How Renovating Motels On Netflix Changed These Entrepreneurs Lives

[00:00:00] Welcome to the Canadian Real Estate Investor, where hosts Daniel Foch and Nick Hill navigate

[00:00:06] the market and provide the tools and insights to build your real estate portfolio.

[00:00:13] The Canadian Real Estate Investor podcast, welcome back and thank you very much for tuning

[00:00:17] in. We appreciate each and every one of you very, very, very much for giving us a listen.

[00:00:22] You've helped us grow this show immensely. And today we have a special episode because

[00:00:26] we are joined by two amazing guests, perhaps even more amazing than myself and Nick. Actually,

[00:00:32] certainly more amazing than myself and Nick.

[00:00:35] Daniel Foch Yeah, I mean, I had a really great time interviewing

[00:00:40] these two. I think we were just smiling almost the whole time. And you know, Dan, you and

[00:00:44] I don't have a lot of guests on the show. It's just not the way we do things here

[00:00:50] at the podcast. But when we are presented with the opportunity to interview people such

[00:00:56] as these, it's hard to say no. And this episode has so many great lessons and takeaways from

[00:01:06] these two entrepreneurs about entrepreneurship and about taking risk and taking that leap

[00:01:13] to leave your job and try something new.

[00:01:16] Nick Hill Yeah, we haven't had a lot of guests on

[00:01:18] the show, but we've been presented with a lot of really good opportunities that add

[00:01:21] a lot of value to our audience. Just for context, like we get hundreds of people asking us to

[00:01:28] come on the show just so you're aware. Like I mean, we have it's Canada's number one real

[00:01:32] estate podcast, people who are in real estate who want to have access to our audience want

[00:01:36] to be on the show. We're very selective about who comes on the show. We want to

[00:01:40] drive a ton of value for the show. We want the show to grow. That's truthfully,

[00:01:44] we're a little bit selfish in that regard. But we all but we also want our audience

[00:01:50] and the easiest way for a show to grow. Guess what? This is this is crazy. Make it a good show.

[00:01:56] Yeah, yeah. So when we have so when we have the opportunity to do that, we never pass it up.

[00:02:03] So in this episode, we talk about this is actually one of my favorite discussions,

[00:02:07] the part where we talk about friendship and kind of navigating the waters of going into

[00:02:11] business with a friend and navigating partnerships. The idea of good contracts,

[00:02:15] make good friends. We talk about strategically.

[00:02:18] Yeah, not you and I. Not at all. I don't know. I'm still waiting on the shotgun clause lawyer

[00:02:24] document I sent you over there, Nick. Yeah, I'll check with my people yet.

[00:02:28] We talk about strategically using social media to build their business, which I think is really

[00:02:32] going to be a fascinating one for real estate professionals in our audience. And of course,

[00:02:36] we look at building a business in real estate and how it caught the attention of a little tech

[00:02:41] company. Do you call Netflix a tech company? A little media company known as Netflix?

[00:02:47] Media streaming, I was going to say. Yeah, I don't know. Not. Yeah. Anyway, little is an

[00:02:52] ironic thing. Nick wrote these notes. So he's more clever than I am. And and how being on Netflix

[00:02:58] has changed the trajectory of their lives, their businesses and what's next for these

[00:03:03] very impressive. This is a new newly termed coin motel. Ease.

[00:03:09] Ooh, it's got a nice ring to it. I wonder if they can guess who it is now.

[00:03:13] Yeah, we're getting close. We've haven't given too much away.

[00:03:16] I think it's in the title of the episode. So there's that also.

[00:03:18] Yeah, I guess. Yeah, I guess we kind of lose when we do these build ups if you,

[00:03:22] well, it's just like the guys on smart list, right? They do that like 10 minutes of banter

[00:03:26] and then they bring in like someone extremely famous, but you don't know who it is.

[00:03:29] Well, they don't know who it is, but you do because you know the title.

[00:03:32] Anyways, the really fun part about doing research for this episode is we got to

[00:03:39] Netflix and chill. Well doing it. So you may know them or you may at the very least know their brand

[00:03:47] or from their 300,000 followers on Instagram, their features in Vogue or the New York Times,

[00:03:54] or you may have watched their Netflix show Motel Makeover. And if you haven't figured out who

[00:04:01] we are talking about yet, we are talking about April Brown and Sarah Splash from the June Motel.

[00:04:10] So without further ado, here's our interview. Okay, welcome back to the Canadian real estate

[00:04:17] investor podcast. Today I'm joined here by Nick, but we're also joined here by two

[00:04:22] much more exciting people actually I would say with some guests today who you might recognize

[00:04:28] from Netflix actually and from also being two of the most iconic moteliers in the province of Ontario

[00:04:36] in Canada. Just wondering if you could maybe give us a quick introductions, maybe we'll

[00:04:40] start with Sarah and then go to April and give us a background on who you are and what we're going

[00:04:45] to be talking about today. Sure, iconic moteliers in Ontario. I'd say iconic moteliers around

[00:04:51] the world. Okay, I should have said I do regret not saying it that way to be honest.

