Why I'm Focused on Hospitality (After Touring the World and Performing for Millions with NEEDTOBREATHE) - Seth Bolt, Bolt Farm Treehouse

Josiah: I always love beginning conversations, starting with the why. Why are we doing what we're doing? I'm curious for you, why is rest important? Maybe let's start there. Let's start with rest, then we'll get into hospitality. Why is rest important from your perspective?

Seth: I think one of the best analogies I've heard, this guy asked me one time, he said, "Hey, how often do you change the tires on your truck or your car?" And I was like, "Probably once every several years, something like that." And he's like, "How often do they change the tires for a race car, like for NASCAR?" And I was like, "Several times in a race." He's like, "Exactly." He's like, "You are a high output individual and you have got to change your tires and be on. You've got to be fresh or you're going to burn out, you're going to crash the car into the ditch. And then all that effort was for nothing. You've got to be able to sustain yourself." And that really struck a chord with me. And before I started Bolt Farm Treehouse, I was in that place of burnout. I'd been touring the world with my band and making music and doing a lot of good work, but I really found that my spirit would lift when I would get back out into nature.
Obviously, with music and music venues, they're in these city, urban environments and I grew up out in the country. So, I think ultimately, it's like the human spirit, doesn't matter who you are, doesn't matter where you're from, doesn't matter what you believe. When we encounter beauty, something happens inside of us and I decided that I needed a place where I could go. I needed a refuge. I needed something that would bring me back and lift my spirits. So, I decided to build a treehouse with my dad on the farm where I grew up, have 40 acres and there was lots of wooded areas. And so, I'd found the perfect spot and the right trees to do it. When my dad and I started building this tree house. And then in the middle of that, I met the woman who is now my wife and was inspired by love to really create ... I already knew I wanted to make the coolest treehouse that anyone's ever seen.
I'm an ambitious guy, creative guy, visionary. So, that was already in the cards, but then I was like, how do I make this to be a place where it's just magical? So, that birthed the first honeymoon treehouse, and it was on the honeymoon that we started ... We took the time to rest, shut out the outside world. It's just us and we're thinking, talking, praying, dreaming, journaling, writing about what do we want work to look like, what do we want life to look like? Because here we are and we're just starting our lives together and we had a blank page. I feel like that's a magical thing about hospitality, is that we get to create those moments for people where, regardless of the chapter someone's coming from, they have the ability to write the next one and it can be anything they want.
You rarely ever write the outline for the next chapter when you're just going, going, going, going. So, you have to rest to really reset. And I've languaged it like my mission for one of the purposes for us, is being able to give people the space to zoom out, so they know where to zoom back in, to really get that perspective and that clarity. So, that was truly life-changing for us, having the time to do that.
And Bolt Farm Treehouse was not even an idea really before then. But really, once we looked at all the things we wanted to do with our life and our family, it all pointed towards creating more experiences. I've always felt like for me, I play music with a band NEEDTOBREATHE and now I've got Bolt Farm Treehouse, and both of these things are going simultaneously and people are like, "Well, music and real estate development and hospitality, how all these things fit together?"
And for me it's simply, I think number one, feeling like man, life is short and I don't want to get the end of my life and regret not doing as much as I possibly could to add value to the world with the talents I've been given and the resources that I have to work with. So, I don't think any of us are going to get to the end of our life and wish that we just spent more time scrolling on our phone. So, I don't even consume social media and I encourage the people who visit Bolt, Farm Treehouse, I'm like, "Hey, this is a great time to just tell everyone you're going to a nature retreat and that your phone's probably not going to work. And then just set that thing down and really just be human and experience that beauty and the inspiration that comes from inspiring environments."
And so, with both music and with hospitality, the through line is creating inspiring environments where people can be their best self because music has that power. You can be having a bad day or going through a tough time where you're like, you're not exactly sure how to language the emotions you're feeling and a song can absolutely carry you and give you energy and strength and obviously with hospitality, people are ... they look forward to this opportunity to get away, to have an experience. My wife and I just finished doing that happy hour with our guest at our Tennessee property tonight, and I talked to a couple, several ... This one couple said, "We have not been away from our kids since 2008 and we're having the time of our life." So I mean, hospitality is an opportunity for everyone to obviously to escape, but I feel like it can be so much more than just an escape because you can go to a hotel and watch TV the whole time and you're just watching the news and did you really go anywhere or feel anything or surround yourself with beauty?
I think that's the magic of combining nature and this penthouse suite experience because you can be totally immersed in nature and feel the lift from that, but then also be surrounded by comfort, have this penthouse suite experience top of a mountain looking out over a 30-mile view and then just giving the space for that rest, that reconnection. That's where the magic happens and it's hard to really ... At that point, once you combine all those things, I think it really takes care of itself.

