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[SPEAKER_01]: So many women tell me they're afraid of making the wrong move, especially in real estate.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Naomi Brown knows that feeling.
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[SPEAKER_01]: During the pandemic, she took her emergency savings and bought the famous shoe shaped STR, a property that was even featured on HTTV.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Not because it was safe, but because she finally trusted herself.
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[SPEAKER_01]: In this episode, we break down how she created a unique, guest experience, why intuition matters, and what happens when a woman chooses bold action over fear.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So Naomi, so many women fear making the wrong move.
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[SPEAKER_01]: What was the moment you stopped letting that fear run your life?
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[SPEAKER_00]: You know, for me, that was really the year of 2020 and COVID-19 because obviously that was a huge change in the lives for so many people and what took place that year actually got me from like I'm afraid to do it to actually doing the investment.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that makes so much sense.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So what about COVID-19?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, this is the right time.
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[SPEAKER_01]: This is when I'm going to make the right move.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Like why that world experience, right?
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[SPEAKER_01]: It wasn't just your own personal experience.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Why that encourage you to just stop letting any sort of fear stop you?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Why that experience?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Why that momental experience?
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[SPEAKER_00]: So it was actually a couple of details that were behind what happened during that time for myself and my family.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So I had actually been a residential realtor and I knew that I wanted to make a transition to commercial real estate.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So because I was the breadwinner for my family, I actually saved up.
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[SPEAKER_00]: a substantial pile of cash because I was like, you know what, if I don't make any money for like, you know, a year, I need to be able to feed my family, right?
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[SPEAKER_00]: So I made that transition in the very beginning of 2020.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Well, guess what happens in March, right?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Like the world shuts down.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And so for a couple of months, we were in our basement and then like life returned, right?
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[SPEAKER_00]: And I started selling real estate.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, you know what, the world hasn't ended.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And I have this pile of cash.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And I actually need to do something with it, right?
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[SPEAKER_00]: And so that's actually what prompted me to go out and make an investment.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Because I was like basically the worst thing that you could think cap in did actually happen, right?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Like the craziness that COVID-19 was and you know, life went on.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So we took that money and actually went out and bought a foreclosure, which was a great time to do that because
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[SPEAKER_00]: There were a lot of people afraid to buy real estate, like kind of the beginning of COVID.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And we got a great deal, and we did a house flip, and that was the beginning of the journey.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so that was a house flip.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So that was your first investment.
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[SPEAKER_01]: When did the house come into place?
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[SPEAKER_01]: I really want to dive into that.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Was that your second deal?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Where was that in your trajectory?
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[SPEAKER_00]: So after we did a house flip, we actually went out and bought another short-term rental property.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And that was actually a bed and breakfast that we turned into a short-term rental.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And kind of divided it up into a couple of short-term rentals.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And that did pretty well, you know, if you think about the years after COVID-19, like there's a lot of short-term rental activity, and that did real well.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But then the opportunity to buy the shoe house kind of came to us because I knew the former owner, he came and said, you know, I'm thinking about selling, and I was like, this one making amazing short-term rental property.
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[SPEAKER_00]: at why don't when I you turn into that he's like I don't want to but why don't you buy it and you do it and I was like you know again kind of I had to be prompted to do it a little bit right I was like you know what we should do it I already have experience because we have another short to rental property that was doing great so we did it took a little bit of
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[SPEAKER_00]: You know, do I, do I want to do this?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Should I dive in?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Because I knew it's kind of a notable property in our area, like a lot of people recognize.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Tell us about it, because everyone listening may not know.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So what was the shoe, what, what, what is it, what was it I should say?
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[SPEAKER_01]: And what was it actually being used for?
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[SPEAKER_01]: And then what was your vision of what you wanted to turn it into?
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[SPEAKER_00]: When we had the opportunity brought to us, it was actually an ice cream shop and kind of a museum.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So people could come.
