Are you absolutely sick of coming to YOUR business and not having a place to park? Here’s a step by step guide to reclaiming your sanity and resolving the parking lot issues:

From 2013-2015 we would come to work and this is what we would see (click PLAY button on bottom of video):

I was so sick and tired of not having parking that I learned exactly how to fix the problem:

STEP 1: DEFINE IT

Make sure the reserved parking that belongs exclusively to you is clearly illustrated in the lease. If you own the building then you don’t need this step. But assuming you don’t own the building, you need to have the landlord provide a map showing which parking spaces are yours (and only yours). This can be as simple as taking a photo of the parking lot or even hand-drawing a clear illustration. Here's the illustration that I had made by the landlord for my current lease (the yellow area is specifically mine):

Next, have the landlord amend the lease to reflect that these specific spaces belong to (your business address). Any semi-normal landlord will want you to stay as a tenant (providing you pay rent on time and in full). Politely explain that without parking you can’t work and therefore can’t make money and therefore will not be able to stay in business; the landlord *should* understand. If your landlord refuses to assist you have a couple options that we will discuss at the very end of this article.

STEP 2: LABEL IT

Notice my upgrades sign? Now that you have defined parking spaces the next step is to immediately label them. No Parking Signs are great!! You can have custom No Parking signs made cheap online. Here's a great one on Amazon for around $13 with free shipping:

TIP: Get a metal sign because people WILL intentionally or unintentionally break plastic ones.  Your other option is to do what we did at our front door:

BUT, if you have ever come to our warehouse to pickup, you have probably seen some idiot park directly there. However, since we have a large gated yard we don't make a fuss about it.  But if ya try illegally parking in the gated yard, that's a totally different story!  Let's move on to Step 3...

STEP 3: FINALIZE IT

Now comes the fun part. You get to pick a local towing company. Pick a company who can arrive quickly and who has good reviews. Once you agree to partner with them (for free), they will gladly come out and install their company sign below your company sign. For legal reasons the tow companies name and phone number MUST be listed because the person who has their vehicle towed needs to know where to go to get it back.

STEP 4: WAIT FOR IT

When someone parks in your spot, call the tow company. They’ll come right out. In Michigan our tow company arrives then calls police. Police come out and authorize the tow. This law might be different in other states. In other states you might be able to have a tow without the cops there. Anyways, in Michigan, depending on the officer, some refuse to authorize the tow until they attempt to contact the owner of the car and politely ask them to move it. This kind of sucks for you because it teaches people that if they park there the cops will call them before they tow it. However other police officers will just authorize the tow and it immediately gets hooked up to the tow truck. TIP: I strongly encourage you NOT to be outside when the tow happens. People who find out their vehicle is getting towed turn into total psychopaths. I have seen people attack the tow truck driver, I’ve seen people attempt to wrestle their vehicle off of the tow hookup and just about every person has gone on a screaming, swearing rant that involves threats, arms flailing and physically beating our NO PARKING sign (that’s exactly why I said to get the metal sign, not the plastic). I know you are a tough person and you feel like you can handle it BUT there's a difference between being tough and being smart. If you get shot or stabbed by an angry illegal-parker you’re going to miss a lot of work and lose a lot of money over it. HOWEVER, if you can watch discreetly from a window, it’s totally interesting and almost enjoyable.

STEP 5: SECURE IT

As word spreads that you really do tow people the illegal parking will absolutely decrease. It takes a bit of time but it does happen. On the other hand, you should also expect some psychopaths to come into your place of business and scream at you. I absolutely recommend, if you do not have walk-in businesses, keeping your doors locked and getting a Ring doorbell or similar in addition to installing a surveillance system. Security cameras are not very expensive but if the cost is absolutely not doable, get dummy cams. Just make sure you run a cord from them so they look like real cameras. Don’t get the dummy cams with the fake red light. Not a single one of my real cameras have ever had a red light on them. You could also just put up some webcams that aren’t even actually hooked up to anything. Just run the cord into the ceiling or wherever so it looks legit. People do behave better when they think they are being watched… and if they behave badly and you have a camera, it’s always entertaining to say the least. We once had a woman who was so angry that she picked up her car from the tow yard and came back to smash her car into our NO PARKING sign. The metal sign pole didn’t bend but it did pull slightly out of the ground… it was totally worth having to cement the sign into the ground because she broke out her headlight and left a massive dent in her front bumper. I wonder if she still parks in Reserved spots?

FINAL WORD… If the landlord REFUSES to designate parking to you and the lease has already been signed:

The landlord is refusing to cooperate for only a couple different reasons:

1. He/She is a total a**hole. If this is genuinely the case, he might be what us business owners call a “Security Deposit Mill”, meaning a landlord who has no intention at all of anyone ever staying. He collects large security deposits, never fixes anything, doesn’t live up to his end of the bargain and essentially WANTS you to break the lease so he can re-lease it next month and collect another huge security deposit. He basically makes more money off keeping security deposits than he would keeping you there and collecting rent while being a proper landlord. Not every landlord is a Security Deposit Mill, but there are a lot out there. One sign of a Security Deposit Mill is a landlord who tries to bully you or talks down to you.
2. He / She doesn’t see the problem. Ok, this is a legitimate reason to not want to help. If this is the case then you have to physically show them the problem by gathering evidence that includes photos, videos, logs, etc. If your argument is that there is nowhere to park, go to the parking lot every hour (during business hours) and video the lot to show there are literally 0 spots open. Additionally, gather evidence to show how not having parking has caused you financial harm. This could be emails from customers or associates stating they could not come because there was no parking or it could even be bad reviews published by potential customers online about the same.
3. You do not pay rent on time, you short-change rent, you complain all the time or you are being a headache in general. Landlords despise when tenants complain about issues they can easily fix themselves. They also cannot stand when tenants cause unneeded friction with other tenants or the city. If you are one of those people that always has drama, you are probably the reason the landlord isn’t rushing to help you. If this is the case, the best option would be to try to start fresh with the landlord. When you pay rent take the time to apologize for being a big ball of stress. If the lightbulb burns out, change it on your own. If the faucet is leaking, tighten it or replace it. Make small improvements to the space. Clean the exterior of the space. Landlords absolutely notice these things and if he sees that you are turning over a new leaf he will be much more inclined to get you to stay. :)