Behind the Host Tracey Northcott

Welcome to another episode of behind the Host podcast. And today we're joined by Tracy Northcott. Tracey's based all the way in Japan. She's a short term host herself. She now trains other hosts to scale up to a seven figure business. And also she's an author, which is really awesome. And today we're going to dive into Tracy's business, find out a bit about the tech she uses, a bit about her team and just generally have a, have a nice chat. So thank you for joining us, Tracey.

Thanks, Liam. It's great to be here.

Awesome. Awesome. So, first of all, let's just tell me a bit about your business, how you got started. And Japan is all the way on the other side of the world. So how did that happen?

Yeah. For you? Well, I mean, I moved here in 2000. I jumped on a plane and came and joined my brother who has a software company here in Japan. And, and I, I spoke Japanese beforehand because I did it at school and I was, you know, my brother was living here probably for about seven or eight years before I moved. And so I was popping in and out and my mother was living in China at one point, so we're pretty traveling family and, and then I sort of took the plunge. I thought, well, I'll go to Japan. You know, I speak Japanese, I might as well go and live there for a couple of years and, and, and do some work with my brother and my brother's company. I'm a chemist by training, which is completely random, but I then retrained in it when in the late 90s. And I thought, well, I didn't really want to be in the labs anymore. I kept blowing myself up. I was a really bad lab technician. So I thought, well, I need to do something else. So yeah, I became an engineer and came to Japan and that was in 2000. So I'd been living here for a little while when, you know, I found myself, found myself married with a child and, and a lot of people started to come visit. A lot of people started to come visit. And Japanese, I don't know if you've been here, Liam, but houses in Japan are really small, so. And there's only so long that you can have your in laws sleeping on your living room floor. So I thought, well, I'll get a second apartment and you know, chuck them in there and, and then if I can rent it out part time on, on Airbnb, I've covered my costs. That's a win, win. I was a happy, happy girl. Yeah, it just went, it Went bonkers. And that was 10 years ago. So that was in. Yeah, 2011-2012-2011-2012 was when we started the.

Things we do for our family to just for them to have a nice place to come and stay, eh, That I could.

Exactly. It was like I said, it was really by accident, you know, having my own company already and having that sort of, you know, permission from my brother, you know, he always said, use the company. If you've got something that is a project that you want to do, use it. And so I did. I went, okay, well I've always really loved real estate. So I just rented another apartment and off I went.

So how many units are you? You started with that one just for the family. How did it go from 1 to 2? Did you see the business opportunity there and just decide to jump onto it?

Yeah, I was like, when I listed, I was booked within the first three hours. And I think a lot of people can understand that, the rush of that. It was like, oh, okay, someone wants to book, someone wants to stay. And it was just a studio. So it was a one bedroom studio that I had. And it was a perfect storm between the amount of tourism that was happening in Japan, the lack of alternative accommodation and just being in the right space at the right time, I think. And we were getting lots of requests from people who had bigger groups, you know, family groups and larger groups. And I couldn't host them in this one bedroom studio. So I thought, well, you know, that one was easy, let me do the next next one and the next one. And then the cash started happening, the cash flow started happening and the men in my life started sniffing around and going, well, you know, what's this you're doing? You know what, this money that you're, that you're making as my side hustle. And so we decided to get serious about it. My husband quit his job in the restaurant. My brother invested more money in some. So that we then, you know, we had, I think at one point we had 25. And I was just throwing, you know, just getting anything I could, getting anything I could and just, just throwing everything at it. And that took, that was about three or four years worth of, you know, massive acceleration. And it wasn't until then I sat back and looked at the business and went, well, you know, what's working and what's not working and what do I enjoy doing? And how can I actually have a business that works for me? Because I was running, I was completely burning out because I hadn't had any systems. I Didn't have any automation. I didn't have any. Like, it was crazy. And then, you know, I thought, well, I cannot keep this pace up. And then regulations were coming in. So I thought, well, now's a really good time to figure out if we are serious about this business. We need to get our licenses and actually have a proper business plan. So that's when. That's when we went from side hustle to core business. And that was in 2018.