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[SPEAKER_00]: They a little bit of money to walk through and then buy some ice cream.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The problem was it was kind of like out in the country and it was hard to get people in on a regular basis.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So from my business perspective, it wasn't doing great.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And the former owner came to us and said, you know, obviously I need to do something.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It's not picking a lot of money.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And I, you know, having the background with the short-term rental properties of like, this would be so amazing, right?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Give the context.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And I want everyone listening.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You have to, you have to know that this property is literally looks like a shoe.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So when we say shoe property, it's not a metaphor for something.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It's literally a shoe.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It's literally a three bedroom two and a half bath house that shape like a shoe.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So it's got it's got laces painted on the outside and everything.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So what what took place was that there's a gentleman back in 1950 who owned a whole chain of
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[SPEAKER_00]: of shoe stores.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And this is before the day and age of the internet, right?
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[SPEAKER_00]: And so he was looking for ways to advertise and kind of promote his shoe store brand.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So he built this shoe-shaped house.
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[SPEAKER_00]: He had this house built to promote his shoe store brand and he would raffle off stays in the shoe house to people who came in his stores and bought shoes.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So, think about it back in the day, it was actually a short-term rental property before there was short-term rentals, right?
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[SPEAKER_00]: So that's how the shoehouse came about, but over the years it kind of morphed into, you know, it was a nice cream shop, it was a private residence, there was a whole bunch of different things, it was used for over the years.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But then when we bought it, we turned
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[SPEAKER_00]: originally.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So I love that.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And I think there's a really important lesson, no matter what's happening in the economy, there's always an opportunity to ask the question, what's the highest and best use of this property?
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[SPEAKER_01]: And regardless of what's happening in the economy, the answer to that will help yield what's the business plan?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Where's the opportunity?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Like you're saying that the gentleman who owned it, I was like to say it's kind of like a tired landlord he's tired he didn't want to run it anymore really cool property wasn't making the money that he wanted to make and you saw an opportunity.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So walk us through some of your your vision okay I want to make this in that I want to make this a short term rental.
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[SPEAKER_01]: How did you assess, okay, it's not working as an ice cream store, but it will work as an STR.
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[SPEAKER_01]: What answers did you get to kind of feel confident in that answer in that kind of like, okay, this is the path I want to take this property.
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[SPEAKER_00]: You know,
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[SPEAKER_00]: No, it's interesting that I've had a lot of people talk about your intuition, and I would say this was a moment where a good part of it was just intuition, because I knew that this was a very unique property that would do amazing as a short-term rental.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But you know, where you're going to go out and find data, Liz, that you can
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[SPEAKER_00]: You can say, you know, a shoe-shaped house is going to rent for $X dollars a night and you're going to have this occupancy and all that stuff, right?
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[SPEAKER_00]: So some of it is just like knowing based on your market knowledge and then just having the confidence to trust yourself that you can make good decision based on that.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Now that that makes sense now you lived in that community.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So you did have a sense of confidence in that market and who was who would be using who are your customers because that's an important question right I I don't own any short term rentals yet I should say yeah I've done everything in real estate.
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[SPEAKER_01]: In my 20 years, but I have not owned a short terminal, but my first question would be okay, who are my customers, right?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Because short-term rental could be obviously people of vacationing, could be people visiting their children in college.
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[SPEAKER_01]: There's a lot of customers.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So, did you know who you wanted your customers to be, or who the opportunity with yield itself, too?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, for sure.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So I do live within the local areas, so I'd need the context of, you know, the customer base basically.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So we're near a couple of tourist type attractions.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I would say, like, you know, Hershey Park in Venice, near us, and Gettysburg is not far away in Lancaster, that's homage country.
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[SPEAKER_00]: you know, most people are going to recognize those types of landmarks.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So I knew those types of like tourist attractions would bring people in, but also just knowing like the uniqueness.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes people will go a little bit out of their way just to have something unique, you know, so we're not that far away from Philadelphia and some other major more major attractions.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So it gives people an opportunity to go out and experience something a little bit different, even if that means they
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[SPEAKER_00]: So, fundamentally, yes, I did my homework and I knew that would work, but to some degree, it's like, you know, how do you know how much it's going to run for for per night?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Well, you know, there's some statistics, but some of it is just an estimate based on what I know about the market.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Walk me through this, too, because I think I think you're not alone with women looking at a property saying, hey, this is being used for a commercial use.
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[SPEAKER_01]: There's still a great film,
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[SPEAKER_01]: Converting things, right, commercial to residential in general, I think is an opportunity depending on the market that's somebody's in.
