Opening A retail Business??? Business owners come on in!!

[GregWeld]

Just wanted to add this as long as you have me thinking...

You'll only get a loan if you don't need one to start with. These days - nobody is going to finance retail inventory without a long history.. and even then it'd be tough.

[DOOM]

Rick. One thing I can tell do as much as you can on your own ! NO PARTNERS!!!!!! It doesn't work trust me....

[Z10ROD]

other than getting your wholesale suppliers to front some stock I don't see any other way I would do it.
I would not want any partners/investors forsure.

If you can pull it off I wish you all the luck in the world .

[fesler]

Not to rain on your parade but run right now I would not start something in this economy. Things need to turn around before you start something on your own that you can’t afford to run for the next year till you can get things going. It is very difficult to start a business at any point but when the economy is off it will be very hard to keep it going. You have to consider taxes, rent and products they will kill your profits. This is where our government comes into play because they are against all the small businesses and anyone that thinks they are here to help please show me where. They take take take and did I say take from us daily and make it almost impossible to keep things going. It’s a fight that is almost impossible to win because they don’t care about you or anyone else they just want the money. The government talks about how they are here to help people but daily they are closing small businesses down with their rules and regulations and that is not helping anyone. More power to you if you can start this up and keep it going but let me tell you it will be a fight and I don’t want to tell a fellow car guy not to do something but be prepared to fight and fight hard. Like Greg said have some money to survive on for a period of some time that you feel comfortable with.

Also have a business plan that will kick some ass pay to have one done if you don’t understand it because without it a bank will just laugh at you. Like others have mentioned if you figure it out clue us in because some of us have been at this for years with perfect everything and they just take the credit lines away with no questions because they don’t like what they see coming. They are not here to help as I said they just want to act like they are while they sit on their billions of dollars not doing anything with it.

The banks need to loan the money and let businesses get back to work and save our country.

[John510]

Economy schmonomy!!!!

Just because the economy is bad does not mean you will fail....

I opened a restaurant in 2009 when the economy sucked and it is one of the highest grossing stores in the franchise.

It all has to do with HOW its ran and customer service/product. If you can stand out from the competition you will win. Every Single Time.

I will use Matts Bowties as an example since we are talking retail (Kim if you want me to remove this I will). I was buying parts from vendors all over the map previously. Mostly because some were selling the parts cheaper than others. Well now I ONLY buy my stuff from Matts. Are they the cheapest? No. Do they have the most amazing service and can I trust them with 100K$ order in parts and not worry if it will disappear? YES.

On top of that I just had a baby and when I went in to get more parts Kim bought my daughter a present. How cool is that?

Its the little things that separate mediocre stores from GREAT stores.


Now that being said... Rick you should see # 5 on this list.

TOP TEN REASONS BUSINESSES FAIL
1. The math just doesn’t work. There is not enough demand for the product or service at a price that will produce a profit for the company. This, for example, would include a start-up trying to compete against Best Buy and its economies of scale.

2. Owners who cannot get out of their own way. They may be stubborn, risk averse, conflict averse — meaning they need to be liked by everyone (even employees and vendors who can’t do their jobs). They may be perfectionist, greedy, self-righteous, paranoid, indignant or insecure. You get the idea. Sometimes, you can even tell these owners the problem, and they will recognize that you are right — but continue to make the same mistakes over and over.

3. Out-of-control growth. This one might be the saddest of all reasons for failure — a successful business that is ruined by over-expansion. This would include moving into markets that are not as profitable, experiencing growing pains that damage the business, or borrowing too much money in an attempt to keep growth at a particular rate. Sometimes less is more.

4. Poor accounting. You cannot be in control of a business if you don’t know what is going on. With bad numbers, or no numbers, a company is flying blind, and it happens all of the time. Why? For one thing, it is a common — and disastrous — misconception that an outside accounting firm hired primarily to do the taxes will keep watch over the business. In reality, that is the job of the chief financial officer, one of the many hats an entrepreneur has to wear until a real one is hired.

5. Lack of a cash cushion. If we have learned anything from this recession (I know it’s “over” but my customers don’t seem to have gotten the memo), it’s that business is cyclical and that bad things can and will happen over time — the loss of an important customer or critical employee, the arrival of a new competitor, the filing of a lawsuit. These things can all stress the finances of a company. If that company is already out of cash (and borrowing potential), it may not be able to recover.

6. Operational mediocrity. I have never met a business owner who described his or her operation as mediocre. But we can’t all be above average. Repeat and referral business is critical for most businesses, as is some degree of marketing (depending on the business).

7. Operational inefficiencies. Paying too much for rent, labor, and materials. Now more than ever, the lean companies are at an advantage. Not having the tenacity or stomach to negotiate terms that are reflective of today’s economy may leave a company uncompetitive.

8. Dysfunctional management. Lack of focus, vision, planning, standards and everything else that goes into good management. Throw fighting partners or unhappy relatives into the mix and you have a disaster.

9. The lack of a succession plan. We’re talking nepotism, power struggles, significant players being replaced by people who are in over their heads — all reasons many family businesses do not make it to the next generation.

10. A declining market. Book stores, music stores, printing businesses and many others are dealing with changes in technology, consumer demand, and competition from huge companies with more buying power and advertising dollars.

[Z10ROD]

dam that was good

[uppster]

An SBA loan is not a loan from the government, it is from your bank, it is backed by the government. If you decide to go that route ck a Low Doc loan.

[69znc]

Without a proven track record in a buisness the avaible amount of an SBA loan is more tied to the assets you own to execute and deliver in the business.

[EBMC]

I might add that finding good employees is extremely hard in any business. When you do find them they need to be taken care of because they are in short supply. They talk about high unemployment but I had 10 times the applicants 4 years ago than now. ( for any position, including cleanup kid) a friend of mine in a completely unrelated field, the same thing. The only thing I can think of is that the our govt. Has made it so easy for people to sit around and get paid for doing nothing that people have become accustomed to that lifestyle. Back in my day ( and im only 44!) unemployment ins was a last ditch thing and only very temporary. The only thing keeping alot of small businesses (automotive or not) from expanding is these crazy govt regs, taxes and finding qualified, motivated employees. I feel very fortunate to have the talented crew I have and am busier than ever but cannot expand and still produce the kind of product i want due to these reasons. Small businesses are not part of the current govts. agenda.
PS, sorry for the rant but I'm sure any small business owner can relate!

[Tony_SS]

Good post John!