I was in the post office the other day and the clerk noticed the return address on the certifieds I was sending out. He started asking me questions about our business and eventually I asked him why he was interested. He told me he was planning on buying a storage facility when he retires from the P.O. because "it's a no brainer business. "

Yup. That's us alright. Just sit back and watch that cash come flying in. No big maintenance expenses. No legal issues. No contract problems. No employee issues. No PITA customers. No administrative headaches. No auction concerns. No dead tenants. No security problems. Nope. Just sit back and count that money flowing in! Biggest problem is how do I spend all of it?

I get that a lot -- people think that owning a facility is like being on easy street!

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Wayne
All American Self Storage
Palmdale, CA.
webmaster@all-americanselfstorage.com

...considering what many of my friends have to do to make a buck, I think it is just around the corner from easy street

Keep in mind what people's perspectives are, I'm sure coming from working at some jobs this looks like a cakewalk. Let's be honest, it isn't TOO difficult if you do it right from the beginning.

Shhhh - we don't want them knowing we have it so easy and we are all rolling in cash!!!

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Wayne
All American Self Storage
Palmdale, CA.
webmaster@all-americanselfstorage.com

Yeah, one of these days I'm going to ditch the publishing job and open a facility of my own, because you all make it look so EASY! Hehehehe! (Just kidding ... don't lynch me.)

Maybe I should explain. We have 5 storage locations spread out over about a 50 mile radius and I oversee all 5. Although we have worked to become consistent and standardized, there are some very distinct differences and requirements between the facilities.

Managing one or two sounds easy enough, especially if they are in relatively close proximity. Managing 5, along with our other businesses, and building the work processes, HR policies, reporting systems, etc, is often, well, let's just say "interesting". LOL.

So, when this fellow told me he was looking for a no brainer job, I was thinking about it from my own perspective.

No need to explain ... I've worked on Inside Self-Storage magazine for almost a decade, so when I said "publishing," well, it's self-storage publishing. And I know there are a lot of people out there who get into this business because they believe just what that man said to you in the post office -- that it's a piece-of-cake job. We all know that isn't true! Especially in today's competitive market ... self-storage operation is more demanding than ever. And that isn't likely to change.

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Teri Lanza
Business Development Manager/Ed Director
Inside Self-Storage