9 ways to generate revenue during lockdowns or government restrictions

Before we start this episode of the podcast, I just want to give a special shout out to our sponsors, Hostfully. Now a lot of you will know about Hostfully as being the digital guidebook leaders for hospitality business, but they are also an award winning PMS property management software. Right now you can go to hostfully.com and you can get a two month free trial by putting in Boostly in the promo code when you join. Everybody who joins get a free digital guidebook but you can also use that code to get two free months on their PMS software. Award winning software, award winning customer service and most of all just top, top people working there. Please do go say hi. H O S T F u l l y.com if you want to go find out how to set up your digital guidebook, I've done a very special video. Boostly.co.uk Hostely right, let's get on with this week's episode. Having a blast Gonna get it on the Bruce Lee podcast. Bruce Lee like Bruce Lee cause it's so hard and the tea is loose leaf making up those rhymes. Don't write it, just do it loosely. If you want my respect you'll better butt direct. Mmm. Here are the words in the podcast. That's what comes next. Good evening, good afternoon, good morning, welcome wherever you are tuning in from in the world. And please do let me know if you're on the live or if you're watching back on the replay and let me know where you are in the world. Give your business a little bit of a shout out when you need it the most. So my name is Mark Simpson and I give hosts all over the world the tools, the tactics, the training, but most importantly the confidence to go and get their own bookings. And I put a question out to 3,056 people that get my weekly emails and it was a super simple question. It was, what is your biggest pain point right now? Like are you able to take bookings? Are the bookings coming in? If you can take bookings, are you struggling? And the overwhelming message back was that they are struggling with either lockdowns or restrictions or you know, they have to count their bookings for whatever reason because they're in all of the tiers. So it gave me the idea to do this video and this is going to be part of the Boostly podcast series that I'm putting out, season 10. So please do look out for it if you want to go find out more. Boostly.co.uk podcast you can go get all of the episodes but I'm going to go live right now and I'm going to list off nine different ways that you could generate income during these crazy times. A lot of it is the playbook that we had back maybe in March or April, but a lot of it is, is new as well. And this is something that you can utilize all over the world. So this isn't just UK specific or Spain specific or Australia or America. This is, this is everywhere. So what I would love for you to do, number one, let me know where you are tuning in from to watch this, especially on the replay. Let us know what channel you are watching on here on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, wherever it goes, everywhere, this and also as well give your business a bit of a pitch and a promote. So put the web link below, let us know if you are taking bookings and if you do need bookings because you never know who's going to be watching this. So I've gone to my very trusty whiteboard for this and I've got my nine things right here. So number one, we're going to focus on Gumtree, but not just in, not just Gumtree, we're going to focus on those alternative listing sites. So the reason why I put Gumtree is that we've got a new member of the Boostly Academy in Team Boostly, Chris Ballard. He's a fantastic guy. I've been really enjoying getting to know him. A lot more Liverpool fan as well, which always helps. But this is just one of the examples of the Boostly Academy and why it is so amazing. That's my private training group, if you were wondering, is that he put up a post in the group, just saying, hey, I posted on Gumtree, this is what I did and this was the result. And something as you may feel irrelevant as something like Gumtree has generated direct bookings for him and generated a lot of inquiries. So this spurred other members of the Academy into action, they saw it, they spurred interaction and it is helping others get bookings and generating inquiries as well. And I got to let you know that Chris is and his properties are based in Cardiff in Wales, which as you know, is got some of the strictest rules right now in the United Kingdom. But he's been able to generate bookings be, you know, doesn't matter on what stage of the lockdown it may be. And we'll go on to who could be potentially looking at that in a second. So key workers number two. So before we go into key workers, I just want to say so where we say Gumtree you can very easily substitute it for something that could be in your area. And if you want to find out a really good and really quick way of going about this, just go onto the Google search, type in Boostly, YouTube, different listing sites to put your business on, and there's a video on there that I recorded a while back. But everything is still relevant to this day. If you follow that process, it'll take 35 to 40 minutes, but you could unlock some gold on potential places to put your business. So the number two of number 99999 is key workers. So this is sort of like going back into the, into the playbook of maybe March or April. Key workers, hospital staff, truck drivers. You know, key workers falls into so many different categories. It isn't just NHS staff, but even with the big restrictions right now, people are still able to travel for work. That's one of the stipulations. And, and again, the contractor, the worker market, the key worker market is still going to be key. Key workers still need accommodation, even though all the big media buzz around key workers has sort of died down a lot. So if you are really in need of generating some income for your properties, if you've got rooms or properties that are empty, maybe go back to those contacts that you will have made back in March and April and May with the local nhs, with a local hospital, maybe start posting on local Facebook groups that, that you can take accommodation. You are looking for, you know, to house key workers, which, again, everything that so many people were doing back in March and April were looking at these platforms. So again, try and see if you can do so. And if you, if you, if you had people stayed with you back in the past that were key workers or, you know, contractors, business people, then one of the simplest things you can do right now is pick up the phone or send a personal email or a text message to them and ask if they're needed