The Chris Voss Show

Unlocking Self-Storage Success with AI and Community Support With Joe Downs

Storagemoguls.ai/

Belrosegrp.com

About the Guest(s):

Joe Downs is the CEO and co-founder of Bellrose Storage Group and Storage Moguls, as well as the host of the Successful Idiots podcast. An entrepreneurial powerhouse, Joe manages seven different business entities that span self-storage acquisitions, media, and consulting, primarily based in the Philadelphia suburbs. Leveraging his expertise, especially in the self-storage industry, Joe aims to revolutionize the way people learn about and enter the self-storage business through innovative uses of AI and community building.

Episode Summary:

Explore the Innovative World of Self-Storage with Joe Downs

In this engaging episode of The Chris Voss Show, host Chris Voss converses with Joe Downs, a dynamic entrepreneur and the mastermind behind Bellrose Storage Group, Storage Moguls, and the Successful Idiots podcast. Joe shares his journey into the world of self-storage, where he has successfully led ventures that redefine traditional business models with the help of artificial intelligence and vibrant community engagement.

Joe elaborates on the concept of Storage Moguls, a platform designed to teach individuals the art of acquiring and managing self-storage facilities. He discusses how the platform offers a unique approach in an era dominated by free information, focusing on experience, relationships, and community rather than outdated mentorship models. By providing educational media supported by AI, Joe enables learners to absorb knowledge through their preferred learning styles. Throughout the episode, he emphasizes the transformative role of AI in streamlining processes like market analysis and client communication in his industry, ensuring faster and more accurate outcomes.

Key Takeaways:

Joe Downs innovatively integrates AI into the learning and operations process of the self-storage industry, simplifying market analysis and client communications.

Storage Moguls is a community-driven platform aimed at guiding novices in acquiring their first self-storage facilities using AI as a key facilitator.

The education process in Storage Moguls is supported through varied forms of media to cater to different learning styles and enhance understanding.

Joe and his team often advise against certain deals, providing guidance to ensure sound investments in self-storage ventures.

His podcasts — Storage Moguls podcast and Successful Idiots — focus on industry insights and demystifying AI for both professional and personal use.

Notable Quotes:

“What are you paying for? You’re paying for experience, relationships, community.”

“This is not a microwave business, it’s a Crockpot business.”

“AI is incredible, but everyone has mental blocks. They open up Chat or Claude or whatever, and you look at it and you go, ‘I don’t know what to say.'”

“We do more talking people out of deals than putting them in deals.”

“The hardest is zero to one. That’s the steepest part of the learning curve.”

Written Off: Navigating Rejection and Faith in the Search for Love, Family, and Belonging (The Approved in Christ Series) by Lisa Phillips

https://www.amazon.com/Written-Off-Navigating-Rejection-Belonging/dp/B0G2RHDXX7

Authorlisaphillips.net

What if the pain that broke you became the doorway to your healing?

Lisa Phillips grew up longing for her mother’s love—yet faced rejection, emotional distance, and a parental wound that shaped her identity for decades. As a woman of faith, she later discovered that the hurt she carried was not the end of her story, but the beginning of God’s restoration.

Written Off is Lisa’s powerful true story of navigating rejection, rediscovering her identity in Christ, and breaking free from the generational patterns that silenced her family for three generations.

In this faith-filled memoir, you’ll discover:

How rejection shapes identity—and how God restores what was lost

The spiritual roots of emotional pain and how truth brings freedom

Faith-based tools to overcome shame, guilt, and family strongholds

A compassionate path toward forgiveness, renewal, and inner peace

Through raw honesty and biblical insight, Lisa reveals how God transformed emotional wounds into spiritual wholeness—and how you can begin that same journey, especially if you have faced rejection, abandonment, or painful parent–child relationships.

Those who seek faith-based healing for emotional or generational trauma, or yearn to rebuild identity, belonging, and trust in God’s redemptive love will find comfort and hope.

Written Off is more than a memoir—it’s an invitation to see your own story through the lens of grace. No matter who has written you off, God is already writing you back into His plan with purpose, freedom, and hope.

Part of the Written Off series — a three-book journey from rejection to restoration.

About the author

Lisa N. Phillips is a faith-driven author, certified children’s mindset and confidence coach, and advocate for emotional and spiritual healing. With a background in early childhood education and years of experience guiding young minds, she is passionate about helping both children and adults develop resilience, identity, and lasting confidence rooted in truth and faith.

As a certified coach through the Adventures in Wisdom™ program, Lisa equips children with practical mindset tools to overcome fear, build self-worth, and navigate life with clarity and purpose. Her work is grounded in the belief that every person is created with value, potential, and a God-given identity.

