It is not what you may think.
It is not prices. Although, prices are high.
It’s not being overbuilt. Although, many sub-markets are over built.
It’s not a lot of stupid money chasing self storage. Although ,there appears to be stupid money chasing self storage.
It’s not any of these things.
Overview
There is always a changing, evolving business landscape.
Yes, some times are easier than others to get in or grow a real estate or self storage portfolio, but there are always issues to deal with.
I have worked with many people and run experiments with myself and our self storage business for many years.
I have purchased in boom times, recessions, under-supplied times, and oversupplied times.
I have had to vary my analysis approach, what I can pay, yield expectations, and the like.
I have purchased with financing is easy and when financing is hard.
When I first got into real estate, interest rates were 17%.
I can remember when interest rates dropped to 12%, and I said, “I can sell real estate all day long with interest rates at 12%.”
Today there would be another riot in DC if interest rates went anywhere near 12%.
Unfortunately, the number one thing that gets in the way today of people getting into self storage business has nothing to do with market conditions.
We think it does, but it really doesn’t.
There are always marketing conditions.
The number one thing today is what it has always been. And there is no “nice” way to put it.
It is simply Fear.
What Is Fear?
I am getting out of any narrow band of expertise I may truly have (if any). Still, in my opinion, fear is merely a by-product of our species evolutionary process.
The sad fact is, our brains developed, wired, and evolved for survival, not prosperity and success.
So when we are dealing with the potential or actual loss of money, the brain does not know the difference. Today’s neuroscience research shows us that the same part of the brain fires if a tiger was chasing us.
On a physical level, our brain reacts and creates the same chemical response. Thus, our feelings and emotions created by the chemical response are the same.
We may intellectually get the difference, but on an emotional level, and do not be deceived, we human beings respond on an emotional level to life; the potential loss of money (or anything we value) occurs like a life and death situation.
How To Overcome Fear
I honestly believe that there is no fast way to overcome fear.
At least that has been my observation.
The reason is it requires overcoming natural evolutionary forces and the re-wiring of your brain (i.e., developing new synaptic pathway connections in the brain).
In essence, conscious evolution.
Said a simpler way, new habits.
So here are the habits I was taught and have a practice that helped develop the muscle of taking action, even though I may be experiencing fear or experienced fear in the past.
Although I know I have written about this in the past, I am told it never hurts to restate and reinforce good habits.
Habit One: Feed & Strengthen the Mind Every Day
I was taught to start every day practicing spiritual practices that strengthen the mind and spirit. Read uplifting books and magazines.
If you are always reading some type of positive, success-oriented material, it keeps your thoughts focused on what is possible rather than just the potential problems. The obstacles will present themselves on their own.
And as I have stated before, I limit the amount and sources of the news I take in. A little goes a long way. Especially today.
If you watch the news, we are in dire straits, and the world is falling apart.
That sells and keeps viewers and sponsors coming back.
The reality is, yes, there is a pandemic, and we need to know how to act and what to do. Yes, there are environmental and climate issues to deal with. But the world has never been safer for humans, and more people as a percentage of the overall population, have been lifted out of poverty in the last two hundred years than in the history of our species.
It was not that long ago that human life spans were in the 30 and 40-year range, and 25% to 35% of all human deaths were by violence inflicted by one human on another. Now it is down to under 3%, and the average human life span is between 70 and 75 years.
You won’t hear that on the news. These “facts” do not sell anything.
Control and be responsible for what goes into your mind. As an entrepreneur, you’re thinking is your most precious asset and be responsible for what it is focusing on.
Habit Two: Feed & Strengthen the Body Every Day.
I have progress to make on this.
Because I know the difference regular exercise provides. Not just the body but the mind, and specifically the quality of thinking and thoughts.
I remember years ago when I was working with one of my first mentors. I explained my cash flow problems for the real estate company I owned, one of my boring reoccurring problems at that period of my life.
At the time, I was feeding the company so much cash that my personal finances were suffering.
I felt trapped. If I let employees go, I would have to run it myself, and if I did that, I could not do the brokerage that was allowing me to feed to the company and on and on.
