From Fundamentals to Five-Star Reviews: Inside Access Self Storage’s Culture & Customer Experience Strategy

In this episode of No Vacancy, the crew dives into summer adventures — from waterpark fun, to brewery trips that somehow turned into missed connections. Between laughs, they take a hard look at Access Self Storage’s 29 Fundamentals, breaking down how these guiding principles shape the company’s culture, customer experience, and everyday decision-making.

With stories that range from listening generously to speaking straight (even when it’s tough), the conversation is both unfiltered and surprisingly relatable. Whether you’re in self storage, managing a team, or just trying to balance life and work with a little humor, this one delivers insight with plenty of laughs.

Transcript

Speaker 3 (00:00)
Did you have time to look through all Chris's notes? Are you prepared?

Speaker 1 (00:02)
president.

Speaker 2 (00:05)
completely. ⁓

Speaker 3 (00:06)
I'm just starting the third document.

Speaker 1 (00:09)
You're welcome. Sorry for sending it at 8 ⁓ o 2 this morning

Speaker 3 (00:15)
Here's something I should have sent you guys a week ago.

Speaker 1 (00:18)
Yep.

Speaker 2 (00:20)
Yep.

Speaker 1 (00:20)
Hey everybody. Hey man. Hey guys.

Speaker 3 (00:22)
How was everybody's summer?

How was it?

Speaker 1 (00:25)
Yeah, it's still happening.

Speaker 2 (00:26)
don't say it's over

Speaker 3 (00:27)
I mean,

are the kids still in camp? Are they in camp? Were they in

Speaker 1 (00:31)
No,

no camp camp Courtney. Yeah, Courtney. They were over sure ⁓ camp Courtney's been over since like the fourth of friggin July, I think We're going

Speaker 2 (00:39)
You

Speaker 1 (00:41)
waterpark in the Poconos tomorrow. Yeah. Yeah. So I'll, I'll update you on Monday, Tuesday. I'll do a real quick count of how many band-aids are floating in the lazy river.

Speaker 3 (00:43)
Calhari, right?

Awesome, thanks.

Speaker 1 (00:54)
Not a sponsor by the way, could be Kalahari if you're listening, but not a sponsor right now. ⁓ So we're excited for that. Also indoor outdoor waterpark. ⁓

Speaker 3 (01:00)
We're very close.

for.

Speaker 1 (01:09)
As long as we can stand it, about two and a half days. That's schedule. And then hit some waterfalls on the way home. So, do some type of hiking and get the children agitated for a nice Sunday drive home. We had to walk? ⁓ God, it's so humid here. It's only about 90 minutes.

Speaker 2 (01:14)
the

Speaker 3 (01:30)
How far is that ride?

That's it? I don't know why I think you are like South Jersey and then to the West.

Speaker 1 (01:39)
No,

so Jersey and well, yeah

Speaker 2 (01:42)
straight west from where I live, think. ⁓

Speaker 1 (01:46)
Dead West from Hamilton.

Speaker 3 (01:47)
Start looking

at more maps maybe.

Speaker 2 (01:51)
Better, better.

Speaker 1 (01:52)
Yeah, you were just in my backyard. I know a few weeks ago. I thought it was

Speaker 3 (01:56)
Thanks.

Speaker 2 (01:57)
Does that map not go west enough?

there it is. Daco? Daco?

Speaker 1 (02:00)
Yep. There we are.

And Andrew was at a brewery, seven miles from the house. Does he call? Does he text? Does he do any of the...

Speaker 3 (02:12)
I didn't

Speaker 1 (02:14)
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:15)
Yeah, come drink beer.

Speaker 3 (02:16)
to ⁓

Warwick.

Speaker 1 (02:21)
Yeah, like 10 minutes.

Speaker 2 (02:23)
You went to Warwick Farm Brewery? that where it's called? It's pretty cool. I heard it's pretty great.

Speaker 3 (02:28)
It's a good spot.

Speaker 1 (02:31)
Good hind.

Speaker 3 (02:32)
How you, Brian? How's your summer?

Speaker 2 (02:34)
okay. We did a few things, but it was pretty low key overall. We're ready for, think we're kind of back in fall mode now, almost.

ready to get this kid back to school so he can leave me the heck alone.

Definitely gotta... Just... Need him to have something else to do. Other than talk to me all the time.

Speaker 1 (02:55)
Have the other parents reached out to you to find out if Adam is in their child's class? you don't get that info?

Speaker 2 (03:01)
Not yet, I don't think we

yet. My wife is tripping about it. She's like, you know, I gotta buy stuff. I'm like, okay, it's like putting pencils on paper.

