The Power of Design and Storytelling: Transforming Your Property into a Destination with Isaac French

Summary & Highlights

We break down the key lessons from Isaac’s journey and share simple, actionable advice that anyone new to the hospitality industry can use to succeed.

1. Start with a Unique Experience

Isaac’s first piece of advice is simple but powerful: the key to standing out is creating a truly unique experience.When Isaac started building Live Oak Lake, he didn’t just want to create another vacation rental. He wanted to create a place that guests would remember forever—a place that felt special and different from anything they’d ever experienced.

For Isaac, the focus was on designing a memorable experience. He made sure every detail—from the decor to the activities available—was carefully thought out to make the property stand out.

The takeaway? If you’re starting in hospitality, think about how you can make your property unique. What can you offer that other places can’t? Whether it’s the design, the location, or special activities, make sure your guests feel like they’re getting something special.

2. Don’t Be Afraid to Experiment

Isaac didn’t have formal marketing training, but he made up for it by being willing to try new things. Instead of following the same old marketing strategies, he took a bold, experimental approach. This included using tools and strategies that were common in other industries, like pop-up forms on websites to collect emails, and remarketing ads to stay in front of potential guests.

Isaac says that his curiosity and willingness to experiment helped him discover what worked for his business. He learned from other industries, like e-commerce, and adapted those strategies to the hospitality world.

If you’re new to marketing your property, don’t be afraid to try different things. Use your website, social media, and email marketing in creative ways. Test what works for you, and learn from your results.

3. Tell a Story and Build a Community

One of the things that helped Isaac’s property grow was his ability to share his story on social media. People love following the process of building something new, and Isaac shared everything—his design choices, challenges, and wins—along the way. This built a loyal following even before the property was open for bookings.

Isaac also used storytelling to connect with potential guests. He shared the unique aspects of his property and the vision behind it, making people feel like they were part of something special.

If you’re starting a new hospitality business, think about how you can tell your story. Share the process of building your property, talk about why it’s different, and connect with people on social media. People love to follow along and support businesses they believe in.

4. Passion and Dedication Will Drive Your Success

Isaac believes that one of the biggest keys to his success was his passion. He was genuinely excited about creating something special and making sure everything was perfect. He says that when you’re passionate about your business, it attracts people—whether that’s guests, investors, or collaborators.

Isaac shared two key quotes that drive his mindset:

• “The way you do one thing is the way you do everything.” This means that if you pay attention to the small details and pursue excellence in everything you do, it will pay off in the long run.
• “Light yourself on fire with passion and people will come from miles around to watch you burn.” When you truly believe in your business, others will take notice and be drawn to your energy.

Passion is contagious. If you’re excited and dedicated to your property, it will show in everything you do—and that will help you attract guests and grow your business.

5. Don’t Be Afraid to Change Course if Needed

Sometimes, the best way to improve your business is to be willing to make changes. Isaac stressed that it’s important to regularly assess your property and business. If something isn’t working, don’t be afraid to pivot or even start over. Sometimes, the best opportunities come from reimagining your property or business model.

Isaac mentioned that he could have chosen to scale his business quickly, but he took his time, refining the experience before moving forward. He encourages entrepreneurs to evaluate their businesses honestly and be open to making changes if needed.

If you’re just starting, it’s okay if things aren’t perfect from the beginning. Be willing to make adjustments as you learn what works best for your guests.

6. The Future of Hospitality Is About Experiences

Isaac believes that the future of hospitality is all about offering unique, memorable experiences. People are moving away from traditional luxury hotels and looking for places that offer something different—whether that’s a beautiful design, a cool location, or fun activities. Isaac believes this trend is just beginning, and there’s huge potential for businesses that can offer unique stays.

If you’re just starting out, think about how you can create an experience that stands out. Focus on the experience your guests will have, not just the place they’re staying. This could mean designing a unique space, offering personalized services, or creating an unforgettable atmosphere.

Key Takeaways for Beginners in Hospitality

1. Create a unique experience. Focus on what makes your property different and special.
2. Experiment with marketing. Don’t be afraid to try new things and learn as you go.
3. Share your story. Connect with potential guests by telling the story behind your property.
4. Passion is key. If you’re excited about your business, others will be too.
5. Be willing to adapt. Don’t be afraid to make changes and reimagine your business if needed.
6. Focus on experiences. Offer guests something they can’t get anywhere else.

Isaac’s story proves that when you combine passion, creativity, and a focus on unique experiences, you can turn your ideas into something truly special.

Transcript

Isaac: The way you do one thing is the way you do everything. And so you really have to care, and you have to pursue excellence, and that’s part of like going back to that initial vision of like every single detail, every single aspect of this, even the parts people aren’t going to see matter. And if you have that attitude, that will put you in very good stead to create something that truly is word of mouth worthy and one of a kind.

Isaac: And then, Number two, there’s this great quote by this gentleman named John Wesley, who was like an English preacher 300 years ago, but I just love this quote. He said, light yourself on fire with passion and people will come from miles around to watch you burn. So I feel like you have to be energetic. You have to have like, believe in whatever you’re going to do.

Isaac: And then you will become a magnet. When you have that dream that turns into a conviction, you will become a magnet for guests, for capital, for every opportunity that you ever need.

Gil: Hey, folks, welcome back to direct booking simplified. We break down the strategies and tactics to win in direct bookings on today’s show. I have Isaac French, Isaac. Welcome to the show.

Isaac: Gil, thanks so much for having me.

Gil: Yeah, it’s really good to have you on the show. Uh, do you mind giving, uh, folks a quick introduction on who you are?

