Are Hospitality Investing Mastermind Conferences Worth It? | Mike & Nate E2

Michael Russell 0:00

Welcome to the Hotel Investor Playbook, your guide to building wealth and freedom through boutique hotel ownership, hosted by Mike and Nate.

Nathan St Cyr 0:09

Get in the game.

Michael Russell 0:18

All right, welcome back to another episode of the Hotel Investor Playbook. I'm Michael Russell, and I've got my business partner, Nathan Saint Sear, with me here. And we are diving in today to another episode. But this one, this one hits on all four cylinders, so to speak, because today we're going to be talking about mastermind conferences and summits, and are they worth the price of admission? So by now I'm sure all of you listening have probably been bombarded with advertisements for educational meetups, workshops, summits, conferences, that sort of thing. And you got to be wondering like, hey, are these things worth it? Are they worth the price of admission? You know, sometimes they can be relatively nominal costs, but some of these workshops or summits, they can cost tens, you know, 6,000, 10,000, upwards, you know, I've heard tens of thousands of dollars. So the question is, like, are these worth it? And we're gonna um answer this question by describing our recent experience. We had a whirlwind tour of sorts where we left our home location here in Maui and spent the last about 10 days or so where we had one conference where Nathan and I worked together. Um, and then we went our separate ways, and we each went to uh individual conferences where they were focused on different things. I had one that was focused on boutique hotel investing, and Nathan had one that was more in general on on well, I'll let him talk to it, but you know, speak to what it's about, but basically business in general. And so we met a whole ton of people, and I'm sure there's a lot of takeaways, but the four four pillars of what it takes to invest in hotels, into hostels, into unique experiences, experiential lodging, there's four pillars, and that's operations, that's deal finding, that's raising capital, and that's marketing. And so this particular episode, I think, touches upon all of that because as we get into this, we're going to describe, but what you learn at these conferences, I think touches upon, and you there's there's there's aspects of these educational experiences that you can get information that will apply to all four of these categories. So if you're interested in learning about the value or the benefits or who you can meet, or well what the key takeaways are, this is the podcast for you.

Nathan St Cyr 2:32

Yeah, and Mike, I I want to I want to go back to something that you just said because I I think that it's really critical. Like before you and I choose to to jump on our whole goal, like is we need to, our responsibility is to provide as much value as we possibly can to our listeners. And and what we've recognized is that we want to share value in those four areas that you just talked about, right? Acquisitions, so finding deals, and then raising capital and and financing and how how all of that is is structured. Once people own, how do they go and operate and create hospitality experiences? Uh a key piece that gets missed a lot of the times. And then, and then how do you go and and really market like those four categories? I just I wanted to circle back to that because I think it's an important piece that we have yet to express to our to our listeners is that anytime you come and sign in, our goal is to go and and look at one at a minimum, one of those areas and provide actionable items. But when we talked about this experience that we just had, we're like, damn, we hit all four, like all four of these different areas of value we experienced through this this past week. So uh yeah, I'm excited to dive in. And I think we should may as well start like chronologically and and start with what our takeaways were. And I'll ask you. We started in, we flew to Austin, Texas. We stayed in Austin, and then we got up on on Monday morning and we headed out to Wimberley to Ben Wolf's project, the basically a few days before his official grand opening of their O'Neill Wimberly Unique Stay Summit that we we experienced. So I'd just like to start there. And if you want to, you know, kind of paint a picture of of what it was like, who was there, who made up this unique inaugural unique stay summit? Why you why did you feel, first of all, that we got invited to this?

Michael Russell 4:40

Yeah, that's a great question. You know, I was wondering myself when I was there because this was a unique stay summit, and there are some incredible folks there. I I really didn't know much about some of these things that people are doing. So we had folks that are doing, you know, clamping, but but what does that exactly mean? These days, glamping is evolving, you know, each year it is really changing. People are modifying ways in which they're offering clamping services. So we met people that are specific to like geodomes, I guess, for stargazing. And I didn't really know that was a thing. We had folks that beyond just offering like soft-sided tents are now offering these modular buildings that you can kind of custom order and they come pre-built, they're they're they're prefabricated, and you drop them in these incredible settings. And so we met some people that have like these beautiful swimming pools that that look like they're they're waterfalls. So you know, they they they built their short-term rental property to have they took natural water and a combination of like using, you know, I guess piping and water piping and such to create this experience where it's like this beautiful waterfall terrain. And so that was a unique state. People traveled to Ohio to go and stay in this uh this this Airbnb and they crush it. They're like 100% occupied during their high season for like years in advance. So I was like, well, what are we doing here? You know, because we're not really unique state, but it turns out that a lot of people look at the hostile business model as as unique, which in our opinion it's it's not. I mean, it's this known entity that's been popular in Europe for years and years, but there's for whatever reason, not as many people at least promoting it um, you know, in the the the space as much, and and certainly aren't doing in the way that I think we are in terms of offering a little bit more of an upscale experience, and we're really immersive with our guests, and we offer all these incredible uh experiences for them to join. So that was kind of what we brought to the table. Um, but I I say that some of the key takeaways beyond just uh meeting some of the people that were there that have different products that I wasn't necessarily familiar with. I was, of course, blown away and I was impressed by the products that they offer. But I also felt that, you know, these are just normal people. And sometimes I think that people get sensationalized when you see them on LinkedIn and they're doing these awesome things, or you know, of course, all the different social media outlets and their websites look incredible. And then you always just kind of, I don't know, at least I do. I think, like, oh man, that's so impressive. Like, I start to have a little bit of self-doubt, maybe, right? Can I can I do what they're doing? Or they they must have some skill level or some connection or some network. And I think meeting people in person, it really kind of all that in your head stuff just kind of evaporates. And when you get down, you just like meet someone in person, have a conversation with them, it's really relatable. It kind of actually gave me a lot of confidence to meet these people. Like, for example, Ben Wolf. Ben Wolf is awesome, he's out there doing incredible things, he's developing these landscape resorts, and you know, he was purchased, or he had an investor, a reinstitutional financing that invested in his um landscape hotel. And all that sounds very big and impressive and you know, probably out of reach for most people. But when you sit down and you're in a unique stage summit where there were 35 of us, and we were in more of an intimate environment, and you just can have a conversation with someone, I feel like, man, those connections really bring people down to earth and you not only learn from them, but I think you get to reflect on yourself and say, look, it, you know, these are just ordinary folks that the difference of what they're doing, what I've done, or what I can do, it's just execution. They've just gone out and done it, but it it's not like they have some sort of superpower. And so that for me was really empowering, gave me a lot of confidence.

