Understanding Your Target Customer Avatar To Perfect Your Niche

So one of the things that we like to talk about is really understanding your guest avatar and there's no better way to do that than to actually walk in their shoes, to actually go through what they're doing. And this is what we're going to be talking about on today's podcast. It is really understanding your target avatar and really niching or niching down depending on if you're us or European. And to do that, we've got a special guest with us today who we're going to go behind the host today on the Boostly podcast and really dive into her business and how she really successfully understands her niche and the guests and what they need when they come stay in her properties. So if this is the first time you've listened to the Boostly podcast, this is the podcast that gives hosts the tools, the tactics, the trainings, and most importantly, the confidence to go out there and get more direct bookings. My name is Liam Carolan. I'm Mark Simpson's co host and today we have Alicia Clements. She's From Colorado furnished rentals.com she's the co owner and I'm really eager to find out really how she niches down into, into her guests and yeah, some of the journey that she's gone on. So welcome along. How are you doing?

I'm doing great. Thanks for having me on.

So first question, can you introduce your business and let us know why you have Colorado Furnished Rentals? How did this idea come about?

Yeah, absolutely. So we started Colorado Furnished Rentals about three years ago and we focus on people who are relocating to Colorado. So our client avatar people who are moving to the area and we provide the service where they can stay in one of our beautifully furnished rentals. We usually specialize in three beds, two baths, fully fenced in backyard and we're pet friendly. So if they have dogs or things like that, they can stay there and they can try before they buy or live like a local and, and stay in one of our properties, try out one of the cities, see if they like it before they, you know, decide to buy or sign a lease or anything like that. And it came from a necessity that we needed back when my family moved to Colorado about eight years ago. This service wasn't provided back then and so it was either sign a one year lease or stay in a really expensive hotel, which for a family of four with two dogs was just not ideal. Very cramped. And so we ended up having to buy a camper and stay in a camper. It was only supposed to be for three months, ended up being 18 months. Just because we couldn't compete in the housing market at the time, we couldn't bring 50,000 cash over asking, which is what the market was demanding back then. And so we never want to have to go through that again. And that's what other people were having to go through constantly. We kept talking to people and they're like, stressing or moving here is so stressful. And it's just like a lot of people would give up on their dream of living in Colorado because it was just so hard to move here. And so that's where the idea of Colorado Furnished Rentals was born, is to take the stress out of moving for people and give them a place to stay, to stay like a home away from home where they can just relax, take their time finding their dream house and not have to rush or get into something, like buy something that they end up regret buying in the future because it just wasn't exactly what they wanted or they felt like they paid too much because they were in a rush. So it's just been. Been great to help people do that. We've helped so many families, and we've welcomed over 700 people to Colorado.

Amazing. And what I love about this is we always talk about assess demand before you go off and do it. And often we're talking software and stuff like that. But actually, you didn't just use software. You went off and you actually were your guest originally and just going to know how hard it is to find exactly the product that you're looking for. And you was like, hey, I'll just make it myself. You know, I'll make this product for everybody else so they don't feel the pain that you went through when you were trying to move to the area. And are all your properties based in, like, one city or are they spread out? How does. How does this work for your business?

Yeah, so we strategically spread them out all over northern Colorado. So we have some all the way down Fort Collins up to Denver, and even some a little bit past Denver, like southern Denver area. And we put them. So we have 30 properties, and we put them in different cities so people can decide, like, you know, living in Fort Collins is a lot different than living in downtown Denver or even Boulder. And so there's. Or maybe you want to try out a small town. So there's Birthday Colorado. We have a few there. And so there's just so many, like, it's all in Colorado, but there's so many different experiences and just kind of. It's nice to have them spread out so that people can like stay in downtown Denver for a month. They can try out Boulder for a month. You know, they can see which area suits their lifestyle the best.

And what would you say is your like typical length of stay for, for people who are looking to purchase in the area?

It's about two months. Is so a month to two. We provide it for up to three months for people and we rarely have, I guess, stay the full three months.

