The acquisition creating a catalyst to inspire a thriving business flipping storage units

“Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.”
― J.K. Rowling

Running Out of Options

Back in early 2005, I had a hole to crawl out of.

Without getting too far into the details, struggle, a major injury and a geographical transition led me to a place with little resources. Still having rent to pay along with food to buy and other expenses.

My bank account had a meager $150 left, I was unemployed, no benefits or help was available. It became clear I had to do something and do it fast.

Literally living in what used to be a chicken coop, one day during a brainstorming session, an idea arrived.

The website eBay, had been my friend, knowing how to list, sell and ship, my efforts were focused on finding something to sell.

But how, with only $150 left and food needed in the pantry?

My memory does not serve me well enough today for sharing exactly how I came up with the plan, but here it is.

“If you have never reached rock bottom, you have never attended the school of greatness.”
― Matshona Dhliwayo

Dialing for Dollars

Sales were easy with my knowledge of selling online and an established eBay account with several thousand positive ratings from selling my art.

Products can be turned into cash in just a few days.

If you have the inventory, but I didn’t.

A local storage facility business owner had told me how they dispose of items left behind. Most of the businesses have a monthly auction.

My idea was to gather up the phone numbers, call the storage facilities and ask when the next auction was. Then I migrated that data, dates, times, and addresses to my Google calendar.

“When this ultimate crisis comes… when there is no way out — that is the very moment when we explode from within and the totally other emerges: the sudden surfacing of a strength, a security of unknown origin, welling up from beyond reason, rational expectation, and hope.”
― Émile Durkheim

Time to Take Action Stepping into the Unknown

Driving to the first auction, my last 150 bucks decided to start sending me silent messages from my front pants pocket. You know, that unseen voice message we all have showing up from time to time in our noggins.

It was saying something about how foolish it was to risk our last $150 dollars. We, the money and me, would need to remain close so food could be purchased. At least we could stay fed, training for the coming homelessness. Fattening up for the long winter like a Bear prepares to hibernate. The voice was making so much sense, I almost turned around and went home.

My first stop was a Mom and Pop storage facility, not a big company owned one like Public Storage or U-Haul. Not knowing it at the time, that would turn out to be a very good serendipity. God knows I needed more than a little luck.

Pulling into the parking lot, a small group of people holding flashlights appeared. My first rookie error had surfaced, I did not think of bringing one. It was wintertime and late in the day, darkness would be upon us as the auction started.

“When I’m at the bottom looking up, the main question may not be ‘how do I get out of this hole?’ In reality, the main question might be ‘how do I get rid of the shovel that I used to dig it?”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

The Rules

Joining the group, I heard the auctioneers voice as he outlined the do’s and do nots.

Payments are to be made in cash.

A buyer premium of 15% will be added.

Sales tax will be added unless a business license & reseller ID# was offered.

No going into the lockers, items would be viewed from the door.

No touching items.

Hand signals added to a vocal sound like “YEP” indicated a bid.

My brain or maybe it was the last of our cash in my pocket said, “Wow, lots of rules, let’s get out of here.”

We would have 48 hours to remove the items or late fees would be added.

Failure to have the cash needed for the buy would result in bid being forfeit and items then offered to next highest bidder.

Break any of the rules and we would be asked to leave.

No fondling each other during the auction.

I’ve never figured out if the auctioneer was trying to be funny or, that was actually a rule. Didn’t really matter, sadly I had no one to fondle.

I love money. I love everything about it. I bought some pretty good stuff. Got me a $300 pair of socks. Got a fur sink. An electric dog polisher. A gasoline powered turtleneck sweater. And, of course, I bought some dumb stuff, too. — Steve Martin

And it Finally Began

The lock was cut, loud metal rolling sounds reverberated in the tiny hallway.

A selection of groans and various other sounds came from the humans as a locker filled with hundreds of boxes appeared. Almost nothing could be seen but that huge pile that reminded us all, this wasn’t going to be a picnic. This one would be a crap shoot, at best.

Apparently everyone loved craps, it went all the way up to 2,500 dollars. You guessed it, my money said, “See, I’m not enough anyway, we are wasting our time.”

“GET OUT”

Although he (does money have a gender?) had a point, I couldn’t. My curiosity had become too strong now, risk seems to attract me. Likely why I was in the predicament in the first place, yet ironically, risks would be required to rise up out of the ashes.

