Alese Johnston: Turning Self-Storage into Smart Investing

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Houston, Texas. It’s time for Houston Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Trisha Stetzel: Hello, Houston. Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio. I’m so excited about my guest today, Alese Johnston, visionary entrepreneur, investor, and co-founder of Storage Trader, the first platform for fractional self storage investing. With over a decade in the industry and author of Beyond the Locks, Alese helps everyday investors access a resilient asset class while building real community around it. She’s also the creator of the Fabulous 70 challenge. We’ll talk a little bit about that in a few minutes. A movement redefining aging through adventure and vitality. From entrepreneurship and investing strategy to personal reinvention, Alese brings an energized, future focused perspective that I can’t wait to dig into. Alese, welcome to the show.

Alese Johnston: Thank you. I love that introduction. My ego might be, you know, blown out a little bit. My goodness, this woman.

Trisha Stetzel: It excites me to do that because often we don’t do it for ourselves. So I love to be able to give that gift to people. Uh. So glad. I’m glad that you liked it. Alese, welcome to the show. We need to learn a little bit more about who Alese is. So tell us, um.

Alese Johnston: Um, I am a long time serial entrepreneur. I am a I took a human design test last weekend, and it said I was a manifestor. And I thought, well, that fits, because I’m always starting something.

Speaker4: I Love it, but I.

Alese Johnston: Am very enthusiastic about self storage. It’s my favorite investment class. Um, although I am on the board of the Arkansas Angel Alliance, so I have to evangelize angel investing, but they’re a good balance for each other. You know, having some real estate that’s real recession proof and some angel investments to, you know, support startups. And so I like that as a mix.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that okay. So I’m very curious about self storage. How how in the world did you get into that space in the first place?

Alese Johnston: Um, I was at the time, uh, like 15 years ago, uh, doing a lot of consulting work for banks on the East Coast and putting a fair amount of change in the bank, as one might imagine. Um, Um, and I was telling my daughter, I have to have something to invest this in. It can’t just be sitting in the bank. And I was not a huge fan of having all of it in the stock market. So at the time, she was a real estate agent, and she ran across this listing in the MLS for a little storage facility. And she called and said, you’ve got to come home and take a look at this. It’s right up your alley. So I did. And, um, it took us a little while to buy it because we couldn’t agree on the price. You know how sellers always want more money than buyers think an asset is worth?

Speaker4: Of course.

Alese Johnston: How it is. So it took us a hot minute, but we finally ended up buying it. And I loved the business. It’s easy. And. But you. It’s not like apartments or single family homes where you always have somebody calling you with a stopped up toilet or a broken air conditioner. Um, none of none of that kind of stuff goes on in the storage industry. It was just. It was fun.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s awesome. So for people who are new to this concept of investing in self-storage, what makes it such an attractive investment opportunity?

Alese Johnston: The fact that people always need storage here in the US and increasingly worldwide. People don’t know what to do with all their stuff. And we have so much stuff. Uh, so you gotta have some place to put it. I mean, your Christmas decorations. Nobody has room for their Christmas decorations in their house, or they put them in their garage, and then they have no place for their boat or their car. So we, you know, or somebody’s These parents pass away and leave them all the stuff in their house. And where are you going to put it? You got or are you moving to a nursing home and you’re not ready to give up all your stuff? Yeah, we have many reasons why we’re so attached to our stuff. So storage, providing people with space to put all that stuff where they can get to it when they want it, but they don’t have to look at it when they don’t want to. It’s perfect business.

Trisha Stetzel: Huh? Absolutely. Well, and you and I teased when we were on the phone about you can’t swing a you can’t swing a stick without hitting a storage unit in Texas. I guess that means that we have a lot of stuff. I’m just saying Texans have a lot of stuff, and I didn’t share with you. We have six storage units. I know it’s crazy. We do. We have six storage units. That’s awesome. We moved. We moved in 2020 and we just put stuff in storage. And yeah, so it is a great investment when you’re on the other side of it. Alese. Yes it is. Yes. Oh my goodness.

Alese Johnston: Pay you because they don’t want to lose their stuff.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah that’s right. Absolutely. So talk to me about storage trader. Uh, I know it’s a platform. Can you tell us a little more details about it? So if people are interested in playing around in this space, how can they use Storage Trader to do that?