Nice. And what amenities attract your ideal guests? What would you say? What, what is the reason that they're booking with you as opposed to other, other properties?

So we focus on all of our properties. Our three bedrooms, two baths, they have, you know, fully stocked kitchen. And then we make sure that there's a fully fenced in backyard and we're pet friendly. So, you know, a lot of times our ideal clients are families or couples who are moving to the area. They have pets. You know, there's not a lot of rentals out there that are pet friendly. And so that's definitely kind of our niche because we have two dogs. We moved with two dogs. That was one of the reasons why it was so hard for us moving here because, you know, no one wanted to lease through us or Airbnbs weren't pet friendly or you know, things like that. So I say definitely being pet friendly. Having a fully fenced in backyard for their dogs, it sets us apart from other Airbnbs for sure.

That's cool. And the opportunity here is huge because like you say, when people move, they do bring their pets with them. So to be pet friend friendly for a certainly if you're targeting these people who stay in for months at a time. And obviously one of the benefits is there that you're reducing cleaning costs, you're reducing hassle of dealing with short term stays. And this is, you know, the beauty of your business there, which you've completely understood them, the avatars needs and what they want from their stay. So obviously fully fenced in garden, enough bedrooms and these ideal locations across there seems like a really good business model. Looking back, is there anything that you do that you'd go back to yourself back in the early days and say, hey, we should have done this instead. What advice would you have for yourself?

Yeah, absolutely. So we grew pretty fast. So we started our first Airbnb and then had that for about a year. Then we went to three and then in the last 15 months we went from three to 30. So we kind of exploded all of a sudden and we didn't have the systems in place ahead of time before we exploded. Exploded. So we didn't have automation systems set up. We weren't running like a big business because we only had three Airbnbs. We didn't have to run like a big business. And then once we exploded, because it was kind of. We were trying to expand, but not that fast. And so once we exploded, all of our time was spent managing the properties, guest communications, fixing things when the properties would break. Because when you have 30 properties, something's always breaking. A guest always needs something. And so we got spread thin really fast and we were wearing a lot of hats. There was even times where we were the cleaners for all of these properties. Like, we didn't have a cleaning crew. It was insane. And so if you're looking to expand, make sure you have all these systems in place beforehand because it's a lot harder to, you know, set aside time to put all these systems in place when you're already huge. Like, it's really hard. It would have been a lot easier when we had more time, freedom to set up all these, you know, systems and processes and, you know, implement or integrate tech and all that stuff. And then, you know, back when we had three properties versus now we have 30, and it's kind of hard to, like, go back and set all that stuff up. So definitely get set up correctly when you first start out, don't do it later.

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 2000 hospitality businesses all over the world increase their diet 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 book in an appointment with one of our sales team.

Awesome advice. And that that segues nicely onto what systems, processes or tech would you say that you utilize the most in your business? What has been successful for you?

So the biggest thing for us was finding reliable cleaners and cleaning crews and someone who will always show up. And that was a big problem for us for a long time, actually probably until the last six months. And what changed that for us was turnover. Bnb. And so we put all of our, we put all of our properties on there, synced all of our calendars, started. I mean it was a little bit of a hassle to set up. Cause you have to find your cleaners, you know, they send you bids and then you gotta talk with them and try them out, see if they do a good job. But what's really nice about it is they come with reviews. So it's kind of like, kind of like how the Airbnb platform works. You know, your guests come with reviews. Well, these cleaners come with reviews. So if they don't have five star reviews, you know, obviously you're not going to hire them for the project. And they're trained specifically for Airbnbs because that's their business and what they do. So once we implemented that, that was amazing because now we don't have to touch it, we don't have to worry about the cleaning schedule. Everything is like automated. We can, you know, message our, our cleaners right from the app and they accept projects as they come on. And you know, since the calendars are synced like it shows when guests are checking out, checking in. And you know, it also has like an area where the cleaners can tell us what supplies are needed if there's any problems. Stained sheets, stained rugs, anything like that. And so that saved us so much time. So turnover probably saved us I don't know how many hours per week because we were having to clean them all ourselves. And then so that was the first one and then the second one was Price Labs. So not having to adjust our prices all the time because we were doing that all manually ourselves. And so then we implemented Price Labs and you know, that adjusts the price based on the demand in the area for all 30 of our Airbnbs. And that we were actually so through the winter we were having a little bit of a slowdown in places, weren't booking as much. But as soon as we implemented Price Labs and they started adjusting the prices more often and more competitive pricing, then we started seeing an increase in booking. So that, that was great as well. And then awning.com is what we have been using to like find where successful properties will be to kind of analyze the numbers. And because we work with a lot of investors, we help, we specialize in helping investors purchase high performing Airbnbs and then we also help them manage it too once they purchase the property. And so we use Awning to analyze all the numbers and show them like what they can expect.

