Cold open

SPEAKER_01 0:00

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SPEAKER_00 0:27

Welcome to Live Let Thrive, a podcast about the Airbnb life, the share economy, and everything in between. Here are your hosts, Micah and Steve.

SPEAKER_01 0:39

Hello, hello, hello. And welcome back to another exciting episode of Live Let

Will Slickers returns to the show

SPEAKER_01 0:47

Thrive. What's up, Micah Man? I'm chilling, Stevie Stacks. How you doing?

SPEAKER_03 0:53

Oh man, doing great. We got a legend on the show today.

SPEAKER_02 0:57

Who we got?

SPEAKER_03 0:58

Uh, I forgot his name. No. Just kidding, Willie. Uh, we got this is episode first. Let me set it up. This is episode 206 of your favorite Airbnb VRBO, short-term rental, midterm, all that fun stuff. Podcasts in the world coming at you from Arlington and Fort Worth, Texas. And we got a special guest named Mr. Will Slickers joining us, man. Tearing it up in the hospitality industry, short-term rental industry, and podcast industry. We're gonna dive into all three of those things today. And welcome to the show. Will, how you been, man?

SPEAKER_04 1:32

It's good to be back on the Live Let Thrive podcast. That's for damn sure. It's been way too long, and I love listening to your guys' voice and seeing your faces. So thanks for having me back on.

SPEAKER_03 1:41

Oh, thank you so much, man. It's like behind, if you're watching the video, behind Will. Instead of you know the uh Galifonacus thing in between two ferns, you know, you got yes, between between two Ross paintings.

SPEAKER_04 1:53

So in between two, yeah, in between two frames, I guess, if you want to call it.

SPEAKER_03 1:59

Got the gold on there, yeah. The golden boy. What's up, man? How you been?

SPEAKER_04 2:04

Dude, busy but good. Um, so as you guys know, we talk a lot more often

The maybe-Miami move and four years of podcasting

SPEAKER_04 2:10

uh these days than we we have in the past, but it's been good, man. It's been a crazy what year or or so since we've last really chatted on the podcast.

SPEAKER_03 2:19

And yeah, well, 2020 lasted like five years, so I guess it's been feels like for sure.

SPEAKER_04 2:27

Really? You're moving to Miami?

SPEAKER_03 2:28

I heard you're moving to Miami. Is that true?

SPEAKER_04 2:31

Uh maybe not letting the cat out of the bag just yet, but uh no, I I definitely like Miami. Uh, want to go out there a lot more often, and you know, my lease expires in October, so the opportunities are endless. Then you just move. I just moved, yeah, yeah. But like COVID was like five years, but 2022 has been like a day and it's already halfway through.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

So it's I know crazy. It's super crazy, man. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_04 2:58

A lot of stuff going on.

SPEAKER_03 3:00

So give us a little uh a short uh reset of of who you are and what you do, man.

SPEAKER_04 3:05

Yeah, well, uh, for those who haven't heard my first episode on Live Let Thrive, uh, the best Airbnb, VRBO, mid-term, long-term, short-term, whatever kind of term podcasts you want to get into. Uh I uh I'm Will Slickers and I have uh got my career started within hotels, but then within hotels, I got exposed quickly into short-term rentals, Airbnb, that type of stuff. Um but out of boredom and wanting to learn more about the hotel industry and the world of travel, I started a podcast and was able to take it full-time in December 27th, 2019. From there, COVID hit and was a whole lot of uh confusion to work through, but we still made it. And uh March of 2022 marked four years of running the podcast total. Um, and we launched a podcast network called hospitality.fm, which I'm happy to say this podcast is a part of the family. So it's been again just a crazy, crazy year, but that's kind of me in a nutshell, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_03 4:06

I said, I remember something that you did say on the on the first time you hopped on our show. You said that man, y'all got a y'all got a great show. I mean, it hasn't replaced your income yet. And they're like, uh, you can make money doing this.

You can make money doing this

SPEAKER_03 4:19

I didn't do that conversation. And you're like, yeah, you know, I you you quit your job from doing podcasting. It's like, holy shit. So when you came up, when you came to us with that, what you starting your network and you're gonna get us paid and all that. I was like, Yeah, hell yeah, let's do this, man. It's slick willy all the way.

SPEAKER_04 4:34

Yeah, well, it takes a lot of work, uh, for sure. It's it's like I wish it was as instant as a lot of people think it is, uh, from like seeing other networks, right? You have Barcel Sports, you got Gimlet, you got all these other networks that are like, oh, we signed so-and-so, and they made a million dollars. And like, I that's fuck. I wish I could do that. Um, but uh, we're not in that position, obviously. But the the long-term goal is to really just show that the creators like yourselves um and others around the world that we've seen, uh, I think the network's almost at 30 podcasts total right now, within five months of being legit. Um, and it's like, okay, let's show the world that this voice of hospitality, short-term rentals, professionalism within this space, whether it's tech, operations, cleaning, you name it, like we're gonna show that this voice can be amplified through through a network, which is is the power of numbers. So yeah, it's uh crazy to go into and like think about. Like, I I would have never guessed that four years ago when I started doing Slick Talk as a kind of a boring, you know, passion project that we'd be here. So it's just a blessing and really cool.

SPEAKER_01 5:43

For real, for real. So hey, man, like so. Outside of the podcast stuff, are you still in this STR space?

SPEAKER_04 5:50

I'm not out, that's for sure. Uh, I'm definitely not as in if uh that makes sense with the operation. So uh we have a company called Recreation Vacation Rentals um out in the Pacific Northwest. Then we have uh so we have properties out

Handing the vacation rental reins to a co-founder

SPEAKER_04 6:04

in Washington State, we have a property out in Florida near Orlando, and um I kind of gave the reins to my co-founder. We were, you know, hey, let's split everything. You take on owners and growth, I'll take on operations and marketing or whatever that may look like. And we had a good 50-50 split, but he saw as the network um took off uh unexpectedly too. Yeah, I thought it was gonna take a lot longer to get it to that point, but um as that started to get more busy and start consuming more time, uh, he and I had a really good heart to heart on like, all right, my passions with audio. Uh, I love doing the podcast stuff. Um, I'm not against vacation rentals. It's not like I'm leaving the industry. Uh, I'm just doing a lot less, and I'm really more or less like, hey, you take this as far as you can get it, and I will just be here to help in any way or form uh that I can. Um, and that makes sense. So, yes, that's kind of the the place that we're at.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Graduated, you're the STR uh podcast spoke person, man.

SPEAKER_02 7:03

Congratulations. There we go.

SPEAKER_04 7:06

So yeah, I'm no longer no longer doing housekeeping calls at you know six in the morning or whatever.

SPEAKER_03 7:12

So now I wonder how that works because you know, I um I have a partnership, you know, my my partner Frederico. We have our our um our districtals together and we're doing you know pretty big things. And I often wonder how does that work when let's say, you know, my true passion, you know, is music and art and stuff like that. And let's just say this thing keeps rolling, it's able to pay us a good, you know, a good amount of money and and and the podcast as well. How like how do you how do you have that conversation with a partner saying, okay, you know, I I kind of got this other thing going on, I want to be a part of this. You know, is it is it it's not fair to say I still want 50-50. I mean, how do you because I imagine something okay? You get 75 of the profits, you know, we started this together, 25. I get 25, and I'm more, you know, if you need me kind of deal. How does that work?