Nathan St Cyr 8:29

Yeah, I I love that. I think from the unique stay, because I asked the same question sometimes, was like, wow, like when we're talking about how some of these stays, like floating homes in, you know, like literally floating homes on the freaking water. Like, holy what are we a hostel? Like, what but we are more than a hostel. I recognize that the unique stay part, I believe, is really the way that we value bringing people together. And then what do we do from there? Is it just a bed or is it something that's different? Because I think that, you know, when you look at hotels in general, many times hotels, that's really what they are. It focuses on the accommodation and and maybe the setting, right? Accommodation and setting. But when you look at a unique stay, there's there's something different about that stay. And I believe that that's what we provide in our our vision is look, when when someone comes to stay with us, what experience do they they end up having? And is that unique, different, and special? And you know, I answer that is unequivocally yes. But beyond that, I I felt like my takeaways, it's funny because it did, it went right back to the people, and it's very similar to what you said. But in this realm, what I found was really was really cool is that everybody that I met, although they were, they were, they were a normal person that's done something really cool. But the one common theme to me was that each one of these people had a they had a a thought, they had a vision, and then they bet on themselves. They took action and bet on themselves. And I just thought that that was so freaking cool that they're like, look, no, this this thing is this is unique, or it's an offshoot of something that is out there, but man, I see it this way. And I think that by because I see it this way, I believe other people will find value in this, and that I'll create something that people feel value in. And that took me really back to to this core of what I believe that hospitality is, right? And and hospitality to me is if you look at a space and whether it's a raw piece of land, which many of these were built off of, right? In in unique areas, whether it's a raw piece of land or a building, it's how do we go and look at that piece of land for what it is, or that building for what it is, and get its highest and best use. And I really believe that hospitality, when you if you want to get to the economics of something, not only is it there this unbelievable, unique experience that is a lot of times life-changing, but on top of that, when you look at dollar for dollar, hospitality generates many times the highest and best use of a space if you can get the asset right. And I just loved that so many people here had a thought and a vision of a space, and they said, if I do this to that space, it will become this space's highest and best use, not just from an experience stance, but also economically. The thing's gonna make money. And um, I loved the combination of that and that the people that were there saw this vision and then they took action on it, believed in themselves, and then they were right. They're there, they were right. And then I'm gonna go one further than that, because this was a huge takeaway from me. What was the difference in some of them in their journey, where they're at? This is to me, was a really, really big takeaway. And I want to tie it back to Ben Wolf. You brought up Ben Wolf. For me, I looked at Ben Wolf's success, and I recognize that Ben Wolf is an incredible team builder. Look at the team that he has around him. He's not that's a sometimes as an entrepreneur, you know, we want to do everything ourselves, and we're like, oh, we feel like, okay, I have to be the one that does, and I need to do. And and but what you can see that Ben has done is he's put around him this team from his social, what he's built from his social media team, his marketing team, what he's built from his operational team, what he's built, the partnership that he's built with his contractor. Dude, his contractor got up there and like inspired all of us. Dude, he's a special dude, right? So he's gone out there. When you look at not just like his acquisition team now, that people that want to be a part of his organization because of the things that he's doing, because of his vision, I can see that Ben Wolf is a heck of a leader and that that translates into his ability to grow. And I believe that's why he is growing and monetizing his vision, while others may be more focused on just what they're currently doing and they haven't, they haven't gone past that, is because they're doing it on their own. So that was a huge takeaway that that I took from it.

Michael Russell 13:50

Yeah, awesome. Okay, cool. So definitely um really a couple really important takeaways. I want to I want to pivot back to the the the premise of this podcast with okay, if our listeners are are considering attending one of these events, and there's a financial outlay, and sometimes it can be, you know, it can be a lot significant. What you just described, those are those are takeaways and benefits that may not be financially tangible. But again, is is the are these mastermind conferences worth the price of admission? From your perspective, can can you articulate that a little bit? What what do you think?

