Valuable, Free Education For Rental Hosts!

Hi and welcome back to the Boostly Podcast. This is the podcast that gives hosts the tools, the tactics, the trainings and most importantly, the confidence so you can go out there and get yourself more direct bookings. Today we've got the Spotlight series and this is where we shine the Boostly Spotlight on services, people and things which you as a host really need to know about. And today we've got a special guest, we've got James Varley. He's a founder, he's a podcaster of Holiday Cottage Handbook and you can go and check them out@holiday cottagehandbook.com we're going to be learning what that is, how it can help you as a host and really just diving into his experience and listening to his advice on the matter. So thank you for joining me today, James.

It's a real pleasure, Liam, thanks for having me.

So, James, I know I've given you a brief introduction, but can you give us kind of the elevator pitch? What is it that you do and whereabouts in the world are you based on?

I'm based just between Leeds and York, so in the north of England. In terms of Holiday Cottage Handbook, it's a communications platform and we are dedicated to sharing valuable free education for short term rental hosts, investors and property managers, plus people in the industry. Our goal is to make it as easy as possible to start being a short term rental host and also to help people that are already in the industry to upskill with tips, trends, best practices. The goal really is to become the go to place for the short term rentals industry. In terms of our platforms, we have the website obviously, which you mentioned. We've got a free ebook which you can download from the website. It's nearly 50 pages long. It's particularly useful if you're starting out in short term rentals and you need a guidebook of where to start. You just put your email address in on the website and you can download it. We have a weekly newsletter and a weekly podcast. In terms of starting the business, I've been a short term rental house myself for five or six years. I've got a couple of properties just near where I live here in South Milford, which is a little village, like I said, just between Leeds and York. And the reason I started this platform is because of my own experience. When I switched from buy to let investment to short term rentals, I found that the information out there that was available in terms of websites, forums, podcasts, I found there was a huge difference. Buy to let is really, really well catered for. Certainly here in the uk, whereas short term rentals couldn't always find what I was looking for. And I know from myself that I made a lot of mistakes when I started out in the industry and I would have certainly benefited from a platform like this. And also I think the light bulb moment for me was seeing so many people on social media, Facebook groups in particular, people joining Airbnb host groups or booking.com host groups and saying, I'm just starting out and I don't know what to do. I see these people every single day and think to myself, I think I can help these people. So after the, after the World Cup, I'll mention that a little bit. You know, my career is all in the media, not short term rentals. I'll go on to that in a bit. But once I had a bit more time on my hands, I started writing this ebook. And, and it's because I thought I could help short term rental house and property managers. All those people that I was seeing on Facebook saying, should I charge a cleaning fee? Should I allow pets? Do I need this tool? Do I need that tool? That kind of thing. So I started writing an ebook, called it Holiday Cottage Handbook and, and then the platform just took on a life of its own. I thought, I thought it would be a, an ebook, something that I put on Amazon and sell for $2.99 and then go back to my career in the media. But it's, it's snowballed. After speaking to people in the industry, it felt like there was a real appetite for this kind of platform. So that's why it's become a website and a podcast and a newsletter and, and I'm focusing now, now full time on, on developing it and yeah, turning it into a viable business, hopefully.

That's amazing. And there's lots of different avenues we can go into from that. But before that, just give us some of your history. Why you mentioned that you've got short term rentals. And also just before we went live, we mentioned that a lot of the time we see services that we'd like, so we create them as entrepreneurs and then help others to do the same. But talk me through the history and you know, really why you care about short term rental.