SPEAKER_04 8:01

Yeah, and it kind of happened just kind of like that. It's it's one, it had a lot to do with it myself internally. I had to kind of have that conversation inside, like, okay, like I have two kids. I always look at that Elon Musk integrity, right? Like, he's got SpaceX, he had Tesla, and he only had 18 million dollars left. And he had to decide do I put it on to Tesla and make sure it guarantees survives, or do I put the 18 million into SpaceX and guarantee that it survives by doing that and risking that one is gonna die, one will die, or do I split it and take the risk of 50-50 and they both could die? Right? So that's a big uh like question that went through my head. And granted, I'm no Elon Musk, I'm not investing 18 million dollars into a company because uh wish I had that kind of money, but um in my head I kind of had that conversation, okay, like what child, and I hate phrasing as a father child situation, but like more or less like what baby of mine that I've created and have had tons of passion and uh you know joy creating, what one do I spend that time with? What one am I gonna make sure either lives or do I take the risk and see what happens with both and risk losing them? Um, and for me, it just kind of came down to you know, what makes me the happiest? Where do I see myself always thinking? You know, you can kind of just pick on on some self-awareness stuff. Um, and for me, it was just the podcast, you know. Granted, I'm still doing my two shows, but the amount of time I'm putting on to my two shows is not as much time and energy as I'm putting into the network and to getting the right platforms and the tools and the structure and you know, talking to sponsors and creating the the pricing and doing all the other stuff that really goes in behind the scenes. And um recreation for me was kind of like not an inconvenience, but when I did get that call or did get that text from housekeeping or from maintenance or from an owner, it was like, oh man, I just don't literally have the time. I'm in meetings all day, or I have this, or I have that. And um and so you know, realizing that not to ramble on, uh, but I talked to my my partner, he also has a podcast as well. So he it's that kind of side of things, which is really great because we can empathize with each other a little bit. Um and you know, he's like, Look, my podcast isn't as you know, busy it it's just it's a fun project for me to have. It's a great, you know, creative outlet, but this is my baby as well as much as it is yours, and I have nothing else going on outside of this. Like the podcast is fun, but it's not paying my bills. So let's let's talk about what does this look like. And we just were honest with each other. You know, this is the biggest thing getting into a partnership is like making sure that you guys know each other and you know yourselves because I think when it came to that conversation, there was no bad blood. Like we were able to, like, all right, we're gonna switch our weekly call to uh bi-weekly to monthly and just see what happens and and go from there and just trust that you know things are going and we check up and reach out when we need help and communicate when we need event and like just have a genuine conversation. And it's been great. Like I couldn't be more thankful for his openness uh and and receptiveness of like understanding that he's losing a

Giving up equity and rewriting the partnership

SPEAKER_04 11:21

partner in the sense of having to take on more work and still, you know, a startup. Like you're not we're not making book bucks to pay a nice salary as a rental management company. So um, you know, that's uh you know, I'm super thankful for him to be willing to do that.

SPEAKER_03 11:37

And and without going into like the exact numbers, does it change the whole dynamic? Does it, I mean the percentages and all that change?

SPEAKER_04 11:42

Oh, yeah, yes, definitely. Yeah. So we had that talk. It's like, okay, what's my workload look like? What does my role look like? Um, it is more becomes like an advisorship um rather than uh an operator or COO as I was. Um and so yeah, I I gave up some equity and but we talked about okay, like so. Once taxes are done this year, we we closed out, you know, 2021 and all that stuff. Um, you know, let's look at the profit if there was any. Let's talk about a split. And then from this moving time moving forward, we'll talk about what does that look like again in the future? Does it mean, you know, so we had to do uh um, I think it's an addendum or amendment, one of the two, uh, onto our partnership agreement. So stating that, you know, I went down to 25%. Uh, I was no longer getting 25% of profit from revenue, but more or less from payout at the end of the year. Um, all these types of things. And we just kind of went into it. You know, we'll we put in um my new meeting time. So, like, hey, we're gonna meet once a month or bi-weekly, whatever that schedule looked like. Um, still be involved with advisor meetings because we have two advisors um from within the industry that we meet with once a quarter. Uh, so still doing like some of the big decisions, you know, technology. So if we change to tech stack or like all this other stuff, you know, being involved in that conversation, but the day-to-day pretty much just was uh wiped off my plate.

SPEAKER_01 13:06

Yeah, that's what's up, man. So it sounds like you're really growing in this uh hospitality str industry. I'm loving that, man. So question. So do you still do you listen to all the podcasts, or do you just kind of manage it all, make sure it all gets out there? Um, so that's the thing, it's really hard.

SPEAKER_04 13:24

Uh, I don't want to say I don't listen

Trust but verify - listening to 30 shows

SPEAKER_04 13:26

to them because I do like I I I try, I I'm a big believer in trust but verify. So, like we have a team taking care of a lot of the podcasts, right? So I want to make sure I just one, I like you guys, I like a lot of the podcasts. Actually, I can't say I like a lot, I like all the podcasts. Um, there's a spurt, there's like a certain reason why everyone that's on the network is on the network, if that makes sense. Um, so yeah, I'll listen to a couple of episodes every week, just kind of like picking from the bundle. Uh, and it's nice because like I get a sneak peek before anybody else gets to hear it go live. Um, so it's it's really cool uh with that. But my big, my big uh mantra or saying is trust but verifies. So do I listen to it all the way through? Do I listen to every week consistently? No, I don't have the time. Uh I do bookmark a lot and like on weekends when um working out, or if I'm picking up you know some extra work that I need to get done on Sunday, I'll put one on and and just try to. But there's it's dangerous, it's a dangerous thing because like podcasts like yours, man, like it will make me stop working, and that's the thing. I'll like I'll stop and I'll be like, I'll have my pen and paper there. And I'll be like, okay. So like it gets a little distracting. So I'm like, okay, I have to kind of pick and choose my battle sometimes with that. But have you? It's good.

SPEAKER_02 14:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

Have you noticed any like hot topics throughout all the podcasts right now? The things that are really going on in the STR space that everyone's talking about.

SPEAKER_04 14:53

I think the the one thing that I'm seeing from all the shows is come is getting more real estate heavy. I'm noticing a lot of people are talking about taxes and real estate and the investment and ROI uh rather than the management and the cleaning. I think the like it's cool because you can kind of see that short-term rental operators are now evolving from operators. They're no longer just worrying about cleanings and turnovers, they're more worried about the growth of their portfolio. What does that contract uh value look like to their brand on top of the resale or the sale of a of a property um type deal? And that's one thing I'm seeing uh uh a lot of the same guests, if that makes sense. Not that everyone's kind of grabbing from each other, but you can tell guests submit their like inquiry to multiple shows, and then just so happens that everyone's got availability, so they record and then they all seem to go out within like a month span of each other. Um, so I've seen like Johan uh Weiss on the on multiple shows. I've seen a lot of different uh rotating people, but it's like okay, there's a theme, like like Johan. Everyone's kind of yeah, yeah, Johan's good. We have an important question.

SPEAKER_03 16:00

Yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER_04 16:01

Yeah, no, go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 16:03

We have an important question, Matt. So as being as as we've done over 200 podcasts already, um things come up. We find out that past guests stuff happened with them, and

When a past guest goes bad

SPEAKER_03 16:16

we might want to, you know, might not want to have that podcast anymore. How do you how do you approach situations like that, you know, where you have to go back and say, maybe we should pull this one? What do you how do you what's the best way to do that?

SPEAKER_04 16:28

That's a really good question. I've actually never had that kind of come up.

SPEAKER_03 16:32

Uh we had uh Donald Trump on, so we were wondering if we should pull that. Definitely don't pull that one. Will's like, don't pull that one, man.

SPEAKER_04 16:41

That's fucking no, no, no. Yeah, no, it's uh uh see that's the thing, and it comes back to the kind of like the earlier conversation of self-awareness, slash like what where does it fit within your moral standpoint? Like, if you hear like a guest, like it depends on like maybe the situation too. But my thing is like metrics and numbers are all good, like love that love to be metric focused. Um, but there's a there's a poison and a danger with that because you can become too metric and too number focused, and then you forget the quality of content to keep the nature of the show, the qual like the nature of yourself, and you kind of become numbers focused. I have a hotel owner that I worked for was all about the numbers, you didn't care about the guest experience, didn't care about the team experience and the operations, just cared about the revenue, the numbers, and that that's a toxic place to be in. Um, and so I think like you know, if I had a guest that was on the show and they started, you know, spewing off a bunch of random stuff and craziness, I think I would probably go to the point like numbers are great, love it, but at the end of the day, do I want my name and my brand and my association with that person? And especially like when you're on a podcast, like when you're interviewing people, like you guys are interviewing me now, you have to kind of be like very excited for them, like very involved. Like you're like showing that you care about this person and the things that they're doing. So at the end of the day, like that's your reputation. So I I wouldn't hesitate to delete uh an episode that had uh some some conflict of of uh moral moral grounds, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_03 18:15

Yeah, delete Will Slicker's last episode.

