[00:00:00] Teri Holland: You are in for a treat today. If you have ever struggled to find your niche in business, and we've all heard it before, you have to have a niche, but what do you do if you don't know what that is? Well, Jodi Bourne is going to share with us how she found her niche in business by simply following the breadcrumbs and doing what she absolutely loves to do.
[00:00:24] She's also going to share with us. Tips for how you can find your niche. And she gives an extra little tip for how you can save some money. The next time you rent a vacation rental property.
[00:00:39] So, let me introduce you to Jodi Bourne. Jodi Bourne is a business consultant and website designer specializing in vacation rentals. Glamping and niche accommodations with a rich background in business management, customer service. Brand messaging and marketing and her passion for tourism and community.
[00:01:00] Jodi is driven to help hosts understand the vacation rental industry. Great memorable guest first experiences. And build longterm business strategies so they can concentrate on what they love about hosting. Jodi's mission is to help hosts who are passionate about providing excellent accommodations, build a more professional guest first vacation rental industry.
[00:01:22] So everyone can experience the joy of traveling like a local.
[00:01:28]
[00:01:45] Teri Holland: Thank you so much for coming on today and for spending some time with me.
[00:01:49] Jodi Bourne: You're welcome, Teri. I'm excited. I love talking to you regardless of the topic.
[00:01:55] Teri Holland: Me too. I always, I always enjoy our conversations. So let's let's dive into your business because I really wanna talk about how you got into your niche and how you found this business.
[00:02:07] But first of all, maybe you can give the audience a little bit of background on who you are and, and what it is you do.
[00:02:13] Jodi Bourne: Okay. I am, I'm Jody Bourne and I am a, it's hard to even describe to people what I do because it's such a foreign thing in a lot of people's minds. But I help vacation rental owners who want to build a more professional brand.
[00:02:31] So in other words, If they're not just an Airbnb, they're a vacation rental business, and that doesn't necessarily mean they're a property management company. It could just be that they have three or four or 1, 2, 3 or four of their own properties and they want 'em to be more professional. They want them to really highlight and.
[00:02:50] And be a great experience for their guests and make it into a business. So I usually help with website design consulting help them go through the entire process. Sometimes I've even helped people choose the, the rental before they ev have bought or built. Wow. You know, so I help in all stages and in all locations I've worked with in almost every continent.
[00:03:15] Teri Holland: Wow. That's incredible.
[00:03:17] Jodi Bourne: Yes. Not Antarctica yet, so, but I don't
[00:03:21] Teri Holland: yet yet, Jody.
[00:03:24] Jodi Bourne: Yeah, actually not in Africa or Antarctica, but every, everywhere else.
[00:03:29] Teri Holland: Cool. That's amazing.
[00:03:31] Jodi Bourne: Yeah.
[00:03:32] Teri Holland: And I am just so fascinated by how you got into this niche. How did you, because you got into this before this was
[00:03:39] even a thing.
[00:03:41] Jodi Bourne: Yeah.
[00:03:42] Yes I did. And it's really So I am a Texan. You can tell from my accent I'm, I'm a southern girl and I'm a fifth generation Texan, and I love, also love history and culture. The culture of, of the state of Texas, Texas is a really big place. There's lots of influences of all different cultures here. You know, there's the Hispanic culture, German culture, Czechoslovakian culture, French native American, I mean, just this big melting pot really of, of different cultures.
[00:04:14] And I. Because of my love of culture and history, I traveled a lot. My kids growing up were I was a single mom for 15 years and had three children, and we were of course broke because I was a single mom for 15 years. And so we did we staycation, we did tent camping, I mean, our vacation was like, let's go down to the town down, you know?
[00:04:39] 40 miles away and spend a day exploring and just, you know, we would go to caves or we would go to swimming holes, or we would go to festivals or fairs or, you know, all these just different things. Sometimes we would just ride around and look at historical markers and read and learn, and you know, I mean, that, that they, my poor kids, they're, they're like all their friends are going to the beach or going wherever, and we're going to the fair.
[00:05:06] But it was a great, very cultural upbringing for them. And we we called it small Town Fun, and we just learned how to have. Fun in small towns. And so that kind of was my, how my love of travel began, you know? Mm-hmm. And then as I got older, I didn't go to college until I was an adult.
[00:05:26] My kids were, gosh, my youngest was two and my oldest was 13 when I went to college. And I was very clear on what I wanted to do. I wanted to do nonprofit, public relations okay. I had had a lot of help because I was a poor single mom, and a couple of my children had some health issues, so I was very clear that I wanted to work for a services, like a, a woman services type industry or type nonprofit.
[00:05:56] So I was very clear on that. Went to college, graduated from college. My first job outta college was at a women's domestic violence center Wow. In Austin, Texas. So it was just like the perfect. Set up and I loved it so much, but it really eats at your soul to be in an industry. And as I had been a survivor of domestic violence and domestic control, my first husband was very abusive in lots of ways.
