This is one of a series of stories we are sharing to show what’s inside CubeSmart. You not only get a peek inside our customer’s storage unit, but also a peek inside what is important to them. Thank you to Cindy Quick, a customer of our CubeSmart store in Washington, DC, for sharing her story with us.
Cindy Quick has been a CubeSmart customer for ten years, if she counts the year or so she kept her things at another location before moving to this store on Upshur Avenue in Washington, DC. A decade is a long time for Quick, who’s made a life of constant reinvention.
“I get bored really easily. I started working at nineteen, opened a hair design business and had a house and a BMW at age 25 and realized I was too tied down. I was tired about talking people’s bangs so then I left and went into retail liquidation. I was single so I would work somewhere for a few months and then spend a few months learning to sail boats or I’d go hiking in the Redwoods.”
Her nomadic life went on for several years until she came back to D.C. at age 36. Right now she works in home staging, which she fell into from her five years as a realtor.
“I was staging my own properties and my agent friends asked who did them, so I started working for them, too. I helped one friend sell a $2 million condo that had been on the market for three months. I went to IKEA, built all the furniture and set it up and it sold in five days. Soon after that I got a truck and hired some people to help me, and eventually left the realtor side.”
Eventually, Cindy would like to move to an island or Mexico and open a tiki bar—a plan that might be her retirement, or simply the next phase in a life of adventure.
“My friend and I have talked about finding a hut. We’d work our tails off all day and then just sit on the beach and relax.”
For now, though, she’s pretty content. She loves the independence of owning her own business, even if there’s risk and uncertainty involved at times. She loves her easy rhythm of starting the day at CubeSmart, loading or unloading her goods.
“I have my eight units right near the loading dock. The people who work here are awesome. I’m here every day and they treat me like family.”
She sets up her properties with her realtor intuition for what sells and then goes home, knowing she’s helping reduce the stress for her clients by speeding up the sales process. Then it’s onto the next in a city where people are constantly coming and going.
Three years ago, she got married to an artist and she’s enjoying coupledom, even if her husband doesn’t always get why she wants to swap out the sofa or the dining room table from time to time. It’s easy when you have your own truck and a storage unit full of extras.
“What can I say? I just like to change things up.”
We’d love to hear how self storage has positively impacted your life. Share your #HumansofSelfStorage story in the comments.