That's really cool. So you've taken what was effectively a side hustle. You've built a big business, you're building cash flow, and then you sort of turn around going, well, I'm not enjoying it. What tools, tactics and tips did you look at sort of putting into your business when you were sort of making that change and decided to make it, you know, from that side hustle, like you say, to get serious and to turn it into a business?

I think I started to recognize the power of marketing and the power of retargeting and recognizing that there were certain guests that were easier to deal with and there were certain guests that I preferred to host and certain guests that were a good fit for what the product that I was delivering. When I started seeing what I was doing as a product and then really nailed down who's buying my product, why are they buying my product? How can I streamline this so that I'm maximizing the profit? So I ended up shrinking the portfolio to smaller numbers of units, but larger houses. And I got very, very clear on who I wanted to host to. And, you know, I had it all up on the wall. This is our. This is our ideal guest. This is who we want to host. This is why we want to host. And this is their price point. This is the product that we're delivering and just got serious that way. And we were making more profit from less numbers of units.

That's music to my ears. Because that's what we want. We want less work, the same. Exactly. We must just comment at this stage that we're both. We didn't know. We didn't do this on purpose. We're both using our boostly mugs to have a sip of tea.

Yeah, I was mucking around with Mark one. I was mucking around with Mark one day on Clubhouse. Where's my bloody cup? And. And yeah, he got one in the poster. Japan for me.

So that's awesome. These things are getting everywhere across the world. I do see he loves it. And for anyone listening, if you have got a Boostly mug Definitely tag usually in wherever you are in the world while you're listening to this because. Or per picture behind below the live. That is love seeing how far away these mugs get basically.

So, I mean, it's just brilliant marketing, right? And, and they do. So this is proof that it does ship anywhere in the world. So.

Yeah, definitely, definitely. And obviously we talk a lot at Boostly about identifying your, your guest avatar and how important that is. And that's something which as a, as new hosts, when you first start, you're not sure who that is. So was there any sort of tricks or tips that you'd have to let people know about how you could identify your, your avatar or how you particularly, you know, sort of looked at it and went, well, actually, we prefer the bigger groups.

Yeah, it was really on, you know, I hadn't studied much marketing at this point and it was really on gut instinct. It was like, well, you know, these are the people. And, and it was almost, I don't want to sound cheesy, but it was almost, you know, a tingle that you got when you knew that you were helping somebody and they were loving what you were doing. That feeling is what I wanted more of. I wanted to know that the people, you know, I wanted that. I wanted the 5 star reviews. I wanted those gold star, you know, Tracy, you've done a great job. I was like craving that feeling. And so it was like, well, who's giving me this feeling? Who is appreciating what I'm doing? And the other thing is, I had a small child as well. So I knew exactly what someone who was traveling with small children needed. And because I'd lived in Japan a long time, I knew what particular problems as someone traveling with a small child was likely to have. And so being able to anticipate that pain point or anticipate the needs of that guest just gave me a thrill. And also, you know, it just came back in the, you know, in the repeat bookings and in, in the, in the comments and the glowing, you know, the glowing recommendations. And then people started recommending us to other people and was like, okay, well, we're onto something here. This is, this is who we like. And you know, there were, you know, a lot. And also we meet the other thing as well. We meet. Well, we did meet every single guest who came in the door. That's what I was running around like a, you know, running around like a crazy person because we met every single person. We met them and showed them in and how to use the air conditioner. Because everything's written in Japanese. And we saw that as our job is to, to make their, their landing as in Japan as soft as possible.

That's really cool. So speaking about, like you say, everything's written in Japan, who do you find you host more of? Is it, is it more sort of domestic guests, more international, national guests?

