Why is it important to be flexible when setting your self-storage goal

You want to be a successful self-storage investor. We want you to be!!! We want to help any way that we can! One thing that we know will help you is to make goals. Specifically, SMART goals. However, as you make your goals, there are going to be things that you need to adjust and tweak along the way. Nothing goes exactly as planned. As a result, you need to have a plan that can adjust with your learning curve, your growing pains, your unique situation.

First, let’s talk about SMART goals. You have probably heard of SMART goals before. When you make a goal, you need to make sure that you can actually reach your goal. One way to do that is to set SMART goals. This is an anacronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

You can say that you are going to buy a self-storage property but if you don’t put a time limit on it, that gives you 60 years to do it. There is no rush. However, if you say that you are going to buy a self-storage property in the next 6 months, you have a little more pressure to get started today. This is a specific goal that is achievable and relevant to your self-storage career. It is easily measurable.

However, you may discover that in order to close on your self-storage property you need an SBA loan. You may find that in your area, it is taking 4 months to close on a loan, and you are thinking of building new construction. Your builder is going to take 6 months to get everything through the city. You also need 2 months to do all of your due diligence. Now you are looking at a new timeline.

You may have gotten your property under contract in the first two months of looking at properties and making offers, but due to circumstances beyond your control, you can’t close within that six month time frame. This would still be a win. You found property; you got it under contract, and you started the ball rolling in every way that matters. This would be a great time to pivot and adjust your closing time frame.

Another situation that you may find is that you set a goal to buy 5 properties over the next 2 years. Instead, you are doing so well that you have a bunch of investors that want to work with you. Because of this, you have enough money to buy 10 or 15 properties instead of 5. However, this creates growing pains. You need a bigger team. You need more people to help you manage your properties. You need more people to help you find enough properties.

You may need to temporarily pause looking for properties to take a moment to build your support system so that you can grow exponentially. I am not saying to stop looking for properties, I am saying that you need to train people to help you find properties so that they can look for properties while you focus your time on doing the things that only you can do, finding more investors.

By allowing yourself to adjust your goals, you are going to allow yourself to be more successful. You should plan on reviewing your goals on a monthly basis. You should set short term goals that should be accomplished daily, weekly, and monthly. You should also set long term goals. Each of these goals needs to be reviewed regularly and tweaked as you grow, and your situation evolves. Don’t get stuck! Allow yourself to be flexible. Find ways to adjust to your situation so that you can be a successful self-storage investor. As always, happy investing.