Property, Mindset & Building a Business Together | Naomi & Daniela on Short Lets, Entrepreneurship & Taking the Leap

In this episode of the Built By Her Podcast, Georgie sits down with Naomi and Daniela, co-founders of Shortlet Collective, to explore the world of short-term rental property, entrepreneurship, and what it really takes to build a business that gives you freedom.

From managing luxury short-stay accommodation and working with investors, to leaving secure careers behind and overcoming imposter syndrome, this episode is packed with honest conversations about building a business from the ground up.

Naomi shares her transition from a 20-year career in the NHS into property investment and short lets, while Daniela talks about moving to the UK from Bulgaria, starting over in a new country, and embracing entrepreneurship whilst raising a young family.

Together, they discuss how combining their strengths has helped them build a business that not only supports investors but creates memorable experiences for every guest.

We talk about:

✨ What short lets actually are and how they work
✨ Property investment and generating income through short-term rentals
✨ Managing Airbnb, Booking.com and corporate accommodation
✨ Working with investors from sourcing to full property management
✨ Leaving a secure career to become an entrepreneur
✨ Moving countries and starting a business from scratch
✨ Building confidence and overcoming imposter syndrome
✨ Why mindset is the biggest challenge in business
✨ The importance of finding the right business partner
✨ Balancing entrepreneurship, family life and freedom
✨ Why your biggest obstacles often become your greatest opportunities

This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in property, investing, hospitality, or taking the leap into entrepreneurship. Naomi and Daniela share practical insights alongside honest reflections on the realities of building a business, proving that success isn't just about strategy, it's about resilience, mindset, and surrounding yourself with the right people.

Guests:
Naomi & Daniela
Co-Founders, The Short Let Collective

Instagram:
@theshortletcollective

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🎧 Produced by Richard Lannen at Nozzle Media
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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:25

Well, welcome to the podcast, ladies. Thank you. For people that don't know who you are, could you just introduce yourself, who you are, and what do you do, where you come from?

SPEAKER_01 0:32

I'm Naomi. I guess I'm technically from Cheltenham, but have moved around an awful lot. Settled back here now. My daughter's here. She's uh 17. And Danny and I work together. We have a company called Shortlet Collective, which is we provide accommodation for short stays. Think Airbnb, but it's much broader than that.

SPEAKER_04 0:54

My name is Daniela. I'm originally from Bulgaria, and I moved here a year and a half ago. My background is technically I was working like a quality control in a big factory. And when we moved here, I decided to observe and to take apart from the property side of the journey. I met Naomi and we started working together.

SPEAKER_02 1:24

So what made you start this, the business that you now have together?

SPEAKER_01 1:28

I think we've both got our own companies doing the same thing anyway. So I also invest up in Lancashire with my partner, and we have small HMOs, but I'm sure we'll come on to it later. But uh I moved into doing shortlets around COVID time. So I've already got my company and business. I've been doing it for quite a few years, and if I'm honest, it gets a bit lonely doing it on your own, lacking a bit of energy. And then when Danny and I met at one of her networking meetings, actually, we got chatting, we were both doing the same thing, and the more that we met, and the more that we spoke, the more we thought actually our skill sets really worked and blended together. And Danny's been doing it now for about a year. Yes, yeah, but still got that enthusiasm that I used to have. So we just bring it together, so it kind of makes sense to kind of pull our energies and our efforts and our resources and our work working ethics.

SPEAKER_04 2:26

Exactly quite the same as well.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

And it's much fun, you know, doing it together, I think. And very helpful. Yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 2:33

You can lean on each other, can't you? When one of you might have the skills more so than the other. 100%. So shortlets, for someone who doesn't know what this is, can you explain to someone who has no idea what you do, how you do, and why they would come to you?

SPEAKER_04 2:46

So shortlet is how Naomi explained is some kind of Airbnb and booking.com business. So we have properties and we let them like a shortlet two days till a month or longer.

