Self Storage Income

Welcome back everybody to the Self Storage Income podcast! This your Co-host Conner Skeen.   Today we’re going to dive into AJ’s step by step guide on how to get started in self storage investing. That guide is actually AJ’s best selling book “The Investors Guide to Growing Wealth in Self Storage”.   We know that there are a lot of you out there who are just starting their self storage investment journey. We couldn’t be more excited for you and we’re happy to be here to help. Getting off on the right foot is critical for any investor and we want to be sure to help give you the knowledge and the tools to be able to find and execute great storage deals.   AJ’s book is a wealth of knowledge for anyone wanting to invest in self storage. It walks anyone through from start to finish - the self storage industry, how to find deals, how to finance deals, how to analyze markets, operations, and more. Here’s the table of contents to give you an idea of the value this book holds: Chapter 1: How I Found Self Storage and How It Saved Me Chapter 2: Overview of the Self Storage INdustry and Why It’s a Great Investment Opportunity Chapter 3: How to Get Started in Self Storage Chapter 4: The Art of Valuation and Finding Deals Chapter 5: Financing Your Self Storage Facility Chapter 6: How to Evaluate the Competition and the Deal Chapter 7: Self Storage Operations: Turning Around a Self Storage Facility Chapter 8: How to Reduce Risk Chapter 9: Static Real Estate Asset to Dynamic Self Storage Business Terms and Concepts of the Trade Resources Not only does this book go over in hyper detail every one of these aspects, the information provided is actionable. Something you don’t get with so many books and resources out there.   Listen in, get ready to take notes, and if you haven’t already, be sure to pick up a copy of AJ’s book at the link below. Thanks everybody, Conner Skeen Be sure to go to Selfstorageincome.com to get your copy of my Self Storage Playbook. This step by step playbook walks you through from start to finish - how to identify a self storage market, how to perform due diligence, how to contact a current owner, and ultimately how to land a deal and purchase a storage facility. You can also find the Self Storage Income Podcast on: iTunes Spotify Stitcher The Self Storage Income Podcast is Sponsored by: Janus International - https://www.janusintl.com/ Store Local - https://www.selfstorage.coop/aws/SL/pt/sp/home_page Live Oak Bank - liveoakbank.com/incomepodcast

Welcome back everybody to the Self Storage Income podcast (or the AJ Osborne podcast – whichever one you’re listening to right now). I’m your host AJ Osborne and this episode was so great, we wanted to be sure to release it on BOTH of our podcasts – Self Storage Income and the AJ Osborne podcast (formerly Cashflow 2 Freedom). Are you a current real estate investor? Looking to become a real estate investor? Then today’s episode is definitely for you. Whether it’s storage, multi-family, single family, homes, manufactured homes, or pretty much any other real estate asset, the strategy and concept we’re going to cover today can apply to you all. That said, I’m extra excited about today’s episode because we get to dive into this subject that could save you thousands and even millions of dollars in taxes. The subject? Cost segregation. Not only do we get to learn about this amazing tax strategy and tool, we get to learn about if from the expert himself - Yonah Weiss. Yonah shares with us his story of how he went from being a teacher, to commercial real estate, to making taxes interesting by becoming a cost segregation expert. Yes… we used the words “taxes” and “interesting” in the same sentence… don’t worry! You’ll totally understand after listening to this episode. Saving thousands or millions of dollars in taxes is certainly an exciting idea. You might even be wondering at this point - what even is cost segregation? Don’t worry you’re not alone. As a teacher, Yonah discovered that a large number of real estate investors needed to be educated about cost segregation and the power it can hold. Yonah goes into what exactly cost segregation is, when you can use it, how to use it, and the amazing benefits it has to offer real estate investors. This is absolutely one of those episodes you’ll want to take notes on. It’s also a subject that you’ll want to learn more about. That said, talk to Yonah himself by reaching out to him at: https://www.yonahweiss.com/ and… https://madisonspecs.com/ Thanks for listening as always everybody and we’ll see you next time! AJ

