Post #2557 by snarkoutgirl on Fri, Jun 21, 2002 11:05 AM

I think you also need to think about why you're doing it. Obviously, because you love tiki and it's a fabulous idea. But how does the income aspect come into it? For it to be worth your time and effort will you need for it to pull in a 3-figure income for you? Or will you still love it if 5 years from now the business pays for itself, and not much more than that?

For example: my husband and I have our own little retail shop. We've been here 5 years, without employees. The store makes us a little profit, but realistically we'd make more money if we both flipped burgers at McDonald's. We have to be here 6 days a week (at least 50 hours), and rarely get vacations that aren't business-related. HOWEVER, we do get to spend every day together, which we love. We get to do all our internet playing during business hours. And if we get cranky or overwhelmed we can always just go in the back room and read rather do any "work". So don't just think about "what if" you're a huge success, and "what if" you completely fail- there are some gray areas in between you may want to examine.

If you go for it and somebody gives you a loan for the start-up cash, make sure to not only get enough to open, but to be able to pay your bills and employee wages for the first few months. The first few months may be slow while word gets out, and you don't want the lack of income to cause you to lose your staff.

Also, for our business loan the bank required that 10% of the amount we were asking be deposited into our business bank account and spent on inventory before they'd give us the money. So save your pennies, or go beg from your relatives. :) They also wanted collateral (about 70% of the loan amount, I think), which my mother was brave enough to provide. (Looking back on it- she was loopy!!)

They also wanted to know what we could sell off all the inventory and displays and equipment for, in case we had to go out of business before the loan was paid off. (Ebay's inflated prices will help you here, with your tiki decorations.) In addition, we were required to each get life insurance for the amount of the loan, and sign a form making the insurance money payable to the bank first in case one of us croaked before the loan was paid off.

Hope some of this was useful!

Stefani