Could self-storage be a path to enlightenment?
A path in which someone can reach their highest potential?
Well…yes.
Especially as we explore the fourth habit of Stephen Covey’s<strong> Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.</strong>
<strong>The Fourth Habit: Think Win-Win.</strong>
I know very few people today who would not say that they are all about win-win solutions.
I can count on less than one hand the number of people who actually operate from that belief system.
This is not our fault, but we need to find out why. Is it a by-product of evolution? Having someone alter their core belief system about scarcity is like explaining to my two-year-old grandson Mason, that he should share his toys with his baby sister. He may “get” it, but what he really knows is that if he shares his toy with Ethel, that means he won’t have it anymore.
He is not stupid.
How the world of abundance and scarcity relates to us is essentially formed at this stage of life, or earlier, even before language.
When we go into the business of self-storage, we have to buy facilities or land to build on, we take that background view of the world into our negotiations. We also take these beliefs into our hiring practices, and our relationship with a self-storage system provider, and on and on.
But we are all about “win-win” solutions. Right?
It really takes some effort to explore this thoroughly. It requires the willingness to be honest and say “I do have a scarcity belief system.” I do believe that if you win I lose, and if I get something good, you have lost out somehow. And I should win. I need to win.
It takes being real.
So let’s be real.
The sun rose this morning at the exact right time. I noticed that gravity today is exactly like it was yesterday. The earth is in its perfect rotation around the sun.
The universe is expanding perfectly. In fact, if we look anywhere in the physical universe, all we see is perfection.
<strong>Abundance.</strong> The universe has all it needs to evolve perfectly.
So where is scarcity ?
Scarcity only exists in the human mind. It does not exist anywhere else. A hurricane is not a problem for the earth, it is only a problem for humans.
A drought is not a problem for the earth or the universe, only for humans.
So if scarcity only exists in the human mind, it is a perception problem. How can you change that?
<em><strong>Buy a self-storage facility</strong>.</em>
Next time you are buying a self-storage facility, really get, I mean really get, what the Seller wants. I don’t mean $3.5 million dollars (or whatever a 5% CAP is on their facility). I mean what does that person really want?
To look like he got a good deal to his wife, husband, or partners?
To retire and live on the ocean, so then he can be happy?
To be able to create a legacy for their grandchildren so that they will not have the struggles this couple had in life?
Really get what is driving the Seller or Sellers, then figure a way you can get it for them. While you get the facility in such a way that you also are able to fulfill on your business plan.
Forget getting a good deal.
Just help the Seller get what they are seeking and get the facility at a price where you can also achieve your pre-determined business plan. Always start with the Seller.
Enacting this habit will take some effort. You will really be bumping up against your true belief about abundance and scarcity.
However, you will be truly creating a “win-win” solution for everyone, and you will be really making the world a better place, for everyone involved.
And who would have thought it…all through buying self-storage.