I think first of all, to understand why I've set this up, you probably need to know about my career. So I've been in the media my entire career. I started off working in newspapers, I've worked for magazines, I've worked in radio, TV. And then for the last 10 years I was working out In Qatar for the World cup organizing committee where I was managing corporate communications. So I'm all about the media, content marketing, all this kind of stuff. I came to property when I was living in Qatar really. That's when I started investing properly and I started off investing in normal vanilla style buy to lets. But then a few years later my daughter arrived and the main reason for moving into short term rentals was because as a family we needed somewhere to stay in the uk. But also I could see the way the wind was blowing in terms of, you know, the property situation in the UK government making it harder and harder to make money from regular buy to let short term rentals exploding in popularity, obviously the prominence of Airbnb and then later booking.com, and all the other OTAs. And it just felt like this was an opportunity to have a much more viable business business in, in property and at the same time have somewhere for us to stay when we were back in the uk. So, so that's why I switched in terms of the starting the business. It was, you know, like I said before, based on my own experience of switching from buy to let to, to short term rentals. You know, when I was investing in Buy to let you know, I used to listen to the like the Property Hub podcast with Rob Dix and Rob Benz, which I found immensely interesting and insightful. You've got like Property Tribes forum that Vanessa Warwick runs for example, and there are various other websites and social media channels and communications channels which really do explain everything you need to know to get started and be successful in buy to let. When it comes to short term rentals. I found that there is information out there, it's kind of disparate, it's a little bit all over the place. Often it's being produced by a platform that wants to direct you to use their particular product. And I just felt there was a little bit of a gap in the market for a independent platform which would focus on providing valuable free education for house and property managers. Not really with an agenda, just saying, look, here it is. This is what you need to know. This is going to help you get started and always have that audience at the heart of everything you do. And I think where I have a little bit of an advantage is that a lot of the platforms that are existing, often it's people who've worked in property for 20 years or something and then maybe they start a newsletter or a podcast or something. I'm coming at it from the opposite angle. I've worked in the media for 20 years. I've come to property a bit later and I guess I see a bit of a gap here that I think I can, I can turn into something hopefully successful.

You know, the great thing is, as we were speaking just before we went live, having professional set up. I mean, I've listened to your podcast before we've jumped on here and it does make a difference. I mean, perception is reality and if something's professional and it's produced, well, then more people are going to listen to it. And you're absolutely right on what you're saying. When, when I started learning about short term rental, there was one or two podcasts and these people are now my friends. But often they were recording it on their phones or, you know, very, very basically produced or when I searched for information I was looking to get, I'd end up on a sponsored link or I'd end up on, you know, these are the top three pieces of tech that you need to use. And the trouble was that each one was getting paid on that link. You'd, you'd see it was a commissionable link. And this is the trouble where a lot of the time there's advice out there and some of the trouble is that there's a lot of free advice, but some of that advice is actually just to get people into funnels or into, you know, to, to get them onto their product. So that brings me nicely onto the next question, which is you mentioned it is free education. What is the, as a business or as somebody producing that, is there anything that you sell or is there anything to buy or is this just free content?

It's free and I think that's the beauty of it for hosts and property managers. And we're very much committed to the sharing economy ethos which this industry latterly has been built on through Airbnb and obviously the other OTAs. So yeah, for the end user, it will always be free and that's the way we'll approach it in terms of how we make money. My, my thinking is that there are a lot of businesses and companies in the short term rental sector who, once we've built a, a decent sized audience, will want to get in front of that audience and hopefully be sponsoring our podcast and newsletter and, and our other channels as well. You know, we're going to have, the ebook is going to become a, an annual edition, so we'll be updating it every year and then it'll be available to download again for free on the website. So we'll have sections on there that they'll be available for sponsorship. And we're also developing a new section on the website as well. You know, like I said before, I'm, I'm always trying to think of what the audience might want in order to improve their experience and help them become better hosts and property managers. So we're working on a section of the website which is A to Z of str and we're going to keep updating that all the time with new sections, new information, links to different companies and again, that entire platform will be available for sponsorship and then there'll be certain sections that different companies might want to sponsor. So if there's a PMS section, there's a lot of companies that might want to sponsor that. For example, Book Direct section, maybe Boostly would want to sponsor that.

Yeah, definitely need to speak to speak to Mark the man himself about that. But when it comes down to this, I mean, I'm excited because I think there is a huge need for unbiased information to be put out there. And of course, you know, the trade off is to give a email address or to give a contact information. Well, you know, I'm, I'm on so many people's lists and I happily trade that information to get their emails because their emails are useful, but also because I know they're doing a good job. I believe in their vision and, and you know, I'm sure there's people listening to this, James, who will go, do you know what? Well, fair trade, you know, here's my, here's my details. And I sense that you enjoy this as well, that this is a passion. This isn't just done because it's like, oh, I can make tons, you know, this, this sounds like it's a passion for you as well. Would I be right?

