Investing in Airbnbs to Achieve Financial Freedom at 27 with Michael Elefante Episode #161

GUEST SUMMARY This week in the lab we have a short term rental a.k.a airbnb specialist & social media creator & influencer who has been able to achieve financial freedom at a very young age. Michael achieved financial freedom at the age of 27 and hung his corporate hat at 28 all through the power of utilizing airbnbs as a means to achieve such a respectable feat without owning 1,000, 100 or even 10 properties at the time of this recording. Mike does this in one of the most humbling ways by teaching others online on his many platforms — from his courses to all his free content on social media that have received millions of views collectively. As a short term rental operator & educator, Mike has built & executed systems so effectively be able to afford the freedom to travel across the world with his wife. Mike has done this in a unique way, while some investors are busy accumulating hundreds or even thousands of units in their real estate portfolios, Mike is able to achieve more with less, including months that exceed $50,000 in cash flow with less than half a dozen properties to date. But being able to generate five figure months in cash flow wasn't easy. Mike displays these tips and hacks to his growing community and to his followers by educating them with methods and tools that will save them time from doing it the hard way as he did in the beginning of his young journey. He delivers his systematized lean models & techniques on social media with full transparency making him one of the largest real estate social media influencers in the space while reaching and engaging thousands of his followers across the world. In this episode, Micheal stayed on brand and continued to over-deliver in the lab once again on the deep topic of short-term rentals, from finding and knowing your niche, to leveraging social media, to branding, to picking the right systems, to scaling the business to feeding the Airbnb algorithm, the list goes on and on. As the constant learner and educator that he is, you’ll have to make sure you keep your notepads out for this one! Let’s Build! HIGHLIGHTS OF THE EPISODE: 02:40 - Knowledge is power 04:38 - Social media content 06:48 - Background of the guest 09:21 - Introduced to Short Term Rentals KEEPING IT REAL: 15:33 - Finding/Knowing your niche 17:34 - Investing something that increases your ROI 20:27 - Creating moments - (photo and video memories) 24:29 - Leveraging platforms to get booking 27:47 - Direct booking 29:25 - Airbnb Insurance Policy 35:16 - Overcoming Risks (Gas Leak) 38:10 - Right systems to scale the business 44:21 - Avoiding spending too much time 50:03 - End goal - Online Education 54:43 - Increasing occupancy rate 59:29 - Boosting your Airbnb search results 1:04:00 - Receiving good reviews from guests 1:07:54 - Toggle auto book on and off 1:10:08 - STR vs Vacation Rentals 1:11:11 - Why Vacation Rentals is better? 1:14:15 - Favorite Book - Cashflow Quadrants 1:18:15 - Connect more about the guest CONNECTING WITH THE GUEST Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@melefante6 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melefante6/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMEeFhOETOsVm65fh1rKhEQ