How Chris Long Built $25K/Month Cash Flow From One Storage Yard

Chris Long (00:00)
When I was 19, man, I was making, I had the chance to become, go to the union and it was a labor, labor’s union in Canada. was $27 an hour. And at this time, my parents, no one in my family made 27 bucks an hour. And I was like, I was just had my first daughter on the way. had her when I was really young. Right. And I was like, okay, this is great. 27 bucks an hour, 10 % vacation pay.

But I’ll never forget, like the people coming up to me and they’re like, well, slow down, stop working so hard. It’s like, I don’t want you making us look bad. And then I kind of looked at it like, what’s my future here? Where’s my cap?

Quentin (02:02)
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host Q Edmonds

Quentin Edmonds (02:07)
and I’m excited to be here today. I have a fantastic guest and I love this guy’s mindset, man. I’m just going to be honest with you. I love this guy’s mindset. I love the way he think. There’s a lot of symmetry and alignment with the way that he thinks. And this gentleman started off, I believe it, with a single storage. I came over as a facility or yard. I’m letting him kind of explain more, but he started off with one thing and then boom, just expanded. And so.

I’m so excited because I know we’re going to learn a lot from this gentleman, a lot from his mindset, a lot from his systems and operations. And so I am so excited to introduce you all to Mr. Chris Long. Mr. Chris, how you doing today,

Chris Long (02:48)
I’m quite excited to

be here, man.

Quentin Edmonds (02:49)
Absolutely, man. Excited to have you on, sir. Yeah. Chris, man, I’m the type I like to dive right in, right? So I would love for you to tell the people what’s your main focus these days. If you don’t mind, give us a little bit of an origin story, kind of how you got to the point where you are. We love origin stories. And then, man, tell them what part of the world you’re in. We love to know where people are geographically as well. So what’s your up to, your origin story, and where you are. Mr. Chris, sir, you got the floor,

Chris Long (03:14)
Let’s

do it, man. I appreciate that. All right, everybody. I’m Chris Long, the founder of Longyard Storage. And I changed my life with one storage yard. I literally immigrated from Canada to the US with my stay at home mom and my four daughters, all forth on the way. And now we teach contractors how to build and invest in storage yards. So who am I? I’m Chris Long. I started off as an apprentice carpenter in Canada. Actually, before that, I was knocking on doors, selling chalk bars, just hustling and grinding, you know, and the lesson from that early

days is you knock on enough doors, a no leads to a yes, and you just get better at making the yes happen. So anyone that’s listening, it’s like, you got to keep going until you get that yes. And my origin story was just like that. So I hustled that grind. I had to start my first storage yard. It was difficult. I was coming through a lot of pain, man. Like I had my construction company with 14 employees. I was buying houses, turning them into duplexes. I was chasing clients, chasing my clients for paychecks. I getting, you know, chasing my…

employees do their jobs. And I was like, I got hit by a big contract is it was from a large distributor. And, know, I lost everything. I went back to ground zero, but I didn’t lose all everything I’d learned.

So what I did is I just decided I’m going to take these lessons. I’m to do something different. And I had a great coach at the time. was actually Bruce Firestone, founder of the Iowa senators. And he’s like, you know, if two problems kind of merged at the same time, I needed storage yards and they didn’t exist in the marketplace. So I’m like, I’m to go all in. And of course didn’t exist. Right. And I had to do three things at once. I had to pay off, I had to get this thing working and it costs a lot of money. I had to pay off my brother. I didn’t have the funds to do that. And I had to get a mortgage. I didn’t have the funds to do all three of them, but I figured it all out. I got all three done.

That’s how I started my first storage yard. It literally has created financial freedom for me and my family. I make over 25 grand a month. We’ve done it now four times. We have multiple partners. And if anyone’s listening, you can join us on this mission and bring a storage yard close to you.

