My Biggest Mistake EVER!!!

Goood Evening Store Fam..A..Lam

Dont think ive ever done an evening newsletter ….

Today was just so busy with coaching calls and sales calls I didn’t have chance to swing a cat …. Ha not that I have a cat to swing 🥸

Great day yesterday … 8 reservations

Lets dooo this ….

Here’s today’s newsletter …

• 8 Reservations

• 4 Move Ins

• 4 Move Outs

Lets … Do … This ….

Here's what's coming your way today 😎🎯

🤐 A Self Storage Tip - “My Biggest Mistake EVER“

🤝 4 Self Storage News Stories

🧐 Yesterday’s Figures For Each Facility

🥸 1 Meme of the Day

Self Storage Tip 💡 💰

My Biggest Mistake EVER

I did a podcast about my biggest mistake and got an amazing response, sooo I thought I’d relive it on LinkedIn and give everyone a laugh 😩

The reason I did the podcast was I don’t want to paint a picture of myself as someone who doesn’t and hasn’t made mistakes

That couldn’t be further from the truth!

I make them all the time ….

So here goes -

My biggest mistake

Fasten in … it’s a good one

One that I guarantee you …. no one in the industry is DUMB enough to make 🫣

Hahah … I’m actually worried and a little scared to admit this

I always want to be honest, but this could be a little too honest 😲

Once Upon A Time ….

Dean had a storage company in Beverley

Haha … Sorry, here goes for real ….

Let’s set the scene

In 2016, I had one self storage facility … Beverley 24

It was doing really well … It was just about full

(I didn’t fully understand revenue management back then)

One of the customers was a sparky

I got quite friendly with this sparky as he used the facility everyday and was just about my age

Unfortunately, someone went bankrupt on him (Meaning, a company he’d just done a big job for couldn’t pay him)

He lost around £10k

He was distraught … He also told me he would be late paying me

No problem, I replied … Pay me when you can

*** Stupid thing to say BTW ****

Fast forward 18 months

He owed me around £2,000

He’d stopped taking my calls

He wouldn’t answer the door when I went to his house

I had no way of contacting him

Soooo, I messaged his partner as we were all friends and explained the situation

She told me to come round to the house at a certain time, as he would be in

I did what she said … I knocked on the door, and she let me in

Mr Sparky was upstairs, his partner shouted up and said I was here …

Silence …. No reply

So she went up to speak to him

5 minutes later, she came downstairs and said, “I’m really sorry Dean, he’s refusing to come downstairs”

To be honest I felt a little sorry for him …

He must have been embarrassed .. One, because I was there, and 2 because now his partner knew

Also, he wasn’t paying because he had bags loads of cash in his bank

He wasn’t paying me because he was struggling

So I told his partner all I wanted was my unit back, so I could earn some money out of it

Don’t worry about the money ... I’m sure he’ll sort me out when he can

She thanked me and apologised for him and said she would get him to empty the unit

A month passed, and still no money, and his stuff was still in the unit

I didn’t want to sell the stuff because it was all his electrical equipment he used to do his job

I couldn’t do that to him … Even though he owed me a small fortune

So I called my removal mate and asked him if he would help me move his stuff out of his unit and take it round to the sparky’s house

He said yes …

I told Sparky’s partner I didn’t want to sell his stuff, and I was going to bring it back to him and drop it off

She got back in touch and said that “the sparky was refusing to be there and she was working late … could I just leave it on the front”

“No problem”, I said … I was just relieved to have my unit back to rent out

So … (this is where it gets embarrassing!!!) me and my removals mate met at the storage one evening

We cut his lock off and started loading the sparky’s stuff into the van

Halfway through my removal mate shouted out to me

“Ere Dean, I thought you said he was a sparky?”

To which I replied, “he is”

“Then why has he got loads of plumbing gear?”

