Purchasing, improving, and operating self storage facilities

[Ty Kauffman]

Hi everyone! My name is Ty and I am seeking to meet self storage owners and operators, as well as brokers and tax attorneys within the self storage industry, to learn as much as I can about purchasing, improving, and operating self storage facilities. 

A bit more about me— I'm from Massachusetts, my background is tech and management, and over the past year or so I've been itching to buy, improve, and operate a business. A couple weeks ago I stumbled upon a podcast with guest AJ Osborne. He inspired me. And the topic was fascinating. Since then, I've leaped down the self storage rabbit hole. 

This week I wrote a business plan, which covers my business goals, my first deal criteria (including a budget, targets, and a specification of a proposed creative financing model), my business development strategy (a deal sourcing/filtering plan and an owner relations development plan), my deal execution strategy (including an underwriting plan), my management operations strategy (including an improvements plan), and my team plan (what specialists I believe I need to hire or identify for future contracting).

I've now assembled a set of tools to identify and map hundreds of facilities within my area to help orient/hone my deal sourcing efforts and I created an initial opportunity analysis spreadsheet so I can quickly qualify deals. I have so much to learn— it's humbling. And all the above that I've done so far is rough and scrappy. But it's important to me that I make daily progress and meet others who are on the same journey.

Who else out there is on this same journey? What advice can you share with me and other newcomers like me who find this thread? Excited to meet all of you!