I don’t mean to be disrespectful…
The TV personalities of Dan and Laura seem to be very warm and honest. For sure they would be very delightful in a video series. An attorney could add a whole bunch of information into the mix that would be interesting for the auction buyer, no doubt. And the stories that the buyers could bring to the table would round out a great offering very nicely.
But… (There is always one of those - ;o))
Not being disrespectful…
Two items;
One, wasn’t Glendon Cameron way ahead of the curve with his video training series? I mean, I agree, his is a front end for the book sales back end. However, there is a plethora of tidbits in the entertaining (IMHO) videos. Agreed, yours might be presented without the coarse language and more tuned for Gen-X but Glendon has been doing this for a long while and the amount of information in the YouTube videos is phenomenal. Maybe you might offer your insights/concerns about Glendons YouTube Channel.
Two, (Remember, not trying to be disrespectful), the Storage Treasures web site is a very attractive site. There is one downfall of the site however. I counted 24 JavaScript calls on the page you linked above. IMHO, this qualifies the web site as (IMHO – and succeeds to be) a very over programmed, clunky (slow), and resource sucking web site. Couples this with the added ActiveX embedded video - well, you know what I am getting at.
The average visitor on Storage Treasures isn’t going to have the latest Mac or Windows O/S with a super over-clocked processor. Those with the newest and best equipment are not the average visitors on Storage Treasures. Again, just my opinion. I would love to hear who y’all think is your target market if you are willing to share. After all, this is a discussion forum, no?
And don’t get me wrong. The 24 JavaScript calls will work with the better equipment. For example, my “workhorse” computer is Win-Xp P4 with 1g of memory. I like to use this machine for development work because if stuff won’t run on it, in my mind, the program qualifies as clunky and doesn’t pass my standards.
I also have two other machines here, a Win-7 notebook and a custom build Win-8 desktop. The notebook moves through Storage Treasures somewhat okay. There is a little bit of stall here and there. The Desktop does instantaneous loading of web pages on Storage treasures.
I guess my point is, if your target market is the “Average Person”, Storage Treasures leaves a lot of people out in the cold and not able to use the site. My recommendation is to do some performance tests on Storage Treasures. Get a true “feeling” for what the average user will be experiencing on your site.
I welcome your input Lance…
Great advice and questions: TY
No links in here - I will never another one on this site.
We have built ST to a high level and maybe have hurt older machines. One issue we are concerned about in the delivery of the development in programing now. We are bringing to market a platform to help people connect with "stuff". Think of it as a social platform for stuff, not people. It is larger and more complex than the entire site now.
The platform is designed for people to trade without (us) getting involved in the transaction....Dont want to bore with the details...but about 60-90 days out.
We approached Glendon day one. We were very serious about bringing his knowledge to the table. The result was not positive towards a business relationship. We respect Glendon and his followers, we just chose to take a different approach. We are offering an alternative, the market (you) will make decisions how you choose to gather information.
The group we have has tremendous experience. Many people dont know my background and relation to Dan Dotson. Dan has been a hard core auctioneer and my auctioneer of 15 years at my storage facilities. (sorry for all the my's) We fell into Reality TV by accident and thought it would not get out of season one - we were wrong. At one point there were 36 producers chasing this TV concept, we just got lucky and rode the winning horse. (although we did think OP was the best of the bunch) It would have happened with or without our help. The train was coming, we jumped on not knowing where it was headed.
Glendon has huge background in buying units, but that is limiting if someone wants to understand the entire process.
Not only do we have Pro Buyers, but the ST Team represents: over 100 storage facilities across the entire country. (the founders own and operate) The "about us" section gives backgrounds if you are interested in knowing the spin.
The top attorneys in the industry.
Top auctioneers in the country. (although we lost one yesterday RIP)
Storage managers
We had a goal day one to protect the auction buyer (you), the tenant who is delinquent or missing, the storage company (industry) and the auctioneer. We dont think this is impossible - we think open information helps all.
We can answer any question from any position, which is in your best interest to get the whole playing field...
Some of the things ST has been working on that go un noticed are:
Mobil app close to market.
Partnerships with valuation companies to offer ST members discounted service.
Started a system to find storage units to rent that does not charge anybody. That might not sound like much, but the other systems drive up the cost on the storage unit you might rent someday.
Started the largest charity in the storage industry to help others.
Fighting lien laws across the country to make the process easier for all. You I and the storage facilities are tired of being hijacked by newspapers.
Everybody knows that the FREE model has some sort of revenue associated. ST is not a non-profit and will have to bring products of value to market, but we believe there is a balance that will help many people.
Sorry for the long response.