3 Big Reasons to Turn Your STR Hobby Into a Business

Have you ever thought about quitting your day job and turning your STR hobby into an actual business?

You probably have, but I imagine you believe there are too many things standing in your way. Big, looming, scary questions like:

What if it fails?What if I lose money?What if I regret giving up job security for the unknown?What if I’m not cut out to be my own boss?What if, what if, what if…?

I’m not going to tell you that there’s no risk in starting your own STR business. Of course there is. There’s risk in every single worthwhile thing we set out to do in life.

But what I WILL tell you is that I believe the benefits outweigh the risks. I took that leap in my own life and career a few years ago, and I’ve never looked back. It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

Let me tell you why.

Reason #1: You can’t put a price tag on the freedom of escaping the 9-to-5.

Most people don’t love their jobs. They just don’t. Someone else is telling you what to do. You’re spending the best hours of your day doing something that benefits someone else. Your vacation days are limited. Your free time is limited. Your salary is limited.

Not to mention the fact that a lot of people are losing their jobs right now. A lot of companies are going out of business. Very few jobs are completely “secure” these days.

I could go on and on and on, but you get what I’m saying. You know the feeling. You’re tired of the grind.

There’s got to be more to life than this, right?

Like freedom. Freedom of time. Financial freedom. Freedom to use your own mind and skills to build something for YOU and the ones you love.

Four or five decades is a long time to spend working for the man. Wouldn’t you rather work for yourself?

Reason #2: You can make a LOT of money right now in the growing STR market.

A recent study by Technavio shows that the global vacation rental market is expected to be worth $194 billion by 2021. It’s been growing by more than 7% a year since 2017.

It’s big, bad, and here to stay.

A lot of people see STRs as an investment in the future, but it actually doesn’t take long at all to start seeing cash flow NOW.

If you’ve been around for awhile, you’ve heard my success story. You can have one too.

When you understand how to market and price your short term rental, you are able to easily keep your units running, while collecting cash each and every month. And, just like with traditional real estate, the longer you rent your unit, the more equity you build and the higher the property value becomes.

And, even though we’re in the middle of an economic crisis of sorts, you can use this time of uncertainty to your advantage and see it as an opportunity.

In many cases, you can find properties for sale at much lower prices than ever before. You just have to know where to look.

If you’re willing to work hard and learn hard, you can make as much money as you want.

Reason #3: STRs are the ultimate retirement plan.

The final reason to turn your STR hobby into a business deals with your future. Traditional retirement accounts require you to take a portion of your current cash flow to invest in your future. You can’t touch those funds without penalty until you actually retire. Those funds are completely dependent on the market, which as we’ve all seen over the past few weeks, can be quite a scary thing.

People with a retirement account just have money saved, but no vision for the future.

People with a retirement plan have a destination in mind. The definition of a retirement plan should be: to build, own, or control enough assets that produce income greater than your expenses without you working.

And that’s exactly how short term rentals work for you.

You build those assets—those short term rentals—today, tomorrow, and the day after that. You get cash flow immediately, but you also get to watch those short term rentals increase in value month after month, year after year.

Then, when retirement comes, your assets will earn all the income you need, while you take it easy.

There are a LOT more reasons to turn your STR hobby into a business, but those three will do for now.

Let me leave you with a pep talk.

Is the idea of starting your own STR business a scary thing? Of course.

Is that a reason to put it off? Absolutely not.

How many times have you had a great idea and thought to yourself, “One day…?” When I look at the calendar, I see seven days. None of them are called “one day.”

So why not TODAY?

Get started sooner rather than later. Begin building NOW.

Even if you don’t quit your day job tomorrow, you’re putting yourself in a position where you no longer have to have a single point of failure. You’re paving the way for a more resilient income, a more resilient lifestyle.

The future is uncertain. If, for some reason, something happens to your plan A, you already have a Plan B. You can’t build a business in theory. It has to be done by lots of experimentation.

And now is the time to make it happen.

Take that leap.

If you don’t try it now, when will you? What if you give it a shot for 30 days in a row and see what happens? You might be surprised at who you can connect with—and what you can build—if you just try.

Go ahead. Take the risk.

What have you got to lose?

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