SPEAKER_02 3:05

People when they're away from their home, and we have homes from that for for from for their and are they properties that you own, or do you do it on behalf of other people who are looking to rent their properties?

SPEAKER_01 3:17

Bit of both. So when I started, we had some properties that we owned that we would do shortlets with. I've then done rent-to-rent, so I will rent from a landlord and then I will use it as a shortlet. Or now mainly what we do will be to manage on behalf of an or as of an owner. And as Danny's saying, they can be short stays from two days, but we've got some insurance clients that can be much more extended than that. The difference is to a normal tenancy, it's not somebody's permanent home, although we try and make it as homely and comfortable for them as possible. They are people that are there for a temporary basis. So we don't just do Airbnb, we'll work with insurance clients, companies who are relocating employees, obviously travel, we work directly with contractors. So it's a real varied mix, people selling houses, and so they need somewhere in between or they're renovating. So it's kind of a real range.

SPEAKER_02 4:14

And from your side of things in terms of the management, what does that involve?

SPEAKER_04 4:20

Everything, everything. So you take care completely for everything from the maintenance of the property, we make sure that we fix everything on time to the furniture, which is the funniest part. To communicate with guests 24-7. If they need something, we are there.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

Hospitality. Yeah, and it's very much responding to their needs and trying to just make sure that everything is as good as possible because it's a really competitive market. There's also on the back end, though, lots to do in terms of the general systemization, the optimization. So we use lots of different software to help with pricing and to predict certain trends and make sure that our listings are much more visible than others. So there's quite a lot to do on the sort of more business behind the scenes side of things that allows us to kind of be as successful as we can. And then there's obviously managing the hospitality side. So it's quite split actually.

SPEAKER_02 5:33

So from so say I had a house and I was coming to you to have it as a shortlet.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:38

So you would be able to list it for me, make sure it was furnished, or would that sit within my remit?

SPEAKER_01 5:43

So we can do end-to-end. So we're working with an investor at the moment who wants to buy another property, and then we will manage it for shortlets. So we're actually sourcing the property. We are going through the process of doing the interiors, the floor plans, we're support with the planning application. So that's kind of my other half does interiors and the sort of the architectural side. Danny's other half does the building side of things. Danny and I will do the kind of optimization and finding the property because we know what will and won't work. And then also we will go on and manage it. Although we don't have to do all of that, but we do a complete service.

SPEAKER_02 6:24

Gosh, you got like a dream team.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

Yeah, yeah. It is.

SPEAKER_02 6:30

But you actually find the property as well for them if you need to.

SPEAKER_01 6:33

Yeah. So we are currently well, we've just put not us, but the investors just put an offering into a commercial property in Cheltenham. But we're looking at kind of a number of other areas. We've done quite a few site visits lately to Mulvern, out in the Bournon, Bournon on the Water area. So Luster. But we'd like to, I guess, pin in Cheltenham an hours radius is really kind of our area of expertise.

SPEAKER_02 7:01

And is there an area of like the type of property that you want, like two-bed, four-bed, or is it completely variant?

SPEAKER_01 7:08

It is variant, and like everything, it depends. But preference for us is a higher spec in terms of a property, and three, four beds upwards is much better. The market's really, really competitive. That said, one beds can work, but they tend to work if they're in a block, so you've got economies of scale. So it really, really depends if the property is particularly unique in a particularly great area, if there is a reason for very strong tourism, then a property can work kind of any size. So it's it's super variable, isn't it?

SPEAKER_04 7:45

Or for contractors, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:48

The house, like three plus bed. Amazing. And so, in terms of the landscape in say obviously your primary location is Cheltenham, what is that like for short-term lets? Because in my head it's quite a like a touristy place to come. Yeah, we've got the Cotswolds, we've got Cheltenham, we've got every festival under the sun. What is that like as a market? I'll let you take this.

SPEAKER_04 8:11

Uh no.