[00:06:26] And so, It just was heavy, you know? It was really heavy. Yeah. And then also my oldest daughter at the time was about 14, was having a lot of mental health issues. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and it just seemed like I needed to be home. Luckily I lived with my parents and they, I was able to quit that job and so I quit that job and had made connections on Instagram and Twitter with different, I mean, not even Instagram, it wasn't around yet, but on Twitter with People in my area who enjoyed music, the same kind of music I enjoy.
[00:07:05] And so I immediately just put a thing out there that I was working in. I was freelancing and social media and you know, if anybody needed anything and I started getting just. Little jobs here and there, like help doing this, you know, help setting up somebody's Facebook page, helping a musician, you know, learn how to do Twitter.
[00:07:26] And I was really having fun with that. I mean, some jobs were like 25 bucks, you know, here's 25 bucks. Yeah. Can you show me how to set up Facebook? But again, I was lucky. I was blessed. I lived with my parents, I was getting child support. Um mm-hmm. So, I was able to really, you know, practice. Networking. So this is the coolest thing, is one of the things that I did is I, I live in a really small tourist town in the Texas Hill country near Austin.
[00:07:54] So I started having these Instagram and Facebook lesson workshops where I would charge people $50 to come in for the day and they would take my little class, you know, I'd have slides. I mean, this was before. Before Zoom. Of course. Yeah, this was so we're talking, this is 2010. Oh wow. Yeah. 2010 and 11.
[00:08:17] And so they would come in, well this one lady that I met, her name was Sherry, and she owned four little cabins out near a lake outside of Wimberley. And she came in to learn how to do Facebook and we got to talking and she hired me to help her set up her Facebook ads. She had vacation rentals. Nice.
[00:08:37] These little cottages. Well, at the same time as that happened, Our little town, Wimberley, Texas had a big, huge flood right after that in about 2013, 14, I think it was 15 big flood and killed some people and we're a huge vacation town, huge tourist town. One of the top, I mean, I think we were listed as the top small town in the state of Texas to visit a couple years ago.
[00:09:03] Wow. And so when that happened, it devastated our tourism industry here in town. Yeah. And of course, overnight, I mean we were national news. David Muir and Lester Holt were in our town. I. Black Hawk helicopters looking for survivors. Buildings washed away, people died. It was horrible. Terrible, horrible. Yeah, it was a big flash flood on the river and it was really, I mean, you know, you've seen those pictures of cars and houses floating down.
[00:09:29] That was our town. Oh wow. Yeah, it was crazy. And so I started a blog right after that because I mean the, we were suffering the town. People were suffering 'cause the tourism wasn't coming. So then here I had like, It was just like tourism was everywhere around me. You know how I could participate in helping people with tourism and promoting tourism, and I had always loved tourism.
[00:09:54] Yeah. And I took that small town charm, which was a hashtag I started using on Twitter and Facebook and at that time, Instagram and using that hashtag small town charm. More people started following me and reaching out to me about how to promote their small town charm. And so that was kind of like, it was fun.
[00:10:16] Yeah. Like I didn't even see it as work. It was just fun. Yeah. So then fast forward a couple more years, I am working with an events venue in San Marcos, Texas, which is right outside of, it's a, it's a larger college town. Mm-hmm. And that events venue, I was freelancing with them or contract with them as their marketing director and.
[00:10:40] Part of working with them. I participated or applied for a tourism grant that was called a Heads in Beds grant, so that they gave us $50,000 that I could use on marketing and promotions and advertising of anything I wanted. I mean, it was my money basically to spend 50 grand amazing to spend on advertising and pr, so I was able to use that money.
[00:11:04] Learn. I learned how to do write radio ads. I learned how to do Facebook and social media ads. I learned, I took a web design building course to help build their website and Wow. And then also to promote things, you know. So when I won that, part of it was I had to be on this committee in the area for heads and beds committee, which also was vacation rentals hotels, bringing people into the community that were gonna stay two or three or four nights.
[00:11:34] Um Right. And so I was part of that committee and met more vacation rental hosts, owners. They just started reaching out to me everywhere I went. Wow. I was on Facebook. I was getting messages every day from people, please help me with my vacation rental. Please help me do this. You know, or they were with a property management company and they wanted help, you know, doing it themselves.
[00:11:56] Some people had owned one for years. Like they'd ho owned it for 30 years, but because marketing had changed, they weren't getting the same kind of business that they had in the past. Mm-hmm. So I started helping them set it up on Airbnb, you know, elevate by Giving them advice on what amenities to use, all of that.
[00:12:13] Oh, wow. So anyway, there is my like, how long have we been here now? 45 minutes As I've told you this story, but it's just like, I really believe in things coming together. Yeah. And that's, it. Just all like, seemed to come together all together at once. So, and I love it. I still love it every single day, which, you know, 'cause we talk frequently.
[00:12:32] Yeah. You know,
[00:12:33] Teri Holland: and it, it shows how much you love it, like, When you talk about what you do, you emanate this energy that just shows how much you really love what it is that you do.