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[SPEAKER_01]: How did you ensure you were putting the right kind of line item in terms of even just value-ad costs of being able to turn the property around?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Like, walk us through some of that planning, what do you know now that you wish you known then that type of information, especially when it came to converting the property into a NSTR.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, for sure.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, I always feel like like a lot of people, you get a little bit of analysis paralysis, right?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Like I did my homework and then internally, I'm like still kind of second guessing myself.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But if you know the facts that you have in place, so I knew that we'd have demand for that type of property,
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[SPEAKER_00]: I knew that because it's unique, it would do better than, you know, comparable surrounding properties, right, but also knowing the things that I'll make any short-term rental popular, right?
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[SPEAKER_00]: So we put in a hot tub, we put in a fire pit, we put in a barbecue, you know, we made it unique and
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[SPEAKER_00]: Um, added touches like a record player in the living room to kind of bring back the massage of the 1950s, you know, because we decorated it like that era.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So knowing like the success principles of the short-term rental industry, we definitely brought those things in.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So I knew those from the onset from our previous experience.
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[SPEAKER_00]: but then also knowing like, you know, the fundamentals of this, the surrounding market, we'll bring people in and things like that, help me be able to make that decision and make that case, actually, because
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[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we did get financing.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And so this was a very unique property that I had to prove to the bank and the appraiser that this is going to bring in money at its gonna be successful.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So that enough itself was a data search to make my case so to speak, that this is gonna be successful cause it's so unique.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I love that.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So if women are listening or those are listening are looking to really invest and make a move into something that's unique.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Because a part of this process now, I mean, I'm sure you get it as well.
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[SPEAKER_01]: It's like, women want to, especially women in our investor community, they want to be part of meaningful projects and creating a unique
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[SPEAKER_01]: experience for people, literally going into an SDR that's shaped as a shoe, right off the back creates this uniqueness, this differentiator, this, oh, wow, this is something different than maybe the other projects I've done.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And I think there's an element to a lot of investors yearning for a unique projects that are not just financially, you know, thriving, but actually are creating meeting for other people, you know, put a smile on people's faces.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I think those things
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[SPEAKER_01]: What are the biggest mistakes that you have seen people that are doing some sort of unique STR experience?
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[SPEAKER_01]: What are they making?
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[SPEAKER_01]: What mistakes are they making?
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[SPEAKER_01]: That you wish you could just shake them and say, do this instead.
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[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I've seen a lot of other people in her other stories that oftentimes, if you're in a really rural area, that can have the most unique property ever,
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[SPEAKER_00]: But if you are really out of the way, it's going to hurt your occupancy, right?
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[SPEAKER_00]: So making sure that you do have that market presence.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Like for us, I knew that being within those three major tours, typely, and marks, like I described.
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[SPEAKER_00]: would help to make it successful.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But if you really like out there and you don't really have anything to draw you in, that is is really I think the the worst thing that you can have and then not having it well amenetized or make you sure that it's.
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[SPEAKER_00]: really clean and looks good because I've seen a lot of short-term rental owners like not take great care of the property and when you start getting poor reviews it's like the kiss of death you know you have to really make sure that you stay on top of those details
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[SPEAKER_00]: which is difficult, but you know, I've brought in a host for our property because stay in on top of everything all the time is very demanding.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So having the host do all the hosting and then I can just watch out for some of those other details helps to make a big difference.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But in terms of long-term, I am an asset manager and I hire a property manager to run my day-to-day of my property, right?
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[SPEAKER_01]: That's what someone in multi-family would say, if they had a third party management company, which we do and we've had for many years.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Is that the same thinking?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Is that the host isn't in essence getting some sort of revenue cut of the property?
