Maximizing Value and Networking in Short-Term Rentals: Insights on Time Management, Delegation, and Innovation with Rafa Loza

Summary and Highlights

Podcast Experience: Sharing Knowledge and Building Connections

Both Gil and Rafa embarked on their podcasting journeys with a clear mission: to share their expertise and help others thrive in the short-term rental sector. Their approach focuses on delivering genuine value rather than getting caught up in the metrics. This commitment to quality is reflected in their careful selection of guests, ensuring that each episode provides actionable insights and practical advice.

Rafa’s Business Journey: From Rental Arbitrage to Boutique Hotels

Rafa’s entrepreneurial journey began in 2017 with rental arbitrage in Southern California. Scaling to 60 units before the onset of COVID-19, he faced significant challenges that led to a pivotal shift in strategy. During the pandemic, Rafa pivoted to mid-term rentals, leveraging email marketing to connect with previous guests. Today, his portfolio spans properties across the U.S., including boutique hotels and resorts.

Challenges and Growth

Rafa’s journey hasn’t been without its hurdles. From partnership breakups to the impact of COVID-19, he learned the importance of building robust systems, automating processes, and managing teams effectively. Hiring Virtual Assistants (VAs) became a cornerstone of his strategy, allowing him to create Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and focus on strategic growth rather than day-to-day operations.

Business Evolution

Both Gil and Rafa underscore the significance of transitioning from maintenance mode to growth mode. By implementing effective systems and delegating tasks to VAs, they’ve been able to shift their focus from operational details to scaling their businesses and exploring new opportunities.

Time Management and Mindset: Valuing Freedom Over Profits

One of the key takeaways from the conversation was Rafa’s approach to time management and mindset. He emphasizes valuing time over money, working only about three hours a week on his business to prioritize freedom and lifestyle. This perspective allows him to maintain a balance between professional success and personal fulfillment.

Team Building and Delegation: Empowering Your Team

A major focus of the discussion was on team building and delegation. Rafa shared his strategy of hiring and training VAs, valuing them as integral team members rather than disposable assets. By allowing his VAs to use their expertise and learn from their mistakes, he fosters a growth mindset and encourages personal development.

Direct Booking Strategies and Creative Business Tactics

Rafa and Gil delved into various strategies for boosting direct bookings and exploring new business opportunities. Key tactics discussed include:

• Email Marketing: Despite acknowledging room for improvement, Rafa highlighted the role of email marketing in staying connected with past guests.
• Brand Information in Guidebooks: Including brand details in guidebooks to enhance visibility.
• Referral Programs and In-House Signage: Implementing referral programs and promoting websites through in-house signage.
• Segmented Marketing: Tailoring marketing efforts to differentiate between business and residential bookings.

Rafa also shared innovative approaches like leveraging business bookings to identify new property acquisition opportunities and expanding marketing efforts through social media and local Facebook groups.

Future Plans and Networking: Looking Ahead

Rafa’s future plans involve acquiring more businesses to boost cash flow and continuing to adapt and grow his ventures. He emphasized the importance of networking, which has been instrumental in uncovering new opportunities and building valuable relationships in the industry.

Leadership and Management Philosophy

Rafa’s leadership style has evolved from top-down management to a more collaborative approach. By focusing on clear communication and empowering his team, he creates an environment where team members can thrive and contribute their best.

Follow Rafa Loza here

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Transcription

Gil: Hey folks. Welcome back to Direct Booking Simplified, where we break down the strategies and tactics to win in direct bookings. On today’s show, I have Rafa. Hey Rafa. 

Rafa: What’s up, man? How are you? 

Gil: I’m good. I’m good. How are you? 

Rafa Great. Thanks for having me on the show. I appreciate it.

Gil: Yeah. I met you at STR nation Was that right? You were on stage. 

Rafa:Yeah. 

Gil: How’d you enjoy it? 

Rafa: A lot of fun, man. I love speaking on stage and sharing with people what I know. It’s one of the, one of my favorite things to do. 

Gil: Yeah. Yeah. And you have, um, you have a podcast yourself. Is that right? 

Rafa: I do. It’s called the big break show. Um, right now it’s season two.

Rafa: Yeah. We’re about 78 episodes in or something like that. 

Gil: How was that? Like building up the, to those episodes, like whatever, um, 

Rafa: you know, well, I’ve learned a ton number one. So, I mean, having a podcast is one of the best things I’ve ever done, to be honest with you. I did it for fun because I wanted to kind of get my name out and teach people like how to get started with short term rentals, just based on my experience.

Rafa: Um, I got, I got featured on bigger pockets, so it kind of changed my life that way and I figured, Hey, if I can help other people by doing my own podcast. Um, you know, that would, that’s something that I would really like want to do. So one day I decided to do it, um, at the time and I had my, my old co host.

Rafa: So I have a new co host now, my old co host, Jesse Vasquez. He’s the one that does all the midterm rental stuff. Um, he, uh, we were co host together. We did about 76 episodes together. And I mean, the amount of people that we’ve interviewed, I mean, just all that you get to ask them, like, intimate questions that you really wouldn’t ask anybody else just by having them on the show and you get to promote the brand and so you’re kind of doing something for them and they kind of do something for you by giving you info and feedback and knowledge that you can share with the public.

Rafa: That’s the best part about it. And then just the relationships I’ve built throughout it, just having people that I now can call or text because podcast, we resonated, we chatted and I would become friends. 

Gil: Yeah, I share the same thing. Um, I, I wasn’t on bigger pockets, but I think the big impetus for me starting the show was like, we started creating like, so we’re in direct bookings and we started creating these really beautiful sites and folks really didn’t know how to market.

Gil: And I was like, how do I provide them with the best resource possible? And I, you probably know this, like everybody’s portfolio is like slightly different. There’s not like one resource guide that I can point them to. And like, This is your blueprint. Everybody has a different path. Like if you’re in a unique stage, you should be leveraging social media and influencer.

Gil: But like if you’re in like a vacation market, you should probably like be leveraging your email list to nurture past guests. So like everybody’s strategy is slightly different. And I was like, how do I reach as many folks as possible, share as much knowledge? And I was like, well, can I invite people onto a show and have them talk about direct bookings and like what’s worked out for them?

Gil: And I love it, man. I love it. For the exact same reasons like you mentioned, like just be able to ask questions. And like honestly, you probably you probably do this yourself. It’s almost a bit selfish sometimes because you get asked questions that you care about and you’re interested in 

Rafa: knowing a hundred percent.

Rafa: A hundred percent. 

Gil: Yeah. So that’s, I learned a ton and be able to share all that. That’s, that’s amazing. 

Rafa: Yeah. 

Gil: Yeah. So did you do bigger pockets before you started your show? 