Gil: Who’s Isaac?

Isaac: Sure. Yeah, so I live in Central Texas, born and raised here, just outside of Waco. And a few years ago, had a dream to create this charming village of cabins and found a five acre parcel of jungle on Zillow one morning. Fast forward 10 months, designed, built, furnished, opened the seven unit micro resort now, now known as Live Oak Lake.

Isaac: Um, and it’s been quite a whirlwind ever since our first year, we grossed over a million. We had 95 percent occupancy, about 80 percent bookings of the, were direct, built about 100, 000 followers on Instagram for the brand. Um, and then. Uh, and net around 550, 000. And then in year two, we actually sold the property for 7 million.

Isaac: So a million bucks a key to private equity.

Gil: Wow. That’s, that’s an insane return. Um, what was your initial investment on it? If you, if you don’t mind sharing or as much as you

Isaac: 2. 2 0. 3 all in.

Gil: that’s the land and build and all, 

Gil: all the landscaping and everything.

Isaac: Land, build, everything. We didn’t have a general contractor or architect because I kind of did both of that, both of those. So we were able to save some costs, but yeah, 2. 3, so about 330, 000 a key, including land.

Gil: That’s, that’s, that’s pretty good. What? So what, rewind back a little bit, what made you decide or want to, to do this project? Like what did you, what influenced you to, to buy five acres of land and build seven, seven little cabins on there? Yep.

Isaac: of interests. I’ve been an artist since I was very young. I grew up in a very industrious family, learned accounting in high school, then Worked in construction for six years, um, as it, you know, starting as a general labor, learned the trades, eventually ran projects, wanted to be an architect when I was younger, didn’t want to go through the schooling.

Isaac: And for a stint, our family lived in the Pacific Northwest where I was influenced by a lot of the Scandinavian architecture that you find up there. And when I moved back to Texas in 2020, I just noticed like architecturally speaking, even just architecturally speaking, there was. A huge opportunity in Texas because it felt like everything was sort of fitting into the same mold and a little bit behind the time.

Isaac: And so to sort of innovate, bring some of that design and a specific flavor, but really an entire experience. So the way I thought about it from day one was how do we create an immersive, truly. Like all encompassing, I would even say transportive experience where you walk onto a property and you have the same effect that Disney has become so famous for in creating these magical moments where it just feels like you’re in a different world.

Isaac: And so I had that vision was looking for property and ultimately a location’s great. We can get into why. Um, the property is great, but I chose that property because it had these huge towering live oak trees, hence the name. And then also this little muddy cow pond, which I really saw could be this, this little slice of the Pacific Northwest where I’d grown up, like you could bring that whole vibe to Texas.

Isaac: And so. That’s what we embarked on doing. And, um, also just, you know, during that, that, uh, experience of building, it was crazy. I mean, that was 10 months start to finish, which is just kind of wild

Isaac: to do that. And of course we were bootstrapping the whole thing. I brought in some friends and family for some of the money we needed to cover what the construction loan didn’t cover.

Isaac: Um, and. Also built a, like a 750, 000 spec home in four months and sold that at the same time during the same project. So it was able to use a lot of the same subcontractors made about 200, 000 on that, which I needed every penny of it to roll into this project because we went over budget and, uh, uh, you know, it just ended up costing more, a lot more than I initially estimated.

Isaac: But through that experience, like I was not willing to compromise on all of these little details. And I think. The lesson here is you have to have a vision of, again, like for me, it was that feeling of, okay, we’re going to be, you’re going to be transported almost magically into a different world where it’s going to feel like you’re in the Pacific Northwest.

Isaac: How do you get there? And I think that is the culmination of all of these little details and intentionality that’s put into the project. And so, you know, every cabin, the way that they were positioned around the pond, every trail, every roadway, the front gate. Every window within the cabins and, and the views that they were framing, um, all of these little tiny details added up, you know, thousands of little details added up cohesively to create this magical experience where, um, you know, another word is Instagrammable.

Isaac: People just feel compelled to like document their stay. And it’s not about Instagram, but obviously. The way I think about it is word of mouth. Marketing is the most valuable channel that’s ever existed and that ever will exist. And, and social media, Instagram is just really a, an augmented form of word of mouth, because what you’re doing is you are putting out your tastes, your experiences, and other people are, um, are then going off of, you know, maybe, I see my friend booking this incredible stay and I get this intense FOMO of like, Oh, I’ve got to go experience that too.

Isaac: Or, you know, they obviously had glowing things to say about it. So I want to go experience that too. So we were building it with that in mind, even the content in mind of like, how are people going to document this and what are the amenities that we can incorporate? Like the shipping container pool. We bought this.

Isaac: Uh, shipping container turned into a swimming pool that just aesthetically was really stunning and fit into the vibe of the whole property with a big window in the side. And then we have a dock on the lake and, you know, kayaks and, and the trails and all of these little moments, they’re, they’re sort of built for Instagram, though, at the end of the day, obviously, I care most about people actually experiencing the property.

Isaac: And. Don’t want people to just be on their phones the whole time, but they, they can’t help themselves. There were like intentional decisions we made that were very on brand with reconnecting with nature, unplugging, recharging, and like, so we didn’t include TVs in any of the units. And a lot of folks thought like that was a really bad idea.

Isaac: A lot of other builders, I should say. But again, it was like part of the, part of the whole. And sure enough, people absolutely love that. Like we’re renting these cabins for 500, 700, a thousand plus dollars a night. And people love this, this experience. It’s different. So there’s a dichotomy there. They can’t help themselves, but, but tell about their experience.

