Welcome to Boostly Podcast Episode 538.
In this podcast episode I will be talking with and interviewing all the authors of the The Book Direct Blueprint.
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Timestamps (audio)
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Transcript from the Episode
[00:00:00] Good morning, good afternoon, and welcome to a very special edition of the Boostly Podcast, where I like to give you the host of tools to tactics to training, and the confidence to get more diary bookings. This episode is a recording of a live Zoom call that we did part of the Boostly Book Club, and the book was all about the number one worldwide bestseller in multiple countries in multiple.
[00:00:28] In multiple categories, the Book Direct Blueprint, I was able to bring in a couple of the offers into the call. We had questions for the offers. We found out more about the background of of Dak of Tech tape of of de travel. And we spoke about the next book that we're gonna be doing in the series. I gave you the sort of the history behind the book and on all that cool stuff.
[00:00:48] Uh, Miranda was with me as always. Um, and it was a really good zoom and I wanted to take the Zoom and I wanted to put it into the podcast. So tune in, sit back, listen back wherever you are. [00:01:00] Let me know if you're listening, let me know if it's hashtag, uh, live or hashtag replay. And, uh, Let's do this, shall we?
[00:01:07] Next thing you'll see is the zoom call and all things book direct blueprint. Uh, if you could do me a massive favor, um, if you could mute your microphone, can you turn on your camera so I can see all your faces? Uh, if you are driving or if you can't turn on a camera, that's no worries. Um, Is the finale book club of 2022, which is bizarre to say.
[00:01:34] Uh, we will be back in 2023. And Miranda, who is to my left, I'm not entirely sure how these blocks arrange themselves for your view. Uh, is going to let you know what that book is going to be. So we'll keep the suspense to the end to keep you to stick around. I. Yeah. Thanks buddy. Got the playbook, got the workbook.
[00:01:54] Need to get that added to the list now. Uh, hopefully it should be on its way to the [00:02:00] people in the States. Um, I know in the UK a lot of people have already had theirs, which is, which is awesome. And I know it's, uh, traveling around the world as we speak, which is, which is awesome. Uh, and that's obviously the book that we're gonna talk about tonight.
[00:02:12] I can see two of, uh, the co-authors, um, well, Eric, co-author and Joe's representing. In the room, which is great. So we will get them on, on the microphone. We will get a chance to sort of talk about the company, the business, and sort of, um, you know, what they're doing, which is awesome. And then, um, yeah, we'll, we'll, we'll just have a little chat anyway, if this is the first time that you've tuned into one of these Zoom calls, what we like to do in, in the Boothy book club is we've normally have a book of the month that Miranda will set.
[00:02:48] In the Facebook group, so the Boley Book Club Facebook group, um, all throughout the month, Miranda, there's amazing prompts. Ask, ask the questions around the book, et cetera. And then at the end of the month, at [00:03:00] the start of the next month, we jump on a Zoom call and we have a good chat about it now. Today selfishly, because the book came out this week, I wanted to do just a little bit of a chat about it.
[00:03:11] I wanted to give an opportunity to get, um, any of the officer available to jump in and, and sort of say hi to everybody. And, um, also as well, there'll be a selfless pitch at the end just to go and grab it. , it's available on Kindle, it's available on print and the audible or be. If Amazon stop being boogers, it'll be, it'll be next week.
[00:03:35] Um, because the audible is the hardest part of the whole process getting that signed off. But, uh, fingers crossed, next week before Christmas, it'll be, it'll be available. So as you're all in the car traveling and driving, or flying wherever you're going for, for, for your Christmas, Christmas holidays or whatnot, then you'd be able to, to listen to the audible, see, which is pretty cool.
[00:03:54] Alright, so with, with that being. Let's get the first person on. [00:04:00] Eric. Um, if you could just unmute your microphone for me please. So a part of the book D Blueprint. Um, if anybody hasn't checked it out, if anybody doesn't know what I'm talking about, just go on to Amazon and type in book Die Blueprint. Um, the playbook, which Rob very kindly held up a second ago, that was my.