SPEAKER_01 18:20

I'll bet you let's say this guy scammed a guy out of a million dollars, but he has really, really high his episodes bring in like a lot of listeners. What do you think about that?

SPEAKER_04 18:30

I said delete a man, delete it. Okay. What you should do is get the guy he scammed on the show, get that episode to outrank called that stuff, and then delete his episode and talk trash.

SPEAKER_03 18:45

That's some clubhouse stuff right there next to me.

SPEAKER_01 18:48

Guess we gotta call Biden. No, but uh okay. I was wondering that's that's a good question, Steve.

SPEAKER_03 18:57

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's that's cool, man. So yeah, all the the dark side of uh podcasting aside. Um, so how okay, we got a lot of listeners on the show that are starting out, getting into the STR world, you know, they they're they're hitting us up, asking us for advice, anything. So, how would you, because you're the podcast guy, how would you um and they say, Well, should I start a podcast? How should I start a podcast? What should I do? And how will it I expect it to help my business?

Advice for starting an STR podcast

SPEAKER_03 19:24

What do you would what advice would you give them for potential podcasters who want to help their STR business?

SPEAKER_04 19:30

Well, I think if you're just getting in the STR, wait on doing the podcast, like get your feet wet, get a couple properties under your belt, have some fire moments where you're putting out fires all the time and you're kind of in that hectic host stage, right? Like I think um, you know, I started the podcast out of boredom, not knowing it, it would take off, but it still took two years of me being an operator. I was a hotel manager for two years until I was able to quit my job. Um, and you know, was at a higher management level than than most people my age were uh ever. So um I think like definitely get your feet wet, but if you're gonna start a podcast, uh I think again, I have seen so many people start a podcast because one, it was trendy in COVID, or everyone's got a podcast now, so why not? Why don't I? Um my biggest thing is like make sure you're gonna do it consistently. Uh that's the the big thing. I don't like the opportunity, you know, start something, didn't see the results immediately, so I quit and go on to the next. Um I think the the stat, what's the stat? Apple podcasts, there's all like 26% of Apple podcasts on that platform are duds, which meaning they got maybe up to one episode or they almost did 10, but then they stopped. And it's just wasted space on the platform now. So it's like okay, don't be that 26, right? Like be the 74 that actually is consistently being part of the knowledge base.

SPEAKER_03 21:04

I would venture to say uh it still drops off at 2550. There's probably still more drop-offs to get to that point. Yeah. So people that are get past 100 is very rare. I would think.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

Yeah, 100. I would think like, and I think that's one thing that kept us going. I think the short-term rental space got so trendy with Airbnb that it and then it branches off, right? Like how you said everyone's getting into real estate. You can branch it off into real estate, you can branch it off into management. There's so many things around it that is just a hot topic, man. It just and then once you think it's gonna die off, something else comes in. A new program, a new uh listing platform comes in. So I that's why I'm happy we chose this topic as our podcast because man, this is really, really helpful, really helpful.

SPEAKER_04 21:49

100%. And that that's the thing, too. Like, you're you're in a space that is just very like it's uh it's on rapid growth, like we're not slowing down anytime. Soon. You know, the only time that it can really shut down is government regulated, you know, type type uh shutdowns. So or or God forbid, not on wood, COVID uh mandate, you know, lockdowns and all that crazy shit. But um yeah, it's like the the podcasting space, like I think you know, we kind of talked about before even recording really is like it's start I started, I was just doing audio, I didn't care about video, and now it's turned into video. I didn't care about you know um quality, right? Like so I didn't think I needed all this equipment. I didn't need a ring light, I didn't need a 750 or a thousand dollar camera, I didn't need a 400 microphone, like I didn't need a chair to sit in to look all fancy sometimes when it comes to like all this stuff, but like it's just at the end of the day, like I think you the more you care about the content and the audience and the community, because like it it's crazy, dude. Like it's crazy to hear some of the stories that people will send you based off of just listening to your podcast once over a hundred times. So you build like a genuine connection with people, and um I think like it's been like not in a weird, I don't know how to describe it without sounding like cocky, but when you're running into people at conferences or whatever, and they're like Will Slickers or Micah or Stevie, and you've never seen their face, never heard their name before, and you're like, Who the heck is this? And they're like, Oh, I listen to your show all the time. That is like a weird feeling to experience. And so I think like just be aware that this thing isn't like it's not a local small town, like everyone knows each other uh within five blocks. Like you're meeting people from London, China, uh, Mexico, all over the world, like all over the United States, Canada, like a huge amount of my audience is in Canada. I'm like, I I've been to Canada like once. So, like, you know, hi everybody, like Germany or wherever these people are listening from. Um I was even watching some some numbers too, like India. I've never been in India in my life, but there's about like a couple hundred people listening to the show uh from India. So it's like okay, like so it becomes like really intense when you look at it that way. Uh, on like real people are really listening to your voice. Um, so I don't know if that makes sense for your for your question.

SPEAKER_01 24:22

I just like literally ran into that issue when I was uh I was at the uh Dallas STR regulations meetup and uh introducing myself to this guy, and uh we were all it's like only five of us who were pro STR and I introduced myself to this guy and he looks at me and he's like, Hey, you're the guy from the podcast. I was like, Yeah, yeah, he goes, You're Mike and he goes, Where's your partner Steve? I was like, he's not here right now, but yeah, it's so crazy that people know who you are. You're like, oh damn, you know, and he's like and he like started going into my backstory. I said, Are you still operating in Arlison? I'm like, that was your whole life, but it was crazy, you know. So yeah, and that's a real cool that's what I love about it as well, man.

SPEAKER_03 25:01

He's a rabbi, right?

SPEAKER_01 25:02

Yeah, yeah. And he was just like, Yeah, yeah. And he he like showed us the he was showing me his little guesty thing, and I was just like, Oh, damn, man, it's crazy. But yeah, man, it was pretty crazy.

SPEAKER_03 25:12

It was the cool coolest part of it. It it kind of like um, in a way, it documents our journey because like we started we started the I had a long time ago. Podcast just started. I started like a like a rock and roll podcast with some buddies that you know, kind of fizzled, and it was fun, it was fun as fuck, but it kind of fizzled out and um didn't do it for a few years and then got into the you know real estate a little bit, you know, started real estate investing, got in the bigger pockets, and uh that's where I met Micah. I met yeah, met him at a bigger pockets meetup that I that I hosted, and um he showed it was actually it was more of a yeah, it was more of a um stock meetup because I have some buddies that wanted to invest in stock from the stock market, and so Micah showed up, told us all about weed stocks he was investing in, and uh and then he said he told us about uh Airbnb. He's he's like doing Airbnb out of his house, he got a uh place in Arlington doing Airbnb also, and and I just I was fascinated. I was like, dude, we should start a podcast. She's like, uh what? You know, he he didn't really it's like this is that's weird, and I said people want to hear about this. This is cool. I'm blown away by it, and I want to try to invest in it, and so I didn't I didn't have any experience in it. Micah did. So we started our show, and Micah was telling all all about his experiences early, early on, you know, and and um and that led me to I was like, man, well fuck, I gotta we gotta Airbnb podcast, I gotta do it, you know. So it made me jump into you know, I got jumped out of that house and turned it into an Airbnb and you know, all the trials and tribute. It made the show better, like you said. So I started doing every every fuck up imaginable, and which made for great. Every time I dude, every time I fucked up and did something stupid and let the wrong guests in, or this and that,

Invest in the equipment and avoid phone-call audio

SPEAKER_03 26:48

I was like, I'd be at the lowest point, and I'd be fucked this gonna just make for a good podcast. Just this is gonna make for a good podcast. So, but from there, I was like, this is so cool how we our journey started, you know, with the podcast. And it, if anything, if anything, it's documenting something we can look back at and laugh our asses off, right? And um, so I love that aspect of it. Now, now, you know, like I was like I mentioned earlier, people want to okay, I got a little Airbnb business, um, you know, got some bumps and bruises. I want to start a podcast, start telling people about it, start a you know, networking and the stuff like that. What are some what are the some of the biggest don'ts, you know, you would you would tell like new podcasters?

