Welcome to another Ask Me Anything (Ask Us Anything?) episode! Each week we’ll answer your questions on STR, real estate, OTAs, and everything in between.

Holly asks:

Should I take on a partnership? How do I know if partnering up is the right move for my business, and once I decide, how do I know I’ve found the right partner?

Thanks to everyone who submitted questions. To hear your voice on the show and send a question to Sarah & Annette, visit Speakpipe.com/ThanksforvisitingAMA

Thanks for Visiting is produced by Crate Media.

Mentioned in this episode:

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[00:00:05] You are listening to the Thanks for Visiting podcast. We believe hosting with heart is at the core of every short-term rental. With Annette's background in business operation--

[00:00:14] And Sarah's extensive hospitality management and interior design experience, we have welcomed thousands of guests from over 30 countries, earning us over a million dollars and garnering us thousands of five-star reviews. We love sharing creative ways for your listing to stand out, serve your guests and be profitable. Each episode, we will have knowledgeable guests who bring value to the short-term rental industry--

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[00:01:01] Hello, listeners and viewers, welcome back for another great episode. My name is Sarah Karakaian.

[00:01:06] I'm Annette Grant, and together we are--

[00:01:09] Thanks for Visiting.

[00:01:09] We've got an AMA episode for you, Ask Me Anything. If you want your question asked, go to thanksforvisiting.me. In the upper right-hand corner is a red button that says ask--

[00:01:18] Big red button.

[00:01:19] Ask TFV and you record your voice and we will put it here on the podcast and we will answer your question if we're excited to answer it. So with that, we actually have Holly, who is a member of HBM, and she actually does have some group coaching opportunities. But we really love this question that she submitted. She submitted it too, but we're going to answer this one because we thought this would be great for all of you listeners out there to hear the discussion around it. Here we go.

[00:01:47] Sarah and Annette, it's Holly with another question on a totally different topic. I have, again, eco-friendly rentals. And as I said, it was just amazing to meet you. But the second question is, as I look at my business, do I take on a partnership? There's just so many questions. A lot of people are very anti partnerships that I'm finding. And so I'm just wondering, I keep hearing your old story that you met at City Hall and now three years later, you have this amazing business. But I would love if you have a podcast to forward that on to me or to do a podcast on your old story of what it took to really dial down. How many meetings did you have to find out if you would be good partners? I know that you mentioned at one point you met with your lawyer and really walked through some questions for that to outline the partnership, what if this happens versus that happens? But yeah, I would just love to hear a more full story of how you all went about creating this amazing relationship and pointers for those of us that are considering it. Thank you so much.

[00:02:52] Annette get real woo woo on everyone really quick. And I don't do woo woo. You can ask Annette.

[00:02:56] Yeah, I'm like, what are you going to say?

[00:02:59] I will never forget how many times before I met you that I put it out there, that I wanted someone to come into my life who I could just sink my teeth into something and nod out on it and be consistent with it and just have fun, but just work really hard at this thing. I didn't know what it was, I didn't know who it was, but I just knew--

[00:03:23] You manifested it.

[00:03:24] I think I did.

[00:03:26] By the way, Holly, it was wonderful to meet you in person. We had a chance to meet some of our lovely members in Dallas, Texas. You all know who you are. It was a lovely dinner out, and we can't wait to see everyone in Las Vegas. If you haven't had a chance to buy your ticket, buy your ticket, come hang out with us. But let's talk about this amazing question that Holly asked. And it's funny, Sarah and I get this question a lot. They're like, "How did you guys meet? How did your partner?" And they're like, "Do you fight?" And I'm like, "That's such an interesting question." I'm like, "I don't think we're going to answer it."

[00:03:58] The answer always is though you always say, like, she might fight with me in her head.

[00:04:01] Sarah might fight with me in her head, but I don't know about it. Here's a deal. Here's two really important things. Number one is exactly what you said, Holly. We have a partnership agreement. We do have everything down on paper. We have if things were to go astray, what would happen and what those votes would look like. And I think just that document alone makes us feel really solid.

[00:04:25] And let's be real honest about that document real quick. We have to look at the date. It is 2022. I bet you we create that document in 2021, beginning of '21, which means-- and all I'm saying to you listeners is--

[00:04:38] We didn't know it the second day we met.

[00:04:39] No, no. So we started the podcast-- and we can share that story in just a moment. But we started the podcast. We didn't have the grandiose plans of growing it to where we now want to take it to. We just knew we wanted to get together and talk about this topic that we love.

[00:04:54] And help more hosts.

[00:04:56] And we felt that traction happening and then we're like, "You know what? You should put this--" It was almost like, you know what? Do you want to get married is what it was, but business marriage.

[00:05:05] And we also did a personality test predictive index. And that has been really lovely to understand each other. But what Sarah said at the beginning is like both of us were just-- I can be completely honest. I am not a loner. I'm not a solopreneur. That just doesn't get me fired up. I've always been like I played sports, I was in the band, and I've always been a part of a quote-unquote "team." I've always loved working with other people. And so that's one of those things, know thyself. And so if you are someone that is not going to be able to work with other people, don't work with other people. I have heard horror stories there, but I am very much a team player and also when I have accountability, not that I'm not accountable to myself, but when Sarah and I say we're going to do something, we do it. That is just our personalities. But really we come back to our goals all the time. We write stuff down. Another thing is we have had some sort of mentor or coach pretty much since the beginning. Very soon after we got together, we decided to invest in ourselves and equally invest in our business. And so I will say that has been something that has been great for us, is we have been even Stevens. If there was ever an investment, Sarah made an equal investment, I made an equal investment. Because I will tell you, I have been a part of organizations where there was more of a financial investment in one partner than the other, and it was lopsided. I'm not going to lie about that. So that's one thing about our relationship in our business is we've been very equal in time and money. And so that has helped keep things equal. But man, what Sarah said is like just getting out there and meeting people and talking to them through the partnership, having those meetings about what you want to do and what you want to achieve are very, very important.

