Dotsons to speak about online storage auctions at Inside Self Storage World Expo

Just saw an article on InsideSelfStorage.com which says that Dan & Laura Dotson will be speaking at their World Expo in March. Apparently, they will be assisting attorney Jeffrey Greenberger, a partner with the law firm Katz, Greenberger & Norton LLP, with his presentation on storage auctions, live vs. online.

Should be interesting, I should probably attend...heck, it's in Vegas and it's a tax write off. 

insideselfstorage.com/blogs/scoop/2013/12/the-new-year-brings-new-changes-to-the-inside-self-storage-world-expo.aspx

You don't even attend the shows 20 minutes from your house.  Why would you go all the way to Vegas?  Maybe you should speak at the seminar.  We all would love to hear of your philosophy and experience on the subject.

You don't even attend the shows 20 minutes from your house.  Why would you go all the way to Vegas?  Maybe you should speak at the seminar.  We all would love to hear of your philosophy and experience on the subject.

I'm not much of a public speaker, but I do have a knack for getting my message out. Speaking of that, I heard that one of the speakers at the expo is going to be talking about Storage Treasures in their presentation. Looks like you've stabbed too many people in the back lately and Karma is coming back around to bite you.

 

I'm not much of a public speaker, but I do have a knack for getting my message out.

Getting the word out about one's services in one-on-one personal meetings is equally important (if not more so) than being able to promote a service through the written word on websites.  People like to feel a handshake, look a promoter in the eye and get a sense of what someone is like in person...not just in the printed word on a screen page.

Also, the free aspect is one of the things you promote as being different than anyone else, and perhaps that is a good thing, or perhaps not. The main roadblock (as I see it) at the present time is not having any substanial presence of regular, on-going listings.  Of course if you can't effectively push the FREE aspect, it's a little hard to give them much more than that.

Also, the free aspect is one of the things you promote as being different than anyone else, and perhaps that is a good thing, or perhaps not. The main roadblock (as I see it) at the present time is not having any substanial presence of regular, on-going listings.  Of course if you can't effectively push the FREE aspect, it's a little hard to give them much more than that.

I've been extremely busy the last 4-5 months and haven't had the time to reach out to storage executives like I had planned to. My schedule has finally cleared up and I recently restarted my marketing campaign. I understand the value of one on one communication; however, it's difficult when your trying to contact 56K facilities in 50 states. I do plan on attending the trade shows in the future, whenever my schedule permits it.

... it's difficult when your trying to contact 56K facilities in 50 states. I do plan on attending the trade shows in the future, whenever my schedule permits it.

So, you're expanding your listing service to 50 states (hoping for more revenue coming in there) and letting the virtual service tread water.  Sounds like you're spreading yourself thin, not concentrating on one venture at a time. Maybe good, maybe bad. You could always hire more people to do the dirty work of calling all those 56,000 facilities.

Personally, I've seen you buying more lockers the last few months. Doing that and moving the goods is truly a time-consuming job....is the value there worth giving up the time promoting your ether based services ?

So, you're expanding your listing service to 50 states (hoping for more revenue coming in there) and letting the virtual service tread water.  Sounds like you're spreading yourself thin, not concentrating on one venture at a time. Maybe good, maybe bad. You could always hire more people to do the dirty work of calling all those 56,000 facilities.

Personally, I've seen you buying more lockers the last few months. Doing that and moving the goods is truly a time-consuming job....is the value there worth giving up the time promoting your ether based services ?

I think there may be a misunderstanding. I'm not expanding the auction schedule to 50 states, I meant that we're going to be contacting every storage facility in the U.S. about VSA, by phone or email. To save some time, I'm trying to work out a deal with a major storage aggregator to send out a mass email advertisement to storage facilities in their database. Not very personal, but the alternative would cost tens of thousands of dollars and take months to complete.

Yes, I have been buying more units than usual and it has overwhelmed me. I hire people to move the stuff but the time sorting, posting ads on Craigslist, meeting customers, really ads up. Now add in a full time job and I've had very little time for anything else. Yes, I should probably quit buying units for a while and focus on VSA full time, but I love buying storage units. What can I say? That's like telling a dog to quit chasing a cat.

I think there may be a misunderstanding. I'm not expanding the auction schedule to 50 states, I meant that we're going to be contacting every storage facility in the U.S. about VSA, by phone or email. To save some time, I'm trying to work out a deal with a major storage aggregator to send out a mass email advertisement to storage facilities in their database. Not very personal, but the alternative would cost tens of thousands of dollars and take months to complete.

Yes, I have been buying more units than usual and it has overwhelmed me. I hire people to move the stuff but the time sorting, posting ads on Craigslist, meeting customers, really ads up. Now add in a full time job and I've had very little time for anything else. Yes, I should probably quit buying units for a while and focus on VSA full time, but I love buying storage units. What can I say? That's like telling a dog to quit chasing a cat.

OK, got it. Letting all 56K facilities know about the vsa service.

Now, so I don't again get the wrong idea, do I understand from the last paragraph quoted above that you are doing the following:

1) auction lists for Texas
2) vsa site and development
3) buying lockers
4) "now add in a full-time job" (is this in addition to the 3 other things in this list? If so, what is the nature of the work?

4) "now add in a full-time job" (is this in addition to the 3 other things in this list? If so, what is the nature of the work?

Locating the auctions and preparing the schedules is my full time job. Oh, and you can add moderating & contributing to this forum and taking care of 4 year old little girl to the mix.