True Grit Hosting

Intro

[00:00:00] Liam: Hey, hey, welcome to the Boostly podcast. This is the podcast that hosts the tools, the tactics and the training. So most importantly, the confidence that you can go out there and get more direct bookends. Today, we're going behind the host with a successful and interesting short-term rental host who's featuring inhospitable hosts too.

[00:00:20] So if people aren't aware of this, I've got the book holding up if you can see us on the, uh, so we've got, um, Joining us today. He's one of the hosts within the book and we're just going to dive into his business. His business is called Mountain to see cabins and Cottages and we're going to find out what tips we can we can find from him.

[00:00:40] So welcome along kale. Thank you for joining me.

[00:00:42] Cale: Thank you very much Liam and it's a pleasure to be here. You of course are one of the ogs in the original hospital will host so it's a pleasure to be in the company.

Cale’s Introduction

[00:00:52] Liam: So thank you. Thank you. So, um, Why don't you introduce, yourself, where your business is in the world and, um, Anything else you'd like to share?

[00:01:02] Cale: Sure. Uh, so I live in, uh, South Florida. Um, uh, just a little bit north of Miami and, uh, my business is, uh, it's primarily in the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, but we do also have some properties down in South Florida. Um, it's, uh, primarily long-term rentals though in South Florida. We do have one short-term rental here.

[00:01:23] And then the rest are in, the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. And, um, yeah, we call it, you know, mountain-to-sea cabins and cottages, because that's kind of what we like to offer. You know, we have our, our mountain properties and we have our, our ocean properties, and we're looking to expand on that brand as we, as we grow our portfolio.

Why did you get involved in Hospitable Host?

[00:01:41] Liam: Why did you get involved in the hospitable hosts' project and how does it feel, uh, you know, right in your chapter? Yeah.

[00:01:49] Cale: Um, that's awesome. Uh, I mean, the reason I joined it was because of the. I think the community, uh, that it offers you access to, um, you know, people like yourself and, and the other authors and both books, um, I mean, there's some real, real powerhouse, there's real successful, you know, giants in the industry and these books, um, there are people like myself kind of in the middle and, you know, there are people, uh, you know, starting as well that are all a part of this and everybody has a very.

[00:02:21] Similar reasons for why they get into short-term rentals for the most part, but everybody has a unique journey and it's cool to learn and see, you know, how other people have gotten to their point of financial or time freedom through short term rentals, uh, you know, that was my goal and getting into the short term rental game and, um, I've achieved that thankfully, but yeah, it's the community that, that the hospitable host offers and, I mean, writing the chapter was, uh, it was enjoyable.

[00:02:51] Uh, honestly, the hardest part for me was trimming it down. I, uh, I wrote the, I wrote everything in two days and it was more than double the, the allowed word count. So it took a lot of trimming and, uh, uh, trying to scrape out pieces and still keep the story intact. So. That was the most challenging part of it.

[00:03:14] Liam: What word would you use to describe hospitable hosts? If you had to contain it down to one word, what word would it be?

[00:03:21] Cale: Inspiring. Um, and I think that the intent, of the books is to inspire the readers to start their journey or continue their journey. Um, just, uh, earlier this week, I had, uh, somebody reach out to me that, uh, picked up the book and read it and just sent me a note, uh, just thanking me for inspiring them that day, you know, that they could continue and do something like that.

Talk through the journey

[00:03:49] Liam: Talk us through the journey. How did you go from that first unit to the units that you're on now? And, um, yeah, what were the kind of steps to success along the way? Yeah, I mean,

[00:04:02] Cale: I was committed once I decided on short-term rentals, uh, and even a step back from that once I decided on real estate as my, my path to financial freedom, um, you know, I started with the goal of I wanted to replace my W 2 income, right, so that I could, I could leave that job.

[00:04:19] Um, to get the financial and time freedom, which I think most people are looking for. And so I decided on real estate as, my vehicle for being able to do that. And that's why it started with shorter or long-term rentals. And it was just, you know, it was just realizing that it was goingwouldot longer to achieve the goals that I was looking for and by.

[00:04:44] Happenstance, I happened to come across another podcast that was talking about short-term rentals and the Smoky Mountains in particular. And I just, I mean, it sounded too good to be true. So I Google mapped where it was, cause I didn't even know where the Smoky Mountains were. And then I, I saw it was, uh, you know, 17 hours or so away is a week before Thanksgiving.

