As we conclude our series on the Habits for Success series, we’ll cover the final habit I’ve seen that people who successfully get in the self storage business possess. This last habit took me a while to flush out.
I could see the difference between people who were stopped and people who were not. At first, I called it “passion” but I soon discovered it was more than that.
Passion is important, but in the end, passion is not enough to carry someone over the finish line.
A bit of history
I know how hard the 2008 recession was for many of us. I can’t even begin to imagine what the 1929 through the 1930’s depression must have been.
I just heard about it from my Father. I heard about it a lot.
My Father was born into a fairly well-to-do family in Louisville. He had servants, butlers, chauffeurs.
My Grandfather owned a number of companies, and like many, and I mean many, people at that time he had the majority of his wealth in the stock market.
My father was 15 years old in October of 1929.
By the early 30’s, my Grandfather had lost everything. He and my Grandmother had to move in with my Great Grandmother, who didn’t have her money in the market.
My Father and his sister, my Aunt Anne, moved in together and struggled to feed themselves.
My father had a scholarship to U of K for basketball, but couldn’t go to college because he was focused on feeding himself and my sister.
Here is where the story gets interesting and relevant to this conversation about self storage and Self Generated Passion/Necessity.
My Grandfather gave up. He never recovered. Never moved out of his mother’s house.
He got a few odd jobs here and there but for the next ten to fifteen years, he never came back from the loss.
He died in the mid 40’s and my Grandmother followed within a year of his death.
My Father was a different story.
He was very close to his mother. It drove him crazy that his Father would not do what was necessary to create the life for his wife my Father thought she deserved.
He swore that he would not die broke.
He didn’t.
He created a good home for my sister and myself, not upper crust, but upper middle class.
I tell this story to illustrate a point. The reality is we don’t have to do anything.
My Grandfather had a lot of sympathy from those in his world. He had never really worked, and when they lost everything, he wasn’t equipped to deal with it.
He was primarily unequipped mentally. He thought is was because he had no skills other than owning companies which he purchased with family money generated by previous generations.
But the real issue was his mindset. He could not create the drive needed to recover.
My Father on the other hand, had no training in any profession. But because of what he saw go on with his Father, he created for himself something way beyond passion.
It was a necessity, it was who he was at his core, to be and do whatever it took to provide for his family, and not to be his like his Father.
That is what I see as the difference.
People who get in the self storage business and are successful have no more knowledge than anyone else who tries and fails. There is no hidden secret they know that others don’t.
What they have is a “necessity” beyond passion, to get in and fulfill something they have created for themselves.
We discussed your “WHY” in the first habit of Clarity, Being Clear on What and Why.
But what this Why creates is Necessity. The necessity to fulfill on the goal. To win at the game created.
People with this mindset are often called “obsessed” by people in their lives.
In my world, it’s a good thing to be obsessed with what you are going for.
But what I have seen is the win, whatever it is, (for most people I work with it is getting in the self storage business) morphs from a desire into a passion to be the kind of person who can do what it takes to get in the business. It becomes something they value more than other things. It becomes necessary for them to be THAT person.
I hear them saying things like:
“It’s just who I am.”
“People are counting on me.”
“I don’t want to miss this chance.”
“If I don’t do this now, I’ll regret this forever.”
Now here is what I want to really get across here.
Nothing has to happen.
If you don’t get in the self storage business, or if you don’t grow your self storage business; you will be fine.
Your life will work.
Like my Grandfather, you don’t have to do anything.
Or you can create the opposite. You HAVE TO do this thing to be who you are.
What my Grandfather didn’t figure out and my Father did is “It is all self-created”.
For everyone.
You can generate Passion and Necessity.
I think there are few tips that can help support you as you take this on.
Your reason for starting a self storage business
When you create your reasons for getting in the self storage business it has to be about something bigger than you. If it is just to make money for yourself, that most likely isn’t big enough.
I have seen over and over that if the purpose is about service to others such as family or future generations, something much bigger than oneself, that creates the fuel necessary to become the person who will win at their game.
Create a WHY much bigger than just you.
Become present and self-aware.
Especially when obstacles or blocks to getting in the business come your way. Be present to what you are saying to yourself, and what meaning you give to the things you have to deal with.
We humans make everything mean something. It doesn’t mean anything. We assign the meaning, are unaware we do that, then live as if what we said something means is the truth.
Work on being present to what’s going on at any moment in your world, and what you are saying to yourself about it. Your family will also appreciate your being more present moment by moment.
Be aware of the people you hang around with.
Jim Rohn said he could tell you your net worth and how you lived your life by looking at your 5 closest friends.
I have experienced that people either sap your energy or give your energy.
I am not saying dump friends who don’t give you energy, or who don’t get you or your goals. But be present to who you are hanging around with and increase the people in your life who support you and are on a quest of their own.
Seek Mentorship.
I do this. I have coaches.
Sometimes I play this role for people. I work with up to five people at any given time as a coach/mentor supporting them in getting in the self storage business. But I limit it to five.
Seek mentors and they don’t have to be in the self storage business. What is more important than knowledge of the self storage business is someone who has created in the world something similar to what you are creating: a business.
My experience is mentors shorten the learning curve, hold people accountable, and restore us to our purpose.
What this means
These are the habits I see that can make a huge difference in anything you are up to in life that requires you to be bigger than you currently are.
So if you are looking for the “secret”, the one thing that can make the difference, here it is:
No one is born with these habits and anyone can develop them.
It’s that simple. Most great and powerful things in life are simple.
Your job as you progress through the stages of getting in the self storage business is to develop yourself to be the kind of person that can fulfill on what you create for yourself.
And remember, no one is born with these habits and anyone can develop them.
