How This Former Freelance Producer Built A Thriving Hospitality Business

Hey everybody and welcome to the Boostly Podcast. This is the podcast that gives hosts the tactics, the tools and the training and the most importantly, the confidence on how you as a host can get more direct bookings. My name is Liam Carolan and I'm Mark Simpson's co host. Today we are going to go and dive behind the host on the mini series on the Boostly podcast. And this is where we really dive into somebody else's business. This is successful and interesting host and hospitality owners across the world where we dive into their business and learn their tricks and their tips and things that you may be able to take away and action within your business. So today we're actually joined by Josh Goldstein. He's from Bunkhouse Worldwide and you can go and check out his his properties@ bunkhouseworldwide.com so welcome along Josh. Thank you for joining us.

Thanks for having me.

So let's get started. Obviously the word bunkhouse, you know, I love and that sort of has loads of sort of visuals of the type of places. But first of all, where does the name bunkhouse come from? Where are your properties in the world and what does the business look like, how many units and where so bunkhouse comes from?

We actually have a cabin in the Smoky Mountains and one of the rooms has two bunk beds. And my kids, it's probably their favorite cabin because they each get their own bunk bed even though they don't need it. They just think it's fun. They could have one bed to play in, one bottom bed that they sleep in and it's their own. They don't have to fight over it. They think it's amazing. In general, our family likes to go on vacations that are almost adventures. And so we just try to make up these fun. Even if it's just a little trip, it's an adventure for all of us. And so my kids have embraced that. They'll run out into the surrounding areas and just try to make forts and you know, just their imagination goes wild. So it's fun. So I just feel like Bunkhouse evokes a just sense of fun and adventure and that's kind of why we chose that.

I love that. And just so we know, how many properties do you look after and whereabouts in the world?

So we are up to 20 doors right now. 11 of them. 11 of them are short term rentals. The others are long term rentals. Nine of them are in Smoky Mountains, Tennessee, one in Ida Wild, California and one in Big Bear, California.

Nice, nice. So very much sort of wild places to Go and hang out and have fun. I love the name Bunkhouse and I really got the visuals of, you know, I've got a five year old myself and just having fun and just exploring and all that cool stuff is just so important. So take us back to before you've started hosting. What did you do before this and what gave you the hospitality bug?

So I actually still do it. I'm a freelance producer so I've done a little bit of everything. I've done a ton of music videos, I've done some film, I've done some tv, but really I landed on doing commercials as my main thing. And it's fun. It's something where I get to work with different people that I like and the projects are different every single time. I guess part of the problem though is I am freelance. So if I decide to go on vacation with my family, I'm not only paying for the vacation, but I'm also turning down work. So it's almost like double paying for a vacation, which is hard to get past. And even More so in 2015, an unexpected diagnosis came where I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. And it was at a point where we were renovating our house. I went into debt to renovate the house. This is before I had any investment properties and I didn't know how I was going to pay for everything and the doctors basically said I wasn't going to be able to work for who knows how long. And so I luckily had a good network of family and friends that helped me out. But it was a scary position to be in. So, you know, you think it'd be obvious that if you don't work that you don't get paid. But I never thought that would happen to me because I liked my job and I was pretty secure with what I was doing. But this other thing just came out of left field and blindsided me.

Hey, that is, you know, first of all, whoa. That is, you know, sort of a scary thing to go through. But how, what happened from there? So that's 2015. So you've had the diagnosis and like you say you've, you've got fortunately great friends, great family and they say, you know, your network and family around you is just so important. What happened from there? How? Sort of talk us through. Obviously you know, what happened from there and how you got started into, into hospitality.

Well, besides realizing I needed something else income wise outside of my job, I did. I was able to read Rich Dad, Poor dad during that year and you know, that year was a Bit of a whirlwind. A lot of it is a blur. You know, our kids were much younger then, but we were just getting by and we were trying to just focus on healing. So I read it. I was super inspired. I was actually almost frustrated with myself because I, I was, I was mad at myself that I didn't realize that this, this earlier. And it's, it's something where I've always liked real estate. I've always liked design, I've always liked values of houses, but I just never knew that I could be an investor myself. I just thought that was someone else that had tons of money and, you know, I don't know, just seemed out of reach. So I read that book and it was like a brick to the head. During that year, I, I couldn't really do much with it because I was just focused on healing. But I always had a back. Yeah, I always had in the back of my head that this was the plan when I recovered and, and kind of got back on my feet, that that's what I was going to do. And that's kind of was my turning point.

