25-Year-Old Builds Empire! (You Won't Believe How)

Hi, everyone. Welcome to the Boostly Podcast. This is the podcast that gives the tools, the tactics, the training, and most importantly, the confidence for you to go out there and get direct bookings. We do a behind the host sort of focus and where we interview hosts from all over the world. You get to learn the tips, the tricks and the things that they've put in their business, which is working for them, so you don't have to go through the pains of learning like they did. You can pick up from this podcast and go and put those things in your business and just hear some cool stories from all over the world. So today we've got Chad Harker. He's the founder of Echo Escapes. He's a Airbnb super host, He's a real estate investor, and he's got properties which he's going to share with us today and experience, and so we're going to dive in. Thanks very much for joining us today, Chad.

Yeah, well, thank you so much for having me, Liam. I've been a longtime listener and big fan of what you guys are doing, so I'm really happy to be here.

Well, I'm really happy to have you here. And I know that you've got, you're a Boostly customer. You've got the Boostly website, I should mention, and that was one of the things which really we. You've got something a bit different on your website, which is the calculator, which we're going to dive into. But before we give too many hints as to what we're going to talk about, what would you like the listeners of this podcast to take away from this podcast?

Yeah, well, there's definitely a few things, but I would say if you're first getting started, just, just get in. Like, you know, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. So if you're going to go in, just go in with and give it your best effort, give it your all and fully commit. Because especially now with how competitive the space is, if you're, you're not willing to give it your best effort, you're pretty, pretty sure you're not going to succeed. So I would just say that's like one of the probably the key takeaways because a lot of people are probably just looking to get in, get started. Not sure if they should try it or not, but a little bit pessimistic. But yeah, if you're not willing to give it your all, I would say it's probably not even worth, worth going in.

It's Good advice. And ultimately, Chad, obviously people on the audio won't necessarily be able to see the visual on the YouTube or they might not go and find it afterwards. But I'd love to know an elevator pitch for your business, but can you include as well? I hope you don't mind me saying how old you are as well, because it's amazing to see the journey.

Yeah, no, I don't mind at all. I'm. I'm 25. I'm. We're based out of Canada. Another. Maybe a little bit colder than what you got going on in the UK there. But yeah, we're a management business and I'm a investor myself. So, yeah, I kind of got started just trying out one of my rooms on Airbnb and was pretty amazed with the results from just one bedroom and thought, you know, this would be a lot. This could have a lot of potential moving forward with future investments.

What is your kind of niche? What do you specialize in?

Yeah, or the name of the business is Eco Escapes, and we specialize in kind of the eco friendly hospitality. We cater to a lot of families and, you know, larger groups traveling to the city. We're a metro market where I'm based out of in Edmonton. Not as well known as Toronto or Vancouver, some of the other areas, but it is still a major market and it's really great for investors because the prices are. Aren't as inflated as some of the other, you know, major markets in Canada. So that's a little bit about us and what we, what we do.

You mentioned you started by just putting a room on, on Airbnb. So first of all, did that not put you off? Sometimes. I know sometimes some of the, some of the stories we hear of guests staying and stuff like that can sometimes put us off, but obviously it went well. And how did that transition to now real estate and then a management company? I'm a little bit jealous because I wish I knew this stuff, you know, way back when. I didn't get started in this industry until about, until I was 32. So I wish I'd have known that before.

Well, you know, you're, you're still young. You got lots of Runway, so. But that's why we're here, right? Help other people get started earlier because the, you know, the more time you have in the business, the better you're going to be. But I would. Yeah, like, that's a really good question with the room, because especially with like a room, like you're letting a stranger in your house and you're living there too. I thought it would be a good experiment to see, you know, if it was something that was viable and you would really get a good, maybe a little bit more control on the type of guests, how they're going to treat the place if you're there. Obviously it's a little bit different than what we're doing now with the individual homes and larger properties, but I think it was a great way to get started and I just kind of made the sacrifice to move into my spare bedroom and put my master on because it has a ensuite bathroom. And I just thought it would be a great way to become familiar with the platform on a lower, lower risk way rather than fully committed, fully committing to doing like an entire property like with that model. So that's kind of how I got, got into it. And then it just went really well. Like we had, we did a renovation and did an entire like legal basement suite, two bedroom, two bathroom. And like that first month, even with all the stupid mistakes I made and not knowing what I was doing, we still generated more income actually than the entire legal basement suite rented out on a long term basis. So I was like, no, there's definitely something here.