Rafa: Uh, yeah, actually it’s one of the reasons why I did the show. So I got it. I got asked to be a bigger pockets and I just got just like an influx of people just saying, Hey, we love your, we love your episode.

Rafa: Um, can you help us? And so then I tried to kind of like talk to people one on one and stuff like that and help people. I just became too much. I was like, you know what, if I just do something that, that I can put out for everybody to listen to, I think that’d be the best thing. At the same time, we were also like on this big, like clubhouse.

Gil: Yeah, 

Rafa: um vibe where I was already hosting rooms on clubhouse teaching people and talking to people then I got comfortable just kind of like speaking public speaking so to speak on a virtual level right and I figured hey I’m already hosting these rooms on clubhouse that we have a couple hundred people showing up to Um, I think at one point we had a thousand people in one, which was kind of crazy to think about.

Rafa: And, um, so I said, Hey, I’m going to start a podcast. And at the same time, my buddy Jesse was like, Hey, we should start one together. And I said, okay. And then around that same time I got on bigger pockets. We just kind of rode that wave along with it and, um, started putting content out and haven’t looked back since.

Gil: Yeah. And for your show specifically, how do you figure out like where you’re focusing your attention? Like for me, ours is kind of like on the direct booking side. So you like, where did you find your, your niche into, into, um, Yeah. 

Rafa: Yeah. So the first season that I did with Jesse, uh, so we switched into seasons now.

Rafa: So what we got right now is, uh, I’m trying to do different seasons based on different things. Cause you know, I also progress in life and as I get better at things, I don’t want to keep talking about the same old redundant thing over and over and over. So in the beginning it was, um, short term rentals, mindset, lifestyle, that was it.

Rafa: And then now that I started getting better, we still keep it now, but it’s based around real estate. Um, businesses, because we’re actually buying a business. I have a couple of partners that I’m buying a business with. So real estate business, um, life after, and then we call it sports or college. So we’re trying, we’re trying to resonate with, with people who are either figuring out if they want to go to college after high school or where they’re going after they’ve graduated college or, you know, My co host, Dan Tollins, he used to be a big time, um, basketball player in college.

Rafa: And so after college, you have to kind of transition away from that lifestyle into the real world. And instead of, uh, going into a nine to five, he started, well, he did go into a nine to five, but then he started progressing and then he became this gigantic entrepreneurial real estate investor that, that I know now.

Rafa: And so when I pitched him the idea of being my co host for season two, he was like, Hey, let’s, let’s talk about something a little bit different. How do you feel about talking to, um, Old people are like old professional players, right? Not technically like really pros. Yeah, but they were like at the peak of their of their of their game during that time frame Which is usually college ball and then interviewing more people around that sports world and I said, that’s a fantastic idea Let’s talk about that.

Rafa: So we now it’s um real estate business still mindset and um life after sports or college Um, and that’s what we’re focusing on and it’s so far. It’s been really good. We’ve had some really good episodes I think we’re we’re 18 new episodes on season two right now. And we’ve only released six. Yeah. 

Gil: What’s, uh, well, selfishly, what’s, what’s that mindset advice that you would get to me to make sure that you kind of push through, because like, you probably know there’s like the stats on like how shows drop off are actually pretty severe.

Gil: Like if you don’t make it towards a certain number of shows, you just don’t last. 

Rafa: You know, it’s, it’s kind of hard because. Um, I stopped for about six months, right? We didn’t do anything for like six months because Jesse was got really busy. And then I got really busy and I was traveling all over the place.

Rafa: Um, be persistent and keep pushing yourself with the level of conversations that you’re having on the show. Dude is, is key because as you start getting better and bigger and better and bigger, you’re going to start attracting bigger names and better names and higher level conversations. And those higher level conversations are the ones that are really going to be key.

Rafa: For people to pick up from, um, and always focus on the audience. Like my biggest thing is I just want to give to the audience. I don’t care if it’s one person listening or a million people listening. If I give value to one person, I’m happy because I do it for that. I do it to be able to have that conversation.

Rafa: Like the numbers that I have on my cell phone from people that are bringing to the, into the show and being able at the same time to help someone out, that just keeps me going on it. It just keeps me pushing through it. Uh, we’ve had episodes that we’ve had like 25 listeners and then episodes that we have like 15, 000 listeners.

Rafa: And I’m like, okay, you know, we’re starting to grow. We’re starting to grow. Um, and I don’t really like, it’s not something I look at. Like, I don’t look at metrics and go, Oh man, I only had, you know, 5, 000 listeners, this one episode, I don’t care because if one person got value from it, I’m happy with it.

Gil: Yeah. I’m pretty much the same way. I don’t listen. I don’t pay too much attention to like the amount of listeners on there. Yeah. Um, I maybe pay attention to like, did I choose the right guest on there? But I think for me, like the biggest thing is like, how do I feel? Like once we hit. Stop hit that stop button after after recording and reflecting back on like how well that conversation went like I’ll always message my EA afterwards about like how the podcast went and we talk about we talk about it and because he has to go out and make sure that we work with our team to edit it and like just that feeling afterwards of Of where that podcast went and how much value our listeners got out of it is pretty like a good barometer for me.

Rafa: So you said something pretty key, actually. Um, I’m very picky about who bring on the show. Like, I’m not just going trying to push anybody out. If I, if I don’t get quality people on it, I’d rather not put an episode out because I’ve had some, like, I’ve actually had to block a couple of people that came on the show because they either came on just to pitch or they, they’re not willing to share information or that you can tell they’re just full of BS.

Rafa: And it’s like, um, it’s kind of like it becomes this whole thing where, uh, you feel uncomfortable almost at the same time. You also don’t want to put out bad information and kind of taint the, the reputation of the, of the podcast or the content. Right. So very, very, I’m very, very picky about who I bring on to the podcast.

Rafa: Yeah, 

Gil: that’s good. That’s good. Awesome. Well, to kind of give, uh, other folks a better understanding of all of Rafa, like do you, do you mind, uh, kind of pivoting a little bit and talking about your portfolio and kind of like where you started maybe? 

Rafa: Yeah. So absolutely. I appreciate that. Um, I started a back in 2017.

Rafa: I actually started trying to invest in 2016, uh, 2015, I’m sorry. And at that time I was like, Oh, I’m going to buy. I wanted to get into real estate. I’ve been an entrepreneur my whole life, by the way. So I used to run a collection agency and it was just like, so like, Daunting and tiring on the brain, negative negativity, like all the time.

Rafa: So I stepped away from that business and I wanted to get into real estate. And while I was working, um, I was trying to figure out, I actually got a part, a full time job in the meantime, when I left that business, so I can kind of transition. I said, I’m going to get into real estate. And my idea was. I’m going to buy a house.

Rafa: I’m going to put a tenant in it. I’m going to cashflow at the same time. I’m listening to all the podcasts, doing all the research, studying, and comes to find out, come to find out, you know, in Southern California, that wasn’t going to happen. Like if I bought a house in Southern California, I would not only need five to 10 percent down on a 450, 000 house.