[00:04:18] First book that I put out, um, at the start of 2022. So this year has been the year of Amazon. This year has been the year of books. Thank you very much, buddy. Um, so that was a solo book and the whole history behind this book, the blueprint was that I pulled a chapter from the playbook because I didn't feel that it fit.
[00:04:41] I didn't feel that it, it fit. Um, you can tell it's been a long week and it's only, it's only Wednesday. I think it's only Wednesday. Anyway, um, I didn't think it, that it fitted with what the playbook was all about. The playbook was all about marketing. The playbook was all about, um, grabbing the attention for turning lookers into bookers.
[00:04:58] And the chapter that I [00:05:00] pulled was one where I started to talk about the property management software, about X, Y, and z and, uh, sort of the systems and the structures and the softwares and the tools to put behind you so that you can build that diary book in. and I packed it. I left it. I sort of thought I'll come back to that another year.
[00:05:18] And then Jodi Sterling , who is in the bottom right, I can see, uh, came to me and said about an idea that she had of creating a book that was a co-authored book about stories. Cause every single one of you in this room right now will have a. Every single one of you has got that guest story or that reason why you got into this business story.
[00:05:43] And I, I said, it is an amazing idea. I don't think there's anything else out there. And, uh, sign me up. And the whole process from start to middle to end and the back end of it was unbelievable, to be honest. I really, really enjoyed it, that sense of community and vibe and, [00:06:00] uh, I know I didn't just feel it. I know a lot of others have felt it.
[00:06:02] And that's. Um, Jodi is coming back next year with hospitable Host 2023, and there's other things and crazy things that's happened on the back end of it. Um, but it sort of gave me the inspiration to pull that chapter and to create a 50,000 word book around it. And I knew that I couldn't do it on my own.
[00:06:26] I didn't have the expertise or the knowledge, et cetera, to, to put a 50,000 word book together. And then the Multier idea came to me. So it was a, I, I literally, I can remember it, I just had a very strong cup of coffee. I woke up at like four o'clock in the morning, uh, before all the kids woke up. Cause I've got an army of kids literally on the other side of his wall.
[00:06:45] And, uh, I just got a pen and paper, strong cup of coffee. And I just drafted out the idea of the book, the different categories and who I wanted to be part of. And then the next process was to message [00:07:00] said people and say, Hey, I've got this crazy idea. How would you like to be a published offer on, on Amazon?
[00:07:04] And I'm very lucky that everybody that I put in those circles were, came back to me. And, um, the first person back was Maddy at Mount. She was like, yep, put 'em, sent, sign me up. Which was like, wow, okay man. Uh, and then just slowly but surely, everybody just kept coming back and saying, yep, let's go. Let's go, let's go.
[00:07:21] And, you know, I, I went to Jo. Said, Jody, I've got an idea. And she was like, yep, great. Let's do it. Um, Jody was just starting up a publishing company on the back of the success of Hospitable Hosts. And you know, here we are. And one of those offers is a company that I've got to know more and more and more over the last sort of four or five months.
[00:07:45] It's a company, uh, that I am very excited about because it delves into the world of the next step in everyth. Obviously you'll have heard of ai obviously, you, you, you, you'll have heard of the world of [00:08:00] cryptocurrency. Obviously you'll have heard of the word of like web 3.0 and there's loads of things being started, but there's nothing really being started for our industry and our industry as hospitality.
[00:08:10] Our industry is short-term rentals, and so Eric, um, it's part of a company. De travel, and I don't wanna steal his fund, that I want him to give the big, the big, uh, the big intro, the big sort of background. Um, but it's really, really interesting. And out of all of the chapters, the one that I'm really excited for everybody to find out more about is the world of Web 3.8, the, the what is coming next.
[00:08:35] So, Eric, if you could just do me a massive favor. The floor is yours. If you could just speak to, How it came about, the origin story, your history before de travel, and just sort of why you got involved with the book, what you wanted to portray, what you wanted to get across, um, and the plans for 2023.
[00:08:51] Please, buddy. Yeah, thanks Mark. I appreciate the intro. Uh, As Mark mentioned, [00:09:00] um, we are a travel company that's focused on Web three technology and uh, I got my start in this industry actually with vrbo. Um, at the time, HomeAway and, uh, I fell in love with Shortterm rentals. So I had previous careers in, uh, working with the Military Department of Defense, Pentagon, Pentagon's actually where I first learned.