Speaker 3 (03:04)
Yeah, we haven't gotten that either. I don't know what they're waiting for.

Speaker 1 (03:14)
Sure. Now we received that info very early in August and where everybody was going and who their teacher was going to be. So then the panic ensued as to who was going to be in whose class. So that was a nice dramatic three days.

Andrew Rockoff (03:29)
No Vacancy is the self-storage podcast that pulls back the roll-up door on the industry's most outrageous stories, toughest challenges, and unexpected laughs. Hosted by the team at Access Self Storage, each episode brings together real operators, sharp marketers, and off-the-wall personalities to talk about what really goes on behind the gate code. From crazy tenant tales to hard-won lessons in customer service, it's raw, unfiltered, and a little irreverent, just like life in storage.

Speaker 2 (03:58)
So when we say fundamentals, we've got our leadership team developed 29 beliefs or core values that were important to us as a company and as a whole, ⁓ both inside the company and externally, you know, however we lead our lives with within the company and with our families, our friends, our neighbors.

we just thought it be important. We just thought it be important. We just thought that it was important to really put something down on paper where we led with empathy and understanding

you know, just a different perspective on how to do business. So that's what led to these 29 fundamentals. And I think they're terrific. I always say that these fundamentals affect me more outside of work than in work. They really helped me work through a lot of different things with family, with raising children, with making decisions. And I think it just organically has a

has flowed through the company with some assistance through our very engaged managers and employees. It's just been a really nice way to kind of shape how we do things and making decisions for the future.

Speaker 3 (05:15)
Yeah, and I think we've done a very good job of... So all 29 fundamentals are all kind of... They're all related and intertwined some way or another, but they kind of share... Some of them share similar...

characteristic.

Speaker 2 (05:30)
There you go. That's right.

Speaker 3 (05:33)
So we created kind of topics. One is help at every step, which is also our company slogan. Find a way, do the right thing and learn. And underneath each of those four, kind of the other, all the 29 kind of filter into what makes sense best for them. And then I think also having our employees, like you said, how engaged they are. And we have, so this goes

on for 29 weeks we have employees write something about a fundamental that's assigned to them.

Speaker 2 (06:09)
That's right.

Speaker 3 (06:09)
It's

out there for the whole company and they can read and some of them are personal, some of them are professional. But it helps, like you said, to keep everybody engaged and make sure that everybody understands each one and really helps us as a company follow these fundamentals, which I think, and I agree with you, have become so important for Access over the past seven or eight years since starting this.

Speaker 2 (06:34)
Yeah,

think slowly but surely our employees and we as a whole start really understanding each other when these fundamentals roll around. So you mentioned earlier that every week an employee takes a fundamental

writes about it, writes how it affects them and how they feel about it, whether it be personally, professionally, both, whatever their feeling is about that fundamental. And the entire company reads it. And then a follow-up to that fundamental is kind of a situational question, where if you were in this situation, how would you use this particular fundamental of the week to get through that situation? I think it's been really strong. Every week we start

every meeting that we're in with the fundamental of the week. And we give time for people to talk about that fundamental and see it in action, which has been really, really important.

Speaker 3 (07:32)
And that sample that is sent out weekly, that's done. We do that through email, which has, is basically a multiple choice where it puts, like you said, the employee in a situation has four choices we keep an eye on like who's engaging, how many answers we're getting, how many people are getting the right answers, how many people are not getting the right answers and may need to, you know, maybe we need to follow up with them a little bit just to see if there's maybe a,

a barrier for understanding or whatever that may be but starting this eight years ago and the amount of steam it continues to roll with is pretty remarkable.

Speaker 2 (08:11)
Yeah, I think it leads to good engagement and now at the same time you know fundamentals are our ideals which we strive towards so having these 29 fundamentals and then finding a balance where okay we want to try this I this particular idea and

We talk about it at the home office and we try to figure it out as best we can, smooth over all the edges, and then ultimately send it out to the field and say, well, what do you think about this? Here's what we're gonna do. sometimes we get reminded that, well, is that really?

jive with our fundamentals? Does that really sync up with our fundamentals? So sometimes when in the self storage business, when we are thinking about increasing some prices or increasing rates or changing a policy, we really try to think about is that the right thing to do? Is this really in everyone's best interests?

So using them as a guide can both be a good thing, also can make you think twice about how your decisions affect everybody.