Well, first of all, let me just say, you know, sort of congratulations on, on the recovery and, and, you know, sort of be in it and, and for, for being here to talk to us today. I'm sure there's a lot of people listening to this who, first of all, are inspired by the story. Can you talk us through the kind of looking back, the steps and the challenges that you had to go through to get where you are now? You just mentioned that you never expected to be an investor in general. So what, looking back, changed and why?

Well, I'm sure you and most of your listeners have read Rich Dad, Poor Dad. To me, it's more of a mindset book versus an actual real estate book. So it doesn't teach you how to do it. So once I did recover, I did. I jumped back into work pretty hard to get out of debt and kind of get back on my feet. But while I was doing that, you know, in la, even a short commute is an hour with traffic. So I was in the car a lot. I found bigger pockets. I started listening to every podcast I could, started listening to audiobooks. I was just dove in as hard as I could. And, you know, as I learned more and more and more, I started to realize that it was obtainable. And that was, that was the main thing. And the whole. While I was working, I was trying to save, I was being as aggressive as I possibly could. So that I could financially start putting money towards these investments. And so that's, that's what really dropped me off was, was being in the car a lot.

You know, it resonates with me what you're saying there, because if it wasn't for audiobooks, podcasts, I wouldn't have got started on the journey. And there must be so many people who have been inspired by this information that, let's face it, 30 years ago we may not have discovered in the ways that we've discovered it, which has put us on this path now. So it's really amazing that, you know, people can truthfully change the mindset, change their beliefs and then actually start to take action when you get the how actually it's giving you that why beforehand. And like you say, being in, you know, sort of the health condition that you was that you needed to make a change and to do that, which is really awesome. So yeah, when it came down to getting your first one, what, what year did you get your first one and what was it like?

So I actually got my first. I was an analysis paralysis for several years, I gotta say, while I was learning and I was looking at different markets. I kind of had shiny object syndrome. And I finally landed on. My first deal was a long term rental and it was turnkey. And it was after I had listened to a podcast. I was kind of adverse to turnkey cause I wanted the equity, I wanted everything. But then when they broke it down, it kind of made sense and I was like, for a first deal especially, let's just jump in and let's do this. And it was, I got, I remember getting the email from a property management company in Kansas City and it was a holiday special. It was a $70,000 house, three bedroom house in Kansas City, Missouri. And I did the comps and it looked like it was worth around 90. So I was like, hey, there is some equity in there. There was already a renter in there for 800 bucks a month and I decided to go for it. The lender actually wound up backing out two weeks into escrow. And it was because the underwriter said they didn't feel comfortable because it was a property management company selling it versus a traditional real estate avenues. And instead of backing out, I actually had some money saved up at the time and I wound up buying it for cash, which was the biggest blessing in disguise because when I went to go pull money out and refinance it, a month and a half went by. I got an appraisal and it appraised for 116. And so I was able to pull out $74,000, which is my initial capital plus closing costs. And yeah, I mean, I got a free house. And as soon as that happened, I was supercharged. I was like, I can't believe this actually works. I have a free house. I know is, you know, it was cash flowing maybe 150 bucks a month or something, but I looked at that as like a savings account that was worth now $116,000 that someone else was paying into and I have no money into at this point.

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I mean, even now when I hear it, and I get to hear it more than I used to, about people who can pull their money out of property investing, and it's one of those things which I still look at it and just go, wow, as if this is a thing that we can all go off and do and you're basically getting paid to invest. It's just amazing, isn't it? What was the moment where you looked at it and you went, hey, I've got a couple of long term rentals. Obviously at some stage you got the hospitality bug. What would you say is your favorite? First of all, why did you move into more the hospitality side of things? And what would you say your favorite thing is about being a host?

