Christopher Long's storage business began with a single customer paying $25 a month to park a van. He says even that check mattered.

He had sold chocolate bars door to door at 14, worked as a carpenter and built a construction crew. An unpaid job cut the company from 14 people back to him.

In 2017 he took a 10-acre property and rented space for vehicles, trailers and equipment instead of indoor units. He says he looked for customers at gas stations and red lights until the lot filled in.

Dirt as the product

On Upflip he walks through a version of self storage that is mostly open ground, fencing and a place to leave something too big for a hallway unit.

The $25 start is his. The episode is about rebuilding a lot after the construction company shrank.