Speaker 3 (09:32)
Yeah. an industry now that's getting more and more competition, a differentiator for us is really the customer service end of this. And these were designed with our employees in mind and how they deal with customers and wanting to. This is anything from.

be helpful and kind, create great impressions, then you get to a ⁓ portion of this that's make everything fun, work-life balance, making sure that everybody's kind of on the same page with the philosophy here.

And I think that's why we have such a score when it comes to reviews. we had mentioned, I don't know if we mentioned this on an episode, but our net promoter score of plus 75 is world class. And I think that in large part has to do with these fundamentals that have been kind of ingrained in everybody for as long as we

Speaker 2 (10:34)
Yeah.

I agree. I agree. It really helps us gain a different perspective. so what I'd like to do with start with you guys is kind of roll through the fundamentals and just talk, just, mention actually what they are. They may seem simple and, non a non-starter for you, but,

You know, I think that everybody could really use these. Every company could really use a set of fundamentals to get everybody on the same page as to what you actually believe. So here we go. Do the right thing always. Deliver legendary service. Be helpful and kind. Be reliable. Be a fanatic about response time. Find a way. So those first six, I mean, if they don't tell people...

how we feel about customers. I don't know what will. It's a great ethos to get your employees engaged and trained in maybe the softer skills. We all want people who know how to close deals and rent storage units and increase our bottom line.

But the soft skills to do that can really be big differentiators in any business. But since we're really commoditized these days, we believe that it really helps us at Access differentiate ourselves from all of the competition that we have.

Speaker 3 (11:59)
Yeah, I agree.

Andrew Rockoff (12:00)
We'll be right

Now back to the show.

Speaker 2 (12:24)
Alright, so we go from there. Be proud of your work. Create win-win solutions. Be vigilant about safety. Practice blameless problem solving. Listen generously and speak straight. I mean, some of these can be difficult for a lot of people. Listening generously. When you have a customer who wants...

to be heard. I feel like the best thing you can do is show the customer that you're listening. They're already there. They're already engaged with you. They're coming to you for a reason. I imagine most of the time it's not the greatest reason. And they're looking for your assistance. So listening generously to me kind of takes the steam.

out of the situation a little bit. Engaging with questions, with follow-up questions, I think that matters a lot when you try to listen generously because they want you to understand their situation. that's really, I think, the best way to do that. the fundamental right after that that I mentioned, speak straight. That could be hard to do because a lot of times I think you want to tell people

You really want to tell people what you think they want to hear. But that doesn't always solve the problem or reveal the actual truth of the matter. So getting people to understand what speaking straight really means and giving them examples, concrete examples, is a big thing for us.

Speaker 3 (14:01)
I think that's a tough one internally too, when we have our operations meetings or when we're calling each other to talk about certain things, that ability to...

Speaker 1 (14:12)
Just say it.

Speaker 2 (14:13)
Exactly.

Speaker 3 (14:15)
not

the easiest thing to do all the time.

Speaker 1 (14:18)
Yeah,

I like both of those two, the last two that you just referenced Chris, listen generously and speak straight. And I think of them a lot ⁓ relative to our sales training in particular, what we're encouraging, how we're encouraging our frontline employees to engage with the customers during that sales interaction, especially listen generously. The point that we try to make there is not just to, you know,

Speaker 3 (14:45)
Thank

Speaker 1 (14:46)
spout out all the things that are on our checklist for you to be scored appropriately, but it's about building a real connection with the customer. And the best way to do that is to listen with the intention of understanding what their needs are, what situation they're experiencing, that brings that what situation they are experiencing that brings them to need storage in the first place and acknowledge those situations. We teach people not to just

gloss over the uncomfortable reason that the customer may be using storage but sit there with them for a moment and empathize which is another one of our fundamentals later down the road, empathize ⁓ and you know just really build that bridge with them and gain that trust you know and then speak straight I think in the same in the same interaction there you know you mentioned

you know, wanting to navigate through a disagreement or conflict with that one. I think we can also use it early on in our relationship with a customer or potential customer in order to prevent future issues, right? If we from the first moments set expectations with them, we speak very plainly and clearly about appropriate uses for the storage unit, what rules we have, how to avoid future issues. And you can do it in a polite and friendly way.

not make it all seem doom and gloom to a new customer coming in, but it's important to not beat around the bush, so to speak, there and just say, hey, if you don't pay for this amount of time, here's what's going to happen. And you can say it nice and friendly and keep it moving forward. But yeah, I definitely think that both of those fundamentals apply really well in those early customer interaction situations.

Andrew Rockoff (16:36)
Time for a short pause, but don't go far.

Speaker 3 (16:46)
And we're back.