[00:04:56] We weren't the ones that invented the term, but we really, really have embraced it and kind of

[00:05:02] spread that word out there. So I'm Sarah Splash. I'm from Windsor, Ontario. And I am a motelier

[00:05:13] April and I have been at this for about eight years now. And I'm calling in from Bermuda today.

[00:05:20] Very amazing. And April? I'm April Brown. I am also one of the co-founders of The June.

[00:05:28] Sarah and I, we've been friends for 20 years. We met back in university when we went to the

[00:05:34] University of Western Ontario. And I grew up in Calgary, but I have essentially lived in Ontario

[00:05:41] since the good old Western days. So long enough to call it yeah long enough to call it Calgary

[00:05:47] and not Calgary, I guess. My background is really in like marketing and public relations.

[00:05:55] So that's a lot of what I have brought to The June. Amazing. Yeah, I love it in the

[00:06:02] Netflix series, which if you haven't seen it any of you listening, please go check it out.

[00:06:08] We got to rewatch it this morning over the last few days in preparation to have these two lovely

[00:06:14] ladies on, which was very fun because Dan, we do due diligence on all the guests we have on and none

[00:06:19] of them have Netflix shows. So it was very easy and enjoyable to get a refresher on just who you

[00:06:26] guys are and really what you have accomplished, which is super impressive. I want to go back

[00:06:30] to the beginning here. Why motels? You guys left your jobs and took this huge risk and

[00:06:40] you know, it's not just real estate investing and contracting, but it's also hospitality. It's

[00:06:44] like taking on three businesses at once. What gave you the confidence to do it? How did it all begin?

[00:06:50] And then maybe let's work way, work our way through that story. And then let's talk about

[00:06:53] how Netflix got involved and kind of blew the whole thing up. Yeah, honestly, I think that if we

[00:06:58] had thought about it from the way you just framed it, we probably wouldn't have done it.

[00:07:03] I will be honest, there was a lot of naiveness at the beginning. Sarah and I, we were both

[00:07:08] working nine to five jobs in Toronto. So I was working for a PR and marketing agency. Sarah was

[00:07:13] working in the Ontario government and birth and death registry. So we both were doing completely

[00:07:20] different things with our lives, but at the same point we both felt like we were ready for this big

[00:07:25] life and career change, but didn't quite know what that looked like. So we get together at the

[00:07:30] beginning of 2016 and we're like, this is the year we're going to do something different. And

[00:07:35] at this point, I think we were just kind of brainstorming side hustles. We're like, oh,

[00:07:39] you know, something on the side, dip our toes in and see what it could be like. And one of the

[00:07:45] ideas that came out of this big brainstorm we had was this idea of hosting an adult wine camp

[00:07:50] in Prince Edward County. And it was a region that we'd been coming out to with our girlfriends.

[00:07:55] Sarah had a cottage out there. So we had really started to understand that there was

[00:07:58] a lot of potential in the area and opportunity. And how that idea came to life. Sarah is always on

[00:08:06] the Real Estate app. And so she knew that this motel was for sale. And so we started tossing

[00:08:10] her the idea of, you know, do we take it over for a weekend event? This escalated extremely

[00:08:16] quickly from a one weekend side hustle. A couple of glasses of wine later and I was like,

[00:08:22] let's just buy it. Literally, I don't even think it was a couple of glasses of wine later.

[00:08:26] It was a couple of minutes later, we're like, we should buy that motel. And it was a week later,

[00:08:31] we were driving out in a snowstorm to view the motel. And it was maybe three months after that

[00:08:37] conversation that we're quite literally packing our bags, leaving Toronto and moving into the

[00:08:43] motel because there was an apartment right above the lobby bar. Amazing. So, okay, so

[00:08:51] you drive up there, it's a dark and stormy day and you're like, hey, we're going to turn

[00:08:54] this into a summer paradise. How did the vision and like, I mean, you know, birth and death registry

[00:09:02] and PR there's not really overlapping construction, I would imagine traditionally speaking. So

[00:09:09] where did all that come from? You kind of went up there, you're riding this wave of,

[00:09:14] wow, this is really exciting. And then did reality set in at a certain point when it was

[00:09:18] like, oh, this is going to cost a lot and take a lot of time and money and design. And

[00:09:23] what happened after that? Yeah. So I think April and I have this ability to really see

[00:09:29] beyond what something is and saw this motel in Newcombe, Prince Edward County,

[00:09:35] the people were looking for a place to stay. And so had this like super, super dingy roadside

[00:09:42] motel. And one of the things that wasn't really in the original plan, but we could only find

[00:09:50] access to so much money. And the way that the property closed, I think we closed beginning of June

[00:09:58] and two days later, the sellers had already booked a bunch of reservations. So April and I

[00:10:07] had to jump right in and we operated the sportsman motel. So a season of running like

[00:10:15] Ontario's dingiest motel. It was really popular for fishermen love staying there. There was a fish

[00:10:24] gutting station, the boat that was always full of boats. You know, they drinking fish gutting

[00:10:30] station. It doesn't come a long way. It's a good one pairing. Yeah. There was every single room

[00:10:37] had a sign in it that said no gutting fish like it was that kind of place. Wow. Tell me you

[00:10:42] still have one of those signs. We do. We do. And they were like clip our like they were they were

[00:10:48] really awful, but you know, also really important rules to have a place that's very important.

