This is the fourth and final episode in a series entitled Practices For Self Storage Entrepreneurs To Develop Series.
Given the state of the self storage industry today, and the unique challenges, I thought I would share some of the best habits, mindsets, or “practices” I feel can aid us.
This has been as much for me as anyone.
The final practice is more subtle than the others.
It really has to do with how we perceive the world and what are some of the underlying belief systems that operate in the background for us.
It Is Not Personal
My training and understanding of how humans act in the world informs me that although what we think and believe occurs very personally to us because we are the ones experiencing it, in reality, we rarely, if ever, have a unique thought.
Beliefs or belief systems are nothing but thoughts that, in most instances, we are not even aware we are having.
They are subconscious, or as I may say, in the background.
I believe that our belief systems are functions of where we were born, when we were born, who our parents were, and what religion, if any, we were born into.
Also, human evolution helps shape belief systems in all the ways mentioned above.
These beliefs all run in the background.
I suggest that one of the belief systems all or most of us are born into is the idea that if we get something, someone else has to lose.
Now today, intellectually, we will not agree with it. We have all heard about Win/Win. However, many of us say something like this to ourselves … “there is enough to go around.”
“It’s too late for me in self storage.”
“If I had only gotten in earlier.”
I am sure we can all add to the list.
Even though we all may spout win/win, if you look at how we act, who we are usually being, and our experience is something like “if I don’t get this self storage project (or whatever), someone else will, and I will lose.”
It is valid, and I am not saying that is wrong.
I have just found it is not very powerful and useful today, and I am consciously trying to replace the belief system I inherited with a different one.
I did not create the “competitive” mindset; I was born into it.
It served our species well over the last few hundred thousand years as we competed in a hostile environment to survive.
But investing in self storage and making money is not physical survival. We rarely have to deal with physical threats for most of us anymore. However, our brain functions and our background beliefs operate as if we are.
Thus, our experience in life, especially today as a smaller investor, is “competitive” against giants (big money) for storage opportunities.
An Alternative
I also believe that what we tell ourselves creates our reality.
The reality for humans occurs in language. Not so for other species, but for us, our reality occurs in language after we are about one or so.
Said another way, reality occurs as a story.
Most of us think that what we tell ourselves is nothing more than a description of what we see happening.
Again, valid. But what if what we see is a function of what we tell ourselves?
This is what I have come to understand and believe. We have a belief or story, often created when we were very young (like a completive mindset), it goes in the background, but because it is there, that is what we see.
I especially see this with people coming into self storage from the single-family housing business.
I guess the trainers in that industry all teach that it is very competitive, and to win, you must always get the lowest price possible, beat out the competition, and sell at the highest price possible, or you lose.
As a buyer, if the seller gets a good deal, or wins, then that automatically means you lost.
If you get a good deal as a buyer, the seller usually won’t, or if you make a big profit exiting the deal, you beat the Buyer.
I genuinely think we need to consciously evolve past the” competitive” mindset model of negotiating, especially today, and move towards an “abundance” mindset.”
In the world view of an abundance mindset, everyone wins.
There is enough for all.
The current buyers who are overpaying today, driving up prices for existing self storage past what we can pay, are not a problem because there is enough in the market for us to focus on (especially with conversions & expansions, not to mention new construction).
When we are negotiating with a seller or listing agent today, we most likely won’t “win,” and they most likely won’t “lose” if we buy existing self-storage given the current pricing.
We need a deal that is projected to hit our minimum benchmark numbers realistically.
I believe we create wealth through solid deals, not home runs.
Remember, there is always someone who will pay more than you. If you can help the current seller feel like he wins doing business with you, you will have more self storage opportunities, in the long run, to look at than the old paradigm of negotiating, winner takes all.
So as a final practice to develop today, be competitive and have fun, but remember, develop an abundance mindset.
There are enough self storage opportunities out there for all of us.
