My friend Kristie was 30, making $12/hr in a potato factory. That was 11 yrs ago.

Today, she owns a viral empire of one-of-a-kind stays:

- mountaintop fire lookouts
- hobbit houses in the woods
- 6-ton potato turned hotel
- and a lot more

All without a single loan (her story):


Kristie Wolfe grew up in Idaho, dropped out of high school, and spent a decade in factories.

One day, a friend sent her a job listing. The Idaho Potato Commission needed a spokeswoman for their iconic 6-ton potato.

She got the gig, touring fairs nationwide, saving every...

We bought this 120-yr-old train car for $3,000.

It was a rotting, cat-infested wreck.

But five months and $148k later, my brothers and I turned it into one of the most iconic & profitable airbnbs in America.

Here’s what happened (thread):
I grew up in Idaho. A few winters ago, my dad got a call from an elderly farmer down the road…

His barn was about to collapse, and he needed help shoveling snow off the roof.

When my dad arrived, his eyes lit up.

Buried in that barn was an ancient, almost unrecognizable…

I designed & planted a 200-tree fruit orchard with friends and neighbors.

90 days earlier, it was just a dusty, barren field. Spent $75k all-in, and the trees have now tripled in size…

Full story & everything we’ve learned (a thread):
For years, I'd dreamt of creating an orchard both deliciously abundant and visually stunning.

A place to meditate, walk, or talk with a friend.

A place to dream (cause dreaming is important).

I set about zealously collecting ideas on pinterest and drafted a simple one-pager.

I built my dream office in the forest behind my home.

Art studio, workspace, podcast set, library, lounge, kitchen, bathroom, sleeping loft - all in one!

It took 4 months to build, start to finish.

Want to see inside the nook? 🧵
After working out of my living room on an ipad for 3 yrs while building @liveoaklake, it felt time for an office upgrade.

Started by clearing a 3 acre thicket of briars behind our house. Unbelievably dense.

Then I spent a week sketching up plans, blending simplicity w nature.

My dad bought this 120-yr-old train car for $3k.

It was a rotting, cat-infested wreck. But after $148k and 5 months of work, we redeemed it.

Today, it’s one of the most profitable and exclusive airbnbs in the country.

Here’s how it all came together…
I grew up in Idaho. A few winters ago, my dad got a call from an elderly farmer down the road…

His barn was about to collapse, and he needed help shoveling snow off the roof.

When my dad arrived, his eyes lit up.

Buried in that barn was an ancient, almost unrecognizable…

This guy takes recycling seriously.

Deep in the misty forests of Oregon, a 75-year-old retired engineer falls asleep each night inside a Boeing 727.

My first question: “how in the world did he get that thing there?”

So I did some digging… 🧵
Meet Bruce Campbell (not the actor).

In 1999, the self-diagnosed nerd had an idea while pondering the fate of retired aircraft:

Why scrap these engineering marvels when they’re built to outlast any conventional home?

We turned a lifeless field into a lush, thriving orchard in just 3 months.

The recipe?

- 5 acres
- 15 friends
- 207 saplings
- 75,500 dollars

I'll show you how we did it, and why planting an orchard might be one of the best investments you'll ever make.🧵
For years, I'd dreamt of creating an orchard both deliciously abundant and visually stunning.

A place to meditate, walk, or talk with a friend.

A place to dream (cause dreaming is important).

I set about zealously collecting ideas on pinterest and drafted a simple one-pager.

I designed & built a personal office / art studio in the forest behind my home.

We call it "the nook,” and it took 4 months start to finish.

Want to see inside? 🧵

After working out of my living room on an ipad for 3 yrs while building & operating @liveoaklake, it felt time for an upgrade.

Started by clearing a 3 acre thicket of briars behind our house, then sketched up plans, blending simplicity w nature.

Local burned cedar, white oak…

Chris had nothing to leave his kids.

So he scraped together $28k, bought 5 acres in upstate NY, and spent weekends building an A-frame by hand.

Then one $800 idea turned his quiet cabin into a mega-viral airbnb with over $1M in bookings.

Wait till you see this...🧵
Short backstory on Chris: At 14, he started in carpentry.

By 2016, he was installing custom millwork in high-end homes.

He was building other people’s dreams—but had nothing for his own family (and lived paycheck to paycheck).

Then, tragedy struck...

At 11, I landed my first job: making cheese.

$8/hr after school—until my boss realized hiring an 11-yr-old was illegal.

I didn't care. I loved it so much, I stayed on unpaid.

This was just the beginning of a teenage obsession that would lead to an unexpected discovery…🧵 Cheesemaking wasn’t new to our family. My mom had started a small cheese business w her friends around the time I was born. She stepped away to raise & homeschool us kids, but her friends kept it going.

That’s where I worked, carefully brushing & turning wheels of aging cheese.

At 24, I borrowed $2.3M to build 7 luxury cabins on a lake.

Weeks after opening, Airbnb suspended us. No bookings. No sleep. As a last-ditch effort, I spent $950 on an IG giveaway. It changed everything.

