Do you have a business plan? If not, how will you know your successful

You know that you want to invest in self-storage because it is a stable, fantastic opportunity. You are excited and you want to begin as soon as possible. One of the best places to start a self-storage business is with a business plan. A business plan is the map that gets you from where you are today to where you ultimately want to be. It will allow you to adjust for detours and mistakes without getting so far off the path that you can’t be successful.

Start by identifying what needs to be in your business plan. This is the business plan for you and your self-storage business, not for an individual property. You will make those too as you find them. This document needs to be precise, and it needs to cover everything that you might run into along the way. When you hit a road bump, your business plan will keep you on track.

Your business plan will take a while to create. This is something that you need to really think about. Start by envisioning your company in 1 year. Where do you want to be? Now you are 5 years down the road, what does it look like? 10 years? When you create your business plan you want to start with a mission statement. If you don’t have a mission statement, then how will you know if someone is right for your culture?

The next thing that you need to do is create a vision statement. How many self-storage properties do you plan to purchase and when do you want to purchase them by? If you just say that you want to make money in self-storage, someone can hand you a penny and you are done. You want to be more exact. Do you see your goals changing over time. Write down where you want to be in 1 year, 5 years and 10 years. Write your vision board as if it has already happened. Then you can take those goals and break them down into daily tasks.

For example, if you want to buy 5 properties by the end of 1 year, then you need to decide how you are going to make that happen. Where are you going to look? Have you researched that market to make sure that you want to invest in that location? Who is your competition and what kind of occupancy rates do they have? Is that market oversaturated or undersaturated?

Now that you know how many properties you want and where you are going to invest, you need to write down how you are going to pay for each property. Interest rates are a little high right now. Are you going to try to finance them anyway or are you going to find partners? By using other people’s money, you are more likely to get your cash offer accepted.

If you are going to be bringing in partners, who owns the company and who owns the properties? Are they going to be silent partners or are they going to be actively involved in running the company. Will you all have the same percentage of ownership, or will you each have a different amount based on your initial contribution and the amount of knowledge and experience and effort that you bring to the table.

If you have silent partners, how are they going to be repaid for their investment in your business? What return are you offering them? Is there a minimum length of time that they have to invest their money? Can you keep it longer under certain circumstances? You probably want at least a 3 year investment in your business. Self-storage is not quick like wholesaling. Instead, it is more like a crockpot. It takes a minute for your business to develop.

Now that you have money and know where you want to invest, how are you going to find those properties? What marketing are you going to do? Who are you going to network with? Where are you going to advertise? You need to know these things before you start so that you don’t waste time.

What is your investment strategy going to be? Are you going to start by getting finders fees. Meaning are you just going to find properties for other people? Are you going to invest in a property, turn it around and make it profitable, and then sell it for a profit? Are you going to buy and hold properties? Are you going to do a little of each. You will find properties that fit into all of these categories and so you want to be prepared for how you are going to handle each one.

Finally, how are you going to run each property? Are you going to run the property yourself or are you going to hire someone to do it for you? If you are going to hire people, what is your standard operating procedure for each property? How will you train them? What do expect them to do and how will you measure if they are meeting those expectations?

Start thinking about your investing as a business. If you already have a business plan, when was the last time that you reviewed it? When you are traveling, you check your map often to make sure that you are on course. If you haven’t made your business plan yet, start thinking about what you want for your business and your goals and your dreams. As always, happy investing.