[00:07:05] And I remember not playing quote-unquote, I'm like parlay this to a relationship you have with a spouse or a life partner, but to give you a little about our story. So I moved to Columbus, Ohio. I didn't know one soul except for a girl I met on Instagram. Her name is Catherine. Catherine is also a short-term rental host, and I just was like, this girl, she gets my life. But Catherine had other things going on and just other plans, and I really didn't know anybody. And I wanted someone who was also in the same part of life with me who was ready to pivot in some way, shape, or form. I think Catherine had the wherewithal of being like, you know what? This girl Annette would be a good match for you because you were also pivoting in your life at that time. So that was this really nice synergy. And so when Annette sat down next to me at City Council meeting very on purpose, she knew who I was before I knew she was.

[00:08:01] I did. I stalked Sarah on Instagram.

[00:08:03] But I will say when you sat down next to me and you gave me your business card and then listen, everybody, I emailed her when I got home. She did not email me back for what felt like months because I was like, is this girl awesome?

[00:08:15] And by the way, that's why I have a virtual assistant that helps me with my emails now so I can stay on top of them, just checking.

[00:08:19] But she didn't get back to us. I remember telling Nick-- we were living in our RV, an RV park in Columbus, Ohio, because that's where I was at that point in my life. That's another story. And I was like, "This girl won't email me back." And so I remember following up. I forget how he finally did, but it wasn't right away.

[00:08:36] No, I asked you to be on my podcast.

[00:08:38] I know, but we had to actually meet up for you to ask me that.

[00:08:42] I don't know.

[00:08:42] I think I just emailed you again. I don't know. But I didn't rest until I got a hold of it. I just had this feeling. But we didn't have this big business plan when we first met. We did dream, though.

[00:08:53] Yeah, but my other encouraging thing for everybody is don't overthink it also. You can always pivot if things don't work out. Once you have that plan, there's a way to always dissolve any relationship. I think everybody knows that. So also don't be so fearful that there's going to be this horror story that you don't lean in and try something. So listen, if you're buying a house from somebody, you can always sell the house. You can always buy them out. Listen, there are options. So I do want to suggest don't overthink it. Go into a partnership. If things go south, it's just part of-- it's life. It's learning and you can move forward with it. And so I'm just a firm believer in that. I've had a lot of things. I'm like, oh, this is going to be forever. Wrong. And so I don't fear them as much anymore. It's just time to pivot, move on to the next thing.

[00:09:39] Well, like you said, Holly was like there's a lot of people who say, don't do partnerships. And honestly, there is no rules in life like that. That would be like saying like, don't do this. Don't have kids, have kids, marry. You got to do you. And I think you said, know thyself. Something that we did do very early on, this was a you call, Annette, which I appreciate was the personality test because we saw right off the bat that we were incredibly compatible in terms of our work ethic. We weren't the same person. You were the ying to my yang and we got very excited about that. And, Annette, it took me a while to learn. I'm not going to lie. I wanted to make sure that-- she was my only friend in Columbus at the time and I wanted to make sure that I was because I can-- I have a very strong personality control freak. But I wanted to be a good podcast partner to Annette. And so I knew that I had to check myself. But knowing my personality and then knowing Annette's personality and knowing how those personalities can thrive, but also how they could fall apart, I did a lot of work on myself whenever my mouth or did something that I was thinking about Annette too, not just me.

[00:10:43] And I think that's the other important part too, is sometimes you don't want to partner with someone that's just like you because you've got to make sure that there's different strengths because that's going to help you excel also. I know there's actually a couple of different listeners that have asked us specifically about partnership and really just-- and be open and honest also. But man, it's so much fun to have success with someone. I want to share in all of that. I don't want to do life by myself in that respect. So it's just fun to be able to share that.

[00:11:12] If you do-- I'll never forget-- I don't know if you listeners because a lot of you like short-term rentals you also might marketing, you listen Amy Porterfield, I love her podcast, but I'll never forget the day that she was like-- because she likes doing it by-- she is the only person in terms of who's making decisions in her business. And I remember one day she said that. She was like, I cannot work in partnership with someone else. So she's got a team and I'm sure her she's a great--

[00:11:35] But she started with a partner.

[00:11:37] She did, and it didn't go well.

[00:11:38] I know, but that's what I'm saying. I think no matter what, start whatever you want to do with a partner, without a partner because you never know what's next. You've got to get started.

[00:11:45] You've got to do it. And take risks. Be calculated. Do some things to see if you can make the best decision possible. But you're never going to know until you do it.

[00:11:54] And move fast, know you're going to make failures, and just have that pact with your partner and have fun.

[00:11:58] I hope that answers the question. Holly, that was another long one, kind of. But especially in real estate that can happen because it's an expensive investment, especially short-term rentals. But like Annette said, it's like have that operating agreement black and white in place, ask the uncomfortable questions, get them written down. And if the uncomfortable questions already make things weird, you don't want to be in a partnership with them anyway, so don't be afraid. All right. Anything else you want to add?

[00:12:25] That's it. Thanks, Holly. We appreciate you.

[00:12:27] Good question. I am Sarah Karakaian.

[00:12:29] I'm Annette Grant, and together we are--

[00:12:30] Thanks for Visiting.