[00:09:24] This future of, of digital currency. And, uh, I was, I was completely floored that, that they were, they were very resolute. This is the future. Uh, that was my first introduction to it. Um, but, uh, you know, there's a lot of noise out there as it relates to cryptocurrency. The markets flex, you know, fluctuating, uh, it's a new technology.
[00:09:48] And so what we've tried to do with this chapter is break it down into, to simplify. Uh, understanding of what Web three means and, um, and doing [00:10:00] so like we, we kinda explained the history of the internet and if you think about like the evolution, if you've been around since dial up, uh, you know, the beginning of the internet was, was you could find information you couldn't do much else.
[00:10:14] And where we are today is, is web two. And Web two has done some amazing things. It's, it's driving our business today. Um, but there's been some trade offs, and that is the growth of these large companies that kind of own our data. And so the next evolution of the internet is really in, in hopefully simplified terms is, is being, having digital ownership, having ownership over what we create, um, our own identity.
[00:10:42] Uh, and, and, and so we feel very strongly that this web three movement. Really the direct booking movement, right? Um, everybody that is an operator in this call is, is a creator, is an entrepreneur. [00:11:00] And, uh, and so we, like our entire mission is around empowering you to have ownership in your business, uh, going forward.
[00:11:09] And so we, we go into detail about, uh, the history of, of all that. And so, We are developing direct booking products and we, we thought it was, um, appropriate that we, we partner with Boley because again, we believe that Boley is leading a web three movement in travel. And, uh, and so we wanna empower that in in further in any way we can.
[00:11:38] Uh, for 2023, we have, um, some exciting product. That we're working on. One of the things that we're working on is partnering with PMSs or potentially Brucely, to, to offer a, a booking engine that is innovative and better than what's out there in the industry. Uh, we are also going to be expanding [00:12:00] our demand channels and bringing, uh, access.
[00:12:03] So, so you can use this as a direct booking channel, but you can also have access to unique travelers. Uh, that book with crypto. That, uh, are digital nomads and book for two to three months at a time. Um, this is a, a large emerging, um, segment of travelers that I think will be really important, especially in 2023 as the market changes.
[00:12:26] Uh, and these economic, uh, conditions, um, you know, are a headwind. Um, and so we have a strong thesis about that and we, again, we want to empower your business and, uh, provide more peer-to-peer bookings. Uh, and we're excited with, with, uh, with what's coming in 2023. Amazing. One thing that Eric talked about there with long-term bookings is a little sneak peek of what we're going to be, uh, focusing on for the next book, uh, but yet really appreciate you being part of it.[00:13:00]
[00:13:00] Thank you very much for, for doing this. And the book that, that the chapter in the book that Eric and the team have put together, it literally documents to start from, uh, you know, web one, web two, web three, and it breaks it all down nicely. And, um, we're gonna have some. Stuff behind the scenes, eventually on book d blueprint.com, which is the free companion course when you get the book, because a lot of the things that we go talk about in the actual book itself, just like with the playbook, is it may be hard to commute just by reading it or by listening to it.
[00:13:32] So what we always like to do is we like to put the video behind the scenes and be over the shoulders and things that are coming. So if you have grabbed the. If you have the book already, you know exactly the web link to go to, you know how to get access to that, and it's totally free companion cost to the actual book itself.
[00:13:47] So thank you very much, John. I do see Mr. John, and in the audience I can also see that he's in a car Now, if you are not available to come on and talk , please let me know. Uh, if you [00:14:00] are available, are you driving or you're a passenger? Um, I have, uh, handle this something, uh, you know, something came up today that I had to drive my son to, uh, an or ordonas, but I could talk now if, uh, if it's all good.
[00:14:14] Yeah. If you g if you are good, if you've got a couple of minutes. So just like what, what we're Eric has just done, um, if you could just sort of give a super quick background to tech tape to yourself and you know, why you came part of the book and what's your plan for 2023 and just sort of dig into the chapter just, just a little bit.