Welcome back everybody to the Self Storage Income podcast, I’m your host AJ Osborne. Today’s episode is going to be a slight change of pace. We go in depth on almost every single episode on tactical and strategic steps that will either get you started investing in self storage, or that will help you take your storage portfolio to the next level. This is all great and fantastic for you guys to see and implement in your storage investing journeys, however, there’s a lot more that goes into building a storage investment business. Did you catch that? “Building a storage investment business.” Building a business and taking the steps to truly move the needle is exactly what we're going to dive into on today’s episode. For whatever reason, you most often see business and investing segmented and separated. Why is this? I have NO idea!? Building business and investing should be treated and looked at as one in the same. If you’re building a business, you’re investing. If you’re investing, you’re building business. Simple as that. Rarely though do you see investors talking about building a fully functioning, systematized, scalable business around their investment strategy (or investment vehicle I like to call them). This is a major problem and one I want to dive into today. As a storage investor, you need to prepare to build a storage investment business that is going to allow you to move the needle and to accomplish what other investors can’t. We’re going to dive into these entrepreneurial “break-away activities” that will help you get started on this journey to truly building a self storage investment empire. Thanks for listening everybody, AJ Be sure to go to Selfstorageincome.com to get your copy of my Self Storage Playbook. This step by step playbook walks you through from start to finish - how to identify a self storage market, how to perform due diligence, how to contact a current owner, and ultimately how to land a deal and purchase a storage facility. You can also find the Self Storage Income Podcast on: iTunes Spotify Stitcher The Self Storage Income Podcast is Sponsored by: Janus International - https://www.janusintl.com/ Store Local - https://www.selfstorage.coop/aws/SL/pt/sp/home_page Live Oak Bank - liveoakbank.com/incomepodcast

Welcome back everybody to the Self Storage Income podcast, I’m your host AJ Osborne. There’s a lot that goes into analyzing a storage facility and the market that that facility is located in. As you know from our other episodes, the due diligence process is lengthy, in depth, and is a complete undertaking. But that process is necessary to help you invest in only the best storage deals. Just one question though - is there a way to make this process more efficient? The answer is yes, and that is exactly what we’re going to dive into today on this episode of Self Storage Income. Today I’m going to introduce you all to my due diligence Probability Funnel. This a personalized process that me and team have used to help identify and secure the best storage deals. Not only that, the probability funnel measures key indicators of a storage facility and the storage market in a way that helps streamline and make the due diligence process go that much quicker. We’re going to dive into what exactly this probability funnel is, what metrics are being weighed and measured, and ultimately how to identify a great storage deal in a great storage market. At the end of the day, smart investing means eliminating the unknowns. Eliminating unknowns significantly reduces risk. And this probability funnel process helps you do exactly that. Thanks for tuning in everybody! AJ

Welcome back everybody to the Self Storage Income Podcast! This is your host AJ Osborne. We have another incredible guest episode for you today and you just might recognize the name. Zach Quick was one of our first guests on Self Storage Income and his episode has been one of the most downloaded episodes of the podcast for quite some time. That said, we wanted to bring him back on for you all for a follow up episode. Today Zach shares with us where he’s at, how far he’s come and what his next steps are to continue growing his self storage investment portfolio. As Zach has come to find, there is a lot that goes into scaling your investing across multiple facilities. Zach shares what he’s been doing to help scale and what systems he’s focusing on right now to further build upon his storage investing foundations. We talk about optimizing operations, systems building, and making that transition from owner/operator to simply owner while you have your systems do the operating for you. We also dive into how Zach continues to drive leads by speaking with other storage owners and what he’s done to build out his very own deal pipeline that you can build out too. Zach is an incredible example of someone who made the leap into self storage investing and has absolutely started dominating. Learn what’s he’s doing, how he’s doing it, and how you can apply what Zach has done to your own self storage investing journey. Thanks for listening everybody! AJ Keep up with Zach on the platforms below: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zach-quick-720862a1 Bigger Pockets: https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/ZQ4444 Be sure to go to Selfstorageincome.com to get your copy of my Self Storage Playbook. This step by step playbook walks you through from start to finish - how to identify a self storage market, how to perform due diligence, how to contact a current owner, and ultimately how to land a deal and purchase a storage facility. You can also find the Self Storage Income Podcast on: iTunes Spotify Stitcher The Self Storage Income Podcast is Sponsored by: Janus International - https://www.janusintl.com/ Store Local - https://www.selfstorage.coop/aws/SL/pt/sp/home_page Live Oak Bank - liveoakbank.com/incomepodcast