Speaker 1 (16:47)
We're going to, I think Labor Day is the 50th anniversary of Jaws. So some of the beaches are putting Jaws on the big screen on the beach. the weekend after Labor Day. So we're going to see that. So I think this will be the last summer that any of my kids get in the ocean. Because at the end of the summer, we're just marking it with the exclamation point of Roy Scheider and his flammable fire extinguisher.

But I'm looking forward to it. you know, they haven't been traumatized enough for my liking so far in their life. this is. Yeah, yeah, we're gonna we're gonna do something to it this weekend

Speaker 2 (17:25)
They've had it real soft.

Did you see that link I sent you on Instagram for the iron and wine and Ben Bridwell covering Kendrick Lamar? Yes.

Speaker 1 (17:38)
Yes,

that was really good.

I didn't know who they were though. I had heard of Iron and Wine before.

Speaker 2 (17:45)
I thought iron and wine would be...

Speaker 1 (17:46)
Yeah, they're

kind, they're in the outskirts of the wheelhouse.

Speaker 2 (17:50)
Ben Bridwell's the guy from the of horses.

Speaker 1 (17:53)
Well, people have told me to listen to them, who know what I like. I guess they just don't know what I like enough.

Speaker 2 (17:56)
Yeah, I get you. It's one of those...

Because you don't actually like it or you just are like, I'm not listening to that because somebody told me to.

Speaker 1 (18:06)
⁓

cause I don't actually- Band of

Speaker 2 (18:10)
Okay,

fair enough. Fair enough. I have this weird opposition, like, it's like a... What's the word I'm looking for? Yeah, I don't know. Somebody will tell me, like, oh, you gotta check this band out.

Speaker 1 (18:21)
Do I really?

Speaker 2 (18:24)
I don't think I do. ⁓

Speaker 1 (18:26)
What if somebody sends you a link to a song? YouTube or something like that? Okay, if they make it easy. Good, good. Because I think I've done that, so I wanted to verify. My contribution.

Speaker 2 (18:31)
probably give it a play.

Speaker 3 (18:37)
You

Speaker 1 (18:39)
No, no, I always enjoy.

new music. If somebody's gonna send me new music, they're a good person. So, might as well listen to it. You got ice coffee there or coke?

Speaker 2 (18:50)
Cold brew. Black cold brew again. Just trying to get my, you know, trying to get myself back to earth.

Speaker 3 (18:58)
Any Celsiuses this morning? Celsius? Celsiuses?

Speaker 2 (19:01)
Celsius.

Speaker 1 (19:02)
No,

I had a monster. had a monster, yeah. But prior to that, I had a cup of coffee at home and started the day with a spill. And then to my left boob.

Speaker 3 (19:04)
Monster.

Speaker 2 (19:15)
Hmm.

Speaker 1 (19:16)
So this could be the last wearing of this shirt.

Speaker 3 (19:20)
You're all jacked up

Speaker 1 (19:22)
Yeah, I know you can tell.

Speaker 3 (19:21)
now.

Speaker 2 (19:24)
Good thing our listeners can hear that mess on your t-shirt.

Speaker 1 (19:28)
Alright, that's right, yeah, I'm glad I said something.

Nothing like a good visual

Speaker 3 (19:34)
So the next group of six fundamentals are ⁓ be relentless about improvement, get clear on expectations, think team first, show meaningful appreciation, empathize, and create a great impression.

Speaker 2 (19:49)
I'd like to explore why I'm so bad at showing meaningful appreciation.

Speaker 3 (19:57)
That's a challenging one. What makes it meaningful?

Speaker 2 (20:00)
Yeah, that's a good point. I everybody's definition of that is personal and their own. I have been very pleasantly surprised at when a thank you or a quick email saying, that was really well done. I really appreciate it. That...

That little simple thing that people may think is stupid or worthless, it really seems to go a long way. Yeah, it really does. mean...

Speaker 1 (20:34)
It packs a lot of power.

Speaker 2 (20:38)
Most people just want.

acknowledgement for a job well done. And a quick note, it really, it really goes a long way. Not everybody's looking for a gift card or, you know, to be incentivized.

Speaker 3 (20:52)
or like, you know, publicly acknowledged.

Speaker 2 (20:55)
Right. It's

just looking to be appreciated.

Speaker 3 (20:58)
Yeah, it doesn't have to be some grand scale. It can just be a... Just taking the two seconds to say, I recognize that. You kind of nailed that. Great job. I do think that's ⁓ important.

Speaker 2 (21:15)
Yeah, I think it is too. And I think people can really be cynical. I can be very cynical. And just to kind of step out of that and really show somebody how much they mean to you in a quick, meaningful way really helps out everyone.