Yeah, absolutely. You know, I've, ever since I started investing in and managing short term rentals, it's become something I've got more and more interested in. I mean, to be honest with you, if you'd have asked me a year ago, what am I going to be doing in autumn 2023, I'd have said, well, I'll probably be in the process of moving to Miami for the 2026 World cup because I've spent 10 years working in Qatar and you know, I know all the guys at FIFA and that's the natural next step for me. But after the tournament, once I had a bit of time to kind of settle and think about what I wanted to do next and I started writing the E book, the Holiday Cottage Handbook, like I said, it just took on a life of its own in, I think, in my own mind. But then, you know, once I started speaking to other people and realizing that there was an appetite for this, that's when, like, every single one of those, like, positive meetings I had, it was like, right, I've got. I've got to do this now. It was like this affirmation, and it's like, I've got to do. And I was telling these people, you know, I'm going to have the website live in early September. The ebook's going to be available. We're starting the podcast, we're starting the newsletter. And every time I had one of those meetings, it was like a commitment in my mind that I actually had to do this. You know, it's not. I can't just have these meetings and not do what I say I'm going to do. So every time I had a meeting and somebody saying, this is a really good idea, know, or, I like your branding, or, you know, I like the presentation that you send or whatever it is, it kind of like, you know, reaffirmed everything in my mind. And then I became, you know, more and more passionate about it. And I actually remember speaking to my one. One of my colleagues in Doha, and we were both having a chat about what we were going to do next. And he's. He's based in the States and he was talking about maybe working for the. For the PGA Tour Golf. And I just got around to talking about property. And at this stage, the idea was really a small acorn in my mind. I just said, I think I'm going to do something with property, because I've just got more and more interested in it in the last few years. And I think this is. This is the route for me. This is what it's going to be. And, and when I kind of hit upon the idea for the platform after spending a bit of time writing the E book, I just remember turning to my wife and saying, I think I'm going to do this. I think I'm going to do this full time. This is going to become my job. Which, again, like, if you'd have asked me even nine months ago, but certainly a year ago, you're going to found this, this platform called Holiday Cottage Handbook, and you're going to be going to industry events and you're going to be speaking and being on podcasts and this kind of thing. I think this is. This is the third podcast I've been on now. I'd have thought you were bonkers but, but here we are.

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 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.

You know, I'm excited to know, I want to dive into that, that podcast because you've had some big names on your podcast and that's, that's amazing to, to listen to. So I want to make sure that people listening to this podcast go and follow your podcast particularly. I mean, we've got listeners from the us, you know, Europe, Australia, all over the world, but many of, of the people listening to this will be based in the uk, which I know the ebook book is really, that's, that's who it helps the most. Would I be right in saying so?

Yeah, that's true. I mean, it's certainly written from a UK point of view because it's partly based on my experience. But I think the great thing about our platform is that the insight and the education, the tips and trends that are being shared. Like for example, on the podcast, we had Simon Lehman on the podcast the other week. It doesn't matter where you are in the world. You know, somebody like that is going to be sharing something that's going to be interesting and insightful and actionable. It doesn't matter where you are in the world. It's going to be useful. So. And the great thing about, you know, the subscribers that are coming through, listeners to the podcasts, you know, we're getting people from, from all over, you know, UK is definitely number one, but US isn't too far behind and then lots of other countries dotted behind.

And I think especially with great guests like Simon, I mean it is, is a case of I could listen to the Simon's thoughts and he sees a lot of trends before anyone else, so it's fantastic. So what, what advice would you have for people out there? Because I speak to hosts and what you've said there about starting, you know, saying to people what you're going to do and then Doing it reminds me of. There's a book, I think it's called Draw Fire, Aim or something like that, where actually, you know, you're basically shooting first before us, before it's actually even set up. But by telling people about it, you're much more likely to take action. And there's something that we believe in that the Boostly Mastermind. So part of what we do within Boostly, for people who have bought the website, we have a free mastermind each month. Well, say free once they bought the product, that they're able to come to the Mastermind. And just saying your goals are much more. The chances of things actually happening and just so much more likely. But what would you say to somebody who's out there going to know what I'm thinking about starting a podcast, or I think I've got an angle, a niche within my hospitality arena or in their arena in general. What advice would you have for them about starting a podcast?