Josiah:
I want to get into the details of how you designed the treehouse and now as you're expanding, because you've thought about so many details there, but I appreciate you getting a little bit into your personal story because I think our personal stories and the things that we've experienced shape the way that we view hospitality. You've spoken before a little bit about how you take your life as a musician. You're playing with NEEDTOBREATHE to stadiums of 10,000+ people at a time, and so you're literally on a stage there. Do you see hospitality, what you're doing now with Bolt Farm Treehouse as a stage in a different sense as well?

Seth:
Certainly. Each tour for NEEDTOBREATHE means a different sort of environment that we're bringing with us, our stage. And it's an interesting mix of the creativity of, man, where can the lights come from and what kind of set pieces can we engineer and manufacture and all that? And then the logistics of, okay, also you've got to be able to set it up in about four or five hours, test it all out, do the show, pack it up, put it back in the semi-trucks, go to the next city and be able to do all that within a 24-hour timeframe. So, it's a big feat to be able to do that. I've been jealous all along of the shows in Vegas that are stationary because you can do so much more if you never have to tear it down and set it back up again.

Josiah:
Is there going to be a NEEDTOBREATHE residency coming soon?

Seth:
Maybe, maybe. I'd love to play The Sphere, that'd be amazing. But hospitality does give you that opportunity. If you can dream it, you can do it. And then now people are stepping into your world that you've had a long time to build. And it's similar but different. Both are experiences, both are thrilling, both really get the human brain just vibrating on a higher level. I've noticed that there could be a drought where I'm just not really ... musical ideas aren't really flowing, and I'm telling you, within two hours of being on vacation and that release, I've got all these ideas and I'm not even wanting to work, but I'm like, "I'm so inspired right now and I've got this melody and I've got ... " and I just start singing it. And it's like the soul begins to sing and I feel like that is hospitality at its best. That is, to me, one of the most desirable outcomes because it's just enabling the best of who we are as humans.

Josiah:
I love what you said about nature and creating a little more space for yourself to connect with loved ones and some of these big dreams and thoughts, but I'm curious also, when you're in the midst of things, a lot of our listeners are always on the road. When you're touring, you are just city to city to city. I'm curious, have you experienced elements of hospitality, it doesn't need to be a place, but just moments of rest in a hospitality context that you found helpful. I'm just curious how you think about that on the road and then I want to get into the nature aspect of that.

Seth:
Yeah, well, I mean NEEDTOBREATHE's been touring and traveling the country and the world for actually over 20 years. So, I have experienced literally every level of hospitality. I mean, from the early days when we had zero money and would get bed bugs from the roadside hotel, motel thing, all the way up to touring with Taylor Swift. And I once had this situation, I think the hotel got their wires crossed and they were told on tour with Taylor Swift, but they heard Taylor Swift is coming. And so, literally I opened the door to the bus and there was a red carpet, everything. And we go in and it's like the penthouse suite, seriously, and the nicest room I've ever seen in my life at this absolutely gorgeous property. And I think they realized what they did, but they were too embarrassed to be like, "We're actually going to have to move you down a few floaters because you're not who we thought you were and we're not going to get the promotional benefit we thought we were going to get on this thing."
But honestly, the places that lifted my spirit the most were just going to a farm that belonged to a friend of ours. His dad just had some property in Indiana and we would always just go there. And it wasn't necessarily a luxury property. I mean, it was just honestly very simple, very humble, but just getting to be in a nature setting, ride four-wheelers and play games. And there actually was a little treehouse on the property. And as simple as it was, and this was actually before I built the treehouse, I was like ... I went up there and I fell on top of the world and it took me back to childhood, like when you have forts and you climb trees and all that as a kid.
And I was thinking this is the closest ... treehouses are the closest thing they have to time machines because they really can transport the human spirit. And so with Bolt Farm Treehouse, we've done a lot of ... There's a vinyl record player, a journal, we even have therapeutic coloring and things like that, things that actually do connect people, allow them just some much needed space and the inspiration we were talking about earlier.