“Sometimes the worst thing that happens to you, the thing you think you can’t survive… it’s the thing that makes you better than you used to be.” ― Jennifer Weiner

Pushing Through Doubt

Admittedly, doubt around the fruitfulness of the current endeavor was creeping in, getting stronger. Then I heard the grinding of another lock being cut, and the metal rolling open.

This one was similar to the last one but much neater.

In the left corner was a cheap laminate hutch, tall and narrow. It should have been used for firewood long ago, I had zero interest in it. There was a big expanse of empty concrete floor between that and the right side. That’s where this big pile that my brain had told me were around 200 boxes sat stacked and organized. All clean, new pristine white cardboard boxes.

On top of one of the stacks was some of the contents of a box that had been cut open. I later learned it had been staged for us, to entice bidding.

Lucky for me, there were only about 6 bidders. One had likely already spent his wad on that first locker and was hanging back. Five bidders with 20 pockets that might have more cash than I did.

Hope was dwindling inside me again as someone said “there’s some real money in there” Shut up, I thought as the auctioneer opened the bidding.

“Do I hear $1,000 dollars.” he said loudly.

Then started that fast singing auctioneer yodeling thing they do.

“Thousand dollar, Thousand dollar, Thousand dollar, gimme gimme ten hundies”

Nothing

He kept dropping the bid, “now sev fifty” he chirped, “gimme seven fifty….”

The lack of bidding was giving me time to study. Most were not interested, I borrowed a flashlight. Examining the labels and the items that had been pulled out.

A white full body Tyvek suit. Some sort of canvas belt.

A partial helmet type device. A battery, and some kind of filter. Even padded cloth boots for foot covers. Some plastic hoses.

Finally, he dropped it all the way down to $25.00. We were all still mystified, but I had made my decision.

Someone decided $25.00 was low enough and yelled out “YEEEEPPPP!”

The auctioneer, “I’ve got $25 25 25 now $50 50 50 50, fifty dollar bid, now fifty.”

I love collecting things from auction — we Brits really are hoarders and collectors. — Jonathan Anderson

“YEEEPPPPP!” came out of my mouth as a drop of sweat began to form at my brow. I was in, it was just two bidders, time to pray his pockets were not very deep. I tried using telepathy to transmit a message to him that I could go as high as he wanted, but was going to win anyway.

It wasn’t working yet, as he bid $75.00. At this rate, just two more bids and I’d be out. I was trying to figure out a way to go higher than that, wondering who might be willing to loan me some money. I had no credit cards or any back up funds.

Involuntarily, my mouth moved, it said “your wasting our time.”

Maybe I thought we were playing poker, they call it a bluff there. He began to shake his head, without waiting for the auctioneer to ask for the next bid, I said forcefully, “ONE HUNDRED.”

My little game was conveying a willingness to go as high as needed to win. No one else knew I had a cap of $150. Actually lower as I needed to pay sales tax and the buyers premium.

He tried to match my bluff by also not waiting for the auctioneer to sing, he said $110 dollars. Inadvertently tipping his hand by changing the upward momentum from a $25 dollar increment, down to $10. He was about done, I sent him a little sideways smile before saying “$125.00 dollars”

The auctioneer was getting bored and jumped in to keep anyone from going in $10 increments again. “Alright, I’ve got $125, 125, who’ll give me one fitty? One fitty, one fitty, $150 BID. $150 150 150 150……$125 once, going twice, sold to the brand new bidder for $125.”

I had won!

“The world is an auction house where every person becomes a victim of the auction.” ― Ehsan Sehgal

It Just Keeps Getting Better

Feeling fairly confidant, something of real value was there, I just knew it. From here on out, vision and good decisions would be needed. I began to close the door when one of the other bidders came over and said “you really wanted that hutch right?”

I almost choked out some spit laughing so hard inside, but caught myself and realized some acting was still needed. “Yeah, that’s where any value is really.” I lied.

To my surprise, he offered me $100 dollars for it on the spot. I nearly spit again, trying to look like I was thinking about it before saying, “ahh, OK”

He handed me a hundred dollar bill before going into drag the hutch out to the pavement. I closed the door, heading to the office to pay quickly before anyone changed their mind.

I was smiling ear to ear while walking to the office realizing that I had just recouped most of my bid. I was now only out $35 dollars or so. How could I go wrong? I knew inside that I couldn’t, then felt a sense of relief. Maybe I would be able to begin digging out of the hole I had somehow created.