Speaker 3 (21:37)
I agree though, does feel for me at times too, like something I feel terrible at at times, you know? And I think I'm pretty comfortable with our coworkers and people around me and being willing to say.

Especially if they've helped you directly right and you genuinely appreciate it then great that one's maybe easy but maybe as a Observer kind of on the side as a supervisor or whatever. It's probably really important to take them take a moment to just send that message Or say it just say it face to face in the moment. You know the the other one of these that

Speaker 2 (22:11)
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (22:17)
this group of six that jumps out at me is, well we were just talking about the initial sales interaction so I think creating great impression obviously is key for our business it's huge. Whether it's the impression of the physical appearance of the property, whether it's just the way you engage with someone and the impression that you make personally with how you communicate, how open and

you are to listening and understanding what their needs and problems are. I think both of those go really far with creating an impression, a great impression. And I think it goes hand in hand with the other one that jumped out to me is be relentless about improvement. I think it's easy in storage to fall into the routine, right? A lot of times at the properties you have, you're...

you know, your daily work that is routine and is going to be the same every day, but...

Remembering to step back from that and just say hey, what what can we improve? whether it's a process or something about the physical appearance of the property or a Maintenance thing that needs an upgrade right? We've talked a lot about in the past you know kind of trying to Review your whole process and the from the customer standpoint right put yourself in their shoes be the new customer for the first time coming through and

See hey, there anything in this road that they're traveling on to rent a storage unit with us? That sucks. Right? That needs improvement. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:41)
you

Speaker 1 (23:49)
That's the one I was going to say was be relentless about improvement from a marketing standpoint. And we spoke about this before. This industry is still pretty far behind from a technology standpoint. So being able to step outside of that box that this industry has painted and everybody's still inside and operating from within to...

looking into different things that could help you from a, like you said, process standpoint. And, you know, we had mentioned Swivel, I think, on the first episode and how they've helped with a few different things. You know, online rentals when that came on in 2018, 19, you know, we were one of the first ones to do that. And when the pandemic hit, we had a pretty easy transition.

Speaker 2 (24:38)
We had an advantage.

Speaker 1 (24:40)
So I

think being relentless about improvement is one that kind of speaks to me just because of where the industry is and where we could go. It's pretty fascinating to see what other industries are doing and how that could apply here, but we're just not there yet. But there's so much opportunity for us to get there before a lot of other operators.

Speaker 2 (25:07)
Yeah, like that one. A lot of room to grow.

Speaker 3 (25:09)
And that's how you combat what Chris mentioned earlier of, you know, kind of ⁓ our industry being commoditized, right? Is setting yourself apart from everybody else who has the same offerings, basically, you know, what else can we provide? What value can we provide to the customer? How can we make the process more painless, more smooth, quicker, more efficient? And how do we...

How do we engage our team of our workforce who can drive all of that? I think it's just what we need to constantly do. And I do think that we have a ton of great people in the field who feel empowered to communicate their suggestions for this. And that's huge too, right? You have to have a culture around it of.

And that's what this fundamental does, this fundamental existing and being here on paper allows everybody in the company to know, if you have that feedback for improvement, share it, share it all the time.

Speaker 2 (26:07)
Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (26:09)
You

want me to run through the next? All right, pay attention to the details. Work smart. Look ahead and anticipate. Be a mentor. Get the facts. Collect and share intelligence. So the pay attention to the details always stands out at me and I wrote about this when I was the one doing the...

Speaker 2 (26:12)
Yeah, please do.

Speaker 1 (26:34)
stories when we were doing this earlier on. And my mom when I was...

I must have been cadence age, maybe eight or nine handed me a one dollar bill. And she said, point to the scale and the key. And my head or like was just, all right, it's gotta be like around here somewhere or like flipping this thing over. And I'm, I'm just not finding it. So she, I'm like, I don't know. So she said, it's right here, like in the middle of the dollar bill, it's got like a green outline going around it. And she said, attention to detail. And that like,

stuck with me from when I was nine, 10, and now I look things over way more than I should, but it got me into that all right, I gotta focus because that was literally in front of my face. So that one was a, that was a fun one to write about, but that one sticks with me personally.

Speaker 3 (27:25)
It's important. Yeah, very important.

