Maria Kelley:                      00:00                     Like what I say it’s making the place you want to come to. Make it that experience that you would like to be when you go into a hotel because you know a lot of people have a bad experience. They’re like “Oh, hotels!” And they think it’s always dirty saying no. Some places are really, really nice.

Julian Sage:                         00:15                     This is episode number 36 of the short term rental success stories podcast. Are you an investor that’s looking to have your home professionally managed, go to cohostit.com for more information.

Julian Sage:                         00:27                     Welcome back to short term rental success stories. I’m your host Julian Sage. This is a show where I talk to hosts about their journeys and starting and growing the short term rental business. My goal is that you’ll be able to walk away with practical information that’ll help you become a better host and learn how to scale your business like any exceptional hosts. We all strive for five star reviews, so please go on over to iTunes and let us know what you enjoy. It really helps support the show if you haven’t done so already. Going over to our Facebook group, the host nation, to connect with the community. What is going on.

Julian Sage:                         00:57                     I am super glad to be back with you all. The last episode I was in Florida for my mom’s wedding and I was just wrapping that up. I thought it was going to be a nice vacation, but my mom put me to work. She was going to be married and she needed a lot of help, getting things ready and literally to the last minute as my mom’s walking down the aisle, I have family members that are like helping to decorate and you know, put out the tables and everything. And as she’s walking down the aisle, everybody’s like, “Oh, she’s walking. We got to run back.” And so it was a very busy and very, very busy. I thought it’d be taking a break, but it was nice to be able to see family. But I’m glad to be back because you guys are my family as well.

Julian Sage:                         01:33                     You guys are the host family, the host nation family. And I’m so glad to be able to talk with you all and connect and be able to provide just this amazing, amazing content and I just wanted to share some reviews that came in on iTunes. I haven’t read some reviews in a while, but it really does really touches my heart when I read these because I do put a lot of work into this podcast and the show. I am full time coast guard guys. I do have another job, but I spend all of my time on the content and working and trying to come up with content and creating all this stuff for you. Like I said, I’ve got two full time people that are helping me just because I want to deliver as much as I possibly can because I love it and as I’m growing this, this property management business, cohostit and as I’m doing all this stuff, it all really just comes down to you guys.

Julian Sage:                         02:19                     I could be spending a lot more time focusing on growing like my own personal portfolio of short term rental units. But I have such a good feeling about the show and about the community that we’re building that I, I just want to spend as much time as I can on that. So I love it. I just wanted to take a moment to read some of these reviews because these are so awesome. I love reading your guys’s reviews and seeing you guys engage in the Facebook group. We had one come in from Glash. They said “The best of all short term rental podcasts out there. Julian’s podcast is the perfect blend of inspiration and practical information. His abundance mindset is refreshing and is what has taken this show to the top of the charts so quickly. Thank you so much glash for that really kind of view.

Julian Sage:                         02:57                     Next one’s coming from junior junior music and they said “A quality driven podcast. Not only does Julian provide a platform with informative content, he also exemplifies such effort and how the content is presented with regards to how the show’s formatted, the audio quality and then the topics and et cetera.” Thank you so much. Junior, junior music. I really appreciate that.

Julian Sage:                         03:15                     Because Jon and I and vacation rental machine don’t really spend that much time talking like I do on the show. I want it to highlight some of the reviews from vacation rental machine. There’s a few of them, so I’m not going to be able to hit all of them, but just a few says the best STR podcast ever. Best STR podcasts, great content, more detail, no rumbling and mumbling. Jon and Julian are awesome, Mike in San Francisco, up to five star, but also had some pretty good feedback.

Julian Sage:                         03:39                     They said wish that some of the content would go longer and more in depth. And I understand that Mike, a vacation rental machine there’s a lot of content we’re putting out two episodes every week and we’re trying to cover like the whole broad spectrum. So this is basically like our free course on starting your own vacation rental business, your own short term rental business. So we’re trying to hit on a lot of things and do it very quickly because there’s just so much content that is available. But we are covering a lot of deep details in BNB empire builders and Jon and I are actually working on a very special project that is going to be coming out within the next few months. Guys, it is a lot of work but the content that is in VRM it is really good and it’s very practical.