Josiah:
I love that. I wonder if you could speak a little bit to that moment where you go from building this treehouse for you and your wife and then deciding to turn it more into a business or this thing where you can offer to others. You've alluded to elements of that, but can you speak a little bit more to the opportunity you saw to make this something a little bit bigger than just for you and your family?

Seth:
What we saw was that it was having ... it wasn't just like, "Oh, we had a great time and we'll come back." When you see guest books, that's a lot of times what people might write in there. People were writing pages of what it meant for them, of what it did for them. And we were hearing things like, "This weekend probably added 25 years to my marriage and I rediscovered my best friend." And so many more. I'm telling you, we've got a stack of journals this high of the books behind me of those types of stories and those types of things and that's so ... My wife and I, we're big believers that you've got to be connected with your business, your people, and the experience that the guests are having because from touring and from staying in a lot of different accommodations, I remember when you bang your shin on the bed frame because it doesn't fit the mattress at all, it's way too big. And being like, "Who designed this? They certainly didn't stay in this room before they decided to sell it to the public."
So, I feel like there's been a lot of little moments like that from my own personal experience, where it just really left a mark on me, in that case a scar, but where I just decided, you know what? We're going to actually live this and breathe this and stay in these places and read the journals. And it's pretty cool, I think our guests ... it's developed into this special relationship where they're like, they're following our story and they're cheering us on. And I guess it's not often that you get to be a new brand in hospitality that's doing big things, when it's been gobbled up by the giant names that we all know in hospitality.
But that's where I feel like there's such an opportunity for the approach we're taking because if you look at urban areas, they're totally consumed by those brands and that road is well-worn. And sure, there's some people doing some creative things there, that's great. But I feel like there is an absolute new frontier for what's possible when you merge luxury hospitality and the great outdoors, especially the most beautiful places on Earth.
Now, why are those big brands not made in those places? Because hard work, it's harder to build and develop and all the things. And ultimately our business is not getting drive by traffic. If you're going to Bolt Farm Treehouse, it's because you know about it and it's because we're sharing, we're drawing people in. It's a harder thing to do to be a destination. But I think even though it's a lot harder in the beginning, the upside's so much more because of how great the experience can be for people and for the family and community and team, that ultimately bring that kind of thing to life, that attract that to people. So, many people in hospitality that have joined our team and they were like, "Yeah, I was just tired of being a part of this corporate machine thing. And I actually have ... I was stretched so thin there trying to service 200 rooms and with you I can really have so much more time with guests and I can show up so much better because it's not this mass produced thing, yet there's still a lot of people that I'm getting to impact on a daily, weekly, yearly basis."

Josiah:
It's very personal hospitality. And I was speaking with Nathan Woods, your head of marketing and brand. I'll link to that conversation in the show notes. But it was interesting as we were talking through just standard ways that you measure business performance in hospitality. Bolt Farm Treehouse is off the chart, so nearly all guests are booking directly with you. It's a very personal interaction if you look at the social conversations, it's just so different from any other hospitality business. So, not only is it something that sounds good, if you look at the hard metrics around it, it's really, really compelling. And so, I find that fascinating and I think it does count down to the work that you put in. It comes down to the experience design.
I wonder if you could speak a bit more to the elements of experience design that you were intentional about. I think you mentioned this earlier, but there's a certain sense of you encourage your guests to tell people around them that they're going away to restore. I also understand that there's a certain amount of disconnection, where you even encourage people to turn off their devices. Is that right? And go offline for a little bit?

