Press Release

By Marc Goodin -Times have changed. I understand the person who developed a self storage 10 years ago is happy with their fantastic six figure residual income and multi million-dollar nest egg might not be ready to be a part of a franchise (yet). We can all agree self storage is a great business. But the present question is “What is the best way for the new comer to build a successful self storage business today.”

Ten years ago it was so much simpler. You could buy and existing facility at a reasonable price or build your own. Now the prices for existing facilities have sky rocked and the reits continue to buy more so the prices are not coming down. Today many people do not have the million dollar plus equity to buy an existing facility. And developing from scratch will give them much larger financial rewards.

Ten years ago locations were easy to find land and construction costs were much cheaper. The regulatory process was easier. The competition was much less. The internet and marketing was not such a dominate force. I remember the tag line “Build it and they will come.” It is no longer this simple. It is still easy compared to most businesses, especially with the right help.

Now it takes a good understanding of the market to find the right piece of land. And it takes a good understanding of many processes to insure a successful facility. These processes include, locating land, designing the project, getting it approved, getting financing, construction, per opening marketing, operations and of course a detailed Sales & Marketing Systems & Platforms.

The good news is SBA financing is now readable available for new self storage development and often only requires 15% down vs. 30% bank financing. Fifteen percent cash equity is often in the $300k to $400K to get started. Typically, todays new self storage developer who has saved $400K is a busy professional who is not ready or in a position to give up their career. But if they want to make changes that will give them options and financial security there are very very very few options.  I believe Self Storage Franchising is the best choice for the busy professional. With a proven manager driven system they can build a six figure income and build a huge retirement nest egg to provide the options, live style, freedom and options they are looking for. 

Many believe self storage franchising is an idea has come. You can see what some professional think here. I build, own and manage three facilities with the first two opening around 10 years ago. I have helped many people in my 30 years as a professional engineer and self storage consultant. I noticed 2 things. I was helping many people over and over, the owners were always busy and did not have the time to learn how to make maximum profits. And in many cases they were leaving half the profits on the table. I even wrote two best selling self storage books to help them so I would not have to answerer so many of the same questions over and over. Like most I never considered the option of self storage franchising until Scott House, my co founder at Storage Authority introduce me to the power of franchising. In business for yourself by not by yourself” Scott is from the hotel world where franchising revolutionized the hotel business. Now practically all hotels are a franchise or part of a huge hotel chain. I quickly learned that in any industry the franchise business made more money than the non franchise because of the experience, tools, knowledge and platforms provided from day one by the franchise systems & platforms.

I could go on for pages detailing benefits of franchising and why Storage Authority Franchising is a such an opportunity for the busy professional. But I will let you do that research on your own. 

I believe franchising is going to help a ton of new people get started in the self storage business that otherwise would have never gotten into self storage. While it is just takin off today, in 5 years down the road I can see self storage franchising a norm because of todays self storage franchises early adopters being so successful. It is an idea whose time has come.

Marc Goodin is President of Storage Authority Franchising. As a professional civil engineer he has designed commercial developments and self storage facilities for over 30 years. His self storage expertise has been fine tuned by designing, building and managing 3 self storage facility he presently owns. Marc’s experience from the trenches and his expertise is apparent in his two best selling marketing and planning self storage books available at Amazon. Marc is uniquely positioned to provide simple, straightforward and effective guidance in achieving industry-leading service and profits in the self-storage Industry.