[00:10:53] You don't want people getting fish in your motel rooms. So anyway, we had to jump right in.

[00:10:59] Like we have literally no hospitality experience and we have to learn how to run a motel.

[00:11:06] And so that summer ended up being actually amazing for us because it was our education

[00:11:12] and how to run a motel. And before we had like the June brand hadn't been created yet. So it was a

[00:11:19] great opportunity for us to get to learn the basics of like housekeeping, having staff like

[00:11:25] we had never been employers before. Even when I worked every single job, we were the front desk,

[00:11:32] we were telling people where to go fishing. And it also gave us the summer to start to like

[00:11:41] think and dream about what the place will be able if you want to talk about the prototype room that

[00:11:46] we did. Yeah. So that first summer as we're operating as a dingy roadside motel, we were

[00:11:51] really antsy to like get started on creating the vision. But you know, of course,

[00:11:56] neither of us are designers. We had very little hard to believe because you guys really put together

[00:12:03] some amazing stuff. Don't be too humble, but designers by trade maybe. And that was not our

[00:12:09] background and wasn't something we had worked in professionally. I think Sarah had sort of like

[00:12:16] dabbled in renovations as she was renovating her cottage and I had done like a small renovation

[00:12:20] to my condo and that was essentially like our experience renovating anything. And so here we

[00:12:26] are, we're like ripping up the musty carpet. So we're like, we totally ripped this one room

[00:12:31] apart the middle of the summer. And you know, the goal being that let's figure out what this

[00:12:38] one room looks like so that we could replicate it, you know, another 15 times. And it was

[00:12:43] really turned out actually to be a really smart process that we sort of did at our second

[00:12:47] motel as well. And it's a really great way to figure out, you know, the great floor plan and like

[00:12:53] sort of every element that you put into the room does that, you know, stay in the test of

[00:12:56] durability is it functional? Like get people in the room get feedback on how that's like working

[00:13:01] before you commit to the full 15 rooms. But especially for us because we had no experience

[00:13:07] doing this, we didn't, you know, we're not drawing plans for the motel. We're literally

[00:13:12] like doing one room ourselves so that we can tell some of what we want this place to look

[00:13:16] like. And so it was us, you know, laying flooring and painting and wallpapering and

[00:13:23] bought some furniture, we played around with different bedding until we figured out what

[00:13:28] we wanted this room to look like. Yeah, I mean, the process is so great. It's something that

[00:13:33] we talk a lot about with investment properties even it's right, like pick the flooring,

[00:13:38] pick the window treatments, pick the lighting and just replicate that in every basement

[00:13:43] apartment or every suite and you know, it actually allows you to achieve economies of scale. But

[00:13:48] again, I love it because you guys came to all of this just on your own, right? There was no

[00:13:54] background or anything like that. This was all just the right thoughts at the right time. So

[00:13:58] that's that's awesome. How and when did Netflix get involved in what kind of added pressure

[00:14:07] did that, you know, input on the kind of the whole process because I was like, okay,

[00:14:12] this is already very difficult. We don't have experience in this. Oh, and now, you know,

[00:14:16] a massive network wants to have cameras in our faces the whole time. Yeah, so we'll kind of

[00:14:22] fast forward through. So this was summer 2016, brand the sportsman summer 2017. The June is open

[00:14:30] in Prince Edward County. It's thriving April 9. Get the itch to start looking for the next

[00:14:37] property. And so spend 2018 kind of all over Ontario, Quebec looking at all sorts of places

[00:14:45] that would be the next spot. And so really it was summer 2018 that we can visit Salville Beach

[00:14:54] for the first time. There was this 24 room hotel April 9 stayed there. Also a little known secret

[00:15:02] that we actually saw it so much earlier than we started the process. We always like to stay at

[00:15:08] the places if we get the chance beforehand. And we were totally new to Salville Beach as well.

[00:15:13] Neither of us had ever been so 2018 saw it ended up purchasing it sometime in 2019.

[00:15:21] And it was around that same time that we were in the purchase in the process of purchasing it

[00:15:26] that a good friend of our graphic designer had this idea for a show. She's a show producer.