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[SPEAKER_01]: And are they responsible for just like,
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[SPEAKER_01]: responding to guests or they also respond to like the actual business plan and sharing that, you know, revenues there, expenses are are lowered.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Like, what we threw a little bit more about what that host does and why it's been so helpful for you.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So I've seen a whole different spectrum of hosts, response abilities and duties with different short-term rental owners.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It can really vary.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So for me, he does just basically the guest communication and make sure that the guests are well-ticking
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[SPEAKER_00]: And basically, it does a check-in with the cleaners every so often.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Communicates with the cleaners and the handyman if something needs fix, that type of thing.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But the actual like paying of the bills and making sure that your capital improvements are taking care of and things like that.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I do that, but that would be more of like the asset manager role, right in the case of multi-family properties.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So if there can be a whole spectrum, now I obviously pay less just to have a host than if I had a company who was doing everything and it was an all-inclusive thing.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So that works for me, other people, they might want something more all-inclusive.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But
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[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's good for owners to stay involved in some degree because I've had a lot of people who said, oh, I just want to own it and I don't want anything to do with it, but then the problem is like oftentimes they don't know if their management company is not doing a great job until they've lost a whole bunch of money and then also suddenly wake up and they're like, oh my gosh, it's not going so great.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So staying involved to some degree, even though that takes time
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[SPEAKER_00]: helps to make your investment more successful.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and depending on the stage, I always like to say in the years I've been investing, properties are always in a, they're usually in a stage of kind of life cycle.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, when you buy something, you're in the process of stabilizing it, maybe turning it, you know, what have you, but you're getting to the point where you're looking to get to the point where you're actually stabilizing the asset where it's running more on cruise control, if you will.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And that's sometimes takes a process depending on how much work is needed.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Then you have the process that I think a lot of people are in right now.
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[SPEAKER_01]: They're not doing the ton of buying.
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[SPEAKER_01]: They're getting out bid.
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[SPEAKER_01]: They're kind of holding tight with the properties they have, but they're not really optimizing what they have.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And there's a huge opportunity.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Is there an opportunity to increase revenue?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Is there an opportunity to reduce my expenses?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And so I think we're always looking for the next property to get to our our passive income goals to get to our financial freedom goals.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Yet, sometimes right beneath us is an opportunity to increase revenue, reduce expenses, and actually bring more money into our pocket.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So I think that's key.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Where's my property?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Especially for everyone listening.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Where are the properties that I'm struggling with?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Where are they in the life cycle?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Are they on
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[SPEAKER_01]: fully optimizing them and then what's the potential exit?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Am I going to hold for a long time?
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[SPEAKER_01]: People don't think through the actual life cycle enough Naomi versus it just being, I want to buy property, make some cash flow and we'll go from there.
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[SPEAKER_01]: There's a lot more to it, right?
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[SPEAKER_01]: And so as you think about this particular, and this property, by the way, has been featured on HDTV, so it's got a lot of press.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Have you thought about the life cycle for this property and has it inspired you to do more of these type of unique experiences, or are you transitioning to to another, you know, asset class?
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[SPEAKER_00]: I have heard a lot of owners who, especially over the course of the past like year, year and a half say they have short-term rental properties that have not been doing well, and we've done really well still even in that type of market and I'm sure it's because it's such a unique property.
18:23.656 --> 18:41.766
[SPEAKER_00]: So, it does stay fairly well booked, but on the expense control side, like you mentioned, I'm trying to make sure that we control the expenses because, as a shoe-shaped house, it is kind of unique and a little more expensive to maintain than your typical property, right?
18:42.107 --> 18:45.833
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, Stucco was not always made to be a roof material.
18:45.813 --> 19:00.194
[SPEAKER_00]: like it is on this property, so it takes a little more to maintain, but trying to make sure that we optimize within a market that is more of a down market, like you mentioned, is important to set us up for the long-term success.
19:00.474 --> 19:09.087
[SPEAKER_00]: So we have tried to utilize the press that we've received, so like you mentioned, we were on
19:09.067 --> 19:26.407
[SPEAKER_00]: a HGTV show, there's other TV shows that have come out and interviewed us and gone through the property and we try to utilize that basically free press to make sure the word gets out about the shoe house and I'm sure that's definitely helped our bookings as well.
19:26.928 --> 19:28.450
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's free, right?
19:28.510 --> 19:33.876
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just the social media that we're sharing as we have these opportunities
19:34.312 --> 19:38.437
[SPEAKER_00]: and making sure that we're capitalizing on those opportunities as well.
19:39.097 --> 19:44.163
[SPEAKER_00]: So your question about how's that made me want to do other unique stuff?
19:44.243 --> 19:50.811
[SPEAKER_00]: So I have had people reach out to me and like, oh, you should go buy this other unique property.
19:51.331 --> 19:53.173
[SPEAKER_00]: I guess there's a potato in Idaho.
