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While some couples easily navigate daily life decisions, such as choosing a dinner spot or selecting a TV show to watch, they often find that working or investing together presents more challenges.
We sat down with Avery Carl, CEO of The Short Term Shop and one of the most prominent figures in the short-term rental market, to discuss how she and her husband, Co-Founder Luke Carl, successfully juggle both a romantic and working partnership, which includes overseeing more than 250 investment properties, spanning short-term rentals, long-term rentals, and multifamily apartment buildings.
Identify Each Person’s Strengths and Weaknesses
According to Carl, before even getting started working together, a couple should first sit down and determine each person’s strengths and weaknesses. “Confirming what you’re good at and how your partner best compliments you and vice versa is the crucial first step to having a successful working relationship,” said Carl, “You have to be honest about what you bring to the table and play to your strengths.”
Carl added that it’s also important to remember that, when mixing business and pleasure, the marriage has to come first. “Remembering that you love this person and that you’re on the same team will help you resolve conflict more easily,” said Carl, “If the arguments start to happen, that means that there are too many cooks in the kitchen and the roles need to be redefined.”
Properly Delegate Tasks to Increase Efficiency
Carl explained that their remarkable productivity as a couple stems from their ability to divide and conquer. In managing their real estate investments, both she and Luke have distinct spheres of influence, and they generally avoid encroaching on each other’s areas of expertise.
“Sometimes, redefining roles is necessary,” said Carl, mentioning a particular example that she and Luke confronted: They were both managing the communications with the guests staying on their properties and they would argue about their different communication styles.
“I thought Luke came across as rude in certain situations because he was so short in his responses, and he thought I came across as a pushover because I was so flowery in my responses,” said Carl, “So we would see what the other said to a guest and then argue about it.”
The key for them was realizing that they had to make one person point on all guest communication, thus avoiding this source of conflict.
Clearly Define Short and Long-Term Goals
One of the reasons many couples break up is not having the same vision for their futures. Perhaps one wants to live in a big city and the other in the countryside or one is a homebody and the other likes to go out and socialize regularly. This is an issue that arises when working together as well, which is why aligning on short and long-term investment goals is so vital.
“Prioritizing communication, transparency, and aligning your short and long-term goals as a couple is absolutely essential,” said Carl, “Without that, even people in the most healthy relationships can start to drift apart or come into conflict. The more specific you can get at defining those goals, the better. In other words, don’t just say you want to own X amount of properties by X date, but break down that huge goal into the shorter and more manageable steps that will get you there.”
On a Mission to Help Others Find Financial Freedom
At this year’s highly anticipated EXPCON conference in Las Vegas, The Short Term Shop recently celebrated obtaining the coveted title of #1 Team in The World, excelling in all three pivotal categories—Sales Volume, Number of Sales, and Gross Commission Income.
The success of the company is a testament to how well Avery and Luke work together. They’ve had a remarkable journey given their humble beginnings — from buying their first property in the Smoky Mountains in 2015 to overseeing the facilitation of connective investors with more than $2.5 billion worth of short-term and vacation rentals. Now they’re dedicating their lives to helping others follow a similar path to financial freedom. What sets them apart is that they not only help investors buy properties but also teach them how to manage them, thus helping them avoid paying a management company up to 40 percent of each booking.
“We’re so proud of what our team has accomplished,” said Carl, “We’re truly transforming the way investors participate in the short-term rental market, giving them the tools to succeed across every region that we operate in and on every short-term rental booking platform.”
About Avery Carl
Avery Carl, Founder of The Short Term Shop brokered by EXP, was named one of Newsweek’s Top 500 agents in 2020, Wall Street Journal’s Top 100 in 2021, Top 50 in 2022, and Top 10 in 2023, as well as the New York Times Top 100 in 2022. She and her team focus exclusively on vacation rental and short-term rental clients, having closed well over $2.5B in sales. To join over 5,000 happy Short Term Shop investors, please visit https://theshorttermshop.com/
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