[00:15:35] And so we went through this fairly long process and ended up taking about a year from our first

[00:15:41] conversation with Jessica Namias to her selling it to proper production company who then sold

[00:15:49] it to Netflix. It was about a year before we actually got confirmation that we were going

[00:15:53] to go on this journey of filming a Netflix series as we renovated like a significantly

[00:16:00] bigger, harder project. Awesome. I'm a big fan of Salville. I grew up going to the beach

[00:16:08] for since I was a kid yet. My family has a cottage just north of there. And so I love

[00:16:14] the market. I'm just curious to you like what sold you on that market? Was it the asset

[00:16:19] itself? Like was it the motel where you said this is the one? Is it the building that stands out to

[00:16:23] you or is it the market itself and what kind of characteristics are you looking for in both things?

[00:16:28] Like, you know, if you were to advise somebody who wanted to do what you did,

[00:16:33] what would you tell them is the framework for buying a good motel and or market?

[00:16:40] I think it was a combination of destination meets the exact property. The motel itself

[00:16:46] charmed us completely. It had more rooms, which was what we were looking for. It had the pool,

[00:16:51] it had a restaurant, it had opportunities for us to really like personally, you know,

[00:16:55] grow the June in a bigger way. But without it also having the area, we never would have bought it.

[00:17:02] When we went there and we stayed for two nights, we had like a really magical experience watching

[00:17:07] the sunset on the beach and living in our flip flops and just experiencing this like

[00:17:12] totally laid back beach town vibe that was so different from Prince Edward County. And so we

[00:17:18] could certainly picture how this could complement the experience that we're offering in Prince

[00:17:22] Edward County, but you know, we're now saying, oh, there's this totally different experience

[00:17:27] that you can come have in Savelbeach. That plus the proximity to Topremory, which was just

[00:17:32] absolutely blowing up at the time that we were purchasing it and knowing that like day

[00:17:37] trips up to Topremory and discovering that whole Bruce Peninsula was so popular, we felt really

[00:17:43] confident that this area was only growing. And I think that's something you know, we hit the

[00:17:49] timing really, really nicely in Prince Edward County like right before it really peaked. And

[00:17:55] so that was a bit of our thought process in Savelbeach is, you know, finding those markets

[00:18:00] that haven't yet peaked in some ways. So what are those signs that there's so much room for

[00:18:08] growth there? And so, you know, meeting some of the other business owners and seeing

[00:18:11] young awesome people doing really cool new things. So the Wellness Refinery had just opened

[00:18:16] and it was this like trendy little sort of vegan cafe. And then there's also a double

[00:18:23] duck or taco bus. And so we met these people and we ate at these places and we were like,

[00:18:28] okay, like change is happening here and we can really see how the area is about to grow and

[00:18:33] develop. And we want to be a part of that. Awesome. Yeah, I remember growing up there,

[00:18:38] they still had like the slide which I noticed was at the beginning of the Netflix. There's

[00:18:42] like a slide in a roller coaster and all that's gone. But it seems to be, I mean,

[00:18:45] I was there when I was a kid and I just have been taking my daughter there the past couple

[00:18:49] of summers as well. Still going to the family cottage and it's really cool to see

[00:18:52] how it's coming along. I'm glad that the people with the double-decker bus or the,

[00:18:59] oh so you guys who have the Volkswagen right on site there? We did.

[00:19:04] Yeah, we did. Okay. And then they got a bunch of the mini putts going again and stuff like that.

[00:19:09] I did say before or did want to say before we move on because I know Nick has a good

[00:19:13] question about like renovations because I think you're really seem to be experts in that side

[00:19:17] of things. If anybody goes to the June in Sobble Beach, make sure you get, I hope you still have

[00:19:23] this menu on your item this summer at the Hay days there. The broccoli, it's like the grilled

[00:19:29] broccoli Caesar. Yeah. It's probably one of the best food items I've ever had in my entire life.

[00:19:34] Thank you so much. It's an absolutely classic and a side note side project that we've been

[00:19:38] working on for the past couple years is Hay Day's cookbook comes out later this spring

[00:19:45] and that recipe is in it. Let me know when that's out. I will get that. I now know what my

[00:19:53] Christmas gift is for this year. It's my far most asked for recipe. It's crazy the number of people

[00:19:58] I've ever had. I'm glad to hear that. Yeah. It's, then you'll have to, once you have it come back

[00:20:05] because we haven't promoted a cookbook before but we just had Greg with Greg Dion for his

[00:20:09] book about the Canadian housing crisis so maybe we can mix it up with a little bit less

[00:20:12] grim book promotion on the show. I'll be back for that. Sorry. I know Nick had a good question here

[00:20:17] about the renovation side of things. No, no, that was great and I have to shamefully admit I have not

[00:20:23] had that dish and I will be heading there shortly too to make sure I do. I mean you guys are just

[00:20:31] such impressive entrepreneurs before I even get to the renovation process because I definitely

[00:20:38] want to ask some questions about that. From an entrepreneurial standpoint we see so many people

[00:20:44] that want to get into real estate investing whether it's buying a property or starting a business or

[00:20:50] launching that website or whatever it may be and so many people tend to get stuck in a very common

[00:20:57] real estate term analysis paralysis, right? You're looking at a million and one deals. You've

[00:21:01] done all the education. You never pull the trigger. You never start the website. You

[00:21:05] never launch your t-shirt company, whatever it may be. You guys on the other hand just went from

[00:21:11] nine to five normal jobs to eight years later multiple global moteliers and now cookbook

[00:21:22] and all these other things. What's the driving force behind that now? I mean now that you

[00:21:28] guys are in it, it's probably a bit easier to accept these opportunities that are presented to you.