Rafa: Plus furnishing costs or not furnishing costs. I’m sorry. Plus I’m closing costs and I would very quickly be negative cashflow because the rents weren’t covering the mortgage. So I was like, okay, well, this isn’t going to work. Not to mention, I don’t have the 60 70, 000 needed for this house. So I was like, I have to get creative.

Rafa: So I started doing the research, um, tried the wholesaling thing. I didn’t really like it. Cause again, cause of the cold calling and the, and the phone call thing, I was just tired of that. And so, um, I found out about short term rentals. And so I started doing the research and I found out there was a couple of guys, this guy was driving like a Ferrari or something.

Rafa: It’s funny. I’ve told the story so many times now. And so, um, I, I ran into this, this, these guys and I was like, Hey, what are these guys doing? And so they’re like, Oh yeah, you know, the, the Airbnb, these like buildings. And so I’m like, Oh, the Airbnb buildings. I said, great. And then they’re like, well, no, we like rent them out and then we furnish them and we put them on Airbnb.

Rafa: And I was like, wait a second, you can do that at the same time. I found out about short term rentals and I was like, wait, short term rentals is like renting these things short term on platforms like Airbnb. And so I’m like, huh, that two clicked. And so I said, I’m going to treat this as a business and I’m going to give this a shot.

Rafa: So I started making a bunch of phone calls, talking to people. Uh, after about six months of like, no, no, no, no, no, I found a building that was like 60 percent vacant. I gave him a call and I said, Hey, um, I have this great business idea and I want to work on your building. I’m going to get it furnished and I’m going to offer it, you know, to corporate clients and I’m going to sometimes put it on Airbnb.

Rafa: And I, you know, I had this whole thing and the lady was like, yeah, yeah, that’s great. Can you, can you pay the rent? We’re 60 percent vacant. I said, yeah, absolutely. She’s like, yeah, we’ll give you a shot. And so, um, the first week we, we got the apartments, we rented it. We started with rental and now they call it rental arbitrage.

Rafa: I don’t know. That’s what it was called back then. And so I got it furnished, set up. And, um, the first two weeks we made back the first month’s rent and deposit. And then the second, the first full month after that, we made a 6, 000 profit. And I was like, Holy cow, I’m going all in on this. And so quickly, I scaled that I had about 15 units, um, in nine months, and then I started partnering people.

Rafa: I’ve actually been raising capital since day one. It’s kind of crazy to think about. And slowly transitioned it, scaled it, scaled it. Um, pretty soon I had something like 60 doors, um, all arbitrage, cash flowing like crazy, and then COVID hits. So we have to transition a lot from away from these platforms are being we give everybody their money back and canceled a bunch of reservations.

Rafa: So I have to transition a lot of midterm rentals, which is kind of key actually talking about here. Um, we’ll talk, we’ll get into that a little bit later when we talk about about how we go direct bookings here. But, um, I had enough of relationships and emails and businesses that I was able to market to and keep my places full at 30 day minimums to where I survived through COVID.

Rafa: And, um, I think at that time I had like 30 units, not getting to the 60 yet. I had about 30 units and one of my, one of the buildings that I started in, they kicked us out, all of us. And there was like 67 operators, whole other side story that we can get into for that. But, um, he was like, Hey, we don’t want anybody in here.

Rafa: I said, Hey, I have a great relationship with you guys. I’ve been in this building for like four years now. He’s like, Nope, you guys got to get out. And so he kicks us out. I lose all my units. And I was at that point, I was actually going to quit short term rentals. This 

Gil: is in 2020, the beginning of 2020.

Rafa: Yeah, this was like end of 2020 already, like mid, like towards the end when COVID was really like, everything was shut down, people weren’t paying money. Um, this building got sold because a lot of the operators in that building didn’t pay rent. And so, um, I was like, Hey, I’m paying you guys rent. Like I’m, I’m doing good here.

Rafa: And the guy’s like, Nope, we don’t want anybody to be here. Um, I just, it was a new buyer. He’s like, I just bought the building and I’m going to rent it traditional. And I don’t want anybody doing this. And so I said, okay, no problem. So, um, he actually had to buy me out of my leases and, um, I ended up moving out, took all my stuff and I decided, Hey, either I go all in on this or I try something else.

Rafa: Well, I had all this furniture. I’m really good at making relationships. So I did, I started building relationships fast forward from 2021 to today. I’ve probably built out about 120 units. I’ve taken over about 30 unit apartment complexes and, um, uh, I now buy properties all the way across the U S. So I have properties from California.

Rafa: To, uh, Michigan to Tennessee, down to Carolina beach. And then I got the, I started joining masterminds and networking and getting better at real estate. I figured, you know, it’s time to start doing this. I, I saw how good the, the, um, the, um, club, the club, I just brain farted there. The clubhouse, the clubhouse thing was when I started meeting a bunch of people and networking, I was like, wow, this is great.

Rafa: I should do this in person. And then the world opened up again. So I joined a bunch of masterminds, real estate masterminds, and met a bunch of great people. And then fast forward, uh, somebody, one, two business partners might call me one day and they’re like, Hey, we’re buying a boutique hotel. And we would love to have you on, uh, as a partner to operate.

Rafa: And I said, great. Um, and so a little short story for them. I actually helped them get started on, not get started, but helped them with a couple, um, operational things. When I met them, it was just like I’m passing. We were at a social event that does mastermind drink and having some drinks. And, um, he was like, Hey, uh, you know, we’d love to have you on here.

Rafa: Um, to be our operating partner. And so for me, it actually made perfect sense because I was taking over these 15, 20, 30 unit apartment complexes, running them all the short term rentals. 

Gil: Right. 

Rafa: A boutique hotel was like, I’m not even doing full rooms, full houses, apartments. I’m doing rooms. All I got to do is implement my same system into that and i’ll crush it.

Rafa: And so I said yes and Fast forward. I mean the whole boutique hotel is doing awesome Um, obviously there was a lot of learning lessons there But which i’m super grateful for and now we’re on our second one right now And then I have a resort down in southern california a little resort. It’s not even a resort.

Rafa: It’s like a ranch style um property and Here we are man And now, now that I’ve learned last thing I want to touch on here, the biggest thing that I’ve learned is how to build a true business, run it like a true business and how to grow a business systems, um, operation, scaling, automation, teams, managing all, I learned all of it.

Rafa: So now I’m actually trying to buy a business. Cause I want to buy more cashflow. So that’s where we’re at. Sorry. I know that one. We didn’t get it. 

Gil: No, it’s a long, amazing story, man. Um, so you started in 20, 2017. Um, and that, that was when you were still, was 2017 your, the time you were doing collections or what that’s when you first, 

Rafa: um, 2017 is when I opened my first arbitrage unit.