19:53.794 --> 19:55.716
[SPEAKER_01]: I think I've seen that.
19:55.736 --> 19:58.379
[SPEAKER_01]: I totally have seen the potato in Idaho.
19:58.399 --> 20:00.842
[SPEAKER_01]: Of course there's a potato in Idaho of course.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So I've had other people say, you know, you should go by the potato or a tree house or something.
20:06.464 --> 20:08.026
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure it would be fun to do that.
20:08.106 --> 20:10.248
[SPEAKER_00]: And I have toyed with that idea a little bit.
20:10.288 --> 20:16.415
[SPEAKER_00]: But I think part of what makes a successful with this is knowing the market, like I mentioned before.
20:16.776 --> 20:23.944
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't really know the market in Idaho, so that would be kind of a foray out into something outside of my realm.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Not that I couldn't do that, but for the immediate term, I've done some other investments that are more passive, because this particular investment as the shoehouse has required a lot of more work and effort to put into it.
20:39.405 --> 20:47.316
[SPEAKER_00]: So we have bought an industrial building and some other investments that are a little more passive, just to kind of even the plague field that you will.
20:47.296 --> 20:48.317
[SPEAKER_01]: I like that a lot.
20:48.357 --> 20:54.986
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to say something too about the, you know, folks that are that are in the STR market right now.
20:55.086 --> 20:58.811
[SPEAKER_01]: I have also spoken to a lot of women, especially in the investor community.
20:59.252 --> 21:05.800
[SPEAKER_01]: Some of them are thriving, but there's a lot of women who are struggling in markets that are oversaturated, right?
21:05.820 --> 21:10.827
[SPEAKER_01]: So there becomes like a supply and demand issue where supply is so high, right?
21:11.007 --> 21:16.594
[SPEAKER_01]: And their properties are kind of getting lost in the mix of all the other properties that are
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[SPEAKER_01]: I want to stress something, though, you said, because I think it's really important to note, is that when you're buying a property and you're kind of setting your asking the question, what's the unique, you know, what is the uniqueness of this property?
21:28.288 --> 21:30.791
[SPEAKER_01]: Why is especially for STR if it's an experience?
21:31.332 --> 21:33.675
[SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't have to be shaped as a shoe to be unique.
21:34.216 --> 21:38.200
[SPEAKER_01]: And I want to just make that, because your people are piloting, like, of course, your property is your dick.
21:38.641 --> 21:40.243
[SPEAKER_01]: It's literally shaped as a shoe.
21:40.263 --> 21:45.990
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, you got to
21:46.223 --> 22:09.042
[SPEAKER_01]: But I want to make it very clear that in order to stand out, right, and to really thrive in this market, you don't need to have a, a property that's shaped as a shoe, however, you do need to say, okay, what, what is unique about this property based on the customers that I have that would use this property that's the question you have to answer and for those who are not answering that question.
22:09.022 --> 22:13.407
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's going to be a tough road right now because then you're going to get lost in the mix.
22:13.928 --> 22:16.491
[SPEAKER_01]: You're like everybody, your properties like everybody else.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So what are people going to look for?
22:18.634 --> 22:20.797
[SPEAKER_01]: They're going to look for the cheapest, most affordable.
22:21.217 --> 22:22.759
[SPEAKER_01]: What do you think of what I'm saying?
22:22.799 --> 22:30.068
[SPEAKER_01]: I want people to really get creative right now, not saying, well, I don't have a show house, so I'm done for it, right?
22:30.048 --> 22:35.756
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and I think key piece there is what you just said is the creativity, right?
22:35.936 --> 22:49.474
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, maybe you own a property at the beach that of itself is not real unique, but could you do something creative to kind of get you through what's considered a tough spot, right?
22:49.454 --> 23:08.256
[SPEAKER_00]: So, for example, like maybe you have a great long-term interest rate on that property, and you can just kind of weather the market if you did a long-term rental, and maybe you just break even on those payments for a time, but it allows you to continue to build your equity.
23:08.236 --> 23:35.188
[SPEAKER_00]: Keep your great low interest rate and then when the market rebounds you'll be back to doing business and you'll Survive the downturn when other people are out there panic selling because their property is sitting vacant So sometimes make in those types of decisions of like okay I'm gonna think differently from everybody else Maybe a little more creativity involved in order to be able to get through this and not just fall of the crowd
23:35.337 --> 23:44.470
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, because I think that's when people get into trouble, especially when you're in a time where you got to get every you got to get a lot of pieces of the puzzle right.
