‍Meet our 'Student Storage Specialist' of the Week- Chelsea Goodwin! Chelsea was one of the first full-time employees to join the Storage Scholars team in January 2022. Originally from South Carolina, Chelsea now lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with her husband, Houston, and their pups, Lucy and Cava. Chelsea works directly with each member of the Storage Scholars team, and some might say she's the glue that keeps them all together. When she isn't leading the team, you can find Chelsea busy with Crossfit, playing disc golf or chess with her husband, or enjoying a glass of old-world wine.  

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My Role at Storage Scholars 

Officially I am Head of Business Development, but unofficially, I have given myself the title of "Chaos Coordinator," which is a more accurate description of what I do. I bring order to the chaos. I create systems and processes for most departments within our company. I communicate with our CEO, Sam, and COO, Matt, to ensure they are connected and updated with the happenings in each department. My job is to take their vision and turn that into a concrete and scalable reality that aligns with the mission, vision, and values of Storage Scholars. I ensure that each department and team member is meeting their individual success metrics, allowing me to do quarterly and annual reviews for our team members. 

I aim to develop many of those individuals into leaders within our company. I run our departmental meetings, do weekly coaching with team members, and handle the hiring and onboarding for most of our HQ roles. I build and maintain our sales follow-up funnel on the B2C side of the business, which is a fancy way to say that I create and send many automated emails and text messages. I also manage about 15 of our campuses in the southeastern region. 

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My Background

I have a musical theatre degree from Clemson University. I was a professional actor for five years before I realized it wasn't what I wanted to do forever. When I decided to leave the performance world, I took an entry-level position cold calling leads for a real estate firm and worked my way up from agent to top producer to manager. After 18 months, I became the Director of Inside Sales with a top-producing real estate team, The Haro Group. 

The company and position were life-changing because it was the foundation for everything I now know about developing people in sales and leadership. It was also where I met my husband, Houston. Everything I have learned about business has been self-taught through reading books, going to seminars, taking classes, listening to podcasts, and experiencing it through trial and error in the real world. 

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A Typical Day on the Job

Every morning I start the day by reviewing my calendar. I take my tasks at the beginning of the week and put them into time slots on my calendar to ensure that everything gets done by the end of the week. I usually have a "Level 10" meeting to run, either company-wide or departmental, where we go over big quarterly projects or weekly to-do tasks. I typically will have a 1:1 coaching call with team members to ensure they are on track with their roles and have the resources and support they need to get their job done. We also do future planning and professional development to ensure they are progressing toward their long-term career goals.

A typical day involves troubleshooting and ideating with team members on various projects throughout the day. I get a lot of energy through these interactions and love being a resource and a sounding board. 

I try to leave 1.5 days a week blocked for deep work–either thinking time or execution time on major projects and initiatives for the company. My deep work blocks are vital to the company's growth, so I have to schedule those blocks each week and be intentional with not booking calls or meetings during those time slots. 

On a typical day, I'll have a phone call with Sam or Matt. It's a time when we give each other feedback, and share our ideas, often sparking new ones.

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How I Started Working with Storage Scholars

My initial connection to Storage Scholars is really special and feels a lot like fate. When I got married in 2019, I relocated to Winston-Salem, NC, leaving The Haro Group. I decided that the next logical step in my career was to start my own company, The Agent Accelerator, which won a startup accelerator program, Velocity, which got me into Winston Starts, a local non-profit organization dedicated to helping entrepreneurs. Coincidentally, Sam (Chason) and Matt (Gronberg) worked out of the same office at Winston Starts with Storage Scholars. We worked together for about a year, often collaborating and sharing ideas. They had great energy, and we often ideated issues, discussing hiring, creating company culture, and exchanging solutions to problems within our unique businesses. 

At the end of 2021, I began to transition out of the role of CEO and the day-to-day of the Agent Accelerator, partly because I knew I didn't want the job of CEO and partly because another company had purchased licensing into it. 

I mentioned my transition to Matt, and they asked me to consider a potential role with Storage Scholars. Other companies had reached out to recruit me at about the same time, but I was impressed with how intentionally they reached out and recruited me. I couldn't help but think that if these young guys are running their business as purposefully as they are recruiting me, I think this is something I want to be a part of. It was also clear that our skills aligned well and that this was where I was meant to be. See? Fate!

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On Being the Only Non-Remote Team Member

I work out of the Winston Starts office in Winston-Salem, our legal company headquarters. Think co-working space, but for Startups only! Since I am the only one who goes into the office, you could technically consider me "remote ." I could never work from home fully; I can't focus as well from home. I enjoy getting up, getting dressed for work, and having my office space with my white board each day, and people around me also working (even if they are working for other companies). 

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The Hardest Part of My Job

At the peak of our busy season at Storage Scholars, I have to pause our weekly coaching sessions and professional development with team members. The reality of a seasonal business is that ALL of the work we do for the entire year comes down to a few short weeks, where we have to execute our services. It's tough for me to step back and give up an essential part of my role to ensure operations happen, but it's also when I get to see the coaching and personal development pay off for my team members. It's all hands on deck to get these students moved out and into storage; every employee is working towards that goal.

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‍Most Rewarding Part of My Job

I love seeing people flourish! Last week one of our members was out, and another team member stepped up to fill in. She executed so well and set new records in her department. She had such a fantastic week professionally, and to me, there is nothing greater to see because she did tasks that she didn't think she could do, and I loved being able to witness that. Another member has stepped up so much over the past year, and I recently got to see him promoted, and having that conversation was a highlight of my heart! Seeing team members doing elite-level work and having a lot of fun while doing it… nothing beats that!

Another rewarding aspect of working with Storage Scholars is being able to apply our mission of "developing the next generation of business leaders." I love that, as a company, we live by and embody our mission. Our values and mission are more than aspirational. We live out those words and truly open up the opportunity for anyone who wants it and wants to work with us long-term. In 2022 we got to see one of our Campus Managers go from a Campus Intern to an HQ Intern, and she is now working as a part-time team member, making meaningful contributions to our company.

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The Future

I am passionate about creating an incredible work environment for great people to join and developing harmonious connections between departments and our leadership team. My ultimate goal with Storage Scholars is to continue to work side by side with Sam and Matt to ensure their vision and the culture they created are implemented fully by each department, team member, and leader on our team. 

Although I love my current role as "chaos coordinator," I hope that one day I've brought enough coordination to the chaos to delegate and elevate team members into leadership roles. Whatever my future role, Storage Scholars is the place for me. I am here for the long haul and ready to support the team in whatever direction they call me to lead.   

-Chelsea

Have a question for Chelsea or want to know more about student storage and what we do at Storage Scholars? Send Chelsea an email or visit our website for more information.