SPEAKER_04 27:28

Yeah, the biggest don'ts. Well, don't have the mindset that I did that you didn't like, not that you need to to show off or be flashy, but you know, invest in the equipment. Like you invest in your short-term rental business with the right tools, you you know, getting a property management software and having gas screening or noise devices or dynamic pricing, like you're already investing in that. Invest in the same thing for your podcast. Um, that way you're like I don't know about you guys, but I don't want to listen to a phone call conversation, right? Like, I don't want to sound like people are in my my ear as if I'm on talking on the phone. I want to hear clear audio, like where I can just have no distractions when my noise cancellation is on. I just hear your voice in my head. And um so I think you know, invest in the equipment, you know, take a couple hundred dollars and get a decent microphone, get get a decent um boom arm if you need it, or even a stand. Um, look at you know, um, there's a lot of good like kits out there that you can kind of look at. You can go just go to Amazon, like literally type in podcasting kit and kind of see you know price range and the equipment and all that set up. And YouTube's a good resource, you know. People explain how it all works and what pieces go together, and you can pretty much figure it out pretty quickly. You can call a pro like these guys and uh ask them what they got set up and you know how they do it.

SPEAKER_03 28:49

And you it's funny because like in the early days of of uh when I was trying to find good podcasts to listen to to learn about state, you know, and I just uh there was a lot of uh I guess I guess I don't know, I would say radio dudes or pitch dudes that would oh fuck, I'll start a podcast and then they'd do their podcast and uh learn about real estate and do this, do that, you know, had that radio voice and this and that. And I would listen to them a little bit and I was like, Man, I just but I liked, you know, for example, uh the realness that that bigger pockets was bringing across. It was just two dudes talking about you know, they're learning real estate trials and tribulations, bringing on people. And I like I was just gravitated more towards like the realness of some people doing podcasts instead of the hey radio guy here, and this is how you invest, and call my number and commercial, commercial, commercial, and call my number. This is I just like the podcast world, don't want you, motherfuckers. You know, I was like, we want we want that's what I loved about the podcast world. We we want real talk from real people that are really doing it that ain't trying to freaking sales pitch me, you know. That's that's anyways. That's that's I just wanted to get that out there before I forget.

SPEAKER_04 29:50

Well, I'm glad you said that because like the next part was that a lot of like COVID, a lot of people saw that,

Real talk beats radio voice every time

SPEAKER_04 29:56

like, oh, everything's closed. I can't do in-person stuff, and I can't go to conferences, I can't do this. How are we all how else are we gonna sell our software or our product? Or we're gonna create a podcast, everyone's gonna want to hear us pitch our product every five seconds on our show. It's gonna be great. And then we're gonna bring on our customers who were actually probably gonna pay or give some kind of discount to be on our show and to talk about our product. Oh my god, it's fucking genius! Well, no, it was the worst. Like, I saw so many of those fizzle out within months, if not weeks, of each other. Um, and the biggest thing I've seen over the last four years is that some of my shittiest audio quality podcasts actually have performed the best because the conversation was the most genuine, the most uh you know, insightful conversation. Like people really do care about the content. So my point of like point one, invest in your equipment. Because if you imagine the best, you know, my shittiest audio quality, uh, but had the best content episode took off. Imagine how much better that would have done with the better audio quality, right? Like, so just focus on really having that structure. Like, it's good to kind of have some kind of structure, whether it's you do a little segment in the beginning. I love your guys', you know, you live, let, thrive. So, like, that's great. Like, but like have have that ability to let your guys let yourselves ask the questions that you want to ask, be curious. Like, I oh dude, don't you just got me started on a whole whole thing. But like I I did uh I posted a clip in our like community slack channel that like the art of an interview, right? So um Alex, I forget his last name, he's one of the co-founders of Gimlet, talking about what is the art of an interview and how do you make an episode or a podcast uh more content rich by being a better interviewer? And he goes into this whole thing. It's like you're really listening more than you're talking. You're you're picking up on body language, you're picking up on tone of voice, you're watching eye contact. You can find that one time that your guest gets really,

The art of the interview

SPEAKER_04 32:04

really excited and kind of has like that. You kind of see them shift from the beginning. They're like, I'm I'm Will Slickers and I uh do this, this, and this. And then all of a sudden you got me excited, and now here I am going. They were able to carry that energy into a great conversation. Um, and so I think becoming the like the art of an interview is super incredible. Um, and like I I a hundred percent believe Steve, I see you do it all the time. You write notes, I see you write things down. Someone says something, you grab it. Micah, I see you do it too. I do the same thing. I have a black notebook right there on my uh computer stand, and it's filled with pages of questions. And you know, like I'll just use for an example, Andrew Kitchell said this. So, what does this mean? How can he break this down? Or can he say this more? Or can I pull this more information out of him? And it's it's really an art. Like, I don't know, you just got me excited. So, yeah, that's uh that's something I think is like the most important part. If you can become a better interviewer, listener, and podcast host where you're asking the questions that more likely your audience is thinking as they're hearing, uh, yeah, you're gonna nail it.

SPEAKER_01 33:07

So yeah, that's like Steve's thing right there. That's why I always have to have Steve. Steve always, he's the he's the question guy. He's like, this, this, this, this. I'll be like, oh, hell yeah. That's why I can just take the notes. Now, now, how do you like to get let's let's say someone starts an SDR podcast and they want to come into your network, how do you vet those podcasts, right? Like, do they need to have a certain number of episodes or

Vetting podcasts for the hospitality.fm network

SPEAKER_01 33:28

do you vet their quality, or how do you go about doing that?

SPEAKER_04 33:31

Yeah, a little bit of both. Um, so we kind of created a a little like HFM standard guide. So it's like we ask that everyone's had at least a minimum of 10 episodes, um, unless they're starting a network with us, and we already know that they have that reputation in the space. Like, so uh I won't say her name, but we are assigning a pretty big podcaster. She's had a podcast, she's leaving another company, and she's coming on brand new with us, like brand new show, Clean Slate, everything. How do you got it? How'd you know? She's yeah, she's joining us. It's crazy. Uh literally. Um, but like normally we want to do that. We want to just like all right, let's just create a brand new podcast with someone that we have no idea who they are, what they talk about, what their missions are. Um, but she's uh obviously got the reputation, she's got the following, she's been uh well experienced, so that's different. But um, anyone that's already had a pre-existing podcast, like using you guys for example, it was a no-brainer to be like, yeah, all right, I've heard your guys' content before as a listener, I've been a guest, I know that you've way past the 10 episode mark, and I know that you're not just here to sell like that at the end of the day. I think we've kind of uh realized who who's like a real, like who's a wolf in sheep's clothing, I think is the term. Uh and they're really just about themselves trying to promote their own material, their own books, their own products, their own coaching, whatever it may be, rather than actually bringing value to a community. Um, and so for us, it kind of is like those tiers, like minimum of 10. Um, you know, are you are you past that point? Uh, do you have like a clear mission? Um, there's a whole like guide. I actually didn't send it to you guys, but I can give it to you guys um at the end. But it's a whole like kind of little criteria. And then uh the biggest thing that we like to communicate is that we do not own your show, we do not own your content, we do not control you or tell you who to talk to or what to talk about. That's the biggest thing a lot of networks get um uh shit on for is because like you know, bar school sports. If you saw the whole call me daddy thing uh or call her daddy um uh controversy where she left the bar school sports network uh due to money and content and direction and this, uh then she went on to Spotify. And um, I don't know what the terms are of that agreement, but more likely she probably got a little more freedom. Um, but she probably has to make a certain uh amount of content per per week for a month. Um so we want to get rid of that. We want to take away the cons. Um the big thing that we asked all the shows like yourselves is like, hey, consistency. Like if you publish every Tuesday at 5 a.m., keep publishing every Tuesday at 5 a.m. Don't stop. Um, you know, that's uh a big kind of like criterion, Mark. We don't want to um, you know, again, we don't want fizzle, we don't want people to get really excited and big and then just kind of drop away. It helps the the network as a whole when everyone is contributing. You know, I'm still doing it weekly. We have our one show every Monday, we have my show every Friday or Wednesday, and then you know, I do bonus episodes on Friday or Saturday if I have the the inventory. So um, you know, trying to lead by example in that direction. But yeah, I don't know if that answers your question uh all the way through, but there's a couple couple little uh critiques there, uh or not critiques, but standards.