Quentin Edmonds (05:53)
Ooh, hey, yes sir. Thank you, man. Thank you, man. man. Thank you for taking us through the journey, brother. Thank you for walking us through what you do now, kind of how you got there. Man, and I’m an active listener, so I’m writing down as you talk. I mean, you’ve said so many amazing things. I was kind of getting stuck. was like, ooh, that was good. And I was like, ooh, that’s good. So I’m gonna try to give a brief summary, because I want to make a statement and ask you a question. And so you say you started off with one storage yard.

Chris Long (05:57)
you

Quentin Edmonds (06:20)
Right. I believe you said you moved from, Canada for daughter stay at home wife. Right.

Chris Long (06:27)
Yeah, the fourth one’s on the way, so you better…

Quentin Edmonds (06:29)
Fourth one on the way, man. You got better at making them nose, turning them nose into yes. I believe you met one of your mentors, Bruce Firestone. Did I get that name right? One of Bruce Firestone. And man, you got the work, man. You hit the ground running. And listen, you said I had to…

Chris Long (06:40)
That’s one of them, yeah.

Quentin Edmonds (06:48)
I had to make this thing work. I had to pay off my brother and I had to pay off a mortgage. So it’s like, had to figure these things out, but you did man. And you find yourself where you are now. Right. So of course life happens fast, but all of that didn’t happen in just like five minutes, as you told it, right? Four or five minutes. Like this was a process. So Mr. Chris, I have a saying, say, destiny has no wasted moments, right? Destiny has no wasted moments. Meaning like we are building momentum as we go on the journey.

We’ll build the momentum. Like when we can put ourselves in different situations and remember like thinking like, man, how am going to do this? How am going to get out this? But you just kept building the momentum. And so now you have your mindset, you have your strategies. So I would love to know Mr. Chris, throughout the journey, what has the journey taught you about yourself? Has it taught you discipline, resilience? Has it changed your mindset when it came to innovation? Like what has the journey taught you about you, man?

Chris Long (07:45)
And that

is amazing. That is like watching your child grow into an adult. Like the business has made me grow into the entrepreneur that I am. And the difficulties and challenges of the business, sometimes I’m like, this is really hard, but it’s molding me into the person I need to become to take on the opportunity that’s in front of me.

So like, man, there’s so many layers to that. Like one of the biggest things is just like perseverance because I was a contractor, like any contractors listening or general contractors, like, you know, I love to see fruition. Like I love to see my work happening. like, you know, if you, as a carpenter, I’d see a house go up quickly. Right? Man. All my IP, everything I build now is like emails and digital. So that’s difficult, man. It’s been like five years when I, and then when I first came to the States, like I didn’t, never been to Florida.

I didn’t even know how to syndicate. didn’t know what a fund was. had no idea how to structure deals. didn’t know real estate development. Man, I had to put on like 30 different hats, learn all these skills. And then going from a world of where you see instant gratification as a builder and a creator to a world where you now need to dig this foundation so far deep that you can’t even see the bricks being laid down. It’s like that alone is like a mental barrier that you have to state. Your vision has to be so strong.

that you were like, no, I would, these bricks, don’t see them, but one day I will see them come above the ground. So I think that’s been it, man. It’s just been like, need to stick to this long enough and just think like you need to zoom out 30,000 feet, once in a while, but every day you need to put bricks in the ground and just know that they’re come above, man.

Quentin Edmonds (09:22)
Woo, man, bro. Thank you, man. So when people talk, I think in pictures. So as you talk and I’m just thinking in pictures and man, you you laid so much symmetry, so much good kind of just imagination with your words. And I love the way how you talk about the foundation has to be deep. And I asked that question of people because I want them to kind of look back at that foundation.

Kind of look back at kind of what you’ve been building over the years. Because as you know, you’ll get in situations and it tried you. And you got to remind yourself what you’re built up. You got to remind yourself like, how did I get here in the first place? And you need to be able to send yourself and pull from a resource that’s already inside you. And so I asked that question because I just want people to reflect just a little bit and just remember, how did you get to the place where you are?

Chris Long (10:11)
Right. And a great book for that is The Gap and the Gain. And another thing too, like sometimes people got to remember, you got to give up the good for the great.