[00:14:31] Yeah. Um, thanks Mark. This is, uh, first of all, it was amazing to be part of, uh, the, the blueprint book. Um, so my name is John, um, and I started off as a short term rental operator, and I still do have a company out in Honolulu, Hawaii, uh, where, you know, we host that we operate a top-notch business, but in building that business, um, I had to put [00:15:00] together a lot of different technologies to make it work the way I wanted my business to work.
[00:15:05] Um, and so I onboarded and offboarded over 15 different PMSs, which I, I, I'm almost guaranteeing that that should hold the world record of PMs switches, uh, in our industry. Um, and, uh, so out of that, over the years I started putting, um, the various pieces of technology together so that the technology worked for my business as opposed to settling with what the technology providers provided me and then just accepting what was there.
[00:15:38] And so, um, what Tech Tape does is we are able to. Help you pinpoint two or three pain points in your tech stack or your tech features, and then we can build out workflows and, uh, features that might be slightly outside of what your PMs [00:16:00] has or your PMs, uh, is capable of doing. Um, and so the whole idea is to make the, your technology work for you.
[00:16:09] Um, and so that's really. , uh, tech tape. Um, the chapter that I wrote, uh, in the book really is about, um, 2023 basically. Um, I've been building this business and being part of this book and everything has really, um, helped me get out the story. And so, um, I really. I am already building a lot of clients, uh, whom I've already helped in terms of, uh, making their technology work for them.
[00:16:39] And I'm really looking forward to helping more, uh, people in our short term rental industry, um, start to make the technology work for their business. And I'll, I'll stop with that. Amazing. Thank you. And, uh, John's son, who I think is in the car with him. I messaged John [00:17:00] a couple of days ago and said, um, the book is currently in competition with Pokemon and Fortnite because it's that time of the year where all those type of books get released at the end of the year.
[00:17:12] And uh, I wanted to let his son know, cause I know he is a fan. So it was interesting the Bruce Lee, the book itself, the actual. The sales from the book has been unbelievable. Like the, the ranking, it got to bestseller in a lot of categories all over the world from Australia to the UK to America, which has been great.
[00:17:30] Uh, and it's still there now, which is awesome. Like the, my main one was the real estate category because there's a lot of books on. You know, Airbnb, uh, et cetera in the real estate book. And that's how a lot of people's first perception of this industry is via Airbnb. So I really wanted a book that is showing a different route, uh, to be part of what is the first thing that they see, which is, which is epic and awesome to everybody who has purchased it.
[00:17:56] Left a review. Thank you so much because it really does help keep the rank and keep the [00:18:00] visibility right at the very, very top, which is, which is Epic. Right? Moving on. Uh, I can see you there. So is part of Dak now? Am I right in thinking you didn't directly put the chapter together, was it? Correct. There you go.
[00:18:18] So, so, so Ellen did all the, all the legwork for, for the, for the chapter. Now Ellen messaged me about, uh, an hour ago just saying, Hey, I can't make it. So Joe has stepped in. So, uh, we're not gonna ask you about the chapter and what was put down because you'd be looking at me kind of blankly. But I would like, I've, I've read the chapter.
[00:18:35] Oh, there you go. So, you know the chapter good, which is fantastic. Thank you. Uh, but can you just please speak to the, what DAK is, how it came about? Um, more importantly, what are the plans for 2023? Because I really do like the app, the, the story behind it, the, you know, the vibe behind it and what you're doing.
[00:18:53] But I'd love for you to speak to it, please. Yeah, absolutely. So I'm the marketing coordinator for Dak. Um, [00:19:00] Dak is a concierge. For the travel tech industry, obviously short-term rentals. Um, so realistically everything, one-stop shop after the guest books. So, um, sorry. Um, I just, I wanted to start with our chapter's name.
[00:19:19] Uh, increased Guest Loyalty by Elevating the Guest Experience. So the app itself is really focusing on everything that the guest can do after they're booking. Um, Looking into what the experiences are locally, uh, getting to the property, accessing the property, pretty much anything you might need to know or want to know about your property as soon as you click that booking, um, that booking button.