So it was another podcast I listened to. I listened to Avery Carl, which I'm sure you and your listeners have heard of. And this was still, it was early 2020. Listened to her schedule, the call. I talked to her for probably like an hour and a half, just about cabins and Smoky Mountains. I had never been to the Smoky Mountains before, but everything that she was saying just made so much sense. So my wife and I started looking at the MLS and we found two cabins on two acres of land. It was a three, three and a two, two for $635,000, which was a much bigger investment than my first $70,000 house. But you know, I Felt, I believe, that it was going to work. So we went out there for the very first time during inspections in February, and we did, like a whirlwind tour. It was my wife and my two kids. So we try to do and see as many things as we could in that weekend. And, you know, we. We got to closing time, which was March 2020. And as everyone knows, that's the. The day I was closing was the day everything shut down. And I texted Avery saying, I don't even know if I could sign because I don't know if I could find a notary that's open. And so she said she, you know, everyone would understand. She also mentioned that a lot of people were backing out at this time, and if I wanted to back out, I probably could and no one would be upset about it. And I thought about it, but I decided, you know what? I don't mind taking some time learning this business and figuring it out before guests start coming in. And, you know, it was a little scary because I didn't know when everything was going to open back up and, you know, everything. Like, what kind of event ever happens when everything just shuts down and there's no travel, there's nothing. It was crazy, right? So I was kind of running towards the fire, but I mentally said, I'm okay with paying a mortgage for a while. Let's just learn this. Let's interview cleaners, let's interview maintenance people. We'll swap out the linens that we have to, swap out, some furniture that we need to and kind of go from there. And that's what I did. And my very first booking was the 22 cabin. And I did lower rates quite a bit, and it was in April, but the first family rented it for 28 days, and that covered all my costs. And then right after that, the 33 started renting, and it was profit. And immediately I was. I was hooked. And I think to your second part of the question, in terms of, like, what, you know, what do I like about hospitality? In my job as producing, I. I feel like I'm kind of in the hospitality business. I know that seems weird, but I'm catering to. To many different parties. Like, I work with the direct director closely, I work with the ad agency closely, and then I work with the clients closely. And it's like there's three different entities that might have conflicting ideas that I need to kind of manage and make sure that everyone's getting what they want out of the whole entire process. So I almost feel like my career Prepped me for the hospitality business and the craziness of some guests and the pleasantries of other guests and stuff like that. Because, you know, it's like not every job in production is going to go the way you think it's going to go. So you just have to approach it and figure out how to solve it.

So true. And we see time and time again when we speak to awesome hosts from across the world. That actually is, being in hospitality is about people. And if you've been in a job role where there are people and you're dealing with different demands, wants, you know, feelings and that sort of thing, it's exactly the same in hospitality that you're just managing people's expectations and delivering, aren't you? That's, it's really cool. And I've got to give a shout out first of all to BiggerPockets. Mark Simpson, our founder and who's, you know, the, the main host on, on this podcast. He was on the Bigger Pockets podcast recently, which was awesome as a big deal. And I only just started listening to the Bigger Pockets podcast after that and I feel that I've discovered a world of awesome information. So I was one of the people who, I hadn't heard of it, which I know is strange, but that's funny. Yeah. Over here, I mean, some of our audience is UK and Europe based, so I recommend anyone listening should go and check that, that podcast out.

I actually was recently interviewed on it as well and that was kind of a dream of mine, especially for listening it for so long. And like I, I heard Mark's pod, you know, his episode as well, and it's, it's awesome. And then I know he was a big fan as, as well.

So, yeah, absolutely.

It's pretty awesome.

You also mentioned Avery Carl and the, the again, he's, he's been on there and she is just doing some awesome things. She's absolutely rocking the information that she shares. And like I say, to help you along your journey, it just goes to show that, you know, some people say about not investing in training and in the people who have walked that part before, but I'm one of the people who just look at it and just go, well, how else are we going to get that knowledge so quickly apart from going off and making all the mistakes, you know, what's your opinion on if there's somebody out there who's considering learning, first of all, property investing or hospitality, what would you want to say to them? Is that something they should consider and why?