Gil: Uh, okay. Okay. Okay. Out of all that, what was your, what was the hardest segment of that journey? 

Rafa: Oh, man, I’ve had several dude, um, I had a business partner when I first started and breaking up that partnership was pretty pretty freaking tough because I had to start all over by myself and had no idea where it was going to go.

Rafa: Um, and then COVID hits and had to really just completely start from scratch. Um, that was really the hardest part of everything. 

Gil: Yeah. 

Rafa: Yeah. 

Gil: How did you come up with the idea or Like, how did you start to pivot when COVID happened? So you mentioned like COVID happened, luckily you had emails that you already had, you had like, what drove you in that direction?

Gil: Or was that like a no brainer for you? 

Rafa: No. So, you know, talking about masterminds and stuff like that, I was a part of a little, uh, a smaller short term rental mastermind that I was a part of. It was like a Facebook group. Um, this guy that taught me business systems and automation, he put a little group of people together.

Rafa: So we would network and bounce ideas off of each other. And one thing that somebody said was, Hey, I’m going to start capturing all these emails. I wouldn’t even take credit for it. Right. I said, Oh, cool. This is a great idea. And so I just started saving every email from every guest Airbnb used to have them all the time and now they don’t take, they don’t show them, but you can still ask the guests for it.

Rafa: And so we have a list of like 6, 000 emails at this point of all guests that have ever stayed with us. And so I started breaking them in between when I would get a book and says, Hey, we’re here with this business. I would save the business. I would save the email and the phone number and put it on a separate list.

Rafa: So I knew where all my business bookings were and I knew where all my actual guest bookings were and why they came into the area. And so I saved it and I just kept saving and saving and saving. And I was like, okay, well, you know, I know I can use this for marketing at some point. I knew enough about business at that point.

Rafa: And so I just continued to make it better and better. Well, when COVID came. I just blasted it out. I said, Hey, we have these properties that are great for remote working. Um, we provide work desks. Um, I’m willing to give you guys a desk monitor if needed. Uh, just bring your computer full apartments, great service.

Rafa: Uh, and we’re willing to give a monthly rates and sure enough, I’ve had out of the, that list that we probably had about mind you at that time, I only had like 30 something units, so it wasn’t that many. So I think maybe 18 or 19 got filled. With people from responses with those, which is to me, it was fantastic, right?

Rafa: They’re renting these things for 30 to 45 days. Um, my longest ended up being nine months. And then I have one company that actually books with me every year, um, for three months and they come in and they gather food and take back to Alaska or Antarctica or something. I don’t know what it is. Um, I forgot, but they booked with me and they booked two apartments for, uh, 90 days at a time.

Rafa: I think it is. And they pay up front and I got them through that email marketing that I did back when COVID hit. 

Gil: And that’s not bad. I mean, you’re talking about 63 percent occupancy when you couldn’t travel anymore, when you couldn’t rent on anything anymore. That’s, that’s pretty amazing. That’s pretty amazing.

Gil: Yeah, it worked out great, man. 

Rafa: Yeah. 

Gil: Yeah. Yeah. You mentioned that, You’re, as you matured as a, as a host, you started investing a lot more into systems, automations. What was that trigger? Like, so it sounded like maybe like it might’ve been the masterminds that help you try to drive your mindset towards that direction.

Gil: But when did you figure out, like, that was like the thing that you really need to focus on 

Rafa: now? So this one actually wasn’t even masterminds. Honestly, this was, um, me. I was at dinner one time responding to guest messages hanging out with friends and I was like, dude, what am I doing? I think I had 18 units at that time and I was still managing everything myself, pricing, messaging, um, not full mess, but like responding to random questions.

Rafa: Yeah. And, um, I was like, this isn’t, this isn’t working like this. I’m not, I can’t be doing this forever. So I finally hired my first VA. And I went through 20 VA. So I found a fantastic VA who I love now. She literally runs my entire business. Um, she’s amazing. And, um, it’s when I said, okay, I started training her and I’m like, okay, well, I don’t want to keep training someone if this person doesn’t work out.

Rafa: And so the next one came in and I started not her. I’m sorry. I started training them. And I was like, I kept hooking retrain and retrain and retrain. And I was like, there’s gotta be a better way to do this. That’s when I started doing research. And then I found out about like systems standard operating procedures, you know, where they, there was a database where they can just go and answer the question by searching it.

Rafa: Okay. Here you go. And I was like, Oh, and then at the same time, that part of that little mastermind group. A lot of these guys were like, dude, you got to do this. You got to do that. Tweak it this way, tweak it that way. And I was like, okay, this is, this is perfect. And so then I started just automating. And then once I hired my first VA, she hired a second VA and then now they build my SOPs for me.

Rafa: Whenever something happens for the first time, we record it, we save it, and we put it away for the next person in case that ever happens again. 

Gil: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I have a similar experience, uh, in my business. I don’t, I don’t use my VAs for my short term rental side of it, but I do definitely use VAs for practice days are, are our direct booking business.

Gil: I don’t know if you feel the same way, but I got to a point where I was It’s probably for you, like that whole dinner experience of like being stretched super thin, you’re constantly juggling many different things. And I got to a point where I felt like I wasn’t moving anywhere in the business because I was just trying to like maintain things.

Gil: And it was like in maintenance mode for a very long time. And there was like very little growth for the business because I haven’t been able to spend my time where it matters so I can move to, and I would say probably like over the last two, three months, now that we have our VAs up and running. We transitioned from like maintenance mode to really growth mode.

Gil: And like, this is huge weight off your shoulders where you now don’t have to look at the things that keep the business alive and you’re spending time on what grows the business. I don’t know if you went through a car, like a similar experience. 

Rafa: Yeah. And you know, it’s a big mindset shift talking about mindset here for a second.

Rafa: You know, it took me a long time to wrap my head around it. Cause I was like, Oh, it’s costing me so much money. People are like, Oh my God, it’s going to kill my profit. Right. And, and it’s like, this is where that big mindset ship comes in. How important is your time for you? Like, to me, it’s the most valuable thing ever.

Rafa: I am so protective of my time now. It’s not even funny. Um, I, I, like, I, if I want to spend my day doing nothing with my feet up on the couch and literally waste it, it’s by choice, right? Um, not because I’m relying on someone else because they fired me and I’m trying to figure out what life is, if I’m stressing out, it’s because I’m stressing out by choice, because I’m putting these stressors on me.

Rafa: And so going back to this mindset shift, when I realized, Hey, look, like, I could be pocketing 50, 60 K a year by not paying these VAs, right? Uh, probably more. We have nine now. Um, so like we could be parking some serious money like myself, but do I want to sit in front of the computer working eight hours a day for that money?

