I love this time of year.
I love it for two reasons: (1) The Inside Self Storage Convention in Las Vegas and (2) the Kentucky Derby the first weekend in May.
If you have never been to either you should go. Especially the convention.
The underlying theme in all I share with you is that the self storage industry is evolving fast. It’s moving from a mom & pop business to a sophisticated industry.
A big part of our job as owners looking to get in or grow in this business is to stay on top of the new industry direction and trends. There is no better way to do this than going to conventions.
The ISS (Inside Self Storage) convention in the spring, and the SSA (Self Storage Association) convention in the fall, both in Las Vegas, are perhaps the best way. A close second is your state’s conventions or meetings.
Almost every relationship I have in this industry came from one of these conventions.
(I think there is still time to register for the ISS convention coming up on April 25-28 at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas – Stop by booth 601 and say hello, I would love to meet you!)
There are two ways to go to a convention like this.
One is to just show up and see what’s available to learn, what vendors might be there, what information you can collect.
The other is a much more powerful way. Go with an intention. You’ll be surprised at all the stuff you leave with, but you’ll also fulfill an intention which is the way an entrepreneur who is 100% responsible for their life and business shows up in the world.
I have three intentions for this convention.
- To determine once and for all if container storage for some of our projects is a viable for us given our business strategy.
- Decide with our partner accountable for operations if we are switching call centers.
- Meet as many of you as I can at our booth and see if an A-Z, complete solution to get in the self storage industry is a service you want and one I’m willing to provide.
I never thought offering a packaged solution was something that would interest anyone given the independent nature of many of us who gravitate to this business. However, after working with many of you it appears maybe I was wrong.
For example:
- In the pre-contract stage: rather than you learning how to analyze a project, figure out who will do the feasibility report, and design a construction budget, for a fixed price you’d receive a report with all of the above.
- In the LLC formation phase: rather than figure it out using your overall business strategy, for a fixed fee, including two Skype meetings or some other virtual meeting, our legal team would give you the LLC documents with two revisions priced in.
- If new construction is in the picture: for a set fee and construction budget – a construction team shows up and builds what was created in the first step above.
I never though I would ever be in that business, but it may be something you are seeking. I want to find out at the convention.
I’m not attached to any particular outcome. The vision I have for this portion of my business is to support smaller investors that want to get into this business. For so many reasons, it’s absolutely the best real estate type of play a small investor could possible do.
We’re on the wave of an involving industry and there is great wealth and fulfillment that can be created at this point in time. I want to support as many people as I can who seriously want to participate in this opportunity. However that may look.
And I’ve learned that it is almost never how you initially think it is going to look.
Stop by booth 601 and let me know your thoughts and how I can support you.
See you there.