Isaac: A lot of times they’ll do it after that they’ve stayed, but all of that just was, you know, rocket fuel on this fire of like building an audience and then converting those people to direct bookings.

Gil: Yeah, yeah, it sounds like you had 

Gil: a very strong vision for this from the very beginning. You mentioned that some of your influence, uh, came from the Pacific Northwest there. Were there any properties of that sort along the Pacific Northwest? That really kind of gave you that spark there, or were you more influenced by more so kind of the, the, the nature and the vibes that you, you kind of see there.

Isaac: Just more of the latter. I think the nature of the vibes, uh, there was definitely a lot of architecture that was somewhat similar in the same vein, but no, I hadn’t ever seen a property like what I was envisioning, which was, I didn’t have terms for it. Now I would call it like a landscape hotel or a micro resort at the time.

Isaac: It was just like a village of cabins, almost like I knew short term rentals were. Could be very financially rewarding. And then I loved great design and I wanted to build something for myself, like for an audience of one, which was me, like, what would I enjoy experiencing? And so I think that was, that was a key as well.

Isaac: Like not trying to capitalize on some trend or be opportunistic in the wrong way, but actually trying to create something to fulfill my own desire of where I would want to travel, where I would want to take my family.

Gil: Yeah. Yeah. As you’re building this 

Gil: out, did you live nearby? Like, do you live by the, the cabins themselves or did you have to track there every so often? Like how did you kind of keep a pulse and make sure like you mentioned like a thousand decisions that you have to make? Are you there live and get to understand like, okay, these are the influences of this decisions that we’re making right now.

Isaac: Yeah, I live six minutes down the road. So that was another factor in buying that exact piece of property. I could get there easily. And especially being so involved in the build and the design process. Like, of course I was there every hour of every day. Um, and that was fun, like making all of these design decisions on the fly.

Isaac: So we didn’t, and this is one of the advantages of building outside city limits, kind of off the beaten path, but we had very low regulations. So. We didn’t have a lengthy permitting process or a lot of inspections or regulations to, to jump through. We were able to just make, I was able to make decisions like on the go and then build that day or direct the subcontractors to build that day.

Isaac: Exactly what we wanted. So we started with. A very basic set of plans, like almost napkin level sketches for the cabins. And then of course, even before that, I spent two or three days on the property, just walking every square foot of it and trying to understand exactly how to position everything, create a site plan.

Isaac: Um, and then. So being close by and proximity was, was huge.

Gil: Yeah, are the cabins based 

Gil: off of the same floor plan or do you have variations between the seven different cabins?

Isaac: Five of the seven are two bedroom and, and then the other two are one bedroom and they’re all extremely similar, but essentially we have five unit types and two unit and then two different unit types. Um, and then some of them are mirrored images of the others. So depending on how they were positioned and the trees that were adjacent or the views or whatever, Of course, we were trying to balance factors like privacy and seclusion and the existing trees that were already there and the topography and, you know, the hills and whatnot.

Isaac: Um, so it was really fun. It’s like a puzzle when you’re putting that together of like, how do you maximize, um, the overall vibe you’re trying to create? Maintain some level of privacy and seclusion, but also make it feel like you’re part of like a village or a Hamlet. Um, like for instance, at night, we, uh, it’s really fun.

Isaac: There’s a lot of outdoor lighting and such, and that all comes on like an hour before sunset. And then you see all these beautiful. All those reflections in the water. So no matter which cabin you’re at, you get this Epic view. But, um, during the day, especially like there’s so many trees, it’s hard to see the other cabins.

Isaac: If you walk down, you can see them. But, um, so the way that they’re positioned, it was kind of like a piece, really a piece of art, like every single square foot, square inch counted and the orientation and all of that. Um, so I, I could geek out on that process for a long time. I love that. That was my favorite part.

Gil: Yeah. Did you have any experience doing some of that site design design prior to this project or was that kind of your first like kind of learning experience in, in that

Isaac: Like I mentioned, I had six years of experience in, in construction. And so that was everything from picking up trash and sweeping, sweeping the job site to framing and concrete and, you know, carpentry and, uh, and then running projects. So I’d been through a lot of aspects of that, but I’d never, no, no formal experience or training in like site planning and design.

Isaac: Um, it was, it was more art than science and more of just like. I know this is going to sound funny, but I’ve, and I’ve said it before, but like, when I walked onto the property, I, that first time I got goosebumps, I was like, this is absolutely the place that we have to build this dream. And then for the next few days, it felt like the property was speaking to me.

Isaac: Like, again, I was just sort of listening and trying to work with the givens that were already there while enhancing them. Like the pond, for instance, it was, it was muddy, it was swampy. It was about half the size that it is now. Um, so we had to like reshape that and dig it out and add aerators and cut out dead trees and, you know, do all of this work, but, um, in that sense, it was a little bit like a sculpture where you are just chipping away all these pieces and then you start to see this beautiful form that comes, but that’s all always been there, but you’re sort of working with the givens of the natural material.

Gil: Yeah. Yeah. That sounds, that sounds like an amazing experience. 

Gil: What was, uh, your biggest learning experience through that entire journey of kind of building that out?

Isaac: Looking back, it was that I should have create, uh, captured a lot more content and even if I wasn’t going to do it live. I thankfully have a fair amount of pictures, but like, since that project I’ve seen firsthand through so many others, I’ve been privileged to meet like the power of storytelling and building these things in public.

Isaac: And, you know, when we built it, I had vaguely planned on. Using Instagram, going the direct bookings route, but that wasn’t really part of the initial playbook, or at least it wasn’t part of the first phase of that. And so I wasn’t necessarily thinking about my own content through any of that. And I wasn’t on social media.