Rafa: Absolutely not. Right. And so I should be working on the bigger things, making sure that all these things are getting done. The moment I hired that first VA dude and I started working on him and I no longer had to answer guest messages. I was like, Oh my God, life is beautiful. I can travel anywhere in the world and know that the business is going to operate correctly and not have to worry about it.

Rafa: Now there’s, it’s going to have its ups and downs for sure. I still need to be there and manage and make sure things are moving correctly. But dude, that is so minimal. I’m probably working three hours a week on the business, right? And uh, yeah, my profits aren’t as high as they used to be and uh, I’m not making as much money as I used to be But i’m a hundred percent free to do whatever I want whenever I want and making enough money to live the lifestyle I want to live and that that mindset shift right there when you realize that that’s more important Than the dollar that’s coming into your pocket.

Rafa: You’re gonna not only make more money But you’re gonna have a lot funner doing it. 

Gil: Oh, yeah a 

Rafa: lot more fun doing it 

Gil: Yeah, I, I completely agree with you on like, just enjoying things a lot more. Like right now, I now don’t have to worry about the nitty gritty, like a maintenance mode and it just feels so, so good.

Gil: And I have a fabulous team that I’ve invested quite a bit on. So I’m, I’m very, very fortunate to have grown that. It took me a little while, like when we, when we first hired our VA, our first VAs, and they’re probably gonna listen to this because they’re going to help me edit it, but like, it took us a while.

Gil: It took us like probably like three, four months till I feel like we had our stride. That was like, well worth investment. 

Rafa: So it took me like a year to find one that I was like, Oh my God, finally. 

Gil: Yeah. I mean, I’m, I’m big on like management. So I come from like the corporate like tech world and like managing teams, employees and so on.

Gil: And for me, when I find good people that like have strong work, work ethics, I will pour an immense amount of energy into them to make sure that they’re successful at their job. And like, I figure out like what they’re good at and what they’re not good at. And. Like I don’t need someone that’s a hundred percent good at everything if I can find out like what’s the nugget that they’re really good at and I can help them really shepherd and make sure that I’m giving them the right task and I can find someone else to like bridge through the gaps.

Gil: That’s a win for me. Like finding someone like with the right work that takes that’s probably like the hardest part into it. Yeah. Once you do it better than 

Rafa: I am, man. I’m terrible. I’m like, here you go. Figure it out. Thanks. Come back with the answer. Yeah. Like, um, I should definitely need to get better at that.

Gil: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Um, so where are you focusing your, your time now? 

Rafa: Um, just doing fun projects, seriously. That’s it. Like I want to grow the business, um, make sure that everything’s operating smoothly. So I oversee the operations. I come in, um, I make sure things are getting done, right. Make tweaks where tweaks are needed.

Rafa: Um, and then trying to find bigger deals, better deals, grow the business, find more short term rentals. Um, and then just building relationships and networking is the number one thing I do because it always brings a deal or somebody bringing capital to the table or someone that wants to be involved or partner up with me.

Rafa: That’s literally what I focus on. 

Gil: Yeah. Are you, are you still doing arbitrage now? Are you, you’ve moved on and done other, other methods? 

Rafa: Yeah, so I’m not actively looking for arbitrage. So like, yes and no. The answer, the short answer is I’m not looking, but yes, because like, for example, just yesterday I had a conversation with somebody that they heard me speak.

Rafa: Um, I think, uh, they might’ve heard me at STR Nation too, or maybe at, um, at, at the Midterm Rental Summit in San Diego. Also one or the other. I don’t know. They were back to back. Um, and they’re like, Hey, uh, I have, uh, a 15 unit here in San Diego that I want you to take over. And I was like, well, let me run the numbers.

Rafa: If it makes sense. I mean, I love San Diego. Why not have units there? And so the opportunity comes, I will take it because it makes sense. But if, but I’m not like going around looking for landlords anymore. 

Gil: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Are you, and you, you more transition, your primary focus is really on acquisition, like purchasing.

Gil: Is that right? Yeah. Yeah. 

Rafa: Yeah, it’s, uh, you know, I guess if you want to know what my true role is right now, what I’m doing in life is literally networking and building relationships. That’s all I’m focused on. Um, and it kind of, it’s kind of funny to think about because a lot of it’s just fun. You’re going out and hanging out and going to fun places, but those relationships, man, I mean, they’ve brought me so much like the first boutique hotel that I bought, the second boutique hotel that I’m buying, the ranch down in Southern California was from a networking event.

Rafa: Um, all the properties that I’ve gotten from networking have came from partners or people in networking events. No Yeah. 

Gil: My next question was like, what gives you energy? What gives you passion? It sounds like networking is probably one of them. 

Rafa: Yeah. I’m a people person, dude. I need to be able to talk to people.

Rafa: Like, if you put me in a room by myself, I’d go crazy. I need to be around someone all the time. 

Gil: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 

Rafa: I feed off of energy like big time. So I need somebody that’s in a good, you know, good mood, good energy. Um, not someone that’s like a big black cloud around them walking around. 

Gil: I hear you. I hear you.

Gil: Let’s, uh, let’s transition a little bit about kind of like your direct booking, like, and how much like energy you put, you poured into and kind of like what worked for you. 

Rafa: Yeah. You know, to be a hundred percent honest with you, I should be given that way more time. I’ve actually hired multiple people to give them more time for me.

Rafa: And, um, it’s panned out in some cases. And in other cases it is not. Um, because the knowledge that I have, if I were to sit there and focus it and, and, and like you said, pour it into someone else for them to do it for us, we’d be doing so much more, um, because literally the email marketing thing, the only time I’ve emailed marketed was that time in COVID and I haven’t emailed marketed since.

Rafa: I know that’s a fantastic way to do it. Um, I just don’t have the knowledge or the skills or the time to sit there and do it myself So I need to hire someone to go out and mark you Um, we we do email marketing but not like at that level where hey, you know, here’s our website We do have a direct booking website for sure We do promote it.

Rafa: Um, we promote the brand Um simple things like at the most simplest level right make sure our brand is in our get in our guidebooks Right. That’s the easiest thing. You have a barcode with your brand on it. Um with your website where somebody scans It’s got the guidebook for the property now. They know your website Um, now they know you, the name of your company and, uh, they can book direct, uh, at the end of the page.

Rafa: It says book direct with us next time you get 10 percent off. Um, one of the things we just implemented right now, I mean, I can go through a bunch. Do you want me to just start spitting it out? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go for it, man. And so the second thing we just started doing is a referral program. I don’t know, like, I don’t know anybody that’s doing it, but if they are, great.

Rafa: And I think it’s a fantastic idea because now we tell our guests, look, talk about us, share a property. If you loved it, if you get someone else to book the property, we’ll shoot you a hundred bucks. As long as they say, Hey, it was you, here’s a hundred bucks and you give me your number for Zella and I’ll sell it to you directly.