[00:19:44] And the reason we're I think this chapter is so important to the industry is probably a lot of, it's probably associated a lot to the main feeling that most s t r operators. Got when they first started getting into this industry. [00:20:00] Um, I have not started my s t r journey. I do not own any properties, but it's super fascinating to me and I love to host.
[00:20:06] Um, growing up I was fortunate enough to have a family home in Vermont. Um, so I was able to take friends up there during the summers and winters and really show them the type of experience that I was able to have growing. Something that I still have a lot of fond memories for, but when I, like about an hour ago when Ellen asked me to jump on this call, it got me thinking about why, why is Dax so exciting to me as someone who loves to host?
[00:20:33] And really it's because it offers you the chance to be there with the guest, um, especially when you can't be, and especially when you're an operator. 50 to a hundred properties and it's just impossible to kind of be holding their hand through the experience while wanting to maintain like the optimal experience that they could have in that destination.
[00:20:54] Um, so I thought about, alright, if I'm not able to go with a friend to Vermont, but I [00:21:00] wanted them to have the exact same experience, how would the DAK app, uh, helped me? And from there, it immediately began with the access. Um, front door. Front door, never worked. So it's always with the garage code. So it's kind of just like starting from the basics.
[00:21:15] What am I telling my friends? How, how are they getting into the house? What are they doing? Um, the heating system, the kitchen, everything is kind of, as I'm sure most people know, our, all of our homes have their own fangs and feelings to them. So being able to have that information about where you're staying and, and what you have access to is super important.
[00:21:35] And then I thought about all the experiences that I had locally. Um, we would be able, we. Paddleboard or kayak or use a boat. Um, we were just a couple hundred yards from this, from this beautiful 12 mile reservoir. Um, but it's extremely erratic. Um, one second, you could be in 200 feet of water and the next you could be in five foot.
[00:21:57] So I thought about all this different [00:22:00] information that would be crucial for anyone staying and that could really make or break their stay. Um, and how I would want access to that 24 7. Um, So really the app is exploring how technology like Dak allows you to develop and scale a personalized guest journey.
[00:22:20] Um, and I think kind of separating yourself from a heads and beds operator who focuses on turnover and getting more people in and, uh, Yeah, really just kind of maximizing the time you have, uh, for people inside the property. I think it, it's changing a lot from how many people can we get in this property to how can we make sure that every guest has the exact experience that I would want them to have.
[00:22:45] Um, so I feel like that's really the core. Uh, message about the DAK platform and it's, it's really incredible to see what operators are able to do right now, um, for their guests. So, any, any sneak peeks to what is coming up in 2023? Anything that [00:23:00] you can share of us seeing at your own, the marketing? Um, yeah, we're, we're exploring some more, uh, third party, uh, integrations for our upsells.
[00:23:09] Uh, we already have a couple great ones like Mount, uh, who's also a co-author on, on the, on the book. And then, uh, viader. Uh, so we have a bunch of exciting kind of integrations for guests to be able to natively through the app be able to purchase, uh, experiences like tours or, um, like a tasting experience at a wine, uh, wine winery.
[00:23:33] Um, and then we're exploring some other things with, uh, kind of app personalization, uh, kind of branding. So, um, more to come on that, but. Nice. So Dak, d a c k, do go and check it out. Uh, so Miranda to my left as, as on the screen, uh, did get a little sneak peek of, uh, the book so we could put together a couple of questions.
[00:23:56] And I believe you may have one, uh, one or two [00:24:00] foot for our, for our button office. Yeah. Thank you guys so much for joining and, um, talking to us about it. I think everyone's stuff is super interesting and I love this book because so many people are craving more information about how to improve their properties and their business, and I think this is a great roadmap to dig into.
[00:24:21] Um, Eric, for you. . Um, I have a few questions just with everything going on with cryptocurrency, I'm very risk adverse. Um, so when I hear the word crypto, I'm like, oh, I don't know about that. So what are some things that could, you could give us for information that would help us comprehend, like bringing that into our payment system and feeling comfortable.