SPEAKER_01 8:12

Okay. Um, it's a highly competitive but very lucrative market. So you have a massive range of potential guests, and there will be a strong leisure, as you know. So race week is like, you know, in March. It's our favourite time of year because it's just insane prices, but it's also a brilliant atmosphere. The guests are always on a high, so it's kind of a really fun time. But there's quite a few horse racing meets throughout the year, so they do well. Obviously, we are a festival town, so that does really, really well, and is a base for people wanting to explore the Cots world. So leisure is very, very high. I think there's a lot of people coming to visit families as well, so it's kind of the family leisure kind of market, but I would say probably about 50% is still more business, relocation. Quite often people are coming to say work at GCHQ, they're relocating here from overseas and they need somewhere temporary while they get set up in either purchasing or renting. And then we have people who are in between homes or having huge renovations and kind of want to stay. So I think it's quite split with the leisure, but it works if you are actively catering for those different groups and you know where to market yourself.

SPEAKER_02 9:40

If someone was an investor looking to buy a property, what would sway them to doing more of like a short-term let over, maybe doing a rent-to-rent or a buy-to rent or just a flip in general? Like what are the what are the perks of doing it as a short-term?

SPEAKER_01 9:55

I think it's the ability to earn a lot more cash, if I'm honest. I think it's slightly different with a flip because it's a very different strategy. You're not holding, you're in for a short period of time, as you know, and you can make quite a chunk. So it depends. I think compared to a typical AST, so normal rental, again, it will really, really depend on the property type. So Cheltenham's got a very strong rental market. So sometimes a property will do much better at rental, and we would always say that because one of the things we have to do is manage expectations. I'm not interested, and neither's Danny, in promising, you know, you can get X amount, and then each month it's not possible to deliver that. That reflects badly on us, that's not great for the investor. So, but for a lot of owners, investors, landlords, they have the ability to earn very good revenue at the peaks, but they have to be comfortable with the lows because that's what follows in Cheltenham. And some people don't like that variability, other people are much more comfortable with it and view it more as an investment. Other people, they want the flexibility to be able to use their property occasionally, so they might be overseas, they might have friends and family that want to stay, so it's very good to allow that sort of flexibility. And also, some landlords experience challenges with tenants. Uh, so not all tenants are great, and the changes to legislation and the renters' reforms now, it can restrict some flexibility for landlords that side, and people don't like that loss of control, and so shortlets can be a really good alternative as well. It is very passive if you want it to be from an investor's point of view, and yeah, you can get very good rate of return.

SPEAKER_02 11:53

In terms of like your management of it, is it based on a percentage fee or based on what they get per month?

SPEAKER_01 11:59

So we we charge a percentage management fee. That will depend on the type of property. And obviously, the it's in everybody's interest, the more revenue we take, the more the owner will make, obviously, the more commission that we will make. But within that, we will pick up everything. So one of our guests a few days ago said we could really do with a fan because it's hot. So I've gone and ordered one and then fixed it and take taken it up there. Now, those sorts of things are critical because they help the patient experience patient. I'm going back to my NHS days, come on to that. They help with the guest experience and hopefully will lead to better reviews. Better reviews means you get higher up the listing, so on and so forth. So there is a lot to do outside of typical management, like for example, a letting agent. And because Danny's husband does all the maintenance, we get preferential rates. So it is a much better package, I think, for an investor.

SPEAKER_02 13:05

I think even with a small like a rental, you have so many questions like can you change this light bulb? And in your head, you're like, Can't you do that? Yeah, but actually, having someone in the phone like yourself to be able to do that for them, it's kind of peace of mind as well.

SPEAKER_01 13:19

Yeah, I mean, tenants we've got a ten, a few tenants who will ask about changing batteries, and it's like, please come on, sort this out yourself because we're living on your own, I'm not your mother. But with guests, you you kind of have to do that, and so I think pretty much every stay there is always something to learn. Oh, okay, we need backup batteries left here, or backup light bulbs or things like that. So it's ever evolving and learning, and as the market becomes more competitive and guests become more discerning, then yeah, it's even more so that you have to kind of respond to that.