Isaac: I wasn’t telling this story publicly. So. What was interesting is after we, after we launched two weeks into our launch, which was just very successful, tons of, you know, people coming from Airbnb. We were exclusively on, on Airbnb. I think we were on Furbo actually as well, but mostly Airbnb. Um, one morning I wake up.

Isaac: Our entire account on Airbnb is suspended. And this is again, two weeks after we launched. So there had been no warning and there was no explanation and I could not get a hold of anyone who could actually help me at Airbnb. It was a terrible feeling as you can probably imagine. Um, and so. That, you know, prompted a lot of soul searching.

Isaac: Like I realized this entire multimillion dollar venture I’m, I’m in my early twenties, this huge risks that I’ve taken is exactly that. Like it’s a huge risk. And now I’m totally at the mercy of this multi billion dollar company that. Really doesn’t care that much about me. Um, and not to be too critical of Airbnb.

Isaac: I actually think they’ve done some amazing things. Um, I wouldn’t really be here if it weren’t for them. And just in terms of creating a space. But anyway, uh, I stumbled fortuitously upon this notion of doing a influencer through that. And so I found this content creator, this travel influencer who was based in Dallas.

Isaac: Which was just a couple hours away. And, uh, she asked for 950 and she didn’t even come to the property. I just sent her photos and she did a, she ran a two night giveaway. Uh, from as a collaboration with our account. And in that, in that week that the giveaway was live, we got 40, 000 of direct bookings and around 5, 000 followers from scratch.

Isaac: So, I mean, that just made my head explode when I saw the results of that. And. After we actually got, we were restored on Airbnb just days later, it had been a glitch, but I mean, that was the biggest blessing in disguise that could have ever happened because at that point we, I went all in on these influencer partnerships and, and that’s direct bookings and the rest is history.

Gil: Oh, my God. So so you are live on 

Gil: Airbnb for two weeks and they ended up pulling you down. You end up serendipitously finding this influencer that end up opening your eyes on an alternate way to book out your cabin and it sounds like a more effective way to book out your cabin as well too.

Isaac: I mean, I’m preaching to the choir, but direct bookings are amazing. So number one, you’re capturing like 15 plus percent extra margin. Um, and that’s. Again, that’s pure margin because there are no essentially, I mean, there, there are content creation costs, which are very minimal, if not nothing for me initially, but, um, then we, then of course, number two, you have the customer email, the guest email, so you’re building a relationship with them, which just dovetails perfectly with this whole notion of creating a one of a kind property, because, you know, anecdotally.

Isaac: Some of our guests that first year came back, I counted three times in one year, and brought with them friends and family every single time, because we were creating this amazing relationship with them, and they were just Raving fanatics about the experience. So we had their email, we could foster that relationship.

Isaac: And then number three, we, we didn’t have to worry about being de platformed. You actually own the audience when, uh, when you have an email. And so there’s other benefits too. Um, I think you’ve had Ben Wolf on, but he and I’ve talked about the, uh, aspirational nature of the guests you’re getting. So when you’re, When Instagram becomes your primary distribution channel, which then funnels to email and whatnot, you’re reaching aspirational guests that are not as price sensitive because they’re just scrolling and they’re pulled into this like great video immersive content of your, you know, story of your, of your experience.

Isaac: And they’re not price shopping next to 20 other units that may be 50 cheaper or whatever. Or maybe 200 cheaper. And then they feel like they became, they, they become emotionally attached to that and they feel like I have got to be there. Um, and then it’s just a matter of time. Maybe they follow you. Then maybe you continue putting out content and you’re just warming them and nurturing them.

Isaac: And eventually you’re going to be top of mind when they want to take a staycation.

Gil: Yeah. Yeah. You’re not dealing with the same level of competition that you would have on the grid of what, 20 properties that’s on like the first page. And then scrolling through, like you’re actually creating a whole new window for folks to discover you where you’re not competing against price point.

Gil: You’re competing against really like, like you said, the emotional nature, the aspirational nature of the state more than anything else.

Isaac: Totally.

Gil: You mentioned warming and nurturing, um, your leads or the folks that discover you, what’s, what’s your direct booking engine look like? What are, what are some of the key components that you’ve invested into that worked out really well for you?

Isaac: Yeah. So let’s, if we just think about it as a funnel, which is a, you know, a common marketing term at the top of the funnel. We have discovery and discovery platforms. So Instagram is the primary one there. So we’re creating content and we have a process for that. And we know what works in terms of what the algorithm wants to see.

Isaac: And we’re consistent in, in, in the way we’re doing that. And it’s just a matter of time before some, or, you know, some of those pieces of content reels in our case are going to go viral. So we’re going to gain a bunch of new followers, ideally that way. So we’re going to usually have a call to action of, to follow.

Isaac: Cause it’s very rare that you’re going to put a piece of content out on Instagram. Even for, you know, for this amazing stay and then get someone to book immediately. It does happen, but it doesn’t happen nearly as often as, as you’d You know, someone being willing just to hit follow. Cause that’s really easy.

Isaac: So you got to think about in terms of like, what are you asking for? So at that point, we just want to build the audience. Um, then sometimes we also want to, um, you know, sometimes the CTA will be built, will be follow. And then sometimes it’ll be. Join our newsletter. And so we have a link in the bio to our website, which we’ll build out like a beautiful, so like this is the middle of the funnel.

Isaac: We’ll build out like this beautiful, um, landing page, just something on Squarespace, probably that looks beautiful, that has some great B roll footage, a brand video. There’s a whole science to that, but look at the Live Oak site if you want to see. At least what I would have done two years ago. And then I experimented with pop ups.

