Claim To
Fame

By Alejandra Zilak

ameron Barsanti is a self-storage investor. He’s also a public speaker and the owner of StorageLife, a company that provides mentorship and coaching to others wanting to invest in self-storage and/or scale their current storage portfolio. But there is more behind the scenes. He also owns and operates multiple self-storage facilities in eight states and the U.S. territory Guam.

Before delving into the many successes of his professional life, it’s crucial to tell the whole story. Barsanti wasn’t born with a silver spoon, nor did he start his career within a network of people in high places. “Once upon a time, I was a broke, unemployed actor who was writing screenplays and collecting unemployment and knew nothing about real estate,” he says as he begins his narrative.

Yet, within a span of merely five years, he managed to purchase more than $80 million in storage properties. The leap was autodidact. “We live in a time where we have access to unlimited resources and information,” he says. “If we can take advantage of our opportunities and utilize books, podcasts, mentorships, and other educational platforms, we literally can accomplish anything.”

It’s the kind of rags-to-riches story that inspires anyone who hears about it. It also describes what everyone in the self-storage industry knows so well: You can’t judge a book by its cover. Self-storage may seem boring from the outside, but it’s a lucrative endeavor.

Barsanti was born in 1979 in Albuquerque, N.M. The family then moved to a small town in Colorado called Pagosa Springs. “I played almost every sport,” he says. “Swimming, wrestling, triathlons, football, snowboarding, and soccer.” He was also interested in music, art, and acting, but his parents encouraged sports above everything else.

By the time he turned 18, Barsanti was burned out from all the athletic activities and wanted to try something different, so he moved to Hollywood to pursue an acting career. “I had never acted, but had always loved entertainment, TV, and movies, and felt like I could do it because of my work ethic, discipline, and passion for inspiring others.”

He began taking acting classes and was quickly picked up by a reputable talent agent. It didn’t take long for him to book acting gigs. “At 19, I suddenly had massive opportunities to actually work as an actor,” he says. “I had well-known professionals take me under their wing, including celebrity acting coaches and some of the biggest casting directors in the business.”

These opportunities slowly dissipated because, frankly, he wasn’t ready for them. “I was immature,” says Barsanti. “I was wild; I also started to dabble with drugs and alcohol and quickly became swept up by Hollywood debauchery.” As he tells the story, it becomes clear that those memories are intertwined with conflict but not necessarily regret. “During that time, I was extremely frustrated and disappointed that I wasn’t able to straighten out, and that I was taking this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for granted.”

Unfortunately, that level of self-reflection wasn’t enough to get clean and focus on his career. “I spent 10 years of my life living like that,” Barsanti says, “and I lost many opportunities.”

He continued living in the fast lane until he met his now-wife, Cristina. “I then tried to reboot my career,” says Barsanti. But in three years, he was only booked for a handful of TV, movie, and commercial credits. “The opportunities I once had were no longer there, despite having further developed crucial skills like discipline, collaboration, leadership, and relationship building with people from all walks of life.”

Taking matters into his own hands, Barsanti began to produce his own feature film. “I was 35, and it took two years to shoot,” he says. “This was while my wife was pregnant with our first kid, too, so there was a lot on the line.”

Once the film was finished, he hoped that the money would roll in. However, it was a flop.

The movie failing was a massive blow. “Cristina had lent us $100,000 to fund it,” Barsanti says. “It was her entire life savings, and we had lost it in the film, and it wasn’t coming back. Times were rough.”

The couple was living off her county job, sporadic unemployment checks, and a few residual checks from his TV and film credits. The family was not making an ideal living from their joint incomes, and by this point, they had two young boys: a toddler and an infant.

During this challenging time, his wife started listening to real estate podcasts. Within a month, she told him to drop everything because she had learned they could start investing without really having any money. “She learned about wholesaling real estate and leveraging debt to buy property we otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford. Like an obedient, broke husband, I nodded my head and said yes.”

To appease his wife and his guilty conscience, Barsanti started attending real estate investing (REI) meetups and listening to podcasts about the subject. They even hired a coach to walk them through the process of creating wealth this way. “After learning the basics, I sprang into action,” he says. “Massive action. I started hunting for off-market deals like my life depended on it—because it did. My desperation met a new, big opportunity, and this time I wasn’t going to take it for granted.”

He paid $300 for an online course on how to pull lists of off-market properties. “I then went crazy, cold calling owners 40 hours a week while binge listening to podcasts. We had zero savings in the bank, so we pulled $90,000 out of our house and bought an off-market triplex.” But why take a small piece of the pie when you can have so much more? “I then found an 11-unit apartment building, so we scraped together $33,000 from Cristina’s 401(k) and bought it with two other partners.” Through his cold calls to owners of multifamily properties, he found a bank-owned self-storage facility. “The rest is history.”

It may be history, but we still want to know what happened next. “I learned the importance of finding deals yourself and not relying on just brokers and wholesalers,” says Barsanti. “In storage, especially, your ability to find opportunity is the lifeline of your career.”

