Students of Storage

Brett Copper, partner and president of Copper Storage Management, joins Matt Engfer to share how he helped build one of the industry's first third-party remote management companies and what scaling it taught him about growing a business the right way. Brett grew up in self storage. He spent childhood summers auditing facilities with his father, worked at CubeSmart out of college, and ran feasibili...

Karl Graham, Co-Founder of Luminous Capital, joins Matt Engfer to share his journey from oil and gas exploration to building a growing self-storage platform across the heartland. After spending a decade making high-stakes investment decisions in a volatile and capital-intensive industry, Karl realized he wanted something different. He wanted to build a business where execution, discipline, and tea...

Jeff Greenberger, a nationally recognized self-storage attorney and founder of Late2Lien, joins Matt Engfer to explain why lien enforcement isn’t dangerous—but getting it wrong absolutely is. With more than 30 years of experience serving the self-storage industry, Jeff walks through the real legal risks operators face when notices, timelines, disclosures, or documentation aren’t handled precisely....

Kale Leavitt, CEO of StorageReach, joins Matt Engfer to break down why Google Reviews have become one of the most powerful—and most misunderstood—drivers of growth in self-storage. Drawing on nearly a decade of experience in storage marketing, Kale explains how reviews impact far more than reputation. From organic rankings and paid search performance to leasing velocity and customer trust, reviews...

Magen Smith, Co-Founder and CEO of Atomic Storage Group, joins Matt Engfer to share how disciplined execution, strong fundamentals, and a people-first mindset have fueled one of the fastest-growing third-party management companies in self storage. Magen walks through her unconventional path into the industry—from accounting and consulting to development and ultimately building Atomic Storage Group...

Self-storage attorney Scott Zucker and Luke Shardlow, CEO of AI Lean, join host Matt Engfer for a deep dive into one of the most critical—and risky—parts of operating a storage facility: the lien process. Together, they discuss the legal responsibilities operators carry when enforcing tenant liens, why accuracy and documentation matter more than ever, and how technology can help reduce human error...

Gabe Thayn, Co-Founder of Marketing. Storage, joins Matt Engfer to share how data, transparency, and true partnership—not vendor relationships—drive marketing success for self-storage operators. With nearly 20 years of experience leading digital marketing at companies like Extra Space Storage and Adigma, Gabe has helped shape how the industry approaches SEO, paid search, and performance measuremen...

Frank Certo, COO of The Storage Mall, shares how leadership, consistency, and culture drive performance across one of the fastest-growing third-party management companies in self-storage. From hockey coach to sales trainer to operations leader, Frank brings decades of experience building high-performing teams that think like owners. He discusses the evolution of The Storage Mall, which has grown t...

Melissa Stiles, Chief Marketing Officer of Storage Asset Management (SAM), shares her journey from answering a blind ad to leading one of the largest third-party management companies in self-storage. Overseeing marketing, revenue management, business development, and communications, Melissa has helped SAM grow from 32 stores to nearly 600. In this conversation, she explains how her team evolved in...

Tyler Suchman, founder of The Storage Agency, shares how local SEO, Google Ads, and a partner-first approach drive smart, sustainable growth in self-storage. With a background spanning sports media, music, and tech startups, Tyler has built a marketing agency serving over 300 facilities nationwide. He walks us through aligning marketing spend with operator goals, cleaning up a facility’s online fo...

Nate Kinet , Chief Revenue Officer of SafeLease , shares how insurance, automation, and reputation management reshape self-storage performance. Nate blends a decade of tech-driven insurance experience with deep storage knowledge, showing us how to turn compliance headaches into meaningful revenue and stronger customer trust. Key Takeaways: (02:00) Making the shift from tech and insurance to self-s...

Adam Jarrell , Partner and General Manager of American Self Storage , shares how a background in multifamily real estate shaped his approach to self-storage. From building internal tools like QuickPay links and predictive gate access analytics to adopting business intelligence platforms, Adam outlines how curiosity, data fluency, and a focus on reducing friction drive operational success across hi...

Jonas Duckett , Real Estate Investor of Store It Quick, joins us to share his evolution from solo operator to leading a 40-facility portfolio. With 4,000 units and counting, Jonas reflects on building a people-first storage brand, rebranding under a unified name, and how he drives conversions and minimizes delinquency with high-touch customer service. Jonas offers candid insights on lead conversio...

Cory Bonda , Principal of Prestige Storage Capital , joins this episode to discuss how operational decisions and reporting rhythms support sustainable portfolio growth. He shares how Prestige Storage transitioned from opportunistic acquisitions to a regional clustering model, why daily visibility into move-ins and churn is essential, and how lead conversion processes are evolving. We also discuss...

In this episode, we’re joined by Mark Poole , VP of Operations of Liberty Investment Properties . Mark is a seasoned leader with over 13 years at the helm of operations, development, and growth strategy in self-storage and hospitality. He shares insights into the value of relational capital and how self-storage operations are evolving. Mark also discusses how to scale, adapt, and innovate in a dyn...

Faraz Hemani , CEO of Iron Storage , joins us for the inaugural episode of "Students of Storage." Faraz shares his journey from working at Oracle and Google to building Iron Storage’s 30-facility self-storage business. He offers valuable insights into remote management, operational systems, scaling challenges, marketing fundamentals, and more. Faraz also discusses practical strategies for lean ope...