SPEAKER_02 14:01

What do you think the most odd request is you've ever had?

SPEAKER_01 14:05

I odd request, not so much odd, just somebody was staying for a period of time and it was yoga mats and desk lamps and garden furniture, and there was quite a list. Uh and it was all fine. Whenever we've got long stay guests, actually, we will make contact and just say, is there anything that will kind of help? And so, you know, a blender, it's normally something for cooking uh that people like. So yoga, I'm not sure it's kind of an odd request, but yeah, we've we've had that.

SPEAKER_02 14:40

I think if they were into yoga, they would have bought their own mat. Yeah, yeah, that kind of was uh no, we can't do that, but and so obviously the front end looks beautiful, amazing. How do you find them running a business? So you're running your own business, but you're also managing so many people, customers, clients, yeah, all over the place.

SPEAKER_04 15:02

You have to be very flexible. Is there is no like late evening or early in the morning? You have to be very flexible. That is the most important.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

Yeah, and I think the biggest shift I've noticed because my background's been the NHS, hence the patient experience comment.

SPEAKER_00 15:23

It's so ingrained.

SPEAKER_01 15:25

Um, but yeah, so my background is NHS. The the biggest the biggest challenge I found moving from employment into being an entrepreneur was the mindset side of things, and so the running of the business I thought would be the hardest thing, learning all about the accounting side of it. And everything small thing you have to package in one and I I thought that would be the hardest, but actually you can learn that. It it's the I guess being an entrepreneur, it it highlights all of your limiting beliefs. Can I do this? Am I good enough? Imposter syndrome, don't have the confidence for this, am I gonna fail? You know, did I make the right decision? So on and so forth. And that is it has been the biggest challenge is to overcome all of that. So it's not been the running of a business, it's not been the learning a new skill or getting a new property or an operating in a new market. It is every time we've needed to kind of grow the business, we've had to grow as well because development side, yeah, which I love, but it's quite sticky to be in it.

SPEAKER_02 16:41

Yeah, it's it's very hard because actually, the more you put yourself in a position of fear or bravery or whatever, whatever the word is, the more you're like, ah, yeah, the more you're uncomfortable, the more you're trying something new.

SPEAKER_01 16:58

It you don't have any confidence because it only comes from doing something and becoming familiar with it. And so, you know, there used to be a thing for me of waiting till I felt confident, waiting until I'd analyse something to death, waiting for the right moment, and it just got to a point where you just went to hell with it, and and you have to just make it work, yeah. So I guess running a business, the that's the hardest bit is to get your head in that place.

SPEAKER_02 17:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:27

Have you got your tips? Yeah, just actually knowing that, actually, and being realistic. And I think everybody that I speak to, male or female, who is trying to do something that pushes them, that is learning a new skill, that is trying to create something, set up a business, everybody has those moments, some some more than others, of imposter syndrome or fear of failure, or I'm not enough, or whatever the words are for you, we all have it. And I guess you you just have to push through that. There is there, there is no magic wand that will make you feel better, but just that understanding of that I think is helpful. And yeah, the confidence comes from just doing it. I think it makes a big difference working with people that are aligned to you. Yeah, there's been lots of times where I've worked with people that aren't, and it just creates tension and yeah, it it's it stops it being fun. Yeah, so this is the lovely thing. Working with Danny is we are really aligned and it just lifts everything. It's um yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:43

Finding a partnership in in a work capacity is actually really difficult. Yeah, you can be friends with someone and think you're really well aligned. Yeah, working with someone is a very difficult game. Yeah, yeah, it's true. And actually, I think sometimes it's easier to work with someone and then be friends with them than be friends with them and then work with them. Yes, yes, completely.

SPEAKER_04 19:05

The easiest way, I think. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:07

Yeah. What do you think you you were work then friends or friends and work?