Rafa: And so we just started sending that message out to guests once they leave, Hey, if you love the property and you share it with someone on a book, we have a referral program. We’ll give you a hundred dollars and we appreciate it. Um, and you’ll get 10 percent off the next time you come to the property, right?

Rafa: That’s a given as long as you book direct. Um, Another one would be, um, in the house. We always have some sort of, of not just the barcode, but like some sort of signal, like a sign that says, Hey, night and rain properties with the website. Um, I don’t know if I said that one already. Um, and then the business thing is always remarketing.

Rafa: So when somebody books, so I kind of touched on that earlier. With the email marketing when somebody books we save the emails, right? And those emails get divided into business bookings or residential bookings It’s one or the other and so we save it because you got to market to those people very differently and build in relationships with those businesses, uh, whenever somebody books like, uh, for example, if I get a booking from a Construction company.

Rafa: Oh, hey, you know, we have we have a couple of construction guys that are coming in for a demo job or something Oh my god, that’s cool Right. Like you got to get the company’s information. Okay. Where are you? Who are you? Where’s your next job? I mean, dude, I could go out and get a job, like a booking from these people and then go and get an arbitrage unit and have it booked up for the next six months because they’re doing a big job.

Rafa: Like, that’s, that’s like the best way to go out and find a book, not only just a booking, but a lead for the booking and a direct booking. You know what I mean? Like you can find out where the job is, you can find out who the company that’s paying for the booking and then go out and acquire the property for that booking.

Rafa: You’ve just. Gone full circle on that entire thing. And now you’re out there like making a couple of grand in profit off on top of the rent on the arbitrage deal. And you have a direct booking guy, the person that’s always booking with you guys. Um, I love those. I do those all the time. 

Gil: That’s super creative.

Gil: That’s super, super creative. I’ve not heard someone that will go out and find out where they’re next, where they’re visiting next and actually acquire a property in that area and place them back in there. That’s 

Rafa: dude. It’s funny. So I actually, it happened to me once. And so I was like, Oh my God, this is great.

Rafa: Um, and so we, that’s one of the ways we do it now. I mean, I had a, I had a, um, insurance booking one time. And so I was like, okay, you know, like it was, uh, they booked with me through Airbnb, so I saved the insurance information. Um, I contact the rep where we’re going back and forth before, like this whole insurance boom was all super popular with daily solutions and all these other companies.

Rafa: Right. Um, and I, I, they actually booked through Airbnb. I contacted them and then I said, Hey, if you guys, once they left, it was simple as like, Hey, if you guys ever needed anything from me, I’m here. Um, please, you know, I have properties all over the place. Make sure you call me. I’ll get you guys a good deal Whatever you want and then um, they they uh, they messaged the lady messages me and she’s like, hey, you know I need a two bedroom and so I was like, okay I don’t have one right now, but um, I can get you one and she’s like well This is they need this this these are the requirements.

Rafa: Well going back to the networking and the relationship building. I have Uh, just a handful of of investors and owners that I work with You And I’m like, Hey, I’m making phone calls. I’m like, dude, I need a two bedroom. What do you got? What I got a two bedroom. What do you got? This guy finally goes, Hey, I have a two bedroom right now.

Rafa: I was about to lease. I was like, don’t need to give me a day. Um, and then, so I ended up end up getting long story short. I ended up leasing the apartment. I called the rep. I go, Hey, this property’s here. It’s not ready yet, but I can have it ready in a week. And he goes, well, we want it to look a certain way.

Rafa: This other property that you have, we want it to look like this. I said, great. We’ll make it look exactly like that. And so not only did I make it look the way the customer wanted it, but I was able to provide it instantly. I got teamed together. We had it ready in five days. They moved in and they were there for six months.

Rafa: I was like, I can do this everywhere. You know, I was like, I could literally do this everywhere. So now I was like, I can go out and find businesses where they’re traveling in need of housing, go provide the housing, and now you have all the resources that you need. Full circle for the property. I was like, Oh, this is a no brainer.

Rafa: Again, it requires a lot of time. Again, if I put my energy and time into doing what I say, I do all the time, I’d be crushing. But I don’t have the time to go and do that anymore. I like to build a relationship. I need to get a team. One of the things we’re doing now is we’re doing, we’re adding sales teams.

Rafa: So, um, at the most simplest form of business is a sales team and I don’t have a sales team. And I’m thinking, what am I doing right now? Right. Like, how do I, like, at least I don’t need to, I’m not talking about selling anything. I’m talking about selling the product. What the product is a night, right?

Rafa: You’re selling nights, right? On apartments or houses or whatever it is that you’re doing. So how can I sell those? So I was like, okay, well, let’s figure this out. Well, my sales team don’t need to start making door to door knocking. They just need to start finding the businesses that are needing these type of places.

Rafa: And it came to that, this, this, this strategy that I just told you right now, finding the companies that are going to certain places that need housing and provide it for them and have it ready for them and partner with them. That’s what I need the sales team for to start doing that stuff. Um, so we’re doing that now, um, and then obviously posting on social media.

Rafa: So the Facebook groups that we post on Um, I know earlier you asked about social media and I my mind immediately went to instagram I don’t promote on instagram, but I do promote on um on facebook groups. So we post on all the nursing groups midterm rental groups Um, market, uh, insurance groups, and then even just the local area groups like we have, for example, they’re here in Carolina Beach.

Rafa: Uh, I’m living in Carolina Beach now. Um, they have a Facebook group for just the, the town, like people that in the area have this Facebook group. I can go there and get with permission from the owner, go, Hey, we’re providing housing long term. This is a super heavy short term rental market. But I can go in that group, which is on my list of things to do.

Rafa: Join this group and say, Hey, I have midterm rentals for the market, which is unique. Nobody has midterm rentals in this market. It’s all short term, right? And promote it. And you never know, you might get a booking. I like, I might have someone that’s coming for 30 days, a family member that needs a place to stay.

Rafa: Boom. There’s a resource right there. Um, we’re making posts, flyers, and we just blast them all over social media. I also have a night in rain, Facebook pages that we’re posting on. Just to promote it. Right. You never know what algorithm is going to catch what and we make before and after videos. We do walkthrough videos and we post the walkthrough videos so that people can see these things.

Rafa: Um, but mainly during COVID, it was the nursing groups that we were posting and getting all the bookings from. Now it’s just anywhere and everywhere we can. 

Gil: When you were posting on those Facebook groups, were you doing it yourself or your, your VAs were doing it? 

Rafa: No, my VAs. I don’t do any of it. Yeah. Just again, it goes back to what’s the value of, of me doing things like I’d rather not do it than waste my time doing it.

Rafa: And I don’t want to call it a time waste, a waste of time. Don’t get me wrong. But it, to me, I’d rather hire someone that’s not only better than me at it. Can take the time and do it right. And I have a video editor that does all my video editing for the podcast, YouTube, um, short form content, Instagram, all that stuff.