to come back into the area to say that you've got availability, would you need to come back and stay with us again? So, and again, it's, it's something that's really easy to do and you're just utilizing people that have already stayed with you. So next thing, number 33333 of 99999. So subscription service is the next one. Subscription service. Let me see if I can get it onto the screen. Subscription service. Now, what do I mean by myvat. Now I've been paying massive attention to what the big chains are going to be doing going into 2021 and beyond. And what quite a few of these big chains are doing is they're starting to offer subscription services. So where basically you just pay a monthly recurring fee and you can utilize and use any, any of their units on their portfolio. Now, I'm not saying that you need to join one of these chains. Far from it. But what can you be doing here? That and seeing what these big guys are doing and how can we mimic it into our businesses? Well, number one, are you part of a group or an organization, or do you just know a large number of people that you could start up something similar? So you could start up a subscription service where they would pay X amount and then you would just share the bookings or the availability. Or if that sounds too complicated to you, could you start up something for your, your superfans, your vip, so those guests that come year after year after year, the large group of them, or there's some people that always like your Facebook posts, are always engaging on your Instagram or replying to every email, Those are your super fans. Could you create something that would be beneficial to them? So, for example, if you are a fantastic chef, if you've got a recipe book that you put out and, you know, people have taken your recipes home and they have loved them, could you start up a subscription service and just do zooms or private coaching or whatever, it would be group coaching and start up a subscription service where every month for say 4.99 or 5.99 or 3.99 or 6.99 or whatever you want it to be, people would join your subscription service and then you would be able to serve on the recipes that you're doing now. One person playing 699 may not sound appealable to you, especially when you compare it to what you could be doing with bookings. But if you can get 10 people or 20 people or 100 people or a thousand people to join, then that is going to be monthly recurring income coming in. Even if you can't take physical guests inside your properties. So even if you're not the most amazing chef, even if you haven't got a large portfolio of people that you can rely on in this, could there be something else? Because there's a niche and there's a potential for everything right now, and especially if you can relate it to the people that are already staying with, you know, like, trust and love you, what could you be doing? Number four, use this time to update your PMS and your website. So because the hospitality industry has been absolutely just screwed over over the course of all of this, there are now grants and things being put in place to help and support. So could you be using this downtime? Could you be using this, this real quiet time now to find out about those local grants that are in your area and can you put them into practice? So can you put them in by updating your website? Can you book in a photo shoot, a virtual tour, could you get digital guidebooks, could you get tablets? What can you be doing to make sure that when we are back to some form of normality where you can be taking guests a bit more regular, what can you do now to make sure that your systems and your structure and everything is set up so your life is so much easier? Try and think back to October 2019 and you get into the end of a busy season and you're just, I'm just so busy, I'm just so busy I haven't got the time to do X, Y, Z. Well, one thing that I have noticed specifically with Boostly website we do web design for people is that we have never been busier because even with lockdowns and quarantines and all of those things, is that hosts around the world are starting to now pay attention to this kind of thing to make sure that they are set for at least the next few years when coming out of these periods is that they're ready to take bookings with a property management software, pms, a proper website or all of the things and that where if they do a bit of research and look in to grants, then again it may be a case of where it can be free money. It could be the money is there, it's just you've not looked for it. So just go start by asking in local Facebook groups, maybe call the local council, call your local grant hub, wherever that may be, wherever in the world that may be. There may be some funding for you. But utilize this time wisely. The next one is start emailing. Perfect time to do so. Your guests want to hear from you. There's been all of the sentiment studies and I've spoke about it all year and you know, we've looked at them all we've done, we've seen the ones that fuel have done, that skift have done and other people have done the PMS softwares and whatnot. People want to hear from you. Don't just think that emailing is a scammy or a scummy thing. People want to hear from you, so why not utilize it? So go for your email list if you've Got an email list. If you've not create one, put a post out on social media saying we're looking to start up emailing to give everybody the latest updates, share stories, share pictures from from our business, etc. Who would like to join it and then go to mailchimp. It's free. Send Fox, it's free. You can get started really simple. You can get started within 5 to 10, 10 minutes and you can start emailing. And those of you that are emailing and those of you who keep doing it consistently, then you're staying top of mind. So when you are able to take guests and say somebody is in their office or they're just on a Facebook group, obviously a recommendation and saying can somebody please help me find accommodation in X, I'm looking to go visit for work or pleasure or whatever, then you're top of mind. So even if the person who's getting the email isn't going to book with you, you're the top of the mind recommendation. It is so powerful. Email and it is also free, which is also a bonus. Next up we've got Create gift vouchers. We are coming to that sort of time of the year and especially with people not being able to physically book for right now. But people want birthday presents, ideas, they want gifts, you know, they want to be able to buy something for somebody that they know that they will like. And what better than an online gift card that they could purchase for your property to stay with