When I was 19, man, I was making, I had the chance to become, go to the union and it was a labor, labor’s union in Canada. was $27 an hour. And at this time, my parents, no one in my family made 27 bucks an hour. And I was like, I was just had my first daughter on the way. had her when I was really young. Right. And I was like, okay, this is great. 27 bucks an hour, 10 % vacation pay.

But I’ll never forget, like the people coming up to me and they’re like, well, slow down, stop working so hard. It’s like, I don’t want you making us look bad. And then I kind of looked at it like, what’s my future here? Where’s my cap?

And then I stepped back, I left the union at this cushy $27 an hour, % vacation pay, four days a week. I thought I was like the bee’s knees. I went to $12 an hour to become an apprentice carpenter. And everyone’s like, you got a dollar in the you’re crazy. Well, not long after that, I was making a million dollars a year and doing my own residential real estate development.

So like the other thing is you gotta remember, like you gotta give up the good for the great. And a lot of people don’t appreciate sacrifice that needs to come with it. So you need persistence. You need to obviously put those bricks in the ground, but you’re not going to be eating the nicest meals and you’re not going to have that cushy life while those bricks are being built. So merging those two worlds together and knowing that if you want something great, you got to give up the good. That’s where the honey is, man. That’s where you gotta, you gotta keep going.

Quentin Edmonds (12:07)
You have to give up the good for the great. And I think you said the was the gap in the game, right?

Chris Long (12:14)
Okay.

Quentin Edmonds (12:16)
man, again, thank you, sir. Like I love that. I love that. That’s why I’m always talking about the destination, the journey, because as you said, in order for you to arrive where you want to be, you got to leave where you are. And so sometimes we don’t move forward because we’re scared to leave what we already attached to. But you have to leave the good to get to the great. Like if it’s the destination, you can’t be scared of the journey. And the journey is leaving to arrive. That’s part of the journey. man, Chris, I appreciate you, sir.

Yeah, man. Let me know, sir. What’s next for you, man? What’s next for the business? What are you looking to solve a scale next?

Chris Long (12:51)
Yeah, I got a big vision, man. So it started off as a, a small problem that turned into a big opportunity, but the big opportunity led to a massive opportunity and kind of circling back really quick. It’s like the more skill sets I learn and the stronger I become, the more visibility I have on just helping the opportunities, but not just the visibility, it’s the skill sets in which I’m acquiring to go after it. So we want to build storage yards everywhere, dude. We want, we want to take over.

Like the first thing I did when I came to the States is I was scared. was like, I’ve never even been to the United States. And I just started moving six weeks. My daughter was six weeks old. We literally packed up, gone. And then I promised my wife, I’m like, I want to meet Grant Cardone, you know, I’m like, whatever it takes. So I go to this 10 X event and of course they upsell you $25,000. And then I get in the room with Grant and, ⁓ you know, I wanted to ask him this question. If you were me, what would you do? Right. And I got that answer from him. He’s like, man, I would build an arm.

But first he says you got to storm the beach. So any business listeners or any entrepreneurs, you know, you need to take the tip of the spear and you need to storm the beach. So, right. So like D-Day, it’s like where you need to strategize with how you’re bringing your product or service to the market. That was the first thing I do. had to storm the beach. Now my mission is to build an army because we’ve penetrated the beach. We’ve proved market validity. We’ve now gone with multiple locations. We have a playbook. Now we need an army to do this playbook everywhere again and again and again. My mission is not small. My journey is not small.

But I want a lot of people with me on it and I’m here to take over, man. Let’s go.

Quentin Edmonds (14:21)
Brother, sir. Again, I don’t know how many times I said it, but let it where you think, man. Would you get offended if I used the Bible story?

