earthangels

I just sent you a private message, but I wanted to post something out there for everyone. The best money spent was hiring Stephen Underhill as my consultant. I'm retired military and have been the owner of a small giftshop. My town is 4600 pop and there are only 4 beds in existence in this town right now and two of the are in the basement of a business here in town that is too scary for some people to venture into. I am bringing in 3 beds to start. With all the info and instruction he has given me, I see success in my future. My shop is going to be beautiful and will be astro-turf free. I am selling the "experience" not the "tan". I'm also doing this for under $50K. As someone else stated, everyone isn't opening in large cities where you may be expected to fork over a lot of money, and some of us aren't buying a building. I felt it was smarter to lease a space first just to see how the business develops.

Some of you who have commented in the negative, do you have and are you following a business plan. I beleive that is where some people fail. They start out strong and follow their plan, but then somewhere as the money is raning down on them they decide they no longer need to follow the plan and then are surprised when their number start falling. Some of the "snarky" comments might lead some to believe you run your business with the same "snarky" attitude--this might be part of the reason you're seeing a decline in your business. Just sayin'.