When you expect things to happen - strangely enough - they do happen
J.P. Morgan -J.P. Morgan & Co.
When I started to realise that there are so many things I needed to consider to get my business going, it boiled down to one thing, and one thing only! I needed to write the whole idea on paper, or as like to use, the Microsoft Word program I have on my computer. Spell Check even though it has some flaws it still helps alot!
So I started with the Pro's & Con's of why I want to open a $1.00 store, hey we are talking about selling products for $1.00 or less, but what will it do for me as well as the community in the long run? Why do I want the inevitable burden of owning a business, ie. the long hours, the managing of employees, getting the right products that sell more often, and the list began to grow.
This was simple at first, since all I did was write all the questions on the left side, and then creating two columns at the top labeled "PRO's" & CON's". Needles to say the results were outstandingly leading me further into believing that I should just keep moving forward with the grand idea of starting up my own $1.00 store.
This list I created also was a good starting point in creating the "business plan" I needed before I could move any further!
This is where things began to flow like the Alaskan oil pipe line providing the precious liquid the the Continental United States needs. I being not to bad with expressing myself with words on paper, used what I had first with my list of Pro's & Con's list, and the help of a little research on what dollar stores actually do in real life. The words flowed, and the excitement gain ground within me, I believed what i was writing was the real deal, and could actually work with dedication, and hard work.
The "Business Plan" was the next step into reality, and why I needed one!
In the creation of a business plan it has no real beginning or end really. It does require alot of input in so many ways that can become overwhelming at times, or as simple as watching the microwave popcorn in the microwave so it does not cook to long so you don't end up with a bag of burnt kernels of corn. There is no starting point to where you start your draft of the business plan, but there is always an end. It is this point where you the draft you must organize all that you have wrote. Myself I started by getting sample business plans from all over the Internet.
What makes the other companies business plans tic?
Yes I started with investigating other dollar store web sites, but never stopped there! I looked at just about every business out there on the Internet to see how they wrote their own business plans. Shockingly to myself I was on the right track so far. What I noticed was organization of their business plans, and a true belief in what they were doing. I will share with you several web sites in which if you need that can provide samples of business plans to model from. My own business plan draft started with the sacred "Executive Summary", and I loved it! With a little editing here, and there it looked great. Even Little Red thought it looked great!
As a small gesture into what I'm talking about, here is what my original business plan looked like. I started as I said with the "Executive Summary", and hey comments are always welcome on this if you like?
Dear Loan officer;
We are requesting a loan to start-up a unique retail dollar store business. I have over seventeen years experience in the retail industry.
The market for retail dollar shops has increased
The EL Dollar Shop is a business specializing in general merchandise. It will be located in the Albuquerque, NM city limits and location which is in a high traffic area. The space will be next to other retail stores and specialty shops. The space will be easily accessible and provides ample parking for its customers. The space will be visible from all points within the center itself as well as the traffic from major cross streets. The business is a retail establishment selling current dollar variety merchandise at retail. The majority of the merchandise is priced within a one-dollar price range, thus attracting the widest possible range of customers.
El Dollar Shop has access to the purchasing power of buying centers offering merchandise at prices 30 to 60 percent below wholesale with immediate delivery and low to no minimum orders. These centers are well stocked and prepared to meet the increased demands of the peak selling seasons such as Seasonal Changes, Back-to-School, Holiday Needs, etc. Since delivery from these centers to the business takes only five to ten days, El Dollar Shop is assured of a well-stocked store regardless of seasonal demands. Also, since these buying centers are able to deliver in such a short time, there is not a necessity to carry an extremely large inventory in advance of peak selling periods.
El Dollar Shop will attract its customers through the use of specialized advertisements, handbills, news releases in newspapers, as well as the traffic flow of which the area itself generates.
A Grand Opening will commence after El Dollar Shop has been in business for six to eight weeks. This event will be held on a Saturday. El Dollar Shop’s owner Ellisa Eisenbaugh will coordinate the Grand Opening. It will include a local political official, ribbon-cutting ceremonies, pictures, speaking, etc. Professional news releases will be submitted to the local and market area newspapers, and possibly radio and television.