I mean, a thousand percent. When I started working with Avery, her company wasn't as big as it is now, and she was just based in the Smoky Mountains, and she was still offering the resources that you need to kind of get up and running with your first rental and any questions you have. But they weren't as structured before, so. So after I closed, instead of, you know, Luke, her husband hosts these webinars and kind of like goes through all the processes with a bunch of people that have just recently bought from her. But back then, it was more like, here's a list of people that we like to work with. Why don't you start interviewing them and we'll go through some things, and then if you have questions, just call or text us. And so it was a little more personalized, which is awesome, because, you know, being nervous, running towards the fire, especially during this Covid time, it was great to, like, text her and Luke at the same time, like, hey, there's a guest that's asking for this. What am I supposed to do? Is this normal? Is this not normal? And so it was kind of reassuring. But now the structure that they have, and there are so many more investors that I feel like people can reach out to. You can do that on any of these, like, Facebook groups or platforms and. And kind of get a lot of those questions answered pretty easily now. So it's. It's pretty great how, you know, I think she really helped blow this up and kind of make the education of this space so readily available.

It's so important. Is there any preconceptions before you became a host that has changed over time, and if so, why?

You know, funny enough, I think I had used VRBO and Airbnb, like, maybe less than one hand, you know, like. Like very few times, I gotta say, which is strange, because being married with two kids, it does make more sense to me to pay the same amount as I'd pay for a hotel, but actually get several rooms that we could actually sleep, you know, more comfortably than getting shoved into a studio hotel room. So I don't know. Like, I think when I did those few rentals, when people would respond to me when I was doing an inquiry, and if they did it quickly, I was always, like, taken aback. I'm like, oh, my God, they're responding so quickly. But I never really realized it's like one person or a couple or whatever, that's. You know, it just comes up on their phone and they can respond really quickly. I always thought it was this big corporation that was kind of managing it and you know, they would get to your inquiry whenever they could. So it's interesting to me that, and maybe this has changed because I do know that their management companies used to be a little more, are a lot more prevalent than self managed owners. So I feel like the self managed owners, it's nice because you get more of a personal touch. Whereas back before I started owning, I, I had such a different conception of this whole thing. It was crazy. You know, I just thought it was big corporate people or, you know, it just seems so unobtainable.

That's really interesting. I've never really thought of it like that. But you're absolutely right that for new users of Airbnb, they, they would, they easier BNB responding and stuff like that. And yeah, just being on the other side of the coin now, it's, it's interesting to see, isn't it? So you've had some really great advice and sort of mentors and people on your journey. What would you say is one piece of advice you've received about the hospitality side of things that you still hold to be true today?

I think a great piece of advice would be whatever market you're investing in, who is the core guest that's going to come and which guest do you want to attract? Because I think there's a big difference there because there's so many different types of people and that you could cater to. But if you know what you want to rent, what you want to, who you want to rent to, it makes all the difference. And like, you know, we started a little bit more turnkey and we quickly moved to value add just because we love design and we love to kind of create these spaces where it seems like a fun adventure and great design and whatnot. And every time we're doing that, we're thinking about the market and who we want to rent to. And so I mean, a lot of times selfishly it's like, well, we want us, we want us as renters because we know we're going to respect the place and we know we're going to have fun. But you know, like, we're going to appreciate good design, we're going to appreciate these certain things. So that's usually what we go after. But I think it also depends on the market because we do tweak our designs and our takeaway dependent on the market that we are actually renovating.

Yeah, you're so right. We like to host ourselves, don't we? Like you say, that's absolutely like families is who I like hosting. So I've got family myself. But you mentioned there was things that you tweak. Can we deep dive? Is there anything in particular that you do to attract that family avatar?

Yeah, I mean, let's say for we have an A frame or we have two A frames, but one the one in Idyllwild in particular. So it's a very small cabin. And it's funny because my kids, you know, we always tend to buy smaller places. And my kids just are saying, you need to buy a mansion, you need a bunch bigger. They just, you know, whatever. They're 8 and 10. They just want these large houses for whatever reason. But they're a. The A frame. There is a 2:1. And I think that is their favorite place of all time. And I think part of it is it was during COVID we are renovating. We went up there a ton. We almost lived there because school was virtual at the time. And we just thought about like as a family, what do the kids like to do? Why are they having so much fun? Because they're not seeing friends. There's like, we couldn't visit people, but there was forest all around. And when we were out there, like there was like a deck out back that was maybe three feet, three feet wide that you could stand. And that's actually where the view was. And so three feet didn't really do much because you could literally stand there, enjoy the view, then walk back inside. So one of the big expenses was we blew out the deck and added on like an 18 foot deck. So now there's like a table and benches and adironic chairs and a barbecue. And you could actually hang out there and, and relax. And the meanwhile, while my wife and I are out there, the kids can go out into the woods and play around and make forts and whatever. And they're always within earshot. And that's. That's the rule that we have for them. Like you could go explore, just be within earshot of the balcony so that we could always communicate with you.