Nathan St Cyr 14:26

Well, well, well, look, success leaves clues, right? So now all of a sudden we're in a room of all of these successful hospitality people, in their own right, what they're doing. Number one. So if I look at some of the actual takeaways that will relate to that I believe will translate to a return on investment, marketing. I mean, just look at the way that some of them have been marketing, that there's some consistent themes with influencers, what type of influencers, how that impacts organic growth, direct bookings. Like just if you just look at that one little nugget when we did a breakaway session and we we all went into that part of branding and social media and how you can utilize that for organic growth, for growing an email list, like all of these, like those are tangible things that we're taking back now that will ultimately they'll get they'll get executed within our business that will have an ROI. So when I think just from a tangible standpoint, but as much from a confident standpoint, like how do I feel? Right? What's this gonna mean when I go back? What's this gonna mean by me attending this? Bro, I'm on fire, absolute freaking fire. Of it provided me confidence. Like you said, hey, I got to go and spend time with all of these hospitality leaders. But the reality is it made me recognize, damn, I'm a hospitality leader. They're not different than me. We may be different parts of our journey. Look, there were a lot of people that I recognized. Holy crap, I'm I'm feeling a lot of times like what you see out there, all of these people are so much further ahead. But then I started recognizing, man, man, we've done, dude, we've done some shit. We are freaking, we really have, and we're we've gained a ton of experience. So that confidence in connecting with people, recognizing that just people are just people, they're just at different different stages of their journey. That value alone is is significant. So and I'll I'll leave the other part that I took away because I'll leave that for my my next part when I talk about where I went after that. But yeah, was it worth it? Well, unequivocally, yes. Financially, return on investment, will it pay off? Unequivocally, yes. Was it worth it for the people that we met? Unequivocally, yes. Like in every realm, are there gonna be tangible things that we take away that we implement that will have an actual return on investment from a data standpoint that we can track? Hey, we learned this there, implemented this, and is it gonna pay for the cost of admission? Yes, heck yes. So, yeah, let's check the box up.

Michael Russell 17:04

That's a resounding yes. There's a there's definitely a return on investment. I think sometimes people get a little concerned, hung up on okay, what is the return on investment? Like financially, let me quantify. Now, not everyone is built the same way, but I personally tend to think this way where I'm like, if I'm gonna invest, let's say $2,000 for an event, well, I better see at least three times more in return. But these types of things don't always necessarily work that way from that perspective. Like you, you were just talking about, in essence, the finding who's, right? And I'm talking about the how. Like I'm I'm talking about, okay, can I get information that's gonna show me how to do these steps that are gonna provide a clear return on investment? And what you're describing is well, there is some of that, of course. You're gonna get some tangible insights to how marketing works, what people are doing if they're using influencers, but more importantly, knowing who can do these things so that you can implement it and implement these processes in your own system. And and also, too, like having these resources, it might not be immediately useful where like you walk out of the event and then you've you've taken something right then and there and applied it. But down the line, six months, 12 months, two years from now, you know, you can reach out on social media to someone that you met at one of these events, and more likely than not, they'll respond to you because you've met them. And that is when you might get that return on investment. So although it's not black and white financially quantifiable, there is something to be said that big picture, it's absolutely worth the price of admission, especially in some of these higher ticket. It's it's sort of like an it kind of contradicts your your your your your mindset a little bit here because you're like, wait a second, if I spend more, I need more financial return. But oftentimes the people that are spending more getting themselves into the room with people that have the uh capacity to spend more, which means typically they probably you know had success in whatever they're doing. So to just echo your point, yeah, there's absolutely value in connecting with these people.

Nathan St Cyr 19:03

And I want to finish with that point that you just made about that connection, because look, there have been, let's just use this one person, right? Okay, so now we've been connected to Ben Wolf. Ben Wolf sent a text, you'd asked a question, sent a text, connected you to somebody else that had direct information based on a value proposition that you were asking about. That connection that that never would have happened had we not been there. Secondly, I just connected somebody to Ben Wolf. This person is gonna have the ability to provide Ben value in his own right in a certain region, and has a question for so all of these connections get made. Now, the person that I made that connection for, right, they wouldn't have had access to that. So now I've connected two people that wouldn't have had access to each other without us going there. And both of them could end up being extremely grateful that that connection was made. And ultimately, that comes back. All of these things end up then working together, coming back. So if you look at things from the perspective of, hey, hey, seek to serve. What can I do to provide value? What can I do to connect you? What can I do for you? How can I, who I am, provide value to you? It's unfricking believable when you have that mindset, what ends up coming back your way?

Michael Russell 20:34

Yeah, that's so good. Okay, cool. That's awesome. I I'm curious to know your perspective. We haven't talked about this yet, but we both went to the Unique State Summit, and we were one of around 35 guests that were there reflecting on that. Is there anyone that you that you think that you that comes to mind that you think, like, wow, like that was really that was an incredible person to me, or anyone that that you know, key takeaway in a conversation, or someone that you just you want to recognize as being someone that was worthwhile meeting?

Nathan St Cyr 21:02

Okay, well, first of all, Zach, who had us on the behind the stage podcast, right? Like his first of all, him as a connector, just and his gratitude that he just communicated with to everybody, his graciousness. So Zach Boostakruz, right? Yeah, yeah.

Michael Russell 21:20

His name's a tough one, tough one. If I slaughtered it, forgive me.

Nathan St Cyr 21:24

Well, thank you. Yeah. So so number one, just him and and Dan, who his, you know, his partner, what what they're doing, that they first of all made me feel extremely comfortable. And that that was an example to me of okay, look, uh, if we ever bring people together to be gracious like that and make people feel important and significant. I really took something, got a lot of value from that. So that was number one. Number two, man, Devin. Do you remember Devin's last name?

Michael Russell 22:00

It's Towel, I think. T-O-W-L-E.

Nathan St Cyr 22:03

Dude, this guy is freaking. This he was so impressive to me, Mike. Like he is a visionary, he has been. He's had he's just somebody that has like this this huge vision of how to go out there and take this these unique stays, uh, these experiential stays, and then to go and look at it from economic and business standpoint of how to go and scale. Because a lot of times, you know, in in this situation, I found it was much more about the creating the the stay and the hospitality. But he was someone that really inspired me with massive vision. Like this is where um, this is where I'm I'm going. Secondly, um, Brian.

