Day 15: Self Storage Investing Foundations: Everything You Need to Know Before Buying (Live Q&A)

All right. Well, welcome to day 15 and our second live of the Storage 100. I am Joe Downs with the Storage Mastermind. And as promised, each live is going to recap the last 2 weeks. Tonight, it's just going to be me. Don't be disappointed. I'm going to be— and only because we're recapping the foundation and the why self-storage. But in the future lives, in fact, every single one, I have a special guest lined up from the field of expertise of each of the sections of the business that we just covered. So yeah, so again, this is where we're going to lock in the first 2 weeks of the knowledge in this recap and make sure you're ready to move forward. We've covered the foundation and the undeniable why self-storage over the last 2 weeks. And tonight it's just about review, consolidation of the information, and hopefully crush any remaining doubts that you have. But we're not just reviewing, we're going to, we're building that mental framework that makes you an investor, not just a student. So, so far we've covered over the last 14 days in, I would say, intense, somewhat intense foundational knowledge and Now we're gonna crystallize it. We'll hit a lightning review of the first 2 weeks. Basically, it's what it's gonna be. And then drill down on the 5 most critical takeaways that I think you should take away from the first 2 weeks. And then finally, we'll make sure that you're absolutely ready to dominate the next section, which is slightly longer than 2 weeks, which is fine 'cause it's through the holidays. So let's jump right into the last, or the first, sorry, the first 7 days. First 7 days of the last 2 weeks is I guess what I'm trying to say, where we laid the groundwork for everything. So first 7 days were all about building the unshakable foundation, if you will, for your investment thesis here. We established that self-storage is a $50 billion market. It's a recession-resistant market and highly scalable. Key insight I think here is the comparison to apartments. I don't like beating up apartments too much. I like investing in apartments, but I just don't like operating. So this is a self-storage series, so we're going to beat up apartments a little bit. We're going to compare and contrast them, but sorry, apartments. Storage wins on simplicity, on margins, and lack of tenant drama. We've also proved that you don't need millions to start. I mean, $50K, $100K, you can get in $50K. I feel more comfortable saying $100K entry point. Using SBA financing makes this accessible right now. That was the foundation. Then now let's look at the next 7 days where we prove why this model works. So through days 8 through 14 was all about the mechanics and the metrics that make self-storage a predictable machine. We showed you the path to investing without any prior experience by focusing on 3 numbers that matter the most. Occupancy, rev path, PAF, which was revenue per available foot, and NOI. And this is a big one. Self-storage, if you recall over the last 2 weeks, showed you has a proven track record surviving every downturn since 1970 because it's countercyclical. It will ebb and flow, Like, but it just survives the major downturns where no one, almost no other asset class does. It's kind of a no-brainer for that reason alone. We also clarify the difference between true passive income and active ownership and giving you the choice to control your upside. All right, so now that we've reviewed the last 2 weeks, let's distill it down to the, what I think are the 5 Non-negotiable takeaways you must internalize. And if you weren't sure, here's what we consider the 5 most critical insights from the entire first section. If you only remember these 5 things, make it these. First, the market opportunity is massive and the operational simplicity of storage beats apartments every single time. Second, stop thinking you need to be rich to start. The SBA is a gift. It's the financing path. It's the blueprint for low capital entry. Third, if you master the 3 economic— 3 metrics, excuse me— occupancy, RevPath, and NOI, you've mastered most of the operations. These are the levers you need to pull to create value, right? You've got the— you've mastered at least the value portion of the equation. And fourth, understand the recession-resistant nature of this asset class. It's a safe harbor in economic storms. You have to remember that. That's why when, if anyone ever challenges you, that's why, because it always does well. I'm always— well, it does well and it does very well relatively in any economic storm. By the way, it does well in great times too. And then finally, Choose your path. Are you going to go active ownership for control? Are you more of a syndicator, syndicatee, I guess, investor, passive investor for true hands-off investing? Is there a hybrid in between? But you have to decide for yourself. All right. Now that we've locked down that foundation, let's get tactical. So section 2 is where we're going from here. And that's where I'm going to cover the why and the how. Specifically how you find and frame a deal, analyze a deal. We're going to spend 2 weeks on sourcing deals and market research because if you get this wrong, nothing else matters. I say that all the time. If you don't choose the right market, if you aren't critical, a critical thinker about the market that you're choosing and you know why you're choosing it and you've analyzed all the metrics that matter. If you don't do that, it almost doesn't matter what you're buying, because if it ends up being a bad market, it doesn't matter how good your manager is, they're not going to survive a bad market. You can have a bad manager in a good market and do just fine. Markets matter. All right, so, um, to that end, we're going to show you how to find your first market in 30 minutes using tools you already have access to. I'm going to break down feasibility studies. I'm going to introduce it to you if you don't know what I'm referring to, but I'm going to break down the study for you so you can read the data like an analyst. I know it doesn't sound great. Let me say it differently. Read the data like, read what matters in the data. So you're not just reading it like a beginner. You don't even know what you're looking at, right? I'm going to, we're going to teach you how to read it. What, what the important things to look for. All right, and then we're going to cover the secret to getting brokers to bring you the best, um, best off-market deals before anyone else even knows they exist. So this is a section that's going to turn knowledge into actual deal flow if you start to apply what I'm going to be covering in that section. All right, so you got the knowledge, but knowledge without action is just one expensive entertainment. I guess they call it infotainment, right? Your first action step is simple. Go back through your notes from the last 2 weeks and identify the 3 things you think you need to study a little deeper. Don't just move on. Lock down that foundation. Watch those videos again. Start