Chris Long (14:30)
because when you talk- ⁓

Quentin Edmonds (14:34)
So man, I’m gonna call to the front the story of David, man. When you talked about storming the beach, man, the tip of the gavel, everything made me think about David, right? And so famous story in the Bible, David and Goliath, right? David and Goliath, this big old dude, he calling out the army, nobody wants to fight him. So David says, I’m gonna fight him, right? David’s a little shepherd boy. mean, I’m doing, he’s a shepherd boy, but I’m doing… ⁓

you know, literally know these kind of quotes, air quotes, because everybody discounted them. Right. So the king tried to put his armor on David to go fight this giant. And when David started moving his armor, he looked at the king and was like, hey, I have improved this armor. I can’t fight in this. So made him pretty much what he was saying is like, you’re trying to put it on me something that I have not accustomed to. I’ve never worn before.

I can’t fight this giant based on what you, the way you want me to do it. And so, man, when I think about what you’re saying, man, everybody has a giant to slay. And I love the fact that you’re, you’re slaying this giant based on what you’ve proven, based on what you have worked out, based on your hard work. You’re not letting other people put stuff on you. You’re like, no, I’m going to, I’m a storm this beach. I got a big vision, but I’m going to fight it based on the armor that I had developed and cultivated within myself. And so.

I love it, man. Like when you talk, like these are all the stories that come to mind, man. And so I love it. what you’re doing,

Chris Long (16:05)
I felt like David when I was going against Goliath with the pebble when I started, but now I feel like I got like a, I got machine guns, dude, like, you know.

Quentin Edmonds (16:13)
That’s

the beautiful thing about David too, is that people started to fly to him. Like he built an army of people that people really kind of looked down on. They actually called them discontented men. That’s what kind of the Bible says. So people that was discontented that, you know, people overlooked.

And so I can just imagine, man, you building an army of people that look just like you, that started off with one storage yard, you know what I’m saying? That came from Canada, that came from there, that was trying to figure things out. Like I just see you building this army, man. This army flocking to you, man. So I see it, bro. I told you, when you talk, I’m seeing all the visions, man. I love it.

Chris Long (17:33)
I appreciate that. And you’re giving me some energy right now because that’s what life’s about. It’s about energy. know, people either suck it or they give it to you and like, you just feel that vibe and, ⁓ building the army is real, man. Like I was a contractor and when you said with the army, they kind of looked down on him. That’s the people I’m trying to make the world like look up to. It’s cause you know, it’s the contractors, dude. It’s the people that work really hard who people look down on.

The people like the plumber showing up to fix your toilet or the electrician doing the work or the roofer. It’s like these guys, you know, it’s like a lot of people so easily looked down on them, but there are backbone and you know what’s crazy with AI right now? These are the guys that ain’t worried like everyone else behind their desks. This is the army that I’m trying to build to get together. And it’s not just for a financial freedom. It’s to give them the life that they want to have for the freedom that they’ve worked so hard for. I was chasing jobs, doing duplexes, doing flips, all these things.

It’s a mission in an army to build to change their lives. And I think I have the game that they can play to unlock.

Quentin Edmonds (18:33)
Can I just challenge you real quick? heard you say, think, no, you do. Just a small little challenge. No, you do that.

Chris Long (18:37)
You’re a good guy, yeah?

That’s the right there. That’s the fuel right there. I guess I was crafting my offer and everything. But it works, dude. I’ve done it four times. It does work, man. I’m doing it again. Let’s go.

Quentin Edmonds (18:55)
If you didn’t have proof, I wouldn’t have said that, right? Of ⁓ course we just meeting each other and I’m taking your word for it, but you know, real recognize real. I know you ain’t selling me no bill of goods. Like you talking to talk and walking the walk. So, yeah. So man, you literally walked me into my next question. And so I love to get everybody’s perspective on this question when they come on the show on this word. So Chris, when you hear the word relationship, what comes to mind to you that word relationship?