Michael Russell 22:46

Well, wait, can I can I ask you about Devin? Because I didn't get a chance to connect Devin. You spent some time uh at dinner, sitting, you know, talking with him, but but he does global camping. That's what I know. But what exactly does he do?

Nathan St Cyr 22:59

I'm not exactly sure. Because I mean, I I understand his bias operating puts on these global camping. Honestly, he does a lot of different things, right? He does a lot of different things, but he has these basically call them you know, higher-end glamping sites, but he's taken it to the next level. He's provided an accessible opportunity for investors to own a site. And he's done it in an entrepreneurial way where he's able to, you know, take somebody that that makes it accessible to somebody that's wants to own hospitality, but that doesn't necessarily have you know a gazillion dollars. He's made it accessible, and so it's provided this scale, scalable opportunity and community for him. And look, I frankly, we're we're talking over dinner, so I don't know all the ins and outs of exactly what he's doing, but what I did connect with is that he has a he has a very big vision. He's seen a ton of success. He's on his way to doing something really, he's already done something really special, and he's on his way to even going way further with it. And I love anytime you can offer accessibility to people that just are out there living life that maybe they they're not able to put their full life sort of life force into investing in real estate or investing in you know, different opportunities for their family to get ahead, and you can make that accessible to them and you have integrity, and you're really just providing that access to me that's inspiring.

Michael Russell 24:38

Yeah, I just put up his website, it's it's global. Hold on here, hold on here. It's clamping.global. And you know, let me see. What is it? Basically, it's he he's like offering sites. So he gets land, he buys land, and then he sells up individual parcels, and then he puts on structures. So it could be soft structure, hard structure.

Nathan St Cyr 25:00

Yes, he's an expert in the structures and the whole setup, and so him and his team, they get it, they freaking get it dialed and they get you all set up, and then the investor comes in and they can, I guess, purchase these individual, these individual sites.

Michael Russell 25:15

Cool. Yeah, I spoke with his um his, I guess you call him the sales guy, marketing guy, Lorenzo, and man, he was like just a firecracker. Just talk about tangible, uh, applicable marketing advice. I was having lunch with him, and he was just peppering me with all these different strategies and tactics on how to build a sales funnel. Now, I wouldn't have gotten any of that information had I not gone to this. So, again, that was just one conversation, one example, but it did open my mind to all the opportunity that's available in terms of it's like just marketing with creating these sales funnels.

Nathan St Cyr 25:48

Of all the times, I felt like the least smart guy in the room. Dude, next to Lorenzo, I was like, All right, bro, you lost me, you lost me a ways back. I nodded and pretended like I knew what he was talking about, but the reality was I was like, All right, man. I hope Mike talked to him.

Michael Russell 26:06

I I got it, man. I it's in the vault. I got it.

Nathan St Cyr 26:09

Okay, okay, good.

Michael Russell 26:11

So who else?

Nathan St Cyr 26:12

Who else? Well, yeah, yeah, yeah. It was dude, Brian with Flow Home. Yeah, remember, huh? Yeah, well, all of a sudden we walk into this room, right? There's 35 people, and of course, you attach to something that you're familiar with, and we walk in, and this guy's got the freaking dude, he's got the sickest aloha shirt in the room in this unique stage, and and we both, you know, we both like gravitate, like, oh, your shirt. He's got this sick aloha shirt, right? And then sure enough, then we find out that wow, he went to the University of Hawaii, he peddled canoe, he served, and he's taken that aloha lifestyle back to to Maryland and freaking Baltimore, bro, from Baltimore.

Michael Russell 26:55

Baltimore. Yeah. So okay, flow ham. So what is it? So basically, these are like floating house houses, right? They're like boat houses.

Nathan St Cyr 27:05

Yeah, they're floating houses. They're just they're they're so freaking sick. They sit there in a you know, in a slip in a marina, and they're like instead of going and and renting your short-term rental, you know, in the city, in a you know, whatever, condominium complex, or getting a little house or a flat, dude. You freaking get a floating home right there at a slip in the marina. It's they're dude, they're epic.

Michael Russell 27:33

So here's the thing that I thought was interesting about this. So it's in Baltimore. A lot of people don't really recognize they wouldn't think Baltimore would be a great short-term rental place, right? When you think short-term rental, you obviously think vacation homes and Baltimore winners probably suck. But what was really neat, one takeaway was he said, number one, the cost for these homes is substantially less than buying a luxury home somewhere, right? You can, you can, there's all this empty space, like marina space. It's unique to Baltimore. I'm sure, like if you went to Miami or something, or of course here in Hawaii, it's just not gonna be possible. There's not enough marina space. But in Baltimore, there was there's just tons of space. So the marinas are really receptive and open to his business model. And he's just planting these custom, beautiful homes on the water. And what's happening is people are renting these for special occasions. It's not just the summer where you think it's obvious, like, oh, it's beautiful down by the lake. He found that people were doing so for maybe an anniversary or for Valentine's Day, because these are not just your typical boat house or whatever. It like he decks things out. They're they're modern, they're beautiful, they're well designed, they have all the awesome decor, but they happen to be on the water, which is so picturesque and beautiful. And so even in the middle of winter, you know, these things have heaters, they're warm. People are still seeing demand, maybe not as much as the summer, but it's not like it's a ghost town. So I was like, wow, you know, you can just for whatever, maybe it's a hundred grand or something, he gets these homes, maybe it's a little more, but it's it's definitely not like in Maui where you're gonna spend two million dollars for a home. If he can get you know three, four hundred, five hundred dollars a night and have a hundred thousand or hundred and fifty thousand dollars invested, it's like, oh wow, that's a no-brainer. So I was blown away by that concept.