Well, there's been a, there's been a little blip in the whole tourism thing in Japan over the last two years, obviously. And out as of recording this, the borders are still not open. Don't get me started. That's a whole other podcast. So, yeah, up until the start of the pandemic, we were 100%, 99%, you know, inbound tourists. So these are people that are, that are flying in for a short time. They're not, they're coming into Tokyo. They're usually, you know, Tokyo, then going to Kyoto and then other places after that. So it was, you know, pretty much textbook, every single guest. And then I had to pivot very, very quickly because when the borders shut and the Olympics were canceled, it was, it was not a good show.

This is one of the things we see with hosts being able to adapt quickly to changing situations. And like you say about marketing, that's one of those things where, when the board is shut or when things changed, how you reach out to potentially different guests and new guests was such a game changer. So you talked about going to 25 units and then obviously scaling back the business. Who's in your team to help you with that at the moment?

Sure. Well, I mentioned before that my husband, who was working as a restaurant manager as front of house, and he quit his job, which was great because anyone who's ever worked in hospitality, restaurant hospitality, knows that the pay is awful, the hours are bad, and it's just soul crushing. So it was good for him to be able to give that away and, and come and work in the business, come work for his wife, which takes a bit of negotiation sometimes. So he and I are equal partners in the company that we have set up since then. So we actually set up a new company with just us as the. I'm the president and he's the vice president, but we're equal partners financially. We have a team of cleaners, of course, where we hire a cleaning manager and then she, then she's the one who gets the schedule and then she outsources to her team. And I trust her with my life. She is amazing. When you get your good cleaning manager, bring them on board, give them, you know, Give them ownership of their job, pay them beyond well and your business will sing. So that's one thing I've learned. And then we also have somebody who comes in and takes care of the check ins. So when we have, so I have people who speak Japanese, people who speak Chinese and we did have someone who spoke Korean but we don't have that anymore and they're there to help streamline the check ins and then we have an accountant and a va so it's pretty lean in me.

Yeah, that's cool. Do you use, what tech do you use to communicate with your team? And is there anything that you use in your day to day business which is really, you know, sort of that you need just to, just to keep things running.

What I've been exploring over the last couple of years because we, you know, we pretty much. I've been on life support since the borders shut so, so I'm re, you know, reconstructing, doing, you know, doing things the way I wish I'd done it originally. And so originally we were doing things with like line messaging, you know, WhatsApp messaging and then once a week sending out the calendars to the cleaners. But then you know, if there's any changes, you know, we have to be able to, you know, it's a very hands on, it's a very labor intensive job when there are changes, especially with the in and out in the same day. So I've automated that now, so I've got gone to a more automated system and also what I've done is spent a lot of time actually automating a lot of the collection of email addresses and collection of passports. By law here I have to keep everybody's passport, a copy of the passport and also the contracts. So that's now an automated system that I didn't have before. So you know, I've really spent a lot of time on my systems and processes over the last couple of years. Been keeping myself busy during the pandemic.

It's one of the, one of the things so if, if things are quieter at least we get to work on our businesses a little bit more. Not in the day to day rigmarole of it all. So has there been any moments you say you've been hosting now? Did you say 10 years?

Yeah, 10 years.

10 years. Wow. Is, is there been any moments during that 10 years which has been the kind of wow moment which has really made you realize, you know, just how good hosting is or how, you know, things that you want to change in it?

Yeah, I mean, yes. When you're, when your guests come and stay with you often enough that they go out and buy a house and they say here, trace, run it for us. That's pretty, that's pretty. Wow. So that's happened to us. We've, we have a. So like when I started out I was really doing a rental arbitrage, you know, rent to rent model. So I would rent an apartment, you know, sublet it as a short term rental and then, and then collect the profits. But really what I'm looking for now more is to do more of a property management system, a co hosting arrangement. And my first one was a client who, a guest who kept coming, just kept coming year after year. And then he figured out, you know, he did the sums and went, well, if I buy a house for you, we come and use it when we're in town for free and then, you know, we make a profit when we do profit sharing with you and I. And he's the one who brought it up to me and I went, oh, that sounds pretty cool. So yeah, I jumped on that one and, and I've actively had more of those come on to our, coming to our portfolio.

