You know that you want to invest in self-storage because it is the best investment opportunity out there. You are excited and you want to begin, but how? Where? The best place to start is with a self-storage business plan. A business plan is the gas that fuels your company. It will help drive you towards your goals while allowing you to deal with the speed bumps that will come up along your way.
While a business plan for self-storage is like a business plan for any company, there are some major differences that you need to be aware of if you want to create a successful business plan.
Start by identifying what you need to put in your self-storage business plan. Remember that this business plan is not the business plan that you are going to create for each property to give to lenders so that they understand why they should lend to you on that project. We will cover individual property business plans in another blog.
This business plan is the road map of your business. This business plan is to help you stay on track. This is the document that you will go to when you get stuck so that you can figure out where to go next with your self-storage business. Because of this, this business plan needs to be precise. It might take a while to create. However, you do not need to be afraid of creating your business plan. This is an exciting opportunity to envision your company in 1 year, 5 years, and 10 years down the road. Then you will create the road map on how to get there.
There are a lot of online websites that will provide you with a free template to help you get started creating your self-storage business plan.
When you create a business plan you need to have a
Mission statement or values statement
Vision statement:
How many properties do you plan to purchase and when?
What are your future goals?
1 year down the road
5 years down the road
10 years down the road
How will you find properties?
What market will you be working in?
Are there opportunities for self-storage in that market?
Who is the competition in that area?
What are the returns in your area?
How will you finance each property?
Will you be using private lenders?
Will you be getting a loan?
What is the best combination of the two?
Business set up
Who are the owners?
What does each owner bring to the table?
What is the role of each owner?
Will each owner have the same percentage of ownership?
What type of entity will you be using?
Capital
Who is providing the capital?
How much capital are they providing and what is the return?
Strengths and Weaknesses
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
How are you going to overcome your weaknesses?
How are you going to utilize your strengths?
What marketing and advertising will you be doing?
How will you find new properties?
How will you advertise and market properties you already own?
What branding can you do?
What is the best investment strategy for each property?
Do you intend to keep the property forever?
Do you hope to ultimately sell the property for a profit?
Who will work for you?
How will you hire your employees?
How will you train them?
What are their responsibilities?
Do they work for your overall company or for an individual property?
What speed bumps might you hit?
How are you going to overcome those speed bumps?
Once you have created your self-storage business plan outline, now it is time to start thinking about how you are going to fill in each section. Check out our next blog on how to begin filling in each section of your self-storage business plan.
