How To Write A Business Plan For And Open A Store Or A Boutique

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Many people email me or ask directly on my apps how to write a business plan for a store or a boutique. Additionally, people don’t want to just plan this business. They want to start these businesses and eventually open a store or a boutique. In this article I will explain the challenges with planning and opening a store, and how you can overcome those challenges.

How Much Money Do You Need To Open A Store Or Boutique

The way to determine how much money you will need to raise to open your store is to create something called a cash flow statement. A cash flow statement is just a glorified itemized list of your expenses and revenue. You should research and list all the expenses you incur before you start the store like legal fees, renting the space, remodeling, etc. Then you should list expenses you will incur after you will open the store like inventory management, employee salary, etc. And you should also add the projected revenue that your business will be making to offset those costs. Here is a full tutorial to determine how much money you need to start a business.

How To Raise The Money To Open Your Store Or Boutique

If you have created your cash flow statement as I suggested in the previous section of this blog post, by now you realize that you will need quite a bit of money to start your business. So what you have to do is either raise that money, or figure out an alternative strategy that is much cheaper. The alternative strategy would be to open an online store. We will cover that in the next section of this blog post. Now let’s go over how you can raise the money you need.  Here is a tutorial with different fundraising ideas.

And here is a tutorial for how to can write a fundraising plan to keep your fundraising efforts organized.

Also, here are some of the challenges and tips for raising money at the idea stage of your business.

And lastly, here is a tutorial for how to attract investors with your business plan.

How To Start Cheaply And Risk-Free Online

If you are not able to raise the money needed to open a store, you can start your store online. It is much faster, less risky, and cheaper to start your store online. Many people find that creating their website is expensive, so we created a tutorial for how you can set up your own site quickly, cheaply (almost free), professionally, and on your own. Take a look at our tutorial for how to set up your WordPress site.

Once you are able to set up your site, you can begin selling items from it. Here is a tutorial for how to earn affiliate commissions from your site. You can begin earning money this way on the very first day that your site launches.

Which Licenses And Permits Do You Need To Open A Store

Physical stores require quite a few licenses and permits. There are two ways to find out which permits you need. You can either contact an attorney who will explain this to you, or you can call your city, county, and secretary of state offices. You should also talk with an attorney about what kind of a an entity type you should open.

Where To Open The Store Or Boutique

The biggest advantage of having a store is that its physical presence does much of the marketing for you. So make sure the store is located in a place where your target customers live, and pass by your store. If you have not narrowed down your target market, here is a tutorial for how to identify your target market.

Additionally, here is a tutorial on how to write a business plan.

Risk Of Opening A Store Or A Boutique

The biggest long-term challenge with opening a store or a boutique is that the online world will be taking away more and more of your sales each year. So you must have a way to counter that trend. And you won’t know whether you will be able to counter that trend until you actually open the store. And that is too late. This is a tremendous risk for your business long-term. So try to think through this nuance and how to get around it when you are planning to open your store, or a boutique.

Further Business Resources

For more business-starting resources, please take a look at our business planning mobile apps. Here is the iOS business plan app and here is the Android business plan app. Additionally, here is the iOS fundraising app. And here is the Android fundraising app.

And please check out and subscribe to my YouTube channel where we cover many marketing topics. Additionally, I wrote a book that teaches you how to go from business ideas to starting your actual business. If you are in the process of starting a business and writing a business plan, this book can help you quite a bit. Here is the business idea book on Amazon.

Author: Alex Genadinik

 

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