[00:24:49] Yeah, that's a great question. Um, if, I'm sure everybody's following the news, what's been going on ftx? Um, but this year has been wild in general with [00:25:00] cryptocurrency. Um, and so. And like from a starting point, we're not exposed to any of these things that have happened because, uh, those are speculative. And, and we are, we're not in the game of speculative, we're in the game of empowering hosts.
[00:25:13] Um, and so, so we weren't exposed to any of those things in terms of adopting, uh, crypto payments. Uh, what we only use currently are what we call stablecoin. And we use stable coins because they kind of power smart. So each booking is actually a smart contract between the guests and the host, and it's governed by the settings.
[00:25:36] And I know that sound may sound comp complicated, but it's actually very simple. Design ux, very simple. You set the cancellation period, and then based on the cancellation period is when you get paid. So if you get a crypto booking, it's a stable coin, which is just pegged to the US dollar. So it's a one for.
[00:25:55] It's not subject identity volatility. Uh, we're gonna add [00:26:00] finance, pay, and Coinbase pay here soon. Uh, but those bookings would be immediately also converted directly in immediately to stablecoin. Um, and if you don't want to hang onto the stable coin for any long period of time, you, you'll be able to convert it to U s d, uh, or pounds, whatever the case may be, uh, your preferred currency.
[00:26:20] So, so yeah, we very much have controlled for that, uh, from the outset.
[00:26:28] Great. Thank you so much. And I love, um, you mentioning that it attracts kind of a different type of traveler, which I think all of us are looking for new ways to get those different travelers, especially travelers that might stay for weekdays or longer periods of time. So I think that's great and worth, um, kind of expanding our horizons for.
[00:26:49] So thank you so much for explaining that. That makes me feel a lot more comfortable with crypto. Does anyone have any questions for Eric? Yeah, if anybody's got any questions, please pop it in [00:27:00] the chat. Or if you just wanna go straight ahead and and unmute yourself, you're more than welcome to. So we'll give a, a couple of seconds to do that.
[00:27:08] Um, and if not, then Miranda, do we have any other question? I, I dunno if John is available anymore. I think he might. All for Donis is dentist, right? Am I, am I getting that right, Dennis? Right? I'm still here. I'm driving there. He's he's still driving. There we go. Right. No, I'm done driving so I can, I can, uh, so if there's any questions for John or if there's any questions for Dak and Joe at Dak, then please pop him in the chat.
[00:27:32] Miranda, Donna, suppose you had any, any follow up questions or any additional questions that you, uh, while you're putting the book together for, uh, putting the book together, reading the book for, um, tape or. I have, I, I don't have any other questions for Eric, so thank you so much, Eric. Um, and if someone drops something in the chat, we can definitely ask it.
[00:27:55] And then for John, um, with your questions about, [00:28:00] I mean, with your product, do you ever, when people come to you with Tech Stack and um, problems to fix, do you ever consult them on what they should be using or just make what they're using work for? Yeah, so I think the nuance difference of what Tech Tape does is part of it is actually consultative and, um, especially around technology.
[00:28:28] I think people know that something is not working for them, but it's also oftentimes difficult to kind of be very clear on what the specifics of that problem is. And because. . I myself am an active operator and I'm continually continuing to build out my tech stack. I can kind of take that complaint and that pain point and then identify, all right, like sometimes maybe there are pain point you can't solve.
[00:28:58] And if you can't, you can't. [00:29:00] But if there are pieces out there that I can pull together to make, to solve that pain point, then I can work towards that. So the answer to that is it's definitely part consult. And if someone is asking me to, you know, rebuild something that a PMs does, that's not something that Tech Tape would do because there's a perfectly consistent out there, you know, that people have spent a lot of time and energy to make work.
[00:29:26] So that's, you know, the consultant part is what really, um, kind of kicks things off. Um, and with. I do try to help people. If someone comes with a, like a laundry list of, oh, I want like 20 things, again, that's not the right person to work with. It's someone who has a tech stack that either primarily works for them and they want to add, or if it really doesn't work for them, then I have seen a lot of different technology and I actually am friends and work [00:30:00] closely with a lot of the CEOs of a lot of the tech companies.