That sounds like a win, win, win because he's getting, he's getting cheaper, you know, sort of stays when he comes or free stays when he comes. He's, he's cash flowing. But also if he's your target avatar, your target guest, well, he knows exactly what other guests who travel, you know, who needs the same things that he needs, will come and have. So yeah, what an amazing.

And he works for a large corporate web search company that I won't name that has a lot of inbounds as well. So being able to pivot to relocations has made it very easy when you've got someone on the inside. Yeah, that's cool.

That's cool. So Tracey, for those listening, obviously you've been part of the Boostly Academy. You joined the Boostly Academy a few years ago. And what, what advice and tips would you have to try and either attract more of your target guest or to get people to book direct.

Well, obviously know who they are. Like who is it that gives you the tingles? Who, who are the types of guests that when you talk to them, they light you up and you light them up. So, you know, be always on the lookout for that, you know, for that tingle. And I know that's cheesy but, but I, I honestly felt, feel that when I know that I'm in an alignment with my guest. So really identifying that, who that person is and bottling that. And then also figuring out how those people are coming in again, pivoting in 2018 when regulations came in, I realized that the OTAs were not on my side. When push comes to shove, you're on your own, basically. I learned that before the pandemic. So I started actively in 2017, 2018, working with people that were bringing in my ideal guests. Travel agencies, relocation companies, you know, corporates. And really started to build those relationships to get that direct booking system going. And also, you know, building a website that is easy to use, that is, you know, has the right copy that you're going to hit all the, all the targets that a person is looking for.

That's one of the things we see time and time. Don't worry, don't worry. That's one of the things we see time and time again is it's about building relationships with your guests, local companies, with people who can help you grow your business, whether that's local landlords and other people who even your network. Just so important, isn't it? So if you could go back to yourself 10 years ago and give yourself one piece of advice right at the start, what would it be?

Get everyone's email address. Absolutely 100%. I didn't start collecting email addresses until about year four. And you know, just collecting however, you know, however messy and imperfectly you collect them, just start collecting them and that is your asset. That is gold. And building a relationship further than just the initial stay, that's really propelled my business and that's what actually kept my business going through the pandemic was being able to reconnect with people that have stayed with us before. Now that the borders are opening, I know that my audience is, is, you know, their credit card is out, their fingers are hovering over the keyboard, they are wanting to book with me. And so keeping, keeping an email relationship with them is key. Absolutely key.

Love that, Love that. Because of course that is one of the things which Mark and Boostly in general is absolutely pioneering is the fact that you can just contact your guest at any time, you don't have to go through a third party. And at any given moment you can literally do a nine word email of, of hello, you know, would you like to come back to the area? Do you know, I mean that, that sort of thing. And, and you'll quickly know from an entire database whether or not people are interested in, in come to stay back again. So, yeah, love that.

So I love, I love the nine word email. I Sent, I sent one just the other day going, have you seen the yen lately? Because if you haven't seen the yen, the yen has tanked. Has absolutely tanked. So you know, if you're ever planning to come to Japan, buy yen now and also book your, you know, book your direct stay right now.

I always see Japan as one of the top countries to come and visit, you know, sort of on all the blogs. Everybody says it's so different, such a culture shock. Have you found that since living there?

Well, I mean, I understand, you know, what hosting has enabled me to do is see my city through fresh eyes every day. You know, because I've been living here for 10 years before I've been living here for 10 years before I started hosting. So I was, you know, getting a bit jaded, you know, Tokyo, blah blah, you know, and now I have this new love for my city again because I can get, I can get excited about all these things that, that I just wasn't seeing anymore because you know, you live here and if you see something, even if you see like you know, a purple elephant walking down the street, every just becomes, it just becomes every day. So you know, I can walk down the street and now celebrate the really unique things about living in Tokyo that I was probably getting a bit jaded and a bit, you know, too clever to appreciate. So that's been a real joy.

