Ever feel like your self-storage operation could use a jolt of energy and new ideas, but you can't afford to bring on a new employee? If you're a self-storage vendor, do you ever feel like your company needs some new approaches for developing industry solutions? If so, you know how valuable it is when a smart, enterprising student wants to work for you for free. Such a student has emerged on Self-Storage Talk (SST), the industry's largest online community.

Through the thread "Put a Stanford MBA to Work," member StanfordMBA introduces himself to the community and is asking many questions to glean valuable insight about what the industry needs to be more successful on both macro and micro levels. Why? As part of his course of study, he and a team of fellow students are working on an entrepreneurship project and want to revolve it around self-storage. That could involve creating their own consultancy or vendor product, or working closely with an existing operation or business. Essentially, they want to know...

I think it's a worthwhile opportunity for forum members. If you interact closely with StanfordMBA and his team, they might provide you with some dynamite business-improvers at no cost. I've spoken to him on the phone, and he's a bright fellow. In addition to pursuing and MBA at Stanford, he's got an undergraduate degree from Duke. More important, he's already familiar with the industry, as his father and uncles run a self-storage operation in Sacramento, Calif. This could be the beginning of the industry's next big innovation, and you could benefit.

To interact with StanfordMBA on the discussion thread, you must be a registered member of SST, but registration is free and can be done by visiting www.selfstoragetalk.com and clicking "register."