Today we’d like to introduce you to Kazeem Lawal
Hi Kazeem, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My name is Kazeem Lawal. I am an entrepreneur, husband, father of two, and a native Houstonian. Born and raised on the southwest side of Houston to immigrant Nigerian parents, my first introduction to entrepreneurship started early in life, hearing stories about the businesses my grandparents owned in Nigeria and how their success allowed my parents to study abroad in America. This was an early example of the power of owning your own business and how that success can have generational effects. With this in mind, I decided to take my talents to Northern California, moving to San Francisco in 2011 to pursue opportunities in the fast-paced environment of the Bay Area.
In 2014, I landed an entry-level contract job with the rideshare company Lyft, Inc. (pre-IPO), doing driver orientations for new Lyft drivers and was later promoted to driver acquisitions. Due to my relationships within Lyft and my ability to perceive an unfulfilled need, in 2017 I created MBS Inspections, LLC, a rideshare vehicle inspection business that would supply annually mandated 19-point vehicle inspections to Lyft drivers. My vehicle inspectors were contracted by Lyft to perform inspections in every official “Lyft Driver Hub” in seven different markets in Northern California, including San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose. My small one-man inspection team quickly grew to a 15-person operation. The contract with Lyft was worth $400-700K annually and a little over $1.3M in total revenue from 2017-2020. For a three-year run, I was on top of the world.
Then came COVID-19. The pandemic changed the way people went to work, which immediately reduced the necessity for rideshare drivers in the Bay Area. This new reality proved to be a fatal blow for my business, with our contract with Lyft ending in 2023. One bright spot about the pandemic is that it forced me to think about diversifying my investments. I decided to take the profits from my first business and start an Airbnb in my hometown of Houston. Inspired by the freedom Texas maintained during the pandemic, I purchased a three-story single-family home in the Heights area of Houston, and it quickly became a major success! It was eye-opening how much freedom Airbnb created in my life, and being able to hold an asset that is being paid for by a business system was incredibly rewarding. My mind was made up that this would be my path to financial freedom and generational wealth.
After two years of running my Airbnb business from California, in late 2022, my wife and I decided it was time to let California go completely and focus on raising our kids back home in the great state of Texas. My Heights-area property encountered incredible appreciation since I purchased it in 2020, so I decided it would be smart to further invest in short-term rentals. In early 2024, I sold my Heights property to free up capital and purchased four previously abandoned tiny homes in the East End District.
It was always my dream to own a real estate portfolio with multiple properties, so this project has been a dream come true for me. To further add uniqueness to my East End revitalization project, I commissioned an incredible Mexican muralist, Jatziri Barron, to hand-paint photorealistic murals of Texas icons Selena Quintanilla, Paul Wall, and Beyoncé, as well as a World Cup tribute mural, on the front exterior of each tiny home.
To further build community, I reached out to select local businesses and began featuring their advertisements in each of my Airbnb properties. My goal is to keep incoming travel dollars in the area and support local businesses. Ad placement in my properties is completely free, and I hope this initiative helps foster a culture of mutualism in the Airbnb space.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The game of entrepreneurship is anything but smooth. It can be a dogfight at times, and maintaining momentum and enthusiasm is a major key to success. During the hard times, you learn if you’re truly built to be an entrepreneur or not. The ups and downs are part of the game; there’s no way to avoid them. There are times when you figuratively get your teeth knocked out (ex: 2020 pandemic) and you have to pick your teeth off the ground, shove them back in your mouth, and keep pushing forward.
The mental aspect of entrepreneurship and navigating that is as important to understand as the operation and building of your business.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My personal belief is that I am one of the best Airbnb entrepreneurs in the Houston market, and I plan to help as many people as possible create success through short-term rentals. Gatekeeping is not in my nature, and helping others make money gives me a great sense of satisfaction, so I plan to do that as much as possible. I also want to take my Airbnb “Art Houses” and turn them into a local Houston amenity/landmark through strategic branding and marketing. I strongly believe what I am doing—merging high-quality art with residential real estate—has never been done before, and the uniqueness of the project will generate a great amount of attention to the East End District of Houston.
To date, business-wise, I am most proud of my first business being a major success in the Bay Area (MBS Inspections) and its proceeds allowing me to transition into owning multiple properties in the city of Houston. The success of my first endeavor has been the foundation for everything I have done since. We recently had a launch party for the airbnb art houses, and being able to celebrate that with my wife and kids was also very special. After all the ups and downs caused by the pandemic, it felt good to share a triumphant moment with my family and friends.
In my opinion, what sets me apart from others is my appetite for risk; and my ability to embrace the unknown. This has allowed me to experience levels of success I doubt would have been attainable with a conservative mindset and approach. Being risk-averse works for some, but in my opinion I don’t think major success is possible without embracing risk.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
If anyone would like to collaborate with me, they can reach out via my Instagram accounts (@kazeemairbnb or @htownarthouses). You can also contact Yesni Lawal ([email protected]) for any business inquiries. We are interested in working with everyone, and I am looking forward to helping as many people as possible make money in the growing Houston short-term rental market.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @kazeemairbnb
Image Credits
Photos by Matt O. Photos, Pro House Photos, Fred Agho Photography