SPEAKER_01 36:55

And that was one thing. Oh, real quick, that was one thing. Like when me and Steve started talking about the hospital in New York, I'm like, man, because you know, me and Steve, we're very uh kind of, I guess we're not professional like the other people, you know.

SPEAKER_04 37:06

So when he was like, we literally have a we literally have a podcast called the No BS short term in the podcast. So you're yeah, you're good. I got yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:17

But there's a lot of BS on there though. I'm just gonna yeah, because I'm like when Steve said it, I'm like, man, they want us.

SPEAKER_01 37:23

I'm like, have they listened to our shit? Steve was like, Yeah, yeah, that was something we have to interview. And I'm like, Oh, we never politically correct. We're not yeah, Will was like, Yeah, he goes, If you guys cuss, do your things. I was like, Oh man, it was a no-brainer, man. So yeah, definitely thank you for inviting us.

SPEAKER_04 37:39

But uh, because yeah, we were like, we'll probably never get picked up, but someone took the it's just like it's like I like you guys as uh as guys, like just getting to connect with you off screen. Uh, like you guys, like that's the thing. Again, it comes down to who like who's a wolf in sheep's clothing and who's a real sheep. Like if you guys are really genuinely caring about the network and not the network of like the podcast, but like the network you guys have built through your show, the the network of operators around the world that are genuinely going through the same stuff that you guys are, but you're just vocalizing it with the record button next to you, right? So this is super important, and I think you know that's that's where we get really passionate about is like, okay, why would we ruin any of this by putting our you know two cents or um you know hiccups and and other things in into in between when really if we just take away pain points, what do you love doing the most? Sitting behind that desk and behind that microphone, hitting record and publishing and promoting, like that's that's the best part. So, how can we power the rest and also help you grow along the way by monetization, by giving you better tools and and uh products or resources, or you know, even deeper analytics? If we just made the move to a megaphone, um, so it's like you know, how can we understand the audience better? Help you understand the audience better so you can keep doing what you're doing. Um, that's where we get excited, and that's where we kind of find found that you know, uh, that um uh sight hands on Gretel. What's the uh the porridge? Like too hot, too cold, just right.

SPEAKER_03 39:14

Oh, little Red Riding Hood?

SPEAKER_04 39:16

Is that what it or one of the uh we don't know we don't we're short-term middle people, we don't know what the elder we don't know our uh fairy tales or analogy is very good, so yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:31

No, I I guess and like you said, it it is about. I mean, if I could give advice to podcasters out there, we got in it because we were just curious as fuck, you know. It was a brand new industry, so you know we we've been doing this like five years. It's been like a brand new industry, and I wanted to learn about it. I was like, Well, shit. I was like, who do we ask? Who do we talk to? This is before everybody that's done, you know, has one Airbnb as a coach now. You know, it's it's it's a lot of bullshit, a lot of bullshit out there, and so we started, um, well, let's see who has cool Airbnbs, and then we'll send them a message. You want to be on our podcast? So, like it was like early on in our one of our first 10 episodes. We had uh Peter Behooth, the treehouse guy is the number one for Airbnb in the world. I think it still is, but anyways, so we just I found you know, went online, Google found him, found his phone number. And hey, you want to jump on our podcast? Who are you guys? Okay, yeah. And he came on and he just fucking you know went scorched earth on Airbnb. So it was an interesting, we're like, holy shit, you know, everybody's only been talking good stuff about Airbnb. And um, and he just went scorched earth on how they did him wrong and this and that, and and putting you know, putting his pictures all over the place, and and they're taking money from. I mean, it was like, whoa, you know, what did we get in here? But then that just helps me like more curious. I'm like, so there's another side to all this stuff, you know. So we just jumped into it because we wanted to learn the industry and then share what we learned with other people, and it's I mean, it's brought us a lot of money and indirectly as far as like connections and then you know, working on deals with people, meeting amazing people, and the networking aspect is is freaking phenomenal. But that's just from us being real and being, you know, being ourselves and and just being curious. We come on here, we don't try like we haven't tried to pitch products and stuff like that. We just want to learn from the our guests that come on, you know. And then me and sometimes me and Micah would just have some beers and just bullshit and talk about our week, how everything you know went, what all went wrong. And I said, everybody, you know, a lot of shows just talk about all the good stuff, right? And we've and we going into real great detail in and all the bad stuff that's happened to us, you know, and all of our all of our losses. And and if you go to like you said, Clubhouse or a lot of the podcasts is just you know, this is well, I'm doing amazing. I'm a millionaire. Win win win win win. You know, that who the fuck what does that help anybody?

SPEAKER_01 41:47

Write an ebook after six months, raise tackle, man. No, but not it's horrible.

SPEAKER_03 41:54

That that's it, man. And then those uh, you know, what's it called? Mother Nature will take care of them and wash them, watch them to the side, I mean, because people will feel business, you know.

SPEAKER_04 42:03

It's uh business karma, as one of my other guests I had on my show recently say, She's like, you know, what you what you do in your business will come

Batman Unburied dethrones Joe Rogan at 11 million downloads

SPEAKER_04 42:12

back to you. So um, if you're one of those guys who has one Airbnb, writes an ebook after six months and gets uh become uh a global speaker at all these random conferences that have nothing to do with their industry, uh great, go do it, you know. Um, but guess what? It's gonna come back to bite you in the ass. So uh I think like the one thing or uh I love what you said, Steve, too, is like, you know, this is us just being curious, and it's such a like hard. If you uh I don't know, this like people that aren't podcasters or they're not in the industry. Have you ever told stories of some of the guests you've had on the show to someone that has nothing to do with what you guys do, and they are just blown away? Like, what how did you meet this person? Like, I met them on LinkedIn, I connected with them, I reached out, asked them a couple of questions after they want to be on my show, and they said, Yeah, and I got an hour's worth of killer content, and now we're friends, and I'm meeting up meeting up and put them in Nashville to grab a couple beers to to talk more, hang out, or whatever. But that's the craziest part about it, is like the the uh friendships you build from this thing. I'm I would be surprised that for me, like personally, if you know a lot of my past guests are still friends, like they're wanting to come back on the show, they're wanting to hang out or talk off record, they're wanting to like go into deep things deeper, uh, learn you as a person rather than just like kind of milk your audience and whatever that may be. So it's it's really cool. Like I I never expected that part to be the part that was like the most unexpected, but also the most valued. So yeah, I'm crazy.

SPEAKER_03 43:48

It's powerful stuff, man. It's um it is cool the people you you meet from this, you know. And and just um it's a lot easier to to what's it called, jump into the DMs when you say, hey. Gotta you know, hop on my podcast, you know. It's uh it's a lot easier than saying, Hey, um, how do you do Airbnb? You know, just hop into the podcast and Brian Chesky hops on the show, and there you go. And um, but it is it is a great icebreaker. And and so I do, I do if you have a passion for you know just learning, just just knowledge and just uh and and and hey, perhaps networking, I would I would suggest looking into starting. And and where do people how would people start off to start off getting their own podcast?

