A guest installment by Tony Jones, Manager, Inside Self-Storage Store
Out of nowhere the other day, my daughter declared her dislike for the word potential. She flat out condemned it as some sort of insult. Teenagers tend to dislike all kinds of stuff, but this caught me a little off guard since the P word has frequently been lofted her way as a compliment to her talents as an elite synchronized swimmer.
She ranks in the upper echelon of U.S. synchro swimmers her age, but as good as she is, she has yet to make a U.S. national team, which is one of her goals. She is driven and works her tail off to get better, so in her mind, continually hearing potential as a measure of her ability has become an ugly label. She has re-categorized it from being a compliment to meaning not quite good enough.
I understand her frustration. At some point you want to hear how good you are and not how far you have to go. I tried to explain to her that reaching ones potential is a process of incremental improvement, and she should take satisfaction in the little details, not just the end result. To me, potential should be associated with opportunity, not negativity. It is a latent seed that requires cultivation and nurturing.
This philosophy holds true in business as well as athletics. Nearly every self-storage operation has potential, but how do you go about fulfilling it? Whether youre new to the business or a seasoned veteran, youre likely working on some part of your potential as a company or career. One of the best means to reinforce your strengths and reduce your weaknesses is through industry education.
Inside Self-Storage recently announced its first Owner/Operator Executive Digital Summit, a two-day online workshop that will be hosted live on Oct. 16 and 17 and available on demand thereafter. Day 1 addresses the administration and evaluation of your self-storage business, taking a deep-dive look at facility staffing and auditing. Day 2 covers the income-producing activities of revenue management and facility marketing.
As a video-based program, the summit has some convenient advantages that help alleviate some of the stresses associated with traveling to a workshop or seminar. Its budget-friendly and requires little time away from work. Attendees can watch the program live or view the content at their convenience after the live events have concluded. One of the advantages to viewing the video content in real time includes live Q&A interaction with our presenter, Bob Copper. Bob is owner and partner in charge of Self Storage 101, an industry consulting firm specializing in operational improvement, training, audits, feasibility and market studies, and due diligence.
Summit participants will also have access to a resource library featuring premium content from Bob. You'll have the ability to create your own profile, pose questions, start a dialogue, download resource material, and much more. We are extremely excited to bring this new educational experience to the industry.
The ISS Store also has enabled us to deliver quality education on demand, long after our signature event, the ISS World Expo, has concluded each spring. Content from the show is available in on-demand video, DVD and audio-package formats and enables operators to cultivate specific areas of their business that need the most attention.
We recently reorganized all three of these content areas, as well as the stores book section, to make them easier to navigate and search on specific subjects. Each section is now a standalone product category on the website and includes browsable subcategories, such as Discount Packages, Facility Operation, Investing/Building, Legal, Marketing, and Sales and Service.
Of course, ISS also offers a treasure trove of free resources to assist anyone in the industry who wants to nurture and better their business through research. One of the best ways to locate information on our primary website is to visit our Topics page. Organized from A to Z, the page allows users to click on any topic to bring up current and past articles related to that particular category.
If youd like to interact with colleagues while you conduct research or need to pose a question to a knowledgeable industry group, then I also highly recommend you stop by Self-Storage Talk, the industrys largest online community, to peruse more than 7,300 topic threads. Registration is free, and the knowledge gained could be invaluable.
Striving to reach your full potential is a never-ending journey. Reaching for perfection is admirable but essentially futile. But that doesnt have to make the process of cultivating potential a negative experience. Celebrate your achievements, and for every goal attained, replace it with a tangible new one. Thats how the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts.
Whats your self-storage business potential, and how are you trying to fulfill it?