I shouted back …. “I dunno maybe he’s storing it for mate”

We thought nothing more of it and took the sparky’s plumbing gear (yes, you read that correctly😳) back to his house

PHEWWWWW … Finally have my unit back … Happy days

Yes, I lost £2k in rent, but it happens … I can now move on

Ha …. IF ONLY

2/3 days later (I’m actually cringing writing this)

I get a call from the plumber storing from us

Loverly chap, proper salt of the Earth guy

“Hey Dean”, he says

“I’ve just been to my unit, and it’s empty with the lock removed …..

Where’s my stuff, pal??”

OHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOO 🤬

Surly I couldn’t have ….

I raced to the office and checked ….

YEP …. I HAD!!!

I’d emptied the wrong unit 🫣

I’d given all the plumbers’ stuff to the sparky

I then looked in the sparkys “actual unit” ….

….. EMPTY!!!!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

So the guy who owed me £2k didn’t just get away with £2k of debt … Ohhh NOOOO

I gave him a bonus as well …. A leaving present if you like 🤮 ….

…. All the plumbing gear you need to start an industrial plumbing business!

SHITTT! 🤬 

To be fair to the plumber, he took it like a champ

He was insured for £10k, but we went through all the things that was in the unit, and the replacement cost was around £6,500

I think he was happy just to get new stuff for old stuff

I was grateful he didn’t milk it for the £10k he was insured for … which he could have

Obviously, this came out of my pocket as I couldn’t claim on the insurance 😳

Ha, I daren’t ask if I was insured for TOTAL STUPIDITY

So Mr Sparky not only got away with £2k of debt, but he also got £6,500 worth of plumbing equipment

Happy days for him

I actually see the sparky every now and then …. I don’t know who’s more embarrassed, me or him 🤷‍♂️

So …. It doesn’t matter how much you have messed up …

Always remember I’ve messed up more Haha

Industry News 🧐 …

• Crewe storage company steps in after pet rabbit dumped by bins

• Martin's Properties launches self-storage business Cactus

• How the Digital Economy Is Driving New Self-Storage Revenue

The Fun Bit - My Business .... Bare Butt Naked! 😲🤫🤭

Yesterday’s Results -

Willerby (Hull) … My Big Site

• 1 Reservations

• 2 Move Ins

• 1 Move Outs

Month to Date -

• MINUS 195 Sq Ft

Reservations so far this week = 2

Move Ins so far this week = 3

Clough Rd Figures ... The Automated Site

• 1 Reservations

• 1 Move Ins

• 2 Move outs

Month to Date -

• PLUS 580 Sq Ft

Reservations so far this week = 1

Move Ins so far this week = 2

Beverley … My Baby (First Site)

• 0 Reservation

• 0 Move Ins

• 0 Move Outs

Month to Date -

• PLUS 105 Sq Ft

Reservations so far this week = 1

Move Ins so far this week = 0

Wrexham's Figures (Indoor) ... My First Acquisition

• 1 Reservation

• 0 Move Ins

• 0 Move Outs

Month to Date -

• PLUS 65 Sq Ft

Reservations so far this week = 2

Move Ins so far this week = 0

Mansfield Figures

• 4 Reservation

• 1 Move Ins

• 1 Move Outs

Month to Date -

• PLUS 85 Sq Ft

Reservations so far this week = 4

Move Ins so far this week = 1

Glasgow

• 1 Reservation

• 0 Move Ins

• 0 Move Outs

Month to Date -

• PLUS 160 Sq Ft

Reservations so far this week = 1

Move Ins so far this week = 0

South Shields

• 0 Reservation

• 0 Move Ins

• 0 Move Outs

Month to Date -

• 0 Sq Ft

Reservations so far this week = 0

Move Ins so far this week = 0

Meme / GIF of the day -  👀😂

Health and Fitness ... Move More = Live Longer - 🏋️‍♀️ 🏃

Weekly goals -

• Gym - 3 times

• Run - 25miles

Results so far -

• Gym - 1

• Run - 10.5 Miles

Yesterday’s Steps - 14,897

Loads of self storage love,

Dean ❤️ 🙃