SPEAKER_04 44:30

Uh yeah, you can do a couple things, it just depends on how you kind of want to do it and take it. Um, anchor.fm is a free tool. Uh if you're you know tight on on budget, but if you're looking to really scale with something and and really grow a show rather than just like a podcast, I think you know, getting into bigger platforms um that host and distribute and give you analytics and um you know, buying the equipment, uh starting off with you know, uh reading like all these hosting platforms have content and blogs on what does it look like to form a podcast? How do you structure it? How do you edit? How do you do this? Like it's all there. So I think really the the big thing is just start um Googling, just Google podcasts, how to start one, figure it out, what do you like, what do you not like, listen to shows. Um, you know, I'm by the big question I always get asked for podcast stuff is like, oh, what's your favorite industry podcast to listen to? It's like, well, I listen to a lot of them because one, we're all networked connected, but then two, like sometimes mentally I like to just not listen to anything in our in our industry uh related at all because it it can be a lot when you live and breathe it, right? So uh I find like true crime podcasts that I can enjoy and really unplug, um, even though I'm not like a TV person, so I'm not you're not gonna catch me watching Law and Order or you know, all these like murder mystery stuff. Um, I'm not into that normally, but I found a really good podcast that does it well and it captures my attention, it helps me unfocus the other stuff. Um, the number one podcast in the world that's not Joe Joe Rogan anymore. Uh, he got dethroned recently uh by the um by those podcasts that's an original Spotify podcast in partnership with DC called Batman Unburied, and so it's a literal story podcast uh that was created within Spotify, uh, and it dethroned Joe Rogan recently off the the number one podcast, and they've only have three episodes out right now.

SPEAKER_01 46:29

So three episodes and you dethrone Joe Rogan.

SPEAKER_04 46:34

Yes, that's crazy. Okay, now as far as dethroned them, as far as as how how do you how do you uh define that well the the on the Spotify charts uh podcast, you'll see like what are the top performing uh podcasts from one to a hundred. Uh he's been number one for months, if not a year plus. Um whether he before he joined Spotify and and and uh during. Um, but this this show came out, the trailer dropped, and the day that the first two episodes were released, it uh did over 11 million downloads, and they surpassed Joe's uh downloadership. So like bumped him from number one to two right off the bat. So crazy.

SPEAKER_03 47:17

Is it gonna be just a limited run or what?

SPEAKER_04 47:20

Uh I I don't know how many episodes they're doing, but uh they're dropping every Tuesday and it's very well put together. Like I what I did is I put my uh my sleep mask on, so I like sleep with my eyes like eye blender, and uh I put in these noise cancellation headphones, I hit play, and I just like let the audio kind of create the visual for myself, and it was dude, it was good. Like they just did really well with the footsteps and the breathing and the the narration and the music and the sound effects, and like it was just like I felt like I was in a movie. So uh it was epic. But um a question for you guys, I'm actually kind of curious on uh in regards to like podcasting. If you like had one thing that surprised you the most, or

What surprised you most about podcasting?

SPEAKER_04 48:09

that you realized you enjoyed the most that you didn't think would catch you by surprise, or that you enjoy, what has that number one thing been with your guys' podcast in the last 200 plus episodes you guys have done?

SPEAKER_01 48:22

Surprised us the most. I'll let Steve start.

SPEAKER_03 48:27

Surprised us the most with the podcast, man. Oh man.

SPEAKER_04 48:32

I know I'm putting you guys on the spot, but I think I know mine.

SPEAKER_01 48:36

I'm genuinely curious. I think I know mine. Like, I'm gonna be honest. When we first started this thing, man, like we were literally had Steve's old microphones and pantyhose covering them, right? I'm dead serious. So I'm dead serious, so I didn't know old school. I love that. It's like he was like, hey, buy no pop filter, you know, you go now. I look back five years ago and I'm like, I didn't think we would have 200 plus episodes. Like, I mean, we you you know, you think it, but you just it's one of those things where you you're consistently doing something consistently, consistently. And it's like you look up and you're like, damn, we did 200 episodes of this. And now when I'm like at like a short-term rental thing and people know who I am, I'm like, damn, I that we consistency does pay off, you know, people know who you are. So I think that's the biggest surprise. And like, wow, we really grew it, and people know who we are. That was my biggest surprise.

SPEAKER_03 49:41

That is awesome. You know, the the I guess now that I got time to think of it when you when just listening to you explain it, man, Micah. And and and um, I guess the pantyhose got me, dude.

SPEAKER_04 49:51

I'm dying. Pantyhose, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:53

I would get I would get a clothes hanger and make a circle and put pantyhose on it, and then it would put in front of the because we listened to the first episodes of pop pop. You hear the popping and the kicking and the ticking. Yeah, anyway, that's back to I used to record in home songs and shit with my band, you know, I'm a fan. Anyway, so you learn things like that. Um, sure. Mike 96, still good, Mike. Anyways, um, so with the one of the most surprising things, the most surprising thing for me is just how much of a stress relief this is for me. Because I mean, I love the knowledge, I love the networking, the money it's thrown at us and everything. But just uh, I mean, after me and Micah is so you know, freaking busy, we got we're running short-term rental companies, we're running uh long-term rentals, we're we're buying real estate, we're doing all kinds of stuff. Renov, we got a renovations going on, we got handy. I mean, there's so much going on in this in this space, you know. And and but when we hit these mics, we hit record, we've i mean, sometimes we have to drag ourselves to the mics. I'm not gonna lie, you know, fuck and who are we and who are we interviewing this Wednesday? What do we but when we hit play, man? It's just like it's just like we just start talking about what we're passionate about, and we are passionate about this industry, and we and we talk it about, and you can't talk about this shit with people at work, they don't care with your spouse, whatever. They're like, Okay, I get it, you know, whatever short-term rentals, blah blah blah. Um, but and then if you someone finally asks you at work about it, and you start, oh, you start passionately talk about it, you just you just see their eyes glaze over, like looking into a blue ocean, right? They're like, Oh, but this case, okay, never mind. And and then, but here in this space, we're like we talk about other people that are passionate about this stuff. We get to unload, we get to ask fucking questions that we've always wanted to ask somebody. We can't ask nobody else. They're they're giving us this this knowledge, we're laughing, we're cutting up, we're having some beers, we're just I mean, it's just man, it's my happy place, dude. I didn't realize how how important someone needs something like that in their life, and and this is my this is my yeah, my um happy place, my mental space. I don't know. I I fucking love it, dude.

SPEAKER_01 51:55

You know what? Now that you said that, Steve, that is true. Like you you talk to somebody and then you talk to them and that the issues they're having, you're like, damn, you're going through this shit too. And it's like relief, it like relieves you. Like, oh, someone missed a clean two, and they showed up and the place was fucked up. Oh, how did you handle it? I'm serious.

SPEAKER_04 52:13

It it is, it's really stress-relieving, man.

SPEAKER_03 52:16

It's therapy, dude. Podcast therapy. It is serious.