23:44.810 --> 23:46.953
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not where you could be like, well, it doesn't really matter.
23:46.973 --> 23:54.463
[SPEAKER_01]: The interest rate or how much it put the it all matters right now and being conservative and you're underwriting is important.
23:55.044 --> 23:57.868
[SPEAKER_01]: Just as an example in my own world of a unique.
23:58.270 --> 24:04.861
[SPEAKER_01]: Project and in the sense is that we are we're doing a ground up construction project on the the Delaware River.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So it's right where I live saying I know this market inside and out.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So where I live it's where I'm raising my family and there's not that many properties on the river and it's it's desirable for people to want to be on the river here here in New Hope, Pennsylvania.
24:19.027 --> 24:26.477
[SPEAKER_01]: And so again, you know, in the market we're in, people are like, you're doing what a multimillion dollar crowd of construction project.
24:26.938 --> 24:40.377
[SPEAKER_01]: It can seem a little risky, if you will, or during COVID, buying literally a property that's shaped as a shoe, what looks like risks to some people when you know your market and you know the opportunity and you've run your numbers,
24:40.357 --> 24:41.539
[SPEAKER_01]: doesn't seem risky.
24:42.100 --> 24:47.029
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I want to just say that because there's always a unique part about markets.
24:47.049 --> 24:49.013
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not just what a property is shaped as.
24:49.414 --> 24:50.776
[SPEAKER_01]: It could be where it's located.
24:51.177 --> 24:55.986
[SPEAKER_01]: It could be the the the desirability of it from a tourism perspective.
24:55.966 --> 25:00.395
[SPEAKER_01]: I always like to ask the question and for those that are listening, what can I control and what can I control?
25:00.595 --> 25:05.104
[SPEAKER_01]: And there's one thing that I've learned and I don't know about you Naomi is you cannot control the market.
25:05.766 --> 25:08.371
[SPEAKER_01]: You could participate in the market, right?
25:08.792 --> 25:16.287
[SPEAKER_01]: You cannot control it and I think I think that's very, very obvious for people but I think a lot of people try to control markets.
25:16.418 --> 25:21.508
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and I think oftentimes too, it's like let the market work in your favor.
25:22.109 --> 25:31.627
[SPEAKER_00]: So for example, knowing the market that you're in Liz and Pennsylvania, a lot of the Northeast has very tight building and zoning regulations.
25:31.727 --> 25:36.035
[SPEAKER_00]: So to do a new construction project, there's not a lot of them out there, right?
25:36.175 --> 25:38.680
[SPEAKER_00]: And that comes back to knowing your market.
25:38.660 --> 25:40.764
[SPEAKER_00]: And how the fundamentals work.
25:40.784 --> 25:55.750
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, if there's a lot of supply, then sure the demand is going to go down, but you can go confidently to do that new construction project because you know that demand will be there because there's not a lot of other projects that are going to compete with you.
25:56.151 --> 25:58.896
[SPEAKER_00]: So let the market work in your favorite in this case.
25:58.876 --> 26:12.778
[SPEAKER_00]: It's working in your favorite that there's really tight zoning and building restrictions because then the demand is going to be there and you're going to lease up just like that because when you get your project done because it's you're letting it work in your favor.
26:13.058 --> 26:19.388
[SPEAKER_01]: So single family home, so we're going to sell it as a, as a, you know, as a property for a family, I think it's going to be like a second home.
26:19.448 --> 26:26.419
[SPEAKER_01]: That's about, um, assuming as my customers, a couple that lives in either Manhattan or Philadelphia is looking for
26:26.399 --> 26:33.930
[SPEAKER_01]: a property, a second home, on the river, and that's my projection of my customer that will be will be selling to.
26:33.970 --> 26:36.073
[SPEAKER_01]: We can do all the research, Naomi.
26:36.193 --> 26:37.515
[SPEAKER_01]: We can do all the fact finding.
26:37.575 --> 26:40.919
[SPEAKER_01]: I think women actually do very well with getting their ducks in a row.
