I'm a full-time Airbnb host in the Las Vegas desert. Here's how my husband and I set up a 6-property business we love without knowing anything about Airbnb.

• Sandi Croft and her husband own tiny homes, teepees, and a wagon that they rent out on Airbnb.
• Their first tiny home grabbed the attention of HGTV, and they've been steadily growing ever since.

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

My husband and I never imagined ourselves being Airbnb hosts, but when my husband had a career change, it led us in that direction. We now mange six Airbnbs on Sandy Valley Ranch in Nevada. So far, we're loving it.

Seven years ago, my husband was laid off from Bally's Corporation, where he would create graphics for slot machines. When he left, he really wanted to do something outside — environmental, community-based work with his hands. He was reevaluating things, as many people do later in life, and in his case, that was an opportunity for a new chapter.

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

My husband built the first tiny house, the Hummingbird Tiny House, in the driveway of our home in Las Vegas

At the time, we'd go out to Sandy Valley Ranch to visit, and the owner Marilyn Gubler said, "Well, why don't you bring the tiny house here? Then you'll have a place to stay when you're here, and when you aren't down here, you can put it on Airbnb."

We didn't even really know what Airbnb was, but we did it. We looked it up, got the app, got all the information, and posted it.

At the time, the only accommodations she had on the ranch was an adorable covered wagon that somebody in her family had made years ago. So, it worked out well for the ranch to have another accommodation choice. The ranch has its own cleaning staff that keeps the accommodations clean, then we set up self-check-ins.

We set our rates to be competitive with other glamping sites and so far it's worked out well. Initially, we set an agreement with the ranch to give them 25 percent of the revenue per night, then we'd total it up at the end of the month. Airbnb made it easy, and they're amazing to work with. We've posted our accommodations to Vrbo too, but most of our traffic comes from Airbnb.

I'll never forget the first guest we received. They were two gentlemen on motorcycles traveling through Death Valley in California, Nevada, and Arizona. I remember we were taking pictures of them, thinking: "Oh my gosh, this is so much fun to host."

Soon, HGTV contacted my husband

They saw that somebody had posted a picture of the Hummingbird House and contacted him to see if he'd be interested in being featured.

After building that second tiny house on HGTV, we put it on Airbnb. There was a tiny house movement happening, and people were coming out to do stories on the houses, the ranch was getting more popular, and we were getting busier.

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

My husband and I stayed at teepees on our travels and love everything about the way they feel and look, especially being out in the desert on the 160-acre ranch — it's just aesthetically very beautiful. Since then, we've added another teepee and wagon. We have six accommodations that we've added over six years. Earlier this year, we even added a small bar on wheels.

We want to make sure that people aren't on top of each other while also placing the accommodations where we have septic, water, and electricity. People come to experience the outdoors, go horseback riding, and do 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 have a hot shower. We've also learned how to keep things heated with heaters in the winter, and cool 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 in advance, you can have dinner waiting for you. Or in the morning, if you go for a two hour horseback ride, you'll come back and have breakfast.

It's been an evolution with us

We've learned more about the community, and people craving experiences — not always just a hotel. People love to have space (especially during the pandemic). They appreciate that they can go somewhere and be outside where there's 160 acres. People have even had family reunions where they were still able to social distance.

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

At the beginning, I helped with the Airbnb management and also worked for Cirque du Soleil, but during the pandemic, my position was eliminated. I still work with them on specific projects, but this is my full-time job — which I love. I'm able to put a lot more energy into the marketing of the properties and keeping them up to date.

I'm also at the ranch more often. My husband is there at least five days a week, and I'm there probably three, but we found an old Airstream we call "Tin Lizzie" that we're renovating, which is our home away from home. Hopefully within the year we'll live there full time.

We recently sold the business to the ranch, and now we're able to focus on managing the Airbnbs

We set an agreement with the ranch to give them a percentage of the revenue per night, then we total it up at the end of the month. Airbnb makes it easy, and they're amazing to work with. We've posted our accommodations to Vrbo too, but most of our traffic comes from Airbnb.

The ranch is also really enjoying having the extra traffic — they're getting to share their land with so many people from all over the world. It's been very rewarding.