Karen Bodoano

Karen Bodoano

Hi, I'm Karen!

I'm the first and only Certified Senior Move Manager in Western Canada

Welcome to my web site! Who am I? A self professed “Storage Geek” — I spent 29 years of my life as the Operations Manager for Sentinel Self-Storage.  During that time, I went from a timid young banker girl to a senior manager in charge of 24 storage locations across Canada.  It was a wonderful time of growth, for both Sentinel and myself! I oversaw approximately 80 staff and was able to do many cool things!

While I was passionate about the storage industry, when Sentinel was sold in July 2017 for $396mil I decided it was time to launch my own company. Move Coordinators was incorporated in November 2017, and we are proud to be the second senior move manager company in Edmonton!

It’s an exciting time during which I can still provide storage expertise, but also be a newbie in this emerging industry of Senior Move Management!

Speaking

Sentinel allowed me to become a Competent Communicator, in several ways. In 2007, I completed the training and presentations to reach this designation with Toastmasters, Dawnbreaker group. I also had many opportunities to facilitate and present at our Annual three day staff meetings. This experience even allowed me to become a “Train the Volunteer” presenter for the World Track and Field Games in 2000.

Now, I have the pleasure of speaking in front of crowds as small as 10 to as large as 500 as part of my Senior Move Manager role. I am a proud member of the National Assoc. of Senior Move Managers and presented at the 2019 annual Conference. I also am part of a dynamic group of speakers and we co-present as Executor Experts.

Looking for an entertaining, engaging presenter for your group? Contact me to discuss options from topics including self-storage, executor roles, downsizing and more!

Senior Move Management

It is extremely exciting to be part of a new, burgeoning industry!

It has been wonderful to mesh my storage and moving experience into a new service. Our strength starts with the years of experience we have.

  • Local movers help us refer and use only the best movers in Edmonton.
  • Contacts with the packing supply vendor ensure we use only excellent mover quality boxes and materials.
  • Self-storage recommendations are made whenever the client has a need.

Realizing the gravity of the situation to learn a new industry, I joined the Professional Organizers of Canada Association in November 2017. I am a proud member of our local Edmonton chapter, and presently serve as the Director of Communications. After the Marie Kondo phenomena hit in early 2019, at my request, Global TV morning news allowed myself and our President to be interviewed.

I achieved my Trained Professional Organizer status in October 2018 and I am an active member with the Professional Organizers of Canada, Edmonton Chapter where I hold the role of Public Relations and Marketing Coordinator. Realizing we deal with many people, in many different situations – I also joined and am working through the courses of the Institute of Chronically Disorganized.

I’m also a member of 

NASMM has been an amazing resource, with fabulous training (Front Door, conferences) as well being part of a SMM family that is so wonderful to share ideas and advice.

I officially launched Move Coordinators April 1st, 2018 and the interest, acceptance and growth have been awesome!

One facet of a large downsize is what to do with all the stuff. Work and testing have been done to incorporate the self-storage seizure online auction platform – ibid4storage.com into an online platform to sell used household items. The launch of a new web site will be announced before the end of 2019!

We strive to be THE senior move manager solution for many years to come! Check out movecoordinators.ca for more info!

Consulting

My joke was “if you cut me, I would bleed Sentinel red”. Storage was my passion for many years!

I was extremely fortunate to have a great mentorship and fertile training ground at Sentinel. Being part of a very small team with four locations to the national entity of 24 allowed me to participate in many aspects of running a successful storage company. My experience is vast, due to the small nature of our company and my length of service.

Some of the duties included:

  • Hiring, training and mentoring staff
  • Design and set up of many policies and procedures
  • In-depth knowledge of Sitelink, the premier self-storage operating software
  • Budgeting and expense control of a $30mil/year company
  • Auditing and controls
  • Self storage collections and auction procedures
  • Physical Site inspections
  • All aspects of advertising and marketing – with an emphasis on our online presence
  • Construction design, unit layout. Unit mix calculations and planning
  • Feasibility studies
  • Market research
  • Large database of self storage vendors and suppliers, many who have been 20+ year contacts

Get in touch with me today regarding your self-storage consulting needs!

PRESENTLY UNDER EXCLUSIVITY CONTRACT

Contact for more information

Writing

Books are another great passion of my life! I have loved books since I was a little girl, and still find time to read as often as I can!

I produced over 50 self-storage blogs for Sentinel’s web site, and was the editor/writer of the quarterly staff newsletters for over 25 years.

It even resulted in a fun book being written as a gift for our President and Construction Managers back in 2015. This little book of quirky stories about our self-storage experiences is now being rewritten into my memoirs and an insider view of the self-storage industry. A publisher has been selected and is on stand by for the edit process to commence.

Plans are underway to publish this book in 2020 – tentatively called “Behind Closed Doors”. Stay tuned!

Partner, NewlyMine.com

Author (title forthcoming)