Self Storage Income Manager Podcast

Welcome back everybody to the Self Storage Income Manager Podcast!

It’s not a matter of IF but a matter of WHEN that you as a manager at a facility (or one of your managers at one of your facilities), will encounter some kind of altercation with a tenant or individual at your facility. We recently did an episode where we talked about employee safety. Keeping yourself, your facility, and your employees safe is absolutely critical.

Today, we share an actual incident that we experienced at one of our facilities recently. This incident was a perfect example of so many of the things we talk about here on the podcast regarding safety and having solid operating procedures in place and ready to deploy. This incident involved a problem who came into the office upset, the situation escalated to the point where our manager asked the individual to leave. The individual refused to leave the office, police were called, and the situation seemed to be escalating further.

All said and done, the situation ended just fine and everybody went home safe. This isn’t the case every time however and we certainly weren’t perfect throughout this incident.

That said, we walk through this incident step by step today and identify what worked, what didn’t, what we could do better, and how you too can set yourself up for success when dealing with this very dynamic and sometimes threatening situations.

Thanks for tuning in everybody!

Be sure to keep up with us on our website:

Self Storage Income - https://selfstorageincome.com/

The Self Storage Income Manager Podcast is sponsored by:

Tenant Inc. - https://www.tenantinc.com/

You can also check out our other Self Storage Income podcast here:

You can also find the Self Storage Income Podcast on:

iTunes

Spotify

Stitcher

Welcome back everybody to the Self Storage Income Manager podcast!

 

So how do you know as a manager that the tenant that you’re dealing with is in fact the person they say they are? Sounds kind of interesting right? Why would someone try to pretend to be someone else? That’s a great question and one we literally had to address right before recording this podcast.

 

We had a person at one of our storage facilities call our office and state that they were a certain someone. Come to find out, that certain someone had recently passed away days prior. So we either received a call from a ghost OR what we actually found to be the case, a relative of that deceased person had called the office attempting to get information regarding the storage unit.

 

This brought up a great subject to discuss here on the podcast and that is tenant verification.

 

Do you have a process set up already to address a situation like this? Do you have a solid lease that also outlines your policies and procedures in an event such as this? Do you have authorized third parties that tenants can also put on their lease to allow them access to the facility/unit?

 

Even if you do, there may be something missing.

 

We share with you all today our exact lease and operating procedures regarding tenant verification. It’s absolutely critical that we have processes to confirm tenants identities and back up plans for other situations that may arise such as a tenant passing away. If we get this wrong and don’t have the correct procedures in place, it could mean legal disaster for you and your storage facility. Tune in, take notes, and make sure you have all your bases covered.

 

Thanks everybody!

Be sure to keep up with us on our website:

Self Storage Income - https://selfstorageincome.com/

The Self Storage Income Manager Podcast is sponsored by:

 

Tenant Inc. - https://www.tenantinc.com/

You can also check out our other Self Storage Income podcast here:

You can also find the Self Storage Income Podcast on:

iTunes

Spotify

Stitcher

Welcome back everybody to the Self Storage Income Manager Podcast!

 

Running a self storage facility at peak performance is no joke. There’s a lot to do and a lot to keep track of. It’s easy to get caught up and let things go that shouldn’t be let go. After all, it’s just something small here and there not getting done right? Here’s the issue - one small thing here and there will ultimately lead to MASSIVE issues everywhere. That cost huge amounts of valuable time and resources to correct. When in reality, had we just addressed the issues from day one and stayed on top of what needed to be done… we wouldn’t be using all that time, money, and effort, that it takes to get our facility back on track.

 

This is our subject of discussion today - how to be efficient, how to save time and money, and how to get things done.

 

We dive into some strategies that you can use to help you stay on track and on top of all the tasks of running a self storage facility. We also talk about the software systems that we use to help manage all our facilities. And we even share some some pretty large not so fortunate experiences that we’ve had in the past that touch on this exact topic.

 

It’s absolutely critical to keep up with everything that goes into running a self storage facility. Be sure you’re prepared and have the right tools, training, operating procedures, and support. Let’s get to it!

 

Thanks everybody!

Be sure to keep up with us on our website:

Self Storage Income - https://selfstorageincome.com/

The Self Storage Income Manager Podcast is sponsored by:

 

Tenant Inc. - https://www.tenantinc.com/

You can also check out our other Self Storage Income podcast here:

You can also find the Self Storage Income Podcast on:

iTunes

Spotify

Stitcher

Welcome back everybody to the Self Storage Income Manager Podcast!

Today we’re talking hiring. We’re taking a listener question and giving you our insights to help address the trials that can be hiring.

The question we’re diving into today is essentially – “How to you hire the right people and set the right expectations for that employee?”