[00:21:39] What's the personality traits or characteristics especially between the two of you that have

[00:21:45] very complementary skills? Walk us through that because we've got a lot of young people that

[00:21:49] listen to the show that are trying to make that first leap into business or into starting

[00:21:54] something. I think one thing that's been really important for April and I to keep

[00:22:00] driving is having a business partner here. If I could get stuck in analysis paralysis,

[00:22:06] I love it. I love finding these deals and I'm the one that's like, here's the next

[00:22:11] hotel. Let's do it but I'm also a super analytical person and can really dive into

[00:22:18] that and I think being in this with someone else and April has lots of great qualities and one of

[00:22:25] them is that she leads by heart and gut and is a little more impulsive but I think it's the two of us

[00:22:32] kind of together that keep us driving, keep us trying new things, tackling new challenges

[00:22:40] with a little balance of like okay let's also make sure that we have really done

[00:22:44] the amount of analysis that we need to do. Yeah, great answer. It's funny. I mean,

[00:22:50] Dan and I have both had several other business partners but similar to you guys, we've been

[00:22:55] rocking for several years now together and a good business partner just like a good

[00:23:00] marriage really can essentially make or break your life, your business. So I mean it's just

[00:23:06] so great to hear and there is caution to picking business partners. Bad business partners can

[00:23:11] really make things very, very difficult and ruin a good business but I think it all comes down to

[00:23:16] again knowing your role in playing it well and that goes back to the renovation question and the

[00:23:21] renovation process that you guys went in because yeah, it's okay. It's simple stuff like hey,

[00:23:26] we'll paint this pink or whatever it may be but when it came to dealing with the surprises

[00:23:33] that you had to deal with during the renovation and the renovation process picking

[00:23:37] contractors, watching the timeline, watching the budget, walk us through that decision making

[00:23:43] process because you guys did make not a ton of money go a very long way for what the end result

[00:23:52] came out to be. It's a tough question because each of the three motels that we've purchased

[00:23:57] and renovated I would say it's looked so different because with each renovation I think

[00:24:04] we learn so much more and we're kind of constantly trying to find a way to

[00:24:09] you know do it a little bit more efficiently, more professionally. To do it without I think

[00:24:14] carrying so much of the weight just on us. So for example the first renovation we had

[00:24:19] a budget of $250,000 to go 16 rooms, a lobby bar, landscaping, cover and mortgage

[00:24:27] for an entire year so that was literally us laying the floor and inviting our friends and

[00:24:33] family to like wallpaper the rooms with us. The only thing we outsourced was really like

[00:24:37] plumbing and electrical and some landscaping work and we're still going back and we're still putting

[00:24:43] money into the June in Prince Edward County as a result of you know not having a ton of money

[00:24:48] on that first renovation and then in Saabal Beach you know our budgets got a little bit

[00:24:54] bigger and we learned a lot from doing it all ourselves we knew that you know we had one

[00:24:58] motel to run we couldn't just be like laying flooring every day. We were also trying to film a TV show

[00:25:05] so we just didn't have the same time that we had in the first renovation and so we knew that we would

[00:25:10] need like we would need a contractor but we didn't hire we probably hired one of the most affordable

[00:25:17] contractors we could have hired. We were super tight on budget and so it was still a ton of

[00:25:24] lift for us we didn't have an interior designer it was still us making absolutely every single

[00:25:28] design decision sourcing every single thing for these 24 rooms a restaurant a pool a lobby bar

[00:25:35] while also filming a TV show while also being in the middle of the pandemic where you know we were

[00:25:42] construction was shut down for at least several months of that and when it picked back up it

[00:25:48] was like almost impossible to get lumber or glass for you know our pool deck was like extremely

[00:25:54] difficult and so we had these added challenges of renovating during the pandemic that like we didn't

[00:26:01] have on this next renovation for example and so I think we're kind of always balancing you

[00:26:07] know we've got time we've got money and like what the project needs and often it's really

[00:26:16] tough to balance those things and it's kind of just deciding where where is the biggest bang for our

[00:26:22] buck gonna go and so really insolvable prioritizing the common spaces that people were gonna use

[00:26:29] and see every day so the lobby bar the pool the restaurant and being a little bit tighter

[00:26:34] in the guest rooms for example but it is this constant like tug war of this cost this and this

[00:26:40] cost this which one matters more and making a lot of difficult decisions and compromises