Nathan St Cyr 29:10

Yeah, and look, I mean, maybe they're half a million, whatever they are, but and he builds them, right? He manufactures them.

Michael Russell 29:17

Yeah, I actually don't know what the costs are. I I assume that they were not too expensive, but maybe they are, but that seems like a lot of money. I don't think they're 500,000. Should we look at it?

Nathan St Cyr 29:27

I don't know. I mean, to buy a short-term rental home for three to five hundred thousand dollars, they're they're generating the the revenue.

Michael Russell 29:39

They're gonna do well over a hundred grand a year, so yeah. I mean, you're gonna get at least 20% return on investment.

Nathan St Cyr 29:46

Yeah, anyway. So that was impressive to me that this concept and he's pro, they're gonna, he's all in. That was a really impressive con. But dude, it you gotta talk about is it Travis? Oh, yeah, Travis Chambers. You gotta freaking talk about Travis, bro. This guy's yeah this guy, number one. I just anytime he opened his mouth, I freaking laughed. He's got the best sense of humor, he's so freaking witty. But his dude, what he freaking did, you gotta describe this.

Michael Russell 30:15

It's like indescribable. That's the thing. So, okay, his company is called Outpost X, and it's basically like he created a movie set almost like a Star Wars themed movie set in the middle of the desert in Utah. It looks like from the photos, it might have been like a lake or something, like it's a dried-up lake, the bottom of a lake. It's just it looks like planet Mars, but he had all these custom structures built, like he has like a cave and he has like a castle, and he has just random stairs that go up to nowhere. And he's got it, it looks like Burning Man very much. Like that's kind of what in my mind I looked at, I was like, Oh, it looks like Burning Man, but it's not. People go there and they just act weird. He has trampolines, people just jump on him. He's got these cars that look like spaceships or something. So you're driving around like on you know, the moon, basically, is what it looks like. And so that's just a total novel concept to me to go and to build something in the middle of this desert. And who would have thought that that would work? He had this post on social media. If you go to his outpost X on Instagram, it's hilarious, but he's he's got his personality, it is awesome. So he he did this little like post the other day where he was talking about his experience with the banks, and the banks are like, You want to do what? You want to build some movie set type setting where people stay out in the middle of the desert? Yeah, how about no, never, we're never gonna give you any money. And so he, you know, this dude was successful. He he actually financed this thing himself, so he had all his own money, he sold a marketing company for like 17 million dollars. So he's done very well. He's young, he's in his early 30s, um, but he is hilarious. I was impressed by him, so he was definitely a person of interest, and I'm glad that I met him. I've now exchanged um messages, messages with him on Instagram. He is a person to know, and he's doing some big things. He's got a next project in Puerto Rico. He's doing like an Indiana Jones themed type of stay where it's like tree houses and such. So I'm really excited to see how that develops.

Nathan St Cyr 32:12

Yeah, and look, I mean, it's hard to ask that question of who stood out to you because the reality is, I mean, just Kimball and just all these, like all of them. Christine, Kimball and Christine, bro, dude, they are freaking. I just I don't know. It's just it's hard because every one of these people that we met were just incredible people doing incredible things. But you just asked, you know, to point out a couple, those were a few of the situation, a few of the people that really, you know, stood out, maybe because they were, you know, really good.

Michael Russell 32:48

Can we talk about them real quick? Because I want to okay. So here's a tangible piece that I took for me. Okay, so we went to this mastermind, we spent all this money to fly from Maui to we had to go stay in Austin for a night or two, and then go to the summit, and that costs money, and then you know, all this transportation. So we go there and like, okay, what is the what is our what is our return on investment? Yes, we had a blast, we met all these awesome people, but let's talk about Kimball and Christine. What I was really impressed was with their Instagram, they have over like it's five or six hundred thousand followers. And this was basically an Airbnb. It's like a glorified, amazing Airbnb. There's five or six units, but it is it's a unique stay. And I was like, Well, how the like, how are you doing this? And they just said, look, we hired an agency. And to me, this was like, I was wrestling with this concept so much about like, okay, you got to do, you know, hiring an agency is either too expensive or they're not gonna do a good job, or you know, just whatever the the negative connotation with with an agency is, and they're like, no, we've got a great agency, and you know what? Here's their contact info. And so when I get when I grow online on social media, I'm bombarded with all of these advertisements for for agencies, and it's like, how do you know which one to pick? Well, you go with one that's referred to you, and knowing that they've got 600,000 followers and that they just shared with me the agency that they've used and they've been very happy with. That that right there was worth the price of admission. There you go. Boom. So was it worth it? I think Phoenix Day was 100% worth it, but I think we should also now pivot and go on. Let's let's let's talk about your experience. So you left Austin, Texas. Well, we were actually in what was the town that that uh on Wimberley. Okay, so we left Wimberley, and then you went to Tulum, Mexico for another conference, another event, meetup, summit. Tell us about that.