“Funny how you dig yourself into a hole by the teaspoon.”
― Lionel Shriver

Time to Collect My Bounty

Arriving at the office, the manager asked me which unit I’d won, I told him. As he began to calculate the bill, writing a receipt he asked what I thought the contents were. My reply was that I didn’t know, I was still playing dumb as nothing been loaded in my truck yet.

His voice quickened with excitement as he began to tell me how he’d investigated, trying to Google for information on what the suits were.

Many of the best lockers simply get taken by the storage mangers.

It’s only his own lack of knowledge and vision that had allowed me to buy the unit. I smiled some more inside at his folly, he had blown it.

He then went on to offer the reason he had put so much effort in it. “can you believe the guy bought 100 thousand dollars of insurance for that unit? I almost spit up yet again!

“I can’t imagine why” I lied.

My mind was racing, $100,000 it pondered.

The wondering about what I had, completely disappeared. It was already clear, my first bid and win was a huge success. I paid, thanked him and went immediately to fill my truck with the neat, clean white boxes.

It would take three trips to get it all home, I could hardly wait.

“No hole is deep enough to be unclimbable. Not even the one you dug yourself into. Never give up on yourself.”
― Vineet Raj Kapoor

I Didn’t Even Have A Garage

It’s really interesting and funny how things come about, how they bring the need for other things.

Having picked the cheapest house I could find, there was no room for all this stuff and I had no extra storage or a garage.

I did have an easy up canopy tent. I set it up, put down some pallets, then loaded the boxes in, filling the entire ten foot by ten foot square. It was winter time in the Pacific Northwest. Rain comes almost daily. Another solution would be needed for me to preserve and protect this inventory. But that would have to wait until after I determined what I had.

I took the one box that had already been opened inside.

My investigation revealed, I had acquired 210 clean room suits designed to be worn by people in protected scientific environments. The suits would keep skin cells, hair and other contaminants from dropping off a human being ruining an experiment.

Each box contained a kit with the full suit, helmet to booties. Including a HEPA Filter that would keep contaminates from going into the clean room environment. The battery powered filter pumped air out of the suit, not in.

I would need to know a clean room buying manager to sell these as a group, but I didn’t.

I would need to sleep on it to see what solutions may arise.

Obstacles are necessary for success because in selling, as in all careers of importance, victory comes only after many struggles and countless defeats. — Og Mandino

Time to Turn a Profit

Upon awakening I had the answer, it had come overnight while sleeping. My unconscious brain did the work while simultaneously resting. What an efficient little organ, I was excited.

If I just reversed two wires, changing the batteries polarity, the electric motor that pumped air out of the suit thru the HEPA filters would be converted. The result, filters that sucked the air in, purifying it before pumping it into the face mask.

I quickly grabbed a screwdriver opening up one of the filter cases and tried one. It worked perfectly, I now had 210 filtration suits that could be used for painting, wood refinishing or any other activity where people worked in poor or contaminated air. It was time to move quickly.

Calling a friend, I offered him a suit as trade to come over and model one for me. I took pictures as he used the suit, then posted the first one on eBay for a 3 day auction.

It had a bid within minutes. In the end 8 bidders would have a war, all trying to win my new item. There was no other similar product on the entire site. It ended up selling for $247.00. I had generated a profit with my first sale putting me in the black with 209 suits left.

I was over the moon as my brain did the math, $247 x 209 = $51,623! I would be selling these little white boxes a few each week for the next three years.

Everyone lives by selling something. — Robert Louis Stevenson

I ended up falling short of the figure above as the price dropped a bit later as I satisfied the demand. Plus, I gave some away, I’m not complaining one bit and consider this event a huge win, a change your life type of winning. I needed to sell slowly otherwise I would drive my own price down.

Now all I needed to do was find another unit to flip.

This event provided a need for a warehouse to protect the product. I moved quickly, securing a spot then outfitting it with studio lights and an alcove painted white to photograph items. I put a computer in and added an internet connection.

This setup would feed me and more for the next 5 years. I even had the idea for an Storage Wars type of series, but never took action, somebody did.

Summing it All Up

Never give up! If we stay in action using whatever meager resources left something extraordinary, we could have never have planned or foreseen could arise.

Keep moving forward, digging out if you will, I did!

Cheers, Christopher

Please enjoy and audio version by following this link.

When Christopher isn’t writing from home, he can be found traveling or capturing photographs somewhere in the United States. He loves to generate Graphic Design, process images or video, and flying his Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. More pastimes include wrangling dogs, backpacking and kayaking. He currently lives in the Pacific Northwest. Find out more at www.RealWindowCreative.com.

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