formulating questions. Next, start thinking about your target market. Where do you want to invest? The biggest mistake a lot of people make is waiting until they're ready to pick a location. I wouldn't do that. Start. You can exercise these new muscles by looking for a location. You don't need to be ready. That's how you're going to learn the business by understanding why this market is different than that market and bring those questions along the way. And finally, if you got value, you know, hit the like button. It tells the algorithm that the content that I'm sharing is also worth it. It's worth you watching. It's worth sharing. I'm not done yet, but I am going to remind you to subscribe so you don't miss tomorrow's session and share this with that friend who keeps talking about investing but never pulls the trigger. You know how they are because you're going to be helping give them the blueprint they finally need to start. And frankly, When this series is done, it's gonna be one heck of a blueprint. All right. Well, folks, believe it or not, that actually wraps up section 1, the foundation. I hope you enjoyed the journey so far. Only 81 days left to go. Wow. Not to worry. We've got this. I promise to deliver them to you. So we are in this together and Look at where you are already, right? And have accomplished already. And you did it one day at a time. And that's why we're doing it this way. So it's not so much to consume all at once. It's one day at a time. They're short videos. If I know personally myself, when I get ahold of an audiobook or a video or something that really has just full of a lot of information, I watch it twice, sometimes 3 times, or listen to it sometimes 2 or 3 times, usually twice if it's that good, because it's hard to get everything the first time. And sometimes even if the information's new, you're not really understanding some of the jargon or the lingo. I try to keep, you know, at least explain the industry lingo as we go here. But in either case, that's why one day at a time, it just makes so much more sense. And look, you now know why self-storage is the most powerful asset class you can invest in. Right now. And if you have watched religiously from day one to now, then you showed up, you put in the work, and you've had to have absorbed a lot of the core principles by now, and you did it one day at a time. So tomorrow again, we're going to kick off section 2 and we're going to get into the mechanics of money. It's kind of important. And also going to break down exactly how self-storage makes money. And I'll bet you it's probably not what you think. I mean, a lot of it's probably what you think, but there's a lot more ways that you can make money and sell stores that you might not have realized. And look, I know you might already have questions, and I was really hoping to be able to answer them tonight. But while we fix the tech issues that we had from the last live, which We're not gonna— hopefully this is much better. We were unable to get the chat working tonight. That's complicated. It's a different service we have to move to, but we will be ready for next time. We've already— we're good to go. It's always something with technology, but we've got it down. And it's a good thing we know a lot more about storage than technology, but we are getting it. I I pledge to have it all working perfectly for our next live in a few weeks after the new year, after the holidays. And hopefully by then you'll have watched a lot of videos and have a lot of questions ready to go. And frankly, I would've loved to have answered tonight's questions for you, but you're really going to have more questions next week and nothing, or next live, I should say. And there's nothing that I won't be able to answer then. And frankly, a lot of what the questions will have for the next live will probably answer whatever questions you have tonight. So, all right, so please like this if you're finding this valuable. Plus, it also lets your network know you're keeping tabs on self-storage, which I said to you earlier, and I will be going into more depth later in this series. I told you it's very important actually. It can be very beneficial to you. So again, subscribe so you don't miss future videos. Again, start tomorrow. And of course the lives. And I will have special industry guests on all of the future lives who are very specific guests to that section of what we're talking about. So for underrating, I've had acquisitions on. Um, for financing, I'm gonna have a special guest from an SBA lender. Um, management transition, I've got, uh, folks from that industry. So we've got it all, um, and it's gonna be really cool. But watch the videos in between if you didn't so far and you're just catching up. Okay, I'm gonna— I let it slide. This was really just the, the warm-up. Right? So you could get a feel for self-storage if it was new for you or new to you. But every section from here is, it's not so much an overview as we're actually getting down and dirty into what we actually do in this business in each section. So you are, if you want to, if you're thinking, I'll just subscribe to the lives and make it all up, you're not going to have any good questions to be asking My live guest and myself at the live. So watch the videos in between so you can prepare yourself. It's the homework to prepare yourself for the live in each section. Folks, this has never been done before. This is, um, there's probably a lot of gurus out there that are not, not happy with me at all right now. Uh, but it's information and you can get it anywhere. And with AI, you can get it anywhere. And, uh, you might as well get it here. And like I said from the get-go, I'm, I'm starting a, a online storage mastermind community, thestoragemastermind.com. Join us there. There's multiple levels of engagement for you, tons of information, and we're kicking it off in the new year. So you're in the, in the early goings now. You'll be one of the first members. Again, it starts at a free membership. We're just trying to get a group of people together that want to continue to grow with us in this business because so much happens when we can do things together. That's what we experience in our, in our, in our other mastermind where we meet live and in person, and you'll have those opportunities as well. So again, like if you find it valuable, subscribe so you don't miss any future drops and Definitely the lives. Let's say it one more time. Watch the videos between the lives so that you're ready to ask questions live of the guest and the industry, um, vet in that specific space. And remember this, sharing's for you. It will help you raise capital later when you will need it, because when you're sharing and you're liking and sharing, That's letting everybody know that you are in self-storage and you just, if you just do it consistently, people will think you've been in self-storage your whole life in 6 months. I promise you. So, plus you'll likely inadvertently help someone learn something they needed to know about self-storage and they will thank you later. Good night.