Speaker 2 (27:28)
It is. I am not a big pay attention to the details guy. That is not my strong suit. The one as we continue to grow and expand and try new things and do new things and get our employees engaged more. The one that continues to come back, not necessarily haunt me, but remind me that this is one of the most important things is collecting and sharing the intelligence. Communication is key in any space.

successful organization and the collecting of all the intelligence is terrific. But if we don't share the damn thing in an efficient and correct way where people can understand it and use it in their everyday lives, then it doesn't hold any water. So to be able to communicate clearly, concisely, and in a helpful manner.

has really helped us a lot over the last few years, especially post COVID, know, coming back from that, integrating new technologies and learning because everything happens at different stores. So learning collectively and spreading that word to everyone can be challenging. keeping that at top of mind has been very helpful to me over the last two or three years.

Speaker 1 (28:44)
Yep.

Speaker 3 (28:46)
I think it's a you know Chris you've mentioned like at least twice you're like all these are the ones this is the one that

Speaker 2 (28:53)
They're all my ones.

Speaker 3 (28:55)
But you know the the I think what's great about this entire system or process or whatever you want to call it of us engaging with these fundamentals for the last Eight years now eight nine years. We've been doing this I think Is that you know there they are really? They are a set of aspirational goals, you know

And I think it's our human nature to look at the ones and be like, yeah, I'm not good at that. But they're there for a great reminder that it's like, hey, this is something that I personally should be working on and just trying to keep more top of mind. And that's really what I like about these. They help fill in the gray area, right? When there's something, when those situations arise that are not.

clearly stated or haven't existed before. When in doubt, consult these 29 rules, make your decision, and you've got a strong basis for your decision making. And even if it ended up being the wrong one, well, at least you have something that you can stand on to say, well, I was trying to make sure I delivered legendary service so that I collect and shared intelligence.

Speaker 2 (30:04)
As long

as you have a good reason to do it.

Speaker 1 (30:07)
Real quick, one other one that I think today is kind of lost more than any other is being a mentor. And I think there's this like mentality going around that I don't want to give this person below me too much, because then maybe they'll take my job, which is like the opposite of how it should work. You should want the person to...

Speaker 2 (30:22)
They'll take my job.

take your job

and do a better job.

Speaker 1 (30:31)
Because if you're doing right by that person, then in turn, and you're getting them to a level where they feel comfortable taking on more responsibility, then that should help your growth personally and professionally as well. I think that one, maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like that one gets a little bit lost today more than ever. But I think, you know, we at Access do a very good job of

trying to kind of grow within and nobody gets shut off from answering any kind of questions. think everybody has a pretty open door policy. That's one of things I really like about Access is that I think there's just a ton of mentors here that are allowing people to be ready for that next step.

Speaker 2 (31:11)
Yeah, the mentoring thing always reminds me, you never know who's paying attention. know, and you and I spoke about it a little earlier, use these fundamentals at home as much or if not more so than at work. you know, the, me, Brian, how's that sandwich?

Speaker 3 (31:28)
It's

a race car.

Speaker 2 (31:32)
The being a mentor fundamental, you know, really slows me down with the children. They're absorbing everything, they're going into certain grades, they're gonna start expressing their feelings, which probably have been developed from my feelings. So just keeping that at top of mind, you know, making sure that you remember that.

anybody could be listening and developing the same or similar thought processes as to what you're just showing. So always try to keep that in mind.

Andrew Rockoff (32:07)
Time for a short pause, but don't go far.

Now back to the show.

Speaker 2 (32:33)
right, bring us home.

Speaker 3 (32:35)
Next group of six. Five. Last, final five. Five. Assume positive intent. Be a lifelong learner. Treasure, protect and promote our reputation. Keep life and work in balance and keep things fun. Obviously number 29 is my favorite. Yeah. Keep things fun.

Speaker 2 (32:37)
Live.

Speaker 3 (32:59)
I do think that keep life and work in balance and keep things fun are, they go hand in hand, sort of, but, you know, keeping things fun while you're at work, not taking yourself too seriously, there is room for fun in self storage. Would you agree?

Speaker 2 (33:17)
Yeah, yeah, I have a pretty good time Yeah, yeah Absolutely, you know

Speaker 3 (33:22)
Definitely meet some interesting folks.

Not a lot of high pressure.

Speaker 2 (33:27)
No, no I'm not developing a rocket. It's going to be okay. I'm not trying to cure cancer. We're just running the self storage units here and we do it very well.

Speaker 1 (33:37)
To keep life and work in balance makes me think of Foy. Foy Cooley, our founder and CEO, SSA Hall of Famer, past, present, former. She obviously wants the work that we do to have value and is continuously looking to push us forward.

Speaker 3 (33:37)
you

Speaker 2 (33:43)
Foy Coulee.

SSA President.

Speaker 1 (34:01)
But when we go to meetings, she's the first to ask you, how was that trip? Or how was your weekend? And how was the family? And that comes directly from the top. I think that's awesome.