Rafa: And for, remember I told you six months I wasn’t posting anything. So he was like, I’m not going to get rid of him because he’s a great guy. My biggest concern is making sure my people are, they have jobs, right? I don’t want to get rid of them. They’re not like disposable to me. I take them very serious.

Rafa: And so I was like, Hey, uh, stay on payroll. And I was like, let’s just find a better way to create a way to, for your time. And so we said, Hey, let’s use them for posting. His posts are fantastic. And so we started posting all our stuff. Um, now you post on the, on the Facebook groups. We have our own, um, Airbnb, the big break.

Rafa: Um, Facebook group. And so people come in, we capture emails, of course. And now he’s gonna start posting there to start helping people out, answering questions and just kind of get the conversation going. 

Gil: Yeah. Let’s dig a little bit into that. I mean, I’m very interested in like the, the nine days that you have right now, like you’re, you’re, you’re, you’re, you’re, you’re, You’re starting something new.

Gil: They’re something that you probably don’t, don’t, don’t do yourself right now. You’re posting a bunch of Facebook groups. How did you advise your VAs to go in there and start posting on your behalf? Like, did you give them a script? Did you have them figure it out? Like, how does that feedback work for you 

Rafa: now?

Rafa: So I’m big on, on getting people that know what they’re doing and being around people that know what they’re doing. And so when I went up my main VA, when she was like, Hey, it’s time for us to hire somebody. So hire someone that’s good at marketing and that they know what they’re doing in terms of like, um, Well marketing really that was it and so and and they have social media experience And so she found me someone that was really good and um They started posting and they started doing all that stuff for them and she’s like hey This is how we should do it.

Rafa: And then we found like also like it’s not I don’t want to call it a sourcing company Because I don’t promote it But I also source VAs for like people in my network. And so, um, we have outside of the nine VAs, we have a bunch of other VAs that we have on payroll that we source to other people. And one of them ended up being fantastic at marketing.

Rafa: So we ended up saying, Hey, do you want to help continue helping us while you’re working for that person? And they did. So And so they actually taught me all that stuff. Um, I was, I was like, Hey, I take your lead on you. You’re the, you’re the expert. You tell me, cause I have, you know, again, going back to this mindset thing, we all think we’re the best at what we do.

Rafa: And to me in the beginning, I was like, Oh yeah, no, it’s got to like, now you become basically your micromanaging do this, do that. I want it done this way. It’s got to look this way. It’s got to be that way. And then they’re like, dude, like, okay. And they start listening to you and then things doesn’t go well.

Rafa: And they’re like, either they’re scared to not say anything or they’re just like, all right, this guy’s like not listening to me at all. So what I do now is I do it. I’m huge on this. Like I read a book called multipliers and I’m talking about what you said, where you pour into people. I poured into them in a different way.

Rafa: I give them the ability to screw up, make mistakes, cost me money, but learn from it and do a better the second time around and get better at it. Not only are they growing personally, they’re growing for the business and we’re growing the relationship together. And so when I, when I have them, I said. This is what I want to get done.

Rafa: And I’m giving all this direction. And she’s like, Hey, can we maybe do it this way? And I was like, maybe I should shut up and let them do what they’re knowing, do what they know what they’re doing. Right. And so I was like, please, please, by all means do this. This is you. And, uh, it’s been the greatest thing I’ve ever done.

Rafa: Yeah. There’s been a ton of mistakes. It’s cost me a ton of money. But I don’t care because they’re still with me and they’re absolutely crushing, you know? 

Gil: Yeah. I mean, I think it’s like really nurturing for their future growth and where they’re going to take your business. But one thing that I’ve probably learned the most, even before managing VAs is like on the, on when I was managing employees is like really like telling them what the outcomes are.

Gil: Like if you can give them a clear idea of the context and the outcomes, they do a ton of a better job than you would. They would have, if you just said, do this, I want you to take care of this for me, because they don’t really know at the very end, like, what are you trying to accomplish for and what they’re optimizing for?

Gil: They can spend a whole bunch of time on the wrong thing, but if you give them the outcomes and what they’re trying to accomplish, what they’re doing for the business, they’re they’re able to think outside the box and maybe like even push back a little bit on like, is this the right thing to do? 

Rafa: A hundred percent, dude.

Rafa: We always, uh, every time the biggest arguments that I have with my team and I don’t want to call them argument, but like just the, the, the, when we go back and forth with each other, little scuffles, so to speak, is because I’m the one trying to control how they do things. And they’re like, okay, dude, like, can you let us do what we do?

Rafa: And, uh, a lot of the time I have to step back and go, gosh, darn it. They know what they’re doing. Right. I’m in my own head. Let them be, they know what I want. They know what needs to get done. Let them get there. And, um, you know, the, the biggest part is releasing that control, right? There’s a big, a big famous saying where it’s like, even if the person, but if you, and if you hire someone that does it 80 percent as good as you, it’s still better than what you would do it is right.

Rafa: Because they’re going to learn, they’re going to get better. And eventually they’re going to surpass you in that task of what they’re doing. Yeah, 

Gil: that’s awesome. I didn’t expect us to go a huge tangent into the, into the VA route, but it’s actually a really good topic. It’s a really good one. Awesome. Well, we went through quite a bit of journey of like, where are you, where you started kind of how you’ve grown throughout the way.

Gil: Um, and then we kind of talked a little bit about direct bookings and, and. really working with assistants. I usually end the show with two questions. One’s a mindset question, and then one’s a big kind of big takeaway question on the mindset question. First, what’s that one piece of mindset advice that you would give to someone that’s starting something completely new?

Gil: Um,

Rafa: I would say, don’t be scared of the fear and the unknown and just go for it. I was talking to a buddy of mine, um, and young kid. And, uh, kind of consider him a friend now and, uh, son of a friend of mine. And he’s like, you know, I really want to get into this. Um, but I’m scared. I’m just like that. I have this like fear.

Rafa: What if I fail? And I said, that’s great. And you’re young. What if you fail number one, what are you going to learn from that failure? Are you going to play to do better the second time around, right? And he goes, you’re right. I said, what are you scared about? Well, I’ve never done it before. Well, if we were all scared to fail and not do anything, we’d still be crawling around on the floor because when we’re babies, we don’t know how to walk.

Rafa: We get up, we fall, we get up, we fall. At the simplest level of human basics is you got to learn how to fail and get up again, right? Otherwise, seriously, we’d all be dragging ourselves on the floor all day. And so, and I said, but, but think about it this way. What if you succeed and what if you’re really, really damn good at it?