Julian Sage:                         04:19                     You can take that and you can start your own business. But Jon and I are working on something that can really get you guys going and that will be just like super action packed, fast paced, but very deep and very detailed because we want to be able to have and teach people how to scale their own vacation rental business. So maybe I gave a little bit too much information on that. I haven’t even shared that too much in the other show. But just be prepared for some exciting stuff to become and we’re constantly putting out stuff. I’m just super excited. I love you all and I love the guests that we had on today and that is Maria Kelley. Maria started her own business. Kelley’s hands on demand an errand and concierge service in Augusta, Georgia. After she got laid off from a work, one of the services she provides is cleaning and when she got started in her business, she started going to a lot of business networking events where she found a couple of short term rental investors who needed her cleaning services.

Julian Sage:                         05:08                     Maria started doing the cleaning for one property and that eventually grew and grew, but because of the relationship she established with their clients and her willingness to take on more tasks, she was offered to take on additional hosting responsibilities. Now, Maria currently manages over 10 properties and is making as much as around $500 per property per month. Marie shares her journey from cleaner to co-host and how important networking is to get clients. She also talks about putting systems in place for her cleaning teams and the guests to make sure that her business is still able to run even without her. Maria is an awesome person. She’s a real go getter and she’s also in the BNB empire builders. So I know that the BNB empire builders mastermind closes today and I’m sorry guys, if you weren’t able to make it after this episode has already come out, but we are going to be opening it back up once we have really refined how we are going to be doing this content.

Julian Sage:                         05:53                     We don’t know when it’s going to be coming back out, but you can still fill out an application and we reach out to you when it does open back up. But we do have our early adopters already set. We aren’t going to be taking any more people, but if you do want to still join in the future, then fill out an application and you will be notified when it does open back up. So if you like my show notes for this episode, shorttermsage.com/STR36 or if you’d like my show notes for every episode, then go to shorttermsage.com/shownotes. With all that being said, under this week’s conversation, Hey, welcome back host nation to another episode of short term mental success stories. In this episode I have these special special honor of speaking with the one and only Maria Kelley. Maria, would you please introduce yourself, let the host nation know who you are and what inspired you to get into short term rentals.

Maria Kelley:                      06:39                     Yes. Good morning. My name is Maria Kelley. I am the owner of Kelley’s hands on demand. It’s an errand and concierge service in Augusta, Georgia. What inspired me to start this company was just I wanted to start my own business a few years ago and what got me into short term hosting or you know, Airbnbs and helping with that platform was fate. I guess. I got a customer who needed help and slowly recruited me and has recruited me and brought me to where I’m at because I’m working with one customer, so, yeah.

Julian Sage:                         07:24                     Cool. And you started, you started off because you actually moved to the Augusta, Georgia area. Your, your husband’s in the military. Did you, when you moved to this area, did you have like a job lined up or did you really know what you were going to be doing before you got started into this?

Maria Kelley:                      07:42                     So yes, my husband’s in the military were originally from Florida, was Palm beach, Florida, and I used to work for an attorney’s office remotely. And so when I moved to Georgia, they moved with me. But then I was laid off a couple months later just because it’s, you know, the company was going through issues on that. So yeah, that’s when then, and there, that’s when I was like, okay, well I have a decision to make. I could either go look for a job again and work for another attorney or an office. The one kind of what I’ve done, which it has always been bookkeeping them accounting. Mmm. But I decided I wanted to like start a business just to set my own schedule. I’ll just, I have always wanted to do my own best. I actually had been talking to my husband four years prior, but I knew I should do something to just start a business.

Maria Kelley:                      08:39                     And he’d say, what do you want to do? I don’t know. I had no idea. He’s a, okay. Well, and since I’ve always done bookkeeping, accounting, that was kind of actually what I was going for. This maybe I should start like a bookkeeping, accounting virtual assistant. And I think you had a couple and just work from home. And the idea of the errand and concierge came along and I started kind of doing some networking and meeting some people. And then because of that is where I met these two investors that are here and others have bought some properties and we started with one Airbnb and I was just helping them do the flips and I clean them up and it was once, twice a week, three times a week. And then they’re like, Oh, we have another property. You know the people in the back moved out. We’re making that one Airbnb. Now, you have 2. Oh, okay, cool. And then they’re like, Oh, we bought a little house down the street and, would you like to do it? Oh awesome. Maria, guess what? We bought a mansion. That one has five units. How about you do that one? Can you handle that? I’m like yeah, sure. I’m up to 10 units. Mindblowing because I just, I help them and they’re the ones bringing in that aspect. I’m not out there looking for other clients. He’s the one that keeps growing, which is amazing. He’s bringing me with,

Julian Sage:                         10:09                     I just think that that is so cool, Maria. And that, that’s really why I wanted to be able to get you on the show and talk about this is because it’s, it’s so, it’s so interesting being able to hear someone, you know, you transition to this new era. You didn’t have, you got laid off you, you’re like, you know, I need to do something. I want to start something on my own. And you started an Aaron and concierge kind of like service helping people. And from that you learned about you know, having to start a business and how challenging that is. So you started going out, you started networking, you started connecting and through your networking you found these these people that were just looking to have their houses cleaned because that was one of the services you provide. And from there they just started passing you on clients and clients. And now not only are you running, you know, a concierge and cleaning service, but you’re also now a property manager.

