For whatever reason, people I talk with or coach in getting in the self storage business, sooner or later begin to ask questions about what I really do in a day.
My coaches (yes, I have coaches as well) over the past few years have told me I should do some “behind the scenes” episodes, open up more personally on social media, and let people see into my world.
I resist this at every turn. How I was raised is “it’s no one’s business.” My wife tells me that is because of the Family of Origin dynamics (she is smarter than I am on these things).
So even though I am much more comfortable pontificating about self storage, I will put my toe into this world of behind-the-scenes with something everyone (including myself) who owns their own business or is creating their own business with has to deal with –work/life balance.
Owning A Business
My relation to work/life balance is probably different than most. It drives my wife crazy sometimes.
But in my world, there is no real line of demarcation between “work” and “non-work.” There is just life. What most call work, for me, occurs like just who I am and what I do.
In these episodes, I have said that creating businesses and self-storage projects is more like creating art than “work” for me. I love the experience of thinking through what I, or our team, can create in the physical world, then set about doing it.
It is fulfilling, fun, and occurs like a game worth getting up every day to play in. Now don’t get me wrong, sometimes I have created a game (or business model) I wish I had not created. I try to dispose of these and replace them with games that are fun to play.
For example, our team almost created a self storage fund a few years ago. Perhaps we should have. But, once all the pieces were in place, we had the question, is this really what we want to do. I pictured what I would be doing in three years every day with this business and decided I didn’t want to create something I wouldn’t want to work in three years. Perhaps a mistake. I am still not sure.
When I am “working,” it does not occur like work most of the time, and when I am “playing,” I get some of my best ideas about “work.” Especially on the golf course or playing guitar.
Starting The Day
My training is to have a powerful morning routine that sets me for the day.
Every day I get up early, usually between 5 and 6 AM. I spend the first hour on my spiritual work, reading and meditating.
I learned to meditate in the 1980s. Back then, it was considered strange and weird. I remember the first Broker I worked for in the real estate business told me not to tell people I meditated. “It will have a negative impact on your business.”
Today it has become trendy, and entrepreneurs are told meditation is a practice worth taking up. It is, but for me, it is primarily a spiritual practice. Like most spiritual practices, it provides real benefits in my “real” life as well.
Primary, it gives me space from my own thinking and a quieter mind. Over time, it also gives one the ability not to believe the thoughts that go on in their head. Just because I think I see something in the world, think about it, or feel about it, that does not mean what I am seeing, thinking, or feeling is correct. Meditation over time gives us space from all that.
I have learned “Enlightened people don’t believe their own thoughts.”
Anyway, that is how I start my day.
Then I do this work. I write the episodes for the CreatingWealthThroughSelfStorage.com website, articles, content for courses. I work until 8 AM or so in this online training business supporting small investors who want to get into the self storage business.
About twice a month, I do the videos. I block out time every other Thursday to shoot videos.
These days, I am at home, so I use this green screen you see here in my office. This is a second-floor bedroom that was converted into an office.
It is also my music room. Most every day in the afternoons, I work on developing my guitar playing. Pre COVID, I played in some acoustic bluegrass groups or just jams in our local areas. Today I play and try to get better and have expanded into some swing and jazz.
Like my “work,” I don’t sit down and play for fun. For whatever reason, I have the need to feel like I am progressing in my musical development. My bride says this way of being is a curse, and I cannot just “enjoy” anything. But for me, it is what makes playing music fulfilling—the experience of getting better.
I guess that is why I like golf so much too. One always has to be working on getting better, or your game can get bad fast.
The Rest Of The Day
Between 8 & 9 AM, I am in full swing. I start my self storage day, or my real estate day, or my self storage coaching day. Usually, I’m involved with various parts of all the different businesses I have a stake in during any given day.
I am still active in all three businesses. It’s fun and generates multiple income streams, which is something I was taught early in life to create.
What becomes critical for me is to (1) not to multi-task because then everything suffers and (2) know exactly what the upcoming task will be throughout the day. Sometimes that frustrates people because my phone is usually off, I only check emails and texts at scheduled times each day, and I purposely don’t have email on my phone.
For me, it works better to respond on my time rather than the constant interruptions of multiple forms of contact. Fortunately, most of the time, other people handle the emergencies. Over time, I have been able to organize structures, people, and support to handle that. Sometimes I miss an important communication that I should have responded to in a more timely manner. But the few that do happen are well worth the freedom and focus I get.
In my opinion, no one is a self-made person. We all stand on the shoulders of others. Without other people, my wife, my partners, the support people who are absolutely wonderful and smarter than I will ever be, there is no way I could live this lifestyle. Many mornings, I spend time generating gratitude (a spiritual practice), and these people are always on the list.
This type of lifestyle requires strong support structures in place. I hate white space in my calendar. Every moment is filled. If I am working out, reading, studying, golfing, or spending time with my wife, that’s all on my calendar.
I try to schedule my coaching calls on the same day, same time every week. If we have to change a call or modify the time, we do so, but usually, we meet at those set times.
Same with my self storage business. My operating partners and I have set weekly online meetings (it used to be in the office). We create the week and go over what we are focused on at any given moment.
I try to start every meeting or call exactly on time, and I expect to end them on time. Usually, I have my next event or task immediately scheduled. I try to give myself 10 minutes or so between calls, meetings or tasks, to get up, move, and then re-orient for the next job at hand.
During COVID, I have been doing most of this at home. It used to be mostly at the office or while I was traveling. The beauty of living in this time is I can mostly do what I need to do from anywhere. That includes the beach if I want to.
What Gets Left Out
Sometimes, my lifestyle drives my wife crazy. To her and other friends of ours (yes, I have a couple of friends), it occurs like I am a workaholic or always having to be doing something. Often, she feels left out of my schedule.
I am making progress on this. I claim progress, not perfection. That is my aim.
If there is an area for me to improve on, it is being actually connected with people, especially my wife. She often has to ask me to work her into my calendar. I am probably not the best kind of person to be married to.
And if something has to move or give, it is exercise. Fortunately, I do schedule time for golf, and I often turn that into my exercise by walking rather than riding in carts. During COVID, I have spent a lot of time playing golf by myself, and I love it. At heart, I am an introvert. I can golf (improve and work on my game to create the feeling of accomplishing something), walk (get exercise), and listen to a book or podcast (learn). That is my version of multi-tasking.
Like all of us, I am a work I progress. I try to spend my time doing what moves the ball down the court in the games I have created.
That is what self storage ultimately gives us, in my opinion. The freedom to spend our time doing something that gives meaning and fulfillment to us, and not just trading our time for money. There is no better business in the world for this, in my opinion.
This is a glimpse into what a work-day looks like and how I approach it. I am not sure why anyone would find this interesting, but I can now say to my coaches that I have done one behind the scenes episode.
