Whether you're building your first self-storage facility from scratch or you're acquiring a facility to add to your budding empire, making a big investment in self-storage is daunting and challenging. After the economic tumult over the past couple of years, it's tempting to sit on the sidelines and keep your money in your pocket. But the savviest self-storage investors are still getting into the game, and they're intelligently seeking out as much input as they can to succeed.

Self-Storage Talk, the official online forum for Inside Self-Storage, has an area dedicated to conversations about self-storage investment, financing, expansion, renovation and construction. A recent thread was started by someone familiar with campground investing and now he's considering breaking into self-storage. He asked a bevy of questions, aimed at industry experts.

Thankfully, a legion of self-storage consultants, owners and operators leapt to the thread-starters aid and gave feedback on cap rates, pricing units and the occupancy-profitability balance. After the responders gave their own opinions, many posted links to other resources, such as e-books and webinars, to help the thread-starter with his quest for information.

I don't think it's presumptuous to say the potential owner got what he came for when he visited SST. He may not have committed to his pending acquisition yet, but at least he knows there's a welcoming and intelligent community online that he can always reach out to if he ventures into the business. The conversation is still ongoing, too. If you have something to add, feel free to jump in. You must be a registered user, though, if you're not already. It's free to sign up and takes only a few minutes.

If you're looking to get into the self-storage industry, there's no better place to get information than the Inside Self-Storage World Expo, Sept. 29 - Oct. 1 in New Orleans. Sign up for the Developers Seminar, a workshop that includes an overview of the industry and self-storage construction. Attendees will then "build" a self-storage project in class, and run through if/then scenarios. The seminar promises to be a real learning experience for new self-storage developers. You can also attend seminars on financing, solar applications, marketing, facility management and more. Get the full agenda here.

You can also network face-to-face with all of the industrys experts you chat with on SST. Follow discussions about the expo in this designated area of the forum. We hope to see you there!