[00:12:44] Jodi Bourne: Yes, I do. I love working with people anyway. I mean, I, mm-hmm. I would work with people in the in and I have in other industries and doing other things.
[00:12:53] One thing I really love about it, besides the tourism aspect, is most of the people that I work with are women. And they're either women investors or they're women who it's, it's almost like they're trying to prove that they can do this successfully on their own. Mm-hmm. And it's not like they're, you know, out there to prove to their husbands anything.
[00:13:15] But I always get that sense in the back of their mind. My mind. It's like they wanna show their husbands. I told you that this could be a success and look what I've done, or maybe with one. One lady that I've worked with, it's always her kids. She has her husband died. Her kids told her she was crazy when she, they had two condos and she wanted to promote one and make it a vacation rental.
[00:13:38] Mm-hmm. They told her to sell it and take the money and invest it. And now, I mean, she's got four condos. Nice. Yeah. And she's, you know, she's 65 years old.
[00:13:50] Teri Holland: Amazing.
[00:13:50] Jodi Bourne: So it's those people that I just love helping so much. 'cause they're really out to. To prove it to the world that they can do it. And, and mm-hmm.
[00:13:59] Now I work with investors, younger people, and again, it's the same thing. They're just, it's just a, they're making a business, but they're making a business in hospitality and travel. And so I tell 'em, I get to be a part of their guests great vacation.
[00:14:14] Teri Holland: Awesome. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:14:16] And it sounds to me, and I, I hear this from a lot of business owners, and I always love stories like yours because it sounds to me like.
[00:14:24] You had never planned on going into this, but it just kind of, these breadcrumbs were left for you and you followed them along and it led you to where you are now,
[00:14:34] Jodi Bourne: that's right. Yeah, that is exactly right. Like if somebody had told me, you know, in 2011 that. I could have a every day get up at seven o'clock in the morning and work till four o'clock to five o'clock in the afternoon.
[00:14:50] Successful business. Mm-hmm. Doing this there, I would've been like, there is no possible way because it's not a, it's not a career. Right. But, but it is. But it
[00:15:02] is. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:15:04] Teri Holland: But it's not something we think of as sort of a traditional business or a traditional career path. Right. And so it's. It's, yeah, I could, you know, it's, it's not one of those things that people think of, what do you wanna be when you grow up?
[00:15:16] That's right. Probably not the thing you would think of, but yet here you
[00:15:19] are.
[00:15:20] Jodi Bourne: Right. And it, you know, it's talk, you said niche and that's really what it is. Mm-hmm. It is so important to, to follow those breadcrumbs. Mm-hmm. And. Recognize them Yeah. As to how they're, and allow them to push you into something that's perfect for you.
[00:15:39] And I'm very, very specific with all of my marketing and all of, yeah. The way that I speak to people, the way my website looks, everything. I'm very specific to my to, to what. I portray that. I do.
[00:15:53] Teri Holland: Was there ever, like, along your journey, was there ever any doubt in your mind that this would work? Or did you ever question if this was the right path to follow?
[00:16:02] Jodi Bourne: Oh, I did for sure. In, you know, there's highs and lows with every business. And so in 2014, I In 2014 I got married to my husband Michael. And. Wasn't finding clients, they weren't coming as quickly. And at that point in time, I was still just kind of still taking anything that came along. Mm-hmm.
[00:16:29] You know, I mean, it wasn't at that, I, I didn't have a full-time business doing this until 2018. So before that it was just here and there. I would get a vacation client and would remember, oh, I love this. This is really fun. But you know, I'm in a tourist town. Lots of businesses, you know, like I was hired to do a website for a bar.
[00:16:50] I was, you know, hired to do Facebook ads for an insurance company. Yeah. But every time it would come back to some type of tourism business, it, it was just like my passion was there again. And I would think, you know, this is great, but how do I reach more of these people? But there, so there was definitely times I was like, Ugh, this is.
[00:17:09] Not gonna work 'cause there's only so many people here. And I, at that time wasn't marketing myself internationally. Okay. So I wasn't ever really sure, but I knew that I could, like, I knew I could throw it in there every once in a while. Like I could always find a client every once in a while.
[00:17:26] But it wasn't until one of my clients asked me specifically not to work with her competition. Like she, she, when she hired me, she said, I don't want you. Helping somebody else down the road that's doing the same thing. She had a wedding venue Right. With that also had rentals. Oh, okay. And so she asked me to sign a basically a thing that said I couldn't work with any other vacation rentals within, I think it was 30 miles of her for like a year.
[00:17:55] Hmm. She paid me a lot of money to sign that. I mean, it wasn't like a $200 job. Yeah. I worked with her for two years and so I did, and then that forced me to. Like really go out and look for others. Mm-hmm. She's actually the one that told me about so there's a, a blog, it's called Matt Landau is a, an industry leader, and his blog was called The Vacation Rental Marketing Blog.
[00:18:18] And you could join to be in their board, you know, on their. Backend message board. Oh, cool. The group. So I joined that and that's where I started, you know, finding more clients from all over. So my next client after Wimberley and this area of the Hill country, my next client was in New York State. Oh, wow.
