To be successful in self storage today, it is not a function of what you know about self storage.
Yes, you have to know a lot of things, but knowing them guarantees nothing.
In fact, if you know nothing about self storage when you start, but have the mindsets we discuss in this series called What It Takes To Succeed In Self Storage Today, you will succeed.
And you will succeed faster and with fewer hassles than someone who knows way more than you do about self storage but does not believe in themselves.
In the last episode, I listed what the mindsets are, or internal beliefs and ways of being that I see are necessary to be successful today in self storage.
The reality is we could transpose these mindsets onto anyone and any worthwhile endeavor. But since you and I are connected because of this fantastic business of self storage, let’s use that business as our focal point.
The First Mindset
This first mindset is a belief that people I have worked with who are successful have about themselves.
It is a deep-seated belief that “If someone has done something, I can do it too.”
Now I know we will intellectually agree with this statement to some degree or another, but that is not what I am talking about.
For most people, by the time they are adults, what is possible for them is extremely limited.
Think about a newborn infant.
What is in that person’s future?
Nothing. Anything.
Anything could be in that infant’s future.
Then life as a human starts.
Depending on the time, the place, the prevailing religion of the area, and who are the infant’s parents, there are a set of conversations and beliefs, right there waiting for the infant, as he or she descends into language.
“Oh, I can’t have anything I want because my parents told me ‘Life is hard, and money doesn’t grow on trees.‘”
Or…” I’m not as good looking…. popular… (you fill in the blank) as so and so, therefore I will not get the best looking girlfriend/boyfriend. That’s reserved for them.”
In other words, life happens.
We learn our place in the herd, and slowly what becomes possible for us narrows down.
We learn “lessons” then place them in our future so we won’t have to experience that again.
Often, we could be on a date with someone for the first time, and all the past people that person has dated are sitting right there with us. I can remember that experience back from my dating days.
Now we want to go into the storage business.
But what is right there with us?
All the beliefs and undistinguished conversations we have about ourselves, who we are, what is possible for us, and how successful we really can be.
Now just know this is not personal to you.
Yes, the particular experience you may be having right now is experienced as personal. However, all of us, everyone, is born into limiting conversations, beliefs, and experiences.
It is not personal to you.
The Process
Now think about that infant again.
What is in that infant’s future?
Nothing. Anything.
Let’s focus on that nothing for a minute.
Nothing is there.
But as you know, the universe hates a vacuum. As soon as possible, unconsciously, we begin to put things in our future as we learn about and experience life.
I remember, for example, early in school, I had to repeat first grade. My Father thought I was a wonder kid and enrolled me at five years old in the first grade. Teachers told him I was too young.
I had to repeat that grade.
Then a few years later, when we moved to a new home and new school. I had to enroll mid-year, and my Father told them I should be in the advanced class.
I lasted a couple of days there.
I learned I am not that smart. If I am going to succeed and win anyone’s approval (mostly my Fathers), it isn’t going to be from being smart.
Now that goes into my future because it is important to know.
The only thing is, now what is possible for me becomes less, way less, because I am not that smart.
Now, where does all this stuff go?
The past? Not really.
It goes in my future. This is important stuff. It goes in the future and sits there to protect me.
Now is it true? Is it really true I am not smart?
Well, in reality, I am smarter than some people and not as smart as others. But that is irrelevant. For me, what was real for so long was, “I am not smart.”
So now I want to get in the storage business. I have to work with numbers, calculate internal rates of return, take other people’s money and buy storage assets, reposition them, generate 12% plus cash-on-cash returns in the first five years and a 20% IRR over the next ten years.
But I am not that smart.
Now, if the “I am not that smart” conversation is not flushed out and distinguished, what do you think my chances of success really are?
Nothing/Anything
Now the reality is for the infant; nothing is there. Then all of us start putting beliefs in our future.
But remember, nothing is there originally.
We learn or believe in something, then put it in our future.
But we could put anything in our future.
Usually, we choose limiting beliefs to protect ourselves from unwanted emotions and pain.
Usually, what we put in our future is not true. It may be a valid experience at the moment we do that, but it is not “true.”
In fact, we give all the meaning to everything. Usually, we put something in our future, immediately release it and forget it because it is hard to sit with, but we have it there to protect us if we ever get too close to the original experience again.
It takes something to examine all of the beliefs, and ways of being we have created to shield us as we go through life.