[00:05:06] And we packed up a minivan full of seven people and drove out there and checked out the area. And, uh, You know, about three weeks later or so, we were under contract on our first cabin. And, you know, from that point, as I said, I was just committed and I knew I was going all in. So it was just a matter of finding, the right deals.

[00:05:24] And I knew that I'd figure things out as I went.

Overcoming challenges

[00:05:27] Liam: What was the biggest challenge and how did you overcome it? Yeah, I think the biggest

[00:05:31] Cale: a challenge for me was, uh, it was just a personal, um, Personal challenge that came about unexpectedly. And, um, you know, I, I mentioned it in the, in the chapter there, but shortly after I'd gotten started, I think we were, we had just bought the first cabin. We were under contract on the second and third and converting that one in Florida from a long-term rental into a short-term rental.

[00:05:56] So we had a lot going on still very, very early in the short-term rental stage. And learning things, and we kind of got hit with a pretty big, um, medical issue with, uh, with my wife. Um, long story short, she was in Ecuador and, uh, had to have a, uh, a procedure that went awry, and she got stuck there for about six months, uh, unexpectedly, almost bedridden.

[00:06:23] Um, and, you know, I was still working the W2 at that time, of course. We have three kids, uh, including a three-year-old, uh, nine-year-old and a 12-year-old. And so we kind of get hit with that out of left field. And, you know, in the midst of all that, everything else going on with growing the short-term rental business.

[00:06:43] Um, and so it took a lot of, um, It took a lot of grit to keep going through that, uh, you know, I think that's one of those things that can be a showstopper, um, if you don't have, like I mentioned before, if you don't have a strong reason for, for why you're doing it. Um, but I was like I said, I was committed and I knew that I couldn't stop.

[00:07:04] I saw the light at the end of the tunnel in terms of what we had started with the real estate and I knew that it was going to, it was going to be getting me to that goal. Um, and so to stop at that point. Frankly, for me, just wasn't an option. Um, so from there, it's just, you figure it out, right? Uh, so we, you know, leveraged family and friends, both in Ecuador and, here in the US and different States, we.

[00:07:31] Sent our two older kids up, up north with our grand, uh, my parents, uh, to spend some time there. Uh, you know, we brought in my father-in-law from Ecuador here to help out with the three-year-old or it was around two at the time. Uh, so, you know, we did everything we could. And, uh, thankfully after six months or so, we were able to get my wife back here, uh, to the U S.

[00:07:53] Um, but it was still several surgeries that had to happen once you get back here. And so it's a very long, long, long process, um, going through all that. But that was, that was probably the hardest thing for me, uh, trying to tackle those, those, you know, personal issues, uh, while trying to build a fledgling, you know, short-term rental business,

Biggest wow moment

[00:08:13] Liam: what would you say is the biggest wow moment or a perception that's changed since you originally started this

[00:08:18] Cale: business?

[00:08:19] I think, I think the biggest wow was just seeing how quickly, uh, I was able to achieve the, the financial goals that I had set out with. Um, you know, when I started or come up with that, Hey, you know, real estate, how I'm going to get out of this, this W2 world and set myself up for, for building generational wealth.

[00:08:40] It was a five-year goal. And to me, that was extremely aggressive. And like I said, it happened in less than two years. Um, I mean, a lot less than two years, but I left the W two and about two years. Uh, and that just really blew me away at what was, what was possible with this, um, and particularly with short-term rentals, I mean, um, When it comes to cashflow, like if that is what you're looking for, which, you know, most people are if they're looking to leave their W two and replace that income.

[00:09:13] It's hard to beat the cash flow that you can get with short-term rentals. Um, and you know, I'd started with the long terms and it was small multifamily and like I said, it was just going to be a lot of those units to get me where I wanted to be and it was going to take a long time. And then I stumbled across the short-term rentals and lo and behold, it just blew those goals out of the water.

[00:09:37] Liam: Thank you so much, Cale. And, uh, yeah, thanks. Uh, I look forward to seeing you at the next, uh, wealth conference or online for the network. And so thanks again. Having a blast going to get it on the

[00:09:49] Cale: Boostly podcast, Bruce Lee, like Bruce Lee. Cause it's so hard on the T is loose leaf, making up those rhymes.

[00:09:56] Don't write it just do it loosely.