26:40.979 --> 26:45.466
[SPEAKER_01]: It's rare that I talked to a woman in our community and she has no clue what she's talking about.
26:45.706 --> 26:46.307
[SPEAKER_01]: It's very rare.
26:47.429 --> 26:48.290
[SPEAKER_01]: It's actually the latter.
26:48.310 --> 26:50.072
[SPEAKER_01]: They actually know what they're talking about.
26:50.092 --> 26:52.035
[SPEAKER_01]: They know they've done the work.
26:52.015 --> 26:56.820
[SPEAKER_01]: Yet, what stops us from taking action is the trust, really trusting ourselves.
26:57.241 --> 27:17.723
[SPEAKER_01]: So for you, as you continue to, I know you're evolving into a development, land development, a lot of different strategies right now, what do you do for yourself, maybe it's a way of being maybe something that you do, maybe it's a thought process, how do you continue to trust yourself in taking the right next step?
27:17.743 --> 27:20.706
[SPEAKER_01]: How do you personally do that on your journey?
27:20.686 --> 27:28.054
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I'll tell you what, we recently bought an industrial building and I'm a commercial realtor by profession.
27:28.114 --> 27:30.957
[SPEAKER_00]: So you think I wouldn't know the fundamentals, right?
27:31.017 --> 27:31.778
[SPEAKER_00]: No problem.
27:31.798 --> 27:34.081
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll go out by an industrial building.
27:34.721 --> 27:41.268
[SPEAKER_00]: Even I, I with all the data, I knew I knew the facts, like I know the market.
27:41.649 --> 27:43.211
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, this is a great investment.
27:43.311 --> 27:49.157
[SPEAKER_00]: Even I was nervous about pulling the trigger and going forward with it because it was something I hadn't done before.
27:49.137 --> 27:58.188
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think it's just as a matter of practice, like recognize, when you're doing something, you're not familiar with, it's gonna feel uncomfortable, and you gotta push through it.
27:58.448 --> 28:08.501
[SPEAKER_00]: So personally, in my mind, I always want to be doing things that I am not comfortable with, just because I know that's where the growth happens.
28:09.061 --> 28:16.090
[SPEAKER_00]: Many years ago, I knew I was not comfortable doing public speaking, so I went out and joined a local Toast Master's Club.
28:16.070 --> 28:33.336
[SPEAKER_00]: which is public speaking organization that you're not familiar with and I repeatedly had to do public speaking and as a result started to get much more comfortable doing it because I made myself practice and go into that realm so just as a matter of practice.
28:33.316 --> 28:45.133
[SPEAKER_00]: doing things that you're not comfortable with, help to build that platform and start to give me the confidence of like, yes, I can trust myself that I'm making a good choice because I've done my homework.
28:45.294 --> 28:53.346
[SPEAKER_00]: I know my facts and I know this is going to be successful and then just having the confidence to go out and not like second-guest yourself all the time, right?
28:53.366 --> 28:56.851
[SPEAKER_00]: Because women we always do that or second-guessing and we got a let it go.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Girls, just let it go.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Trust yourself.
28:59.793 --> 29:00.254
[SPEAKER_01]: I love it.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And that's a really good advice because at the end of the day, we all do things that are uncomfortable for the first time.
29:08.306 --> 29:09.688
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, there's so many things, right.
29:09.788 --> 29:15.216
[SPEAKER_01]: And I thought I was done doing first quote on quote, but actually went, I went to play paintball.
29:15.577 --> 29:18.561
[SPEAKER_01]: My son had his 12, 12 year old birthday party.
29:18.541 --> 29:23.487
[SPEAKER_01]: And I wasn't gonna play, and then I'm like, well, okay, you gotta, you know, 15, 12-year-old boys in my husband.
29:23.507 --> 29:24.669
[SPEAKER_01]: My husband was will play.
29:25.089 --> 29:27.072
[SPEAKER_01]: And I did, and it was the first time I ever did that.
29:27.613 --> 29:28.474
[SPEAKER_01]: But I was uncomfortable.
29:28.914 --> 29:30.056
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you're like, that's weird.
29:30.076 --> 29:31.758
[SPEAKER_01]: I was uncomfortable playing.
29:31.798 --> 29:33.780
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't want to get hurt, you know, and I'm in my 40s.
