If you are in the self-storage business and trying to grow it, or if you have been trying to get in the business and it is slowly going, then this episode may be for you.
But I am going to take a very different approach than most in the next couple of episodes concerning how to get the most out of this year (or any year, for that matter) for your business.
Rather than focus on tips and techniques, let’s look at a larger picture.
I have often said (not an original thought, but part of my training) that success in anything, especially business, is 20% knowing what to do, 80% mindset.
I firmly believe this and have lots of data and experience to back it up.
My journey into this lifelong study and application began in the mid-1980’s when I first read (or perhaps -re-read, I can’t remember) Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill.
My Start On The Creative Process Of Generating Money
One of the first things Mr. Hill teaches is that we must have a clear and definite goal in mind—a definite picture in our minds of what we want.
It needs to be crystal clear and not some vague concept like I want to be happy or to travel.
It needs to be precise: travel where and when. Then, we must see it and experience it in our minds first.
So, I decided to try money. I was going to create $100,000 in the calendar year of 1987.
I studied most of the year in 1986 the material in the book and created goal statements, and on January 1, 1987, I was ready.
$100,000 was a real stretch for me at the time.
The most I had ever made up until that point was between $18,000 and $22,000.
Every morning, I was to see it, feel it, and so forth.
Very quickly, I found myself thinking, almost every morning, “I’ll be lucky if I get half this…”
Because half was over double what I had experienced up to that time.
Guess what I earned in 1987?
You guessed it. I was within $400 of $50,000.
When I realized what had occurred, it started me on what ended up being a lifetime exploration of how this could happen.
Was it a coincidence?
It sure occurred like magical thinking to me. How can having a thought in my head actually produce what I was thinking?
Was there really an explanation?
The book called The Science Of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles, written in 1910, twenty-seven years before Think and Grow Rich, tells the reader not to theorize and seek answers. Just apply the process, get rich, and then, if you still want to, explore how and why the process works if you still want to.
My experience is that the process works because I, and many people I know, have applied it and produced results over and over.
But that did not satisfy my almost compulsive need to know how this process could actually work.
Let me share with you in these episodes some of the processes I use and what I have figured out so far after almost 40 years of research on how it actually works.
This will be the background information if you want to use this process to get the most out of your 2025 (or your life).
Ways To Explore How The Process Works
I quickly realized there are two main ways humans can explore how the world works: (1) spiritual (religious or metaphysical studies) or (2) science (rigorous application of the scientific method).
Of course, I went down both avenues.
What I learned gave me the confidence to build my first self-storage business, which I sold in 2004.
Then, my second self-storage portfolio, consisting of two brands, was built from 2008 to 2020.
I sold this portfolio of projects for multiples more than the first one.
And now, I am building my third portfolio of self-storage and boat & RV.
I still use the same process.
I am using it to create my 2025 in this business.
In this episode, we will lightly touch on some of the science behind the process and a powerful distinction that gives what you think and say power.
I am in the process of writing a book on the subject, which will go into much more detail. It is scheduled to be published in Q2 of 2026.
Hopefully, although there are very brief explanations in these episodes, the act of creating clear goals and outcomes can begin to make more sense.
Science Over The Last 600 Years
Our species, up until the Renaissance, relied primarily on myths and/or religion to inform us about reality.
This process kept us in the “Dark Ages.”
Lots of superstition coupled with keeping the power structures of the then political and religious systems in place kept humans from progressing politically, intellectually, spiritually, and financially.
This began to change in the 14th century with the Renaissance.
The Renaissance is known for its cultural, artistic, political, and economic rebirth. But towards the end was the birth of what we could begin to call modern science.
It is now called The Scientific Revolution, and Isaac Newton brought forward what is even to this day called Newtonian Physics. This was in the late 1600s and early 1700s.
Because the religions of that day had kept us in such darkness and ignorance, most of the people of science then, at least in private if not in public, disregarded religion altogether.
This prejudice, to some extent, continues today in the scientific community, although the majority of scientists today (51%) believe in some type of higher power.
The process of abstract reasoning, quantitative thought, new ways of understanding how nature could work, the view of nature as a machine, and the development of an experimental scientific method all emerged from the Scientific Revolution.
The belief for the next few hundred years was that as science progressed, we would be able to get the smallest particles that make up our universe, and then we would know how everything works.
That mental structure was of nature as a machine. Understanding the smallest parts would allow us to understand the machine.
Boy, was that a mistake.
Next week, I will go into a little detail, but for today, just know that as we got to the atomic and subatomic particles that are the building blocks of matter, what science discovered was astounding.
Physicists discovered that nature, or the universe, did not act like a machine at all.