That's cool. That's cool. And some really good advice there. What was that last one? I missed the name of the last one. Awning.com awning.com awesome. So you got turno, price labs and awning.com so there's some awesome ones for the people listening to Go and Google go and check out. They're really cool. So obviously you mentioned that you moved to Colorado and started the business. What did you do before this? Take me back. What's your history?

So before this I was just a college student. I was going to school for a computer science degree. And so I finished, I graduated high school at 15. So I went straight into college and I did college till I was about 18 years old before I dropped out and started the Airbnb business. But what. So I was going to college, get a computer science degree because of job security. You know, that's kind of what my mindset was at the time. And then I had won a ticket to my very first ever business conference out in Hollywood, California. Ed Mylett, Lewis Howes. Some popular speakers were there speaking and they just were so inspiring. And I was able to network with business owners for the first time. I was introduced to business concepts in real estate concepts and it just blew my mind. And I realized that that would allow me, if I step into that space, it would allow me to be more creative and who I am and not have to stay at 9 to 5, sit a desk all day. And so that actually encouraged me to come home, drop out of college and start this adventure. And my mom, she's so sweet, she supported me through the whole thing. She was like, okay, cool, let's do this. What do you want to do? I'll help you. And I'm like, okay, let's do real estate. Let's do Airbnb. And so we both got our real estate licenses at the same time. Our first Airbnb was in my parents walkout basement, completely separate entrance, had a little kitchen. It was so cute. And it was booked 100% of the time. And we were like, there's something to this. And so that's kind of how this whole crazy journey started.

Well, I'm so glad it did. And yeah, what an awesome inspirational story. I wish I knew this stuff, you know, way back when. So you're on a great trajectory and amazing, you know that that story needs to be shared with, with friends, family and the people listening at the end of the day because if I can help my, my child in, in the same way get, you know, get the bug for short term rental or for real estate, Then I'll definitely be doing the same. What would you say has been the biggest wow moment? You know, the most looking back, the, the success that you're most proud of?

My biggest wow moment was probably recently when I. Back in February when I went on a trip to Maui, Hawaii, and I just was like, I was surrounded by amazing real estate investors, and I just couldn't believe that I was able to experience this stuff. Like I was going on boats and seeing, going whale watching, like sunset cruises and dinners and snorkeling and surrounded by all these amazing people and blessed to be able to go to an event like this. And it's just, I couldn't believe that all my hard work paid off, because we're talking 16 hour work days, blood, sweat, tears, literally putting together furniture. You know, there was so many late nights, so many times where I wanted to give up and that I didn't think it would work. There's about two years of working really hard with no return. And so it was just a wow moment for me, like looking out over the ocean and thinking, I made it, I made it here. I'm living my dreams. Because it was just like three years ago, I had reached out to my mentor, Amanda Williams, and the reason why I reached out to her is because I saw her Instagram profile, she was traveling all over the place and, you know, making passive income and inspiring so many other people to do the same. And so I reached out to her, not knowing if she would respond, and I said, hey, will you teach me what you do? I want to live your lifestyle. She said, absolutely. She even flew out to Colorado, taught me her business model, all that stuff, invested a lot of time into me, and I took action on that and I implemented what she taught me. And now, you know, two years later, now I'm living that lifestyle and I'm doing exactly what I wanted to do, you know, two, three years ago. And it was just one of those wild moments where I was like, wow, it was all worth it. And now it's like, I get to inspire other young entrepreneurs. And to me, that's the best thing ever. I constantly having young entrepreneurs reach out to me. Like, your story was so inspiring. You inspired me to go get my real estate license or start my first Airbnb, or can you help me start my first Airbnb? And that is just so incredible to me that I am now able to help other young entrepreneurs pursue their dreams, you know, help them be creative and successful. And so it's, it's amazing. That was my biggest Biggest wow moment for sure.