SPEAKER_04 52:19

So I love that. And like, dude, that's the the I think Micah, you kind of said you said it yourself um before Steve was that when you look, put your head up, right? Like after you had your head down for a while and you see over 200 episodes, we're at 206 right now. Like, what you had like you've been in your happy space, just creating your content, having the conversations you love. Uh, I definitely gotta take what Steve's doing and have some beers while I do it. Uh, because that is the like every time I'm recording my show, it's like at seven in the morning. I'm like, shit, I gotta wake up. But uh at the end of the day, like that's the best part. And I think, you know, I don't know about you guys, but if you saw a big shift when COVID hit March of 2020, and then within pretty you know, let's say six plus months after the initial shock of oh my gosh, none of things ever gonna be the same. We're gonna have to, you know, do lockdowns, blah blah blah. Uh I don't know if you saw the the shift in obviously the big uh the the big resignation, right? Everyone started quitting their jobs and started doing this. Not because they had uh you know they didn't have a job just because companies were laying people off, it's because they realized they weren't fucking happy. They weren't happy, they were doing shit that they were told to do because of the expectation of other people in their life, whether it was society, and you know, everyone tells uh a young 16-year-old that you know, when you're 18, you have to go to college, buy a buy a house, get a career, you know, get married, have kids, have the dog, you know, go on vacation once a year, and that's it. Like that is one thing that happened to a lot of people, and then all of a sudden they realize I can do this shit while I'm on the beach, I can do something that's interesting and I'm curious about. I can go into a completely different industry and not have to spend 20, 30 years in a career that my parents had to do because that was the norm, right? Like my parent, my dad, uh he's uh been at Boeing for uh 28 years almost. I think I think it's like 28, 26. I give or take two years. Um but I don't know if he's happy. Like, do I does he enjoy doing that shit? I don't know, but the one thing I do see him enjoy is when he gets home and he's uh able to start messing around with dirt bikes with my brother or whatever, like that's where he becomes happy. So I I don't know in my head, I don't know if you guys saw it, but I've seen a lot more people make some drastic changes in their life uh and start doing things that make them happy. And for me, uh like you guys, the podcasts and creating

Myka quit his job six months ago after a pneumonia wake-up call

SPEAKER_04 54:51

the network and you know the power of audio um has been has been that, and I'm starting to think a lot of other people are doing the same thing. So I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 55:00

Dude, I left my job six months ago, man. I know what you mean. Like that these last six months, I got so much done. And then, like some some mornings, because I wake up at five, some mornings I'm done working at 12, right? I'm like, damn, I got the whole day I can spend with my daughter, my wife. My wife just left her job a month ago. So I'm like, man, you you know, it's so much freedom that you have. And and you know, and I left during the great resignation because you're right, man. You realize you aren't happy, man. I'm like, I don't get I don't I have to hurry up, rush to work, drop my kid off, drop my son off. I don't get to see him. Like, you come home basically by the time you pick your kid up, it's time for him to go to bed and get ready for the next day. So, yeah, man, it's just man, you're right, dude. I've you're right. People weren't happy. I definitely wasn't now, man. I'm I wake up reflecting.

SPEAKER_04 55:48

I didn't know that you just left your job six months ago. So when what was the can you tell the story a little bit? I did not know this.

SPEAKER_01 55:56

Man, dude. So in October, so I went to the hospital in October. Uh, I ended up having pneumonia and I got it from like some bad water or something. And when I was in the hospital, I was just sitting there and I'm like, and mind you, I'm in the hospital, I have pneumonia, no one can come visit me because all the covet shit's going on, right? So this is like heavy mid-COVID shit. My wife's seven months pregnant and she can't get there, so she has they won't let her up. So I'm in the hospital by myself. My son's worried, and I just sat there and I'm like, is this the life I want to live? Is this the life that I want to live? And say, okay, you work 40 hours a week. You, if you get sick, some you know, your kids are worried. And I just sat down and I'm like, what's stopping me from leaving my nine to five? And you can actually see it behind me. I don't know. I wrote down all my fears of what stopped me from leaving my nine to five. And then after I wrote down all my fears, I wrote down the solution to all of them. And then I was like, I can do it. Then I went back to work. I put my two weeks in, man, just been doing going ever since. Man, I was just like, and then I think I listened to Steve Harvey. He said, I forgot the quote. He basically said, If if you don't think he goes, the time to take that leap is now. He goes, because if you keep putting it off, you're just gonna have another excuse, another excuse, another excuse. And I was like, Man, I've invested enough in myself into this industry that I think I can do it. And I just took the leap, man. It's been going great.

SPEAKER_04 57:33

Dude, I just got chills. Like, that's that's like the uh that's the fucking magic behind this whole thing. I I don't yeah, I don't know if that feeling or that moment that you had could be expressed to anybody that hasn't experienced it, right? Like they haven't had that moment. And like I I I know there's you know, when you have that shift, like when you're working in a nine to five or working a job and you know you want to get out of it, like that that's that thought, that like seed that's sitting in your brain, uh, you know, whether you've left or not, or you're wanting to leave, you're thinking about it, or you have pulled the trigger, I whatever stage, it's just like there's something about that that just is without words for me. I just but that was that was awesome. I'm really excited that like unfortunate that it had to be in the hospital, but yeah, um but at the end of the day, like so cool, dude. That's so cool.

SPEAKER_01 58:32

Yeah, it was my wake-up call. I'm happy about it, you know. It was a wake-up call.

SPEAKER_04 58:36

Yeah, 100%. Yeah, damn. I got chills.

SPEAKER_03 58:40

Powerful stuff, man. Yeah, I'm on the precipice too, so I have a goal set this year of of hopping out. So man, I've I've those I have those epiphanies quite often, and they're happening more and more often. So I I I feel what what Michael's going through. I have a good buddy at my at my job just passed away, man, a few weeks ago, and he um yeah, it was some some kind of deal. He never got checked out. He just wanted to keep working doubles, making that money, getting, you know, work killing he fucking worked himself to death, man. I'm like, why? I mean, you got kids, you got a wife, you you spent most of your good time at work, you know, and that's just like man, if you can get out, if you if you if you can secure things and get everything in place, you know, and in a good spot, and it's it's hard, but man, yeah, you gotta you gotta you gotta just fucking make that leap.

SPEAKER_04 59:29

Yeah seriously. And there's nothing wrong with people that want to work a job and like have that career. Like, I think you know, it really like you Steve, you've gotten to experience a taste of having your own business and having that freedom. Micah, you are now experiencing that now within the last six months, and you know, all this stuff like so. People that really thrive and crave that that you know, I want to control my own life, I want to be able to be done working at noon or not work today at all, or go work in Mexico for a month, like I have that freedom, then great. But there's people that don't want that, and that that's totally cool. Uh, my thing is just like the biggest, the biggest wake-up call is like, are you happy? Uh at the end of the day, if it's a 20-year career at X, Y, and Z Corporation, great, do that because that's what makes you happy. Is it getting out of your job and starting a rent uh vacation rental business? Great, do that. Like, is it starting a podcast? Is it getting into you know stock trading or is it getting into dude? One thing I learned today is somebody is domain flipping full time, they just buy domains and they flip them. Like, what the hell? That's crazy. Like, if that makes you happy, do it. But yeah, no, that's you guys. I I really enjoy the the stories and like the the stuff that you guys are are doing. Like, this has been really cool.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:48

So, yeah, I like that. You're a good interviewer too, man. You're you're putting us on the spot, and that's what's cool, man. You asking the questions that dig deeper than just the regular, hey, you know, what kind of towels do you use or sheets? We yeah, that was early on days. And I even said in the early on episodes, I was like, Yeah, you know, this is our podcast.