If you’ve had to go through the process of hiring, you know its not an easy task. Its extremely important to get the right people hired that are great fit for you and your company. It can also be extremely costly if you end up hiring the wrong person or people. That said, it makes a ton of sense as to why we’re getting this great question. These are absolutely things you should be thinking about.

We’re going to share some of our hiring strategies, interview questions, and the personality types that we look for. We walk you through some of our steps that help us verify whether or not an applicant actually is a GOOD applicant, or if they just look good on paper. We’re also going to dive into some red flags that you should be looking for. There are a ton of considerations to take into account when hiring. Let’s face it, you’re brining someone into your life and the lives of your co-workers, someone who you’ll probably spend more time with than your own family a lot of times. That is no small decision. Be sure you hire right.

Thanks for listening everybody. We’ll see you next time!

Be sure to keep up with us on our website:

Self Storage Income - https://selfstorageincome.com/

The Self Storage Income Manager Podcast is sponsored by:

Tenant Inc. - https://www.tenantinc.com/

Welcome back everybody to the Self Storage Income Manager Podcast!

We have another great episode lined up for you today - today we’re talking protection, safety and security of you and your employees at your storage facility (or facilities).

This is an incredibly important topic that can often get overlooked. Unfortunately, these things a lot of times aren’t something we think or talk about until something actually happens that we have to try and address right there off the cuff, in the moment, without a solid game plan. This is certainly not the place you want to be when it comes to ensuring the safety and security of you and your staff.

As you’re probably already aware, there are a ton of potential and legitimate dangers that we need to consider regarding our work at storage facilities. These range from upset tenants that turn violent, to injuries, to simply doing our jobs. It’s critical that we have a plan and the tools necessary to do that job. Not only that, we need to be confident in our ability to execute on those plans and utilize those tools available.

This is what we’re diving into on today’s episode. We’re also going to cover what you can do at your facility to help ensure the safety and security of yourself, your fellow employees, and ultimately your facility.

Thanks for tuning in and we’ll see you next time!

Be sure to keep up with us on our website:

Self Storage Income - https://selfstorageincome.com/

The Self Storage Income Manager Podcast is sponsored by:

Tenant Inc. - https://www.tenantinc.com/

Welcome back everybody to the Self Storage Income Manager Podcast!

We’re excited to get this episode out to you guys because we’re diving into an awesome Self Storage Income Inner Circle member question. This is a great question that a lot of you might have and one we’ve certainly heard a lot in the self storage industry in regards to facility management.

The question was:

“I picture owning several smaller facilities within the same medium size cities. My thought was to make sure they have as much automation as makes sense and then to have a manager and a maintenance person that could cover all those locations (maybe 2-3). Is this a practice that is used and do you recommend it?”

This is such an awesome question because when you’re asking this… it means PROGRESS. Which is one of our guiding tenants here at Self Storage Income. We have IMPACT, FREEDOM, and PROGRESS. You might hear us reference this every now and then and these principles are what we live by.

So you’re looking to progress your storage facility and your operations to the next level. This takes a few things… and we’re going to dive in depth into all of it.

We’re going to talk about the things you need to be thinking about, what you need to be planning for, the good, the bad, and everything we could think of to help set you up for success. We even created a template for you guys to download on the Self Storage Income website that walks you through the hiring process step by step. Because let’s face it… hiring isn’t easy.

Enjoy the episode, and be sure to keep in touch with us! We loved diving into this question and look forward to answering yours if we can!

Thanks everybody!

Be sure to keep up with us on our website:

Self Storage Income - https://selfstorageincome.com/

The Self Storage Income Manager Podcast is sponsored by:

Tenant Inc. - https://www.tenantinc.com/

Welcome back everybody to the Self Storage Income Manager Podcast!

Tenant interactions are what drives a good self storage business. Obviously, we want to ensure that tenants have the absolute best experiences possible. Unfortunately, some tenants don’t get what they expect out of their storage experience.

Are they just expecting too much? Well… sometimes, but that’s often not the case. There’s one simple thing we need to ensure that we convey to our tenants. That is - setting their storage expectations.

This means sharing the ins and outs of the facility, their leasing contract for their unit or units, providing them with helpful insight into the dangers of heat, water, fire, etc, and providing solutions for them to help mitigate those risks. This means learning more about what our tenants are storing and directing them to the best storage solution for their needs. This means doing our absolute best to help our tenants have a great storage experience.

Think about it - you’re a tenant - if a storage professional at a storage facility didn’t share with you that there was a huge construction project going on on the other side of the facility, and that there would be tons of extra dust in the air, and maybe even pests trying to make their way into the facility from the new construction site… THEN after a few months of renting you find out that your new couches are covered in dust and might just have a family of mice making themselves at home in your unit as well. You’d be pretty bummed out.