Nathan St Cyr 34:36

Well, first of all, I'll get let's get your reaction when I told you that I was going to Tulum. So I'm uh a long-term recovering alcoholic addict. And um Mike's like, wait a minute, where are you going? And I'm like, Tulum, Mexico. And he's like, Do you know anything about it? He's like asking me, and I'm like, no, should I? And he's like, Okay, well, you might want to do a little bit of research because um it is uh it basically well known as a freaking rave in the jungle. And um anyway, but it was look, this was when I say, Mike, that I'm on fire, like I I can't, I it's really it's gonna be, let's just call it impossible. I'll call it impossible for me to articulate the value that I experienced out of this this weekend. I went into the weekend. Let me give you what I wrote down my goal was to find and connect with the who's that will take us to the next level. Taking us to the left next level for to me means finding who's that ultimately can replace the things that you're doing and the things that I'm doing within our business to provide us with time freedom and growth at the same time. And so this was the one thing. It was the one thing. And I've had five people in the past 24 hours that are full of hunger, desire, have unbelievable experience in freaking from systems to sales to just I I can't, it's it's like I said, it's hard to articulate that that want to be involved with helping us take us to the to the next level. So just from the standpoint of actually getting a return on investment, because that's the question here, right? Is it what is it worth it? And I can tell you that just from that piece, like dude, we're gonna, we've got more people that know about us and want to help uh take us to the next level that will ultimately create a massive financial and time return. That's that's that's check it, it's done, right? That's that's already there. But then, you know, second to that, I had uh one of the things that I was able to do was uh the most powerful parts of this event was we had these things called breakout sessions. And and in this breakout session, we broke out into small groups, and in the small group, each one of us took our biggest challenge. What's the biggest challenge that we're we're currently facing? And the it there it was very, very structured. There were five people. The first person would get up and stand up and talk for two minutes, then after that two minutes of what my challenge is, the group could ask two minutes of clarifying questions, and then I had to zip it for the next six minutes. These individuals that I I don't know very well at all, some of them I had never even met at this point. They absolutely went in and talked about me like this freaking guy, he thinks he has this, and and they went through and they dude, they solved my challenge. It was the power of them coming together as a group. Brian Lubin shys that it's called something about shadow solving. I he had a name for it that I was like I'd never heard of, but basically, my blind spot I got to give to the group, and then the group got to break it down in the most simple form, and then the last so their six minutes is over.

Michael Russell 38:32

The last two wait, what what was your blind spot? What was it? Oh boy, come on, man!

Nathan St Cyr 38:39

Like okay, and part of this part of this is being vulnerable, right? So my blind spot was I shared with the group that I was missing my my my W-2. And that that I was missing my W-2, and that my passion and joy that I had been experiencing in the beginning of us growing our company was was had been being sucked out of me. And then they asked all of the clarifying questions. So I'm like, so my and I'm a passion person, right? Like, if I'm not passionate, then I'm not in my power. Like that for me, like, well, what freaking good am I if I'm not freaking passionate? It affects my vision, it affects my leadership, like all of the things that are deeply meaningful to me. If I don't have passion, it's just like, okay, well, that that's my superpower.

Michael Russell 39:31

So you're saying you're saying you're missing your W 2 because you're you like leadership, and the just day to day minutiae of like running a business is is was wearing you out.

Nathan St Cyr 39:44

Well, so they dug into well, what is it? Not the day to day of running a business, then they dug into the specifics, the clarifying questions. Well, what is it about your W 2 that you miss? And I'm like, changing people's lives. I mean, that's really what it comes down to, like. The thing, the thing that gives me life is if I'm able to contribute to someone, and when they walk away, what they gained from that time with me helped them in some way move forward. Right. And that gives me life. Like, that's my purpose. It's my passion and purpose. And so they're like, Well, wait a minute, time out here, bro. They're like, okay, so you're missing that. Well, why are you not getting that right now? And they started listing all of the things that we're doing and what we're building and how all of this stuff and the team. And they're like, what are you currently spending your time on? And I'm like, well, we've moved into moved back into acquisitions. And so, you know, I'm talking to brokers and I'm underwriting spreadsheets, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I'm sitting in the off in my own home office. It's beautiful. It's on Maui. It's got the most exceptional view. But at the same time, I'm not, I'm not, it's not with people. I'm not inspiring, motivated. I'm not, none of that stuff is there. And boom, dude, within freaking minutes, they cleared that shit out. And they're like, bro, the stuff that you're doing, and it's the same thing that I went into the weekend with. I went into the weekend saying I need to find the who's to move our company forward. But really, it was more clarifying than that. I needed to find the who's to do the things that were sucking the joy from me. That they actually, those who people get energy from that. They get energy from freaking finding deals and they get paid for it, right? It's like they're like, I was missing the point. So anyway, that was my blind spot.

Michael Russell 41:38

And hold on, I want to I want to press into this. So what you've described is you went to this conference and you had to get vulnerable. You got in a workshop, and each person shared what they were talking about. And then they essentially like kind of were critical. They they criticized you, maybe not like maybe it was positive criticism, but they they were critical of what you were doing. And they basically exposed you. And and I think what the real value in that exercise was, is you had to really you had to face what was really going on. And until someone calls you out on something, sometimes you'll just bury it, right? You know it's there subliminally, maybe even tangibly, you know it's there, but you you just don't have to face it because it's just something you deal with internally. But when you're in a group setting in that workshop, this specific workshop was pressing you to be vulnerable about what's holding you back. It forced it out of you. And then where you know that pain came, there's there's there's growth thereafter. And now to go back to the beginning of what you were describing, your experiences, you're on fire, right? You had to go through that pain, but that wouldn't have occurred if you didn't have that group setting. And so I think that there's a really valuable lesson there. I just I just wanted to take the time to interpret that and identify that.

