Stand Out & Get Booked - The Power of Branding for Hosts

When you pay attention to your strengths, you literally can build your business around that. Just because you see me here, you know, doing interviews today, that might not necessarily be your strong suit. Your strong suit might be customer service and you do a knockout job with that. But when it comes to a camera, you like shrivel up and kind of you're nervous. That's you being nervous in any kind of capacity is not going to be something that's going to advance your brand forward. Right. You have to pay attention to your strengths.

Having a blast gonna get it on the Bruce Lee podcast Bruce Lee like Bruce Lee cuz 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 book direct. Here are the words in the podcast. That's what comes next.

Hi, welcome to the Boostly podcast. This is the podcast that gives hosts the tools, the tactics, the training and most importantly, the confidence to go out there and get more direct bookings. We have a special miniseries on this podcast where we interview hosts from all over the world. And we also have a spotlight series where it kind shines light on things that you should be doing within your hospitality business. And today's episode is a combination of those two. We've got a wonderful guest. She's a host herself and she's got an amazing business which you you'll see on this podcast. Let me welcome Dominique Hart. She is the co founder and the director of brand management at the Lavish and Live Experience llc. Welcome along Dominique.

Thank you so much for having me, Liam. I'm so excited to be here today.

I'm excited to have you on here today. So Dominique, what do you want the listeners to take away from from this episode?

Yeah, one of the main things that I want everyone to take away from this episode is how you can truly accomplish an extraordinary and a dynamic business. Being exactly who you are. And no need to shift or change that for anyone because that's how dynamic brands are created.

Can you give us a bit of background? Like how did you come to be both short term rental host and so good at personal branding?

Yeah. And especially with a question like that, it's so loaded. But to be brief, on the professional side of things, I've always been one who's always creating something new. Right. Creating a new idea or thinking of new perspectives just along my journey, growing up and paying attention to that about myself. And as it came about in those coming of years when you're in high school and going off into college. I said, what is it that I want to do for the rest of my life where I will not be bored, where it'll be thrilling every day and every day won't be the same. And as I did that, I uncovered advertising, believe it or not. And I went on to college and got my degree in advertising and I went to Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for my international peeps out there. And that is it in Philadelphia here in the States. And I then went on to achieve my master's in branding from the School of Visual Arts here in New York City as well. And so I'm originally from New York, born and raised for the majority of my life. And I am a first generation Jamaican American. And so with that, my world has definitely one of firsts and full of discovery, which is one of the main reasons that I've seen along this professional journey. Why I said at the top of the show that I want everyone to make sure that you are taking away as much nuggets as you possibly can from today. But that understanding who you are as a person and how that can exude through everything you do is what makes this world that you live in and the world that you're trying to create for yourself and your family, it's what's going to transcend for generations to come. And I think who we are as people can get underestimated in this world of branding and marketing and trying to be this, you know, big figure that doesn't come about just because it comes about because you are fully aware of who you are as a person and standing 10 toes down on that.

The question I'd have is where is your short term rental units? How many are there and yeah, what are they like? Yeah.

So for the lavish and live experience, lavish and live being the core brand name, we currently have as of today have two units that we're really proud of and excited about because they have been really popular. Like as soon as we list them, we've, we've been getting pretty booked and we're excited about that. We actually just started back in November of 2023, so we're freshly new compared to other counterparts. But just from the two units alone, we're doing some really good, we're having some really good booking numbers and we're excited about where it's going. And some breaking news, we have unit number three that we just got approved for. So congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. I literally just found out yesterday while I was traveling and really excited about it. Just looking forward to the expans and we're starting in Connecticut, even though I'm in New York, short distance in downtown Stamford is where we're starting. And the plan is to go eventually nationwide across the different cities. That's the long term vision, but even longer term vision is to go international. I mean, we're an international family. So we would be remiss if we didn't cross borders and share this lavish and live experience with as much people as we possibly could.

How is building a strong personal brand helped you within short term rental but also in life so far?

Yeah. So for my personal brand, if you haven't noticed already, I love a lavish thing or two. And. But that is a part of what makes me me. Right. And so. And that is for every, that's the same for every client. Right. We all have these unique things about us that people gravitate to us. I mean, for, you know, it's from my business profess out there, when you are at, you know, networking events, or if you're around friends, or if you're around family, or if you're around your colleagues, people gravitate to you for unique, special things about you that even you might not be aware of. And that's where self assessment really comes into play. Right. And self awareness. Why self awareness, especially in personal branding, is so important? It's because of the fact that if you not if you're not aware of the gifts that you have, how in the world is everyone else supposed to know what they are? How in the world is everyone else supposed to benefit from that? How in the world is. Is that unique ability that you have or that essence that you bring to the life? How are people supposed to incorporate that into their own lives and learn from that and grow from that or even be changed or transformed from that? I mean, I can count off the top of my head a list of people where every time you are around them, you just can't help but feel good. You know, you can't help but feel excited or leave feeling inspired. Right. And the thing is they're not trying to do it. They do it without even thinking because that is the core of who they are. And so what makes it powerful, Liam, is when you recognize that, harnessed it, own it, and are willing to share that. And so when we talk about personal branding and lavish and live, that is, you know, me being the brand manager of the, of the company, I paid attention to each of our personalities as a family. I paid attention to each of our personalities in terms of how do we want people to feel right. I paid attention to my mom and my cousin and how in our culture, we serve people with love. If you've ever been to Jamaica, pretty sure a lot of people have. If you haven't, what's going on? Get down there. Okay. But in Jamaica, we serve people with love, and we have this vibrant culture that people just embrace. Why? Because that's the core of who we are as a people, and so we share that with the world. That is a personal brand in a cultural sense, but one that can absolutely be implemented in everyone's life. And so as I paid attention to these things, how my family, how we serve people, how in my culture we serve people, and what experience we always want people to feel as they leave our homes, as they leave our presence. I was just like, oh, my goodness. Like, yeah, like, we want people to not only just enjoy our units and our space, but we want them to live, you know, just live this ultimate, great life that you want. So we've had people in our units who came for birthdays. They did, like, little cute family, little birthday get together with just their immediate family, like, five of them. And they. And they shared as they're leaving. Oh, my gosh, we had such a great time. Thank you so much. This was such a great place, like, and we make sure that in our decorating of the place that it is vibrant, it has a unique touch to it, it's very homey, but it's also a touch of decadence, too, right? That lavish aspect of the company as well. And so when you pay attention to these things about you, you'd be surprised how magically it can show up in different parts of your brand, even in your messaging, even in how you interact with clients and how you interact with people. It comes up in so many different ways. And I was very, very int that with the lavish and live brand for.

