Hone in On What Makes You Stand Out
On Episode 58 of the REAL TIME podcast, we speak with April Brown and Sarah Sklash, founders of The June Motels.
Capitalizing on your niche can be the key to moving your business forward—just ask April Brown and Sarah Sklash, founders of The June Motels.
What started as a side hustle between best friends has now turned into a Netflix sensation and multi-property endeavor.
On this episode of the REAL TIME podcast, Brown and Sklash share how honing in on their unique offering is what really made The June Motels into what they are today. Plus, hear their take on why focusing on a niche audience can actually make things easier when it comes to marketing your business.
Starting The June Motel
Brown and Sklash kick off the conversation with host Shaun Majumder, recounting how The June Motels came to be. With both working traditional 9 to 5 jobs, they dreamed of doing something different. Unsure of what that looked like, they started by brainstorming ideas to pursue.
We probably brainstormed 50 different side hustles.”
– April Brown
“[The ideas] weren't even like, ‘We're going to quit our job and become a motelier,’” says Brown. They were looking for a weekend thing. Then they thought about the then up-and-coming area of Prince Edward County and thought, “wouldn't it be cool to do something out there?”
After becoming aware of a motel for sale just outside of Picton, Ontario, the pair looked at each other and said, “we should just buy that motel,” recounts Brown.
Fast forward six months, they’ve bought the motel, quit their jobs, and are now living in the motel.
I want to say we had that conversation in January, and a couple of months later, we're literally putting an offer in on this motel.”
– April Brown
Drawing inspiration
While they weren’t the first moteliers, the pair like to think they were the first to bring it to Canada.
“We were looking at people doing this in Miami and Texas. We were finding some good inspiration out there,” says Sklash. “We knew others had been able to take these dingy roadside motels and turn them into something cool.”
“We really saw that motel as a blank slate,” continues Brown. “There was nothing we were really attached to. We could wallpaper with funky palm wallpaper. We could put the neon signs up.”
It was like we were in the home stretch, we're a couple of months away from opening, and we had that last big decision to make, which is, what color do you paint the doors?”
– April Brown
Ultimately, the two decided on a perfect shade of millennial pink, drawing inspiration from places like Miami and California as the vibe they were trying to replicate.
What happens next?
Well, two more motels and a Netflix series later, Brown and Sklash offer insights as to how they got to where they are now and how REALTORS® can apply similar practices to their own businesses.
Listen wherever you listen to podcasts, or watch on YouTube.