[00:26:47] awesome excellent insight there and you finished by by mentioning difficult decisions and

[00:26:54] compromises and so I might lean in on that one a little bit because Nick and I both agree that

[00:27:00] and we recommend to a lot of investors in the real estate space that it's a lot of work being

[00:27:06] a real estate investor even if it's just a you know a duplex or a four unit or even if you're an

[00:27:11] Airbnb investor as an example which I think a lot of people in that space probably draw inspiration

[00:27:16] from what you are doing really with these you know the really themed spaces good design how would

[00:27:21] it what the only challenge with the partnership so we often say offset offset that that amount

[00:27:27] of work with a partner you know having a partner but the challenge that comes with that is that

[00:27:31] you end up sometimes with disagreements and with a two-person partnership it

[00:27:35] almost exacerbates that because you don't have the third person to kind of have the veto

[00:27:38] but one of the things I noticed from watching the show on Netflix was you seem incredibly

[00:27:43] efficient at and I don't know if this is just movie magic but you seem incredibly efficient at

[00:27:47] making decisions together was there a framework for that or was it because you just knew each

[00:27:53] other and you had that history of being friends and you you almost each had this

[00:27:58] preconceived notion that you would you have this this good business relationship moving forward

[00:28:02] like what does that look like and and and when you have had a big argument if you've had a big

[00:28:07] argument how have you dealt with it damn what do you mean we've we've never disagreed on anything

[00:28:10] come on I think I almost pride us on like I think having a business partner that has

[00:28:18] a different perspective on things is actually it's so much better than someone that you just

[00:28:22] agreed with on every single thing I think it ends up being much better for the business

[00:28:29] that's how you need to make sure that there's shared values and a shared vision which April

[00:28:34] and I sort of always maintain no big argument we will find the silliest little things that like

[00:28:42] we end up debating over on the last one the one that really comes to mind is what side of

[00:28:50] the garbage can should go on of the room I didn't think more than anything that was it

[00:28:56] and that was in the middle yeah we'll go back and forth for a really long time and like each of

[00:29:06] us will like say our peace and then in the end it's a decision that I think really matters to one

[00:29:12] of us who are the other and like so we we kind of without kind of keeping track of what like

[00:29:18] clearly you feel really strongly about this like April sure the garbage cans can go on the side

[00:29:24] that you think is right and I think also understanding to where our skills and expertise is and so if

[00:29:31] it's something that's marketing related I may have a strong opinion but I know and like really really

[00:29:38] appreciate April's expertise there and so again that's something that you know I differed at her

[00:29:44] decision on I'd say we haven't had any big like the decisions the things we're going back

[00:29:52] and forth on are like often the small stuff not the big stuff and I think that's just back to like

[00:29:57] we're really aligned on the big picture and the vision it's sometimes when we get into like the

[00:30:03] weeds on a project that we're debating yeah the garbage cans or like the labels on the canister

[00:30:09] and then at that point you know it's easy to kind of get wound up in those conversations but

[00:30:14] you it's also easy to take a step back and say oh like this doesn't really matter like

[00:30:19] this isn't a big decision if you feel that way go for it so yeah grateful that it's all the small

[00:30:25] stuff yeah yeah awesome yeah super super important to have those just have that personality when

[00:30:34] you're working so closely with someone right and I think it really does come down to that

[00:30:38] that shared vision which you guys blatantly have it it shows

[00:30:42] I want to pivot a little bit here you know New York Times Huffington Post now you're on this

[00:30:51] podcast which is probably the most exciting one out of all three of those I'm sure how did you

[00:30:57] how did you leverage the social media and just kind of the the amazing amount of attention that

[00:31:04] you've garnered and specifically you know the June Motel Instagram has almost 300,000 followers

[00:31:09] right I mean it's you guys have gone viral numerous times how did you build that up how did you

[00:31:17] leverage that social media presence to build your business or attract guests and then did you use any

[00:31:23] of any of that to maybe fundraise capital for another project or anything of that nature

[00:31:30] yeah you know I think it really goes back to the very first property and just like starting

[00:31:34] the Instagram channel it's a little bit to be honest like it's a little bit like luck of timing

[00:31:39] missed with a great strategy but it was early 2017 I think this is like you know sort of the peak of

[00:31:47] when businesses started to really understand how to leverage social media but I had come from a

[00:31:54] background I worked on American Express and Nike and you know some big brands and so where I

[00:32:01] really started to understand how these brands were leveraging social media and content creation

[00:32:06] specifically um to sell products and build the business and so I took a lot of that strategy

[00:32:14] and Sarah and I had a lot of these conversations as we were actually building the motel so it

[00:32:18] would be like okay people are going to be in bed and like we know Instagram is that thing like

[00:32:23] what's behind them matters now because it needed to be such a visual experience at the time

[00:32:30] if we wanted people to be getting out their phones and feeling like the need that this was the perfect