Maria Kelley:                      10:57                     Yes, yes. Yeah. My pure fate. And it’s funny because I enjoy it, I enjoy it. I’m just growing up, I always wanted to be in hospitality. So I guess in a way

Julian Sage:                         11:11                     What would you say was the most challenging part of starting this business?

Maria Kelley:                      11:17                     The networking and just getting out of my comfort zone, doing things that you know, having to get up in front of people and you know, express what you have in your head and actually bring them out into words. Because I actually did everything. I did everything for my business. I, when I, when I got laid off I was home for a couple months before I actually, it was in July and then we decided, okay, well I’m going to start my business in January, 2018 so I got got laid off July, July, 2017 so I had a few months and those months I did the logo. I came up with the name, I registered the company I did, I did a website. I mean I’m using a platform, but I have no, I’m not, I’m computer savvy, but not that computer savvy. No, but I just don’t know how to do it. Right,

Julian Sage:                         12:19                     Right. It’s a lot of work to start a business and there’s a bunch of different things that you just have to learn along the way.

Maria Kelley:                      12:26                     Absolutely. So that was one, the networking and just I guess coming out of my comfort zone. And I think the other just biggest one at the beginning is, you know, trying to tell people, look, I could help you and actually getting them to trust you and like you because you really need that in order for you to be able to start getting your customers. So, so I think that was to me one of the, the biggest challenge just to get people to hear you

Julian Sage:                         12:56                     And networking. What type of networking did you do? So people that maybe are starting in this business, maybe they’re, they’re offering their own cleaning services and they’re saying, Hey, I’m just going to start off cleaning other people’s properties, but I want to get connected with maybe people that do have multiple properties and that are scaling this business. What type of networking did you do in order to find your real estate investor clients?

Maria Kelley:                      13:20                     Well, networking I actually joined a, a group here in Augusta, Georgia that is ran by Amy Peacher. Patrick is called inspire solutions. And I also joined BNI. So BNI is business network international. It’s also like, it’s a worldwide networking group. So I started meeting people because of the networking group and started meeting all, all the small business owners out here or people with small business. Actually here in Augusta, Georgia, there’s so many people, then there’s like 50%, and it’s a huge number of small business here. So people like to support that and it’s a big community. Dad I think was was what helped me especially with, with Amy. I mean because over there it’s like she wasn’t only networking, she taught me she’s a business consultant, right? So she taught me how to go out there and get those clients. What are your ideal words?

Maria Kelley:                      14:25                     What is your ideal client look like? You know, you’re, you’re golden juice, a client that you’re just doing it to do it because you have, you know, so putting me in a different mindset you know, picking positive words, how to speak to people how to present yourself. So many little ads, so many little things that have you kind of put them together, you know, they, they help. I think that’s also been, you know, a lot of, part of the help that I’ve gotten with the networking and then just meeting the people around and you know, getting to learn about everybody. Everybody, we all at the end of, they haven’t made the same challenges. It’s because everybody has a small business like yeah, we do a different service. The same challenges.

Julian Sage:                         15:16                     I just want to point out to the listeners, to the host nation that this is such a, a networking driven business to be able to go out and meet clients, meet investors, meet you know, property owners and then be able to offer these services yet. Yeah, you do have to, you have to be able to sell and pitch your services. But this is, this is all about people and it’s all about finding those right connections. The B, because you weren’t really planning on getting into property management. It just kind of that golden goose kind of fell in your lap and then he kind of took it and ran with it. If you could talk about the, the how, your, your kind of a little bit, because I know that we were talking a little bit about how you’ve structured your deal with your investors because you feel that you were, you were in a position where it’s like you didn’t know anything about, you know, short term renting and property management, but your investors are kind of grooming you into that position. Can you kind of talk about that when you’re, when you don’t have that experience but you and this deal that you’ve made with them to be able to help you learn and, and also make money.