18 months later, we sold for $7M.

Here’s how it all happened:🧵
Quick backstory:

I grew up homeschooled on a farm—#5 of 10 kids.

My dad was a plumber.

Grandpa Byron built homes. Grandma Jan sparked my love for art w weekly drawing lessons.

Once we were old enough, my brothers & I spent summers working construction w my dad and grandpa...

My friends bought 34 acres of Ohio wilderness.

While hiking one day, they stumbled upon a dark, dripping cavern—and decided to pour their life savings into it.

Today, it's one of the world's most profitable airbnbs. The waitlist is years long.

Here's the story...🧵
Before the cave, they put it all on the line & took a huge risk...

Amy's a stay-at-home mom (they have 3 kids).

Bryant's an engineer by trade, but his 9-to-5 left him uninspired.

So they began searching for a slice of Hocking Hills, an hr outside Columbus, OH, where they live.

Burnt out from city life, this couple built a tiny cabin in the woods.

Five years later, they’re quietly redefining sustainable, design-forward hospitality.

Guests are obsessed. Owners want in.

The story behind hinter: 🧵
In 2018, Emily & Mauricio met, drained from their teaching & tech careers.

They shared a passion for travel—and a bold idea.

North America lacked stunning, Nordic design.

Even worse…

Airbnbs were inconsistent. Hotels felt soulless.

What if they could blend the best of both?

Erin French didn’t just build a restaurant…

She turned a tiny, forgotten town into a global culinary destination.

From rock bottom to one of America’s most celebrated restaurateurs—her story is as unlikely as it is unforgettable.

I present to you: The Lost Kitchen 🧵
Born and raised in Freedom, Maine (pop. <800), Erin was no stranger to kitchens.

She grew up flipping pancakes at her dad’s diner, nurturing an early love for food.

But her future, like the town, seemed destined to fade.

She dropped out of college, became a single mom at 21…

This old, abandoned ironworkers’ camp in Maine was just transformed into a stunning, sold-out micro-resort.

My 29-yo friend Eddie pulled it off with only $50k down.

Here’s how he did it: 🧵
So @eddiegonnella grew up in rural Maine. By day, he’s in sales, but in his spare time?

Real estate genius.

He’s quietly amassed 25 single-family rentals over the last few years, starting from scratch.

But this project on Toddy Pond is the crown jewel (so far).

This is what world-class hospitality looks like:

Two cabins in “flyover country,” booked solid a year in advance (and for good reason—one of my all-time favorite experiences).

A masterclass in doing things the *right* way: 🧵

Three years ago, I was deep in the trenches (quite literally), working 80+ hr weeks trying to will my wild dream into reality: a high-design, Nordic-inspired cabin village carved into the Texas bramble.

Designed and built in under 10 months.

In the midst of this battle…

We turned a lifeless field into a lush, thriving orchard in just 3 months.

The ingredients?

- 15 friends
- 200 saplings
- 75,000 dollars

Here’s how we did it—and why you should plant one, too. 🧵
Couple years ago, I dreamt of creating an orchard both deliciously abundant and visually stunning.

A place to meditate, walk, or talk w a friend.

A place to dream (cause dreaming is important).

So, I zealously collected ideas on Pinterest and drafted a simple one-pager.

This guy bought land for $450/acre and built a “cinematic off-grid sanctuary” renting unique stays.

Now Disney’s paying him big bucks to film there.

Here’s what’s going on👇



So a couple years ago, Travis bought land in the middle of a dry lake bed in the Utah desert, hours from civilization, at just $450/acre.

First challenge?

Building a road to access it.

Five years ago, Kimball & Christine had almost no money or real estate experience.

Today, they’ve created one of the world’s most viral and iconic stays (over 600,000 IG followers).

Here’s how they did it, almost by accident…🧵



In 2019, Christine won a yearlong battle with a rare form of cancer. To celebrate, the family took a 2-month sabbatical in Bali.

They returned home to Ohio rested, rejuvenated, and INSPIRED.

Kimball was pastoring a local church. His income was $48k/year.

As a hospitality nut, I couldn’t resist. I booked a night at Amangiri last year.

$6,080🤯

Here’s what I learned from the highest revpar hotel in America (and why our own 7-key landscape hotel won for some of the same reasons). Just 34 units.

The property (plopped in middle of nowhere UT) cost $150M to build in ‘09. It was once federally-protected land, but was somehow swapped by the developers (and signed by the president)!

Huge risk for Aman at the time, launching on the heels of the GFC.

But, it paid off... 95% occ, $5k ADR

My friend Tanner is a software guy.

No real estate background or deep pockets.

And he just raised over $650,000 in under a week pre-selling nights at his future micro-resort that's not even built (without giving up a drop of equity).

Here's the playbook he used: @tannerbliss and his wife Melissa had a dream.

...to build a one-of-a-kind, nature-immersive retreat.

And so it was, a year ago, that they found and bought a plot of land with a small waterfall in North Georgia.

And now...