The People You Need as Your STR Business Grows

When you’re first getting started in the STR world, you’re CEO, Chief Everything Officer. At the very beginning, you are doing literally everything.

But you can’t be Chief Everything Officer for long, or you’ll burn out. And you’ll lose money. You want to be the one making all the decisions, not the one executing all the decisions.

The things we want to do as entrepreneurs typically can’t be done by us alone. We need help. We need other individuals to join the fight in various ways.

So who do you need on this STR ship with you?

Who do you need on your team?

Whoever they are, we want them to understand their role as we cast the vision and give them the resources they need to do their job.

And your team needs you to be free to make the absolute best decisions so you can stay in business and help them keep their jobs. And not just keep their jobs, but thrive and grow.

Aside from the people you hire for your team, you’re also going to want to surround yourself with people who have more wisdom and experience than you do, even a different perspective. These people will serve as your advisory board, or board of directors.

You need an advisory panel, because you’re too close to the thing that you can’t see the forest for the trees. You always want access to someone else’s perspective, even if (especially if) they’re in another industry. They’ll be able to share lessons they’ve learned from going where you’re about to go.

If everything else fell apart, this is something I would still emphasize. They’ll help you figure out the decisions that need to be made in order to build the enterprise, the momentum, taking into account all the weaknesses and strengths.

Okay, so here are the first nine people you’ll need to bring on board (in order):

1. Executive Assistant

This is the first person you need on your team. Without this person, your organization will fall apart quickly or never get off the ground. You need this especially on an internal basis.

The first order of business for this person is to remove things like calendar, scheduling, back and forth. You have no idea how much time this all is taking. This person is your ultimate time saver.

They’re also keeping you organized, making sure there’s a filing system. All of these things are consuming your time and taking up your ability to make decisions.

2. Bookkeeper

Keeping track of the numbers and putting them where they belong is important, and the sooner you start that, the better. Even if, and especially when, you think, “Oh, I can do my own books.”

It is cheaper to bring this person on now than to try to do it all yourself. Bookkeeping costs opportunity, time, money, and so much frustration.

3. Housekeeping

You need those individuals there from the beginning. Do not (NOT NOT) do your own cleaning to “save money.” This will not save you money. It will cost you a resource even more valuable—your time. You will lose money by doing the cleaning yourself. Trust me, you will.

4. Operations Assistant

This is that person that is helping to make sure your supply closets stay inventoried and runs the sheets back and forth between the laundry service and the rental.

I’m giving you the skeleton crew that’s required for that 7-figure enterprise. Your operations assistant gets you to that next person.

5. Customer Experience

They’re interfacing with the customer on the basic level. They’re the first line of defense, they’re all the things. You won’t really be talking to your customer on a daily basis. You’re building, building, building. You’ve got to keep making the decisions.

You’re still doing other things, even with all of these individuals playing their roles.

6. Laundry/Linen Service

We don’t want cleaners who can also do laundry. We want cleaners who can clean. And launderers who can launder.

When you ask cleaners to do something outside of their job description, it will be cost-prohibitive. It takes them more time, because the cleaning time is shorter than washing/drying time (if you have a washer/dryer on the premises).

7. Repair Team

A team that is all-around repair. Another way of looking at this is maintenance. This is often the same team (repair and maintenance) unless it’s a plumbing or electrical issue, and then you’ll need a specialist.

8. Technician

Someone will need to be able to keep your internet up and running over and over again, and that person should not be you.

And I put this next one last because, to be honest, I still haven’t let go of this one. I still handle it myself.

9. Revenue Management

Revenue management folks figure out what you should be charging per night for your STR. Typically, the pricing for the hospitality/travel industry has historical data, reference, precedent to go off of and figure out, predict what you should be charging.

But guess what every airline, hotel, restaurant, STR operator has lost this year? The most valuable thing ever. The history of what revenue was, can be, should be, all of that.

The least profitable year of an STR business is usually the first 12 months because you don’t know what you don’t know about everything in the area, the patterns, and the people. And we are all right back there at square one, at the beginning.

This is my first September after a pandemic. Then it will be my first October. My first November.

And it’s different in every geographic location. And all of those things are going to matter. We all have to learn this all over again. This is why the revenue management piece is something that I still keep close to my vest, do it myself.

The business keeps growing and changing and you have to grow and change along with it.

These are the first nine people you need to join your team.

You need every single one of these to get you across the 7-figure mark. Not one of these things is extra. In fact, there are even more than what I’ve listed here.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can’t afford to hire people to help you.

The truth is, you can’t afford not to.

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