Product:

Self-Storage Consultation

Corner Unit Consulting

By Brad Hadfield

ome people stumble into the self-storage industry by chance. Others grow up around it and choose to get involved. For Spencer Duncan, founder of Corner Unit Consulting, it was a bit of both.

“I’d been around self-storage for years,” he says. His mother is Sarah Beth DeFazio, vice president of sales and development for Universal Storage Group; he also grew up with industry icon M. Anne Ballard, former president of the same company. “I didn’t plan this path, but because of them, the industry always intrigued me.”

Founder: Spencer Duncan

At 24, Duncan may be one of the younger faces in self-storage, but he’s determined to make a name for himself. After graduating from Florida Atlantic University with a business degree, he bounced between side gigs—server, bartender, help desk specialist—eventually finding a place in marketing at a fintech startup. There, he began running ad campaigns and something clicked. “I liked what I was doing and thought I could bring my skills to self-storage. I started thinking about what’s missing in the industry and who’s getting overlooked.”

Duncan’s access to self-storage pros gave him a lot of industry perspective. Over the years, he’d noticed a pattern: Larger operators had the resources to hire agencies or build internal teams to handle marketing and digital strategy, while smaller operators struggled to do the same. “For the bigger companies, it’s easy—they can bring in a full team,” he says. “But the mom-and-pop operators with one or a handful of locations, who’s helping them?”

That question became the foundation of his business. Now, rather than chasing enterprise-level clients, Duncan is focused on smaller operators—owners who often know their business inside and out but don’t have the time, tools, or technical experience to market it effectively. “The clients I work with will say, ‘We just need someone who understands this stuff,’” he says. “And that’s where I come in.”

While Duncan leans on digital tools to do the job, he’s quick to point out that technology is only part of the equation. “None of that can replace the person,” he says. “You still need someone steering the ship.”

That philosophy shapes how he works with clients. Instead of offering rigid service packages, he builds tailored plans based on what each operator actually needs. “I’m not going to sell someone something they don’t need,” he says. “I’m going to figure out what’s missing and go from there.”

That might mean managing social media campaigns, designing graphics, or developing grassroots strategies that go beyond the screen. In one case, working with a facility near a major college campus, Duncan helped turn a renter into a marketing asset. “Who better to market to students than a student? So, we offered the tenant a free unit for the summer in exchange for handing out flyers on campus,” he says. “It worked—we picked up several new rentals from that.”

It’s a simple approach, but one rooted in something bigger: building relationships to drive results. “I was a bartender; I like talking to people,” he says. “There’s a big push toward automation, and I understand that, but at some level people still want that human connection. And they want to support businesses that feel local.”

That mindset extends beyond self-storage. “Look at restaurants,” he adds. “People, especially younger generations, are moving away from chains. If they’re going out, they want to go to local spots. That same mindset applies here.”

When not building relationships, Duncan is building dashboards that track performance and surface trends across platforms. “I’ve created systems that pull in data from multiple channels,” he says. “This helps you see what’s working and what’s not in real time.”

Still, he draws a clear line. “I’m not touching pricing. That’s up to the operator. My job is to get people in the door.”

For now, Duncan is operating as a one-man shop, working closely with a growing list of clients, some of whom have already begun referring others. “It’s been a mix of word of mouth and just getting my name out there,” he says.

He’s also experimenting with smaller, entry-level services, like quick-turn social media posts or one-off projects that allow operators to test the waters before committing to a larger engagement. “Think of it like a sample. Try it, see if it works, and then decide if you want more.”

Long term, the goal is growth, but not at the expense of quality. “I’d rather perfect what I’m doing first, get consistent results, then expand.”

It sounds like someone who knows the industry all too well.