SPEAKER_04 19:12

Oh, probably Okay, so first when we met, I guess it was a work contest, wasn't it? In the beginning, and after that, step by step, we'll learn more for each other, so yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

Yeah, and I don't know if you sort of you get to a certain age where you are aware of that, and so there isn't I guess there's not a need to present your people talk a lot about you know identity and being authentic, but it is really, really true. What was really nice when we met was we weren't on show, we weren't trying to be something we're not very honest about kind of where we were, what we were doing, shortcomings, what we were skilled at, that sort of thing. And I guess that comes with age and experience. So yeah, I've learned, you know, I wouldn't quite say the hard way, but I've just learned through experience that that alignment, and it's not just in your business relationships, but personal relationships, and then trying to bring that into a work context is really challenging. Yeah, really challenging too.

SPEAKER_02 20:23

Because actually, if you pick the wrong partner, it your whole business can absolutely fail and crumble. Yeah, absolutely. So it is, and it isn't just about you know being able to compliment each other's skills. I find that you've also got to be able to deal with each other's emotions, yeah, each other's there's a lot of things that come with it. I mean, I mean, poor Rich has to do a lot of things with me.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

But but it's hard, and I think when you're uh an entrepreneur, there is no, or at least I find this, a cutoff on your end of the day. I mean my mine is at five with a glass of wine while I make dinner, but you know, eight o'clock was still working, and it's great because you have complete choice and time freedom of what you do, but generally, I think most people who are running their own business probably work more hours than they used to and if they were in employment, and so there's no kind of natural cutoff, and you end up bringing a lot of it by virtue of one, you should be really interested in what you're doing and you're passionate about, so it is going to be something you're gonna talk about, but you bring it into your like home life, your personal relationships, whether that's with your other half or your children, or you know, whatever that might be, and your friendships. So I have found actually moving into property and being an entrepreneur, it's created very different friendship dynamics and groups because we're on different journeys and different kinds of life paths. And that's also been quite interesting watching that play through.

SPEAKER_02 21:54

I think it is interesting, you know how you touched on earlier about the self-reflection part of doing your job or being an entrepreneur, it then makes you self-reflect against the people that are surrounding you.

SPEAKER_01 22:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:04

Because again, like, you know, having a good partner is fantastic, but if you've got negative people around you, that's gonna just feed into your negativity. And it is interesting because you start reflecting on yourself, but the people that you hang out with and you know how they then support you. She's there's been an impact in your friendship groups and your partners and like how your dynamics have changed.

SPEAKER_01 22:24

Yeah, thousands.

SPEAKER_04 22:27

Have you? Yes, absolutely. And as well for me, it's a little bit different because I choose to change completely my life on the same time which I started the business.

SPEAKER_02 22:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:41

And for me, of course, I still feel fear and I'm not good enough, or should I do this and this? And in the same time, I have my children and they are still little. But when you go out from this comfort zone and you keep going, yes, you fear a pain every single day. But when you pass this fear and this pain, there is a very good life.

SPEAKER_02 23:15

I feel like you had a lot more change than the average person, though. Like you've come to a new country where you get new cultures, new experiences, you've got two very young children. You didn't just throw yourself in the deep pain, I think you deep dived.

SPEAKER_04 23:29

Yes. And as well, I would like to show uh to show my children that it's like the life could be very, very different every single day.

SPEAKER_02 23:41

And it's okay. Do you think it's given you a better balance though as well? Like being able to do your own thing alongside family life, because sometimes in a nine to five, you're very much contained in the the time you can spend with your loved ones.

SPEAKER_04 23:53

Of course, and even evenings I could still working and I would be with them on the same time. So this is perfect for me.

SPEAKER_02 24:02

So a bit about your backgrounds, because you keep touching on the NHS.