What I see is that people who unconsciously put the belief “If someone else can do something I can too,” in their future, usually succeed.
But what about us who didn’t put that belief in our future?
What becomes imperative for us who want to live a self-examined life is to be constantly “completing our past.”
There are a lot of ways to do that. Go to a Tony Robbins event. Go to a Landmark event. Work with coaches.
What I learned to do is to create what I want in my future. For example,” If someone else can do something, so can I”…or more specifically, “If someone else can get into the self storage business and be successful, so can I.”
I learned I could create anything and put it in my present and future. I actually walk around mentally chanting that to myself.
Then what begins to show up is everything we really believe that contradicts that.
We can find a storage project that works, and what begins to emerge for me, for example, is all the experiences, people, and situations that would be created from the conversation “I am not smart.”
Poof…now that limiting belief is there, fully exposed for me to examine. I can even remember the specific events in my life when I must have created it (first grade and the advanced class fiasco).
The next part of the process I learned was to ask myself, “Is it true?”
Is it true what I believed.
No, not really.
Look, even “If someone else can get in the self storage business, I can too” is not the “TRUTH.”
It is just more empowering than “I am not that smart.”
In third grade, “I am not that smart may have been a valid reaction of a seven or eight years old, but it certainly isn’t worthy of being in my life a 52 when I am getting in self storage.
Powerful
As human beings, we are more powerful than we can ever imagine.
Think about it for a second.
A seven-year-old created a belief that can actually limit what is possible for an adult version of myself. That is powerful.
But once distinguished, I can do the same thing that seven-year-old did, only consciously. “If someone else can get in storage, I can too” serves me way more than “I am not that smart.”
So I now have the ability to replace that limiting belief.
In “TRUTH,” neither is “TRUE,” and either is “TRUE.”
Whatever I believe is will determine what is possible for myself and my life.
I have often said, I am not that interested in the truth. I am very interested in what gives me power.
So I have spent the last 20 years or so, one by one, as I can distinguish them, replacing my limiting beliefs with empowering ones.
Some people are fortunate to be born into a conversation and are given the belief that they can do anything.
Most of us have to create that consciously for ourselves.
If you are one of these people like myself, here is a process you can use to “complete” a limiting belief or conversation:
- Create a belief you want (i.e., “If someone else can get in the storage business, so can I”)
- Consciously begin to internalize it. Daily.
- Life will quickly reveal anything that is not what we are creating. Analyze the events and the feelings they create that are not aligned with the new possibility you have created. Distinguish the real, underlying beliefs that are there for you.
- Humans are meaning-making machines. The art here is just to distinguish it and not make it mean something about ourselves. The more honest and mindful we can be, the faster this happens.
- Once the real, underlying limiting belief is distinguished, ask, “Is it true?”
- Keep asking until you get a NO. If at first, your immediate answer is yes, keep asking, “but is it really true.” I have never had to do this more than three times before I realize I just made it up. It may have been a valid reaction at the time I made it up, but it certainly isn’t TRUE, leaving no other possibilities.
- Then if it is not true, what could I replace it with?
- Create a more empowering conscious belief.
- Then go to number 2 above and repeat.
Living A Empowered Life
The first few times we do this, it is life-changing.
It also seems very significant.
Over time, however, it just becomes something we do.
Don’t get me wrong. I never ceased to be amazed at the power we have as humans to create a future with our speaking (and thinking), but the significance slowly fades.
Living a self-created life is our birthright as humans, but the fact I do this type of work doesn’t mean a lot. I am not that significant.
In the end, we all have the same fate. Life is temporary.
The only “significance” is what we create for ourselves and others along the way. Living a created life where you are distinguishing limiting beliefs and replacing them with empowering ones allows for a larger possibility for our lives.
That’s all.
But the fulfillment of being able to live a created life and create a self storage business makes all this type of work worth it for me.
The best part of this business for me is the ability to live a self-reflective and created life. The ability to distinguish thoughts and beliefs that limit me and replace them with believes that empower me is a fun way to live.
It is fulfilling to get up each morning and expand on a business I created.
It’s fulfilling getting to get up every day and live a created life.
For me, it started with a mindset shift.
In my humble opinion, this is way more important and relevant to success in the business than knowing how to find self storage and analyze it.
Try on the “Can Do It” Mindset. If you don’t like it, you keep what is already there.