Maria Kelley:                      16:23                     Yeah. ecause I got into this, I’ve been trying to learn and that’s, I came across you and listening to a lot of podcasts and just other people, you know, there’s a lot, thankfully a lot of information also about the Airbnb world and all those platforms. When I started with the investors, they’re like, Oh, it started as cleaning, so I will making the full cleaning amounts. I was like, you know what, this is not bad cause I’m coming in. I do this for an hour, an hour and a half, I’m making 40 bucks. Awesome. That’s awesome. That’s not bad. Right? So, but again, my investors are the ones grooming me because at the beginning I wasn’t also doing the answering and the cohosting in Airbnb on the, on the app, all I did was text them, Hey done. And they will handle all that. I didn’t deal with the drought.

Maria Kelley:                      17:20                     If somebody had a complaint come in Tuesday, you have this come in from this time. And I said, okay. That was all so, so when they offered me, Hey Maria, and we need you to start also close sooner because they couldn’t handle it anymore, you know, too much for one person to do because they’re doing other stuff. They offered me a flat fee so I may go $7 for flat per booking clause. Now I have a team because since I have 10, I really can handle the 10 laws, be able to be in my Aaron and concierge service, which I also hope another business with other stoves. And that’s also full time. I have a team for that. So it’s, I have a lot of moving plate. So because of that, I started making the team. So now I make also a flat fee.

Maria Kelley:                      18:17                     I make an amount when the cleaning crew goes plus of the cohosting. But like I was explaining to you earlier, I don’t, I’m not right now going also like I hear a lot of people when they do, they have an a percentage, they do a lot more work. I, they, they called the PR people, they said the cleaners. I don’t do that because I must say that the investor, he’s fully involved and he does help me. This weekend when I was away, she took over so I could be away. So he does help me. It’s not like, Oh no, Maria, you’re by yourself. And that’s, this is all we’re paying. So I mean, right now for what I’m learning and what I’m doing, I think, I think it’s pretty fair. Right.

Julian Sage:                         19:00                     And you’re, you were saying for, because right now you’re managing 10 properties. You, we, you, you kind of estimated that with the cleaning fee and the management fee that you are doing, you’re, you’re making anywhere around 10 to 15%, which still isn’t, isn’t bad for, you know for just people throwing properties at you and you already have that cleaning team set up. It’s like, okay, give me more. So, but but if you were to go into full time, you know, full time management, then you could be looking more at anywhere from 10 to 25% depending on the level of service. But I think that it’s, it’s pretty cool that you, you know, you got in and they, you know, they, they, they found you as a cleaner, but then they, they said, okay, well we want you to start becoming more, and now they’re, they’re starting to pass you not only to help your cleaning business, but it’s also helping you open up avenues towards, towards property management as well. The, and I just want to point out, you know, for the listeners, I mean for 10 properties at around 10 to 15%, you know, you’re, you’re making around how much would you say that you’re making a month off of these, these 10 properties?

Maria Kelley:                      20:06                     Well, base about $400 to 500 a month

Julian Sage:                         20:10                     Per property?

Maria Kelley:                      20:12                     Per property. Yeah. That’s, I mean, if, when they’re nice, when they’re booked the whole month and we’re having a good month and you know, because that also, if it’s a slow month that varies. But yeah, if the property has a good booking then that could be, that’s very possible.

Julian Sage:                         20:30                     Yeah. And that, that’s, that’s really not bad. That’s, that’s, that’s a, that’s a full time income for a lot of people. And this is just off of the 10 properties that you are managing. Plus you also have the cleaning business for the other, you know, the other side. So that, that, that is really awesome. I w what has been, what has been the most challenging part of scaling this business? I know that you do have those investors, but have you started looking to acquire more properties or or, or more clients?

Maria Kelley:                      21:01                     I’m actually just in the works of that. I think right now my biggest challenge is I want to put everything in, in manuals tonight. Not only I have manuals at the Airbnbs for the guests, but now I want to do manuals for the owners and I want to do manuals for the cleaning company I have for the cleaning crew. But I want I want to go more into that. I want to be more like, okay guys, this is exactly how we’re gonna do it. So I think that’s right now my biggest challenge and just was funny just because one property doesn’t have laundry has been the laundry cause I do it at home, so it’s been killing me, but we finally have it there. So other than that, no. I mean, I think at the end of the day, what a lot of business owners, one of their biggest challenges in business just for anybody is finding the help that is reliable, professional. And is doing it exactly how, how you would like for it to be done. Thankfully I’ve been lucky for the most part with that. So you know, I think that’s been one of my biggest roadblocks and challenges. For sure.