[00:32:34] selfie moment and so we were really really intentional in Prince Edward County about creating a lot of

[00:32:41] those moments in the lobby bar we have this amazing piece of love wine neon sign with like

[00:32:46] plants surrounded by it and that took us like how's it weeks or even months to like really

[00:32:52] nail what that was it wasn't enough that it was a cool piece of art like that wasn't gonna

[00:32:57] be the moment and you know to this day we still remember our first guest who walked in on opening

[00:33:03] night at the June in Prince Edward County and got their complimentary glass of rose and they sat down

[00:33:08] on that sofa they got their phones out and they took a selfie and it was just like this moment

[00:33:13] being like okay I think everything's gonna be good amazing and you know that first year we sold

[00:33:22] we opened May of 2017 and we were pretty much sold out for the season by late June

[00:33:29] and you know a lot of that is just the power of like guests coming and sharing

[00:33:34] plus you know getting influencers into rooms when we had a lot of availability when you know people

[00:33:39] didn't know who the June was when we first opened and so we had some of those connections

[00:33:44] and we filled the rooms with people who were gonna Instagram the hell of the place

[00:33:50] and and that really worked and that was sort of like I guess the initial

[00:33:55] growth of the you know our Instagram account and the the Netflix show took that to like a whole

[00:34:02] different level I think probably grew like 200,000 followers from Netflix. Wow incredible

[00:34:09] but overall I'd say in the last eight years you know it's it's not something we've taken

[00:34:13] lightly and I think we really devote a lot of time and strategy in getting the amazing photos

[00:34:20] and video content and being able to story tell you know us as business owners but also like the

[00:34:27] design and the renovation process and so we spend a lot we put a lot of time and investment into

[00:34:34] Instagram because that's our number one it's how it's how we sell rooms we don't do any paid

[00:34:40] advertising. Yeah I mean amazing and it shows right I mean before I even knew who you guys were

[00:34:47] or anything I had seen pictures of the hotels and the Instagramable places and you know we have a lot

[00:34:54] of people that come to us wanting to invest in Airbnb right because it's way sexier than

[00:35:00] owning long-term rental properties or any more traditional sense of real estate investing

[00:35:05] but what a lot of people don't realize is that to really be successful in an Airbnb

[00:35:09] unless it's like total utility type of stay like you need those pull factors and I don't care if that's

[00:35:15] you know a Star Wars theme or a jungle theme or like you know a Rose Girls vacation kind of theme

[00:35:21] like that is just such a thing nowadays and I mean you guys I think were very very early

[00:35:28] if not kind of really ignited that and have trailblazed it and it shows just on you know

[00:35:35] the Instagram being your main source of of lead gen that's that's incredible so I guess

[00:35:44] next question I have one more and I know Dan's got got a question and we'll wrap it up

[00:35:48] you mentioned Netflix came in and and you know that really blew things up so let's talk a bit

[00:35:53] about that how is that changed your lives I mean you guys are celebrities now you've

[00:36:00] do people recognize you has it helped with hey like other people approaching you and being like

[00:36:05] I've got a motel can you can you guys come in and do you know help me out like what's changed

[00:36:10] in your in your lives since since Netflix I think like so much changed and like nothing

[00:36:17] changed at the same time we definitely get recognized every now and then which is it's

[00:36:25] it's fun and odd we're definitely like the most famous Saval Beach like when we're at the motel

[00:36:31] I just got this like I feel like we're Mickey Mouse and people are coming to Disney World like

[00:36:36] people get very very excited when they spot us there but yeah so many opportunities came our way

[00:36:45] with the Netflix series and we also were like okay you know it was distributed 190 countries

[00:36:52] people tuned into this show so we're like okay let's lean in let's have an e-commerce site let's

[00:36:59] start sort of like a media empire let's write blogs multiple times a week and people are gonna

[00:37:05] want to shop our wallpaper and anyway so we got very distracted by all of these opportunities that

[00:37:13] we thought you know with this show and with this like fame that were a good idea for the

[00:37:20] business and what we realized over a little period of time was like we didn't love any of that like

[00:37:28] we really really love finding motels that have potential and transforming them into the June so

[00:37:37] after you know this business has not been without it's like wrong turns and hurdles

[00:37:44] and e-commerce site was definitely one of them it was not a profitable venture for us at the end

[00:37:51] of the day and so anyway we after a year or so our background track and like refocused on

[00:37:59] motels that really fit our niche ones that were driving like yet we had people kind of reach out

[00:38:05] to us about working with them on their motels we really like were passionate about the June

[00:38:10] and we want to keep growing the June and so it took us a little while and back to like having that

[00:38:16] ability to say yes to challenging opportunities a very very important skill that we've sort of been

[00:38:23] working through is saying no to the opportunities that are right for us yeah I love that excellent

[00:38:30] advice do you anything you want to add there April or um I just have one more question and we

[00:38:34] can wrap it up not really I mean I think ultimately I don't know if we would have

