4 Items Every Successful Business Plan Needs!!!

You know that you want to invest in self-storage, so you jumped in and started looking at properties. You may have even started making offers or running numbers. However, if you don’t have a business plan, you don’t have a road map to guide you on your journey to being successful. You need to sit down, and plan out where you are today, where you want to be in 5 years and how you’re going to get there. This way, when the market changes or things get tough, you can go back to your business plan for guidance.

Start with your vision statement. Why are you doing this? Why are you taking time out of your life to invest in self-storage? Are you doing this to create a legacy? Are you doing this to create a lifestyle for yourself? Are you doing this so that you can get into a position to help others? Your why is going to get you through the tough times. It is going to remind you why you have been working up to 20 hours a day for some weeks. Make sure that your vision statement is strong. For example, if you are brand new to self-storage you might say, “In 5 years, I am going to own 30 self-storage properties so that I can quit my job and start focusing more time doing the things I want to do.”

Now that you have formulated what you want to say, turn it into present tense. “I own 30 self-storage properties and I am living the life I have always wanted to. I have the freedom to focus my time on the things that matter most.” It is very empowering to say it this way. It keeps you going and helps you to fight when things get tough.

Number 2, you need to break down your vision into goals. Where do I want to be in 1 year? Where do I want to be in 5 years, 10 years? Now you are going to break those goals into daily activities. If you want to own 5 properties by the end of your first year, how are you going to do that?

First, how are you going to pay for those properties. It is time to start networking and bringing in partners. In addition, you need to start talking to lenders about the different kinds of loans that are available. Find out if an SBA loan is the right loan for you. For the first month you may be talking to different lenders every day until you find the right fit. You will definitely be networking with potential partners every day for the rest of your investing career.

You need to break down how you are going to find your properties. How are you going to market? How will you utilize your power team? Who can you network with? What mailing campaigns are you going to put in place? Your marketing is the fuel that runs your business. If you are not marketing, you are not in business.

Number 3. You need to set up your company. You need to structure your company before you start bringing in partners. How are you going to reimburse them? Are they going to have ownership in your investing company or just in the properties that they invest in? What percentage of ownership will they get in each property? You always need to make sure that you maintain control so that you are in charge.

If you are going to be in charge, then you need to bring knowledge and value to the table. What have you done to educate yourself? How have you created and honed your skills so that they will want to invest with you? You need to bring something to the partnership too. There are plenty of ways to do this. Make sure that you have good solid training and mentors to help you.

As you set up the business, how long do your investors have to invest? This is not a microwave business where we flip properties in 3 months or less. This is a crock-pot business that takes time. The payouts are worth it, but your investors need to know that they are looking at 3 to 5 year investments. Do they get a bonus if they reinvest with you? If you don’t know what you are offering to your investors, how are you going to pitch to them to work with you?

Number 4. Management. Your manager is the key to your success. If you don’t have self-storage management experience, reach out to a mentor. Your mentor can help you understand the nuances of self-storage management.

You need to know what software you need. You need to know how to run that software and how to pull those reports. You need to determine who is going to run the property, you or are you hiring help? It will be pretty hard to manage 30 facilities alone and still be able to keep buying more. Eventually you are going to have to hire help. When you do, you need a standard operating procedure on how you hire. You need standard operating procedures on how they manage your properties. You need to train them so that they run the properties exactly the way that you would if you were running them. If they don’t know what your expectations are, how can they meet them. Take the time up front to create your manuals.

You can be successful in self-storage. You can weather the ups and downs of your career. There will be changes in every market over time. Your job is to make sure that you stay focused on your goals and how you are going to achieve them. When you travel in an unknown area, you use your GPS. Make sure that your business plan is detailed enough to help you the same way that a map would. As always, happy investing,