Speaker 3 (34:13)
Yeah,

keeping your priorities in line in life is a great part of our company culture to know that, when you have a family issue or a medical issue or anything like that, that's number one. Always take care of that. Be your best self to come back here ready to go. they, we definitely understand that.

if we're not taking the time to take care of ourselves outside of work and be a well-rounded and fulfilled person in that way, then you're not going to show up to work as your best self. So, yeah, think it's great. Encouraging our employees to make sure they're using their time off, right? We don't want our employees at the end of the year to be sitting there with a week of vacation left and not being used. I'm sure there's lots of companies who look at the Oscar. We try to encourage our

Speaker 2 (35:06)
saving. ⁓

Speaker 3 (35:09)
people like hey take care of yourself take your time go do something fun do something that you you know we love our work but it's not the only thing still work

Speaker 2 (35:20)
deal.

Speaker 1 (35:21)
⁓

We work to live, don't live to work.

Speaker 2 (35:24)
That's right. Exactly.

I like assume positive intent. Another reminder for me, ⁓ know, the business is kind of fragmented, right? So you got, you got places all over and you don't necessarily communicate with everyone all the time. So you don't know how they communicate and email is a pretty dry way to communicate and a lot of assumptions can be made. That, that we as the receiver are bringing in to the conference.

Conversation where maybe the sender did not have any of those intentions ⁓ So assuming positive intent because why else would they be emailing you except to help you or to? Find out an answer that they think you can help them with They're not gonna Nobody's really emailing you or texting you to bother you right there. They're looking for some assistance So if you see it from you know that guy ⁓ I hate that guy never answers or you know he's never

willing to help me, nails the time. Assume positive intent no matter who the message is from and go out and help them.

Speaker 3 (36:32)
Yeah, give people the benefit of the doubt.

Speaker 2 (36:34)
Yeah.

What is your favorite fundamental? What's the one that you're best at?

Speaker 3 (36:40)
⁓

you

Yeah, that's tough. Sticking with this group that we're in right now, I would say my favorite is be a lifelong learner. think that just having that desire to understand things that you've not yet been exposed to, having the opportunity to explore and learn more about whether it's...

just whatever curiosity comes across your scrolling, your doom scrolling newsfeed or a new part of your own business that you haven't been exposed to yet. It could be as simple as asking somebody who has a different role than you to tell you more about their processes or how they approach their work. Or it could be learning more about something in the news that you don't know about that just scratches an itch.

For me, that's something that's always been there for me. If I don't know about it, I want to.

Speaker 2 (37:42)
Yeah, yeah, that's a good one. How about you, Andrew? You got a favorite?

Speaker 1 (37:47)
I've got a

favorite, the one I'm best at and the one I'm worst at. Okay. I'm gonna share it all. Okay. My favorite is be a mentor. Not the one I'm best at, but it's my favorite.

Speaker 2 (37:52)
Please do.

Yep.

Speaker 1 (38:00)
Pay attention to the details is probably the one I'm best at just because of the story I told. And the one I'm worst, the worst at is probably assume positive intent because of all the, cause you're, nailed it. the, the texts or the emails that you get from people. I'm awful at

trying to determine what the intention or tone is of an email and I'm always what the fuck does that mean? What did do? What you brought, man? And then I email back and it's like, well, I just meant this.

Speaker 3 (38:29)
Why you got an attitude?

Well, maybe should have a hug. Maybe next time you throw a smiley face emoji in there for me.

Speaker 2 (38:41)
You know I need that.

Speaker 1 (38:42)
But I think, yeah, that one I could probably use a little bit of work on that one.

Speaker 3 (38:47)
do find that emojis really help with the making sure that people don't have to assume you're positive.

Speaker 2 (38:53)
They

do. Even the response emojis, the text messages, the big thumbs up like, right, I don't have to talk to you anymore, we agree that this is okay.

Speaker 3 (39:02)
You like it? You're liking it?

Speaker 1 (39:05)
Did you ever get the people who send the emojis that are supposed to mean something? You gotta decipher it. You know what talking about?

Speaker 3 (39:13)
Like hieroglyphics?

They're sending you emojis as hieroglyphics? No! No, that's never happened.

Speaker 2 (39:19)
No, I don't I know that I know what you mean

Speaker 1 (39:22)
So

You can help me now. Nobody? Okay.

Speaker 2 (39:25)
He was the one who brought it up, Yeah. ⁓

Speaker 1 (39:29)
So if I have to pay for false... Okay. Maybe I'll send leaves. False ock.

