15/10/2026
I honestly thought I'd struck gold. And in a way, I had. 🏡
A few years ago, I found myself feeling trapped in a business I'd worked incredibly hard to build.
We had a successful trades business, thousands of customers and a team of guys out doing the work.
But there was something about the business model that was driving me nuts.
If the guys didn't turn up for work, the jobs didn't get done, our customers weren't served and they were left disappointed.
And of course, we didn't make money either.
The more I thought about it, the more I realised I'd built a business that was heavily dependent on other people's hours.
I knew something had to change.
So I went back to the schoolbooks.
I started studying different business models, particularly those that used the internet to generate income without being completely dependent on labour.
I became fascinated with leverage.
How could I use capital, technology and systems to build something that didn't require me to keep adding more people and more hours to grow?
Through a mentor in the USA, who was a marketer like me and exploring ways to make money online, I discovered something called Rental Arbitrage.
Essentially, you lease a property, with the owner's permission and operate it as short-stay accommodation.
You don't have to own the property.
You create the accommodation business around it.
Well, you can imagine what happened in my head!
PROPERTY + MARKETING + HOSPITALITY.
Three things I absolutely loved.
It felt like I'd hit the jackpot.
Property was already in my blood. I'd spent time buying, renovating and finding ways to make properties work.
Marketing? I'd built businesses around it.
And hospitality? I loved the idea of creating beautiful spaces and experiences that people would happily pay for.
Suddenly, everything I'd learned over the years seemed to fit together.
The more I studied, the more excited I became.
There was just one small problem.
I didn't know anyone locally who was doing it.
No one I could ring up and ask how it worked in New Zealand.
No local blueprint to follow.
And plenty of reasons why it might not work.
But I couldn't shake the idea.
So I made a decision.
I was going all in.
In February 2024, I secured my first apartment at 2/391 Victoria Street in Hamilton.
I called it the Remarkable.
My firstborn in the short-stay world. ❤️
It was a two-bedroom apartment that had rents for $575 per week.
That's $29,900 a year.
Before committing, I'd researched the market using AirDNA, which estimated the apartment could generate around $55,900 annually as short-stay accommodation, based on 66% occupancy.
Interesting numbers. But forecasts are one thing. Actually making it happen is another.
We upgraded the furnishings and appliances, thought carefully about how the apartment would be presented, created the Airbnb listings and got to work.
And here's where my marketing brain really kicked in.
Rather than offering the apartment in just one configuration, I created two different products.
The Remarkable is the full two-bedroom apartment. And the Aspiring is a one-bedroom option for guests who didn't need the extra space.
Same property. Different guests. Different ways to market it.
And it worked.
The first six months delivered approximately 89% occupancy, and the annualised accommodation revenue reached approximately $64,850.
More than double the property's previous annual long-term rental revenue.
Now that's revenue, not profit. There are furnishing costs, rent, cleaning, utilities, platform fees, maintenance and all the other expenses of operating an accommodation business.
But I'd proved something to myself.
I didn't have to own a property to create a business around it.
And I didn't have to keep doing things the way I'd always done them.
Was it easy? Absolutely not.
There were systems to learn, guests to look after, cleaners to coordinate, pricing decisions, mistakes, surprises and more than a few late nights!
But I was learning something completely different.
Instead of selling hours, I was building an accommodation product that could be discovered and booked online, even while I was asleep.
And that first apartment changed the direction of my business life.
What started as one experiment has grown into operating multiple short-stay properties, building a team, understanding the numbers behind accommodation businesses and exploring entirely different ways people can participate in property.
Which brings me to something I've been working on recently.
==> What if there isn't just ONE way to get involved in property?
==> What if the question isn't simply, "Can I afford to buy an investment property?"
But rather...
==> How much money, time and personal involvement do I actually want to bring?"
Because I've now developed 4 different pathways for people who want to explore working with me in the property and short-stay accommodation space.
Some involve capital. Some involve building a business. Some are hands-on. Others don't require you to operate accommodation at all.
Each has different responsibilities, risks and opportunities.
And that's what excites me most.
Looking back, I thought I'd discovered a new business model.
What I'd really discovered was a completely different way of looking at property.
And it all started because I was frustrated enough to question the business model I was already in.
I'm curious...
Have you ever reached a point where you knew something had to change, even though you had absolutely no idea what the next chapter would look like?