[00:30:03] Uh, and so I can kind of tease out. What it is, and if something is really not right for them, I can kind of steer them in the right direction. What I don't do is I don't say This is the right technology for you because Mark has heard me say this many times. Something that's really like perfect for me can be absolutely horrible for you because the technology is built one way and every operator here has their own way of running their business.
[00:30:32] And so when people ask me for. , that's absolutely the wrong thing to do. What? What do you use? Cause it does, it doesn't matter what I use, it's what you need for your business. I hope that was, that answered your question. Yeah. That's great. Thank you so much. I really appreciate that and I think that's extremely helpful.
[00:30:51] Um, with everyone I know in the S T R world, a lot of people are on their multiple change of PMSs, so I think people get [00:31:00] kind of in a overload or think there must be something better out there and just keep. Jumping ship when sometimes I think your service of figuring out how to make what you're in work or talk to someone and see if it's truly not working, what to do.
[00:31:15] So I think that's amazing. Thank you so much. Awesome. Um, does, does anyone else have any questions for John? And if not, um, we have a question for other John. For Joe. Sorry, Joe. Sorry, . I thought they were both named John. I'm sorry. That's okay. Um, so Joe, uh, the question we have for you is for your app, um, does the guest have to also download that app for it to work?
[00:31:46] Um, so the, the DAK platform is, uh, it previously an app, um, both available on iOS and Android, but we recently launched a WebLink version. So if your guests don't want to download, , it's only five. They don't have to, they can access it, [00:32:00] uh, on any web browser that they want. Okay. That's amazing. Cuz I have a lot of guests that are sometimes not tech savvy.
[00:32:08] Mm-hmm. . Um, with the website version, have you had issues with people who might struggle with technology? Are they able to use it no problem on their phone? Um, so far I haven't, uh, heard of any complaints with, uh, accessing the web link. Um, I know. There's some, any issues similar with people creating accounts.
[00:32:28] Um, but nothing specific to the WebLink, no. Awesome. Thank you so much. I think your service is great. I was on a, um, call that Mark did alive talking about really just the customer service end and that's what leads to repeat booking and people being really happy with their stay. So I think that's a great service to add for all of us.
[00:32:48] Oh, awesome. That's really great to hear. Yeah. Does anyone else have any other questions? Come on. Don't be shy. Don't be shy. But if, while you are thinking of a question, [00:33:00] what I wanted to do, I wanted to very quickly share my screen. So, um, those of you that have been following on social media, you'll know what I wanted to do.
[00:33:11] Something a little bit different when it came to the marketing of this book. I like to do something big, get the attention, and uh, about a month ago I figured out a way how I could get an advert on one of these billboards here in, uh, in Times Square. It's a lot of hoops to jump through. But, uh, it went live on, I can't remember the day now.
[00:33:33] This week has been crazy, but I think it was Sunday. Uh, John, who was on the call, very kindly went down with, with Roberta and we've got a couple of pictures, which was great. And then all of a sudden the advert got taken down. Um, I'm, I'm don't really a hundred percent know why I got a reason, but I'm gonna record a podcast about it.
[00:33:50] Uh, but I had a plan. I found another company. And these things here, these are like bus stop or like little terminal things they can [00:34:00] have ads on. And what I did today is I discovered that I could get about 10 or 20 of these. So it, it literally went live. And a, a chap called Anthony Rao, who lives very nearby, uh, jumped on the, uh, on the tube, the underground, the what, whatever the subway, whatever you call it in America.
[00:34:18] And, uh,
[00:34:28] So as you can see, we managed to get this back at Times Square. Now he didn't have a copy of the blueprint. Bob, this is Dubble expressing.
[00:34:42] What , which is great. Which is, which is lovely. Uh, so yeah, I'm gonna have a full podcast about that. About why? About how we did it. And all those cool things. Uh, and uh, yeah, it was good. I've had a ton of fun. It's getting a lot of attention. We also vo those [00:35:00] ads. I was able to get, uh, the whole street, um, on Bannon Street in um, San Francisco, which if anybody knows where Airbnb H Quarters is, HQ is, you'll know that's Bannon Street.