It's something definitely to be proud of. And shout out to Amanda Williams. We've had her on the podcast before as well. Feel free if you listen to this to just search Bruce Lee podcast Amanda Williams. And she shared her journey as well. So it's great to have, you know, see people be inspired by people and then you are inspiring other people to do the same. So who knows, we'll, we'll have perhaps one of your mentees in the future on there, on here. So absolutely. What does the future of your business look like?

So we're going to continue expanding once. Well, right now we're focusing on systems and processes, but once that's all a little bit smoothed out, we're going to keep expanding. And then for me, I'm going to step into kind of the coaching, mentoring stage for young entrepreneurs and really help them build their businesses and focus more on and giving back. Giving back to the community. And that's kind of where I'm at right now. And stepping more into the public speaking space. I have a coach that's teaching me how to build out my speech and all that stuff and getting me on stages. And so that's kind of where we're leading right now is stepping more into helping other people succeed and giving back and teaching and mentoring and so but also expanding as well, continuing helping people who are moving to the area. You know, there's 5,000 people moving to Colorado every month and we only have 30, 30 doors. So we can help everyone and but our goal is to help as many of those 5,000 people a month as possible and take the stress out of their move.

Quick break from the podcast to let you know that the two boostly books that we brought out, the book Direct Playbook and the book Direct Blueprint are two of the top rated and the best selling in the hospitality category on Amazon for just two pounds. You can grab both of those books right now. The foundations and the structures that you need to put in place is in the blueprint and then for 101 marketing tactics that is in the Playbook. So go and grab a copy on Amazon. Now Just type in Book Direct Playbook or the book Direct Blueprint and we'll see you on the other side.

You know, this is the cool thing about and I really applaud your inspiring more people, but this is the cool thing about the, the business. You already know how many people are traveling like you say 30 doors at the moment. And because they're staying long periods of time, once you've filled these, obviously say they're staying two months each. Well, that's only six guests per year in each listing. So six times 30. 150, you know, 150 people. Well, actually you've got a huge scope to grow there, which is so exciting. So and I love the fact, first of all that you know that and also you're very clear with, with where you're heading on this. So as we reach towards the end of these, we just love to ask a couple of sort of can be hospitality related, but just some fun questions. So my first question for yourself is what does your day to day routine look like?

Yeah, so my day to day routine is always so different because in the life of an Airbnb host, you never know what's going to go wrong with property. You never know what a guest is going to need. So a lot. And then we're also in real estate as well. So real estate clients, sometimes last minute need to go see a house or we need to put an offer on something. And so it's kind of a crazy day to day, but what it looks like is, you know, get up in the morning, health is a priority for me. So I go to the gym, you know, work out, go for a run, things like that, try to get 10,000 steps in a day. That's kind of my health goals. And then the rest of the time we, I usually spend on office work getting, you know, caught up on paperwork and things like that. And then in the evening is when we allow time for showing houses, putting in offers, you know, tending to guest needs. And so my dad actually joined the business. We retired him from his nine to five and he joined the business last summer. And so he takes care of all of our property maintenance calls now. So he'll go out and take care of anything that's like broken, broken appliances, things like that. And so that's really been helpful. Don't have to take those calls anymore. And yeah, that's typically my day to day. And sometimes it's still really late nights. Sometimes, you know, don't finish up work till 10, 11 o'. Clock. Sometimes we finish up around 5 or 6. It just kind of depends on the day. So you really have to be flexible when you're working on this yourself. And you know, hopefully our goal one day is to get a property manager or managers that can replace our role so we're not having to spend so much time in the business.

