know, what happened with Airbnb when they closed during the pandemic, a lot of people struggled or even went our business.

[00:24:41] Liam: So looking back was that challenge. One of the defining moments to, for you to decide and as hard as it was at the time, is it, would you say it's helped shape your business now?

[00:24:53] Amanda: Yes. awesome. Yeah. And, and I'll tell you something else. If we hadn't had our own website going and my own marketing going out, we would've been bankrupt as well because we got, we only had our calendar open for two months at that point in time.

[00:25:10] Amanda: Um, because we were starting to get some of these relocation people coming in. , but even just those two months, we lost $60,000 overnight, you know, um, just with booking vanishing. And so thank God we were able to get everything booked through the direct booking. I went, I did a boatload of social media and I got everything full within two weeks, which was like crazy.

[00:25:33] Amanda: Um, but that's the thing. Like they can literally pull the plug. At any point in time and your entire business is gone, if you're only on one site. So that's really scary.

[00:25:44] This

[00:25:44] Liam: is exactly what we preach. And that is, um, you know, that, that is so good to hear that one, you manage to turn it around. And two, um, I mean, just, just dive into that, you, you said a boatload of social media, so what did that look like?

[00:25:57] Liam: And, uh, how did you go about doing. .

[00:26:00] Amanda: Yep. So, uh, I, uh, okay, so there's this group it's called the Raleigh community group. Um, and so I went on, that was the main one that I got, like the most eyeballs on, um, because I went on there and I was just like, Hey, you know, we've got, um, we've got these properties at the point at this one particular property that I was marketing.

[00:26:23] Amanda: Was on four acres of land. And so it was a three bedroom, two and a half bath on four acres of land. And I started marketing. I'm like, Hey, the perfect client for us is someone coming down from maybe New York city or someone living in an apartment with a bunch of kids and having to work from home and now zoom home zoom school.

[00:26:39] Amanda: So come down quarantine with us. So keep in mind, our properties are in North Carolina. There's, um, there's some controversy between the new Yorkers coming down to North Carolina. And so, uh, I did that and I got a lot of people mad at me because I was bringing the, the people from New York down who had COVID.

[00:27:03] Amanda: Because they lived in a big city. I was bringing COVID to Raleigh and it was all my fault. And so I was turned into the local news stations. Uh, oh man, there was like 500 comments on this one post just people like ripping me apart and that's okay because it got more eyeballs on the post and ended up getting completely full.

[00:27:25] Amanda: So. I just kind of like fell into that. Luckily. Um, but that was, that was the one thing I did post to a lot of other groups too, but that was the one that really just like, went

[00:27:36] Liam: crazy. Wow. What a story, I mean, in terms of, um, just being able to post that and getting those eyes on your business and do you know what there's something entrepreneurial about that, seeing that, you know, as a positive and at the end of the day, it was a positive cuz it helped your business grow.

[00:27:51] Liam: And one of the things that you get with social media is, you know, if you've got. Something which conflicts people or, or causes a little bit of, um, friction, then more people will comment, which will get more eyes on it. So, um, Hey, well done this. Um, that's awesome to hear. Um, one of the things that I do want to dive into, um, is the hospitable host book that you're one of the offers of which, uh, one of the best selling international best selling offers, I should say.

[00:28:17] Liam: So. One of the, um, I've, I've read your chapter. And if anybody listening, who hasn't already go to ww.hospital will host.com and, uh, get yourself the copy of the book because there's 40 amazing offers in there. Each telling their story. And Amanda's is certainly one to, uh, bookmark and to, to listen to Amanda.

[00:28:42] Liam: One of the sort of themes within your chapter is making sure that you're able to have a passive income to be able to, you know, if things change quickly to be able to, to get up and do what you need to do, um, talk us through what, how that came about and, um, yeah, your, your message to the people listening about how important that.

[00:29:04] Amanda: Yeah. Yeah. So thank you for that, by the way. Um, I mean, the biggest thing for us is I've always known passive income was important. That's why we got into rental properties. And I thought that that was like the only way to create passive income. Um, but then, you know, getting into the, the short term rentals and then the midterm rentals.

[00:29:22] Amanda: And then I, and then I found, uh, you know, our real estate brokerage model. A few hundred agents and it's paying us, you know, well, over a few hundred thousand dollars a year in passive income. Right. And so it's like all of these different things, it's multiple streams of income. So it's a matter of what can you do to work one time and continue to get paid?

[00:29:41] Amanda: Because there's gonna come a point in time. Like there was with me with having to quit everything and take my dad to Mexico to get treatment, and then having to just stay by his side in hospice, you know, um, there's gonna come a point in time where it might not be. It might not be a loved one or a family member or your parent or whatever.

[00:30:00] Amanda: It might be yourself where you actually cannot physically work for six months. And so that's the thing that just kept hitting me hard. Cause I'm like, oh my gosh, like all my agent friends that are out there hustling, you know, they're they sell a house, they get paid, they flip a house, they get paid.

[00:30:15] Amanda: That's all they have. And so if they can't get out there and work and trade those time for dollars, they might lose everything because as we know, most agents live paycheck to paycheck. Right. Um, and so I, I got really behind that message and behind that, um, just helping other agents create multiple streams of passive income, not.

[00:30:37] Amanda: Not even just the short term rentals, you know, um, there's a lot of different ways, affiliate programs, all kinds of stuff out there that you can make passive income. And so that's my message to everyone is just figuring out, like, what is your core business? And then what can you do around that core business to feed that core business, but also make all of that make money too.

