Any one here had first hand experience running a business?

[RCBH928]

I am thinking of starting my own business , I do not know what exactly, I have several options. I am looking to hear any kind of advice or shared experience from any one here who had or helped running a business.

What are things I should pay attention for? What unexpected things I might face? How high my margin of profit should be (I know this varies from business to business)?

If you used to work in a bank or in an accounting firm , and you think you can share any tips, please do...

[Hobie-wan]

I don't have any experience running one, but I do know that location can be a huge factor in the success or failure. Make sure there aren't too many other businesses in the same area that provide the same service or product unless the existing ones aren't managing to keep up with the load or you have an angle that will give you an edge. Obviously you don't want to try and talk to owners in the same area that are the same as you have planning, but try to observe how they're doing. As appropriate, use their business a few times to see how prices are, how busy they seem at different times of the day, and how smoothly they appear to be running. Make sure you advertise somehow so people know you're there, but don't be obnoxious about it. Just in case your business isn't an instant smash success, plan on being able to float a few months in case it is lean until word spreads and business gets up to speed. Make sure people can get to you. If people are likely to be driving to your business, make sure there are places to park. Or perhaps there will be a lot of foot traffic in the area, this can be fine if people need to carry large things to or from your place.

Just some observations from when I worked in and near a bunch of small shops in the past.

[dsheinem]

don't get high on your own supply

[emwearz]

don't get high on your own supply

I want to be inside you.

[flojocabron]

Dsh is right, lol.

Whatever the product or service your business is about, pay for it. For example, If you sell food, pay for what you buy, just like a customer.

If you dont do this, you'll definitely come up short at the end of the month. All those little things add up.

In that aspect, keep track of ALL expenses. No matter how small. You need to save everything work related for when you do taxes. Which you will end up owing money to uncle sam. No exceptions!

It will be slow and hard to make money/profit for the first few months. As long as you break even on rent, expenses, and wages; then you're doing something right.

You may not be making money yet, but you wont be owing somebody.

Once you have your routine down and find your niche (businesswise), it gets better.

#stuffilearnedinbusinessclass.

[Luke]

A vague question deserves a vague answer.

Yes.

[RCBH928]

@Hobie-Wan @Dsheinem @flojocabron

Thanks for the good advice. I always wondered about supply. Some times you see a huge place and you will be surprised that they stock very limited amount of units. Its not unusual to visit a huge store in a mall and they will be stocking like just 5 consoles , or they would have only 10 copies of a popular film that has been just released. On the other hand, some places would surprise you of the high number of customers they get. I know of a small place that mainly sells baked potatoes , and offers milkshakes on the side. I know for sure that he sells around 200 chocolate milkshakes for $2.65 each/ per day. If you crunch the numbers, thats around $16,000 per months out of chocolate milkshakes alone. Looking at the place , it looks like it only took $10k to setup.

[Jagosaurus]

Keep in mind most strip centers want a 36 month lease & you're looking at a minimum $2,500+ a month in rent + CAM (likely much more, $10K monthly for some areas in Houston). This and business taxes will be two of your largest expenses.

Also staff salaries will factor in heavily.

[Nyukki]

My wife and I are landlords on the side, so that kind of counts as a business.

One thing I would add to the good ideas already given is "stick to what you know". Do yourself what you know you are good at. For other things, hire professionals. I could spend all of my day looking for tenants, but I wouldn't know where to start and it's not a valuable use of my time, so I hire a reputable letting agent and negotiate a fee. Same with accountants to file tax returns etc. I could file my own, but a good accountant should be able to save me more money that I pay him/her.

Also, get acquainted with laws relevant to your business, don't get caught out. Consult a lawyer if necessary.

Just make sure whoever you're hiring comes recommended and is familiar with your industry.

Good luck!

[RCBH928]

Keep in mind most strip centers want a 36 month lease & you're looking at a minimum $2,500+ a month in rent + CAM (likely much more, $10K monthly for some areas in Houston). This and business taxes will be two of your largest expenses.

Also staff salaries will factor in heavily.

$2500/m in rent for a small store? Isn't that a bit too much . I know there are places with high rent due to huge traffic like Times Square NY , but for your regular towns that too expensive. I imagined prices in USA are much lower due to the huge size of the country. For example, it costs around $1.38m for half in acre where I live, and thats the cheaper stuff. Store rental is any where from $700 -> $2700 depends on exact location. I imagined USA would be much cheaper.

What is CAM?

@Nyukki

I am looking to delegate a lot of the work thanks . It would be helpful if you can tell me, as you are a land lord, how much is the return on investment renting real estate in USA? Around here its about 10% . That is buy $1m strip mall, you will be making $100k a year or $8333 a month in rent.