That's cool. That's cool. And I admire your tenacity in, you know, sort of the work's got to be done, hasn't it? Do you find time to fit anything fun in? Do you, what do you do for fun?

Oh, absolutely. So one of my favorite things to do is swing dancing. And so I at least go out once or twice a week, Wednesday nights or Saturday nights, and I go out swing dancing with a group of friends that I have. And that is so much fun and brings a lot of joy into my life and laughter and happiness. And you need that, you need to make time for fun things throughout the week or you will get burned out and just kind of, you know, to refill your cup. And I live in Colorado, so there's a lot of sunshine and I love going out hiking in nature. And so usually on the weekends I make time to go out for a hike and just get into the mountains and, you know, kind of unplug from everything for a while. You have no cell phone service out there and just kind of enjoy the sunshine and fresh air. And it's just so important to like I like doing on Sundays because it helps me recharge for the week. But absolutely. And then last thing would probably be like, I love, I ride a motorcycle. I love riding my motorcycles whenever the weather's nice. Going for a little motorcycle ride always is so fun.

Nice, nice. What is one movie, computer game or podcast that you'd recommend? Everybody listening go check out can be short term rental related or can just be for fun, something that you look up on. Go. This one of my favorite movies or something.

Oh, goodness. I say for podcast. One of my mentors, his name is Greg Kimball, he, I love his podcast. So he's more about mindset and personal growth and things like that. And it's just so, he's helped me so much over the past three years just listening to his podcasts, you know, coaching sessions. He's helped my mindset shift so much to, you know, abundant mindset versus a scarcity mindset. He's really helped me become confident and really step into the best version of myself and continuing to push me to grow. And so if you want to learn more about like mindset and things like that, it's the final percent podcast by Greg Kimble. I have an episode on there as well. But that's definitely if you want to get, if you want to watch that podcast, get plugged into that community, life changing.

Nice, nice. And what's one mantra or saying that really resonates with you?

Yeah, so this one's actually from the same mentor, Greg Kimball. He always says, you are one conversation away from changing your life. And so I always like to live by that, because it's like, you really are one conversation away from changing your life. And you might be scared to make that conversation, but the more people that you talk to, like, the more connections that you have, the community that you surround yourself with, like, that's really what's going to bring you up and make you successful. And I can't tell you how many times it's like, I'll go, I'll go to one of these events and I'll have a conversation. And that one conversation leads to so many new doors opening and opportunities and business partnerships. And so I like to live by. You're only one conversation away from changing your entire life, because it's true.

It's very inspirational. And that's what I've got from this entire podcast. And I'm sure when you share and when people listening to this, this podcast, that you're going to get lot more followers, but the question they're going to ask is, how do they find you? Where should they come and search or follow you? What sort of links can you share for people to find out more about yourself?

Yeah, absolutely. So you guys can connect with me on Instagram. My handle is at the Airbnb agent, and then also color at Colorado Furnished Rentals is our business page. And so I respond to either one of those. If you want to look up at the Airbnb agent or at Colorado Furnished Rentals, that's where you can find me. And yeah, feel free to follow me, connect, send me a message. I'm happy to help if you have any questions or anything like that.

That's cool. Was there anything we missed or any last years before we bring it to a close?

I don't think so. I think we covered pretty much everything.

Cool, Cool. Thank you so much for spending your time sharing your journey on the behind the Host on the Booski podcast. And, yeah, and if you're listening to this podcast on whichever device that you're listening to this on, uh, I thank you for putting your attention with Boostly. We know there's a lot of places you can put your attention. We really thank you for spending it with us. If you think somebody else, you know, can either be inspired or get some good information out of this or any of our podcasts, please do share it with friends, family, peers, people who can get some use out of this. And thank you again. So that's it from us today. We'll see you on the next one. Bye. Bye. For now.