We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kierra Castleberry. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kierra below.

Kierra, appreciate you joining us today. One of our favorite things to brainstorm about with friends who’ve built something entrepreneurial is what they would do differently if they were to start over today. Surely, there are things you’ve learned that would allow you to do it over faster, more efficiently. We’d love to hear how you would go about setting things up if you were starting over today, knowing everything that you already know.

To be honest, starting over from scratch, I would have taken social media 10x more seriously. As we can see today, those who stuck it out are on top. Those who built brands and told their stories like Reesa Teesa are able to monetize on their brands no matter what their brands are. So for me, I would have done more storytelling on my socials and less trying to be perfect/have the perfect image or Instagram page. In 10 years, we will all be looking back wishing we took AI more seriously especially since it has already began to transform the way businesses are run.

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?

My name is Kierra Castle and I was able to get into real estate in college without owning a property. I always give the example of your local HEB, Kroger, or Publix. These are widely known grocery stores, yet they rarely ever own the actual buildings that the grocery stores are in. Instead, they lease the buildings and then just add the groceries, equipment, and branding. So I thought to myself, if most companies do this, then why can’t I? So that’s exactly what I did. I started as a vacation rental host in Virginia using other people’s properties who weren’t getting any luck with renting and selling their properties. I entered into leases with these owners and used my own funds to furnish and rent out the properties as vacation rentals. That was 5 years ago! Now, I help women become vacation rental hosts without owning property to create an additional stream of passive income.

We’d appreciate any insights you can share with us about selling a business.

I sold a few of my cash-flowing properties to then purchase a property that would bring even more money per month. The one piece of advice I would give is to make sure that when you’re selling your business, you think of all the things that you wish you had when you first started your business. And if you have built or implemented those things in your business, make sure to show their value when you’re getting ready to sell your business. For example, I knew that having photos of my vacation rentals. detailed listing instructions, all the furniture needed for a stay, and then my buyers could walk in and take over the business. These are things that take a lot of time when first starting which in turn, causes the startup time to be delayed. So anything I could do to delay that startup time, I made sure to mention in my offer.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

When I first started my business in college, I was able to use the saved funds I received from my internship to start my first vacation rental. But I also found cost-efficient ways to run the business as well such as couponing for cleaning supplies. If I were to go back in time, I would have done the exact same thing.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.forthehost.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/kierracastle
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kierracastleberry/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/KierraCastleYT

Image Credits
Frida Sophia Photography