“In 2015, I wanted to take a trip to Europe with my friends, but I couldn’t afford it. Like most less-than-frugal young adults, I decided that I would put the airline ticket on a credit card and find a way to pay for it later.

One night, a few weeks later, I was sitting on my couch when I suddenly realized how I could fund my trip—I would list my apartment on Airbnb for the nights I would be gone.

When I woke up in the morning, I discovered that my place was not only booked for the days of my trip; it was booked for the entire month.

My first guest would be arriving that same day so I needed to find a place to sleep. . .

Fortunately, a generous friend let me sleep on their couch as I fumbled through my first few guests. I quickly realized that I was ill-prepared to manage even one rental, and I had quite a few mishaps with those first bookings.

One day, while I was cleaning my apartment and setting up for my next guest, I noticed that the unit next door was available for rent. Keenly aware that my friends were growing quite tired of me sleeping on their couch, I put in an application for the apartment that same day, bought an air mattress, and slept on the floor until I could figure out my next move.

Over the course of that year, I leased three more apartments in town, furnished them and prepared them for listing on Airbnb. What began as a means to fund my vacation has become a five year long study in developing and managing short term rentals.

Now, I have managed over a 1,000 bookings. It hasn’t always been easy. There have been plenty of sleepless nights, frantic guests, and irksome maintenance issues. But I could not have learned how to host any other way.

Now, I want to share what I have learned with you, so that you too can take trips to Europe that you might not be able to afford. . . yet.”

Austin Jorgensen