StorMan Self Storage eNews - Issue #35
August 2011 |
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Greetings, %%Facility name%% and welcome to our August edition. We've got a lot in store for you this month, including updates from a number of our guest bloggers, a great Facility of the Month feature and our usual plethora of regulars like our ever-popular brainteaser.
If you have any comments, ideas or suggestions, please get in touch with me via andy@storman.com. Until next time, happy surfing! :-)
 Regards,
Andy & the StorMan Software Team
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Australasia's largest Self Storage event takes place in just over 2 weeks time ...have you registered yet? With over 250 attendees already registered (at the time of writing in early July), it's shaping up to be the biggest SSAA conventions ever - and certainly the largest self storage event outside the USA.
From networking, education and product developments - to specialist speakers, practical guidance and awards from within the industry, this convention has it all! StorMan also has a lot going on at the convention this year too, so be sure to check out our to-do list below (we're also including one in the delegate satchels for you)...
StorMan has now given away all 6 of our 2-day Convention Passes (valued at over $7,200 in total) and wishes to congratulate the winners - we look forward to seeing you there!
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 As mentioned back in our June issue, David Hardie and a team from Fort Knox Storage will this month embark on a Ride to Conquer Cancer - a cycling journey through South East Queensland's scenic countryside to Somerset Dam, benefiting the Queensland Institute of Medical Research.
The Fort Knox team, consisting of ten friends from the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane - one of them a cancer survivor - will join thousands of other cyclists on this epic fund-raising journey.
StorMan's Brisbane office has sponsored David's team with a $1,000 donation and we ask others to help out by contributing what they can. We wish David and his team good luck for the long ride ahead.
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Country Blues - by guest blogger Malcolm (Collins Westlink Consulting)
 It’s of continuing concern to me that having just valued another provincial (smaller scale) self storage facility operated by a local estate agent, I have once again been confronted with management that is unhelpful, reactive and lacking focus, using reporting tools that are simplistic and too high-level, and by agency staff themselves who are removed and disinterested.
Many also have an often-apparent disregard for, or lack of knowledge about, potential OH&S matters and legal implications that may affect your operations. The degree of professional ignorance I find time and again is doing you, as owners, a disservice for what you pay for...
Continue reading Malcolm's blog on our website.
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| Tax Planning Tips for Property Investors |
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Tax Planning Tips for Property Investors - by guest blogger Eddie (BDO)
 As the end of another financial year is just around the corner, here are some tax planning tips that may come in handy for property developers...
Time your property sale and, where possible, consider delaying it until after 30 June to defer any capital gains tax (CGT) payable. A property is generally deemed to have been sold on the date of the contract for CGT purposes, rather than the settlement date, so executing a sale contract on or before 30 June 2011 amount to a sale in the income year ending 30 June 2011, even if settlement does not take place until after that date. The reverse applies if you are selling the property at a loss, which may be offset against other capital gains you may have derived during the year. In which case, you will need to ensure that the contract is dated on or before 30 June 2010 to crystallise the capital loss in the income year ending 30 June 2011...
Continue reading Eddie's blog on our website.
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| Congrats to our 6 winners |
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StorMan recently gave away six SSAA 2-day Convention Passes. Congratulations to our winners - we look forward to seeing you there in just over a fortnight!
- Congratulations Fiona Shaw (from Rent-a-Space at St Mary's)
- Congratulations Tina Carter (from Metro Storage at Marrickville)
- Congratulations David King (from Storage King Highett)
- Congratulations Ross Martin (from Sure Safe Storage at Mornington)
- Congratulations Jeffrey Muggleton (from Maxi Containers & Storage)
- Congratulations Arthur Abrahams (from Valet Storage)
If you're name appears above and you haven't yet been contacted by the Self Storage Association of Australasia, please get in touch with them ASAP to organise your attendance information with them. Good luck to those in the draw for the sixth and final convention pass!
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All polar bears are left handed. |
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This month's Facility of the Month is Storage King Highett in Victoria, Australia. Andy from StorMan recently caught up with David for a chat...
StorMan: What is your role and how long have you been working at Storage King Highett?
David: I've been managing our Self Storage Facility here in Highett (on the Nepean Highway) for more than 17 years.
StorMan: Tell us a little about the units at your facility...
David: We currently have 745 units at our self storage facility here in Highett.
StorMan: How long have you been using StorMan for?
David: We've been using StorMan since 2000 (or at least since the commencement of the GST here in Australia).
StorMan: Any funny stories to tell?
David: We had a client who hadn't paid his bill, then denied he WAS the client. When we opened the unit we found drug making equipment. Surprise, surprise!
StorMan: Besides storage, what other products or services do you offer?
David: Besides offering Self Storage here at Storage King in Highett, we offer Insurance Cover for Customers' goods, and the other very significant part of our Business is our highly successful Box Shop (famous the world over ...just kidding!). We have a huge range of packaging materials, mostly new (in terms of range) but also “used”.
StorMan: Anything interesting about your area, or the building itself?
David: We have an older style brick building which houses approx 60% of our clients, with a combination of ordinary doors and roller doors. We also have a "newer" 10 year old Building, and most recently completed (2 years old) 53 ranch-style units with roller doors. We have an Officeworks located right in front of us, which is very helpful to our success.
