diff --git a/docs/QUICKSTART.md b/docs/QUICKSTART.md
index c31b675..5718101 100644
--- a/docs/QUICKSTART.md
+++ b/docs/QUICKSTART.md
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ Write the cloud-init user-data — paste in the contents of
 `~/.ssh/k3s_homelab.pub` where marked:
 
 ```sh
+mkdir -p ~/vms
 cat > ~/vms/k3s-manual-user-data.yaml <<'EOF'
 #cloud-config
 hostname: k3s-manual