In fact, the universe functions like a thought. According to physics today, what underlies the very fabric of the universe is consciousness. This became quite evident in the early 1900s with the double-slit experiment, which we will cover next week.
I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as a derivative of consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, suggests consciousness.
-Max Planck – April 23, 1858 – October 4, 1947) A German theoretical physicist whose discovery of energy quanta won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918.
The stream of knowledge is heading toward a non-machinal reality; the universe begins to look more like a great thought than a great machine. Mind no longer appears to be an accidental intruder into the matter; we ought rather to hail it as the creator and governor of the realm of matter. Get over it and accept it as the inarguable conclusion. The universe is immaterial and spiritual.
-Sir James Jean – (September 11, 1877 – September 16, 1946) was an English physicist, mathematician, and astronomer.
I have concluded that we are in a world made of rules created by intelligence. To me, it is clear that we exist in a plan that is governed by rules that were created, shaped by a universal intelligence, and not by chance.
-Michio Kaku – 1947 (age 77 years) String Theorist
Your Goals
Even given this very brief summary, it can begin to make sense that if thought or consciousness underlies reality, our thoughts could possibly connect with, become part of, or impact this underlying reality.
I have discovered not just thoughts but also thinking in a very particular way.
However, before we close with what that particular way of thinking is, let’s have a brief distinction that may give you some power with these concepts.
Humans relate to reality in language. We use words. Even our mental pictures are related to language.
Most of us never give this much thought. At best, our relationship with language is that we use it to describe what we perceive as “out there.”
We rarely, if ever, question if our description of what is “out there” is true.
We rarely, if ever, think about how we use language in the spoken word or in our thoughts.
But what if you could use language not just as a descriptive tool but as a creative tool?
I believe we can. To me, that is exactly what goals can be.
However, doing this requires real power in our relationship with what we say and think. Most people have never cultivated this power.
Most people have never looked at their relationship based on what they say. I think this is where real power starts…your relationship to your word (spoken or thought).
Integrity
Let’s discuss a powerful concept: integrity.
There are many ideas and concepts about integrity. Most of the time, we relate to the idea of integrity as a good thing and not having integrity as a bad thing. If you have integrity, you are a good person. If you don’t have integrity, you’re a bad person.
There is nothing wrong with these concepts, but there is little power in them.
When it comes to creating wealth using my word (i.e., creating goals) or connecting with the consciousness that appears to be behind reality, I am very interested in having what I say have power.
For these episodes, let’s begin relating to integrity as “workability.”
If a bicycle tire has all the spokes in place, that wheel has integrity. It can work at maximum efficiency.
If some of the spokes are missing and others are not tight, there is little integrity in the wheel. Thus, it will not perform well.
So, when I was starting out expanding my relationship to goal setting and creatively using language, my training was first to restore integrity in how I was with my word.
Then, if I am using language to create money or wealth, I start by restoring integrity with money.
Again, nothing that I was doing was necessarily a “good” thing or a “bad” thing; I was just restoring integrity where my integrity was out.
I was coached not to with the wave of a hand state that I was not out of integrity. We all do this to some degree.
Where could I see it was out? Where had I not told the truth? Where did I say I was going to pay a bill or pay someone and then be late?
Was I tracking my account balances? Do I know how much money I have in my accounts?
Do I pay my credit cards off monthly? Am I behind in payments? Do I owe taxes?
My coaching starts here, and I just put integrity back in. If I owe something, pay it. If I can’t pay now, I will contact you to tell you when I can and see if that is all right.
Recently, I was having a hard time getting some financing. It is easy to say today that lenders are hard, and they are.
However, I started with where was I out of integrity with lenders. I had a lot to clean up, and I am still restoring integrity there.
I know this will make a difference in 2025 as I have created my goals for the year.
This is where I recommend starting.
I assure you, when there is integrity with your word, and you relate to yourself as “when I say something that is what I do,” and really believe it, your goals and what you are creating for your business take on a whole new dimension.
There is real power in your goals then.
Your Goals
Now for your self-storage business.
Against this general background we have been discussing in this episode, perhaps your goals can show up differently in 2025 than before.
Get a specific and clear set of up to 3 goals for your business. Specifically, how much, where, and by when.
It needs to be simple and not complicated. We can be complicated people. The process is not.
If you are sending an email to a friend, it’s usually best to be brief and to the point, right? Long, rambling emails are rarely read and often not clear.
The awareness or consciousness you are speaking into is the same. Be clear, specific, and brief.
Example: Resolve is completing $15 million of self-storage construction in 2025.
All success using the creative method (as opposed to the competitive method) starts with clear, simple goals.
Your assignment before next week:
- Look for where integrity is out around what you say and your relationship with money.
- Create up to three clear, specific, and brief goals for your self-storage business in 2025.
We will take it to the next level next week.