SPEAKER_01 24:06

What did you do? So I was a director of strategy, so I had a team which was picking up sort of program, project management, we would do business development, so tenders for services, and yeah, so my role was very kind of strategic business planning with the NHS, and I've been doing it for nearly 20 years, and property was my way of moving out of that.

SPEAKER_02 24:34

Gosh, quite a big difference, but also probably very transferable skills.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

Loads of transferable skills, massive difference. I come from a very traditional upbringing of go to school, college, good grades, get a job for life. My dad is a civil servant, or was my then husband's father was a civil servant. So it was very much that yeah, job for life, safe, very ambitious. So I moved up quite quickly. It was great pay, great team, great benefits. But uh for me, the work stopped having any impact. It was very, very unfulfilling. And the NHS is a really tough environment to work to work in. I think it's very bureaucratic, there's a lot of box ticking, and it can really take a lot of creativity, innovation from that role, particularly on the business side. And property for me was a way of replacing my income, which didn't quite work as I thought. We bought properties up in Lancashire, back to Brick, did the renovation, that we've still got them, they work really well, but all the money went back into growing the business. So what I effectively did was create two jobs, and I was no further from leaving, which is why I then set up shortlets and that within six months replaced my income, and then I was able to leave. And it was a massive, massive step for me to do that. Probably one of the biggest kind of shifts for my head, and it was really difficult for the first few years because effectively all I did was create another job for myself rather than creating a business that would work without me, or I'd just provide the oversight and then generate money. So that's taken a long while to get to that place.

SPEAKER_02 26:32

Yeah, yeah. It is quite a big leap though, going from full-time employment to not, or like as an employee by yourself.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

Yeah, it's massive. There's a big identity shift as well, because for me at least, working in that environment, it was for me a lot of recognition around being promoted, delivering on certain things. You'd have appraisals which would say how well you were doing, you'd have a salary increase that reflects how well. So you were sort of known for what you did, and then coming out of that, you're completely reliant on yourself, and there's nobody there saying, Good job. Give you a forward video, but now, yeah, but when I first started, you have none of that validation, and I'm a terrible people placer, and uh some of that validation was missing, so it was a big it was a big shift. So yeah, I don't know if you found similar.

SPEAKER_04 27:36

Absolutely. When I met Naomi, I was thinking, oh my gosh, I was dream for this a year ago when I was still in Bulgaria to change my environment 100%. I came here and step by step, for so for a year and a half, I'm surrounded with people who I was just dream for.

SPEAKER_01 27:59

Oh no. Oh, too. That's very sweet.

SPEAKER_02 28:04

In my ego boosters come and think the daddy below. You're an ego booze, come and have a little chit chat, but you feel so good.

SPEAKER_01 28:13

But actually, it makes such a difference if you are around people that that lift you up.

SPEAKER_02 28:19

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:20

And and this is not a plug, but seriously, we find that with your networking um group, is that you can go in and it's so supportive. And as I was saying earlier, you don't just have conversations about the weather, you get right into that around, you know, people have had great weeks, bad weeks, and it's all okay. And that makes such a difference to just having that emotional support and being lifted, and also being able to kind of give that back to others. Yeah, so yeah, who who you surround yourself with, it does sound really cliche, but it it's just critical.

SPEAKER_02 28:59

I think that's the thing when when people go, Oh, you own your own business, oh that's amazing. They they have this really big impression that it's the best life ever and you make a ton of money or whatever it might be, they don't quite realise the roller coaster is is the highs are so high, but the lows are so low.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

Yes. And I wouldn't change it because I love having that time choice freedom. It is really good, fabulous. But I work harder than I ever have done, and I guess if you equated income and hours, is it much you know, prorated it back to my old job? Maybe, maybe not, but that's not the point. It's so, for example, two weeks today, I'm going to Thailand for two months because I can work remotely. Yeah, that I will still make money, I will still be doing exactly what I'm doing. Hello, Miss Nora. And that's that's the beauty of being an entrepreneur. I can do that, and then equally, yeah, uh, we can, you know, Danny's got a little one.