Julian Sage:                         22:15                     Now talk a little bit about the this, this masters golf tournament. I know that, I guess that’s very popular for the masters, the, you know, that’s the big, big golf tournament of the year it’s held there. W w what is, what is business like for you during, during this? Is it a week long or,

Maria Kelley:                      22:35                     Yeah, it’s usually a week long and I mean, business just gets really, really crazy because for the most part that whole week we give books. So we, we try to make it a little bit nicer for the, these customers because usually they’re paying a lot more than what the normal rate is. You know, that week everything goes up in hotels wise, at least then that kind of stuff because masters’ brings a lot of people and you know, it’s a big, big event that, you know, costly. So for me it just, it books me, it keeps me really busy. I put more hours in because I have to go in and we put a champagne and we put water and we make it look extra nice because we want the people to feel like, Hey, at least we’re getting, you know this. So we, we last year I came up with a basket, like I said with champagne water treats and I personalize personally.

Maria Kelley:                      23:38                     Roll notes. Thank you for staying. I thank you for choosing us. And you know, I left her with, in each person’s. So that was it because it was a, sometimes, you know, our one place was booked for one night, so each day we had to go in and do a split, you know, so it was more of that of that because the price really doesn’t go well for me cause I won’t say I get the flat fee and if the cleaning doesn’t really go up in Airbnb because of the week, no, the price of the rent for the cleaning fee stays the same. So to me in that sense, it doesn’t really, it just keeps me busy and my investors do also help me and take care of me and pay me for the additional hours that I put in. So in that sense, I do get like a little extra, well, like for example, the other week that we had the hurricane coming around, since we are so close to the coast, we have the whole week, I had like 25 flips in one week. That’s a lot of lifts to do in one, you know, cleaning flips. So it kind of felt like a masters week, you know, I’m not as intense as usually what masters week will be. So yeah.

Julian Sage:                         24:53                     I’m curious about the relationship between the, the investors because they’re, they’re, you know, they’re a little bit more involved in the business and they found you through cleaning and the, they’re trying to have you incorporated it into their, their business model. What would you say, you know, being, being on the other end of you know, the, the cleaning and also you know, the grooming aspects. What is the best type of relationship would you say? Like if you could, if you could redo this relationship and kind of structure it the way that, that you would prefer. What, what do you think would be the best way to have like investors that are looking for cleaners that to teach them how to become property managers? What would be the best way to be able to have that type of relationship?

Maria Kelley:                      25:38                     That’s a really a question cause I think again, my, my situation is so unique. My, my relationship with these guys have not been what I think my future relationship when I pursue new clients will be just because we’ve also become friends. And so I’ve seen them, like I mentioned earlier, like a mentor. So I the way I picture my future relationships or how I will handle the future ones will be more like obviously more professional term without less mistakes and coming out more organized. Because again, at the beginning there was no manuals, there was nothing that we can say, make it, make the place look nice and make it smell pretty. That was our thing. Make it look nice and make it smell pretty. So I think definitely it will be something where I will have more organization when I come into the relationship and show them this is how I have found it to be easier to work and to help you grow your business and to help your, you know, your property thrive and is what we should do and just give them those ideas.

Maria Kelley:                      26:46                     I’m also coming up with along the way, but I have, I’ve been able to kind of learn with what these guys would, the investors using them, you know, as my Guinea pig says, called bug, you know, I think that will be my, one of my biggest, my biggest changes in the relationship that I’m ha I’m handled with them, but again, because I’ve seen them more as a mentors and helpers as well because they’re kind of holding my hand through the process. I guess that just makes it so much more different than the, you know, most people that are already structuring this really professional company and when they offer themselves to the company that it’s, it looks different than the way I came in with them.

Julian Sage:                         27:28                     So it sounds like it sounds like almost they were very kind of new into this this business aspect as well because they took you under and they didn’t really have that good organization. So you felt like you were learning and they, they were also kind of learning like what to do?

Maria Kelley:                      27:43                     Yeah. Well yeah, they were new to the Augusta market. They have I believe they have like six Airbnbs in Colorado and they have another few in Utah and they have just properties there as well that they do long term rentals as they have here because they just don’t have the Airbnb nails will have a few longterm rentals that they have. So, so they are, because I thought, for example, the guy in Colorado that does their flips and does what I’m doing here, I believe he’s like a relative. So he’s like a friend and they also hold his hand and they said, you know, they started together. So yeah, we’re all kind of learning together. Sometimes I’ll be like, Oh my God, we need to do this. Oh, that’s an amazing idea. Yes as well. Please add this. So we, Oh like, Oh, I heard this on Airbnb podcast because of you guys. They know now that I’m all in and we need to use noise where, or we need to do this and then wow, we didn’t even know that exists. So they’re going to have to be the next episode after this one.