Nathan St Cyr 42:52

Yeah, and I one of the cool things about how strategically that group session was done, you know, they asked, I was on a call and they asked for some feedback. And, you know, Brian, Brian Lubin said, We do that because I I was exhausted. At this point, it was a it was like they had a so freaking pact with with like, dude, I was absolutely exhausted. And so this was like a day and a half into it's the most exhausting point, and then you break. And he said that they do that very intentionally at that point when they know people are like they've kind of had enough because now their fight's gone, their walls are gone, right? I'm no longer, I don't have the energy to put up this freaking front anymore. Like I'm fucking done. Like I'm out. So in that space, when you're out, that's when it almost forced me to be vulnerable. I didn't have to pretend it was like this is who, you know. So I thought that that was really cool. Now, if I can, if the the nugget for me there is, man, if I could do that without having to, if I can just recognize and learn from this that I don't have to get to my very bottom to be able to be vulnerable and to be able to share where I'm at, that was a huge takeaway for me. It doesn't need to be that strategic. I can just recognize, dude, let it let everything down, express it's okay, be vulnerable.

Michael Russell 44:22

Dude, that's really powerful. I think that this is an important point I want to make. I'm listening to what you're saying, and I'm going through this cycle of progression. You're my my son is into science right now, he's in kindergarten, and so he's learning about butterflies. This might not be the best analogy, but I can't help but think of it. You went through this metamorphosis, right? You went from being into this cocoon insular, holding all these internal stuff, and then through this process, you blossomed and then off you go, and you're flying like a butterfly. But I think to start what a lot of people probably, because I myself, I want to just I want to I want to acknowledge something that I've gone through when thinking about going to a conference like this. You use the word vulnerable, but what I had a real challenge with originally when I before I went to my first you know meetup or summit, I was nervous as heck because I'm not, you know, I so I I have like insecurities about being social. Maybe, you know, I feel like I'm socially awkward sometimes. And so the idea of going and immersing myself for a few days with complete strangers, like I kept thinking, like, what am I gonna talk about? Like, what are they gonna think of me? Are they gonna judge me? Like, am I gonna be up to like the standard of like where they're at in life? And like, you just have all these feelings of self-doubt and concerns. And so going into a meeting like this, it's it's interesting to watch the metamorphosis occur where you go into with these these fears and these doubts and these concerns, and then after a few days, you you blossom into this, for lack of a better example, butterfly. But I think that there is a there is a there is a singular thing that I can identify that occurs across all of these different conferences, no matter what they're about, is when you go to a conference, you're going because it's something that is typically, you know, you have a passion for. There's there's some sort of interest that you have on why you're going. And more often than not, the other people that are going to these conferences share that same interest. And that's an important distinction because look, when I go to a social event, you know, like if my my wife were to drag me to an event where I don't know anyone, and you know, I have to, you know, small talk with someone who I don't know, and it's like, where's this conversation going? And eventually a lot of times it just kind of dead ends, and it's like, oh, awkward. Okay, I'm gonna get a drink, you know. Like I freaking hate that, dude. Those that's so difficult. But when you're at an event like this, the reason why I believe there's such this high-five vibe where people just freaking gel and get along is because everyone has something in common. They're all there typically for the same purpose, right? Whether it's a real estate investment conference or business boot camp or whatever it is, you're there and you all have that common denominator. You have something to talk about. And that and that's only important from the sake of like it at least gives you the ability to have a conversation. That's the starting point. But then ultimately, what these events do, I feel like, which is really helpful, is they put you in situations whether it's more intense, like what you just described, where you're in like a huddle, or it's something a little more casual where you just break bread with people and you sit down at the dinner table or the breakfast table, and you just you can be at ease and you can have a conversation. And I think that this is a really important point because look, you can network on LinkedIn and social media and whatnot, but when you sit down and you have a meal with someone, or you get vulnerable in a huddle like that, dude, you just brings down the barriers, your own barriers and theirs. And that's where the magic happens. That's where you really make these connections. And then those connections carry on long after the event. And so for me, I just want to communicate that if you're thinking, like, gosh, going to an event, it sounds great in theory, but man, I'm I'm fearful or insecure about like putting myself in a vulnerable position where either I have to be social, I'm not, I don't feel I'm good at it, or I don't want to talk about things that you know are troubling me. When you get there, you'll find everyone's in the same boat. And it's just so much easier at these specific conferences because of that commonality.

Nathan St Cyr 48:22

Bro, you I just had listening to you, I just had the light bulb. Like I didn't never thought of it that way. Like, and you're exactly right. Like we're we're already all connected, and here's the only difference. We are all there aligned with the same vision. Like, we're all like in this case, in this scenario, we're all there for financial and time freedom, right? That's that's that's why we're at this event, is so that we can progress to become financially free and have be able to spend our time um the way that we want to spend our time. And the only difference is where people are at in that journey. But here's here's the reality it doesn't matter where you're at in that journey, because if you're talking to someone that's further along, they were once at where you are. Even if you're just starting, even if it's your first conference, even if it's the first time that you're even considering doing something, everybody started this journey with the thought of, I wanna be, right? And and then so it's just where you're at at different parts. So even the person that's way further ahead, they'll be able to look at you and be like, man, I was there, and they're connected to you just like that. You're the same. Yeah, light bulb. So really light bulb, all right.

