About Storage
Hi everyone and welcome to my website. I stumbled into the storage business 23 years ago as I decided to change careers, little did I know how much it would change my life for the better.
A Little Story About My Storage Life
In 1997 storage was still considered mom-and-pop and the first site I worked at was the first facility my company built in a major metroplex area. I opened the 350 unit facility and within 6 months we were 100% occupied. That’s great you are thinking, but as I learned later in my career being 100% full means you are leaving money on the table.
I worked for an individual who didn’t have any self-storage experience so I went back to my retail experience and used my customer service skills. I quickly realized that cleanliness had to be a big part of customers renting a unit, so I made sure all of our units were swept, doors and walls were dusted. We experimented with hours, I was the only employee at the site, and I worked 7 days a week. We ruled out needing to be open on Sunday because I saw little or no business and the phone wasn’t ringing. I went to 6 days a week and had Sunday off, but since I was the only employee I also answered the after-hour emergency phone and that turned into multiple trips to the office. Either the gate wasn’t working, I forgot to take an over lock off a unit after they paid (quickly learned to take the lock off as soon as the customer made the payment), or criminal activity. Needless to say, I ordered self-storage magazines and spent hours scouring over them to get tips and any information I could on how to run the business successfully. Fast forward to today we have over 40 state-of-the-art facilities and still growing.
The Business Has Changed
Self-storage has changed over the years from the mom-and-pop facilities (which are still around) to state-of-the-art facilities. Everyone wants to get into the business because it can be very lucrative if you know what you are doing.
Most of the content I will be sharing is going to help you understand the business and hopefully give you some information or tips to help grow your business.
If you ever need a hand or have any questions, feel free to leave them below and I will be more than happy to help you out.
All the best,
Lucylong
Successfulinselfstorage.com