Do your research. First of all, I think, you know, make sure you've got the right equipment. If you need help, get some help. If you need advice, get advice. I think, I think that's important. I mean, I've spent, like I said, all my career in the media and I've. I've had my own radio shows, I've done live tv, I've done live broadcasting before. But I knew that I needed a little bit of help, you know, when it came to the editing, when it came to the production, to make sure that when you kick off, you've got things right in terms of the. Do you know the great thing about having a podcast is when you start, you might not have many listeners. You might have 5 downloads a week, 10 downloads the next week. But the golden thing about it is that you're meeting people and you're networking, and generally the people that you're interviewing for different companies are the founder or the CEO or a very senior person. And that gives. That gets you in front of those people. They're an unbelievable networking tool. So even if nobody's listening, don't worry, because you are developing a relationship with whoever you're interviewing, and you never know where that might lead in future. I mean, for example, the second time we had a podcast recording session, we had one of the guests came on from a pms. You know, we had a great interview. I think he was really kind of inspired by it and just really enjoyed, you know, being interviewed and talking about his company and, you know, offering advice and this kind of thing. And then, as usual, after I'VE interviewed somebody on the podcast. I get in touch with them and thank them for, for coming on the show and then say, hey, look, this is what we're doing, a holiday cottage handbook. These are some options for sponsoring the podcast or sponsoring newsletters. And the next day he came back and he said, look, I know you're just starting, I know you don't have hundreds of thousands of subscribers and followers right now, but I'm really inspired by your vision. I think it's great. And here's some, here's some sponsorship money to get you going. So. And that was before we'd even edited that podcast. So I think initially that there's such an amazing networking tool. They're great for building your brand. And also, you know, one thing that we're finding is that all the, you know, your first couple of podcasts, they might not get loads of, loads of downloads, but once you hit a popular podcast or somebody comes on who's a big name, you know, Simon Lehman was definitely a big boost for us. You know, he was, after three days of launching that episode, he was the most listened to podcast that we had. But then people were then finding the other episodes and they're going back and listening to the other ones. And the great, the great thing about podcast is that, you know, you might have a hundred episodes before you, you hit something that's really popular, but once people find you, then they go back and start engaging with your other, other episodes and then your other content as well. So, you know, don't, don't worry about only having a few listeners at the start because you're networking, you're building your business, you're building your brand, and you're building a body of content which will stand you in great stead in the future, 100%.

And that is the new way to have coffee with people. Like you say, you know, it's like having coffee with the CEOs, the founders of all these awesome companies. So what advice would you give yourself if you could go back to the start of your hosting days or for somebody else who is just getting started. And I suspect I know what you're going to say, but let's see what it is.

I mean, preparation is everything. I mean, when I worked in radio and tv, you can never have enough questions prepared. Make sure you really listen to what your guest is saying. And sometimes that can be difficult because as an interviewer, and this is something I've found throughout my career, you're kind of concentrating on your next question or you're thinking about what you're going to ask next and sometimes it's very easy for that thought to go out of your mind and then suddenly you find yourself a bit flustered. Be prepared, have stuff written down, but try your very best to listen because I think sometimes in podcasts and interviews, if the interviewer isn't listening to somebody, it's really easy for the listener to then think, oh, I wanted to hear more about that, or why didn't he follow up about that? Or why didn't he, why didn't he mention this? So be prepared, do your research, have loads of questions in front of you and if you, if you, if you are prepared, then you are going to be in a position to listen to the person and to ask those, those follow ups that, that you should want to hear as an interviewer and also what you're, what your listeners are going to want to hear. And, and that probably follows onto another point which I try to adhere to. For every bit of content that we produce, always have your, your audience at the heart of everything. You know, if they're not going to find it interesting or if it's not offering value to them, then there's really no point doing it. You know, don't, don't do something because you think, oh, this will be cool. If it's not relevant to your particular audience, then it's, it's not relevant. So always have the audience at the heart of every bit of content that you're going to produce.