StorMan: How has StorMan made things easier for you?
David: StorMan has a terrific range of features, including Reporting, Invoicing, emailing and many other benefits, too numerous to mention. We’re very glad we moved to StorMan when the GST came in. It’s very accurate.
StorMan: And finally... what's your favourite StorMan feature?
David: I’d have to say our new favourite feature is the ability to SMS our Debtors. If we’re about to "sell" someone and we SMS them to this effect just beforehand they seem to "cough up" and save us all the trouble associated with that process.
Many thanks to David and the team at Storage King Highett in Victoria for his time and input. |
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Have you ever looked up to see a plane overhead and wondered "...what type of plane is that & where is it going?". Well now you can look it up, thanks to Flight Radar - a live plane tracking website.
If you're in Australia or New Zealand and aren't seeing much happening - scroll up to Europe for a bit of yellow-icon chaos (as shown below)!
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16 - 18 August 2011: SSAA (Self Storage Association of Australasia) Tradeshow & Conference in Melbourne. As major event sponsors, StorMan will be exhibiting at this event. Register at the SSAA website.
18th October 2011: SSAA (Self Storage Association of Australasia) Regional Meeting (Adelaide). A StorMan staff member will be attending this event. Register at the SSAA website.
25th October 2011: SSAA (Self Storage Association of Australasia) Regional Meeting (Auckland). A StorMan staff member will be attending this event. Register at the SSAA website.
8th November 2011: SSAA (Self Storage Association of Australasia) Regional Meeting (Brisbane). A StorMan staff member will be attending this event. Register at the SSAA website.
17th November 2011: SSAA (Self Storage Association of Australasia) Regional Meeting (Perth). A StorMan staff member will be attending this event. Register at the SSAA website.
29th November 2011: SSAA (Self Storage Association of Australasia) Regional Meeting (Melbourne). A StorMan staff member will be attending this event. Register at the SSAA website.
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| Computer Tip of the Month |
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I'm sure there's a better word for that...
Can't think of the right word to use in your letter or email? Never fear, because the thesaurus is here! If you use Microsoft Office Word or Microsoft Office Outlook, just highlight the word in question and press SHIFT + F7 on your keyboard to being up the thesaurus!
Not using one of the above applications? Surf on over to www.thesaurus.com instead. |
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Would you trust this lock?
Have you got a joke or funny pic to send us?
Please let us know! |
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| Staying Current in a Fast Paced World |
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Staying Current in a Fast Paced World - by guest blogger Silvia Pendleton (Texas Self Storage Association)
As a small business owner, it just isn't easy staying up with emerging trends and technology. Before joining TSSA as a staff member I helped manage the self-storage facility that my husband and I own. Every day we focused on providing the very best customer service possible, keeping our files and records up-to-date, ensuring that the facility was in tip-top shape with available units ready to rent, and the other dozen or so daily chores that occupy the day. Just taking phone calls or making collection calls can eat up a good portion of the time. Then there are the month-end invoicing duties and following up with tenants, plus carving out some time for marketing...
Continue reading Silvia's blog on our website.
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 Hi there - I'm Darran, one of StorMan's Technical Support Agents. Each issue, I'll trawl through the deep depths of the internet to find you a funky piece of software, hardware or other interesting technological trinkets.
In-home ATM: Teaching kids the value & importance of money (and saving it) is easy and a whole lot of fun with the Cyber Bank ATM. You can set a savings amount, check your balance, check money or how many days you have left to reach your savings target. When it's time to withdraw, the calculated withdrawal system will help you update your balance.
When Australian coins are deposited, the Cyber Bank ATM reads them and adds them to your account balance. Use the note slot to deposit your bills and update your balance on the keypad. For just under $40 (at the time of writing - in Australian dollars and excluding delivery), it's a fantastic "educational tool" "cool toy" for the kids! Grab one here.
Nb. All 'Latest Gadget' information & imagery is sourced from online entities & supplier websites. StorMan generally doesn't endorse, own or test any of these products; we merely link to them as you might find them interesting or fun for your own use... |
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No doubt you've heard of the acronym DVD - but do you know what all the other DVD variants stand for? Here's a list...
- DVD+R: Digital Versatile Disc Recordable
- DVD+RW: Digital Versatile Disk Rewritable
- DVD-R: Digital Versatile Disc Recordable
- DVD-RAM: Digital Versatile Disc Random Access Memory
- DVD-RW: Digital Versatile Disk Rewritable
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This month, we flashback to February 2008 when Andy discussed how to improve your Google ranking. Read Andy's blog here.
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Where will you find roads without cars, forests without trees and cities without houses?
Answer to last month's brainteaser: There are several possible answers to this brainteaser... either the river was dry, or the river was frozen. |
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StorMan eNews is a monthly publication designed & compiled by
Andy P. + guest writers, and is ©
StorMan 2011. E&OE.
We use publicly available sources (web sites, magazines, news
clips, etc) to help write our newsletters, and provide links where
possible. All prices quoted, if any, contain GST (unless specified otherwise). |
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Please visit us online at www.storman.com/contact/ for full contact information. |
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