Speaker 2 (39:32)
suck.

⁓ huh. ⁓

huh. And a dollar bill emoji also? Sure. Yeah. So that's the whole message. you the sender or the receiver? That would bother me. I have a buddy who...

Speaker 1 (39:47)
I'm the receiver.

for like a week. Just texted me like that. Like he would take the time and it was long. Like it wasn't three emojis. was.

Speaker 2 (39:53)
Uh-huh.

Speaker 3 (40:02)
At some point, isn't it just faster to type?

Speaker 2 (40:05)
But you

can type, I don't know what kind of phone he has, but you can type in your message and then every word that has an emoji associated with it, you can just change it that way.

Speaker 1 (40:16)
But if it means something different in a sentence...

Speaker 2 (40:19)
Sure,

I don't like that guy.

Speaker 3 (40:21)
I didn't either, but you know what?

Speaker 1 (40:23)
Every day I had

something to try and figure out Yeah, I think we just came up with a new game

Speaker 2 (40:26)
Yeah, like the new Wirtle.

Speaker 3 (40:32)
It has to exist.

Speaker 2 (40:33)
Yeah,

that's got to be there. so? ⁓

I mean, well, you'd have to loop your buddy in because he invented the damn thing. Now we're in business, you know, with build.

Speaker 1 (40:46)
you

doing here? This is amazing. New streams of revenue.

Speaker 2 (40:51)
Bill seems like a real firestarter.

Speaker 1 (40:54)
Fire. Starting line.

Speaker 2 (41:00)
You know, I want to indicate fall soccer, so the leaves have got to be orange and red. Not green, because we ain't talking about Spring Little League. Hmm.

Speaker 3 (41:13)
Do you guys type out your text messages? Or do you voice to text? Really?

Speaker 2 (41:22)
I type everything.

Speaker 1 (41:23)
I do a little bit of a hybrid.

Speaker 3 (41:26)
hybrid but you're not fluent in like a day of aerobics

Speaker 2 (41:27)
I don't trust

I don't like... I can't give up control to the voice to text because I want to put my own punctuation in there. Even if it's not warranted. Even... Yes. Yes, I just... You can say it. Yeah, I know, but I don't want to say comma.

Speaker 3 (41:48)
I'll be right next to you.

Speaker 2 (41:58)
I don't want to say, I just want to type it in. Even if the damn spell check is telling me, no, that's not a place for a comma. Stick your Oxford commas up your ass. Like, that's not a place for that comma.

Speaker 3 (42:12)
You know that Vampire Weekend song, Oxford Cop?

Speaker 2 (42:14)
yeah, well, how can X have me?

Speaker 1 (42:17)
you

Speaker 2 (42:18)
Yeah. Yeah. Why do you do a lot of ⁓ text to type?

Speaker 3 (42:24)
No, no, no, I don't. mostly... ⁓ you mean voice? No, I don't do voice much. I type. I type it. And I actually feel the same way as you. I want my punctuation in there. And it makes me nuts when I am driving and have to respond to your voice. I'm like, question mark, question mark. How did you not recognize my intonation? It's a damn question.

Speaker 2 (42:27)
My kid.

Yeah.

Speaker 1 (42:49)
No white

tones.

Speaker 2 (42:52)
My kids do the speech to type though on their devices. They're just talking to their friends, you know, sending a text message. So at least somebody's reading. Yep.

Speaker 3 (43:02)
Boomers are complaining about curses being gone. Complaining

that these kids aren't even going to know how to type soon enough. That's right.

Speaker 2 (43:09)
That's right,

feel it, yeah. God, I got sixth grade algebra on the horizon in two weeks. I'm not ready for that.

Speaker 3 (43:19)
Andrew referenced earlier our owner and CEO and the type of people that we work for and I think that

think those deposits that they make in us and caring about who we are as people and that we are feeling satisfied and complete with our work and with our personal lives really pays off in that so many of the people who work here really take it personally and take it seriously to care that we are.

fundamental one, doing the right thing always, all of the rest of the other 28 of these fundamentals beyond protecting, promoting, treasuring our company's reputation all point to that fact that we care. We care what people think of us. We care that our communities are engaging with us. We care that our customers are having.

the best possible experience that they're treated fairly and right and like one of you said earlier, it all trickles down. So I felt I would be remiss if I didn't take a moment to touch on that one too.

Speaker 2 (44:25)
Very well said, Brian. Thanks everybody.

Andrew Rockoff (44:32)
Thanks for listening to No Vacancy. If you like what you heard, listen to us wherever you stream your podcasts.