The nice thing is that when it comes down to hospitality, so many hosts out there have got their own skill set and their own niche. And when I speak to people about should we start a podcast? The answer is obviously yes. You know, start a podcast, see how it goes and just start doing it. Because when you've got that passion, like you've got, I've got for direct bookings, like you've got for giving people the information around, you know how to get started and where to go for help. What you just get is you get people, your vibe attracts your tribe and you get more and more people who are like minded and buy into the vision and you just never know where it can lead. So I think that's some, some great advice. And just speaking briefly about the ebook because again, same sort of thing where people have got these skills, they're often answering them in Facebook groups. It wouldn't take much more for them to really start and put together a book and that sort of thing. Is there any tips around writing an ebook that you can Share with. With the listeners.

Again, I think it boils down to research. I mean, I have. I'm sitting here with a huge advantage.

I've.

I started out working in newspapers and it gives you just an incredible grounding for. For writing stuff that's simple, that's to the point, that's asking, that's answering all the questions that people might have. So, you know, without having a professional writing background, I think it's just really, really important to do your research. And if you're not a professional writer, make sure you've got a proofreader, make sure you've got people sense checking it. If you can get people in the industry to take a look as well, that that's. That that's going to be helpful, you know. Yeah, I definitely came at it from an advantage because, you know, I know people who can, you know, help me get it designed. And, you know, my goal with the E book really is that, first of all, people find it really useful. Obviously they download it and check it out. But also I want them to look at it and think, oh, my God, this, this is nearly 50 pages. I can't believe this is free. And I guess that that's the goal for, like, a lot of the content that we're producing at Holiday Cottage Handbook. I want everybody to think, oh, God, you know, they should be charging for this.

That's.

That's what I'd like people to think.

That is a really valid way of doing it. At the end of the day, I do. I like the vision. I really buy into the vision and just bringing it back to hospitality and particularly our audience. We're all about direct bookings. Is there anything on your journey that you've found or some of the research that you've done, or some of the things that you do in your own properties, which really helps to either generate more occupancy or generate, in particular, direct bookings.

I think it boils down to communication. I think communication is so important from the moment somebody sees your listing to when they check out. And I think if you have excellent communication to the point of, you know, the night before, somebody's going an email if they've booked through an ota. Here's our direct booking link. I hope you've had a great stay. If there's anything we can do. Da, da, da, da, da. And I think what I found is that guests just really appreciate that extra. That extra push, that extra attention to detail and making sure that you're getting contact details, especially if your guests are not repeat Guests and have come through an ota, get their email because you know you're not going to have it. If they've come through Airbnb or booking.com, get their email, get their phone number and make sure you're following up with them and building that, that email list where you can get in. Contact them when, whenever you want. If, if a customer, if a guest has really enjoyed their stay and you then don't have their details is such a missed opportunity. So you need to be looking at every guest. Every guest is a somebody who's going to repeat every guest who's going to be a direct booking in future. I think, I think you have to take that mindset and having excellent communication will I think, you know, go a long way to, to getting those direct bookings in the future.

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.

One of the things with the ebook and that side of things and a lot of people will go, well, can I use AI technology? Can I, you know, what is your thoughts around what AI is doing to. Obviously we're talking media, we're talking podcasts, we're talking ebooks. Can you share your, your views and your thoughts on AI? Is it, is it a good thing?

Yeah, absolutely. I think it's going to, it's going to change. It's going to change the world really dramatically. I think the interesting thing about AI is that over the last, I mean how, how long has AI been kind of mainstream now? A year? Is it less than a year?

November it came chat GPT went live in November and it's less than a year currently as we record in October 2023.

