I’m a full-time Airbnb host in the Las Vegas desert. Here’s how my husband and I started a business of 6 properties we love without knowing anything about Airbnb.

• Sandi Croft and her husband own tiny houses, teepees and a cart that they rent out on Airbnb.
• Their first tiny house caught the attention of HGTV, and they’ve been growing ever since.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Sandy Crofta Airbnb host, on how she and her husband got started building and renting unique tiny homes on the Sandy Valley Ranch in Nevada. It has been edited for length and clarity.

My husband and I never imagined being Airbnb hosts, but when my husband changed careers, it led us in this direction. We now manage six Airbnbs on Sandy Valley Ranch in Nevada. So far we love it.

Seven years ago, my husband was fired from Bally’s Corporation, where he was creating graphics for slot machines. When he left, he really wanted to do something outdoors – environmental and community work with his hands. He was reassessing things, as many people do later in life, and in his case, it was an opportunity for a new chapter.

When he was younger, he built houses in British Columbia and Canada. He loved doing that, so he told me he wanted to build a little house.

My husband built the first little house, the Little hummingbird housein the driveway of our house in Las Vegas

At the time, we were going to the Sandy Valley Ranch to visit, and the owner Marilyn Gubler said, “Well, why don’t you bring the little house here? here, and when you’re not here, you can put it on Airbnb.”

We didn’t even really know what Airbnb was, but we did. We searched, got the app, got all the information and published it.

At the time, the only accommodation she had at the ranch was an adorable covered wagon that a relative of hers had made years ago. So it worked well for the ranch to have another choice of accommodation. The ranch has its own cleaning staff who keep the accommodations clean and then we set up self check-ins.

We set our rates to be competitive with other glamping sites and so far it has worked well. Initially, we made a deal with the ranch to give them 25% of the revenue per night, and then added it up at the end of the month. Airbnb made it easy and it’s great to work with them. We have also published our accommodations on Vrbo, but most of our traffic comes from Airbnb.

I will never forget the first guest we had. They were two gentlemen on motorcycles crossing Death Valley in California, Nevada and Arizona. I remember we were taking pictures of them, thinking, “Oh my God, this is so much fun to organize.”

Soon HGTV contacted my husband

They saw that someone had posted a photo of the Hummingbird House and contacted him to see if he would be interested in being featured.

After building this second tiny house on HGTV, we put it on Airbnb. There was a little movement of houses, and people were coming out to make a fuss about the houses, the ranch was getting more and more popular, and we were getting busier and busier.

The third year we decided to put a teepee on the property

My husband and I have stayed in tipis on our travels and love everything they feel and look like, especially in the desert on the 160 acre ranch – it’s just aesthetically very beautiful. We have since added another teepee and cart. We have six units that we added in six years. Earlier this year, we even added a small bar on wheels.

We want to make sure people aren’t on top of each other while putting accommodation where we have septic tanks, water and electricity. People come to experience the outdoors, horseback riding and cattle drives. There’s even a shooting range on the ranch. People can experience what it’s like to be a cowboy for a day.

Even though it’s camping, people can use their phones and take a hot shower. We also learned to keep things heated with heaters in the winter and cool them with air conditioning, fans, or swamp coolers in the summer.

We don’t have a restaurant, but we do have cooks on staff, so if you order ahead you can dine in. Or in the morning, if you go for a two-hour horseback ride, you will come back for breakfast.

It’s been an evolution with us

We learned more about the community and people looking for experiences, not always just a hotel. People love having space (especially during the pandemic). They appreciate being able to go somewhere and be outside where there are 160 acres. People even had family gatherings where they could still social distance.

We have a lot of locals from Las Vegas, which is 45 minutes away, and a lot of regulars who just want to get away. The experience was a game-changer for my husband and I; that’s the direction we wanted to go, creating these environments for guests around the world, and seeing them enjoy being in the desert, hearing the coyotes, and seeing the stars.

At first, I helped manage Airbnb and also worked for Cirque du Soleil, but during the pandemic, my position was cut. I always work with them on specific projects, but it’s my full-time job, which I love. I can put a lot more energy into marketing properties and updating them.

I’m also more often at the ranch. My husband is there at least five days a week, and I’m probably there three, but we found an old Airstream we call “Tin Lizzie” that we’re renovating, which is our home away from home. I hope that in the year we will live there full time.

We recently sold the business to the ranch, and now we can focus on running Airbnbs

We made a deal with the ranch to give them a percentage of the revenue per night, and then we total it up at the end of the month. Airbnb makes it easy and great to work with. We have also published our accommodations on Vrbo, but most of our traffic comes from Airbnb.

The ranch also greatly appreciates the extra traffic – they share their land with so many people from all over the world. It was very rewarding.