Alese Johnston: We make investing in self storage super easy for the average person. Uh, if I mean if you want to own one and run it yourself, you can go see your real estate agent and buy one and go through all the process of learning how the industry works. And it’s pretty easy, but it is business. It does require attention. But if you just want to park some money in an asset class that really does generate good returns, then you can try it over to Storage Trader. And just like shopping on Amazon, you can take a look at the offerings that are available on our platform. And well, if you see one you like, we connect you up with a deal sponsor and they’ll happily take your investment in their storage facility. So that’s half of what storage trader does. The flip side of that is it’s a lot of trouble to raise money when you, uh, are looking to buy a new storage facility. And the way the banks are behaving lately, they want a lot of cash to go along with the debt that they’re willing to give you. So one way to get that cash is to take in investors. And if you don’t happen to have enough golf buddies who are willing to write you a check to fill out your deal. Then, you know, we can put you in touch with people who understand the asset class and are ready, willing and able and accredited, which is important to the SEC to write you those checks. We make that super easy to get those introductions.

Trisha Stetzel: Wow. I, I knew I loved you from the moment we met you. I you’re you have such, such a forward thinking mind about something that’s so simple and a way to make it simple for others. And I just love that. I think that’s fantastic. So let’s talk a little bit about the book that you wrote. What a great name beyond the locks. So tell me a little bit more about the book.

Alese Johnston: So the book is a primer on everything you need to know when you buy a storage facility. How do you run it there? There’s a ton of material on the market that you can read about how to do diligence and, uh, what everything you need to know before you buy it, like, how to how to underwrite them, all that kind of stuff. But I didn’t see anything on the market that said, what do I do now that I own it? And, you know, like, oh, it’s mine. Oops. Um, anyhow, I, I actually sold one to someone who made a mess out of it in under a month. It’s like we sold them a business that had a fabulous revenue stream. It was very well run. We had customers who loved us and, uh, very high occupancy. And the people that we sold it to paid us a lot of money for that revenue stream and then turned around in under a month, they had dropped occupancy by about 15%, had customers complaining to the Better Business Bureau writing complaints on social media. It was awful to watch and it broke my heart like I didn’t mean to do that to my customers, you know?

Trisha Stetzel: Right. Yeah.

Alese Johnston: So I sat down and wrote a book on how to not do that, how to communicate effectively, and how to transfer all the tech that’s involved. Like there are actual software conversions involved in acquiring a storage facility. And so I’ve talked about all that. So it’s a checklist.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that it’s a how to guide. It’s perfect to go along with Storage Trader. So if you guys are interested go to Storage Trader Comm I’m sure there’s more information there about the platform that Alese talked about. Where can they find beyond the locks.

Alese Johnston: They can find beyond the locks, either by going to beyond the locks? Com obviously. Or you can go to Amazon and just search for the book name or my name. Either one will get you there. Um, can I brag just a little bit?

Trisha Stetzel: Oh my goodness, yes, please.

Alese Johnston: I found out this week that we earned a bronze with the Global Book Awards. People in the Education and Reference section. So.

Trisha Stetzel: Wow. Congratulations, Alese. That’s fantastic. All right, you guys go to Amazon. You can find beyond the locks. If you’re looking up Alese’s name, it’s spelled a l e e. And it’s Johnston with a t j o h and s t o n. And Alese, if people just want to reach out to you, what’s the best way for them to connect?

Alese Johnston: The best way is Alese at Storage Trader. Com.

Trisha Stetzel: Everything’s so simple.

Alese Johnston: I like it’s.

Trisha Stetzel: Simple and straightforward I love this. Okay I’m going to go a little bit off the beaten path because I love this fabulous 70 challenge. Alese. So one you have to tell us what it is and why you created it.

Alese Johnston: Ah. Um, I don’t do boring as you might have figured out from talking to me. Um, I always have six different things going on. Um, and so when I was 69, a few years ago, I read this article in the Wall Street Journal written by this man who said that he had realized in talking to his friends that he had become boring, that he was telling the same stories over and over again. And I thought, oh, horrors. I don’t want to go there. Um, and I realized I had been doing that. So I said, I challenged myself for my upcoming 70th birthday to do 70 new things that year. And this was no small undertaking because I have not led a boring life up to now. So finding seven things, 70 things I had never actually done before, uh, took a little thought. Um, and I also have learned about myself that I need a little bit of accountability or I will sometimes skew off the trail. As you know, it’s an important thing to know about yourself. So I told several friends and invited them to hold me accountable for getting this done. And then I thought, I’ll be even more public about this. I will start a blog and write about every one of my 70 new adventures. And that is like the ultimate accountability when you have to do it. And two, then you have to write about it. Um, and then it kind of took on a life of its own. I realized that not only was I holding myself accountable, but I was somehow holding a mirror up to my friends who were of similar age going, you got to do this, too. And that the challenge that became like the conversation people would run into me at, you know, coffee shops, the bar, wherever and go, hey, I did this new thing. And what have you done lately. And I love that.