Seth:
Yeah, so we think about the experience as more of a relationship where, even before they've booked, okay, this person is clearly attracted to what we're doing and they're going to come and stay and they're going to become part of the Bolt Farm family. So, I think number one, treating people with dignity and respect and showing up differently, I think is probably the common theme. And you could also describe that as playing our own game.
From my band NEEDTOBREATHE, it was always, we were getting pressure from the record label. We grew up in the South, we grew up near the Appalachian Mountains and the instruments that you hear there, banjo and fiddle and acoustic guitar and mandolin, and those were all just instruments we grew up around. And so, that's what we intended to do. And the record that was like, "I really think y'all should be more international. You're bigger than this, and so you should not have those instruments on your album."
And so, we didn't. We listened to them like idiots, for the first record, and no one cared. It wasn't authentic, it was homogenous and just like everything else. And so I've really welcomed our team to bring their personality and the local flavors into it. And that's certainly how I show up as well in and trying to create a top of the world experience that's altogether different. And because of the uniqueness of the property rock faces, we got waterfalls. There's just giant rock walls on the front of the property, miles ... I mean, we can see three states from our property. So, the property itself is already inspiring and is already an experience. And I mean, my wife and I actually camped on the property in a tent before we bought it.
And then it's great that ... I feel very fortunate that we have 100% control of our destiny. I've heard horror stories of startups or hospitality companies where it's like, "Well, private equity company said, 'This is the new mandate, this is what it's got to be.' " And then it just ruins the experience for the team. So, I've been very adamant from the beginning. I was like, even if we grow a little slower, we will be in charge of our own destiny and we will be able to build what we want to build and provide the experience that we want to provide. And we intentionally found this ... one of the most beautiful counties in Tennessee it's near Chattanooga, outdoor lovers' paradise, and actually partnered with ... I say partnered, we met with the mayor of the town, with the commissioners, everyone, and just said, "Hey, we've got really big ambition for what we want to do and we want to do a lot of creative things that are outside the box and we just need to know upfront is that something you're going to support or not?
We showed them the treehouses we built so far and everything else like, "This is great." So, it's actually refreshing to be able to, as a creative person whose dad was a builder, to build things that are super outside the box and that you can't really experience in other places because they have such strict cookie cutter laws about what you can build, that there's no room for creativity. So, getting to combine all those things and attract the people that see the potential, see the human experience, see the impact this has, and to then get to build it and bring to life something that's altogether new in the world of hospitality is just really energizing.

Josiah:
It's really exciting to see that. And you've gone from one treehouse to a couple, to many units now and growing quickly. I'm curious for you as the founder and leader of this company, how do you think about splitting your time? I think it's a challenge for any leader, but you also are touring frequently, you're on the road. How do you decide where to spend your time as you're leading this business?

Seth:
Yeah, I try as much as possible to just focus on the areas where I'm doing the things that only I can do. That can be easier said than done because obviously, problems that can't be solved tend to bubble up. So, it could definitely ... I catch myself being like, "Why am I this far in the weeds right now? I am so ... " And maybe it's like that for most entrepreneurs, but honestly, surrounding myself with people who have skill sets that I do not, has been the way that we've been successful. And most people that meet me, they're like, "You're down to Earth, you're humble." And I'm like, "That's just the kind of small town I came from." And my grandparents were orphans and I watched my parents literally just bootstrap their way. I was born in a mobile home and they just worked really, really hard and added value to others and we're blessed and rewarded for that.
So I'm also just like, I think ego's the enemy and I think that it's a real disservice to teams of talented people when they have leadership that doesn't approach it from a servant leadership standpoint, or they're in it for their own glory, or they don't give credit where credit's due and they also ... In a lot of cases, you've got people who are just totally disconnected from what's happening on the front lines of the day-to-day hospitality because they live in some crazy house somewhere else. And I just always found that ... I mean, there's nowhere else I want to be, so I actually am on property pretty much every day that I'm not on tour with NEEDTOBREATHE.
So, I spend more time with my leaders. I'm making sure that my head of construction has everything that he needs from me and all the support and everything else he needs. And then I'll go over to my housekeeping manager, general manager, and talk with him, maintenance, and really try to just keep focusing everyone's attention on the thing that will move the needle the most for the company. And the thing that will ... if this big domino falls, so many others are going to go with it because obviously limited time and very big vision.

Josiah:
Is there one thing that you think will move the needle most for the company or does that come down to the different functional areas?

Seth:
Yeah, people. We've grown so tremendously and it's awesome to see the core team that we have now. I think right now, everyone in hospitality is seeing this. I mean, there's such a war for talent, and I think the companies that really move the needle in the future are going to be built by teams of rock solid people who are rallied around a real mission that goes so far beyond profit.
It's about impact and about ... I'm the same way. I'm totally fine with working really insanely hard because of how much I believe in the impact we're having, because I see it and because I know that it's scalable. And I want more people to be able to experience the great thing that we're doing together. It's cool also to be in a position where now lenders and banks are like, "Hey, we want to lend to this industry now, and you guys are crushing it, so can we work together?"
So, in the beginning, the funding was really hard. Because like I said, we own this 100% and I can't tell you how many times I heard no from people who are like, "Yeah, that asset class doesn't fit into our portfolio or whatever." I'm like, "Come on, think outside the box. This is going to be huge." So I mean, initially-

