In high school, I had a teacher who used historical stock records from the 1920s to help teach us the factors that led to the Great Depression. Toward the end of the segment, he led a culminating exercise in which students got to play the market to see how well we’d do, particularly considering we’d learned how the market behaved during its surge and collapse. What seemed easy on the surface was surprisingly challenging. We were essentially operating like inside traders, and yet, collectively, the class largely repeated the same historical behaviors of greed and panic. It was an excellent history lesson and an eye-opening moment to what drives human calamity.

Investing is difficult because there’s inherent risk. The greater the stakes, the bigger the potential return or fall. It’s not for everyone because like any gamble, you have to be willing to fail. The rush of the 1929 exercise was in trying to time all the factors to walk away with our shirts intact. I wound up with the second-highest earning total in the class largely because I used the teacher’s lessons like a mentorship. He’d given us the path and resources to succeed, but it was up to us to stay disciplined and read the circumstances correctly as they were revealed during the game.

Winning at self-storage isn’t entirely dissimilar. The industry draws outside investors because the sector has excellent cash-on-cash returns, shows resilience during sluggish economies and, on the surface, looks ridiculously easy. The danger, of course, is overestimating the simplicity of easy money. Thankfully, there’s no shortage of industry resources to help learn the ropes and corral strategic nuggets for making smart decisions. Inside Self-Storage has a long history of providing investment insight and education. Investing is a cornerstone to our industry coverage and a key part of our annual education that’s part of the ISS World Expo.

The ISS Store is also stocked with investing resources for those who wish to go in-depth and gather a wide swath of expert insight. From DVDs and on-demand video to books on creating and growing wealth to analysis software and other related business tools, the store is a central hub for learning the nuances of the industry and building a strong foundation for investment success.

Last month, we introduced two new online courses that offer several hours of instruction and discovery. “How to Make BIG Money in Self-Storage” and “Self-Storage Investing Course: Finding Private Money” are designed to help students evaluate facility acquisitions, access capital and grow a portfolio. Produced by Scott Meyers, who owns self-storage facilities through Kingdom Storage Holdings, the coursework is hosted on Meyers’ Self Storage Investing online platform. We’re excited to offer access to both courses with exclusive pricing at $200 off the normal rate.

“How to Make BIG Money” is a six-video course that teaches users to find and evaluate potential deals, fund acquisitions, manage new properties, and develop the proper mindset for success. Offering nearly three hours of education, the sessions address why self-storage is a smart investment, how to analyze potential purchases, funding options, mistakes to avoid, critical steps for success, and a real-life case study.

“Finding Private Money,” is a 19-video course that includes the “Big Money” curriculum, plus 13 additional classes recorded during Meyers’ “The Private Money Summit.” Offering nearly 19 hours of expert insight, it teaches the basics of evaluating potential deals and explains how Meyers and his team secured seven-figure investment from private capital to help fuel their own self-storage ventures. The videos also go in-depth on how to source capital, covering crowdfunding, private retirement accounts, lenders, self-directed 401(k) and more. It also includes access to Meyers’ Valuator software, which allows users to analyze potential acquisitions and make realistic projections.

Meyers got his start in real estate by turning around single-family homes and then apartments. He turned his attention to self-storage in the early 1990s and hasn’t looked back, choosing to focus on the acquisition, development and syndication of facilities nationwide. His portfolio comprises more than 2.2 million square feet in about 13,000 units. He’s made his mark on the industry by offering online courses, education tools, live events and mentoring designed to help professionals launch their own self-storage businesses.

While the world has been stagnant due to the pandemic, self-storage has continued to attract investment. Folks like Meyers know when to exploit a market. If you have an inkling or an itch to make a multi-million dollar self-storage investment, there’s a lot that can go awry if you don’t have a grasp on the market dynamics at play, a keen eye for what constitutes a smart buy, a plan to attract financing or other investors, and the know-how to strategically structure a deal. Having access to a wealth of information and someone’s track record for success is a positive step in the right direction.