And what was your secret to getting into real estate? You know, a relatively young age. I mean, I, I wish I, I, my little boy is, you know, seven going on at eight now and I'm trying to get him interested already in just saying, hey, property is, is the way forward. What, what sparked your kind of the, the property bug for you?

Well, honestly, like, you know, my family was always, you know, they did the best they could with what they got, but we were never really well off. And I think that always kind of, you know, pushed me and motivated me to secure that financial independence for my family. And I wanted, I was always very interested in investing. And then the more I looked into it, you know, the, with different books or podcasts, like there's an so much great information out there, I found that real estate was probably going to be the best approach. And I had some experience with doing some of the renovations from previous work experience and I always enjoyed that sort of thing, like just seeing how a space could come together, come to life and how you could transform it. Like all the properties I bought were, you know, 1960s and 70s from that era. So they, they all needed a lot of work. And that is one of the things that you might need to sacrifice if you're, if you want to get in younger, you might have to buy the, buy the ugly house and not get something, you know, the beautiful turnkey, you know, five bedroom, three bedroom, standard house, newly built, and be willing to put in some of the work and build some of the equity yourself. So I would say that would be one of the best tips for like, someone looking to get started is maybe, like, be willing to compromise a little bit. And you're just gonna have to make some sacrifices and put in some work if you want to make it happen. But once you get the ball rolling, like, it's. It's pretty powerful.

What would you say has been the biggest wow moment? I know it's been quite a short period of time, but what's been the biggest wow, the biggest win?

You know, there's definitely been a few. Seeing that initial success with the bedroom was probably one of the biggest catalysts for like, you know, seeing the potential that. And the power that short term rentals could do to help you scale quicker and take yourself to that next level. But, like, another one was probably when I've taken some trips and I've seen that, like, the culture that we built within the business, like, how people really care on, like, the same level as I do with how things are operating, that I could, like, step away and people will, like, our team will still give it that high level of attention and quality and seeing, like, wow, like, you know, some of these systems are working because you don't really know how well they're working until you actually put them to the test. So that's like, really motivating if you're like a business owner just getting started and to have the mindset of building it out in that way to make sure that things could operate in your absence, I think is a huge, A huge thing that everyone should be working towards.

Yeah, this has been really cool, Chad. I, I think the, you know, the, the thing that I'm getting from this is, first of all, start as early as possible because, you know, that really pays dividends in, in the long run, I'm getting the sense of do as much as you can and test things out, you know, because you only know by doing, you know, if, if you didn first room on Airbnb, you wouldn't. Wouldn't now be in charge of a management company and in a growing management company, which is serving the community well. Is there anything else you want to cover before we bring it to a close?

You know, like, I really enjoy the conversation, so I feel like we could talk forever. So, yeah, I would say that, yeah, that's a good way to summarize everything and you know, just to get started and to gain that feedback. Because the, the best thing that we found is, or that I found personally is you really gain the most knowledge and understanding of something once you actually get started and have skin in the game yourself. And it's also great for, you know, if you're pitching a management client and you're like, oh, I would do this and this. And they're like, oh, like why? Well, you're like, well, I actually have done it at my own property and we've achieved this level of results or this adr and you have the metrics to back it. So yeah, like, I think that's a really powerful component if you're looking to, you know, use that model to scale your management business.

Yeah, definitely. And I think like you say, people will go at the end of the day, if you've got two people who come to you and one of them has got experience of doing it and one hasn't, you're going to go with the one who says, you know, like, I've literally done this myself, so I know the journey you're going on. I've invested in real estate. And you, you only know that from, from getting started, which is amazing. So, Chad, thank you so much for, for coming on the Boost podcast and for sharing your journey. I've really enjoyed this and you've inspired me to keep doing what I'm doing, but also to nudge my, my little boy to get into this as early as possible as well. And hopefully others will do the same listening to this and thank you too for listening to this on the Boostly podcast. If you do want to go and check out the visual of this, you can go to YouTube, type in boostly, you'll find us there. If you want more direct bookings, then as Chad mentioned on this podcast, Mark Simpson is our founder. He's got a best selling book called the Book Direct Playbook. Go and check it out. It's as cheap as he could possibly make it on Amazon or wherever you go and buy your, your audiobooks or whatever from. Go and get it and it'll really help you. It gives you the, the entire process on, on how to get more direct bookings. Thanks very much for watching or listening and we'll see you on the next one. Having a blast. Gonna get it on the Bruce Lee podcast. Bruce Lee like Bruce Lee. Cause it's so hard on the T is loose leaf making up those rhymes. Don't write it, just do it loosely.