Today we’d like to introduce you to Leslie Anne Morris.
Leslie Anne, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Leslie Anne Morris began her Smoky Mountain investing journey while earning her MBA at the University of Southern California and working in Los Angeles as a commercial banker. For over twenty years, Leslie helped high-profile clients like SpaceX and closed a $50 million private equity deal. She applies the same underwriting strategy to building her growing real estate portfolio. And today, she is sharing her playbook to motivate others to do the same while creating truly passive income in short-term rentals.
From the minute she closed on her first investment cabin in 2019, she knew she had made the right choice. The cash flow allowed her to rapidly scale her portfolio to double digits and a value of $7 million in less than three years. Besides that, Leslie fell in love with Tennessee and moved there in 2020. She quickly founded two sister companies; a property acquisition company, Invest in the Smoky Mountains, and Josh’s Cabins Management, a full-service property management company. Her one-stop shop allows out-of-state investors an opportunity to create passive income by offering concierge-style service to guests without the hassle of self-management.
She travels extensively throughout the United States as a highly sought-after motivational speaker focusing on the incredibly lucrative short-term rental asset class. Recognizing the lack of women real estate investors, Leslie has made it her mission to be a driving force to empower women to begin real estate investing. She aims to empower 1,000 women to become millionaires by investing in short-term rentals. She has been featured on HGTV, ABC, NBC, Fox, and CBS networks. In addition, she is a popular guest on highly-rated real estate podcasts and most recently was highlighted by the Tennessee Department of Tourism Board. In 2023, Leslie co-authored the best-selling book Hospitable Hosts 2 and was accepted to the Forbes Business Council.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been a smooth road for Leslie. She has struggled along the way learning the ropes of creating new, growing businesses. At one point, the growth was a little too fast and sudden, and that resulted in a lack of capital. But having a long career in banking she was able to gain what she needed to move forward. The other major struggle was finding the main outlets that would work well for marketing purposes. Not everything worked and some of them cost a lot of money. Identifying the ones that didn’t work quickly was key.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Besides the businesses that Leslie created over the last several years, she has also gone back to a full-time career in banking. Further, she has also formed additional companies whose sole purpose is to invest in other people’s deals. On top of that, she is actively working to build her next entrepreneurial venture. This venture will be more in the social media creative space. Finally, Leslie has been enjoying being on multiple different TV shows and movies over the last few months. She looks to build a life that is by design and full.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Leslie has learned that not everything will work out and some businesses need to be tabled or scrapped entirely. She’s learned to never look at anything as a failure and more as a lesson. The notion that you should always be creating is important to her.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://leslieannemorris.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leslie.anne.morris
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/leslieannemorristn/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslieannemorris
- Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/@leslieannemorris
- Other: https://www.joshscabins.com