[00:38:38] landed on the same like focused strategy without having right for that distraction of

[00:38:43] Netflix so in many ways I think yeah you know we're grateful for the exposure and the experience

[00:38:49] that we got from you know Filmia show we didn't we chose not to film a season two but we did produce

[00:38:56] 10 episodes documenting the transformation of our latest hotel in Beaver Valley and so you know

[00:39:03] just even having had the experience of filming a tv show um I don't know that we would have

[00:39:07] known how to film you know 10 webisodes five minute episodes each um without sort of that

[00:39:14] that experience under our belt so we certainly learned a lot and we took a lot from it and

[00:39:19] we got a lot more focused about what really matters and where like where to put our time and energy

[00:39:24] amazing so you mentioned Beaver Valley I do want to touch on that so and then also the

[00:39:29] cookbook because you tease that a little bit and just generally what's next what's next for you

[00:39:34] and then we can wrap it up with that where can people find you if they want to book a room

[00:39:41] pitch you on a whole uh a new motel deal um you know buy your pre-order your cookbook and

[00:39:47] and anything else so what's next and where can we find you so what's next as of I want to say

[00:39:53] like last week and on a time slide maybe two weeks ago we opened the gym hotel in Beaver

[00:39:59] Valley it is an eight room boutique motel um Beaver Valley so we're in the village of

[00:40:08] Kimberly Ontario it's 20 minutes to Collingwood it's two hours from Toronto um and Beaver Valley

[00:40:17] Great Highlands it goes by a whole bunch of different names that area um is a really really

[00:40:22] special area and we sort of saw things that really attracted us to Prince Edward County

[00:40:27] eight years ago we saw some signs of it in this region as well um so great food scene really cool

[00:40:37] restaurants opening up um but unlike our other properties and we're always looking to kind of

[00:40:43] offer a new experience to the June guests I'm really really adorazy for seasons which we're

[00:40:49] really excited about like we're close to some ski hills um so that property just opened

[00:40:56] and it's been really interesting because we went from 16 rooms on our first motel 24 rooms on our

[00:41:03] second and now we're eight rooms um so really interesting to actually go smaller and try

[00:41:10] and figure out how do we operate this place really really efficiently uh so we're trying out

[00:41:18] kind of a contactless model but trying to make sure that we're offering boutique hotel touches

[00:41:25] um so we are open we're taking bookings um take a look at the June motel.com to see availability

[00:41:31] it is a really cool really special place uh April do you want to talk about what else we're up to

[00:41:38] we are launching a cookbook it comes out on May 22nd and that's with our heydays restaurant

[00:41:44] partners so there's like about 100 recipes in there from the famous broccoli Caesar to the

[00:41:49] lobster rolls in the frose so yeah we're just sort of ramping up that launch right now this will be

[00:41:56] our first summer operating three motels so I feel like we will have our hands full at least for the

[00:42:01] next couple of months but I think for both Sarah and I you know like the dream is just to keep

[00:42:07] doing the part of the business that really excites us which is finding those diamond in

[00:42:11] the rough motels and reimagining the entire experience so we're already looking in terms of

[00:42:19] where that next June motel will be but um it's what drives us and excites us and so

[00:42:27] we're not done yet. I love that love that yeah I would uh I think you guys are nowhere near

[00:42:34] done I think you're I think you're just getting started I I'm I just can't wait until

[00:42:39] the June motel is in small Italian villages or Spain or Portugal or wherever you guys are

[00:42:44] headed to next uh you know I think um like nothing but but very cool and impressive things to to see

[00:42:51] so you better bet that we'll be staying tuned whether it's Netflix or webinars and maybe we'll

[00:42:56] have you guys back and maybe we'll come and do a quick stay and have a little catch up sometime

[00:43:01] this uh this summer in person. That would be great. Yeah so before we head out of here

[00:43:07] where can people find you outside of www.junemotel.com for bookings follow the June on Instagram

[00:43:15] do you want to get in touch with you two ladies Sarah, April where can they do that?

[00:43:19] So the easiest is info at thejunemotel.com I'll go to both of us um and then on Instagram it's

[00:43:25] The June Motel. Amazing keeping it simple okay thank you so much for your time really appreciate

[00:43:31] this was awesome look forward to sharing it with our audience and um can't wait to have you

[00:43:36] back when you've got your new acquisition and uh we can all cook some of that uh that broccoli salad

[00:43:41] together she's a broccoli salad thank you thank you. Thanks. The Canadian real estate investor

[00:43:48] podcast is for entertainment purposes only and it is not financial advice. Nick Hill is a mortgage

[00:43:55] agent with Premier Mortgage Centre and a partner in the G&H mortgage group license number 10317

[00:44:03] agent license M21004037. Daniel Foch is a real estate broker licensed with Rare Real Estate

[00:44:13] a member of the Canadian Real Estate Association, the Toronto Real Estate Board and the Ontario

[00:44:19] Real Estate Association.