Isaac: So this was, this became extremely effective. We like did a ton of AB testing on what worked the best, but basically we ran like a discount, um, One, but the one that performed the best was a opportunity to enter a giveaway. So when you go there, you’ll see it today. It’s the exact same pop up by design two, two and a half years ago.

Isaac: But basically immediately, when you go onto the site, a pop up comes up. Enter for a chance to win a free stay. And every quarter we would draw a winner kind of thing. And so we would capture around a hundred emails a day from that. Um, cause we were getting a A ton of traffic to like we, we got 20 to 50, 000 views a month because, you know, again, uh, so virality is one way organic content, um, marketing is, is, is the primary way, but then we’re partnering with the influencers, which I already mentioned.

Isaac: So that first six months. We spent probably 40, 000 on these partnerships with, with influencers. And there’s a whole process there for how do you vet the right influencers? And how do you know that you have the right overlap in terms of audience and whatnot? Um, and I learned so much through that process because there’s obviously a lot of like, um, non compatible partnerships and just bad accounts that have like probably fake followers.

Isaac: So creator partnerships, another way. And then the other, other big pillar of like, Growth and, you know, gaining new people. The top of funnel was PR. So I spent two hours a day almost on Instagram for those first four to six months, cold DMing, researching and cold DMing news anchors, journalists, local newspapers, TV networks, whatever, anyone that I could find and really not having Um, an existing preconceived idea as far as how that even worked was, was a benefit for me.

Isaac: I didn’t even know PR agencies existed. So I just spent all this time. And I also learned how to like cold DM people, um, and copyright. So I spent all this time reaching out and then sure enough, like a small percentage of those resulted in some correspondence of which a small percentage resulted in an invitation to come on a show or to be interviewed for an article.

Isaac: So we got, we started getting a bunch of press. Um, those actually proved extreme, like local TV networks. Like we did, I did probably three interviews on, you know, regional and local TV shows, and those, one of them generated about 10, 000 of direct bookings in like two days. Um, so those can actually be extremely effective.

Isaac: So PR was sort of another pillar of that. So anyway, we’re, we’re capturing people, but. Ideally, it’s one of two things. They’re coming to our website and most of those are going to join the pop up or, you know, there’s other forms on the website to join a newsletter. And then the rest of them, we just want to follow us on social.

Isaac: So that’s obviously not as valuable, but at least we have some grasp on them. And then. Once they’re on the newsletter, they’re going to be getting some pre made sequences. So I had automations in place for like a welcome sequence that would sort of tell you about the property and tell you about me and my wife as the hosts.

Isaac: And there were, I think, three emails in the welcome sequence. And then we had a nurture to booking series, which was about seven emails. And these would come out like weekly and they would, you know, Sort of agitate the problem. The problem was you need more time connect reconnecting in nature in a busy world, whatever whatever

Gil: Okay.

Isaac: and what other reviews what other guests are saying and

Gil: Okay.

Isaac: they would be comfortable giving you their credit card and actually booking a stay and And so a lot of that was highly automated as far as the email.

Isaac: Plus there is no dilution in your audience, meaning that on social media, it’s sort of a well known phenomenon now that followers mean less and less. It’s they’re sort of a vanity metric. They still count for something, but algorithms prioritize. Whatever they think is going to do well. So like the playing field has been leveled quite a bit between small and large accounts.

Isaac: Um, having large, a large amount of followers will definitely still help. It’s just, it’s not going to be proportionate to the actual audience growth versus email you, you own. So as long as you have a good. Reputation, uh, I don’t know the terms, but you know, IP or whatever it is, that is sending the emails from.

Isaac: In other words, if you’re not sending spam that people don’t want, and you’re giving them a way to opt out to unsubscribe, then you get to, no matter how big that list gets, you get to end up right in front of someone in a very. Sort of intimate setting, which is someone’s inbox, which most people kind of, or a lot of people view as almost a sacred thing, and that’s why they don’t like to get their emails out.

Isaac: So you have to actually. Deliver them something great. So a good example of this is that was way better than live Oak Lake. Um, Had I had more times before we sold, I would have tried to build this out too. But, uh, my friends at henter. com that’s H I N T E R. com, Emily and Mauricio, and they have these beautiful Nordic cabins in Canada.

Isaac: Um, they just nail branding, but if you subscribe to their newsletter, which they have a pop up as well, you’ll see what I’m talking about, but they write, they call it the Henter planet, and it’s a sub stack and they basically, They’re part of their whole brand is slow living. And so they, it’s almost like a lifestyle brand.

Isaac: They will put out this amazing original content about, you know, playlists that they’re enjoying that time of the year, or, you know, maybe what the season looks like at their area or. Just these fun little vignettes into a lifestyle and, um, they’re not trying to sell you to come stay and this is very important, but as they build trust and gain that and put out value, then in like the footer or in small text somewhere, they’ll say, hey, by the way, in a very organic way, they’ll say, hey, we have, um, Three nights open next month or whatever.

Isaac: And this place is like 95 percent booked. So, um, they don’t even have to try to sell very hard, but anyway, they cultivated like this amazing, robust following, and then they just gave a ton of value and they continue to give a lot of value and your audience is like a battery. Um, you have to. If you spend a lot, in other words, if you ask, if you ask for a lot, like, Hey, come book, Hey, give me this.

