Small Business Spotlight
Falmouth Self Storage
Curious about the spark that ignited Falmouth Self-Storage’s entrepreneurial journey? Read below to uncover the inspiring story behind their leap into the world of self-storage. From overcoming challenges to seizing opportunities, discover the lessons learned on their path to success!
Q- What inspired you to start your own business, and what have been the most rewarding aspects of your entrepreneurial journey so far? Can you share a particular challenge your business faced and how you overcame it? What lessons did you learn from that experience?
A- From an entrepreneur point of view the first and second question dovetail together for us, because a hardship led to the inspiration for getting into Self Storage. It happened when the founding partners had a fire at their “Student Services” moving business nearby the UVA campus, and had to use storage to put salvaged items in a safe place while restoration to their offices could be done. Impressed with the business model, they decided to venture into it. That choice to stay the course in hardship, and redirect into other avenues strategically, is something entrepreneurs will often face.
Q- How do you navigate the ever-changing landscape of digital marketing and e-commerce? Are there any tools or strategies that have worked exceptionally well for your business?
A- Adopting Tech is one of the trickiest areas for businesses because expense is a component and you often don’t have an in house tech expert. Well, about 7 years ago did not have an online payment feature on the web site, and are really just learning about google pay per click now, so we struggle like anyone, but we do have a couple rules:
- Don’t rush to be the early adopter, tech changes quickly, and often improves a lot in its second (or third) generation. ( after the bugs are worked out).
- Consider the real result the tech offers, and if it will bring in margin gain or market share gain ( will it move the needle?) we can all get excited about new technology, but remaining practical about how it helps you do business is key.
Q- How do you stay innovative and adapt to changing market trends and consumer preferences?
A- Probably the biggest piece for us is understanding that a tenant comes into our office or goes to our website, because change is happening in their life, and they need a secure place for their items, temporarily. So listening to them and why they are calling us for help, has enabled us to adapt, we have added convenience items over the years, like using a call center for after hours calls, and we now offer electronic signatures via email for rental agreements. These things are for our customers based on their needs (and also the industry trends of today.)