That really sets the scene and exactly how you're setting the scene. There is exactly what. When we're booking places, and particularly, you know, some of the Smokies and places like that is what people envisage, isn't it? They want to go somewhere is safe where people can explore, where they've got a space, outside space. Especially like you say, barbecuing and that sort of thing. That's what holidays are all about. So that sounds really awesome. Is there any pieces of tech that you use within Your business, which has helped your hospitality journey and in what ways have they helped and why?

I mean, I think the biggest piece of tech that has helped me automate a bunch is my property management software. We use guesty for pros now. We just switched over and just messaging. As long as everything's going well, I feel like I almost don't have to do anything to the, you know, the guests. It's, it's all automated at the time. Obviously problems arise and we have to deal with it. But other than that, like all the automated messages feel, make them feel like they're being taken care of and they appreciate that and they express that appreciation. And you know, one of the thing that this doesn't have to do with tech, obviously, but when people do complain, I take it seriously. So in down times, a lot of times, I'll do big changes to cabins so that I don't get those complaints in the future. And the main reason why, not only to make it nicer, and I know it goes to the value of the ultimate house that I'm renovating, but it's also to save my time for the future because I feel like as I do that it's just less complaints I'm going to get and the easier everything's going to be later on.

There's something which I've put into my business called Kaizen, which is plan, do, check, review, you know, and you're constantly just. Every time we get some feedback, we've got this process where we go straight onto the maintenance list. You know, whatever it is, we take it seriously and go and get it done. And from doing that, that just saves you letting big stuff stack up or multiple complaints, even if they're just small little things, it's still worth nipping in the bud, isn't it? That sounds like it's very similar in bunkhouse.

And even more so, like when things slowed down a little bit this year, I think for a lot of vacation rental hosts and we actually took the time and did some things that maybe people didn't complain about, but I just, I knew that I would enjoy it more. Like I replaced all the appliances at the ones that had older appliances. I got rid of like any carpet and bedrooms and, or in the cabins at all and put, you know, LVP in and just made everything just a bit nicer so that when things do start to speed up again, I don't have to worry about trying to shut it down and, and shut it down and try to renovate at that point.

I mean, like you say just learning as you're going along which just so important, isn't it for hospitality but in any business it's just. It's the tweaks we make, isn't it? So absolutely. Looking back. So you've now been hosting for how many years?

Well, I started my. My first closing of the cabin was March 2020. So almost. Almost three years.

Three years. Amazing. So looking back, what would you say has been the biggest wow. Moments. Moments which you would say hey, that really was a notable change and, and something which I'm so glad I'd done that looking back. But you didn't necessarily know was going to work going forward.

I think the biggest one was maybe my cabin in Idlewild because I had purchased some things in the Smoky Mountains and it's a very proven market and there was a lot of data there. Idyllwild Someone, a friend of mine basically said hey, you gotta check out this small mountain town. It's so amazing. It's so cute. It has the nice, the coolest looking vintage cabins out there, but they're all outdated. There's very few that have actually updated and made it comfortable. And so when we went out there we saw this A frame and it was, I mean like everything we looked at is so cute. The town is so charming. But it didn't have things like air condition, it didn't have a hot tub, it didn't have the grill like with the big, big deck in the back. And that's what we wound up doing. We, we put in probably about another $80,000 into that cabin to make it like we kept the charm of the A frame. Obviously we love the A frame but air conditioning was a huge thing and we, we kind of like we gambled on doing this in the market that people don't necessarily do that. And I think it's worked out great because people always comment how comfortable they are and it's like one of their best vacations that they've had.

If you're struggling on how to get direct bookings and overwhelmed on where to start, then I recommend you go and book in a call with Boostly and our team right now. We can walk you through exactly what we're offering, how we can help you and give you a portfolio of websites that we have worked with that are matching not only your niche but could be in your location as well. Boostly has helped over 2, 000 hospitality businesses all over the world increase their direct bookings. And if you are interested then all you need to do is go to Boostly. B O O s t l y.co.uk call and booking an appointment with one of our sales team.