Isaac: Hey, give me that. Hey, tell your friends this, your, your audience is going to get tired of you. And they’re going to be like, they’re going to feel worn out. So you have to give value. Now, the best way to do that is actually. Just by putting out, like in, in this case study of, of unique stays and, and micro resorts and whatnot is by putting out beautiful, amazing content.

Isaac: So you can do this with email, you can do this with Instagram, but really invest into your content creation and create beautiful content that they want to see. In this case, I love the newsletter because we’ve just talked about how valuable emails are. And so they’re doing that in more of like copywriting and imagery through the newsletter.

Isaac: Um, so anyway. That’s sort of the middle of the funnel. And then, of course, it’s leading to that moment when you’re actually going to convince a guest that they need to book right now. They need to take that three day vacation. They need to, you know, just go ahead and schedule something or it’s never going to happen.

Isaac: And, um, it’s just an, it’s just a, the way I look at it, a matter of time before you’re going to get them to do that. It may take six months. It may take one month. It may take two years, but if you’re consistent and you’re putting out that content, and I’m also a proponent of doing this across other social channels as well, like it’s very easy with short form to post, repost that to Tiktok, to YouTube shorts, um, and, or Facebook, whatever, but create for Instagram as your main channel, and then you’re Increasing that surface area again at the top of the funnel where you’re going to grow that.

Isaac: Does that make any sense?

Gil: Yeah, absolutely. It does. I, I’m right now 

Gil: trying to wrap my head around, how did you get so refined in your approach and figuring out what each stage of the funnel looks like? How do you, like most folks don’t do what you just said about even putting a pop up on the webpage on your, on your direct booking site to collect emails and start to target market those folks.

Gil: What’s been kind of like your influence or spear of education to kind of know what tactics to deploy and what works for folks?

Isaac: A radically experimental attitude. Seriously, like I had no formal training in marketing. And of course I talked with other people, other hosts, other marketers, I listened to podcasts, whatever. But I just was, Radically willing to experiment with everything and endlessly curious about finding better ways to do things and I think if you have that attitude that mindset you’ll find the way

Gil: Yeah, you’ve deployed some, 

Gil: some pretty sophisticated, um, uh, programs or campaigns. Even you even use like some of the terms that we, we talk about in SAS, which is like, you just mentioned like agitate the problem there, um, which is something like they talk about in SAS marketing quite, quite a bit. Um, I’m just curious, like, were there specific podcasts that you’re, you’re, you’re, you’re gravitating towards that help you learn some of these terms or maybe even, uh, other influencers within the kind of space that you started to learn from?

Isaac: Yes, there is a great. Um, I love podcasts so much. Um, Two two recommendations here and one of them I actually found more recently, but alex garcia Um has a fantastic newsletter called marketing examined I think is what it’s called. Um, and he drops dimes every single week with these great case studies.

Isaac: And he’s a lot of like DTC, but sort of some of everything, just marketing in general. And then there’s a great podcast that has been very helpful to me by, I like this question cause nobody ever asked me that. Um, Neil Patel and I think his name is Eric Liu. Let me look what their podcast marketing school is what it’s called.

Isaac: It excellent podcast. Um, just short little, like 10 to 15 minute episodes, almost daily that break down little tips, tricks,

Gil: Yeah. It’s very obvious. Um, so I was like, there’s, there’s something behind, like, there’s something feeding Isaac and I need to figure out, like, what’s feeding Isaac and some of it’s internally, but there’s also some external stuff that, that, that’s feeding you some good information as well, too.

Isaac: information diet is huge. Absolutely. Like, and at all angles of the spectrum. So on the design side, you know, finding other properties, finding other designers, maybe they’re in other industries. Like, um, hospitality is full of this, but like. restaurants, boutique hotels. Um, I think that really in general hospitality should be the reference point for a lot of like residential and commercial design as well.

Isaac: But anyway, finding, finding great reference points and, and an information diet that is healthy, but then also having a sounding board or two. So, Um, speaking of design, I’ve got a friend named Hans, who I didn’t meet till after I had built Live Oak Lake. And he’s really blown up on Instagram recently. Uh, Hans Lori, that’s L O R E I.

Isaac: And he has been so amazing. Cause he is very refined in his taste and like is a great designer. And is it a great explainer to, but he, he has a very different taste than I do. So I came at live Oak Lake from the, like, how do we make this as minimalistic as possible? Cause I just love that aesthetic. And then he’s more of like, how do we add amazing things that compliment each other?

Isaac: So having him on like future projects and stuff that have happened since then. Having him as a sounding board where I can call him up and be like, Hey, what do you think of this? Or what would you do in this case? Or am I crazy about this? It’s just amazing because I may not use what he suggests, but just having even sometimes the confidence of like, yeah, that’s a good idea.

Isaac: Yeah. You should go for it or whatever from someone I trust who sees things differently, and I feel like that applies to marketing that applies to business, life, everything. Having. Trusted sounding boards that are like personal advisors, but see things very differently than you do.

Gil: Yeah. 

Gil: It makes a lot of sense. Like the marketing, um, what’s it called? The marketing, the Alex Garcia podcast that you mentioned, um, market examined. You mentioned that they’re into like DTC brands. DTC brands. Um, that’s exactly what your whole funnel reminds me about is like, I come from the world of e commerce and DTC brands.

Gil: There’s a very like almost not like framework, but there’s a lot of very structured way of how to grow DTC brands, how to work with influencers, how to get your word out there, how to do remarketing campaigns. It sounds like you’re also borrowing from a very different industry and you’re applying it directly in hospitality.

