Unless you were born wealthy, or have great karma, the road to self storage success is rarely a straight line.
In fact, I believe the key to success is how well you execute Plan B. Plan A is that stuff in your head that rarely ever happens the way you think it will.
In this series, we’re exploring the habits of and ways of navigating life that separate the people who go all the way and build their self storage business and those that get stopped along the way. The people who go all the way are the ones who get the reality that Plan A rarely works.
I’m not saying life is hard but I am saying that you are guaranteed to run into roadblocks and obstacles on your way to success.
Guaranteed.
Usually, you don’t see those roadblocks and obstacles until you run smack into them.
The question is, have you developed the skills necessary to deal with the unexpected setback, move through it and get to the other side. Do you have what it takes to go against the drift of what is considered a “normal” life today?
We are not taught how to create our life. In fact, most of our upbringing – from our families, mentors, role models and the education system – gives us no preparation to be entrepreneurs.
Our education system is designed to mold us into good citizens and to fit into society as a good, functioning member.
That usually means working for a company and having a “job.”
There’s nothing wrong with that. But it in no way prepares us to be someone who is mentally prepared for what is required to deal with building something from nothing.
One of the unspoken, unquestioned, and even unconscious “truths” we’ve inherited is “problems shouldn’t be.”
So when we hit a roadblock – prices are all at a 6% CAP and it’s hard to make the numbers work or you’re having trouble raising money or getting financing:
- It feels like a setback
- We react like “this should not be happening/”
For many, this morphs rapidly into “If things were going how they should be I would not be having this problem.”
We may not even realize we are telling ourselves this story, but it’s how we are reacting to the situation. This is our default setting for dealing with problems.
If we are not aware and present to the stories we are telling ourselves about our world and our place in it, then we usually move on to even more limiting conclusions. “There must be something wrong with me,” or “I’m not good enough.”
These are fears we don’t want to sit with for very long on a conscious level. We change them to “This isn’t for me,” or “the timing isn’t right,” or whatever we have to say to be okay with the real belief: “There must be something wrong with me.”
Before you know it, starting a self storage business will soon be something you almost did. You will decide to be okay with where you are now. Or you decide that something else is what you should be doing instead.
Your internal worldview
This mental process happens at a very deep, unconscious level. Unless we go through the day present, self reflective, and clear about the stories we are telling ourselves we stay completely unaware of what is happening to us.
It looks like it’s all happening “out there.” But consider if what looks like “out there” is only a reflection of our worldview.
Yes, prices may be high, but you can still get in the self storage business if your worldview isn’t limited.
But you will get lots of agreement from the world “out there” about your limited worldview.
The thing is that this worldview is correct, or at least as valid. There’s nothing wrong with it but it will not empower you to build the life you want.
Finding Clarity
You can develop habits and learn new ways of navigating the world that will allow you to change your worldview. A worldview that keeps you going and makes you unstoppable.
Guess what? This new worldview is equally as valid. But you will get less agreement from the rest of the world. You will need internal resources to fall back on.
For many I see, what they can fall back on is the first habit I listed last week: Being clear on your what and why.
Some people have that skill from the beginning. They know what they want to be while they are still in school and go for it.
I know people who knew they were going to be doctors at a young age and organized their whole life around that goal.
Many world class athletes seem to have that ability. For example, they are clear on their goal to be in the Olympics at a very early age. They then dedicate their lives and do whatever is necessary to get there.
I was never one of those people.
Clarity never came easily or naturally for me.
In fact, my self storage business floundered until I figured out what I and our company were about.
That is why I spend so much time coaching on creating your business strategy.
Until you are clear on what your ideal facility, location, return, partner, etc. will look like, every opportunity “could” work at the right price.
And if everything looks good, nothing will happen.
You will not be able to recognize when something fits the model.
When you find a project that fits the model, and you figure out what you can pay today to get your strategic return (Clarity), it takes the emotion out of it.
If you can get it at $X, great. If not, on to the next one.
But clarity on your business strategy is not even the most important type of clarity there is.
The most important clarity is the clarity around your WHY.
The Importance of Your Personal “Why“
WHY are you creating this business?
There will come a point where that WHY is all you have to keep going.
If there is not a compelling, emotionally charged, highly important WHY to your reason for doing all this, you will not stick it out.
I have seen it over and over.
And I can’t emphasize the emotionally charged part enough.
Your WHY must activate a deep, fundamental emotion for you. When it is present your mind, your body and your entire mental field are present to that emotion. (I’ll share what I’m talking about in a minute.)
And it isn’t the money.
If your WHY is to make a lot of money, I’m afraid I can’t help you.
Yes, I will help you make a lot of money and wealth, but not if that is the sole motivating factor for you.
Because that isn’t enough. (Hint: It is never about the money, even if you think it is.)
How I Found My Own “Why”
What is your WHY?
I’ll share mine.
My Father thought he had more money than he actually did.
All my life, I was told my “retirement” was set up as part of a Charitable Remainder Trust.
In was in my 50’s when my Father died. We realized the money wasn’t even close to enough. I had no access to his money. What was left was certainly not enough to earn sufficient income for my family to live or retire on.
I had organized my financial life around a myth. To fulfill the promise I had made to my family, my wife, I had to start almost from scratch in my 50’s.
If I was going to create a secure life for my wife and have something of value and worth to pass on, I had to create it and create it fast.
I knew nothing is a better investment for creating wealth than self storage.
So I began to design my business strategy. A strategy that would allow me to create a portfolio that our core team of partners could either sell, keep, or live on the cash flow. A strategy that supported the vision I had of how my family would be supported.
So my WHY is my wife, my family, and particularly my grandkid’s generation. To create something of true worth for them, and to be a model of the kind of person who can create and execute that strategy in ten to fifteen years.
So every day I am present to this WHY as I help grow our company.
Do you think there is an emotional charge for me as I am present to my WHY?
When we were going to lose our last transaction because I had picked the wrong vendor AND it became obvious we were not going to close in time AND the Seller was going to be able to keep our money AND we were not going to get the deal, believe me, all I had was my WHY.
I felt foolish and like I had let everyone down. I felt like a failure once again and I was embarrassed.
It is at times like this that the WHY is all there is. For me, if I was going to fulfill on creating the secure life for my family, losing this deal and the confidence of my partners and investors was not an option.
So we (myself and my operating partners) quickly went out and got a bridge loan. This allowed us to close on the existing facility and land. Then we started over with the acquisition and construction loan.
Without a very compelling reason to move forward, the way we were taught to navigate the world does not give us what we need when things appear impossible.
We have to create it.
We have to be clear on what and, most importantly, WHY.
And it is not like there is some hidden WHY or strategy you need to discover, and once you do life finally works.
You create it.
You make it up.
That doesn’t make it less real. That doesn’t make it less emotionally important to you. This awareness allows us to be the source of our vision and the source of our WHY.
Do You Know Your WHY?
So what is your vision, your business strategy, and most importantly, your Why for creating this self storage business?
If you still think it is the money, ask yourself, “what will the money provide for me?”
Then take that answer and ask yourself, “What will that provide for me that I don’t have now?”
Keep going deeper until you figure out what is really driving you.
