290. The Secret to Building a Highly Profitable Self Storage Business in 2025

Self storage is much more than a piece of real estate, and if you’re not “in the business of storage,” your investment is doomed to fail. Today, AJ and Conner will give you the blueprint for running not just a functional self storage facility but a profitable self storage business you can scale!

Your customers might see a large metal box, but there is much more going on behind the scenes of your self storage business—including people, operations, systems, and processes—that will make or break your success. In this episode, AJ winds back the clock and shares why he got into self storage investing in the first place, the four “pillars” he used to build his business, and the secrets that allowed him to scale a company that is now worth several hundred million dollars!

Along the way, you’ll learn why you need to prioritize talent—even if it means taking a temporary cash flow hit—and how to transition from “wearing many hats” to creating specialized roles and departments in your business. You’ll also learn the dos and don’ts of people management and why you can’t afford to stop learning, even as you delegate responsibilities!

What you’ll learn in today’s show:

• How to build and run a profitable self storage business in 2025
• The four-bucket strategy AJ used to build his own company
• The number one mistake that causes new self storage owners to fail
• Common operational expenses that many investors don’t account for
• How to effectively manage the people within your self storage business
• The one thing you can’t afford to do when hiring a new employee

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