Isaac: I love that. I, yeah, I don’t know how often I’ve really articulated or consciously thought about like that, but. It’s absolutely true. I don’t know, again, I don’t think there were, I mean, I’m maybe trying to do that now and there are others that are doing that now for this space, but there, there weren’t really people that I knew of that were talking about this kind of stuff for unique stays.

Isaac: Um, but yeah, so that has been very inspirational and I think most of it applies or can be adapted in some way or another. It’s, it’s really the same. It’s the same game. It’s it’s direct bookings and B2C e comm is really the same thing. It’s just, you’re selling a different product. You’re selling an experience.

Gil: Absolutely. Absolutely. And there’s not a lot of folks know, but there’s actually like a pretty big overlap in the tool set that you can use between in different industries as well, too. Like one of the tools that I use early on when we were building our, our direct booking engine was we use Clavio and in our industry, no one knows about Clavio.

Gil: No one knows about it. Uh, everybody’s talking about MailChimp and some of the other email marketing tools. But if you look at the. Like the e commerce industry, Clavio is one of the best email marketing tools out there. Um, and that’s, that’s where I got a lot of my influence from. So I think that you’re, you’re absolutely right that there’s a lot of like synergies from other areas that you can start to bring in.

Gil: And I think your curiosity and just willingness to try different things out and learn from very different spaces allows you to be so successful. Like you mentioned like PR, like I would not have thought about going out to, to local news anchors and trying to get myself out there. But I think like it’s your curiosity that allows you to kind of, kind of branch out and just try different things out.

Isaac: Yeah, I totally agree. But I would say to balance that at the end of the day, like you can’t approach Instagram, marketing, PR. Or any of this stuff, direct bookings as how do I figure it out once I, but sort of take for granted what the actual experience is. So if you start with the foundation of how can we make the most remarkable, one of a kind, novel, immersive experience, whatever word you want to put on it, iconic experience possible for our, for our guests, the chances are you’re going to have a story that’s worth telling and that’s going to become viral.

Isaac: Otherwise you’re going to dump a lot of money and a lot of effort. When you really need someone, you need one of those sounding boards to come along and say, no, you need to totally redo your property, or you need to just grab this and start over or, you know, whatever. And so that’s why I go back to design a lot too, because.

Isaac: At the end of the day, my friend Hans, I mentioned earlier has this great saying. He says, design is the biggest lever that you can pull in how to control what your guest feels. So design really influences every single aspect of the experience, including the marketing, of course, but, um, going back to the property and like the core, you know, brick and mortar experience, you need to have something that’s just extraordinary.

Isaac: And then you have the chance to just blow it up through all these other marketing channels.

Gil: Yeah. It sounds like that’s almost like the 

Gil: foundation to a lot of your success. Like how did you not start there with the novel experience and really understanding and that having that vision from the very early days, none of the stuff that you built on top of it wouldn’t matter. Yeah. So what’s, so you now sold by boat lakes to a private equity company or firm, uh, what’s, what are you working on now?

Gil: Yeah. Yeah. Silence.

Isaac: and a very high quality following, but small niche following there, which then translated to a newsletter.

Isaac: And. I had so many opportunities, like people wanting to basically give me money to go out and do this, but I feel like there’s this constant tension of, you know, hospitality is very notoriously difficult to scale in, in actually delivering extraordinary experiences. And it’s very operational intensive.

Isaac: You live or die off of every review and. You have to be maniacally focused and a perfectionist really to succeed in the longterm. There is no shortcuts, um, in this whole, in this whole game. So I have not wanted to take the money just yet and go out and scale to 20 properties yet. But I did do a lot of like one on one consulting and I love meeting people and, and forming connections.

Isaac: So that was fun. Then I realized I’m answering the same questions over and over again. I may as well condense this into a beautiful prerecorded format. So then I built out this whole masterclass called experiential hospitality. And, um, that has been really fun. We launched that last year. I have about 130 builders in that and then built a community out to compliment that.

Isaac: So it’s just like this fantastic repository of everyone’s wisdom. You can ask questions, you get expert feedback, you share insights, you build connections. And so I pour almost all of my energy into that, into the community right now. And then. Um, also starting to tell that story about Live Oak Lake even more and, um, telling other people’s stories in the community.

Isaac: I mean, there’s extraordinary stories. I don’t know. You’re probably, you may be familiar, but you know, we have some extraordinary members. But, uh, Kimball and Christine, this is one I’m writing right now. But they are friends of mine that have, uh, called the cliffs at Hawking Hills, and it’s got 600, 000 followers on Instagram and it’s absolutely insane.

Isaac: I mean, they’ve got this waterfall swimming pool and now they’ve built another four bungalows and like this other. Natural water feature. And now they’re going to do this cliffside hotel and like incredible things because they had a unique stay because they lean into Instagram. Um, so I’m, I love like sharing these stories, uh, or my friend, Devin low ROP, you’ve probably seen his property, the Pacific Ben, a million, 1.

Isaac: 5 million followers between Tik for the one shipping container home that he documented. He built it in public. And, you know, pre sold a year when he launched essentially because he had such a massive built in audience. Um, or my friend Brian who’s got, who rethought, uh, um, houseboats and basically created these micro yachts that he built.

Isaac: He built the first one for like 250, 000. It’s called Flow Home, F L O H O M, and now he’s built like seven. They’re, they just raised like a series A round. They’re, they’re building, they’re scaling extremely quickly. They’ve bought, they’re buying marinas now. So like amazing properties. What’s cool about that is.

Isaac: They get to avoid a lot of the STR regs in some of these high demand markets because they’re on the water. They’re not on the land and you get these 360 degree Harbor views. So, I mean, just amazing examples of what you can do in the experiential space. So right now I’m just in like a learning, connecting, storytelling mode.