And where do you market your properties at the moment? Is it, is it just Airbnb or is it other places as well?

So I'm on Airbnb in vrbo, but I am in process with Boostly right now getting my direct site up and going. So of of the 11 cabins, six of them I'm still renovating and all those are in the Smoky Mountains. So I'm trying to get all my ducks in a row before I go live with those next six cabins and more than double my portfolio. So that was part of my plan. And that's also why I recently switched over to Guesty for Pros, just so that as this thing scales and grows, I have better systems in place.

And there's something which we, we often see from hosts is that as the size of your business changes, so does the needs. And then some of the softwares which we, we really love and sometimes we get the question from people say, hey, which is the best software for us to use is which one's the best out there? And you go, well, what do you need? What size is your business? What's most important to you? Where is your market? And it's so personable that there's no. And just because it works for one host doesn't mean it works for yourself. Obviously, we've all got different preferences, layouts of menus that we prefer and usability. Could you talk us through some of the things which you really felt changed when you switched from your old PMS to your new pms? What was the features that you go, do you know what? I'm so glad I switched because of X, Y and Z.

So I've actually swapped around several PMSs and I feel like a lot of them had benefits and faults. One of them, and I forget which one it was, but one of them I really liked for the messaging.

Hospitable.

I think it was hospitable. The thing that I couldn't get around is the statistics and the analytics of the actual revenue was not there. And I think we had to go to like a legacy platform to look at the analytics and not all everything would go in there. I am maybe a little too obsessive over looking at that stuff, but that's kind of a deal breaker for me. So that was one of the reasons why I moved away from them. But the difference between Guesty from Host and Guesty for Pros is I was actually struggling with automated communications with VRBO on Guesty for Hosts. And what I realized is when I did my first two listings, it wasn't verbo, it was Home Away. And then the next three listings when I there later on, they were set up on vrbo, not Home Away. It's the same company, but even though you set it up from one company, it still made a difference. And it made it difficult for my platform to automate the messages. So a lot of times it wouldn't send out my check in instructions at all and I'd have to scramble and kind of do it for them. Sometimes it would send an email versus going through the platform. It was kind of like inconsistent. So when I got to Guesty for Pros, I brought this up as one of my problems. And what we went through is we actually took the two listings that were started on HomeAway and we had VRBO swap them over so that everything's on vrbo. It's all consistent. And now all my automated messages, you know, it doesn't miss a beat. And it has all the statistics that I love. It has advanced features where giving people access. Like I have a VA now so I could give her access in a different way that I would have been able to in other PMSs and stuff like that. So I think all that stuff is super useful.

That's really cool. And it's an interesting sort of perspective that we don't often get to hear is when people switch pms. If there's someone out there who hasn't got PMS at the moment, what advice would you want to give them?

I mean, if they're starting off with, you know, a handful of them, I, I actually really did like Guesty for Host, so I would definitely recommend them. It's. It's a great platform and, and they're adding more and more features that Guesty for Pros has. But the other thing I didn't really realize is, and I knew they bought a company and then it became Guessy for Hosts. They kind of kept that platform as that. And then Guessy for Pros was its own platform. And so they're still two separate platforms and they're slowly starting to implement a lot of the changes onto Guesty for Host. So it is getting better and better throughout. So I think that's a really good.

One to start with and it's good to hear as well because I mean, the company used to be called your porter and they called it Guesty Host and that really confused things for a little while. Because it's guesty for host, Guesty Pro. But it's like you say guesty for host really is for somebody who's getting started and up to a certain size. I mean, you know, they say, I think guest even give them say, you know, five, six properties, something like that. And then guesty Pro is, is the one like you say is when you're doing this as a mainstream business, you need the analytics, you need the communications, and you know, you're often then also in a position where you've got a few properties so you can afford to, you know, upgrade the software side of things as well.

Exactly. Well. And if you're expanding the business and you do start to bring a team on, it has the capability of giving different people different access to it. And just because of that, I think it's helpful. Or if you wanted to expand and co host for other hosts, you could do that and give owners only access to those properties. And it's pretty robust in those terms.