Michael Russell 49:41

Cool. Well, I wanna um I wanna kind of wrap this up. Let's land this bad boy because I want to be you know conscious of the time. But there was one additional conference that I went to, and since this is a boutique hot, or since this is a hotel investing podcast, I think it's important to just articulate okay, what did I learn? I went to a boutique hotel hotel investing conference specifically, and what were some of the key takeaways? And so I'm gonna pivot a little bit. I'm gonna say something that might be a little bit more controversial. So I went to this hotel investing event with the expectation that I was gonna learn something, and you know what? I I did learn a few things, but I I was kidding when I when I told Nathan earlier, I said I didn't learn anything. And and but there is some truth to this. I went to this event, and let me explain what I mean by this. When you go to these events, there's only so much time that a speaker can get up on the stage and and talk, and usually it's 30 minutes, it's not usually longer than that, and there's not only so much that someone can articulate in that short of a period of time. And so, although the events like depends on what event you're going to, I don't want to generalize. I'm just gonna say specifically this one. I felt like I didn't necessarily learn anything that was like something I didn't already know before because a lot of these speakers are already providing education on um, you know, on YouTube or whatever, you know, on their website or social media in general. And so a lot of this stuff you can go down the rabbit hole and learn a lot more detailed information. But I don't I don't want to say this like that the event wasn't valuable. It would just tremendous value, but I'm only bringing this up because I want to shed light on the fact that if you're going to an event with the specific intention that like I am investing this money because I need specific, like tangible, practical, applicable stuff. It doesn't always work that way. And so to kind of temper expectations, I still feel hey, it was well worth the money. And given the opportunity, I would definitely do it again. In fact, they should probably be charging a little bit more than they they charge, but the value was not in my mind, specifically just the information from a speaker on the stage. It was again all those moments where you're sitting down, you're breaking bread with people, and you're having real conversations where you're making connections. And so for me, you know, is is the are these conferences worth it? Are they worth price admission? Absolutely. And not to say that they there can't be actionable items that you take away from it from speakers and whatnot, but but just know that if you don't get that, that you're gonna get tenfold value in the relationships that you that you acquire, that you build.

Nathan St Cyr 52:21

Okay, that's it's great feedback. Can I ask a question?

Michael Russell 52:24

Yeah.

Nathan St Cyr 52:25

So you're you're sharing that information about this because it was you know really revolved around hotel investing, which is our business, right? Like we've we've done a bunch of shit. Yeah. So so are you speaking what you're speaking of that from where you're currently at in your journey? Had you have been, do you feel like if you had been in the beginning of your journey with kind of just like this thought of man, this is something that maybe I want to do? I think I want to do this. I want to go get around people that have done this. Do you feel like it you would have maybe had a different takeaway?

Michael Russell 53:05

Yeah, to be a point. Obviously, I'm looking at this from my personal lens. And, you know, so things that were presented, quite frankly, I kind of already we we know we've done this. We're we already have two properties, we're running, you know, an organization, we're growing our organization. So it wasn't like for me at this stage in my journey that I was like, wow, I need more information about how to buy hotels or how to you know operate them. But to your point, sure, maybe there are some folks that are just starting out on their journey, and from that perspective, they were able to really soak things up like a sponge. So I I guess you know, maybe I was playing devil's advocate or just providing a little different perspective, but but I we are in some sense, you know, we have a unique perspective because we're already in the game, we're already operating. So, yes, I I would say that there was enough information shared, but also not enough to really go and and and start deploying it all. It was almost just like there's just not enough time for the speakers, at least in this particular event. And that's just the consequence of having a you know a one-day workshop type thing where you just can't get it. But I don't think that was the point. I think that there was a lot more, like, I'll give you an example. Mike Shogren was there. And Mike Shogun, I have the utmost respect for. He really inspired me. And I follow him on social media, and he just gives away so much, so much for free. There's constant content that he's just offering for free. Now he has a business, he has a mastermind of sorts, and and you know, great, it's on short term rental investing, and you know, you could go find that out. But he does a great job with that. But for me, none of that stuff mattered because what really I the takeaway was he was really inspirational and mindset, and that's what he spoke about. So in his specific presentation, he wasn't talking necessarily about like the the practical things, like the the the actual items you need to do. It was more like, hey, get your head wrapped around what you're capable of. Uh, he gave this framework, he had like a bar chart where it showed like from the time you're born until the time you die. And he said, like, where do you fall on this scale? And because it was visual, I was like, Oh, I'm past the halfway mark. It was like, holy shit, like, I gotta get going, you know, inspire me. The way he did it was really inspirational, but it was like visually him up on stage showing that that's nothing to do with hotel investing. That wasn't like, here's how you buy a hotel. It was like, dude, mindset. So for me, I guess I'm just articulating that you know, the con of this is if you're going and you're expecting those exact actionable things to do, it doesn't always work out that way.

Nathan St Cyr 55:35

Okay, so can I give you a takeaway from what you just said for you and me? So that as we move forward, we got to get you in the room with we got to elevate your room.

Michael Russell 55:47

Yeah.

Nathan St Cyr 55:48

No, I mean it, right? I I rat I want you to go and be the guy in the room that has never that is is these people are so far above you, right? To stretch you and to stretch where you're going. But hey, look, anytime you go to a conference, I think I think that is one thing you want to look at is hey, where am I at my journey? What am I wanting to get out of this? It was worth it for you no matter what, because of the connections, the relationships. But as far as some of the tangible learning stuff, if you want to tangibly learn more, then we got to elevate the type of you know, the type of workshop that we put you in. Yep.

Michael Russell 56:24

Which costs more money, but again, it's all relative, right? So all relative, baby. Cool. All right, awesome.

Nathan St Cyr 56:31

So is that the pod? That's it, baby. I think that we end on that, baby. Elevate. Let's go. All right.

Michael Russell 56:39

Okay, guys, if you like this episode, please give us a like. Make sure to follow us, share this podcast with others. Really means a lot to us. Thank you, and aloha.