I’m often asked the question, “Why do you share what you know about getting in the self storage business? Aren’t you just creating more competition?”
Even my wife asks me that question.
And even though I’ve learned over time that she is almost always right about things (why we’re still married), I always have a quick answer for her (and everyone that asks). It’s usually something like “There’s more than enough in the world to go around” or “I love supporting small investors and having the experience of making a difference”.
But if I catch myself in auto-response mode too often with the same question, I’ve learned it’s usually time to stop and really take a look at my answer.
Time to go deep within and really look at it.
This inward journey is a trip I’ve seen successful people in life take regularly. It’s one of the benefits of being in charge of your own business, income, wealth creation and life.
And what I saw, this time, is two fundamental ways of viewing the world and success.
I don’t know anyone today who wouldn’t say they have an “Abundance” mindset or belief system over a “Scarcity” mindset or belief system.
It’s the ‘in” thing.
But very few people really do; myself included much of the time.
We are trained from the moment we began to get language that there is a limited amount of stuff in the world.
Watch any two or three-year-old. “Mine!”.
We continually ask our four-year-old grandson to share with his younger sister.
“No, mine. I don’t share. She can’t have. It’s mine”.
And it is not just him. Our brains are wired that way. It’s an ingrained survival tactic.
Hundreds of thousands of years ago, our species lived in a hostile environment. It’s part of how our species survived and grew into what we are today
Now we have intellectually created the concept that Abundance exists in the world, but how we actually relate to the world and to business is like there is only so much of everything out there. And if you have it, that means there’s less for me.
So often we are in inner conflict. What we say and what we really believe are two completely different things.
I found myself in that conflict.
What does this have to do with self storage?
Everything.
I have discovered that when I am in conflict with myself, things just get jammed up.
Deals fall apart.
The world feels hard.
Closings get pushed back.
How you relate to yourself – to abundance and to scarcity – dictates how you negotiate, how you interpret the information in a feasibility report, how you relate to investors and sellers.
It controls how the world occurs to you.
Most of us relate to the world like we’re seeing what’s “there” – our thought are just reporting the one reality that’s out there.
But just as any quantum physics professor knows: if we are the one “seeing” what’s there, we are affecting it.
Now, I know many people think I’m crazy or maybe just on another rant.
Perhaps I am.
But why I “create” this as “true” for me is because it gives me real power.
I’m in the middle of a transaction now in which the closing has been delayed 3 times. Fortunately, we’re still moving towards closing, but the deal feels really jammed up.
There are all the reasons I may tell my partners and investors this is happening…” lenders are requiring more” …” appraisal and feasibility reports took longer than we thought” … and so on.
But I’m not at the source of that. I am a victim of other people and things.
I have no power.
On the last inner journey I mentioned, I saw that the world was occurring like there is a real scarcity of good deals out there.
The market is hard and crazy.
I even created a class around that theme.
Then I say I believe in abundance and there is an infinite supply for anyone who is open to receive it.
There’s a real disconnect between what I say and who I am being.
I look for those disconnects continually because when I can find them, something can begin to open up for me.
I now have power!
When I get what I think and do in alignment with what I believe, real power is present and things become move fluid in my world.
Deals close; I can really help people; I can make a difference.
Is all of this really true?
Who knows? I don’t care.
All I know is it gives me power and I am no longer a victim in the world. That is a much more fun and comfortable way to live.
When I believe and act as if this is true, I create wealth for myself, my family, my investors, and others.
If you are creating a business, I invite you to try this so you can have the power and mindset necessary to do what we have to do to be successful.
And yes, I truly believe that there is an infinite supply and abundance in the world and scarcity only exists in human thought. Nowhere in the universe does scarcity exist except in human thought.
That frees me up to create my own self storage company and support you in creating yours.
Your action steps:
- Begin to really discover what your belief system is around abundance and scarcity.
- Don’t change anything. Just get to the bottom of what you really believe.
- Observe if what you say you believe and what you really believe are aligned.
Don’t try to change anything. Just observe.
This act of observing at this level has real power in itself. You will then move and act in the way best suited for you and your life.
Then go find a facility or run your self storage business in a way that is aligned with what you really believe.
You will have true power and the possibility of creating True Wealth.
