01 Jul Why I didn’t Create a 7-figure Airbnb Business

Why didn’t I create a 7-figure Airbnb business… I have always struggled with this question until today. 

People always asked me: “Why don’t you blow this out of the water and just go for it?”

There are a few different reasons to why. I’ll do my best to explain. For those that know me, I’m best motivated by a goal.

Reason #1 – Money 

I was never really motivated by money. 

Money can certainly help you buy happiness, but to me, it’s just a piece of paper. And don’t get me wrong. I would much rather have money papers than not. 

I knew deep down, my purpose in life is to figure out a way to help people, and not just operate a 7-figure Airbnb business.

When I analyzed my Airbnb business, I could only help localized people to find housing. Therefore, my reach was extremely limited because it was dependent on location and the number of properties that I have.

The thing about your Airbnb business is that Real Estate is a steady game with predictable income, and it’s not very exciting. Your income is directly tied to the number of properties you operate.

And to help thousands of people, it’d be really challenging to have hundreds of units at scale. I wanted an easier way to impact thousands of people.

When I got fired from my corporate job; I needed to figure out a way to replace my old salary. My goal was to reach $75k a year.

During my first year in business, I remember thinking: “Wow, I’ve made $12K last month.” And that was when I knew, I achieved my goal and could go on to create a business that will fulfill me more deeply.

And as of this year, I’ve doubled my business. We’re going to hit around $220 to $240k this year (just a little shy of the $250k that I had set for myself).

Reason #2 – A burning desire to help others

In August of 2017, I created Passive Airbnb (PA). I didn’t have any expectations going into it. My only focus was to create valuable and insightful blog posts.

The market had a few different Airbnb blogs, but none offered what I wanted to write about. That gap was the opportunity for me to help tens of thousands of people to start an Airbnb business.

Thinking back, perhaps that was the industry secret and insiders at the top didn’t want outsiders to find out about their “secret.”

I wanted to break down that barrier and inform people.

And do you want to know a big secret? Here it is.

Consistency. If you are consistent, then success is just a matter of time before you ‘make” it.

I wrote for 6 months and in that time, I struggled to gain any traction.

But I kept going. Until one day, my traffic hit a peak – I had close to 1,000 readers after I learned how to leverage Quora and Facebook Groups to generate readerships.

So, my work was slowly paying dividends.

You see, success is not complicated. It’s just hard. If you’re willing to do the hard work, you can be successful too.

And that was the day that I decided to double down and hire an SEO guy to help me grow my blog. Now, we have tens of thousands of readers per month and it’s growing consistently month over month.

With my blog, I’m helping tens of thousands of Airbnb hosts and entrepreneurs. This has made me extremely happy!

And guess what? 

I can do this anywhere and people can gain access to my blog from all over the world. I’m no longer restricted to a location (where my properties are).

I also have students from all over the world: USA (across 11 states), Canada, France, UK, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates.

I’m sitting cross-legged on a bench in the backyard of my Airbnb in Switzerland. This was all possible because I struggled and followed my deeper calling in life. 

Reason #3 – A burning desire to scratch my own itch

I fully automated my Airbnb business in February. It was kind of hard to hand over my reign to someone else.

But I had to learn how to train myself to emotionally disengage from my baby. Lifestyle was far more important to me. I get a new offer every few weeks to partner up but I always end up turning them down.

And I’ve probably turned down millions of dollars in potential revenue from partnerships that would lead to a 7-figure Airbnb business, but I’m completely okay with that. I want to live my life my way.

And what other Airbnb “experts” don’t tell you about hiring and managing is that it’s hard. And there are no courses that will teach you how to manage people.

The only way to learn is through experience.

I had to find an Airbnb co-host, train, manage and then pay her. The entire process took me about 3 months. And in the process of automating it, there were some pain points. 

I couldn’t find any solutions that catered to my problems specifically. And I know that other hosts who have co-hosts are definitely struggling with the same issues as well.

So, I’m working on a new tool to scratch my own itch and hopefully millions of other Airbnb hosts (I wrote a bit more about it here).

What’s next for me?

I’m really excited about this new tool so that’s what I’m going to work on for the next 6 months. You can expect an official announcement in the next few months. 🙂

Don’t worry, I’m not forgetting about this blog. This is still my baby and I’ve hired some help to run this blog.

We are also creating a couple of new courses later this year and will be releasing it early next year. So, if you’re on my email list, you’ll hear about it.

That’s all from me. Until next time!