by Holly Robinson
May 17, 2011 5:27 PM
Next to asking the love of your life whether she is willing to marry you (or figuring out whether you want to accept), one of the hardest decisions that people have to make is whether they should try to go into business for themselves. With the growth that the self storage industry has been experiencing of late, opening a self storage facility has become a good idea.
Everyone would prefer to be their own boss rather than take orders from someone else. Being able to enjoy the lion share of the profits rather than your paycheck is not a bad thing either.
However, the problem with being your own boss and owning your own business is that you also take all the risk. Not only are you going to be financially invested, but the success or failure of your business rests squarely on your shoulders.
What many people do not realize prior to going into business is that success is predicated of much more than just knowing how to create the product or service that you are offering. There are a number of other factors like marketing, advertising, human resources, and many others that can cause your business, self storage or otherwise, to sink or swim.
In the self storage industry, that has led to a rise in independent owners hiring third party management companies to take care of the day to day operations of the facility.
“The biggest advantage is we can insert a proven business model into an owner’s facility,” says Stuart Wade of the AAAA Self Storage Management Group. “We’ve been in self storage since 1972 and we’ve made every mistake there is and don’t repeat them.
“Our experience as an owner of self storage for our own account (not just for others’) is invaluable to an operator whose main business is something other than self storage…”
Of course this flies in the face of the whole purpose of going into business, especially one that appears relatively safe right now, like the self storage industry—making money. The cost for a third party management company to come in and run your facility can’t be cheap.
For the person that does not have a business background and does not know how to market a self storage facility it can be the difference between success (and some profit) and failure (no profit and a complete loss of your investment).
“If your mainline of business/vocation is something other than self storage, you should seriously consider what a management company can do for you. We have the commitment and experience to focus solely on the self storage asset class,” said Wade.
While you do go into business to make money, sometimes you have to spend it in order to make it.
Sources Used:
“Third Party Management – Bringing a Proven Business Model to Your Facility.” SSA Globe; May 2011.
“Storage Facility Owners Could Gain Big Money with Help from Storage Management Companies.” Self Storage Industry News; 10 November 2010.