We get excited seeing it through our guests eyes, don't we for our local area. So Tracy, one of the things we must talk about is the up and coming book that we're in together. Hospitable hosts, going to be. And you're already an author, aren't you? Of your. Or you're writing your book at the moment?

I am writing a book. So I write a blog for short term rental hosts and, and, and I've got a book you probably see behind me. It says the Wholehearted Host. That's the title of my book that's coming out because I'm, I'm all about guest centered hosting. I'm all about like, you know, creating an amazing guest experience and, and you know, again, seeing the city through your guests eyes and problems and, and giving them what they need and so that you know, I know it's a bit cheesy but I do go to bed every night just you know, really pleased that I've helped someone out that day. So that's me putting my heart into my hosting. So yeah, so that's what I write about on my blog and oh, I'm flying here yeah, so. And also I'm writing. Writing a book about how, you know, how I put my heart into my hosting and. And all the things that I see with my clients on how they're also putting their heart into their hosting as well.

It's amazing. That's amazing. So one of the things that we always do towards the end of our behind the Host podcast is just to end with a few quick fire questions. So quick fire. So they can be as short or as long answers as you like. What is your favorite book?

The book Direct Playbook. Was that the right answer?

Of course, of course. It's actually to my left hand.

There it is there.

We'll plug the book. Yeah, absolutely.

I've read it, I've listened to it. It's all, like, marked up and all sorts of things.

Okay, it doesn't have to be that answer, but we'll go with that. That sounds good. Favorite social media platform that's helped you to grow your business.

Oh, to grow my business has. Yeah. Instagram. I would say Instagram.

The classic. And a quote, which has impact or inspired you.

A quote. I didn't prepare a quote. Dance like there's no one watching.

Love it. Love it. Okay. And finally, favorite thing about living in Japan.

Favorite thing about living in Japan has got to be things work. Things work on time. The trains run on time. When the utility. When the gas man says he's coming between 10 and 2, he shows up between 10 and 2. Things just work. And that to me is just, you know, is amazing to me.

Sounds like a dream.

It is. Things that everything. The streets are clean. There is no crime. My kid walks to school every day. Yeah, there's, like I said, no crime. It's clean. We forget. I shouldn't tell people this, but sometimes I forget to lock my door at night. So it's a really safe place to live.

Sounds like a perfect place to host. It sounds really good. So how can the listeners get in touch with you on, you know, if they want to get involved with. With your coaching or if they just want to find out more about you and your business? How can the listeners do so?

Sure. Well, I have a website called tracy-northcott.com and I guess we can put that in the show notes somewhere. I'm not a woman of mystery lamb. I'm really easy to find. And I'm on Instagram. I'm on Facebook. My hosting company is Tokyo Family stays. Who we are and what we do and who we serve is baked right into our domain name. So tokyofamilystays.com that's my houses. And my consulting business is Tracey Northcott Consulting.

Thank you, Tracey. And haven't you got class going on this this week?

This week? This week I have a copywriting masterclass. So this is where you can learn all about persuasive copywriting, how to turn those lookers into bookers and convert. So, you know, you've got people to look at your. Look at your listing from the. From these amazing photos. How do you convert them? So this is a class on the tips and tricks on how to write good copy to really convert into bookings.

Thank you, Tracey. Well, I really feel we've got to know your business. I mean, going from, you know, sort of scaling up to 20 units, scaling back down, but with the bigger units, identifying your target guest avatar, talking about your book, copywriting, all that side of things. So hopefully people have picked up some awesome tips from you and know how to get in touch if they want to speak to you for copywriting or anything in the future. So thank you so much for coming on today.

And let's have a virtual coffee with our boost Lee.

Yeah, let's have a ching, ching. Thanks very much. We'll see you next time.

All right, thanks, Liam. Take care. 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 loosely making up those rhymes. Don't write it, just do it loosely.