We were lucky to catch up with Tammy Tran recently and have shared our conversation below.
Tammy, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?
I came across the concept of rental arbitrage one day and was incredibly intrigued. The idea happened by accident, I actually wanted to find an apartment for myself, but because I travel so much I wanted to optimize my space by also converting it into a short-term rental (STR). I researched the idea for 4 days, scouted locations for a week, and in the next week I furnished the place and listed it. In the first day I was shocked to see that I already had 9 bookings! From idea to execution in less than a month!
In my research, I binged youtube videos from experts and they all had one common message: just go out and do it. I learned that the knowledge or confidence isn’t important, they’re things you can pick up and learn along the way. But if you continue to watch videos and research for months you’ll end up becoming an expert with no experience, which is wasted potential.
The number one thing I kept reminding myself was to take everything one step at a time. It’s so easy to get overwhelmed thinking about every single moving piece… eventually the doom of imposter syndrome creeps in and squashes any ounce of motivation you had. One of my favorite quotes by St. Francis of Assisi illustrates this beautifully: “Start by doing what is necessary, then what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”
By setting myself a deadline on how long I could research without taking action, I was able to shift potential in my head to real life interaction with landlords. I worked in phases and only concentrated on the task at hand so that I wouldn’t get overwhelmed. As soon as I got my first ‘yes’ from a landlord to allow STR, it was go time. I spent all of my waking hours buying furniture and curating a place that felt like home. I took my own pictures and listed the Airbnb before it was even ready–I didn’t even have a dining table yet! My goal was to list it as soon as possible because each day I spent furnishing was a loss in revenue. It all worked out and my first guest left a 5 star review.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
Growing up I always hated the thought of choosing your destiny. I never liked the limiting buckets you had to put yourself in just so that people could understand you better. You could view me by what I studied in college–finance, psychology, business data analytics. Or you could also view me by my hobbies–skydiving, traveling, creating videos. But truthfully my brand is nothing more than me experiencing and learning about life. I quit my ulta-secure corporate finance job to pursue ventures that ignited my passion. Nowadays, I create content that promotes mental health awareness, inspires traveling, and builds connection. Of course, I’m also running my Airbnb business and discovering other hobbies that I might like. My goal is to continue sharing my journey in hopes that it will positively impact others.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
My life went completely stagnant last year when I experienced some personal trauma that had a profound effect on me. My worldview and identity was completely shattered. I had recently quit my job on top of the trauma so my safety net was completely gone. I was frozen with fear for a few months and eventually lost myself in the depression. Until one day I decided I needed to reclaim my life–I got help and started going to the gym every day. This slowly started giving me the confidence to accomplish small tasks. I thought to myself that if I can just show up to the gym every day, I could starting showing up for myself again in my career. Even though everything around me was crumbling, I stayed determined to prove myself wrong. In staying consistent, I started a profitable business and continue to show up for myself every day.
Have you ever had to pivot?
The year after college isn’t talked about enough. It’s an incredible transitional period full of potential and dread. Going from a structured education system to being thrown into the unstructured mess of real life is scary, really scary. Like every 21 year old, of course I wasn’t sure about what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. However, as life inevitably moves on I followed conventional wisdom and secured a job related to my major. After a year of my first full-time job, I knew that each day I spent not working towards exploring life and my passions was another day wasted. I set myself a deadline and decided to quit regardless if I had another opportunity lined up or not. I don’t necessarily recommend this, but I knew that I needed to sink or swim. That was the only way I’d take action in my life. It was a messy experience full of ups and downs, but I’m grateful for it as I now focus on growing my Airbnb business.
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