Your Opinion: Was Planning Hard?

[schwer]

Hey all!

This question is directed to those who own a business involving more than yourself as an employee and/or a "storefront" setting (of course, anyone can answer though *winks*)--did you find yourself having a hard time formulating your ideas into one sound plan?

There is so much I want to do within our industry, and I know it's best to take everything one step at a time, but I have NO CLUE what to start my business plan with! I'd love to have a facility people could come to just for bodywork and maybe dance/yoga/tai chi prior to working towards a "spa".

All ideas/comments/questions are great...

~ACharlton

 

[Cheyanne]

Hi acharlton,

I went through the same process as you. For financial reasons and whatnot I started out very small. One-person business part-time. I then expanded to full time and then took on the lease of a multi room office, which I rent out and have employees for. Formulating the plan for this was difficult but fun. Often times I would come up with some of the best ideas while I was working on someone and then I would scribble it down after the session. Getting everything solid and concrete was difficult because you feel like their are so many things to forget. In addition, my business plan changed about 4 times but a lot of the changes came from learning what would work and not work and just a change in ideas.

I think you are correct when you say take things one step at a time. I think it is like building a foundation. Every step should be taken only when the previous is rock solid. I jumped a little too quickly with one of my steps and it was a tough/scary time because things weren't solidified. Waiting another year might have been ideal but sometimes we all jump the gun.

I hope your ideas start to come together. Don't be scared of changing your original plan, it's half the excitement.

 

[Why So Serious?]

Starting out BIG when you have no name in the area takes a lot of marketing skill as well as a lot of MONEY.

If you have the money to start big and advertise heavily, go for it. If you dont, start small and work your way up.

I started in a private salon setting over 2 years ago. I am not working full time at massage and it is time to move up to a larger place, which I will be doing in a couple of months.

I will be moving from a small one room operation in a building full of hairdressers in an out of the way location that is semi noisy to a store front on main street which will be much larger, more private, as well as more quiet.

My rent will be increasing, but I will be able to afford it on my own without having to hire someone to work for right away. I never would have started in the location I am moving to in February. The extra rent as well as the expence of furnishing the place would have been undaunting over 2 years ago when I started. Now tho, it is managable. I am doing my best to work everything out so I dont have to get a loan. If I do, it would only be for a couple thousand dollars. It depends how fast I want to get the second room organized as well as how quickly I want to get all the stuff on my wish list.

 

[Brandon W.]

Hey Greattlakes,

I had difficulties getting a business loan from the bank. They said the massage industry was unstable (I am also young and don't have a ton of personal credit behind me).

One thing that I did when expanding was apply for some 0% APR interest credit cards. Looking around I found some that were 0% APR for like 16 months. I have about three currently as some of them have a credit limit of 1k or so. I also found one with a 0% balance transfer for 1.5 years with only a 25 dollar charge to transfer the balance.

These just really helped free up some cash for the initial few months and I am confident that in a few months the increased cash flow will make them very easy to pay off.

Just a thought, have a good day everyone

 

[Pompal 09.]

Good advice, that is one of the reasons I wanted to do this on my own as much as possible.

I have a personal card with a high credit limit and a low rate. I could use that one at the begining of the year for business purchases only. I have a business credit card too, but the rate is about 25%. YES 25%!! I called about having the percent lowered, but they told me that was the going rate for business cards. Sorry, wont be carrying a balance on that one!!

 

[Lis]

Writing a business plan is a good idea & can help you figure out where you can & want to go with your business.

Check out http://www.score.org/. It is a group that helps small businesses and is free. I've not used them myself and haven't researched them personally, but I do have an LMT friend who was helped by them in writing a business plan & raved over their help.

It wouldn't hurt.