Coast Life: Gulfport storage rental business offering inspiration one sign at a time

GULFPORT, Miss. (WLOX) - We could all use a little boost, and the Coast Life for a storage rental business is all about lifting spirits one sign at a time.

“I like seeing that people respond by saying, ‘It gave me a lift that day,’” Handy Lock Self Storage co-owner Jim Horne said.

The lift Horne is talking about is simple: it comes from driving by and reading inspirational messages.

Some of the quotes include:

• “We rise by lifting others.”
• “Always keep your gratitude higher than your expectations.”
• “Don’t wait until life isn’t hard before you decide to be happy.”

More than two decades ago, one of the managers at the Ocean Springs location had the idea to put a quote on the sign.

“The first quote was ‘Keep the main thing the main thing,’” Horne said. “It struck us that it is a great message. It’s not only encouraging, it’s wisdom, so it started from there.”

Now it’s a tradition, the messages are regularly changed at all nine of the self-storage locations from Gulfport to Pensacola.

“If you can give them that encouraging pat on the back, or a little hug as they’re driving by, that’s a good feeling,” Horne said.

All the employees pitch in to come up with ideas for new quotes.

“It’s a culture of helpfulness,” Horne said.

The signs can also serve as a welcome to the neighborhood, like for a person moving to the area who sent Horne this message.

“It said, ‘I knew I was home when I saw this sign on the Handy Lock,’” Horne said.

The work to make sure the quotes don’t repeat is an ongoing process and discussion. If you’re having trouble making it through the week, a drive by one of these signs just might give you the boost you need to make it to Friday.

“Everybody is carrying a burden. If it only helps for 15 seconds to give them a deep breath on the way to work or the way home to say, ‘I got this,’ that’s wonderful,” Horne said.

You can expect to keep seeing new quotes on the Handy Lock signs. Typically, they change the messages about once a week.

See a spelling or grammar error in this story? Report it to our team HERE.