The storage facility obviously isn’t responsible for tenant belongings in units, however, had the storage professional in this case simply told us what was going on, we could have purchased plastic to cover the couch and we could have placed everything else in rodent resistant containers instead of boxes.

This is just a simple example of why it’s so important to set the expectations for our tenants from day one.

We dive into multiple scenarios on today’s podcast and share tons of insights into how to successfully set the expectations for your tenants.

Thanks for listening everybody and we’ll see you next time!

Self Storage Income - https://selfstorageincome.com/

Tenant Inc. - https://www.tenantinc.com/

Welcome back everybody to the SSI Manager Podcast!

We’re super excited to get today’s episode out to you because we’re actually going to take talking points directly from AJ Osborne’s best selling book “Growing Wealth in Self Storage”.

If you haven’t already, go to the show notes and follow the link to the Self Storage Income website and pick up a copy. AJ spent a ton of time and effort putting this book together and it is easily the best book on self storage that you can find.

It doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re at as a storage facility manager, we always wonder… “what could I do better?”, or “How could I bring more value to tenants?”, or even, “How can I increase revenue and the value of my storage facility?”

Well today as we go through AJ’s book, we’re going to talk about key aspects of running a storage facility that you can optimize to increase the value of your storage facility. Increasing value doesn’t just mean more revenue, it means a better facility, with your ideal tenants. This is something we all want!

But how do we get there?

Tune in and hear what steps you can take today to help optimize your storage facility and increase the value of your storage facility at the same time.

Thanks for listening everybody and we’ll see you next time!

In the mean time, head over to Self Storage Income and check out all the great tools and resources we have for you there.

Self Storage Income - https://selfstorageincome.com/

Tenant Inc. - https://www.tenantinc.com/

Welcome back to the Self Storage Income Managers Podcast!

We’re excited to be rolling this new podcast out for all you managers and owner/operators out there. Being able to further connect with you all through self storage and to share our experiences is going to be an incredible journey.

We have an episode today that we know all of you can relate to in one way or another. The topic today is de-escalation and setting yourself up for success to be able to effectively deal with difficult tenants and situations.

That said, we’re bringing in the big guns on this episode. We just so happen to have an expert on our team that has immeasurable experience in dealing with these situations - our very own Jennifer Miller Having worked in the storage industry for over 11 years, she’s seen and dealt with almost every situation you could imagine in regard to running a storage facility. She now works in at the upper management level and oversees 13 facilities across the US.

Get ready to take note as Jennifer shares her years of experience with us in tenant management and conflict management. We talk strategies and ideas that will help you work through these situations and that will help you also prepare for and mitigate conflict in the future. In addition, we also talk about value, running our facilities like businesses, and the importance of every storage facility to have solid operating procedures and systems in place to help you succeed.

Thanks for tuning everybody! We’ll see you next time!

Conner & Caley

Interested in purchasing and investing in your own storage facility or adding another to your portfolio? Then be sure to pick up a copy of AJ Osborne’s best selling book, “The Investors to Growing Wealth in Self Storage” at the link below:

The Investors to Growing Wealth in Self Storage - https://selfstorageincome.com/book/

Also be sure to keep up with everything we’re doing on the Self Storage Income website:

https://selfstorageincome.com/

Special thanks to our sponsors:

Tenant Inc: https://www.tenantinc.com/

Storelocal: https://www.selfstorage.coop/aws/SL/pt/sp/home_page

Welcome everybody to the very first ever Self Storage Income Manager Podcast. Conner and Caley will be your hosts of the podcast. We also have the one and only AJ Osborne joining us in this very special first ever episode. It was important to us that AJ be on this first episode to help share with you all our vision and inspiration for this podcast.

Seeing the incredible response of and building out the wildly successful Self Storage Income Podcast, we knew there was more value to be deployed to you, our listeners.

Like Self Storage Income, this podcast will be heavily focused on self storage. This podcast however will differ greatly in that we’re going to get much more nitty gritty on the details of running and managing storage facilities.

Whether it be managing tenants, performing auctions, administrative tasks, changes to laws, HR and hiring and managing employees, processing payments, etc. there is a lot that goes into running a storage facility and running it well. That said, we’re here to help you do just that - run your facility not only well, but as best as you possibly can. We’re here to help provide insights and strategies that will help you take your facility or facilities to the next level and perform at your absolute best.

We also share in this episode Conner and Caley’s backgrounds in the storage industry and what they specialize in currently. From running facilities on the ground to managing facilities all across the United States, Conner and Caley bring a wealth of knowledge to the industry and to this podcast. We here at Self Storage Income couldn’t be more excited to bring this to you all.

Thanks so much for tuning in and keep your eyes open for all the great content we have coming your way.

Thanks everybody!

Be sure to keep up with us on the Self Storage Income website:

https://selfstorageincome.com/

Tenant Inc. - https://www.tenantinc.com/