Rafa: How’s that going to feel? Right. So why are you scared to go out and try it out now? You know, like what’s what’s what, like there, you got to look at it in terms of risk reward ratio, what’s, what are you risking to try this one thing out that’s new to you, or that you’re scared to do, or that you’re afraid to get started on, right?

Rafa: Um, I had another friend. She wants to get started in Airbnb and she’s like, Oh, you know, it’s just, I’m buying all this stuff. I’m putting all this money into this. And I said, what’s the risk reward ratio here? How much money are you spending? Are you buying a brand new house, furnishing it and doing all together?

Rafa: Were you gonna spend like 80 grand? She’s like, no, it’s already my old house. I’m gonna spend about five grand. I said, you’re risking 5, 000 to potentially make 40, 50, 000 at the end of the year. Risk reward ratio. What are you scared about? Go out and do it right. Worst case scenario, you’re going to fail at it.

Rafa: You’re going to learn something and you have the network around you, right next. And let me tie this piece of advice together and get around the network of people that can help you guide you. So you can have a network of people that can help you. Succeed so that you don’t fail. That’s the biggest thing.

Gil: Yeah. Yeah. I think a lot of times it’s really the, the really getting over like the uncomfortableness of trying something new. That’s the biggest thing. Like if you can get across and say like, okay, trying something new is not a bad thing, and that’s going to actually allow me to learn, it makes things so much easier.

Gil: It’s always that fear and just getting started and like, you’re right. Like a lot of times the risk and reward is actually not that, not that big. 

Rafa: A hundred percent. Let me, let me give everybody listening like the best piece of advice that I can ever possibly give, right? Get around the network of people that can be your support system, your guidance, and your teacher for whatever it is that you’re trying to get into.

Rafa: Sometimes that’s a paid group. Sometimes that’s a paid mastermind. Um, but it’s the best investment you will ever make because if you want to get into something and you want to learn to do it right, you don’t have to go and pay a coach. Join a group of people that are doing it day to day and become friends with them.

Rafa: And once you become friends with them and they know, and they like you and they trust you, I guarantee you, they’re going to want to teach you, help you, and work with you. The most successful people I know literally give me information for free on the daily. With stuff that they’ve learned over the last 40 years.

Rafa: I don’t have to go and hire a coach. I just join groups with the right people that know what they’re doing. You guys do that. I swear you guys will succeed at whatever it is that you’re going to do. I’m not joking. 

Gil: Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think like we actually, I’ve said this many, many times on the show.

Gil: We are in one industry where I see a lot more camaraderie than I have seen in any other industry. You can be neighbors with your competitor. And they would still give you advice. Like you don’t see that in a lot of businesses. 

Rafa: Yeah. 

Gil: Awesome. Last question. Out of all that we talked about, what’s that one big takeaway that you want folks to pick up, take action on today?

Rafa: Everything that we talked about, pick up and take action on today. I mean, if we’re talking, let’s, let’s face this around something. Actually, I’m going to throw something that I wanted to mention. I didn’t throw in here, but based around the fact that we’re on a direct booking, um, podcast here with you and your biggest thing is direct bookings.

Rafa: Something I told you about earlier. And I think you might’ve heard me talk about it. Um, at STR nation was when you go, the best form of direct booking is branding around where you’re stationed. Right? Like, for example, um, I picked this up off my friend, who’s my business partner on this. We’re rebranding the hotel, the boutique hotel, to, um, the Boardwalk Inn.

Rafa: Because people are Googling and searching the Boardwalk Carolina Beach, or Carolina Beach things to do, and the Boardwalk comes up. So anytime a Google search for Carolina Beach Boardwalk comes up, our hotel’s gonna be number one in the search. Right because it’s popping up. So the piece of advice that I give you guys based around Direct bookings is make sure that you’re branding towards the right customer Like the the old name of this place was called sea witch that has absolutely nothing to do with the area It’s just a cool name, right?

Rafa: Um, I tell you that because my company’s called night and rain properties and it has absolutely nothing to do with that Real estate. And then I realized, wait a second, people are like, Oh, that’s a fantastic name. But what, what do you do? Well, if I didn’t throw properties on the people to probably think night and rain is like, because it’s not like nights and like rainwater, it’s like night, like kingdom and then bringing the kingdom.

Rafa: Right. So it’s like, well, what’s happening here. So always make sure that your branding is aligned with what you’re doing. Um, take action on that. I don’t know. Is that, is that, 

Gil: yeah, that’s super helpful. That’s super helpful. Like, no, just knowing like, I hear this quite a bit, like, how do you drive SEO? And like, that’s actually one of the things that you can do is like, if your domain actually hits and your brands actually hits to what people are searching for, you’re more likely to appear in search rank.

Gil: And it sounds like it actually was effective for you. 

Rafa: Yeah. I mean, in, uh, in Michigan upstate upstate and Petoskey for that boutique hotel. We, we call it the bay in because we’re right outside on the bay. Right. Um, it’s kind of like the known thing out there. And so we actually didn’t even rebrand that cause it was already a good rebrand.

Rafa: We just added better website, added better pictures of the town and the area, and we rebranded based on that area, but just for better, better markers and a better marketing and just better picture, like better display, things like that. And a better logo, of course. And that helps on 

Gil: awesome. Rafa, thanks for sharing everything that you’ve, you’ve just shared your whole entire journey and a bit about direct bookings as well too.

Gil: Where can folks find out more about you? How can they keep in touch? What projects are you working on that you want people to, to engage with you on? 

Rafa: Sure. So, uh, project that I’m working on right now is the boutique hotel here in Carolina beach. It’s a 16 unit. Boutique hotel right on the water. Literally you walk out and you’re on the beach.

Rafa: Um, and, uh, we’re going to convert it to 18 units. So if anybody wants to, uh, invest on that, hit me up, you can call me in on it. It’s got to be accredited investors. So I appreciate you letting me speak about that. Um, but if you want to get ahold of me, um, Instagram is the best way to go to hold of me. It’s.

Rafa: It’s, um, it’s Rafa Loza, I T S Rafa Loza. R A F A L O Z A. Um, I post all things that I do related to real estate, cool projects, just fun stuff that I like to do. Um, we got the Facebook group, Airbnb, the big break. And then we have the podcast, the big break show, um, which we’d love to put out content to help.

Rafa: And if any of you guys want to get started on Airbnb arbitrage, I’ve literally laid out. Uh, step by step from episode one to where I’m at now, if you go through them, you’ll know how to get started in arbitrage with my pitches, everything that you need to know what to say, how to answer questions, et cetera.

Rafa: You don’t have to pay for a course. 

Gil: Awesome. All right. I’m going to make sure that I grab all the links from you and then, uh, put those in the show notes. So if folks don’t have to, to memorize it, Rafa, thanks again for being on the show. It was a, it was a real joy having you on here. 

Rafa: I appreciate you having me on.

Rafa: And this is always fun. 

Gil: Thanks. Bye.