I went on for about five minutes. Then he looked at me and said, “Are you exercising?”
My mind went crazy.
I felt like yelling, ‘DIDN’T YOU HEAR ME? I” M TALKING ABOUT MY FINANCIAL SURVIVAL!” but I just said, “No, not really.”
I now see the power in that question.
I know my thinking is more focused, there is less drama and fear, and I feel better too when I have a regular yoga and/or exercise routine. I have seen that the people I want to model my life after are creating the time to take care and feed their body with the right foods and the right exercise.
We all know what to eat and to exercise. It is not a lack of time that prevents it. The people I admire have more going on than we do, but yet they prioritize it, so it happens.
My suggestion (to myself here too) is let’s make this a priority and put it in the schedule so that we can have optimum control over our thinking and create the best chance for success in our self storage business.
Our families, our employees, and even our customers are counting on it.
Habit Three: Create A Support System
In my opinion, there is no such thing as a self-made person.
A bold statement that many will disagree with, but I stand by it.
We all stand on the shoulders of those that have gone before us and taught us. Yes, it was us that did the work and have achieved whatever we have achieved. But, without those who have gone before, we would have had a much harder time.
I learned early the value of a mentor, a role model in my personal, business, and professional life.
Everyone who I admire professionally has or had a mentor. All talk about the difference they made for them.
As Jim Rohn said (who was Tony Robbins mentor/role model) (paraphrasing here), “Show me your five closest friends, and I can tell you your character and your net worth.”
Be selective of who you model after and spend time with. And it has never been easier to find mentors, coaches, or “Master Mind” groups that support each other in personal and professional growth.
I can’t tell you the number of times I have been stopped, and I either remember or have a conversation with someone that freed me up to take the next step. And those conversations were not just accidental or random. I sought them out because I know and value the role of a mentor/role model.
I remember early in my real estate career. I was involved in a high-rise, high-profile upscale condominium development in our market.
I was in a partnership with many very high-net-worth people. There were wealthy members of the project. Then there was me.
I had been chosen by the group to be involved with the project because they thought I could bring a marketing background to the table and make a difference.
Mostly I was intimidated and just watched how rich people did business.
The deal got stalled out. We had invested and spent all our equity, and there was some hesitation by the very high net worth partners to guarantee the loan required because they felt (and rightly so) that they would have all the risk for only a portion of the upside.
The bank wasn’t allowing any money to be released until the guarantees were signed, and we were not going to put any more cash in the deal.
The deal was going nowhere.
My coach at the time ask me, “What are you going to do to solve the problem?”
I can remember thinking, “Me? How in the world can I solve their problems?”
Then I was reminded (in not so pleasant and easy a way, either) that I was acting like a total wimp.
The group chose me because they felt I had something to offer. My instructions were to (1) apologize to the group for how weak (not the real word they used). I was to acknowledge I had not been acting as a partner and letting them know I was not going to be that person anymore; and (2) have a straight conversation about what could happen if we didn’t move past our positions make that conversation make the difference.
If I did not do that, my coaching relationship was at an end with my coach.
I called a partnership meeting, and to my surprise, everyone showed up like it was a very normal thing to do to come to a meeting that I called. I said what I came to say and then shared my view of the issue and what would happen if we did not get past where we were.
In less than two weeks, we had the loan needed. Now, some of those partners at the time are my partners/investors in the self storage business.
I am here to tell you that was a conversation that never would have happened without support and direction from mentor’s/role models/coaches. I would not be where I am in self storage without that coach because those same people now have confidence in me as a partner and trusted me when I told them about self storage.
Coaches can often see what is stopping us, how our fears and weakness get in our way, and they can make the difference.
It makes all the difference when we are stopped by fear.
These are just some practices our company and I use to address ourselves in relation to the fear that inevitably arises for business owners.
Remember, our goal is not to overcome fear. Our goal is to prevent fear from stopping us because it will if we don’t stay on top of it by staying on top of who we are.
It is my sincere wish that these mindsets I have shared help you on your journey to get in and/or grow your self storage business.
There is no better path to be on than the path of becoming better versions of ourselves as we create wealth in this fantastic self storage business.
