Hello Dear Friends, 

I am writing to you from my bright, expansive living room with lofty ceilings that often makes me feel optimistic and open. I am watching the delicate snowflakes gently fall outside of my sliding glass doors onto the porch, collecting into deep piles that completely conceal the grass and pathways in our complex. I am feeling slow and peaceful after a morning tea ceremony. 

I know I haven’t written in awhile and I feel a responsibility to address these changing times, share resources and maybe some insights on the vacation rental business and this transition in life as we know it. 

I’ve been social distancing and inside except for daily walks for over a month now (I don’t remember when we started) and my emotions and priorities have shifted a ton in that time. When we started, it felt like it would be a short sprint, I was watching the changes unfold in the travel industry and knew I needed to pivot fast to medium term rentals: 2 weeks to month-to-month to make sure all my places were full. I was staying up to date with pricing trends, watching webinars and was feeling blessed for a little space and breathing room to “catch up”. Get my taxes done, realize my dream of a zero inbox (starting at nearly 3000 emails and 350 unread), and dig into those “one day” projects that I never had time to do.

I started off so earnest and motivated, but then got swept away in the stress, struggle, and pain in the community. We were fine, even though my business and income dropped a ton, we were only buying groceries, paying utilities and our mortgage, Ben was still working full-time and we both had a big cash stock, waiting for a drop in the market and some investment opportunities. Even though we were fine, I was frequently carried away by fears, worries and not feeling safe. These strong emotions were very distracting, disrupting my sleep, making it difficult to focus in my work days and leading me to want to numb -- watch untold hours of Netflix, drink more than usual and eat through all my pantry’s snacks and sweets. I imagine some of you can relate.

My life, business and relationship were all of a sudden in a pressure cooker; demanding change that I hadn’t fully agreed to. I’m pleased to say that despite some bumps in the road, I’ve come out with lots of positives: wonderful new ideas for ways to run my business better (which I’ll go into below), a more connected relationship and more space and awareness on growth points in my personality that I am working on.

While my initial focus was on “how can I use this time productively and wisely”, not wanting to “waste” this gift of time, a conversation with a friend a week ago helped me shift all that. A theme in my life that I have been working on is to feel inherently worthy. I do not need to produce or be productive to be of value. This is real challenge for me to realize. Our culture rewards success, making more and being bigger year after year, pushing for more homes, more clients, battling all the “shoulds” of what defines success: writing a book, having my own podcast, youtube channel and releasing a course. Then feeling guilty for not wanting to push for these accomplishments, labeling myself as lazy.

When I spoke to this particularly wise friend, I felt so much spaciousness and permission. She is a bodyworker and energy healer, as well as her partner, so they were unable to work. And yet she was speaking so breezily about focusing on their spiritual practices, spending time in nature (going on hikes or sitting on their porch and enjoying the trees) and taking in the much needed break. She mentioned that she was taking a cue from nature: there is no fear, anxiety and stress in the squirrels and in the leaves. It really shifted my perspective and priorities. I was led to asking myself, “What does the world need from me in this unprecedented time?” 

Sitting with this in the past week, I’ve landed on connecting to myself deeply through dance and song. The best thing I can do for the world is heal myself, be a bright light, and fill up my cup so I can generously and compassionately support others. Those are the big two on my to do list each day and I let the rest of the tasks fall into place around them, respecting my motivations, desires, and energy level in each moment. I still haven’t filed my taxes (i’m close!), my email box is at around 375 / 50 unread, and I’m part of the way through 3 online courses. I would love to use this time for something “productive” and “measurable” like finally learning conversational French, and yet it feels most important to connect with myself and my spirit, shining out. 

What are you finding important these days?

Focuses & New Strategies For My Business

The first thing I would like to say is that I feel incredibly grateful to have inventory (whether it is the homes I own or manage), I have something of value to rent in a creative way and provide a much needed support of housing. Yes my income has dropped and rental demand has changed to nearly zil, but as of today, all my homes are rented except for one (which I have some leads on), money is coming in, expenses are being covered and all is well. 

In the coming weeks I will release the 2019 numbers for My Homes Profit/Loss. The thing that stood out to me the most is the incredibly high expenses of including utilities, all the marketing platforms / softwares, and constant turnovers. It felt clear to me that renting for longer terms, even just month to month would lessen some of these costs and lower communication, no longer requiring receptionists. I have also noticed that guests that stay longer have less complaints, so there are less issues and fires to put out. 

I have begun testing out some of the medical professionals rental sites, like Furnished Finder, please comment below if you have had success with some over others. There are likely 10s of sites that cater to this group and I know we don’t want to waste time listing on some if they are not going to produce leads. 

Right before the Coronavirus became serious, I decided to purchase a course on a new type of rentals (at least for me) -- location rentals. This is rentals by the hour for shoots, productions, events, etc. I had been hearing from a friend in New York who was doing incredibly well with these, and yet I wanted to see if it could work in some smaller cities like Boulder and St. Louis. I am nearly complete with my course and I will share the information with you soon if I deem it worth it’s value. I feel it is important to test things before I recommend them. Of course, productions are at a halt right now as well, so I am using this time to learn the ins and outs, create the listings and be well positioned when everything is back up and running. 

Resources

On March 30th, Airbnb released an announcement on ways it is going to support its community of hosts. If you haven’t seen it, I suggest combing through these offers to see if some apply to you. 

-Airbnb will be paying $250 million to hosts to help cover the cost of COVID-19 cancellations. From our cancelled reservations related to COVID, within a specific range of dates in March, they will be paying us out 25% of those bookings out of their own pockets.

 

-Airbnb is creating a $10 million Superhost Relief Fund. Superhosts are eligible to apply for a grant of up to $5,000 to cover their rent or mortgage if they are struggling to pay it.  

 

-Airbnb is making it easy for your previous guests to send financial support directly to you. This will roll out in April and it will allow past guests to send a large or small donation for their gratitude in being a past guest. This is something we can opt in or out of. Let me know if you would prefer to opt out. 

 

-Airbnb has worked together to secure support for hosts in the US Government’s recent COVID-19 Stimulus Bill. This passed a few days ago, and includes hosts as small businesses to be eligible for loans and grants provided by the government. 

Thank you for reading this lengthy post and update. I would love to hear from some of you. 

How are you fairing during these times? 

What creative things have helped you and your business?

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