Are you asking the right questions about your self storage business?
I have learned over and over, the quality of your life is a function of the questions you ask yourself.
Are you asking the right questions?
I learned this in the real estate business the hard way.
I was a commercial real estate agent and doing fairly well. I had a lot of ups and downs and swings in income like most real estate agents. But all in all, I did fairly well and was considered successful by most people.
Then I decided to open my own real estate company by purchasing an existing real estate franchise.
I never stopped to ask myself what business I was in. I assumed I was in the real estate business. Why? Because this all I had been in all my life. Everyone who knew me at the time, knew I was in the real estate business.
But I was not.
At least not in the franchise ownership portion of my day to day activities.
I was in the real estate agent support business.
When I finally asked myself that question, “What business am I in?” I realized I was not putting my energy and resources in the main business I was in.
As soon as I did and started measuring what needed to be measured, things shifted.
So I ask you, given where you currently happen to be in your development…. “What business are you in?”
Don’t go for the simple answer like “I am in the self storage business”.
Yes, you may be, but I venture to say you are in the self storage business like I was in the real estate business when my franchise was floundering.
The self storage business, like every business, has a lot of aspects and dimensions to it. In reality, now, I do not spend very much time in the “self storage” business. Our operations manager does.
I am primarily involved in Investor Relations, Capital Funding, and Acquisitions.
I am not very active in the Self Storage Business anymore.
Ask yourself “How do I spend most of my time in this business?”
Answer truthfully by looking at what you have been doing the last month.
Now write it out.
Here is my bet. You have been spending the majority of your time in doing what you are comfortable doing and like to do.
Yes, you may have had to learn it, it was uncomfortable at first, but odds are you spend your time, or gravitate towards what you are good at and like to do.
Now, ask your self “What should I have been doing?”
For example, I have worked with people who spent most of their time finding, looking at and analyzing deals.
They have done that before with hours of some other type of real estate. They were good at it.
They were in acquisitions.
They really should have been in Capital Raising and Funding. When they got the project under contract, they could not perform because their money wasn’t in place, they couldn’t get a loan and did not have a backup plan like someone else to sign on the loan with them.
Ask your self “What business should I be in?”
Perhaps you should be in the self storage business, but you are really functioning as a maintenance person. I have seen that a lot with owners who are good with their hands or have a construction background.
Every business has many aspects to it that are required. It is important to know where your strengths are and are not. Then work where your strengths can be used and get partners or vendors for the areas where they are not.
One can group people and skill sets in many ways, but try this:
People are primarily:
- Artist (creators)
- Managers
- Entrapenauers (Risk Takers)
Leaders can be in any category.
Artist are the creators. They like to write, create, blog, make music and so on. They can also like to create businesses.
Steve Jobs was a Creator.
Managers like to organize, execute, often like to be told what to do, or at least, which direction to go in. They can be creative, but they are creative in order to do something or get something specific.
Good leaders know how to utilize managers effectively.
Then there are the Entrepreneurs. The Risk-takers. The people who create the business or who can get involved in a business. They take the risk required to grow and accomplish what is required to be successful.
Here is the thing. A business needs all three. All too often, one person has to do it all (often at the beginning that can happen).
To survive and be successful, a good business owner will determine quickly who they are, what they should be doing. Then fill in the gaps for what is missing.
You will probably notice early in the development of your self storage business, you spend most of your time doing what you know how to do. To a large degree, these are the things you are comfortable doing (or have become comfortable if you were not at the beginning).
That is not always where you should be spending your time.
This is a great question.
“Where should I be spending my time today given where my business really is?”
My strategy was to get partners who compensated for my weaknesses. I am not a good manager.
I have learned to do things I am not inherently good at, but as a necessity.
I have as quickly as possible attempted to put vendors or partners in roles to fulfill those functions if it is a requirement for a successful self storage business.
That is my coaching for you.
Be self-aware. As a business owner, it is critical we develop the habit and skill of being self-aware at a very deep level.
Most people can have a great life with little self awareness. We can’t. As a business owner or someone creating a self storage business from nothing, we do not have that luxury.
Our livelihood, our family, our employees, and our customers all depend on us being self aware, knowing our strengths and weakness, and how to compensate for them.
Our access to that self awareness is through the questions we ask ourselves.
If you want to alter your life, alter your questions.
What business are you really in?
What business should you be in?
What should you do today to take the next step in creating or growing your self storage business?