[00:18:36] So, yeah. Lake Plad. Nice. Nice. Yeah. So that's kind of how I started branching
[00:18:43] out.
[00:18:43] Teri Holland: Incredible. And so since 2018, you said this has been. This has been your full time, this is what you focus on and do. Since then, have you ever, like, do you ever get shiny object syndrome like the rest of us, where you think like, oh, maybe I should go into this instead, or maybe I should branch off here?
[00:19:02] Yeah. Mm-hmm.
[00:19:03] Jodi Bourne: I will say this, I still on occasion, will help people with other types of businesses when it's interesting to me. Oh, okay. And that's such a luxury to say that. Mm-hmm. But for example, I have A lady right now that she creates, she's, she's a friend of mine, she was my hairdresser for years.
[00:19:25] She's got carpal tunnel syndrome so bad she can no longer do nails. She was my not hairdresser nails. And so we're good friends. And she started a business doing watercolor painting and cards. So right now I'm helping her set up her Shopify store. Oh, cool. And I'm teaching her how to use Instagram.
[00:19:44] Nice. So, I've done those little things with others before who have heard my name somewhere and reached out to me with another kind of business idea. So I do that. I don't advertise it. It's not something, you know, and it really has to be the, just something that I'm like, oh this, that would be fun. You know?
[00:20:03] That's new. That's different. I really love learning. Mm-hmm. And I really love helping people. And so when it's somebody that can come to me and say, You know, this is my passion. Help me make my passion a reality. Then that's such a turn on, you know, to go, yeah. You know? Yeah, I'd love to do that. So, so I definitely, I would say probably once a year I take on something that's a little different and that helps me, that helps me stay I bet.
[00:20:31] Come back and be focused.
[00:20:33] Teri Holland: I bet. 'cause I could see how that could inspire your creativity in a whole different way, by doing something outside of your. Your regular
[00:20:41] Yes. Realm.
[00:20:43] Jodi Bourne: Yes, it does. And another thing that I've done that's helped me because for a long time I kind of got in a rutt of building. It's just like I was building the same websites for people.
[00:20:55] Mm-hmm. That. They just kinda had the same look and feel. A lot of people in the industry didn't have, that I was working with, didn't have the budget for what I really wanted to do with their websites, you know, so, right. I got in a, this was in 2019 and 20 during Covid I was in a rutt. I was making a lot of money, but I was just turning over these same kind of websites and I make 'em, yeah.
[00:21:18] I call it, I make it your own 'cause I brand it and of course add their photos and right. And things, but, But in late 2020 or early 2021, I kind of restructured my brand myself to appeal to a little bit higher end clientele. Nice. So that I am mostly, I only work with people who have luxury properties or luxury experience.
[00:21:45] Mm-hmm. So glamping properties or Yeah. You know, beach homes. Right now I'm doing a lady that has luxury homes in Myrtle Beach area. Nice. I just finished a website that's yurts in the hill country. So when I'm able to do that and, and my clients trust me with the creativity of it. Then that's so much more fun, you know, for me.
[00:22:10] I bet. Yeah. Yeah. And then I just picked up a new client, a consulting client that has chalets in Montreal. Ooh. Yeah. So it's in some ski resort area in Montreal, Canada. So, you know, when I, when I'm able to do that, it does, it makes my, it makes my brain go, ah, yay. Something new. Mm-hmm. Not that there's anything wrong with, with condos in Myrtle Beach No.
[00:22:33] Or condos along the Florida coast. It's just, I like branching out and doing new things, new, different things.
[00:22:38] Teri Holland: Well, it sounds like, you know, almost like you've sort of niched within your niche now, like you've become mm-hmm. So, so clear about who you work with.
[00:22:47] Mm-hmm. And would you say that's just come from experience then of. Working with different people and figuring out what you like and what
[00:22:54] lights you up. Mm-hmm.
[00:22:56] Jodi Bourne: It does it you know, like with any business when you're working with businesses. So I still, it's, it's kind of hard because I love working with people who.
[00:23:07] I know that I'm helping them make a living. Mm-hmm. Like, and, and so for example, my friend with the cards, I know that I'm gonna help her make money, that she's gonna pay her electric bill with, or she's gonna be paying her mortgage with. However, those people don't have a budget to really. Go big. Yeah. So I like having a mix of clients.
[00:23:32] I like having, you know, I worked with a lady in the Florida Keys with six luxury vacation rentals. Wow. And it wasn't like money's no object, but literally money's was, I mean, she didn't ask the question, how much is this gonna cost? Nice. Her question is, how are you gonna make my business better? And so when I'm able to specialize, I can definitely work with more people who I'm, you know, and then I can still feel good about picking and choosing people who I work with who don't, may not have the money.
[00:24:02] Mm-hmm. But I still can go in and help 'em and know that I'm helping them really make their, you know, make their rent check, that kinda thing. Yeah. And so, I don't know. I really, it's kind of weird. I, I've often thought about doing like a scholarship. Oh, cool. You know, where I, you know, take an application and just do something for somebody for free or for very low cost.