[00:30:58] Liam: And that, um, that's so important. One, one of the, you remind me of a story of, of one of the people in our Boley academy. So we've got a Boley academy, which is where we, we train people how to get more, uh, more bookings, but more direct bookings. And one of the members of that academy during the lockdown pivoted, obviously the business was quiet.

[00:31:15] Liam: She pivoted into making cakes and bits and pieces, you know, and selling those and, uh, done really well out of it. You know, just, just managed to help. Business, stay afloat during that time and just having those other options. And it's amazing where if we have to be, uh, resourceful as entrepreneurs, we're not a research source.

[00:31:34] Liam: We are resourceful. And as hosts, you have to be resourceful at times when you know, you're getting calls at all sorts of time of day. So. It's amazing when we have to do that, how you can come up with these ideas and your message really there is, you could probably start with the ideas now and then be able to, to live passively when you need to, which is, uh, which is so important.

A little more about Amanda

[00:31:55] Liam: And I love the fact that it's given you the passion for the wellbeing retreat and to, uh, you know, to, to make places where people can go for, for that sort of thing, which is, is really awesome. So. Which is a really nice way to, uh, sort of bring it towards a close, uh, as we get to the end of this, we'd like to do some quick fire sort of questions.

[00:32:15] Liam: They're just for fun, really. But, um, if we just do a couple of those, so your answer can be short, as long as you, like, what is the thing that you're most proud of, uh, today?

[00:32:27] Amanda: Gosh, um, most proud of probably. Hmm. I'm proud of a lot of things, honestly, I believe in, in, um, celebrating our wins. Right. Um, so I would say, I would say building, building enough.

[00:32:45] Amanda: Building a lifestyle that creates freedom and, and I'm not stuck in having to have the fancy car and the, you know, multimillion dollar house. I, I don't really want that. I would rather travel and create experiences and memories and bring my mom along with me. My mom is now naming herself, the, the traveling mama, uh, which is really cool.

[00:33:08] Liam: I like that. So you got Amanda, the traveling realtor and, uh, the traveling mama

[00:33:14] Amanda: yeah. Yeah. I'm like, mom, we're gonna have to make you an Instagram account

[00:33:17] Liam: now, you know that right. She needs her own blog from the mom's point of view. That's what she could do. That would be awesome. So she's

[00:33:24] Amanda: 75 years old. She just turned 75 last week.

[00:33:27] Amanda: I'm like, this is great. it's

[00:33:29] Liam: great. That is awesome. Um, who is your favorite or, or name a celebrity living or past who you'd love to, to meet or have.

[00:33:41] Amanda: Hmm,

[00:33:45] Amanda: who would I love to, I mean, obviously there's Oprah, you know, um, good onset. Yeah. Yeah. You know, someone and, and. I don't know if I would say he's a celebrity at all. He's probably not, but, uh, and I've met him and I've done a lot of things with him, but someone I, I strive to be more like every day is, uh, is Pete Vargas.

[00:34:11] Amanda: And so

[00:34:15] Amanda: I'm gonna write up. He's a, he's a, um, a public speaking coach and trainer, and he just is the most authentic person I've ever seen on stage and, and in real life. And so for me, it's, it's really about being like genuine and authentic. And I learned that from him. And, um, he's been a mentor of mine for like four years.

[00:34:36] Liam: Awesome. I'm gonna give him a, a Google after this. So thank you. And I'm sure many of the listeners will as well. Um, he's not very big

[00:34:42] Amanda: on social media, which is so funny. I'm like, you need to be big on social

[00:34:46] Liam: media, but, well, we we'll have a little Google. Um, what is one app that you use every day that you're, you know, couldn't do without basically, mm,

[00:34:57] Amanda: insight timer.

[00:34:59] Liam: insight timer. Now this is a new one. I love tech like this. What is the reason for insight time?

[00:35:05] Amanda: Insight timer is a, uh, it's a meditation app. And so it keeps track of, of how you're meditating. Um, I do silent meditations now every morning when I wake up. And so it keeps track of all of that. You can do, you know, it gives you the pretty bells and it's just wonderful.

[00:35:23] Amanda: It tells you how many people are meditating, so you can connect with their energies. Meditations changed my life. I think I'm on. Uh, I think today was actually my hundredth consecutive day. So that's pretty cool.

[00:35:34] Liam: Congratulations. That is, um, I, I've not tried it myself. I've I've tried the early morning routines, but I do hear some really good things about making some time for meditation.

[00:35:44] Liam: So, uh, it's definitely one to look out, uh, look out for. So. Well, that is awesome. Amanda, I'm really pleased to admit you. I feel we've, we've got to know your business and you, and the passion definitely shows through, um, just so the people listening, if they want to get in touch with you and find out more, what's the best way to do so.

[00:36:02] Amanda: Yeah. So I'm Amanda, the traveling realtor on everything. You can go to my website, Amanda, the traveling realtor.com. I'm all over social media. Like you literally just Google that and you're gonna see everything about me.

[00:36:15] Liam: Amazing. Amazing. So, Amanda, thank you so much. It's been a real pleasure having you on behind the host.

[00:36:21] Liam: Um, thanks. And I wish you all the, uh, best of luck with all the ventures for the future. Um, so thanks again. Thank you

[00:36:28] Amanda: very much.       

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