Trisha Stetzel: Mhm. That’s fantastic. And you know turning 70 for you is not about slowing down but speeding up and doing more cool things. So do you have to be 70 to take the challenge. Alese.

Alese Johnston: No not really. I mean no.

Trisha Stetzel: You don’t you don’t look 70. And I know that you don’t feel 70. You guys, if you’re listening and not watching on YouTube, you need to skip over to the YouTube channel so you can see this beautiful, amazing, vibrant woman that you would never know was 70 years old. Alese. Oh my goodness, this is so much fun to talk about and getting people involved. So are you running this challenge, this fab, this fabulous 70 challenge somewhere where people can participate with you?

Alese Johnston: Absolutely. Yes. There is a place on the website where people can drop me an email and tell me their story, and I will happily share it with their permission. The more the merrier. And I have continued even though I accomplished my challenge and I’m now 71, I have continued to do new things and write about them. The the big takeaway for me and what I hope to. Make other people adopt somehow, or the other I guess make is the wrong word. But encourage us is I learned to quit telling myself, I’ll do this later. I’ll do this when I have more money. I’ll do this when I have somebody to go do it with. Like there’s always some lame excuse for why you don’t do things. And setting a challenge like that forces you to step past all that and figure out how to get it done. And I’ve become a different person By virtue of setting this challenge for myself, I’m much more likely to say yes to things than I was before. And I think that’s super important for somebody in their seventh decade. It’s like, learn to say yes and just go have some fun.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. That reminds me, we had a conversation around community and how important it is to surround yourself with other people, people that are going to help you grow. So tell me what your thoughts are around the people that you bring into. I’ll call it your room who you allow to be in your space.

Alese Johnston: Uh, well, you know that old saying that your mama always told you not to hang out with the bad kids at school because you turn into the five people you spend the most time with. And I have found over the course of my life that that is incredibly true. If you’re if you’re five people are energetic and alive and have a growth mindset, then they will encourage that in you. If they’re all eating bad food and don’t know what the purpose is and can’t get off the couch, that’s it’s contagious. Um, but I’ve been reading a lot lately because longevity is a interest of mine. I mean, as it would be at this age. Um, but I’ve been going to some longevity conferences, and I keep hearing these speakers talk about how important community is and how important the people you hang out with are to your life. And I found some research that shows that people who are lonely, uh, suffer from that. It’s like it is. There’s a the surgeon General published this paper that said that being lonely was as detrimental to your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. 15. Can you imagine?

Speaker5: Wow. No.

Alese Johnston: Hmm. So don’t be lonely.

Speaker5: Like don’t be.

Alese Johnston: Figure it out. Invite a friend.

Speaker5: Absolutely.

Trisha Stetzel: Love that. So there are a lot of lonely people out there right now. Alese, I think that 2020 sent us into this space where being home alone or being just at home became okay and not getting out and being a part of something bigger than just you and your house and maybe your dogs, uh, in your house. So if there are people out there who do feel lonely, they’ve gotten comfortable and just being in their own space with themselves, and they find themselves not like they don’t even like other human beings. I’ve heard people say that. What would you say to them?

Alese Johnston: Uh. Call me. Uh, no.

Speaker5: Just just kidding.

Alese Johnston: Um, I would encourage them to, like, dig deep on why it is they’ve gotten comfortable with being lonely and find some way to bust out. Uh, take a friend to coffee or out to drinks, or call someone up and have a real conversation. Something that’s not about anything divisive. No politics. Don’t talk about the weather. Don’t you know, don’t talk about how much you hate AI. Find something that you can go deep on and have some fun with it. Or, you know, the restaurants need your business. Go out and have dinner.

Speaker5: Yeah, I love that. Or join the fabulous 70 challenge. There’s a whole community out there. Oh.

Alese Johnston: Yes. Go to the gym, play pickleball. Go do something that involves other people and not a video game and a computer screen.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. And we’ve got to learn how to turn that stuff off and enjoy human beings again. Right. It’s it’s. Yeah, I know we’re we’re now naming our AI chat bot, and it’s our best friend now. And I don’t know.