29:33.820 --> 29:35.122
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, I don't want to get hurt.
29:36.244 --> 29:39.988
[SPEAKER_01]: And I, of course, I get shot by my husband, like the first time, like the first round.
29:40.008 --> 29:40.649
[SPEAKER_01]: I was going to kill him.
29:41.290 --> 29:48.379
[SPEAKER_01]: But my point saying that is, for those listening, take an action today from this episode,
29:49.034 --> 29:51.078
[SPEAKER_01]: that makes you feel a little bit uncomfortable.
29:51.259 --> 29:53.103
[SPEAKER_01]: A little bit of ahhh.
29:53.123 --> 30:07.414
[SPEAKER_01]: Because that muscle of doing things that are uncomfortable will help you tremendously in this business, making the offer, negotiating with the seller, negotiating with the bank, putting a deal together, going for,
30:07.394 --> 30:11.422
[SPEAKER_01]: that that property that you've always wanted to buy because of XYZ reason.
30:11.763 --> 30:16.953
[SPEAKER_01]: It all builds the muscle and I think what you're saying Naomi is that you continue what you're saying is very astute.
30:17.394 --> 30:23.867
[SPEAKER_01]: You continue to build your uncomfortable muscle so then when that new investment opportunity comes up.
30:23.847 --> 30:25.130
[SPEAKER_01]: it doesn't feel so scary.
30:25.571 --> 30:26.192
[SPEAKER_01]: It can.
30:26.293 --> 30:29.259
[SPEAKER_01]: We're talking how does paintball have any to do with real state?
30:29.279 --> 30:31.124
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, it's a muscle of feeling uncomfortable.
30:31.364 --> 30:32.006
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, it does.
30:32.447 --> 30:38.881
[SPEAKER_01]: From the sense of feeling okay with unknowns and okay with not knowing what is around every turn.
30:39.363 --> 30:40.084
[SPEAKER_01]: Do your research.
30:40.164 --> 30:43.071
[SPEAKER_01]: We're not saying not to your research and do fact finding, of course.
30:43.118 --> 30:45.522
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think women have a problem doing that though, honestly.
30:45.562 --> 30:50.110
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think that's what limits us as taking more control of our financial future.
30:50.411 --> 30:52.274
[SPEAKER_01]: It's actually trusting ourselves and going for it.
30:52.354 --> 30:54.177
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's the limiting piece.
30:54.197 --> 30:59.406
[SPEAKER_01]: So I love that you're doing that and you're doing it by putting yourself in uncomfortable spots.
30:59.555 --> 31:00.337
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.
31:00.357 --> 31:12.740
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, 100% women need to have the confidence that yes, you absolutely have it right and you can do that and just go out and exercise that confidence and be well and to get a little bit uncomfortable to do it.
31:12.881 --> 31:17.931
[SPEAKER_00]: So and and sometimes it's just simple things like what you said play in paper.
31:17.991 --> 31:22.339
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I make myself read a poem every night, which.
31:22.319 --> 31:25.906
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, sounds weird, but that's not really how my mind normally works.
31:25.926 --> 31:27.569
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not really creative person, right?
31:27.589 --> 31:39.130
[SPEAKER_00]: I like my spreadsheets, but just doing something that makes my mind work a little bit and kind of is not really used to doing that is helping to build that confidence muscle, so to speak.
31:39.481 --> 31:40.022
[SPEAKER_01]: I love that.
31:40.222 --> 31:41.343
[SPEAKER_01]: Naomi, this has been great.
31:41.483 --> 31:45.248
[SPEAKER_01]: Where can everyone listening learn more about you and follow you on your journey?
31:45.708 --> 31:46.990
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm active on LinkedIn.
31:47.050 --> 31:57.842
[SPEAKER_00]: You can find me there, Naomi Brown, and you can of course find information about the shoe house on our website, which is HainesHuehouse.com.
31:58.383 --> 32:03.008
[SPEAKER_00]: So you can check out pictures there if you want to look at some pictures and have some fun.
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[SPEAKER_01]: it is such a cool property.
32:04.431 --> 32:13.551
[SPEAKER_01]: I need to come visit you and the property at some point here in I only but thank you so much for being on and everyone listening do something with what you got from today's episode.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely, looking forward to seeing on your ladies in the future.