Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Amber Lee. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Amber, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I had been working for the YMCA for 14 years. I moved to Tampa and worked for the Tampa Y for five years. Leadership had changed and my job felt completely different. The culture of our team had shifted dramatically and I became unhappy and started to resent my career and my company which I was trying to avoid. I decided to take a leap of faith and resign from the job I had once loved. While I was trying to figure out what I was going to do next, I decided to do a few projects at home. The thought popped in my mind to rent out one of our bedrooms to help with finances since I had quit my job. We decided to make it a private area and rent it out to people who were looking for an affordable place to stay. We built a removable wall and I got to work designing the space. I loved everything that went into it. We worked hard and put the space up for rent on Airbnb and Vrbo and requests started coming in quickly! I started working on marketing materials and quickly noticed that we were good at this! Building relationships was something I’ve always been good at managing the property and communicating with our guests had us in a great place.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have always had a love for interior design, it was my first career choice since I was in middle school. Life took me down a different path and I have kind of found my way back. While we were building out the short term rental space, my favorite part was designing the room with a limited budget. It was a challenge I didn’t know I was up for. Now that things have settled and we found success in what we did, we are now looking to purchase a second property to be able to do the same thing because we love it so much! I found my calling. I’ve been studying for my real estate license and now working for Ideal Agent to learn more about the field and how we can help people sell/purchase their homes.

We just started on this new adventure so while we explore and expand this adventure, our name may change. Our goal is to provide a nice place for guests to stay that is affordable and feels like home to them. We are known for our personal touches (welcome packets) and communication. I give every guest my personal cell number in case they need anything at all because I want their stay to be as comfortable as possible. I want people to know that everyone is welcome to stay with us. Even though their space is private, everyone who enters our home is treated like family.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

Funding our short term rental property was tough. I had just quit my job and didn’t have any money coming in so I needed to be financially smart with the decisions I made and what purchases were necessary. I had a decent savings account but as a mom, I was nervous about draining it and not having any safety net. I ended up buying a few things in bulk to prepare for the long haul and ended up spending only about 25% of my savings. Thankfully, I was able to make up what I spent within a few months. After I was able to recover my savings, I started investing more into the property to make it more comfortable and tranquil for guests.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

My side hustle of opening the short term rental property was my main focus after I quit my job. It was only source of income but during a few months, we weren’t reaching capacity, I needed to find other side hustles. I ended up scavenging for other side hustles and getting worn down. I kept thinking to myself, “how can I make this my full time gig?”. Well, it hasn’t become that yet, but I am on the road to making that happen. I started working for a real estate company and have been studying for my real estate license. I wanted to get my foot in the door in this new field (new to me) and figure it all out before I had to dive in full time on my own. I have now been with my real estate company for about six months and have saved almost enough money to purchase a second property once the market slows down a bit. I have a goal to do this by the end of the year so it can become my full time career.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetampaplace
• Other: aribnb.com/h/tampaplace https://www.expedia.com/Tampa-Hotels-Quaint-Private-Room-Close-To-Downtown-Tampa.h71402401.Hotel-Information