Wrapping up with Will and the joy of audio

SPEAKER_03 1:01:06

Um, sorry, we'll I'm apologizing now because these episodes are probably gonna suck, but but we're gonna try to get better for you. I said that in the early episodes, I remember that shit, but um, but yeah, that's how you learn, man. You jump into something that you suck at, right? And then you get better at it. So there's no way around it, you can't just be a radio voice guy. Hey, buy my fucking book, you know. Anyways, so man, great episode. We just we just we just um I I know our our fans like to listen to and hear about the the short-term rental world and stuff like that. We bring that to them most every week. But this is a this is an important, important side of it, too, man. I I mean if you if you really want to get your voice out there, you think you you're curious and you have a passion for it, yeah. Start you go go go start your podcast and start and start in at least you get to meet people, interview great people like Mr. Will Slickers, and you never know where it's gonna take you where you're where the next guest is gonna take you. You might do some business with them, you know. That's what I that's what I love about this.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:00

100%. I agree. I couldn't have said better myself.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:03

Stevie Stacks, Stevie Stacks, Stevie Stacks, Money Micah, uh Slick Willy. So, yeah, man. So thank thank you for hopping on. Thank you. I'm so excited to be part of the uh the HFM, you know, radio network. Is that a radio network or podcast network? I'm sorry, podcast.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:20

That's okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:23

Man, I would just I wouldn't keep going on and on with you, but we talked about Batman Unburied, and you said, Yeah, oh, you put your the the things over your eyes, and you know, and you you're feeling it. I remember, you know, I go way, way, way back to audio tapes, you know, where you can check them out the library and stuff like that. My my stepmom, I don't know. Uh she lent me some, she had some tapes, and I was I was that's back when in college, man. That's how fucking long ago that is. And I was like, and I just one night I couldn't sleep. I said, I'll pop one of these tapes in, right? These cassettes, and it was interview with the vampire. This is before the the movies, right? And um, and so I I I listened to that, but but the way I mean these audiobooks, you've listened to audiobooks, but it's just like it's not just someone reading the fucking book, it's some you know, they had the music going on, they had it was like the acting, the performance, and I was like, man, this is so freaking cool, you know. And so that would the fact that they're making podcasts that that have that quality to them, man. Um that's exciting, that's an exciting thing right there. And um, I love audiobooks. Um, I don't know, what's auto? Do you do audible?

SPEAKER_04 1:03:23

I mean, I don't oh yeah, oh yeah, like any book that I I want to read, I I'm on Audible. Like Gary V just put it out 12 and a half. I'm listening or I'm reading a book called Super Founders, which I highly recommend. Um, it's also on Audible, but I particularly for some reason this book like with because it kind of goes goes into some data when it comes into like numbers and data, I like to read it, I like to visualize it um rather than hear it. So that yeah, any book though that I read or want to read, I just put on audible. I go to the gym, I work out. It's not pumping, it's not like oh, I'm so pumped for the gym. It's like I warm up on a on a treadmill, I listen to my book, and then if I need pump, I put on music. But most of the time I'm usually listening to a podcaster or uh or an audio book there.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:08

Cool, man. You said the the the founders or the was it the two founders?

SPEAKER_04 1:04:12

Yeah, it's it's uh it's called super founders, and it's uh Ali, I forget his last name. Um it's uh I'll I'll send you a link for the show notes for anyone that like they evaluate companies like Airbnb, Stripe, um, all these billion-dollar companies, and they compare it to um, you know, they find the similarities, the differences, and then they take this random group of 200 founders that haven't hit that billion dollar mark, that unicorn mark, and they do a comparison of the groups and like all right, like who's gonna be on track to become a billion-dollar company uh from this group? Or you know, what are the characteristics? Did they go to the same college? Were they a single child? Did they have a family? Did they uh what what nationality were they? Were they immigrant? Were they in tech? Were they in blob? Were they in this? Did they go to a certain university, whatever that may be? And they just analyze all of it, and it's super fascinating. Super fascinating.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:06

Reminds me of how I built this. I really love how I built this. That's a cool one. Um, and one more question. You saw the movie The Founder that got you going.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:14

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I saw that founder.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:17

He's an asshole. We screwed him over, but I just love the story how he built that shit. I don't know. That's that's uh I call it an entrepreneur porn, anyways. Anything anything to add to this amazing conversation, Micah.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:30

No, that was it, man. I really enjoyed this combo, man. This is a really good conversation. Uh, really enjoyed how you you're able to see the whole podcast, the str podcast from bigger scope from the mountaintop. You can see it. That's what I love. So, man, yeah, man. Continue to do what you do, select Willie, and uh we definitely thank you for inviting us on. So, we're definitely happy to be on the uh hospitality FM podcast network.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:55

What can people call you, bro?

SPEAKER_04 1:05:57

Of course, you can find me on LinkedIn, it's my Facebook. Favorite platform, so Will with one L slickers, or you can go to hospitality.fm and you can find out more about myself there through the contact or the about us page. So that's uh two places.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:12

Will with one L because he ain't taking two L's. I'll tell you that much. No way I lost once.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:18

I'm not losing again.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:22

Well, thanks, man. Thanks for hopping on. This is a great show. There's three dudes just passionate, you know, talking about shit they love. And so yeah, love you, man. Love it.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:30

All right, man. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:33

Later.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:34

Peace.

unknown 1:06:34

Peace.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:36

Man, that was another great episode, dude. That that was a really good episode, man. We didn't even really talk about shorts from real stuff. We talked about, you know, the podcast world around it, man. And uh yeah, he asked that was a good question he asked, you know. Like, what what was some most surprised us about this? And I was that that was after I look back, I'm like, damn, we we really have over 200 episodes, man. You know, it's crazy, man. I definitely didn't think we'd be here. And man, uh look forward to keep on going because it's been fun, it's definitely stress reliever. I think it actually helps us in the business side too, right? Because like you like other people going through the other same shit, and you know, you can release talk and then ask questions about it.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:15

And we're being real, we're being ourselves. It's not like we started it, okay. I'm gonna start this to help my help my business grow, you know. And a lot of people do that so people can hear about my coaching program or seminar or shit uh shit like that. No, we started it because we wanted to learn the industry, man. We wanted to learn about, we were curious about it, we wanted to be ourselves and just have fun conversations. And so we were real, and people love that. It's the number one thing people tell us when they meet us that man, we we'd like to how y'all keep it real, you know. All of our you look at our um the reviews on on oh, go go leave us a review, please. People leave us a review on on um on uh Apple Podcast. Um, but they say, you know, we this is they keep it real, you know. We love we love them, they ain't trying to sell us nothing, they're keeping it real, this and that. I love that. I love that's my that's my favorite feedback, man. And that's our most common feedback.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:00

I love that too, man. Matter of fact, the guy who was at the uh meeting in Dallas, he was like, You guys, you go in like the one guy, he's talking to us in a group, and he's like, You know, you guys are the only podcast that's short-terminal podcast I'm still subscribed to. I was like, damn, really. And he kept going in talking about us, and the guy across, he's like, You got to give this guy a shirt or something. He's like a major fan, man. So it was crazy, you know, that people really just follow your journey and you know and resonate with you. You know, you find the podcast that most resonates with you, and uh it's been fun and we love doing it, you know. And I love bringing guests on, talking about it, and you know, might have to pull some episodes, but I'd I'd rather, you know, I and I I want to do say I do want to say this to people that do listen to the show and that want to be on the show, come on the show from a place of you know, of your experience and like how and if you don't come on, if you're just doing this shit for a quick buck, if you're turning this into a business, then come on the show. That's what we want. People that want to do this as a business to help somebody, or you know, don't hey, let's set up this arbitrage and get you a one-bedroom, one bath, and we'll get all that bullshit, man. You know, like if you're doing this as a legit business and can help people that listen that want to get into it, definitely come on. And we know we we love to chop it up with you, you know, shoot the shit, and we can keep on, you know, keep on keeping on.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:19

Keep on keeping on shout out to the rabbi Mazatov. Um, shout out to Romy Rome. He still listens, man. He's still he started from the bottom with us, man. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:28

Romy Rome, he always hits me up on IG, man. Romy Rome's killing it, he's killing it, doing rehabs and everything. I was like, oh shit, Romy Rome, man.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:36

Yeah, travel nurse specialist, travel nurse specialist, Romy Rome.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:41

Romy Rome, man. Really, that's crazy. But yeah, man, thank y'all for continuing to listen, man. It's it's been awesome, it has been awesome. But yeah, definitely subscribe on YouTube and leave us a good review on uh on Apple Podcasts or wherever else, wherever you listen to podcasts, man.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:58

Yeah, keep spreading the word, spreading the love, and keep living, letting, and thriving. And we are out.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:05

Peace later.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:07

Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of Live Let Thrive. Be sure to tune in next week for all the latest in the world of Airbnb and all that entails. Bye-bye.