It has never been harder to get in or grow your self storage business than it is now.
I mean real hard.
Properties listed for 4% or 5% CAP’s, and selling!
Large players in this business are aggressively building and buying, and very happy with single digit returns.
However, with every challenge comes the opportunity to make a quantum leap. If as a smaller investor, you can transform how you do business, you can get in and grow in the self storage industry today, and surpass all, or most other smaller investors before they know what is happening.
I have found that having a system, a framework to approach your business in makes all the difference in the world. That is why I crated the three step approach, and use it to buy self storage. I found it works to follow something. I know exactly where I am in the process and what the next step is.
The system, structure that has made the most difference in my professional as well as my personal life is Stephen Covey’s “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”.
I first read this book in the early 1990’s and have been studying it ever since. My entire business development has been inside the 7 habits and other systems outlined in his book. Even the name of our self storage company comes from the book, Q2 Self Storage.
I want to use the next few blogs to discuss and suggest actionable steps for you to get in and/or grow your self storage company within the framework of the 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People. I will introduce a distinction from the work, then discuss it as it applies to self storage.
I am not, and have never been part of the organization that owns, sells, or markets the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. I do not represent myself as an expert in it. I just have used it in my life and business, and will discuss it from that view point. Nothing I say reflects anything but my ideas and beliefs, and I seek forgiveness for any concepts I butcher from the Covey’s or whoever owns the rights to the material now.
Let me introduce a distinction now from this great body of work that has made a tremendous difference with my effectiveness in life, The Four Quadrants.
Stephen Covey suggested that all of our activity falls into one of four quadrants of activity.
Look at your life and see how much time you spend in each quadrant of activity.
Quadrant One is where many of us spend most of our professional life, handling things that are urgent and immediately important. Having to handle a gate issue so people can get into or out of the facility is a Quadrant One activity. An employee calls in sick and you have to cover or scramble to get someone there to cover. You forgot your husband’s birthday and have to run out and get something, on and on. If you have the experience you spend a lot of time putting out fires in life, you are in Quadrant One.
Quadrant Three activity is urgent, or seems urgent, but is not really that important. Answering most emails, realizing you have a meeting you haven prepared for in an organization that is not that critical to your life or business. Time wasters. I used to see a lot of people getting into the real estate business feel busy doing these types of activities, but it forwarded nothing. I see many people who are trying to get in the self storage business spend a lot of time here studying all kinds of market material, over analyzing, being busy but getting nowhere. This is Quadrant Three activity.
Quadrant Four activity is not urgent and not important. Total time wasters. Watching TV. Researching on YouTube something then getting lost in a black hole and watching funny videos. Doing activities that neither forward your professional or personal life.
Notice I waited until last to discuss Quadrant Two. This is important, but not urgent activity. Strategic planning is Quadrant II activity. Creating your business plan for self storage is Quadrant II activity. Blocking out time to study a course in the Self Storage Quick Start Academy is Quadrant II activity (shameless plug I admit).
I have found that the more Quadrant II activity I schedule, the less Quadrant I activity befalls me.
Let me ask you a question. If you could do one thing you are not currently doing now in your self storage business, and if you did that one thing consistently, it would have a profound impact on the business, what would it be?
I know it would be a Quadrant II activity.
Let me ask you one more question. If you could do one thing you are not currently doing now in your personal life, and if you did that one thing consistently, it would have a profound impact on your personal life, what would it be?
Yep, you got it, it is also a Quadrant II activity.
Over the next week, put Quadrant II activity in your schedule. Do this for one to two weeks and see the difference it makes for you. This type of strategic activity does not happen by accident, you have to create it. So create it. Be responsible for how you spend your time. Be responsible for the life you create. Don’t just respond to life, create it.
Usually how this is done is once a week, let’s say Sunday evening, you take out your calendar and organize you week to make sure you schedule Quadrant II activity in each major role in life you play. For me, writing this is a Q2 activity. I literally schedule activity in this business every morning at 6 AM. It is in my schedule. It is an appointment with myself.
Quadrant II activity is an appointment with yourself to create the future. As Peter Drucker said, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”
Schedule Quadrant Two time and create your self storage business.
Speaking of Quadrant II activity. In a couple of weeks, the Self Storage Quick Start Academy is releasing its first course, ” How to Buy Your First Self Storage Facility”. Even if you are already in the business, this will give you a step by step guide on how to successfully, today, purchasing self storage. Many of the forms, procedures, and exact resources we use today will be part of the course. This greatly enhances your chances of success in this great business called self storage.
I look forward to being with you in this first course and thank you. Supporting people getting in or growing in this fantastic industry is a passion of mine. Without you reading this, watching the video’s, or reading the book, I could not get a chance to fulfill on my passion, so thank you.
