With the holiday season approaching, many children are already showing budding enthusiasm for the goodies awaiting them in a little more than a month. But suppose your facility were receiving giftsfrom ownership or maybe "Storage Claus." What could you really use to make life easier and business better at your facility or facilities?

This question is kicking off a discussion on Self-Storage Talk, the industry's largest online forum and the official online forum of Inside Self-Storage.

Maybe what you really want are updated software and computer systems, or a new surveillance system. Maybe you'd be best served with smartphones for the staff. Speaking of staff, if you're feeling overwhelmed, maybe what you really want is some help around the place; an assistant would be excellent. Or perhaps it's something as simple as a better vacation schedule in 2011. Then there's the obvious one: More and better tenants.

It might seem useless to make far-fetched wishes, but only when you examine your current situation can you decide what would make it better. Plus, before you take ideas to your leadership about what you need, it's good to practice the pitch to a network of your peers, which is exactly what Self-Storage Talk provides.

So, get to the wish list and put your items on there. You never know what good things the holidays might bring. Of course, only registered members of SST can log in and post their wishes, so if you haven't joined yet, you can register here for free.

One last note: Everyone have a lovely Thanksgiving with their families. Every day I log onto SST, I am thankful for the great online self-storage community, and that makes my job very enjoyable. Thank you, and let's have a great holiday season.