Are you a business owner or sales professional looking for more space with enough flexibility to make changes fast? Self-storage facilities are a great resource to grow your business. Whether you’re a startup or expanding an established business, self-storage provides a ton of flexibility for very reasonable prices. Everyone from online sellers and pharmaceutical reps to construction companies and maintenance crews uses self-storage to manage their expanding needs. Here are 5 ways self-storage can help you grow your business.
Warehouse Excess Inventory
Use storage to leverage your purchasing power. Typically, the more you buy the more you save. This is the driving principle behind membership stores like Sam’s Club and Costco. As you are able to sell more and more products, you’ll also be able to cut costs by increasing the quantities of raw materials or inventory you purchase. Self-storage can help provide the extra space you need to maximize your profits and the flexibility you need to grow your business.
Use storage to grow, fast. Every business owner dreams of their company “taking off”. Success, however, comes with its own set of challenges. When you’re revenue grows fast, so does the square footage you’ll need. To fulfill the increased demand you’ll need to order more and more products. Renting a warehouse space can take time and cost a lot of money, especially if you’re not quite ready to use all the space. A storage solution can provide the space you need at a moment’s notice and at a price you can afford.
Use storage to manage seasonal changes. Do you need extra space to manage seasonal demand? Self-storage is perfect for storing off-season goods or for increasing your capacity during busier times of the year. When you no longer have the need the additional space, you just turn in the keys until next year. Flexibility is one of the main benefits of using self-storage.
Store Equipment
Did you know that there are 700,000 construction companies in the US and that most are considered small businesses? Like most small businesses, they start off at home. However, as these businesses grow, they need:
- A dedicated workspace,
- A central location for equipment, and
- Parking for construction vehicles.
Self-storage is perfect for storing items such as pressure washers, lawnmowers, tools, and other construction or maintenance-related equipment. Additionally, many self-storage facilities are equipped with secure, gated parking spaces for rent. These areas can accommodate work vans, super-duty trucks, landscaping trailers, etc. These parking spaces are especially popular with customers who live in planned communities with HOA (Home Owners Association) rules regarding work vehicles and those who live in urban environments where parking is hard to find or costs a premium. In cities like Chicago, for example, certain street parking is off-limits during the winter months.
Pack Away Conference and Networking Materials
Self-storage isn’t just helpful to businesses storing equipment. It’s also a great option for storing marketing materials in a secure environment. Pharmaceutical salespeople, for example, may not want medications just lying around in their car or home. Can you imagine having hundreds or thousands of pain killers just laying around? Secure storage at one of our participating locations can help keep your products safe and secure.
Salespeople also use stores less harmful sales materials such as projectors and screens, signage, and print materials. Who wants to have all this stuff sitting in their home between events? With self-storage, you can pick it up on your way to the airport and drop it off on the way home.
Deposit Documents
As your business ages and grows, the number of documents you need to store will also grow. I can tell you from experience that 7 years’ worth of tax records can take up a lot of space in your closets. Moving that stuff out of my house and into storage was one of the best things I could have done. My clothes are back where they belong and I don’t have to visit the ghost of business past every time I need a jacket. Self-storage can also provide you with an appropriate environment for doctors to store medical records and for lawyers to store legal documents.
Reduce Home-Office Overflow
Due to COVID-19, working from home has become the standard rather than the exception. Slowly but surely our work life is beginning to encroach over our home lives. This is bad for maintaining a work-life balance. The good news is that self-storage is an affordable way to reclaim your living space.
Most homes aren’t set up to have a dedicated office. With the kids home from school, finding a place to work at home isn’t easy. This has driven people to start working in their closets. Yes, this is a real thing, especially in urban areas. As a result, the amount of in-home storage available has decreased. This leaves people with seasonal and business attire piled up in their bedrooms. Self-storage to the rescue. Most people have a storage facility located conveniently within a few miles of their home. If you need something from storage, it’s just a short drive, bike ride, or walk away!
As you can see, self-storage isn’t just for personal items. Businesses use storage to improve their profit margins, grow their sales, house equipment, and retain documents. Are you a small business owner who’s used storage for your business needs? We would love to hear from you in the comments or through our social media channels.