Isaac: And as the next project comes, um, I will be more than ready to take it on and apply all the learnings that I’ve, I’ve learned from Live Oak Lake into that.

Gil: Yeah. It seems like you got a lot of energy out 

Gil: of, uh, really being surrounded by all the folks that you’re able to coach, but also that are sharing back their stories and you being a part of their journey as well, too.

Isaac: Totally. It’s my favorite thing. Um,

Gil: yourself in, uh, five years? Congrats.

Isaac: man, it’s hard for me to look too far ahead. I, I have a whole nother life that we didn’t even really get into, but I live on a working farm, um, in a Christian community with, that’s rapidly expanding as a movement. There’s about 15 of these around the world. And so we actually travel quite a bit for that and doing missions and different, different stuff related to that.

Isaac: And my wife and I have, One little boy and another on the way. And so I’m raising a family and thank you. Um, I’m trying not to get too internally. I’m very driven and there’s that voice screaming in my head, like what’s next. But like, I’m trying to really just live in the moment and take it one day at a time.

Isaac: And. I think part of being a curious person is like not taking yourself or your path too seriously, being willing to like, especially when you’re young, experiment and, and try different things. So who knows, maybe I’ll be doing something totally different. But I think generally this. This, um, sector of like offering experiences, that’s a macro trend.

Isaac: People want experiences over luxury and material possessions more and more. We’re only in the early innings of that. And so offering experiences, serving other people, which is hospitality, uh, designing like one of a kind, beautiful, aesthetic. Products or places or whatever Storytelling like all of those different aspects Fit together somehow into into my future I feel like those are the things that I I enjoy the most and of course connecting with other people

Gil: Yeah. 

Gil: Yeah. I can see that the pure joy as you’re, you’re talking about your passions in this, I love it. I love it. Um, all right. podcast with two questions, uh, one’s a mindset question and one’s a kind of takeaway action question. So on the mindset question, what’s that one piece of mindset advice that you would give to someone that’s starting something completely new?

Isaac: two two quotes one The way you do one thing is the way you do everything and so you really have to care and you have to pursue excellence And that’s part of like going back to that initial vision of like every single detail, every single aspect of this, even the parts people aren’t going to see matter.

Isaac: And if you have that attitude, that will put you in very good stead to create something that truly is word of mouth worthy and one of a kind. And then, Number two, there’s this great quote, um, by this, uh, gentleman named John Wesley, who was like an English preacher 300 years ago. But I just love this quote.

Isaac: He said, light yourself on fire with passion and people will come from miles around to watch you burn. So I feel like you have to be. Energetic. You have to have like, believe in whatever you’re going to do. And then you will become a magnet when you have that dream that turns into a conviction. You will become a magnet for guests, for capital, for every opportunity that you ever need.

Gil: I love that. I love that. 

Gil: Awesome. Last question. Uh, what’s the one big takeaway that you want our listeners to put into practice today? the tactical thing?

Isaac: Really, I would say going back to, do you have asking yourself the hard questions, like if you’re already a. A host or an owner, like, do you have a property that truly is, is going to stand the test of time that truly is one of a kind that is like, that has enough wow factor and so it’s kind of a big thing, but I think it’s the most important thing, like you need to be willing to ruthlessly, um, evaluate yourself and like change course, pivot, redo, scrap and restart, whatever.

Isaac: Sometimes the best stories and storytelling is such an important part of all of this. The best stories are the redemption and restoration stories. So maybe you have kind of a mediocre, you know, lodge or house or property, whatever it is, and there’s an opportunity to entirely transform it. Um, and, uh, you know, rethink it and reimagine it, and that can be one of the most compelling storytelling opportunities, both at the process of that, but then also once you’ve completed it as a story that your guests can come and experience firsthand.

Isaac: So, being willing to, um, Look critically at what you’re doing, but also like committed. If you’re not, if you haven’t done any of these properties at all, committed to absolutely creating something that is just head and shoulders above everything else, or just different, it can’t just be different because it also needs to be better, but different than.

Isaac: What your, your, uh, your competitors would be doing and then not viewing your competitors, like not viewing other unique stays as competitors. Because again, going back to that trend, these kind of experiences, we’re, we’re in the early innings of a massive revolution. And so those commoditized stays are going away, whether that’s Marriott, there’s always going to be a place for them, but like, by and large.

Isaac: And there’s a huge sector of the population that, that isn’t going to want to stay in a Marriott or, or in an average Airbnb, whichever end of that spectrum, they’re coming from, they’re going to want something unique. And so being able to offer that you’re going to put yourself, you’re investing in like your future in such a massive way.

Isaac: And I think the story of Live Oak Lake is just a really great example of the value creation. If you do that right in a very short amount of time.

Gil: Yeah, 

Gil: awesome. 

Gil: Isaac, where can folks learn more about you? Follow you follow along your journey.

Isaac: Isaac J French. com is kind of like my personal site and that’s where you can get my newsletter. So I didn’t mention this, but I spend hours a week writing a newsletter for experiential hospitality, enthusiasts, builders, developers, operators about things that I’ve learned and just sharing transparently.

Isaac: So that’s the best place that I’m on socials at Isaac French underscore.

Gil: Awesome. Isaac, it was really good to 

Gil: have you on the show, be able to ask you kind of your journey, your story, how you got to where you are. And probably more importantly than now, like really learning the mindset kind of behind it all and how you got to where you are. So I appreciate that.

Isaac: Thanks for having me. Gil’s enjoyable.

Gil: Awesome. Thanks Isaac. Bye.

Yeah.