Welcome back everybody to the Self Storage Income Podcast, this your host AJ Osborne! I’m especially excited for today’s episode and here’s why - we talk a lot about storage investing, storage deals, how to find them, how to analyze them, and so forth. Today we’re going to do something similar, but we’re going to walk through the step by step process of my very own deals when I first started investing in self storage. Ultimately, I want to show you how we went from owning ZERO storage to reaching $4 Million in just a few short years using the value add approach. When I first started in storage, there were zero resources when it came to self storage or how to invest in it. My approach in the beginning was simple - find a storage facility that cash flowed, purchase it, watch the appreciation grow along with our equity over time, w collect the cash flow, do this with a number of small facilities…. and retire. We learned a couple things - this approach didn’t really work or produce the outcome we thought it would, and there was much more potential in the self storage industry to be realized. In the episode, we go through this process of how I started, the facilities that we bought, how we found them, what we learned, and ultimately how we went from nothing to growing our wealth substantially in a relatively short amount of time with an investment that we had total control over. We talk 1031 exchanges, storage facilities and leverage, the importance of knowing what the market wants and then providing it, and understanding the real power of money, compounding, and leverage over time. Listen in, take notes, and enjoy listening in as I share our experience of fumbling our way through the self storage industry to ultimately end up where we are today. Thanks for listening everybody, AJ Be sure to go to Selfstorageincome.com to get your free copy of my Self Storage Playbook. This step by step playbook walks you through from start to finish - how to identify a self storage market, how to perform due diligence, how contact a current owner, and ultimately how to land a storage facility deal. You can also find the Self Storage Income Podcast on: iTunes Spotify Stitcher The Self Storage Income Podcast is Sponsored by: Store Local - https://www.selfstorage.coop/aws/SL/pt/sp/home_page Live Oak Bank - liveoakbank.com/incomepodcast

What’s up everybody!? Welcome back to the Self Storage Income Podcast. This is your host, AJ Osborne. We’re going to take a bit of a different direction today and we’re going to talk about goals. If you’re listening to this podcast, chances are, you’ve set huge goals for yourself which is awesome. But are the goals you’ve outlined for yourself truly the root of what you want to accomplish? So many of us will set off on a path to what we believe is our ticket to success, only to find out later that what we thought we wanted… isn’t actually what we wanted at all. We’re going to dive into this topic today and discuss goal setting and how to identify your underlying, overarching, root of all things goals. We’re also going to talk about goal planning and how to map out our days, weeks, months, and years to help you hit those goals once you’ve identified them. At the heart of today’s episode is time and ensuring that we’re using our time and efforts as efficiently as possible to yield the highest returns. Spending years going down a path that ultimately won’t lead us where we want to go costs us immeasurable amounts of time, resources, and opportunity. We tie all of this to the self storage asset and talk about my journey into self storage when I first started, what I THOUGHT I was going to do, and what I actually ended up doing. I also share some insights on how I personally identified my goals and set up a road map to get there. I hope you guys enjoy today’s episode. Let us know what goals you have set for yourselves and how you aim to achieve them. Thanks everybody, AJ Be sure to go to Selfstorageincome.com to get your free copy of my Self Storage Playbook. This step by step playbook walks you through from start to finish - how to identify a self storage market, how to perform due diligence, how contact a current owner, and ultimately how to land a storage facility deal. You can also find the Self Storage Income Podcast on: iTunes Spotify Stitcher The Self Storage Income Podcast is Sponsored by: Janus International - https://www.janusintl.com/ Store Local - https://www.selfstorage.coop/aws/SL/pt/sp/home_page Live Oak Bank - liveoakbank.com/incomepodcast

Welcome back everybody to the Self Storage Income podcast! This is your host AJ Osborne and I’m geared up and ready to dive into today’s topic with you all. As you all know, or as you might be learning, there are a lot of variables to consider when performing your due diligence on a potential storage facility whether that be an existing facility or a potential ground up build. Today though, we’re going to be talking mostly about ground up builds and a critical variable that you need to be paying attention to. Failing to account for the variables could lead to an investment disaster. So what is this critical variable? This key component we need to keep in mind and account for is square footage of storage in relation to the market. If you’re just getting into self storage investing, one of the metrics used to help measure supply and demand in the market is square feet of storage per capita (which is a fancy way of saying - how many square feet of storage is on the market in a specified area per person). You need to be able to identify whether there’s too much storage on the market, or too little. So how much is too much and how much is too little? Drum roll please for everyone’s favorite answer in the world…. it depends. All square footage is not created equal and there’s no unwavering, one size fits all solution or number that can immediately provide you with this answer. We also need to consider not only what’s currently on the market TODAY, but any additional square footage of storage in our 3 to 5 mile radius that has been approved to be built and is in the works. This can have a huge effect on the supply and demand in your chosen market. These are the topics today that we’re going to dissect and explain so that you can be better prepared to identify a good market when you find one, and help you leave the bad markets behind. As always, thanks for listening everybody! AJ Be sure to go to Selfstorageincome.com to get your free copy of my Self Storage Playbook. This step by step playbook walks you through from start to finish - how to identify a self storage market, how to perform due diligence, how contact a current owner, and ultimately how to land a storage facility deal. You can also find the Self Storage Income Podcast on: iTunes Spotify Stitcher The Self Storage Income Podcast is Sponsored by: Janus International - https://www.janusintl.com/ Store Local - https://www.selfstorage.coop/aws/SL/pt/sp/home_page Live Oak Bank - liveoakbank.com/incomepodcast