you. And again, There are some PMS's, there are some property management softwares that offer this built in, but there's so many that don't. So for those that don't go check out Dan Van, a good buddy of mine. He's created what was the business called? It's Ibooked Online, an online gift voucher service. You, he will help you set it up. He's helped so many Boostly Academy members get set up. It's a fantastic service. If you cannot do it with Dan, then there are other gift app onlines out there that are really simple to set up but are really, really effective. So again, if you can do that now, takes maybe a couple of hours to do but once it's set up, it's set up for life. You can integrate it with Stripe, you can integrate with all the payment channels, it's really easy to do. And again you can then put this on your website, you can have a direct link. It's really super simple. And again you can email out that you are offering gift vouchers so again, utilize this time wisely and even if you can't take guests right now, create the gift card, put the offer out via email or on your socials and then let's see what comes in. So next up on the list is share your story. So again, people want to hear from you. These channels that we are chatting on, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, wherever you want to be prevalent or present, they are free to post. They don't charge you to post. So take full advantage of it. Tell your story, go live on Facebook, go live on Instagram, share the view, share the latest offerings that you have, talk about the business, why you got started in hospitality. Again, people buy from people and those that have a very high rate of direct bookings, those that build their brand online, share their story, share their business, share their lives. And this is a perfect time to do so because people are wanting to find out more about you. The problem is, is that we're afraid. We're afraid what people are going to think, we're afraid what's going to happen. The proof is in the pudding. Those that do are the ones that get rewarded with bookings. They were rewarded with online visibility because they stick their neck out and they do something that so many of us aren't. And I can look back at members of the Boostly academy, members of the hospitality community, people that I send emails to, I can look back and I can see on my feed those who are being comfortable about being uncomfortable and doing things like this. They are the ones that are being rewarded because they are going live, they are sharing their story and they're building that online brand with their business and building a loyal fan base. So use this time wisely. Next up, we've got Pivot. So I guarantee that so far, bed and breakfast owners will be looking at this going well. I can't do any of that. There's no such word as can, you know, you can do something about it. So if you look at the news and you look at see what people have been have been doing, there's pubs that are out there that are pivoting. There are bed and breakfast that are pivoting so people are able to offer out their rooms or their area as a workspace. So many companies now are having to make sure that their staff work from home. But because people have been stuck in their homes for so long and they may have distractions and as in pets, partners, kids, traffic, road work, you name it, that they just think, I just got to get somewhere. And if you can offer quick Wi fi fresh drinks where they don't have to worry about all the other things. And you can offer that space for a couple of hours or a week or whatever. Then that could be an option. And who knows, they may be able to get it where their work pays for it or if their, you know, self employed, then they can be using it maybe through funding or whatever. But you just got to put it out there. If you are going to offer this then, you know, do up a room for, for a very quick photo shoot. You don't have to do anything fancy. You can get your phone and take these pictures if you've got a good phone camera. And then you can start to put that out on things like Gumtree. You can start to put that out on Facebook groups. You can go and find these business Facebook groups and people will be there, start talking about it online. You know, you can either do a room or a workspace or whatever. This has been something that's been done in America. If you remember the episode that I did with Noah Kagan in season eight of the podcast, he actually said that this was happening in the area of Texas where he lived. And it is proven to be really profitable. People that have got units and have got doors and that do the rental arbitrage over there, they are getting people in who are working because they don't have that distraction. So see what you can do on that. And finally, I just want to leave you with a story of Georgina Bearman. For those of you that have been on this podcast and regular listeners or if you're part of Team Boosley, you will know who Georgina is. But again, Covid in March and April destroyed her bookings. But she didn't sulk, she didn't whine or complain and go into Facebook groups and do all the things. She got on with it and she started doing food delivery in a very close area. Started with breakfasts and then it grew and grew and, and grow to afternoon teas. So again, it's when you can't take guests, utilize what you have and take advantage of it. And again, if you're a good chef or if people like your food and you can do afternoon teas and things like that, utilize that. If you've got something else you can do, utilize that. But there are lots of different things that you can be doing right now to be generating income. Income for you, for your business, for your family. You just got to start thinking outside of the box. I've given you nine, but there are so much more and if you are doing those things then in the comments below please do let us you know if you're watching this back on the replay. Let us know what you're doing. Are you utilizing Facebook groups? Are you doing something a little bit different than what you were previously doing? Let us know. Let us learn, let us share. I just want to say thank you so much for tuning into this. If this is your first time listening or watching a boosted podcast episode, you've got a lot of episodes to catch up on. Go to booster.co.uk podcast to find out more. You can subscribe on Apple, you can subscribe on Stitches, Spotify, wherever you name it. If you prefer the video version as you are watching me right now, go to the YouTube channel. You can even go check out the blog. We transcribe every single podcast episode. I be back with another episode very soon but for now thank you so much for tuning in.