Yeah, so it's, it's been around for nearly a year and I've noticed in that time the development of the platforms, they're getting smarter every single day. Like I use, there's a, there's a social media tool that I use to create captions when, when I record videos and what I've noticed is that this tool, after I've used it a few times, it recognizes my voice, it recognizes the accent, it knows what I'm trying to say. The first time I used it, it wasn't sure on a few things. And you could see in the captions, now even if I don't pronounce the word perfectly, it knows what I'm trying to say. So that ability to learn every time that it's being used is, is quite remarkable. And you know, I mean I use it like I say with the captions. Yeah, you know, you said like, I mean I use like the, the Riverside platform for, for recording the podcast and straight after the, the recording you can get the AI transcript and it's remarkably accurate. You know, you just download it straight away. And it takes me back to, you know, years ago working on, working on the newspapers and listening back to interviews that I've recorded and transcribed. I mean look, I can touch type, so I can do it pretty quickly and I can do shorthand as well, but I can't do it as quick as AI so. But yeah, it's, it's remarkable. And then in, in relation to, to short term rentals. Yeah, I mean I think in terms of guest communication, in terms of understanding what particular guests want and what they react well to and what's going to keep them coming back, I think it's going to be incredibly, incredibly useful on the media side of things. I think it can be incredibly useful from a media professional's point of view. I think it can also be incredibly dangerous at the same time with, you know, we're seeing all sorts of like deep fake recordings and this kind of thing and yeah, it's going to be like the Wild west for a bit. But I think if, if we can get it under control, I think the potential of it is phenomenal. I don't think I can describe the potential now because it's, it's probably something that we wouldn't understand right now because in five, 10 years time it's probably going to look completely different and we might look back at this moment and think, God, we had no idea what, what was to come.

It's like the Wild west days with the Internet and stuff like that, isn't it? It's, nobody really knows what it's going to do, but we're excited about it. And those, those ones you mentioned, I'm in Riverside for recording podcasts is fantastic. Do you remember the name of the one, if you're happy to share. The one that does the captions do you know what that one is?

Oh yeah, it's. Let me look at my phone. So it's called, it's actually called Captions. So yeah, check it out, it's called Captions and you just record a video on your phone, selfie kind of video. You upload the video and it just automatically, automatically generates the captions for you and you can place them wherever you want. I think it's about £6 or £7amonth and it's a, if you're creating video and stuff all the time, it's, it's a good investment.

That's really good. And just mentioning. And another tip to share for people that anybody who jumps onto any zoom calls Google meetings. I've been using some called Fathom, which exactly what you're saying. That transcribes it instantly and gives you all the notes from, from that call. So instead of you having to have a note taker or even after the call writing down what you're talking about, everything's just there instantly and it gives you the recording. It's just amazing. And that's Fathom for anybody who's listening to this, who wants to use that. But like you say, there's so many amazing tools and it could be worrying in the future. I know there's a lot of people worried about it, I'm personally really excited. But it's like anything is how it's used. Not the, it's not the tool itself, it's who's using it and how they're using it, isn't it? So James, I've really enjoyed this, this chat and I want to share again how people can get in touch with it. But before we do, I just a couple of fun light hearted questions. What do you do for fun when you're not talking hospitality or you know, working media at the football. What do you do for fun? How do you relax and who with?

I do for fun.

God, with.

With two little kids these days. Yeah, fun's gone out of the window. It used to be, it used to be playing golf I think but I haven't played golf in a while but, but definitely I used to play golf a lot and sport and yeah, I like, you know, going to the gym and running but I. Since I. Because I only moved back to the UK in August and before that I had a gym right on my doorstep which was doing these classes every single night and I was going four or five times a week and absolutely loved it. But since I moved Back to the UK, 20th of August, I've hardly done any exercise, so I'm really motivated now to stop eating and drinking too much and actually get my running shoes back on and go back out. So from tomorrow. From tomorrow. There you go. I've said it. So I've got to do it now. I'm gonna go out for a run.

Yeah. Ready. Ready.

Fire.

Aim. You've, you've said it now you've got to go. Said it. You gotta go and do it. And also, where is the place, anywhere in the world, either somewhere you've visited or somewhere you'd like to visit. What is that place and why?