Welcome back everybody to the Self Storage Income Podcast! As you’re all familiar, this is your host AJ Osborne. I’m really excited to talk about today’s subject because it’s actually something we’re working on in my company Cedar Creek Wealth. It’s a work in progress and we’re building it out, but I wanted to touch on this today and share this journey with you a bit as I know so many of you guys want to, or are doing the same thing in your own businesses. The topic? Growth and progress. As we grow and progress in our companies and our lives, we always need new skills, new tools, and most importantly… new teams. I specifically want to talk about building out teams because this is really is your bread and butter. As I always say, success is not created on an island. You need a great team of people behind you that help guide, lead, and drive you closer to your end goals. The thing is though, we can’t just build any team. There are certain things we have to consider when building a team or even network of people we’re going to rely on. One of the most important things we have to consider is the direction each individual is going. What path are they on? Where do they want to end up? Building a great team isn’t easy, but it’s even more difficult (if not impossible) to build a great team when everyone is going in opposite directions. In other words - your team’s compasses have to align and be directing everyone to the same end goal. Yes, sure, the plan or the path may change and we have to adapt and change along with it. But the end goal, the mission, that never changes and you need to be sure to build the best possible team you can to get you there. Enjoy the episode everybody! If you’re out building your team, send me a message on instagram or reach me on my website and tell me how it’s going. What are you seeing? What are you struggling with? What have you done to overcome the hurdles you’ve faced? Thanks everybody, AJ Be sure to go to Selfstorageincome.com to get your free copy of my Self Storage Playbook. This step by step playbook walks you through from start to finish - how to identify a self storage market, how to perform due diligence, how contact a current owner, and ultimately how to land a storage facility deal. You can also find the Self Storage Income Podcast on: iTunes Spotify Stitcher The Self Storage Income Podcast is Sponsored by: Janus International - https://www.janusintl.com/ Store Local - https://www.selfstorage.coop/aws/SL/pt/sp/home_page Live Oak Bank - liveoakbank.com/incomepodcast

Welcome back everybody to the Self Storage Income Podcast! I’m your host AJ Osborne. Today’s episode comes straight from one of you guys - our listeners and couldn’t more excited to jump in on this today. We have talked in length about how to find storage deals, how to turn storage facilities around, how to extract and increase value, how to finance a storage investment, and all kinds of great topics that can help you get started investing in self storage. One thing we haven’t touched on much is the fact and very real need for employees to run your storage facilities. That was the question we were asked by one of you listeners recently - when do you hire? Who do you hire? Do you hire part time or full time employees? These are all great questions that we’re going to dive into here today. We clear up some industry misunderstandings such as the “completely automated facility” concept where individuals wrongfully assume you can completely automate a facility. To that point we define what “automantion” is in the storage industry and what you can currently automate and what you can’t. We also go into the importance of building out your policies and procedures, structured employee training, and some general rules about facility size and the type of employee you need to hire. We also talk about the frontline duties at a facility, what those look like, and also the back end duties and what those look like. There are ways to streamline, organize, and automate these front and back end duties that can have a massive impact on your facility operations. As always guys, thanks so much listening and we’ll see you next time, AJ Be sure to go to Selfstorageincome.com to get your free copy of my Self Storage Playbook. This step by step playbook walks you through from start to finish - how to identify a self storage market, how to perform due diligence, how contact a current owner, and ultimately how to land a storage facility deal. You can also find the Self Storage Income Podcast on: iTunes Spotify Stitcher The Self Storage Income Podcast is Sponsored by: Janus International - https://www.janusintl.com/ Store Local - https://www.selfstorage.coop/aws/SL/pt/sp/home_page Live Oak Bank - liveoakbank.com/incomepodcast