Introduce your business and tell us your story! How did you get started? Where are you located?

I own Buick Street Storage in San Angelo, Texas. I started after selling my main company and doing land development for several years. I had some odd land left over, undeveloped, that could be rezoned to storage units. My builder partner used that advantage and I provided the cheap land in a desirable part of town. So, in a sense, we got in at a wholesale price, with no debt, and have kept prices low to keep full. No employees. That's about 18 years ago and we've done well.

Tell us about the back-end of your business. What Easy Storage Solutions tools and services do you use to run your self-storage facility? How do you manage online rentals?

The software has been a great addition. I used Quicken for about 15 years and had to generate an invoice every time for every unit. I had no web presence and limited credit card ability. Now, the software generates an invoice each month itself until the folks move out. I've got over half doing credit card and the rest by mail. I take the iPad or just my phone to the PO Box and enter the checks into the software right there and do online deposits, so, when I leave the post office the clerical is all done. The accounts are up to date all the time. I like being able to look up any account online while I'm talking with a customer. This way I'm not stuck to a desk.

What do you look for in management software to help your business succeed?

Actually, the software is ahead of me. I dream of all online payments by credit card only, all invoicing by email only with deposits automatic through the credit card module. The software will do all this now, but I'm an old softie with my older customers who've been with me so long and still let them do checks. But, every new customer has to have a valid card and email and I do them all online.