How To Write A Business Plan And Open A Hardware Store

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Business Plan For A Hardware Store Or Shop

There are a few thing you must address when you write a business plan for a hardware store. The first and most obvious is how much money it will require to open and maintain until the store becomes profitable. It takes some time to get your lease, register your business, hire initial employees, get product inventory, do remodeling and actually get to your store opening. All that time and all those tasks take time and money.

When you open your hardware store, the first months will most likely be difficult, and your store will likely operate at a loss. It can take up to a year before your store becomes profitable.

What you must do in your business plan is to outline all the expenses your store will incur before and after opening, and explain how you will come up with that money. There will be more about that in the fundraising section of this article.

Another thing you must address in the business plan for your hardware store is how you will promote your store. I will cover that shortly in this article as well.

Lastly, you must address how and from where you will get your inventory, and why your founding team is the right founding team (the founding team might just be you) is the right one to open such a business.

Here is a full tutorial on how to write a business plan.

Marketing Plan For A Hardware Store Or Shop

The marketing plan for a hardware store or shop is pretty straight forward. It consists of these major components:

1) Online marketing with local SEO (I’ll talk about this later in the article).

2) Storefront location being in an area where there is enough passer by foot traffic.

3) Being helpful to customers when they are in your store so that they come back next time they need help. Providing a quality service also helps to build trust in your customers, which will help get them to also buy any home improvement jobs they might need to have done.

Here is a full tutorial on how to write a marketing plan:

Social Media Marketing For A Hardware Store Or Shop

There isn’t too much you need to do with social media marketing to promote a local hardware store, but there are some good practice things that might help a little.

You want to keep and grow a list of local fans on social media. If you get people to follow you on Twitter or like your page on Facebook, you will be able to keep them updated with latest deals and promotions. Deals, promotions and discounts are a great way to get people to come back to your store.

Some of your fans will share your website or promotions on social media, which will help you reach potential new customers.

Here is a full social media marketing tutorial that goes over some advanced social media marketing strategies:

SEO Marketing For A Hardware Store Or Shop

The SEO for a local hardware store is usually hyper local SEO, which usually focuses on the few surrounding neighborhoods. After all, any area further from that probably has a another hardware shop there that is closer for the people who live there to get to.

To rank well in search, you must put your hardware store on the Google map that comes up for local searches. It is pretty simple to do that. All you have to do is sign up for a Google service called “Google My Business” and go through their registration steps. Shortly after that, you should begin to appear on the Google map that comes up in search. If you have competitors, you must get good reviews to eventually rank higher than those competitors on the Google map listings.

You should also have a website to ensure that your website comes up in organic Google search. The next section of this article explains how to set up your own website for your hardware store cheaply, and on your own.

For now, here is a full SEO tutorial.

Lastly, you should also add your website to Yelp, YellowPages and any other local listings website that is popular in your area. Some people bypass Google search, and search on those websites instead. And you want to be sure that they can find your business there as well.

Website For A Hardware Store Or Shop

You can create your own website, on your own and for nearly free. You can even get a free domain name if you don’t already have a domain name for your business. Here is a tutorial on how to create your own WordPress website, and get a free domain name.

Fundraising For A Hardware Store Or Shop

Unfortunately, do you need to raise a significant amount of money to open your own hardware store. There are many things you will have to pay for before your business can have its grand opening, and eventually become profitable.

Here is a fundraising tutorial with 15 different strategies to raise money for your business including grants, loans, getting an investment, or donations, and fourteen other strategies.

How To Choose A Location For A Hardware Store Or Shop

The location for a hardware shop should be one which will have enough foot traffic for everyone in the neighborhood to eventually know that there is a hardware store in the area. They will remember your location when they will need it.

You should also make your storefront inviting for people to step into, and make sure that your staff is nice and friendly.

Additionally, make sure to open your hardware store in an area where there isn’t already an existing hardware store for quite a distance.

Permits And Licenses For A Hardware Store Or Shop

To find out exactly what licenses and permits you need for this kind of business, in the US you must contact city hall for city-level requirements, and the Secretary of State office for your state to find out the state level permit and license requirements. If you have the money, it is also a good idea to hire a business lawyer who can find all of this out for you. 

Business Coaching Program To Help You Start Your

Do you want professional one on one advice where you and I discuss every question you have about starting your business? I offer business coaching in person and via Skype where I can help and advise you as you plan, start and grow your business. Learn more about me, and my coaching program on this coach where I explain how you can hire me as a business coach.

Books And Coaching To Help You Start Your

Here is a link to my Amazon author page. Here are some books that may be helpful to you as you start and grow your business:

• Local business marketing book (this is exactly what you need for a _____)
• Introduction to marketing if you are really a beginner at marketing
• Business plan book (here is a longer description of the business plan book)
• Book on how to start a business
• How to write a marketing plan

Tutorial On How To Become A Better Entrepreneur

Here is my tutorial for you on how to become a better entrepreneur with 10 of the top strategies that will help you make your business a success.

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