The store owner of El Dollar Shop has access to over 250 of the best buying centers in the country. The buying centers provide inventory and fixtures. Ellisa Eisenbaugh will take a buying trip for initial inventory with her husband and professional buyer Michael Eisenbaugh. All staff will be provided with outstanding and professional in-store training.
Long-Term Goal: In a three year period of operation of the El Dollar Shop, we will have a steady consumer base that which will give us the assets to acquire another location for expansion of the store merchandise, and additional store openings under the El Dollar Shop Name.
Industry: There are is only one traditional retail dollar store providing merchandise for $1.00 or less. This store being what would be our competition known as “Dollar Tree” has seen growth throughout the country but yet still can not stop competitors from stealing their market shares in communities. This is due to their known failure to provide what the local area product demands are; instead they provide merchandise on a general scale set to their buyer’s product attainability which is distributed nation wide. Other small $1.00 merchandise sellers are so few that most only commit to weekend sales at flea markets.
Oh there is alot more to than that, but that's the total belief of what I wanted to do!
Could I really make this happen? Will this really work the way we needed it too? Man I really need the money to get it going! Where do I turn for help?
These are many new questions I asked myself as I progressed through the business plan. I had spent over all almost three months of my family time not spent with them but instead coming home after a hard days work at my job with Home Depot, then eating dinner, and turning on my computer to start working on the one thing I knew I needed if I was to succeed.
Let it not be said where the quality time was spent helping my little girl do her home work from school or sharing with Little Red who gets to make dinner tonight. This is one thing anyone in business already, or is planning to start one, always needs to remember! Family comes first! Their needs are your needs, and must not be ignored at all cost! Hell there were times where I would spend the day with a cooler full of food, so we could have a family day out. Here in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and just a mile or less from the mountains, my daughter, and I like to climb the mountains called the Sandia's. Never forget to take a break from things when you can, and let your mind become clear to accept things you failed to see before, that just might help you see farther.
A good example of this is when recently i stood on a rock at over 10,000 feet looked to the west, and saw the whole Albuquerque area where everything from the neighborhoods to areas of future development stood within my view. I stood there and pointed westward with great awe. Little Red asked "what are you pointing at?" I just laughed and said it was where our empire of $1.00 stores would lay across the land, and there before us was where it would start, only now we could see the land first hand without using the Internet for satellite pictures, but in real life!
My dream was there before me, and gave me insight as to how small one store would be, but how many places my stores would envelop the area markets from the western desert of Arizona, and Nevada, to the mountains of Colorado.
Envision your dreams by looking forward!
Now to provide those reading this blog with some help full web sites to get the help they need with writing their own business plans.
Now for the fun part:
I was doing pretty good up until I got to the financial portions of the business plan, and well being much better of an Idea Man than with figuring out the financials, I can only wonder now how much hair I lost just from pulling my hair back from front to backwards with both hands as I rubbed, and stroked from forehead to neck? "Wow sweetheart! Got a bit to figure out here was my first problem, I said to Little Red.
Though I had to do alot more research on what, and how much I needed to fill the shelves with the stuff that people were going to buy. that also added to the financial portion of the business plan. We needed to purchase the items which now became part of the financial portion as well.
Seems like I'm jumping ahead right now, and need to back up to other parts of the business plan that help dictate why the financials were so important.
The Marketing & Management portion of the business plan surely weighed heavy on most things that would govern how we would run the business in the future.
I do not want this to become a blog where "Hey you need a business plan!" but what's it like to own a $1.00 store? This is where the stitches in the head come from. How do I make the numbers reflect the truth? How do I make the numbers look like it is going to be profitable, without lieing? what do all the numbers, and their descriptions mean? Little Red felt dumbfounded when she looked at everything needed.
5lbs. of All purpose joint compound for patching the drywall, and a few head stitches later I think I got it all together, well at least I thought so!
When it came to figuring out the exact numbers, well banging my head against the wall only cost me more money than I needed!
Read more in my next post....
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