Julian Sage:                         28:55                     So if you were to redo this, so let’s say you are to start, you were in the position that they are and you are taking on maybe cleaners and grooming them to be, to manage your properties. What, what would be your process for that? Because obviously, you know when people are learning the, their commission is going to be a little bit smaller because you know there’s, there’s going to be maybe mistakes or there’s going to be, you know, maybe they have a primary business model which is cleaning. What would you be doing with your cleaners if you were to groom them up?

Maria Kelley:                      29:26                     So what I’ve been learning is it’s the training. They really just take time and show people exactly how things want to be. You want, you would like for them to be like what I say, make it, make it the place you want to come to make a, you know, that experience that you would like to be when you go into a hotel. Because you know, a lot of people have a bad experience. They’re like Oh hotels. And they think it’s always dirty. Like no, some places are really, really nice. Well we’re not the highest, but we try to keep the places as nice as we can, especially cause we also have older homes, so we have older homes, but they’re very modern inside the, the, the decoration and everything. So one of the things that we take most pride in is keeping it as clean as possible.

Maria Kelley:                      30:12                     So again, it’s the manuals as the training. One of an idea that I’m going to start implementing now I want to sign on. It’s kind of like maybe more pictures or videos of exactly how things should be. So then it’s better for the eye of the person that is helping when they’re learning, you know, when they’re learning how to do it. Like, okay, well here you’re watching the video of how the bathroom trill was low, you know, kind of situation if you deal with this issue and then here’s the solution for this.

Maria Kelley:                      30:44                     That’s what I think it should be something somebody starting a business should implement. Because another thing is the way I see it is what if tomorrow I don’t wake up, you know, I need my cleaners to continue or at least for a little bit or this to be something my kids to take. My husband should continue, you know, so it’s just like you on the business to keep running or you want to sell it in. The few trends. Now you have it already to be, you know, it’s valuable. It’s just the valuable, the value of keeping that log of your information. So in a process and everybody is always on the same page because then it won’t cleaner comes in, does this, and then the next cleaner comes in, does this, and then nobody paid attention to this in the middle. Then you guys, I guess our stuff,

Julian Sage:                         31:36                     Yeah, you gotta you gotta have the systems in place and that’s what you’re, you’re learning and what you feel that would be better if you were in that position was creating those systems, creating those processes, creating videos you know, journals, tutorials so that you can pass that on to people. So that if you were to, if something were to happen to you or you need to take a vacation, even that you can give that to somebody else and they can repeat that

Maria Kelley:                      31:56                     Or they have a question when I’m not available, they could go in and pick it up right away or anything like that, you know? So, so that helps them as well.

Julian Sage:                         32:05                     What, what type of person, you know, Maria, what would it take if like, let’s say you, you have a cleaner, what, what, what would qualify them as being a person that would be able to maybe start the grooming process for being able to help them become property managers themselves?

Maria Kelley:                      32:22                     That’s a great question. I think slowly like just showing them around the property and teaching them about the property, teaching them, you know, small, like maybe like the guys there with me slowly. Okay. Can you help us also do this now? And then, Oh, can you answer the Airbnb? I think maybe feeding the steps from becoming a cleaner to becoming a property manager. They’re not married different because it’s really just contacting and scheduling more and talking more with other contractors to help you fix the property. But if you able to have a good team and you’re able to have a good resources of the people around you that, you know, it’s not as hard. So I just think slowly doing everything based as like, Hey, I’m doing the cleaning, I’m doing the cleaning and I have to call the yard guy for example, now I’m doing the cleaning, now I get to pay attention to the filter and that you know, all the light balls are always good and water the plants, I don’t know the property managers could do that. It is involved in doing the property management. Yeah, I think that will be like the best way to kind of transform you to becoming from a cleaner to becoming a a property manager. But again, I have some, I have background on that too. So to me this was kind of like second nature. Oh, the grad was in color. Do you want me to call him?

Maria Kelley:                      33:58                     Give me the number, I’ll call him. I’ll take care of it. It’s just, to me it’s second nature to the work that I’ve done that has also involved property.

Julian Sage:                         34:07                     So from what it sounds like, it sounds like it’s for the type of person that would be best for this type of position. It’s, it’s someone that is eager and looking to take on more responsibility.