[00:24:23] 'cause Nice. Yeah, I like it.
[00:24:25] Teri Holland: That's what, that's what I like to call, like the, like the heart work, like the mm-hmm. We have the work that feeds us and sustains us and puts the food on our tables, but then there's also those jobs that just make you feel good. And that's a different kind of
[00:24:36] payment.
[00:24:38] Jodi Bourne: Exactly. That's exactly, it is heart work and but. Now that I have employees, you know, I have two people that work for me almost full-time. And then my daughter Katie, who's in college, she works for me when she thinks it's convenient, but I do pay her on a regular basis. But but so when you have people that work for you, you have to be cognizant about the work that you're bringing in.
[00:25:01] Mm-hmm. It has to sustain you and your business and, and and you know, all of that. So it has to be. Has to pay the bills, I guess is what I'm saying. But it still absolutely is. You know, I still, like, I just turned down a client the other day. It was a couple of of male investors. Mm-hmm. And I could tell that even though they were kind of, the money is no object people, they were all also Very, you know, like they wanted a due date.
[00:25:28] What's your, oh, okay. This is our deadline. Yeah. I'm a creative, so deadlines don't work well for me. Mm-hmm. So I have to work with people who are okay with me saying, you know, I can't give you a for sure deadline because I may get a creative spurt one day and decide, you know, we've talked about this before.
[00:25:44] Yeah. About, I'm just like, oh, but this would be great, but it's gonna take me three extra days. Mm-hmm. So I like having. You know, it's art. Building a website. Yeah. For me is art. And art can't be rushed. I guess that sounds kind of corny.
[00:25:58] Teri Holland: No, it's true though. It's true.
[00:26:01] Jodi Bourne: Yeah, it is true.
[00:26:02] Teri Holland: Yeah. And I think, you know, one of the things that, that I love about how you do your business is that you are so clear on that with your clients, that you don't work with hard deadlines because you know how you work creatively and you know how you get your best output.
[00:26:17] Mm-hmm. And that you need the flexibility and time
[00:26:20] to be able to do it.
[00:26:20] Jodi Bourne: Yeah. Yep, that's, that's exactly right. And also one of the reasons I went in, I mean, the reason I went into business for myself is because I really value my free time and my kids. Yeah. And my husband and my dogs and my life. And so I don't give hard deadlines for that reason either.
[00:26:38] Mm-hmm. Now, obviously if somebody has a project that I've told 'em on Monday, we'll be ready on Friday. That's different. That's a hard deadline. But, you know, if. If I need to take a weekend off to go visit my daughter in California, 'cause she's having a bad, you know, time with her boyfriend, then I don't want a job or a deadline to stop me from doing that.
[00:26:58] Yeah. So that's another thing, and that is, I realize that that is a luxury to have. Mm-hmm. I mean, that is a very blessed luxury that I've to have, but I've created that luxury for myself, so
[00:27:11] Teri Holland: Good.
[00:27:13] And I think that's, you know, that's why a lot of us get into entrepreneurship is because we want that time freedom and we want the money freedom.
[00:27:18] And then so many of us get trapped into creating a job for ourselves. Mm-hmm. Where we don't get any of that and we're working more hours than we would in a regular job anyway. So it's, you know, it's really great to hear how you've structured your business to work for you.
[00:27:35] Jodi Bourne: Yes. And then the, I mean, you know, like this past weekend I didn't work, but there's weekends that I'm up at 7:00 AM on Saturday, just like it was Monday and I work Yeah.
[00:27:44] You know, most of the weekend of course you could be a little bit lazier, but it's, it's, you have to understand you, you know, you have to know your boundaries and mm-hmm. You know, it's totally fine for me to work till 10:00 PM on a Tuesday night if I know that. Tomorrow, Wednesday, I'm not gonna work at all, and I'm gonna go hang out with my mom.
[00:28:04] Yeah. You know, for her birthday or whatever. Yeah. So, it's, it's definitely a worth doing that. Mm-hmm. When you can, but it takes a while. Yeah. And I, and I would say that it takes knowing, knowing your target market and knowing your skills and developing your skills as much as possible.
[00:28:22] Teri Holland: Yeah. And I would say also it sounds like knowing yourself too, knowing what works
[00:28:27] Jodi Bourne: the best for you.
[00:28:28] Yes. Yeah. Yes. That's one of the, you know, that's one of the biggest issues that I had is which you, again, you know, this, I I'm not, I've never been business-like I've never been corporate. And even when I was working in, in more of a corporate environment, I worked for an accountant for a while. I worked in retail, upper retail management for department stores before when I was working in the Public relations for that nonprofit organization.
[00:28:56] I had to feel very corporate and put together and, you know, not business suits necessarily, but not business casual business, right? And that never suited me. It just never suited me. So, you know, here I am in a Janice Joplin t-shirt.
[00:29:12] Teri Holland: I love it.