SPEAKER_02 30:02

She's just come and join us on the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 30:04

Yeah, and you can still, you know, be there when you need to be. Whereas if we were stuck in a nine to five in an office, you know, I wouldn't be able to do that. Danny wouldn't be able to have her daughter here. Yeah. Yeah, so we're very fortunate. But it is hard.

unknown 30:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:22

For someone maybe looking to go into the worlds of shortlets or even into entrepreneurship, what would you what advice would you give them?

SPEAKER_04 30:31

They have to be prepared for everything. In the beginning, they will be uh faced with with a lot of challenges. They just have to be prepared.

SPEAKER_01 30:44

And I think it's being realistic, so try and surround yourself or have at least a few people that you can rely on that have got your back because it will be really, really tough. And so, whatever you're moving into, Danny and I both obviously did property, and we both had property mentors and did property training and educated ourselves, which I think is really key. When you do that, you start to build a circle of people who are in a similar position, and that is really, really helpful, and it does get super tough. I think being aware of that and that you're not different to anybody else, it can be quite comforting because you tend to think a lot of this stuff is just happening to you. Have I made a mistake? I think it's one of those things where it's about how you frame things. If you are going to see every problem as a potential failure, as a negative, as opposed to actually these are obstacles, they're problems to solve. And when you push through that, there are opportunities that come always, every single single time. But a lot of people will see the problem and go, that's too much, I don't want to do it. And and your life won't change. Now that doesn't necessarily mean that's a bad thing. If you love your current life and what you're doing, yeah, that's great. But if you don't feel fulfilled with what you're doing and you feel like moving into the space where you have more control around your time and what you do and who you work with, so being an entrepreneur, I think the mindset thing is what you need to be working on, and there's so much stuff out there that you can use, and recognising, as I said, that the problems are what you need to overcome in order to generate the opportunities, and uh yeah, that that's kind of it. So it is the framing, my other half calls it says I Mary Poppins it, and it's not doing that, but it is trying to reframe it into something that is supportive and serving you as opposed to cut half empty. There really isn't a place in this world for that kind of thinking because you just won't move forward. Yeah. This is my view.

SPEAKER_02 33:12

I've always taken the the, well, in fact, I haven't really taken the option, but every hard route I've taken has always been the best one. If I've ever tried to take the easy route, I'm telling you right now it has come back and hit me in the bum. Yeah. Not that long after either. And I just think, oh, if I'd just done that tough thing at that one time, which absolutely petrified me or terrified me, or I thought it was the wrong thing, like I thought it was like a bad thing. Yeah, I was like, I would have saved myself so much ag.

SPEAKER_01 33:40

And I think I think there's only a few times in our life where something awful happens. And when you move beyond that, it opens up to something that was better for you. I'm sure there are instances in people's lives, yeah, bereavement, for example, where you know, I don't necessarily think there is an upside to that, it just lessens with time. But when you're in a kind of business entrepreneurial space, I don't think even failure is necessarily a bad thing. I believe in a a higher, a higher power than us, in so much as you're not supposed to have that thing. There is something bigger and better for you. And I think if you have that mindset, there isn't anything such as failure. That is just when you stop. Yeah, it's progress, but it's it's it's really clunky and sticky along the way. A lot of the time it's not that pleasant, which is why having the right people around you will make the world of difference.

SPEAKER_02 34:43

So for someone who is uh maybe looking to go into shortlets, where can they find you? Where are you? Oh, that's a good question, actually.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

So we're both based in Cheltenham. Yeah, and you're on social media, aren't you?

SPEAKER_04 34:58

On on social media, yes. On Instagram. Danny's making me. Danny's very good at all of this. Yes, uh shortlet collective in Instagram. Our website is still not already, but soon, very soon.

SPEAKER_02 35:13

Very soon, coming soon. What's your face? Yes, amazing. Well, thank you both so much for coming on today. Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 35:21

Thank you, thank you.