In this episode, I interview Scott Lewis. Scott is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Spartan Investment Group, LLC (SIG) and has led several successful real estate projects ranging from single-family flips to ground-up development of self-storage. To date, SIG has operates over 4000 storage units, 200 RV pads, has completed $11M in development projects, has $97M more underway, and raised over $25M in private equity.
As the Chief Executive Officer, Scott is responsible for developing business strategies and plans ensuring their alignment with short-term and long-term objectives. In addition to Spartan, Scott is also in the US Army Reserves and is an Operation Iraqi Freedom Veteran. Scott graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in Chemistry and Marketing, from Catholic University with an MS in Management, and from Georgetown University with a Certificate in Project Management.
In his free time, Scott enjoys spending time with his wife, Lindsay, mountain biking, skiing, and chasing their Jack Russell Terriers around the yard.
In this episode we discuss:
- Starting a company so that he has an awesome place to work at [4:05]
- Serving in the army [5:42]
- How flipping houses help start Spartan [7:22]
- Decision-making concept from the army that can be applied in business [9:00]
- How he got the funds for starting Spartan Investment Group and syndication [12:32]
- How they approached looking for deals to invest in and what is their criteria for the deals [14:46]
- How they decide how many storage units they build in an area [19:11]
- Process and systems for managing their construction projects [20:57]
- Challenges in building storage units in different areas and advice for people investing outside their areas [21:50]
- Effects of COVID-19 on their business [23:21]
- How long does it take to lease units from construction and jurisdiction restrictions [25:14]
- Getting investors for deals and how to treat your investors [28:29]
- Importance of having someone handle communications to investors [32:47]
- Best ways to contact them if you’re interested in investing [34:59]
Links to sources and tools:
- Follow Scott Lewis and Spartan on social media:
- Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-j-lewis-aa616027/
- Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/17927834/admin/
- Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/spartaninvestmentgroup
- Visit https://spartan-investors.com/ to learn more about how you can invest with them
- Listen to more episodes here: https://passthesecretsauce.com/category/real-estate/
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