Chris Long (19:25)
I would say the biggest thing is like trust. When I think of relationship, think of like, who’s the people that are closest to you when you think of a relationship, it’s probably your immediate family, it’s your partner, your children. And the first thing that, know, me and maybe as a father, as a protector, like I want to make sure they could trust me with anything, right? So like, I put trust above it all. And then you, you know, you put in like kind of a vision, like almost founder, you got your vision, your mission, your core values, right from a company, right to a family.

relationships are built on your mission, vision, and core values. Right? So I, when I think of relationships, I think of trust. And then I think of making a win for the people around you. Right? You want the right people and the ro with the right tools going in the right direction. And if you could build a relationship with those people, dude, man, there ain’t no stopping.

Quentin Edmonds (20:14)
Man, there it is. So again, so for me, you just synthesize.

the word community as well. So a community is people that’s in common unity. People who are united doing different things, but pushing together the same vision, right? So uniformity is when everybody do everything the same time at the same time, the same place, they do the same thing. But unity is when people do different things at different times with one common goal. And so everything you just said to me synthesize that you’re building community. You’re synthesizing that people can support each other,

be there for each other, do different things, but with the same common goal. And so I love it, man. I love it. Listen, Chris, is there any topic that I have not brought up that you would like to talk about? Is there any other words of maybe inspiration, education, motivation? Like maybe you came in with a thought in your head that you wanted our listeners to know. I kind of just want to create space so you can land that message if you have one.

Chris Long (21:13)
Yeah, man, no, I’m here to build an army if you wanna join it and march with me, let’s go. no, mean, no, there’s a lot of ground that can be covered with real estate, man, but from the topic and it’s kind of high level. I don’t know, it’s just, I kind of have like an inspirational background because of the way I started to wear it, what I’m doing. So like I kind of lean onto that. A lot of people naturally gravitate towards that. So like I would just land the plane, like just build those bricks, man. Just like keep your head in the mud brick by brick, it’ll come above and it doesn’t matter who’s.

letting you down. Don’t let your parents or any boss, any comments, like use it as fuel, man. That is, that is the, that is the mortise between the bricks is the things, the doubts that people have laid in. That is the glue that’s going to build your house so freaking strong, man, that no one, no, no bad bulls going to blow down that, that brick piggy house, man. So like, you know, you just gotta keep going, dude, keep going. That’s it. That’s what I saw in my book a lot of times, like keep going.

You know, because that’s the message of life and then it feels so good when you get there, man.

Quentin Edmonds (22:13)
man, I’ll just say failure is fertilizer. So this, everything is just, it’s designed to make you grow, man. If you let it get down, get down in that fertilizer, get down in that mess, because know, fertilizer can be messy. Some of it is just dung. It’s just plain old mess, right? Like horse manure. But if you allow it to grow you,

It will grow you up, it’ll change the greenery, it’ll change the smell, everything will begin to change if you let that thing fertilize you. So I love it, Listen, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, collaborate with you, learn more about what you’re doing, how can they get in contact with you,

Chris Long (22:48)
Yeah, man, just

go to longyards.com and fill out a form if you want to learn more, see what we’re up to and go from there.

Quentin Edmonds (22:54)
Absolutely. Well, my friend, let me say three things to you, man, sincerely. One, thank you for your time. You could have been doing anything with your time, but you’re here with us. So I don’t take that lightly. I know how podcasts works and all that stuff, but still you gave us your time and I value that. So thank you. Secondly, man, thank you for your story, man. Thank you for what I call the gift of your vulnerability, the gift of your integrity, the gift of your authenticity. Stories have a way of planting seeds in people. may never see the growth, but that seed is still there and it can take root and grow at any given time.

So thank you for your story, And lastly, man, thank you for the way you think, brother. Thank you for your mindset and bringing that mindset to this platform. I greatly appreciate you coming on today, Absolutely. Well, listen, y’all heard Mr. Chris, please look into the show notes. His information is in the show notes. Get in contact with him. Help him build this army. Be a part of the army that he’s building. So get in contact with him, but definitely make sure you’re subscribed here because I promise you.

Chris Long (23:34)
Thanks Quinton, I really appreciate it.

Quentin Edmonds (23:52)
We’re going to continue to bring up amazing people just like Mr. Chris. So sir, I say thank you again and everyone else. Y’all have a fantastic day.