March 22nd, 2008
Announcement regarding Self Storage Give-away
If you read Gayle Brandeis’ interview (below) and want to enter the Self Storage contest, but aren’t exactly sure what “self storage” means, this announcement is for you.Gayle says: “Feel free to interpret the theme widely. Write about items you or someone you know has packed away. Write about losing items you once put in storage. Write about what the term “self storage” evokes in you. Write about stuff–why we have so much of it, why we need to rent places to store it all away. Follow your inspiration!”
She is also sweetening the deal by including a random item from a self storage auction box…
We’ve also extended the deadline to March 31st, so get those entries in!!
Filed Under: Announcements, Contests |
March 23rd, 2008 at 6:18 am Build it and they will come. Truth or myth? I designed my fist self storage 20 years ago, as a young civil engineer. I did not even know what self storage was when my fist self storage client came to our engineering company. He gave me the details, I designed it and got it approved by the City Planning and Zoning Commission. He built it and they came. Since that time I have designed many self storage facilities in Connecticut.
More recently I planned, designed, built, operate and own two self storage facilities in rural Connecticut. I have learned about self storage from real life experiences and continue to learn every day. It is a unique business.
As people learn or hear more about self storage and see a facility in their neighborhood the more likly they will need it some day. Often people who rent are in a state of flux and stressed out because of some life event like moving, new born or remodling. When people move their spending spikes several times the norm to “get things done now, and back to normal”
A self storage manager is part business manager and part therapist. You really don’t have to be a sales expert - you can’t sell self storage to someone who does not need it. You make people aware of storage, so when they do need it, they come to you.
The average residential customer stays on the average about 1 year. At $100 a month that is $1200. I guess it worth the peace of mind during a time of transition. Heck I spend well over that on a couple of coffees a day and have nothing to show at the end of the day.
I never rented a self storage space. Now that I own 2 self storage facilities, for some reason, I have 3 units full of stuff. Self storage may always be one of the small mysteries of life.
Storage is not always about the stuff, its about emotions, life and making decisions or more likly putting off decisions.
Marc Goodin