It’s hard for me to come to terms with the fact that I’m old enough to have been doing anything for 30 years, but the calendar doesn’t lie. Next year I’ll be 60, and that will mark my 30th year in the self-storage industry.
I fell into it by chance. I took a job as a management trainee for a metal building company that had several divisions; they offered me the opportunity to spend six weeks or so in each division to see if I could find something I like. If so, that’s where I could settle. Their self-storage division was the third one I spent time in. I liked it, and it stuck.
I had only worked there a month or so when an old timer pulled me aside and gave me some advice. He said, “Son, this self-storage business is a lot of fun and its good now, but don’t get used to it. It’s so overbuilt that it can’t last much longer.” Not knowing anything about anything, thought “OK, ride this as long as I can; I was looking for a job when I found this one.”
That was 1995. Knowing what I know now, the square feet per capita couldn’t have been more than 2. I’d been doing the self-storage thing for about six months when I went home to see my father. I explained my job to him: We built storage garages that people rented for their extra stuff. He didn’t understand the concept of extra stuff or why someone would pay for a place to keep it. Born in 1925 and raised on a 500-acre cotton farm in central Texas, he was the youngest of nine kids—all of whom lived with their parents in a house about one-third the size of a starter home today. He wished me success but gave me some advice: “If I were you, I would have a plan B.”
For the last 20 years I have been with SBS Construction. I’ve worked with and for some of the best people I’ve ever come across; we’ve ridden the ups and downs of the storage cycles, including some really high peaks and some pretty low valleys. One thing has remained constant: Self-storage is a good business. I could not even guess how many facilities we’ve built (I really should know that number), but let’s say for discussion it’s 300. It’s probably more, but that’s as good a number as any. I keep up with our owners as best I can, and none of these facilities have failed, to my knowledge, so if this was a college football team, self-storage would be 300-0. I don’t know how long this ride will last, but if I had to guess, it will be long after I am gone. For now, I am just thankful to be a part of a really good industry with really good people.
Remember: No plan B!