Quote:
Originally Posted by abothebear
The shop I keep mentioning had a great weekly consignment board system that kept people coming in twice a week at least, and kept the shop full of new and interesting affordable inventory. If there is an itch that needs scratching, I suppose that is it. I loved that consignment board and how it makes the store alive.
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Very astute of you to have identified your motivation on why you want to open a shop before diving in. Action & Camaraderie. Those two things along with the lure of self-employment are why a lot of people open businesses, some succeed, a lot fail. For me, there is no greater feeling than taking an idea and building it into a profitable business but, it's always a grind, filled with self doubt, long hours, and expensive lessons. Ask your guy who has all the inventory why his business failed. Are you willing to turn the key in the door every morning knowing you have to make $500 that day and if you don't you have to make $1000 tomorrow? It will be 100% your responsibility to ensure there is more income than outgo. The government, the power company, your distributors, your employees, etc, don't care if you're successful, they just want their money every month. And you better have it or the doors won't be open very long. You'll be amazed how fast your burn rate is. Are you willing to mortgage your house for start up costs and possibly lose it all? How will it affect your family if you do lose it?
Action & Camaraderie. Maybe think about it a different way. Can you take the start up costs, say 150-200k and use that money or a portion of it to fulfill that need within the hobby/business you're passionate about without opening a brick and mortar? Weekly meet-ups, online community, network building, etc. take some time and think creatively outside the box on how to fulfill that need without risking the farm. It doesn't cost much to come up with a lot of ideas and stress test them. If that's not enough you can always spend/risk more money to open a brick and mortar.
Either way I wish you the best of luck and great success!