[00:29:12] Jodi Bourne: And you know, the same pair of jean shorts that I wore yesterday, and I'm not quite sure if I brushed my teeth this morning, but, So that is was also a thing that held me back for a long time, was thinking I'm not good enough because I'm not corporate enough or I'm not, I don't present myself professionally.
[00:29:35] I've even had a, I've had two clients tell me that. And both of them were men that told me that I, what didn't present myself professionally. Wow. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And so both of them, I said, bye,
[00:29:48] Teri Holland: good for you.
[00:29:50] Jodi Bourne: But it taught me something about, again, who do I wanna work with? Mm-hmm. And so I, when I present, so when I have a meeting with a new client, I call it a happy hour or a coffee hour.
[00:30:01] Nice. So I don't say we're having a meeting, I say, you know, Let's plan our first happy hour call and Oh, I love that. I like, I like, I like calling them, I like doing around 4:00 PM calls. Mm-hmm. And I present myself as casual from the very beginning, so it's very authentic. My first questions are never about their business.
[00:30:21] It's. How are you? Tell me about your dogs. Tell me about your kids. Tell me about your life. Why did you get in this business? And because I want them to realize that I am not just going to be a, this is your business and this is what we do. Mm-hmm. You know, I come with them. I also, one of the things that I do is I send them to my, before I'll meet with them, I send 'em a link to my about page of my website and I say, it's important to me.
[00:30:49] That you know, like, and trust me with your business. Here's my about page so that you can get to know me. Nice. And because I am very clear on my about page, about who I am and what's priority to me and you know, why I do what I do. Nice. So, and people love that. They always tell me that. They're always like, oh, this is, you know, that's, you know, a really great way for them to get to know me.
[00:31:14] Yeah. You see my values very clearly. Yeah. Through my about page and my website. So
[00:31:19] Teri Holland: yeah, I think that's such a great idea. And even just listening to that, I'm like, oh, I think I'm gonna do that.
[00:31:27] Jodi Bourne: Right. Because you know how when you Yeah, it's, it, it is. And I also, in my first meeting with my request form, I always have them write, tell me something about you that's interesting.
[00:31:38] That's not related to your business. So, and sometimes you can always tell when people are like shocked by that question and dunno what to write. Yeah. So, But to me that lets them know right away that I care about them. Mm-hmm. And that this is not just going to be a very structured business-like relationship.
[00:31:58] And I have clients that I'm friends with. After I finished their project, I, and I'll be honest, I think that that's one of the reasons I get invitations to, to go to people's properties for free. I hate all the time, I've stayed with five different, in five different rentals all across the country for free.
[00:32:16] Wow. Because the people love me when I work with them, they know I'm invested. So Yeah. You know, they offer that to me. Often, I mean, I've stayed in really nice properties.
[00:32:26] Teri Holland: I bet. What a great perk to what you're doing.
[00:32:30] Jodi Bourne: It is a great perk. It is a very great perk. Yeah. Especially when it's such a heartfelt thing, mm-hmm.
[00:32:36] You know, I know people get gifts and little cards and things from clients all the time. I've had clients send me whiskey because I like to, I like bourbon. Mm-hmm. And so a lot of times, At the end of a project, I'll say, okay, let's, we're gonna have a happy hour bourbon call and nice.
[00:32:51] And so they'll send me a bottle of bourbon. I've had three clients that have done that. Oh, wow. But for them to come out and say, Hey, we would really love for you to come to our property, that's really so awesome. Yeah. And meaningful to me.
[00:33:04] Teri Holland: I bet that's just so special.
[00:33:06] Jodi Bourne: Yeah, it's very special.
[00:33:08] And what a great memory.
[00:33:10] Teri Holland: Absolutely.
[00:33:11] Jodi Bourne: I mean, we went to the Florida Keys for a week. Nice. So that was amazing. And she's still a good client and a good friend that, that lady in the keys. Mm-hmm.
[00:33:21] Teri Holland: That's amazing. What would you what would you say to someone, you know, an entrepreneur who's maybe struggling to find their niche.
[00:33:28] Do you have any advice for how they can start to narrow that focus?
[00:33:33] Jodi Bourne: You know, there are so many of those. I and I, people ask me that actually all the time. Mm-hmm. So I suggest, my first thing that I tell people to do is to write a list of the, of your must haves that you want in your business, and then the things that you love.
[00:33:53] Hobbies? Yeah. Like, So I have a, I have a really good friend in the industry that we met through Marie Forleo's B School. Oh, yeah. I did that in 2016 and she and I met through there. And then she struggled with finding her niche and, and sticking to a niche is really what she struggled with. And so I told her about it two years ago.
[00:34:17] I said, why don't you just like, think about the things that you love to do? And then try to figure out how you can help people that love to do that same thing. And she, she loves to, she loves tennis and that other tennis type pickleball. Oh yeah. You know, and so she, even though her business isn't in that industry, She started networking with people and she found other ladies who enjoyed tennis.