Alese Johnston: I haven’t done that because I have totally.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. We all need one. But we also have to have humans in our lives. Right?

Alese Johnston: To your humans are very important. You know, I was bragging to the to the girls I went to happy hour with last night. Don’t think I’m an alcoholic, but, um, last weekend was the best weekend because I had dinner with a couple that I recently met, and they were delightful. Then I got up on Saturday morning and had coffee with another couple friend. I had a friend come over and spend part of the afternoon watching football with me, and then, um, I got up Sunday morning and went to a different coffee shop and spent four hours talking about entrepreneurship with another friend. And then my kids came over and watched the Chiefs with me. So I was like peopled up all weekend. Wow.

Trisha Stetzel: That is amazing and I love how active you are. You mentioned I want to circle back around to angel investing because you mentioned it a little bit earlier, and how it really plays a role in all of the things that you’re doing right now. So you talk a little bit about angel investing. I would love.

Alese Johnston: To. Entrepreneurship is obviously fueled on capital. It’s like people cannot take all these magic ideas that they have and bring them to market if they don’t have some fuel, and there have to be people who are willing to write those early stage checks, they’re very high risk, and you might just think of them as philanthropy. It’s like you got to assume you’re just giving your money away because you might be, but you also might hit a unicorn that 10 or 20 X’s. But in the meanwhile, you’ve helped a business start. You’ve made jobs for people, and that’s how things happen. You know, we hear so much conversation around all the tech bros and the unicorns and stuff, but but angel investing is about bringing that home to your own community and taking a look at who’s starting a business in your hometown and how can you help them. And if you can’t write them a check, then volunteer to be on their board or volunteer to help them get their books done, or find some way to be an angel to them.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely.

Alese Johnston: Especially if it’s a woman led company, because they only get 2% of the investment dollars that go into angel investing every year. And yet these women will consistently outperform the returns of any company that’s run by guys. Not that I don’t like guys. I love them, but the numbers will prove the point. Invest in women. Yeah.

Trisha Stetzel: Wow. Because they go get stuff done.

Alese Johnston: Right? Yes. Yes, we do make it happen.

Speaker6: Oh my goodness.

Trisha Stetzel: I love this. So, Alese, I know you won’t believe it, but we’re already getting to the back end of our time together. I knew this was going to happen. I know we’ve covered so much ground. You have been so much fun. I’ve got one last question for you. So you’ve built your entire career. At least the part that I know about from our short conversation today around investing, reinventing community. If you could leave our listeners with one message today about embracing curiosity and vitality at any stage of life, what would it be?

Alese Johnston: Oh, you just said it. Embrace curiosity and vitality. Um, really, my outstanding bit of advice to people is show up. Follow your curiosity and show up and see where it leads you, and you will meet the most interesting people along your journey. You never know where it’s going to take you, but curiosity. Intuition. Just do it.

Speaker6: That’s how we met each other, right? Right. Curiosity. Yeah, yeah. Just on LinkedIn.

Trisha Stetzel: Knock knock knock. Hey, Alese. Want to talk?

Alese Johnston: Yes. Just say.

Speaker6: Yes.

Trisha Stetzel: Mhm. I love this so much. Well thank you. I appreciate your time today. This has been wonderful. You’re going to have to come back next year because I happen to know you’ve got a project that you’re working on that I want to hear more about. So looking forward to having that conversation with you in a few months.

Alese Johnston: Yes, ma’am.

Speaker6: All right.

Trisha Stetzel: One last time, Alese. What’s the best way for people to connect with you?

Alese Johnston: Alese, at Etrailer.com. Or there’s always LinkedIn. I’ve been on LinkedIn so long that my first name is the LinkedIn handle. So easy to find.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that you guys. It’s a l e s e Johnston with a t j o and s t o n. And of course I will have all of the links in the show notes. You guys can point and click if you’re sitting at your computer. If you’re driving, please wait until you get home before you point and click. Just be safe. Thank you again, Alese. This has been wonderful.

Speaker6: Thank you. That’s all.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s all the time we have for today. If you found value in this conversation I had with Alese today, please share it with a fellow entrepreneur, a veteran, or a Houston business leader. Ready to grow. Be sure to follow, rate and review the show. It helps us reach more bold business minds just like yours and your business. Your leadership and your legacy are built one intentional step at a time. So stay inspired, stay focused, and keep building the business and the life you deserve.