Helen Gordon: The Woman Behind the Greensheet by Rebecca Blakeley

https://www.amazon.com/Helen-Gordon-Woman-Behind-Greensheet/dp/1475987056

In 1969, Helen Gordon moved to Houston with her new husband, Robert DeYoung. A no-nonsense, pragmatic mother of three with the heart of a musician and the soul of a painter, Helen was determined to be her own boss by owning and operating her own company.

It didn’t take her long to find success. Helen started the Greensheet, a free advertising tabloid with classified ads and a list of business services, in 1970. Within eight years, she expanded it to five Texas cities without the help of bank loans. But she lived in a good ol’ boy atmosphere, in which long lunches over dry martinis were the norm and women were generally absent from the boardroom.

Even so, Helen was undeterred. She was determined to build a company that would prosper, and prosper it did. By 2012, the Greensheet had grown to a circulation of 650,000 and appeared within four Texas cities. Today, her company is a household name and continues to be one of the most successful classified tabloids in the state.

Her irrepressible optimism, sense of humor, and vivacious personality served her well in her personal and professional life. As told by her daughter, Rebecca, Helen Gordon: The Woman Behind the Greensheet is Helen’s inspiring true story.

Science Nonfiction: Behind the Scenes in University Research by Prof Darren Lipomi

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GYGPWWPF

Lipomigroup.org

Every year, the United States spends roughly $60 billion—about 1 percent of the federal budget—on university research. Though this research has far-reaching effects and benefits the public at large, most people are unaware of the inner workings of academic research. Who bears the risk for new discoveries? What role do graduate students play in innovation? What are the shortcomings of academic research, and can the system be fixed?

In Science Nonfiction: Behind the Scenes in University Research, Darren J. Lipomi, PhD, a scientist and educator, offers readers an insider’s perspective of scientific discovery in academia. Drawing on two decades of experience in elite labs and universities, he reveals a system few outsiders ever see. By examining his own career trajectory—from humble beginnings to prestigious universities like Harvard and Stanford to academic leadership—Lipomi illustrates the impact that incentives, power, and politics have on knowledge production.

Science Nonfiction captures both the ingenuity and absurdities of life in the lab. With this book, Lipomi hopes to shed light on the often-overlooked human side of scientific research, purporting that while the system is certainly imperfect, there is hope for a better future. Indeed, even with its immense flaws, academic research represents a significant societal investment in the future. As this investment faces greater scrutiny, limitations, and political interference, understanding the utility of academic research becomes more important than ever before.

About the author

Darren J. Lipomi, PhD, is chair and professor of chemical and sustainability engineering at University of Rochester. Lipomi earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry with a minor in physics as a Beckman Scholar at Boston University in 2005, and in 2010, he attained his PhD in chemistry at Harvard University, working alongside Professor George M. Whitesides. His research interests include molecular engineering of electronic and electroactive polymers, particularly the mechanical properties of semiconducting polymers for flexible solar cells, biomechanical sensors, and phenomena that occur at the intersection of materials chemistry with human perception and cognition. He is the recipient of the AFOSR Young Investigator award, the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), and the NSF BRITE-Pivot award. He hosts a podcast, Molecular Podcasting with Darren Lipomi, which has an associated YouTube channel, Darren_Lipomi. These platforms serve as valuable resources to students, postdocs, and other early-career researchers.

Nutrition and THE BRAIN What school and parents must know by Robert Maker

Robertmakerofficial.com

The first book by Robert Maker is his masterpiece, Nutrition and The Brain: What Schools and Parents Must Know, published in 2026 by Expert Book Publishing. Based on over half a century of personal study of children in the classroom, gym, clinic, and school throughout the United States, the book combines both lived observation and scientific studies to show how nutrition can significantly influence brain health, learning and behavior. The book has a very intimate sense of dedication to his late wife Sandy whose affection, support and unrelenting encouragement kept him going in his life and also in his writing.

Sandy is still in the strength of her marriage of close to thirty years, and Robert Maker is still with her, and her partnership can be seen in every page. Her memory is respected together with families and children with the affected life that came out of avoidable health issues and false information. This is not just a scientific work to Robert, but a mission, a mission of love and responsibility, and the hope of leaving a good legacy to the future generations

The book is also dedicated to the families, teachers, and children, who have been affected by the lack of nutritious food and the presence of food additives in their systems. It emphasizes their bravery and stamina, and delivers an easy to understand and comprehend explanation of the complicated neurological mechanisms to the reader.