Last week marked the end of our third round of Keystone Retreats, which are small-group learning experiences for short term rental professionals (new but still ugly website here) and I’d like to share one of my favorite takeaways.
"No Matter What Happens, You Can Always Pick Up And Move To France"
We hosted this particular retreat at Spring Lakes Ranch which used to be a drug rehab facility.
When they learned the facility (where their own daughter had been checked in) would be shutting down, the new owners bought the property and turned it into a vacation rental ranch: 3 large homes, 1200 acres, goats, longhorn bulls, and some 20 lakes stocked to the brim with bass.
I looked up the word recovery and one definition is to regain possession of something stolen or lost. On reflection, all attendees regained a connection with nature during their visit: many regained a connection with themselves. How cool for a vacation rental property to foster something so deep!
Each Keystone Retreat has a theme and this one was: inventing vs. reinventing.
Inventing requires a unique style of opportunism, vision, and problem-solving and it is where many STR professionals shine. Inventing a job or a business concept or even an empire was the name of the game for the last 20 years. So many of our members are inventor extraordinaires!
But eventually, markets saturate, businesses change, people grow, disruption happens and a kind of REINVENTING is required. And for even the most experienced of inventors, reinvention is scary and uncertain. Reinvention requires letting go and taking new risks, which feels extra dangerous because you’re potentially sacrificing your invention.
My big takeaway from these retreats was that when entering that unknown, there's no better feeling than surrounding yourself with people that you admire. This could be your local STR alliance, a peer group, or an industry-specific event like the one we host. Here's a full list.
But be forewarned: community doesn't solve problems or predict the future..it simply makes the adventure deeper and more meaningful for everyone involved. It makes taking the risk of venturing somewhere new more enjoyable.
"No matter what happens, you can always pick up and move to France."
In one of our sessions
Jeff_I from HostGPO shared this advice from his grade school teacher as a way of approaching new life changes.
Put another way, what's the worst that could happen? It's worth taking some time and answering this question ahead of any invention or reinvention: the actual obstacles that many of us share are, upon investigation, not nearly as daunting as they originally seem.
Did you attend one of these retreats?
Please share your takeaway below!
"No Matter What Happens, You Can Always Pick Up And Move To France"
We hosted this particular retreat at Spring Lakes Ranch which used to be a drug rehab facility.
When they learned the facility (where their own daughter had been checked in) would be shutting down, the new owners bought the property and turned it into a vacation rental ranch: 3 large homes, 1200 acres, goats, longhorn bulls, and some 20 lakes stocked to the brim with bass.
I looked up the word recovery and one definition is to regain possession of something stolen or lost. On reflection, all attendees regained a connection with nature during their visit: many regained a connection with themselves. How cool for a vacation rental property to foster something so deep!
Each Keystone Retreat has a theme and this one was: inventing vs. reinventing.
Inventing requires a unique style of opportunism, vision, and problem-solving and it is where many STR professionals shine. Inventing a job or a business concept or even an empire was the name of the game for the last 20 years. So many of our members are inventor extraordinaires!
But eventually, markets saturate, businesses change, people grow, disruption happens and a kind of REINVENTING is required. And for even the most experienced of inventors, reinvention is scary and uncertain. Reinvention requires letting go and taking new risks, which feels extra dangerous because you’re potentially sacrificing your invention.
My big takeaway from these retreats was that when entering that unknown, there's no better feeling than surrounding yourself with people that you admire. This could be your local STR alliance, a peer group, or an industry-specific event like the one we host. Here's a full list.
But be forewarned: community doesn't solve problems or predict the future..it simply makes the adventure deeper and more meaningful for everyone involved. It makes taking the risk of venturing somewhere new more enjoyable.
"No matter what happens, you can always pick up and move to France."
In one of our sessions
Jeff_I from HostGPO shared this advice from his grade school teacher as a way of approaching new life changes.Put another way, what's the worst that could happen? It's worth taking some time and answering this question ahead of any invention or reinvention: the actual obstacles that many of us share are, upon investigation, not nearly as daunting as they originally seem.
Did you attend one of these retreats?
Please share your takeaway below!
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