[00:34:47] And when she was working with people, I mean, she was just, she helps people do Kajabi, build Kajabi websites. Oh, great. Yeah. But so she just found that she could find new clients that way through that connection with tennis and pickleball and that kind of thing. So, you know, I think that, It's so hard.
[00:35:08] Mm-hmm. I mean, I think you really have to be lucky in a lot of ways to find your niche, but also don't, yeah, don't give up and keep trying new things. Yeah. Until you get there. But I will say this, once you get there, get, once you feel like, you know, I can really enjoy this business. Mm-hmm. I think that's one of the biggest problems is people give up too quickly.
[00:35:31] Oh yeah. Like, it's not working for them, and so mm-hmm. They don't know how to, they, they're scared almost to, to stay small. Yeah, because it is hard when you think, well, there's only 18 people that might ever need me for this, but that's not true.
[00:35:46] Teri Holland: Yeah. Well, there's 8 billion people on the planet, so there's Right,
[00:35:51] right.
[00:35:52] And
[00:35:52] they're right. They're all gonna need, not all of them will need the same service, but there's enough people that in any niche, you can find your people.
[00:36:02] Jodi Bourne: Right. And like even like with vacation rentals for, that's a great, great thing, like if mm-hmm. There are big Airbnb groups of people who are asking help from other Airbnb owners.
[00:36:14] Yeah. I'll go into some of those groups sometime and, and pay attention to the conversations. Those, a lot of, I mean, more than half of the people in those groups don't even know. They could have their own website and book off of Airbnb. Oh, wow. And off the platforms. It's never even occurred to them that they can set up a system where all their calendars and their communications happen automatically.
[00:36:38] Mm-hmm. Like they're so reliant on this idea that they have that Airbnb or V R B O or TripAdvisor is the place where is the platform where they book their property that. What I do is a completely foreign idea to them. Yeah. So, you know, there're, but then there's a whole bunch of people who know that what I do is, is now fairly not common, but, you know, a lot of people, even Airbnb announced I believe in May of this past year, this that the book direct movement had gotten so big that they were worried about it taking away business from them.
[00:37:14] Wow. So, but there's still tons and tons and tons and tons of people with Airbnbs that have no clue. Yeah, I bet. Yeah. Yeah. And to you, to you and your audience. If you're looking for an Airbnb, yeah. You don't have to go to Airbnb. You can do a Google search. You can go to Airbnb or V R B O. And if you read in the the listing, a lot of times they'll give you hints about the name of their property.
[00:37:43] You know, moonshine, oh, cabin. Then you could just do a Google search moonshine cabin in Austin, Texas. And a lot of times you'll find their Facebook page or their website, and you don't have to pay all those fees to V R B O. I mean, I don't know if you've ever paid attention, but those fees are expensive.
[00:38:01] Yeah. And not just that, but the owners are paying their fees to as well. Oh, wow. Yeah. So when you book direct, usually you're gonna get quite a bit of a savings.
[00:38:10] Teri Holland: Oh, that's such a good tip. I never
[00:38:12] thought of that before. Yeah, because I've seen that even
[00:38:15] a lot of them have, like their property has a name or they have mm-hmm.
[00:38:19] I never thought to just Google that name.
[00:38:22] Jodi Bourne: And if you look through the pictures, sometimes in their photos, they'll have a little watermark at the bottom that says, you know, moonshine cabin.com, or they'll have a picture. Beach houses do this a lot. They'll have the sign in front of their beach house that says, you know, seagull whatever house, and then it'll have the phone number and it'll say, book direct with the phone number on the sign that's in the picture.
[00:38:45] So smart. Yeah. And then you can call 'em and find out more if they book direct because Oh, wow. Yeah. I mean, but that there, there's a lot of ways that you can kind of get around that. But then I teach the people that I work with, I teach them how to, to use content marketing, blogging. Mm-hmm. Pinterest, Instagram as well.
[00:39:05] Yeah. So Instagram, you can look. Do Instagram, you can do a hashtag search for vacation rental, you know, wherever. Right. And usually you'll find people vacation rentals direct is a good hashtag to search. Nice. So you can do searches for those to
[00:39:20] find them.
[00:39:20] Teri Holland: You know, I am a big Instagram girl and I have never thought to look for a vacation rental through there.
[00:39:28] Jodi Bourne: I know, but Oh man. Yeah, they're there. They're all over. And they're fun to. Follow. Yeah, because usually the ones that are doing a really good job on Instagram are, you know, they have, they share information about the things to do. Mm-hmm. Those are the people, like when they're really professional in doing this professionally, in building the websites, they know a lot about their destination, so they can really help you plan your trip.
[00:39:54] They can make it special for you. For the most part, they can really give you ideas on things to do for, you know, your specific itinerary. So there, it, it's really good to get in touch with them and get to know them because they can, they're so helpful. A lot of 'em will give you little extras like you know, they'll, they'll plan an entire itinerary for you if you ask them to.
[00:40:15] Teri Holland: That's incredible. Yeah. You're gonna make my next vacation so much better.