The hosts who are listening to this, and I get to meet people, especially as new members of Boostly. I mean, we always talk about you've really got to identify your target avatar, but we don't always talk about, you've really got to identify your brand and your business's brand quite as much. And this is where I think people listening to this is, you know, can learn from. So for those hosts out there who go, do you know what? I don't want to put myself into my brand. I don't want to, you know, go out there, maybe do interviews and podcasts and. And. And do lives and social media posts and all that. What would you say to Those people, what advice would you have for those.

Yeah, I think, you know, and I get this question often with different interviews that I do. And I really want people to understand when you pay attention to your strengths, you literally can build your business around that. Just because you see me here, you know, doing interviews today, that might not necessarily be your strong suit. Your strong suit might be customer service and you do a knockout job with that. But when it comes to a camera, you'll like shrivel up and kind of you're nervous. That's you being nervous in any kind of capacity is not going to be something that's going to advance your brand forward, Right? You have to pay attention to your strengths. That's why you, you see that I'm here doing the interview today because for my mother and for my cousin, that's not necessarily their strong suit. Everyone does a beautiful job at what they do best. And when it comes to growth in business, you want to pay attention to that, right? And whoever can pick up where the pieces in their own strength, let them do that, right? And so for everyone watching, pay attention to that. And as you do that, you'll begin to see this places where you might not necessarily want to live in every day. And then you can start to build out the pieces of your business from there. And so just understand that when you see a formula working for another short term rental owner doesn't mean that it has to be your formula, right? But understand the building blocks that make successful businesses, right? And understand where do I fall in the mix and how can I make this my own. The beautiful thing about being an entrepreneur is you get to set the limits, you get to set the terms, you get to, to say, this is how I want to show up in the world and this is how I want my brand to show up in the world. But also do not be remiss about what are the successful pieces of what makes a company great and build accordingly. It's very different when you shift from going from employer to the, from going from employee to employer. It's very different, right? You're used to being in a world when you are the employee where someone else is telling you what you need to be good at, how you need to show up doesn't matter. Just get there. Just get it done. And I want it done in this time and during this time of the day when you are the employer, right? When you're coming into this world where you get to set how many hours before someone gets to book, you get to set how people book with you, when they book with you, do they need a deposit? Do they not need a deposit? A lot of decisions to be made, but all a part of how do I want to cultivate this experience so that other people can experience the business and the vision that I want to put out there in the world. And the beautiful thing about that, especially in short term rentals, yes, we're all in the same industry, but we do not have to do business the same way. For some of you, you guys are owning hotels, mini hotels, branded hotels. For some of you, you're just starting out like how we are with two or three units or maybe just one. For some of you, it's for Covid. Right? Covid birthed your business because you had property that you were sitting on, right. And you're like, what are we going to do now? Right. And here is this world that has now opened up to you. Opportunities like this show up all the time. But when you are an entrepreneur, it's how you step into those opportunities that make all the difference. And when you pay attention to who you are as a personal brand, it's going to shine through all throughout your business if you let it.

What motto or quote or a kind of lesson which has stuck with you. Would you like to share? Everybody to see us out?

Yeah, I think about so many of them, but absolutely. It's kind of on theme with Journey a bit. Right. But don't stop believing. And I think in this journey, there's a lot of things that catch you off guard, especially if you're learning on the spot and you can, you can have some doubt along the way. Am I doing the right thing? Should I even be here? You know, is this gonna last long? These, these, these thoughts may come in your mind, but what's important is how you speak to yourself and how you treat yourself is going to matter more than you can imagine. Because being an entrepreneur is not easy. It's not for the faint of heart. And so as you are walking this journey, it is important for you to understand how you are defining this journey for yourself and not according to the negative speak that's out there or the way in which other people, whether they know they're doing it or not, may put down other people. It's important how you see yourself, yourself in this world. It's important how you see yourself in this industry and owning it. And that's where that confidence comes from. Not from being someone that you're not, or not feeling the pressure of being someone that you're not. If, if you're not into the lavish things of life. Don't show up lavishly. Right. If, if, if you, if you like. I like a good down Southern home, honest living that is brilliant. Walk in that, own that show up as that because the world needs that someone needs that experience in their, in their world and they're waiting on you to do it. And so own your experiences that you want to have and own how you want to show up in this world. Because a lot of people who are saying that you can't, but there's more than one success stories out there of people who said yes, I can. And so I want you to be one of them too, Dominique.

You know exactly that. Don't, don't listen to the naysayers and don't stop believing. So this has been so much fun and I will, I'll look forward to listening to this back. Thank you for listening to this on the Bruce Lee Podcast. If there's people you know who would get value from this, please do share it with them and we'll see you on the next episode. Thanks again, Dominique.

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.