Josiah:
Well, to have finance people interested in wanting to participate now especially I think speaks volumes because almost everybody is struggling with this. So, it speaks to the momentum that you have. But I think if I recall, if I think back to earlier in our conversation, you talked about just coming from happy hour with guests, reading the guest books and the guest feedback. I think to be an effective leader, you have to communicate that vision.
You also have to be a storyteller of what it is, and you have to stay connected. And so, I see you spending time staying connected to why you're doing this. I imagine that allows you to keep your teams fired up on what this is all about. I guess for anybody listening, if they're as excited about what you're doing as I am, I'm curious, are there functional areas or roles that you're looking to hire for as you look into the months ahead, that maybe people could check out your career site and potentially join your team?

Seth:
Yeah, absolutely. I would say as a blanket, because our team just recently [inaudible 00:25:11] the 30 person mark, and we're hiring 10 more roles right now because of the pace of growth. And they're very broad. I mean, it's everything from whether you're into construction and building, or artificial intelligence and everything in between. We're actually hiring a general manager, housekeeping manager, COO, operations, systems experts, you name it, guest experience.
We have a whole new title we actually got from a book called Dreamweaver, but it's like these are people, their job is just totally to focus on wowing the guest and studying the information that we have on our guests that the guests make available that we can get to hyper-personalize the experience and just make people feel known, really from the moment that they book. And it's wild what a strong team of thoughtful, caring, hardworking people can do and come up with, and that's the culture that we've built. We welcome that. So, that's been refreshing. That's probably one of the comments I get the most is, "I feel supported by everyone on this team. I see how hard the leaders work to make all this possible. And I also get to participate and show up each day knowing that I actually am going to have the potential to have a big impact on the team and on the people that we serve." That's rewarding. Isn't that what we all want?

Josiah:
Yeah, for sure. I'll make sure to link to your website where people can learn more about what you're up to and if they might be a fit, they can apply. But I think it's cool to see everything from the construction to artificial intelligence. So, this is a very sophisticated operation. You're in nature, you're helping your guests restore, but you're using the latest of everything to provide that incredible experience that guests are raving about. It's pretty good. I guess before we go, Seth, I'm curious, is there anything you invite our listeners to do or think about after they hear our conversation here?

Seth:
I think the work that you're doing is so incredible because you're connecting people with ideally their future. You can see this with maybe a conference, but certainly with a podcast, just getting plugged into the people who become your home team, that in itself is one of the single greatest ways that we can transform our future and actually be part of something that is world-changing and certainly life-changing for the people that encounter it. The things that we value, the things that we see, the beautiful things that took an extraordinary amount of human effort, it wasn't done by one person. It was done by a team of people who were really focused and rallied around the same mission.
And I think, similar to winning a championship in sports or being on that team where, man, you were in the trenches together. You were in the weight room together, you were learning and growing personally, you were developing, you were showing up day in and day out for that purpose.
And in our world, it's like when you see just glowing five star reviews and every day we will read one of the reviews because it's just so energizing and it reminds us all of why we're doing this. So, I think that's the takeaway is, make sure you're plugged in somewhere where it's a great fit and you believe in the mission so much that you wouldn't want to do anything else. And that's different for everybody, but man, I've never been wired to be one to just exchange time for a paycheck. It's like stuff is just not worth it to me.
My path was so different. I was like, "You know what? If it means having freedom and flexibility, I'm not going to get a new car. I'm not going to buy a house. I'm going to be nomadic, but I'm going to put every bit of my resources into building something that can actually connect people and do this, actually have a big impact." Because life's short and I wouldn't change a bit of it. I'm so glad that all along the way, I was able to literally walk through those doors of opportunity as they opened because I wasn't chained to stuff.
And actually in 2019, really as this was starting to take off, simultaneously to the vision for building it, my wife and I just came up with this little mantra and it was like, live light, move fast. So, we went and we were like, "What have we not used in a year? Let's donate that to someone, or let's sell it and turn it into money that we could use to build more treehouses." We never looked back, and it's incredibly freeing. That was a very long-winded way of saying, I hope everyone's able to find a team that really lights them up as much as my team does for me.

Josiah:
I love ...