If I Had To Build Live Oak Lake All Over Again…
By Isaac French
I had this idea…
I thought that perhaps I could spell out for you in one concise newsletter—if I had to do it all over again—exactly how I’d build an experiential, branded micro-resort like Live Oak Lake.
Everything you needed to know (at least to be dangerous). Wouldn’t that be great?
And then I started writing…and writing…and writing some more.
(It’s cathartic; makes me think better, too)
I quickly realized that this was not all going to fit into just one email (all good ideas have to face the harsher truths of reality).
But I wrote it out anyways (over 5,000 words), and decided to make this a series! My hope is that, just like the other issues of the newsletter, you’ll get at least one nugget of value out of each.
Of course, simply due to space constraints, I won’t be able to drill down deeply into every single detail, but I'm going to give you a clear roadmap, rich with learnings and tactical insights.
Yeah, you're welcome:)
To embark on launching your own branded, one-of-a-kind property:
You don't need to be experienced in hospitality or real estate.
You don't need generational wealth (though that certainly would help:)
What you need is a dream: a burning, unquenchable desire to create something special, captivating, and one-of-a-kind. More than just a place to stay; an experience.
Ready?
Let’s GO!
Step 1: Start Telling Our Story (Document EVERYTHING and build in public)!
My friend Ben wrote a great newsletter about this yesterday. Check it out if you haven’t already.
This is simple, and yet incredibly important. This could literally make or break the entire project. Here's why:
You hear it all the time, but storytelling is an essential skill for growing a business nowadays, and especially one like this. Guests absolutely LOVE relatable, adventurous, authentic stories, and the brands that can figure out how to tell them.
Since the story of our property starts with a dream, there's no better opportunity to start telling it than right now. This will help us figure out how to use social media, and there's even a good chance we'll start to find real traction developing a captive audience before we've even broken ground.
Who knows! Perhaps this is how we'll find our anchor investors, or contractors, or lenders, or design partners, or most importantly...our future guests!!
We don't have to do anything perfectly...and that's the best part. People truly want authenticity. So we're going to build (and make mistakes) in public.
This will look like us posting short (30-90 second) reels on Instagram and TikTok every few days. Simple, succinct updates: a look behind the scenes, time-lapses, before-and-after reels—all pure storytelling gold for a project like this one.
We MUST do this consistently, even when it feels like there's nothing to say, because building this muscle is absolutely essential to the long term value of the brand and property we're going to build.
And we really shouldn't take this lightly, because rumor has it that a micro-resort in Texas recently sold for $1M/key (4x cost), due in large part to a robust instagram following and the 80% direct bookings rate it produced!
Step 2: Figure Out Finances
Assuming we have little or no money to begin with, we're going to write out a list of everyone we know that does have money, and we're going to set up a meeting with each of them. We're going to practice pitching our dream to them over coffee.
Maybe this is someone we already consider a close friend or even a family member. But it doesn't have to be.
We're going to write this pitch out beforehand as a one-pager that spells out the opportunity, our plans, and exactly what we're looking for (money of course). Writing this is going to help us verbally articulate this pitch clearly and concisely.
We're even going to plug a few comps (Live Oak Lake is a good one) demonstrating the secular trend of experiential hospitality, and the game plan to design and build something truly unique and word-of-mouth-worthy.
For this first deal of ours, we're going to propose a simple 50/50 split: they (which could be a combination of a few different folks, but not more than 3-ish) are going to get 50% equity in the deal in exchange for a $400,000 loan, to be fully repaid with interest upon refinancing the project, once stabilized (2-3 years out to be safe).
We're going to take the other 50%, as well as a small but fair developers fee to manage the project. Basically, we'll track our time which will be reimbursed in the form of a salary. This will put food on the table while we’re busy building.
The value creation here is off-the-charts, and we should be able to pull out all cash (and then some, hopefully), as soon as we have a good 6+ months of operating history and future bookings under our belt.
After a few pitches, we finally hear what we want: "I'm in."
Now, the next step we've actually already begun, simultaneously... (being a developer is both active and proactive!)
Step 3: Find Land
Alright, gonna stop here… stay tuned for next week!