What I've really enjoyed from hearing your story, Josh, is the, the actual, you know, going from the health worries back in 2015 to where you are now, where you're buying, you know, or you're sorting out all these cabins, all these A frames and that, and just the difference there. So what advice, if you could go back and tell yourself, what advice would you have for yourself about the journey and things that would maybe expediate or maybe save you some of the challenges?

Buy more. You know, even though I was, I was scaling pretty quickly, there were some deals that I was hemming and hawing about and I still didn't know if everything was going to work. And I would get nervous about how much debt I was taking on, not realizing that, you know, even a very low occupancy rate was going to pay for all of my mortgages. And I feel like if I realized that earlier, then I would have expanded even quicker than I did.

It's a great answer there because often speed is the key. But we don't know what we don't know until we, until we find it out, do we? So. And then just before we move on to our quick fight, what's the future of Bunkhouse look like?

Well, I want to get these renovations done and get these cabins up and running. That's a big thing. But also I have partnered with four other investors and we're starting a fund to do short term rentals and boutique hotels. So we're going to scale on a different level and kind of raise money and just buy A lot more so that we could all scale and make money both on our side and the investor side.

Amazing to hear. So as we get towards the end of these, we love to just do a couple of quick fire fun questions. Answers can be as short, as long as you like, but they're just for fun. So I've got to ask this because you mentioned you've done some producing TV bits, pieces like that. So who would play you if a movie was made about your life? Which actor?

That's a good question. So I actually get this a lot and this is just because of looks. People think that I look like a younger Peter Gallagher. I don't know if you know who that is.

I don't. I'm going to Google him straight after this.

I think that's his name. I might be mixing it up now, but he was the father on the show, the OC and yeah, a bunch of people say that I look just like him. So I think maybe he would play me.

That's cool.

He's a little bit older than me.

But anyways, if you could have a coaching call with anybody in property or hospitality or anybody at all really, who would you most like to have an hour's coaching call with?

I think probably Brandon Turner. I feel like, you know, he's the OG of bigger pockets and I like his positivity and I feel like my life and, and my wife as well. It's like we've been positive and that kind of got us through our sickness and kind of led us on this crazy journey of real estate. And so I feel like positivity is such a big thing. And I feel like he's a very positive person and I love that energy that he has.

Good answer, good answer. So we always end with this question, which is what motto or mantra do you live by or saying which really resonates with you?

So this one is very near and dear to me because when I was. When I was diagnosed, my wife was at home with the kids and I was in the hospital and I woke up from, you know, 12 hours of being in the ER with painkillers and whatnot, and I was kind of out of it. And there are two doctors sitting at the side of my. My bed and they said, you know, we. We have some results back and you have pancreatic cancer. And I said, okay. And they said, do you understand what we're saying? And I said, yeah, but, you know, yelling and screaming, is it going to fix that? I just need to call my wife. So I called my wife. And I told her, and instead of her freaking out, she said, okay, let's figure this out. So I'd say my mantra is, okay, let's figure this out.

Beautiful, Beautiful. Love that. Yeah, that is. What a poignant. You know, I've got goosebumps thinking about that. So thank you so much for sharing. And, yeah, so there'll be people listening into this. I'm inspired by the journey, and I'm sure others listening to this are as well. Where can we get in touch with you? Where can we follow you? Or where can we see more about Bunkhouse as well?

Yeah, I'm on Instagram @ bunkhouseworldwide, and so you could follow me there. You could DM me there. I'm also on biggerpockets if you want to find my profile there. And on Facebook, I'm active in several real estate groups, including Boostly Stuff. But, yeah, you can reach out to me at any of.

Those. Thank you so much, Josh, for sharing your journey. And I really feel that what I've taken away from this podcast is the mindset, the positivity, and actually just going, hey, if you, you know, let's figure it out. I think you've said it best. You know, let's just. Okay, let's figure this out. So is there any questions I've missed or any final thoughts? Thoughts before we bring things to a.

Close? Not that I could think of. No. I think we. We covered a good amount.

Yeah. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for your time, Josh, and thank you. Thank you, too. For you. If you're listening in on the Boostly podcast, we know there's lots of places you can put your attention, and we thank you for putting it with Boostly. Hopefully you've picked up some good tips and been inspired by Josh's story today. And thank you very much for listening. We'll see you on the next one. Bye for now.