He goes on to say, “In the course of the next four and a half years, we leveraged debt, partners, and mentors to purchase $66 million in self-storage.” During this time, the couple also started a wholesaling company that assigned contracts of single-family homes to house flippers. This is when Cristina started reaping the benefits of investing her life savings and her 401(k) into her husband’s dreams. “I retired my wife within a year and a half,” he says proudly. “I even paid her back from the movie debt.” By the time he was 44, he had become a millionaire.

He’s very well aware of his fortune. He’s also cognizant of the fact that it’s been a thorough team effort. “I’ve had the help and guidance from the best partner anyone could ever have: my wife.”

Today, his wealth consists of 12 facilities in eight different states and the U.S. Territory of Guam. “We’ve sold seven, and did extraordinarily well on those sales, to the tune of multimillion dollars in profits.” They currently have over 15 employees running their portfolio.

The American dream is all about financial freedom. While this concept has different meanings depending on whom you ask, it does have a common denominator: having the peace of mind that comes from knowing that all of your financial needs are met—housing, food, entertainment, retirement, and expendable income for additional investments, dreams, and trips.

Although the Barsantis have achieved that, and they could easily fly off into the sunset to enjoy early retirement, at the end of 2022 he decided to launch his coaching and mentorship program called StorageLife. Presently, they have about 40 students across the country, and StorageLife is guiding them to find, fund, and operate storage nationwide. “Our community is one of the most successful in the industry,” he says. “We don’t just teach you how to understand and invest in self-storage. We hold you accountable and help you take action. We do it with you.”

In fact, they’ve helped more than 30 students close deals and they’ve partnered with over a dozen, actively helping families replace their income by leveraging debt and investing in cash flowing assets that appreciate over time. “Through investing in self-storage, we are helping people reach true financial freedom.”

The North Star of what has made StorageLife so successful is that they actually get their students to take action. “Most investors get wrapped up in the details and suffer from analysis paralysis,” he says. “We help people not only understand the game but the importance of becoming a deal hunter. We find opportunity by building out a deal funnel, a system which allows students to target off-market opportunities.” This unique approach has helped StorageLife provide investors who are stuck with insights and a tangible roadmap that allows them to move the needle forward.

They’ve also created an elaborate course that assists students with everything: real estate fundamentals, finding storage, conducting due diligence, speaking with sellers, negotiating techniques, creative finance structures, underwriting, facility takeover procedures, and operational instruction. “Most people don’t have an education problem,” says Barsanti; “they have an implementation problem.”

There’s something else that separates the wheat from the chaff. “One of the reasons that our community is so successful is because of mindset,” he says. “I speak about this on stages now, to inspire others who want to invest in storage. Committing to these types of investments is intimidating, and people often let their self-doubt keep them from taking action. But if I want to be a successful coach, I have to help them believe in themselves and that they can do it. This is such a significant aspect of the success of the StorageLife community.”

Their students consist of people from all walks of life: entrepreneurs, real estate developers, doctors, surgeons, lawyers, house flippers, teachers, government employees, firemen. “You name it. We teach them.”

All the couple’s income streams (real estate, coaching, public speaking, and partnerships) have enabled them to build a truly fulfilling life. “I work from home. I see my boys almost every day of their lives. Cristina works a few hours a day, max.” They can work from anywhere in the world, and they take Fridays off to go to yoga classes and have lunch together. “We can travel wherever we want, whenever we want. We are, in fact, living the dream; and now we get to help others do the same.”

When he’s not working, Barsanti loves spending time with his family in Corrales, N.M. His two rambunctious boys keep him and his wife on their toes. He also loves to surf and snowboard, so he’s always planning trips to do so as often as possible.

Looking back at his entire trajectory, it would be easy to decide that maybe luck had a lot to do with it, but upon closer inspection, Barsanti’s story is testament to what happens when you turn wishful thinking into reality. Everyone wants to create wealth and build a dream life. Many talk about it ad infinitum, but few actually take action.

“What I’d like people to take away from my story is the power of persistence. Don’t let past failures stop you from taking more risks.” Moreover, he stresses the importance of being open minded and willing to leap into the unknown. “When Cristina first mentioned real estate to me as a way to make money, I was willing to listen and learn. Even though it hadn’t even been on my radar before, it became a newfound passion.”

From that passion came additional lessons about the importance of self-education, the strength of partnerships, and knowing that it’s never too late to accomplish something great. “I was already 40 when I started learning about this industry,” he says, “and look how much my life has changed for the better in just five years.”

Barsanti wants people to be aware that it’s entirely possible to find opportunities even amid desperation. “In fact, that desperation can serve as fuel for success,” he adds. He was at rock bottom, but against all odds, he built a real estate empire. Then, after he did, he turned around to help others do the same.

For anyone looking to achieve a dream, regardless of industry, his philosophy is simple: “Surround yourself with those who are successful at what you want to be successful at and your dreams will become a reality.”