[00:40:21] Jodi Bourne: I mean, that's what I teach and that's what they're learning. Yeah. Not all of them. Some of them are gonna, you know, you're, you're nuts. What are you talking about? Google it. Mm-hmm. But for the most part, the people who are really promoting their rental are promoting their destination, you know?
[00:40:36] Yeah. They're, they're just. They're passionate about what they do, just like I am and just like you are. Mm-hmm. So they want to help people have a good time because they want you to come back. Right. They want you to tell your friends all about their amazing property and their amazing vacation. So yeah, they wanna do anything they can to help you.
[00:40:54] Teri Holland: That's amazing. Yeah. Can we talk about your podcast a little bit too?
[00:40:59] Jodi Bourne: Oh yes.
[00:41:00] So with your wonderful, amazing coaching. Oh, I launched a podcast this year after wanting my first real, my first idea to have a podcast was in 2017. Wow. And yeah. And I never did it.
[00:41:16] Then I recorded two episodes in 2018. Shut it down 'cause I was so embarrassed. Mm-hmm. And then we. I don't, I don't even remember how we met, but now Oh, now I do. But then we then I joined your podcasting little course and mini course and or challenge. Mm-hmm. That was such a great investment. And now I have, I think I'm on episode, I'm recording episode 12 right after you and I get off the phone.
[00:41:44] Yeah. But what has been so exciting is, That it's doing so well. It's called the Savvy Host Roadmap. Mm-hmm. So it's all about vacation rentals and it's 15 to 20 minutes. Very actionable. Really good tips on all sorts from using Instagram to creating your target market to. Better guest experience, all sorts of different things.
[00:42:06] But the feedback I'm getting is so amazing. Yeah. It's like it's such a high, I even got one, I mean, I got another one yesterday from a lady that just randomly sent me an Instagram message and said she had found my podcast and how much. She had learned in, she said she binged all of the episodes in one afternoon.
[00:42:26] Wow. And then she marked down. 'cause in one of my podcasts, I give the idea if you're wanting to go back something to take a screenshot on your phone of the, and that shows the minute the timestamp. Nice. So she said she. Somehow That was in one of my first episodes, I guess. But, so she did that throughout.
[00:42:44] She said, now I have all these places that I'm gonna go back to and re-listen to and take notes on and, and so smart. And she just randomly found my podcasts. I asked her how, and she said she was listening to Vacation Rental Podcast and it came up in the thing as a suggested podcast. Isn't that awesome?
[00:43:01] Teri Holland: That's amazing.
[00:43:02] Jodi Bourne: I know.
[00:43:03] Teri Holland: And they're so good. Like I'm not a vacation rental property owner yet. But that is my plans for the next year. Yes, it should be on your plan two years. It's in my plan. But I, I love listening to your show 'cause I also learn a lot about marketing and get inspired to think of content differently or my business differently.
[00:43:23] So it's. Yeah, it's
[00:43:25] amazing.
[00:43:26] Jodi Bourne: I've, I appreciate that. I've I have a couple of other friends that listen to it too, for, just to support me, you know? Mm-hmm. But also, they've both told me that, you know, that I helped them think of, think outside the box. So I was very fortunate, which I failed to mention when I was talking about my career path.
[00:43:43] When I, in 2015, I decided to start freelancing for a guy. A man here in Austin who does online marketing, and he's very well known as a Google analytics and optimizations expert. His name is Chris Mercer. He has a very successful and he's a speaker in Google Analytics. I was an account manager for him for four years part-time.
[00:44:08] Mm-hmm. So, I learned so much. He paid for me to go to like digital marketing social media, marketing world. Wow. Digital marketers, trafficking conversions, conferences. I went to conferences, marketing conferences all over. And he paid for his entire team to go because he was speaking there. So we got free admission.
[00:44:28] Nice. So he was paying for the travel. So I learned so, so, so, so much from, from that. I bet. That, that is, I've been blessed that I'm able to take that knowledge that I learned for the and mm-hmm. Turn it into other, you know, other ideas. And I'm very thankful for that opportunity. And then also with the tourism money, the $50,000 in tourism money, I was really able to play with marketing.
[00:44:56] Yeah. You know, and. That was really great for me. Mm-hmm. Oh. Oscar's having a nightmare back here. Aw. And my dog, poor guy. So that was really, you know, exciting and that, that's some advice I would give any entrepreneur is to just play. Mm-hmm. You know, listen to things outside of the box and play and, you know, go to some of those course like Coursera, some of those places and yeah, take a couple of free courses even outside of your niche, you'll learn stuff.
[00:45:26] Teri Holland: Absolutely. Well, thank you so much, Jodi, for coming on today and sharing your story and your insights and expertise. And I'll put all of your links in the show notes. So for those of you listening, you can connect with Jody, follow her, find her, listen to her podcast, and
[00:45:44] thank you again.
[00:45:45] Jodi Bourne: well, thank you, Teri.
[00:45:46] I had fun. I love it. Thank you. Thank you so much.