One of my favorite places would be in Kitzpule, where I've skied a few times. I can remember going there a few years ago and going out on Christmas Day and going to the top of the mountain and it was pretty much just me and it was actually my screensaver on my laptop for ages because it was just me on the mountain skiing down. So, yeah, that's definitely an amazing place in terms of where I'd love to go. I'd really like to go to Augusta to watch the masters in the U.S. so, yeah, maybe that'll be a birthday treat at some point. Maybe when the kids are a bit older and I can manage 10 hour flights with them.

Oh, definitely. Or if there's a conference near there. You know, work and pleasure, you can, you can, you know, mix.

That's, that's, that's a good idea. Yeah, I have to see if my wife goes for that.

And last question, you did share one already, but is there any resources you'd recommend people go and check out that's helped you on your journey? You mentioned Property Hub, I think Rob Dix and you know, some of the podcasts around there. Is there any other content, whether it's books, podcasts, Is there anybody else that you would like to give a shout out to that's helped you on your journey?

Yeah, definitely. Definitely the Property Hub. And actually Rob Dix has agreed to be one of our guests on the podcast, which is amazing. So we're really looking forward to that. I contacted him a while ago. I think it helps that I bought his book. I'll give his book a plug, actually, because it was really good. It's called the Price of Money and he's now a Sunday Times bestselling authority. And I read it, I read it on the plane. I was traveling back from the UK to Doha. I think it was around maybe the new year time and, and there was a girl sat next to me. And we got chatting about the book and she said that she'd heard about it and really liked it and I'd found it so insightful about, you know, how, how our global money system has changed over the decades, especially since the early 70s when money was taken away from basically the price of gold. And it's a fascinating book and if you've got any interest in money and investing and property, it's well worth a read. And yeah, I ended up giving the book to the girl who was sat next to me on the play and give it giving it away to her and I hope she found it useful as well.

Oh well, I love those questions at the end there. Really feels like we get to know you a bit more and yeah, that feels very cool. So I'll throw the mic open. How do we get in touch? Where can we come find out more?

Well, first of all, head to the website holidaycottagehandbook.com there you can sign up for our newsletter which comes out every week. We have a weekly newsletter and then we, we drop a couple of other extra newsletters in there about the weekly podcast and maybe some information that we're sharing on the website. You can also listen to the podcast. You can listen to the podcast via the website. We also have YouTube versions, so head to our YouTube channel and it's available wherever you get your podcasts as well. And yeah, make sure you go to the website and download the ebook. If you go to the homepage, you'll be prompted to head to that page straight away. Just put your email in, you can download it straight away and hopefully you'll find it really useful. And check us out on social media. We're active everywhere where you would expect us and you can get all the links from the website. So holidaycottagehambook.com cool.

And thank you for sharing today's podcast. The link will be somewhere around however, you as the listener are consuming this media. So they'll be in the show notes of the podcast or on the YouTube channel and you'll be able to click that link as well and go across and see James website. So thank you for listening to this podcast. We really appreciate you for putting your attention with Boostly. I know there's a lot of places you can put it and really appreciate you putting it with us. That leaves us with one last thing to do, which is to say if you've got value from this, please share it with others. If you'd like to find out more about direct bookings, don't forget you can go to boostly.co.uk and you'll be able to see all of our information. And if you was to go to boostly.co.uk playbook, you'll be able to find out about how to get more direct bookings via Mark Simpson's best selling on Amazon there. So, James, that to see us out, can you share with us the motto or the mantra that has really helped you in your journey?

I would say it's probably keep it simple. I think, you know, from, from my very first days as being a trainee reporter on newspapers through to, you know, having my own radio show, working in tv, worked for Leeds United for a bit and then certainly 10 years working at the World Cup. Keep it simple and keep your audience at the heart of everything you do and you won't go too far.

Lovely. Thank you so much for your time today, James, and was there anything we missed along the way? Any last years before we bring it to a close?

I don't think so, no. Liam, thank you very much for your time. It's been a real pleasure chatting to you and thanks for having me on the show.

Thanks very much.