I quit Corporate America to start a self-storage company.
In September 2021, I had the biggest meeting of my Corporate life.
For the prior three week period, I worked from 5AM to 12AM to analyze $4B of real estate with my team.
Our goal? Receive investment committee approval for the largest partnership in our company’s history.
The grueling hours would be worth it, they said.
When the meeting began, I noticed there were dozens of people in the zoom meeting…and all their eyes were on me, a lowly Associate three months into a new job.
Over the next hour, I overcame a barrage of attacks from the best investors in the world and held my own.
The decision was unanimous: we were approved!
Immediately, I was sent congratulatory emails and messages from higher ups.
I then ran into the President of the company in the hallway who said, “Noah, good job. Actually, no…Really great job!”
I was riding high on the road to promotion, and feeling accomplished.
But then the dust settled, and people moved on.
While the grueling hours resulted in a professional victory, it culminated into something else: heightened stress, severe anxiety, and a lack of time spent with friends and family.
I remember for weeks on end being unable to sleep. I would lay in bed physically motionless but mentally swimming through a minefield of stress.
What if the dynamic excel model crashed during our presentation? What if we failed to analyze a key aspect of the partnership that leadership would attack ad nauseum? What if committee rejected us, or approved us but we were wrong and caused the loss of $4B?
Was victory worth the sleepless nights, loss of personal joy, and gaining weight for the first time in my life?
I was severely burnt out, and the thought of doing this over and over again for forty years made me sick.
I then made a decision that changed my life.
Back in 2018 at a prior company, my boss told me a big regret of his was not buying self storage properties.
He was a career investment professional, well-respected, and very smart. He would tell me: "learn from me, but don't emulate me."
I told him I would.
Over five years in institutional investing, I gained exposure to many worthwhile asset classes: general equipment, rail cars, aircraft, office, industrial, hospitality, seniors housing, multi-family, build to rent.
But none grabbed my attention like self-storage.
After working on Cubesmart and Public Storage construction projects, I learned about storage’s resiliency through cycles, how simple it is to manage compared to other business types, and its overall compelling investment thesis.
Fast-forward to September 2021, right after I got approval for the largest partnership in our company’s history, it hit me: I need to buy a self-storage property, learn how to operate it, and pursue it full time.
Ultimately, what I was proposing wasn't a risky technology solution to a sophisticated problem, but a proven business in an asset class I had experience in.
From that day on, I would spend 20 minutes daily browsing self storage listings focused on $500K - $1MM properties within a five hour drive of Austin, TX.
A few months later, while still working at my "real" job, I found the perfect property called Rosewood Self Storage.
Isn’t she beautiful?
The property was owned by a lovely husband and wife for many years, located 4.5 hours from my house, and in my target price range.
I put in an offer for the property and officially closed on the property in April 2022.
Around the same time, I got three more properties under contract worth $15MM in cost, significantly raising the stakes. But I believed in myself and so long as I could raise the money, I would have a sufficient seed portfolio to support my immediate needs.
The next day, I gave my two weeks notice to my stable Corporate job and quit.
I felt liberated, and was officially an entrepreneur.
To make this time period even more profound, I got engaged within the same week!
Though I walked into a challenging macro environment, I teamed up with excellent partners, raised the funds, and closed on all three properties.
Corporate America does a wonderful job at scaring off smart people from leaving. It promises a stable salary, quality healthcare, and a strong feeling of importance, all of which creates a tidal wave of rationalizations to keep you trapped.
But there is an alternative.
Fast-forward to today, we manage over 400,000 SF of storage across Texas, Tennessee, and Arkansas, have a strong investor base, and I now encourage others to quit Corporate America to buy small businesses.
What are you waiting for?
"The best investment you can make is in yourself." — Warren Buffett