[00:35:10] And I found where Che's apartment was that he listed on Airbnb and I managed to get the. All on there as well. The 19th street as well. So fun, fun, fun. I do like to do this sort of Richard Bronson sort of cheeky marking and it, it's definitely made my day very stressful, but good if it pays off. Um, so while we've done that, has anybody , has anybody got any, uh, any, any questions?
[00:35:36] If not, then I feel like it's time to reveal what the next book in our boley book club is going to be. So, uh, Miranda, the floor as always is, is yours. Thank you and once again, thank you so much for the authors for joining. I'm really excited to read the whole book and it makes it more fun having spoken to you when we read your chapters.
[00:35:58] It really helps us connect. So thank you [00:36:00] so much. And these all sound like great things. As a host, I'm actively always trying to improve that. I'm really interested in focusing on, in, um, the upcoming year. So thank you so much. And when we were thinking about what book to read, Um, I've really been trying to dig into how to do midterm rentals, especially during our slow season in Columbus, Ohio right now is our slow season.
[00:36:24] Um, and the thought of having a guest day for 30 or more days makes it a lot less stressful to have that guaranteed income. So the book we chose to do is, 30 day stay. And it's specifically about mastering the midterm rental. Um, so I'm really excited. I think everyone's kind of digging into this right now, so I think it'll be a huge help, um, for everyone's business.
[00:36:47] And it seems like people in the chat are excited, so that's awesome. That's good. And I'm gonna try my best to try and get either Sarah or z Zona z I can't pronounce name. Is it Zona? How do you [00:37:00] Pronou. Z zona. Anyway. Z I'll try and get 'em both on a Zoom call if I can possibly do. I know they're super busy traveling and doing all of the things, the digital nomads that they are, but if we can get 'em on, um, I will do and we'll try and do the call in the start of February.
[00:37:16] So go and enjoy your Christmas, go and enjoy your new year. I know Miranda's off on an amazing adventure. Um, and we shall. Speak in a Zoom call at the start of February. So thank you so much for being part of this. Jeremy, if you've got a, if you've got the in, if you've got the in , then please, please hook me up.
[00:37:38] I mean, I've, I've chatted to Sarah and Zona. We've had Sarah on the podcast, which is cool. But yeah, if we can get one or both, that'd be amazing to talk about 30 day stage. I've listened to the book. I love it. Chapter. For me is the book in itself. Like you literally can listen to that chapter and it's like, well worth the 7 99 or whatever you, you pay for it.
[00:37:56] It's, it is really good. And I message 'em not to tell him. Um, [00:38:00] so yeah, I've got nothing else. I'm a broken man. I dunno if you can tell, but I'm so tired, I'm so ridiculously tired. I need a break. Uh, so I will be as of the 16th, you will not hear from me. Uh, you'll not see me online for a good few weeks. I'm going off the grid.
[00:38:15] Um, I just wanna say thank you so much for. Being part of this. Miranda, as always, thank you so much for doing the book club. It is one of my favorite things that we have created this year. And uh, for everybody who's got a copy of this, I haven't talked, I dunno if I've talked about it enough, I should talk about it more.
[00:38:29] But every single penny of the profits of this book is going to charities, food bank, charities, whatever, charities that can make an impact. So every single one of you, thank you so much for your donation and for helping. Um, it's, it's huge and I'm so looking forward to when we get that first pay packet in.
[00:38:46] And I can start, actually, you. Putting it in into the right places, which is cool. So, uh, again, thank you again as always. Thank you, Frank. You thank you. We'll see you in the new year. So let me do it as we always do it. I'm, let's sign off with a, a [00:39:00] little cheeky wave. Uh, if you can all turn your cameras on for me.
[00:39:03] Um, if you are, uh, can turn your cameras on, that'd be amazing. On the camera, free. Give us a wave. 1, 2, 3. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. All right, love you all. Speak to you all soon. Miranda, thank you much for so much as always. Tata, tata, Tata having a blast. Gonna get it on the Bruce Lee podcast, Bruce Lee.
[00:39:22] Let Bruce Lee cuz it's so hard on the tea, is loose leaf picking up those rhymes. Don't write it, just do it loosely.
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