Maria Kelley:                      34:19                     Absolutely. I will definitely say because the person is eager and willing to take the responsibility and made sure, you know, don’t correct me. I think that’s pretty much the most important thing in a person

Julian Sage:                         34:33                     Now for cleaning companies cause you’re also doing a cleaning and the Aaron concierge service you know, big, big question always on the show is, you know, finding reliable cleaners, finding and building that team. What is your process with finding people that can you know, join your team.

Maria Kelley:                      34:51                     So that’s also been something I’m learning along the way. I picked up people from different places. I had one through a friend that I met, a networking that was her friend. So that was somebody who knew somebody in, that’s how I have her. Right. I had one that I actually posted. I got a post and I made it and I’ll Facebook jobs and I posted it there and she came through there and we met and she won the one like, Oh my God, Facebook. Thank you. You know I had, I had one that’s currently helping me and I met her at the pool. So I think the only real process that I have created has been the Facebook call. And I was just like, okay, where do I post? And I thought Facebook and thought there was another one of those, a big like hiring website. Indeed, yes. I believe, yes it was in the, and I remember because one of my other services is a medical career. So I remember a few months ago I was looking for drivers. So I went to indeed and it had great results. Let me go to indeed. So that was my strategy.

Julian Sage:                         36:08                     You’re, you’re doing something right. I mean right now you’re doing like a little shotgun approach, you know, for, for the marketing aspect, but for the types of people that you qualify, cause I’m sure that maybe you got a few interested applicants. What, what, how do you sip through that to be able to find like quality people that are going to be reliable and be able to you know, be able to be consistent.

Maria Kelley:                      36:32                     I just kind of go in and try to learn about the person because I’m not a cleaner, but I’m doing this cleaning job. So I understand that you don’t have to be exactly just a cleaner if you just also be the way you are. Like one of the ladies, she’s like, Oh, I’m OCD. And she’s like, great, I wish she does it. She’s never cleaned before. She’s worked in the office before, but she isn’t, like you said, she’s eager and she wants to help and she likes the flexibility with working with me. So she does an amazing job. Right. so I think that’s, you know, the biggest, the biggest part of it with them. I feel them out really. I just kinda like see where they’re going. I test them the first few times I, I’m all behind and I kind of look, I see what the client or our guests are also revealing.

Maria Kelley:                      37:26                     Well, they’re stating the guys also have somebody who kind of goes around and loads so that these sorts of, we have eyes on it after. I see, okay. They’re doing good. I know they weren’t able to handle it. I see when like challenges come along and how they’re handling, that kind of brings me into the fathers. Okay. They can handle, I could give them more than just one or the, you know, they’re able to, to, to work more or they really like this or this is not for them. Maybe I need to put them on my other side of my company with my seniors or with the pet city, you know, because we do so many other little services. So that’s kind of how I go by with the people I interview though. I explained all the craziness, all the stuff that we do and I, and I asked them, what do you like to do most or what makes you most comfortable?

Maria Kelley:                      38:15                     And they’ll tell me, Oh this is great, this is what I like more. Or Oh no, I think I could do that. And I’ll show them. And because for the most part, I must say, dear BNB community, people take care of the place. So I think that’s what helped me to, that’s not just a cleaning company cause I don’t know cleaning Joe’s residential cleaning or no, I look cleanly. We help people. So if you’re sick and you need your house clean, absolutely we’ll go in and clean your house, no problem. But I get calls like, Oh, can you call them? And we want somebody to come every three weeks to clean or every week to clean. I really don’t have the staff. I don’t, it’s harder cleaning. It’s something totally different. So I really don’t get into that, you know? So because of how Airbnb is in the community and for the most part of the place, it’s not like we’re coming into making a deep cleaning all the time. It’s mostly a likely changing, wiping area to make it look pretty and smell pretty. So it’s not that hard. You don’t have to be, you know, years just eager to help. Honestly, most of my ladies don’t have cleaning experience. We have just been a team that I’ve taught them how to do this. They’re the way they are, has also helped with, with me. So I guess I’ve gotten even lucky with, with that sense of my business is just finding people that are willing to work and grow with me.

Julian Sage:                         39:49                     Wow. You’re, you’re, you’re, you’re a very lucky person that you get the golden goose. So you get the golden employees, you’re doing something, you’re doing something right and whatever you’re doing, you know, you gotta, you gotta spread that to the listeners today. What would you do differently if you had to start from scratch?

Maria Kelley:                      40:07                     I go back to the manuals and the systems because, let me tell you, with one of my services, I w at one point I lost a really, really big contract because everything was properly taught and properly trained. And like if I also had, you know, that would have been, that’s also another one that just came out of nowhere and that would, it was growing really fast and it was kind of, I was just kind of thrown in it too. No manuals, no nothing. So that to me, I dunno, I find it to be one of the most important to do and that I would’ve done differently from the beginning. And those month before I opened it, maybe I will. But again, since I, from the beginning I would have written down every step and Hey guys, this is exactly what you guys want. Okay, cool. Let’s write it down.

Maria Kelley:                      40:56                     So I think that organization and when now working I, I got, I got so lucky here because networking is such a big thing I didn’t know about now where it can be for like the way I learned the year, you know. But it’s funny because I’m Columbia and in Columbia that’s how things happen. That’s just kind of logic to me. My dad’s own businesses always. And you know, in Columbia, like down the street, she does a great job. So everybody in your family just goes to the lady down the street. So she does a great job.

Maria Kelley:                      41:35                     You have your network of friends and family that tells you where to go and you go. So that, that, and like I said, just putting the better process and procedures in place and getting more out of my comfort zone. That’s one thing that has been hard for me. And even now, and it is hard for me to get off, but I find that it has to be necessary because if you’re not able to do that, then you can continue. You know what I mean? You have to be able to get out of your comfort zone and let people, that just helps you grow every time you out of your comfort zone and you overcome that uncomfortable situation. Now you’re a step ahead of yourself. So that has been one of the things that I will definitely be on a lot more before I started doing [inaudible].

Julian Sage:                         42:23                     Great. And if you could just give one piece, one piece of advice to someone who is looking to, maybe they are a cleaner and they’re looking to get into the more property management, what would, what would you give to that person?

Maria Kelley:                      42:39                     I will say just, you know, be, to me, I just, I’ve been real, I’ve been really real, like I take care of the Airbnbs. Like they were my own, like I’m the owner and, and accept your mistakes. Okay, I made a mistake. How can I fix it? That’s not, you know, no reason to get like mad about like flipping, don’t be negative about them. Mistakes. How about just deliver them positive and what are the mistakes can I do now to fix this? And then tomorrow that mistake doesn’t happen again instead of going like, Oh my God, I can’t believe they called me out on that. And so that’s definitely something that has helped me.

Julian Sage:                         43:21                     I really love that you shared that Marina because you know, it’s one of those questions where it’s like, is she going to say something different than all the other stuff that she was saying before about the networking, about you know, all of that. But I think that it’s so cool that you, that you shared that because what you basically said to recap was your, your for to give to somebody else. You have to look at that property like it’s your own and you have to become invested into it. You know, you’re, you’re looking at this not just like, Oh I messed up. Well I’m just a cleaner. So whatever. I, you know, you’re looking at this like you’re looking at this like, I’m, this is, this is something that I care about. This is something that, you know, this is their business and you know, this is my business. I am not

Maria Kelley:                      44:04                     Together. We can come up with something, you know, help each other out. Absolutely.

Julian Sage:                         44:09                     That’s great. And what, what is a question that maybe you have a, for another professional host, someone that is maybe at a similar position than you or maybe that next level, what would you ask them?

Maria Kelley:                      44:21                     Oh I guess what’s their biggest challenge because I see a lot of people, they do like a properties or they have, you know, I’m only doing 10 but again, I know my situation’s different, but like, wow, what’s, well, it’s overall your biggest challenges at time to me time is like we need more hours than 24 hours. Yeah. Just say, how do you handle that part of running such a big business? I mean there’s actually, I’ve heard of people even like a thousand company, a thousand Airbnbs, a lot around the world. Oh my gosh. Honestly, they’re not doing it all by themselves. They’re not answering all the, you know, but still, that’s, that’s just how do you handle your time? Are you, I mean, I know about time, scheduling, calendars, scheduling, all that, but like I’m doing 10, you’re doing a hundred or thousand. That’s just crazy. That would be my biggest question is how do you manage?

Julian Sage:                         45:32                     Awesome. Great. Well thank you so much Maria, for taking the time to come on here and share your experience. I think it’s so cool. Your yours is a very unique situation. You’re going to be the first on the show that has kind of shared this experience from, you know, kind of being cleaner to property manager and, and to even more so. Thank you so much for taking the time and sharing this. And until next time, host nation,

Julian Sage:                         45:55                     Keep on hosting. Hope you hosts benefit from the show. If you found value, please go on over to iTunes, leave us a review and let us know what you enjoy about the show. If you’d like to talk to hosts that have been featured in these episodes as well as the community, go on over to our Facebook group, the host nation.