I'm a bit to new to know who you are and what you're talking about, but I'll wish you the best of luck. I'll even spend some time thinking about you in my prayerless moments. That was a joke haha.

Please keep us updated!

Wow, what a day!

9am, nothing...9:30, nothing so, I open a good book, kick back and start getting depressed. At 10, the busy-body shows. We had a good talk for about 30 minutes then...wham! non-stop traffic until 4! I couldn't leave the shop for one minute! Even made a few bucks. Took several orders and met a lot of nice people. Everyone said they would rather drive 40 miles out of town rather than shop at my competitors store and are so excited about having another option now.

I think it's official: I'm the owner of a soon-to-be very successful shop.

If it works out, the best part will be that I will be working my ass off for me for a change instead of working for someone else. Of course, if it fails, there will be no one to blame but myself.

Get this, my last customer was the lady I deal with at the unemployment office!

Good luck on your grand opening.

Diid you tell all of your customers that there was no god and that they were delusional if they thought there was ?

It would be a quick way to find out how many closet Atheists are in the community but it could be BAD for business. Might want to just play it safe.

     Wow !  that sounds real good. I would like to tell you a short story,my aunt started her own business sewing and restoring old dolls,she was in big demand,my uncle Joe built a shop for her in the basement (it was nice),she was in business for over 30 years,she had to make appiontments to check out the old dolls that were constantly being brought to her to fix.      KEEP ON TRUCKIN '

One one hand, I'd like to blab all over the Internet where I am but, on the other, since it's home-based, I feel caution rules.

Remember my Sonic incident? Although, while ordering cross stitch kits, I deliberately passed over any religious themes. I'll just have to remain a closet atheist and use subversive tactics to eliminate religion from the area.

All I have to say to this is "sew what?" Now make sure you do what Wall Street and big business does, ship all your jobs overseas to India and China so we can make pennies an hour for 80 hours a week and have the same slave labor they do. Because if we don't, we are UnAmerican.

This is my silly way of saying good luck.

Hehe, welcome to the world of being an "EVIL", "RICH" and "LUCKY" capitalist   Glad to hear your opening went well. Hope things keep working out for you. Keep us posted. 

Lol, so there is hope for me yet. Maybe I won't be lazy when I get older.

Why? Because he has a degree in Marketing and has been with The most successful notions distributor for many years and I greatly value his advice and would be a fool not to ask for it.

In a nutshell, 'most' businesses fail because of poor research, planning and management. Rather than take the time to figure out exactly what is going wrong and why, they give up. I think that's why most businesses fail in the first two years - because the owners don't have the fortitude to tough it out and find a way to MAKE it work... And this quality is what separates the employees from the business owners.

I've got to comment on this though:

Sorry, Sandy, your thread is getting hijacked 

And did he fail because he was unlucky??? No. He failed because he made several mistakes. Instead of whining about poor luck he analyzed his errors and tried again. Like Sandy said, most businesses fail for a reason. Sometimes it is poor research, lack of funding or poor management. I have made several investing mistakes into failed businesses that ended up costing me a boatload of cash. Instead of whining about how unlucky I was I studied what went wrong and endeavor not to make the same mistakes again. If you look at most successful business people you will see the same pattern. The start a business, it fails, they study what went wrong, start another business. Rinse, wash, repeat until you get it right. Few get it right the first time, although with all the information available on the Internet I think it is much easier to avoid the most basic mistakes than it was 20 years ago.  Failure is ok if you learn from your mistake and going broke is not the end of the world. So when you go broke, don't kill yourself. 

Wrong. If you are the sole proprietor of a business and it fails then you did something wrong. Either your product/service did not fill a large enough need at the price you are offering it for or you did not adequately contact the people who have the need for your product/service. But yes, even very successful business people can make mistakes and have a new business fail. In my experience this occurs most often because when starting a second business many people take short cuts and assume that things will be the same for the new location as they were for the old one when things might be very different. They don't work as diligently on the second business as they did on the first one, or, they have developed a business model that requires them to be heavily involved for the business to be successful and are simply spread too thin to take proper care of both locations. If you want to expand to multiple locations it is very important to have a business model that does not require your personal presence. Many business owners struggle with this concept because when they first start out like Sandy they HAVE to do everything because they cannot afford employees.

Why would you want to do it by yourself? That sounds like work. My goal is to get everyone else to do everything for me so all I have to do is sit on my ass and provide the money. I'm sure that someday Sandy would love to hire someone to staff the store so she doesn't have to be there every single day.

Sure, but if the business ever fails it is his fault. He can't blame the cooks, he is the one who hires/fires them (or decides who was the authority to do so) so if the quality sucks leading to a failed business it is ultimately his fault for hiring poor cooks (or not providing proper training to them). On the flipside, if his business remains successful it is his good decisions that have led to that success. Hiring employees is not that much different than choosing the quality of ham you buy. If you hire high quality employees you get high quality results. So while on a personal note and for morale building purposes having a good relationship with the employees is beneficial, at the end of the day employees are only worth the quality/quantity of output on the revenue report.

What does this have to do with anything? I agree, happy productive employees is a good thing. I actually think the best management style is to hire high quality people and let them make most of the day to day decisions so you only need to show up a day or two a month. Most businesses where management is trying to micromanage everything fail precisely because high quality employees will quit. I avoid investing in businesses where the proprietor thinks they need to be personally involved in everything. It is usually enough to hire high quality employees and only get involved in really important decisions.

I'm missing where the "luck" comes in. 

Wait... you have an owner?

This is starting to make sense now...

Given your signature:

You're secretly a dog with computer skills, aren't you?

Sandy,

Congratulations.  Have a great time with this- I won't say "good luck" because I know you have the tenacity to stick to it and make your own luck

I hope you'll enjoy this business for a long time to come.

Yeah, the 'luck' thing was absurd. If Brian believes in needing luck to be successful, he better start praying, too.

Duh, I just realized that I was the one who said earlier 'Wish me luck'. I meant it in the traditional way, not literally (Brian).   Like, 'Break a leg'.

No problem. You have a business to run. I actually rather enjoy going round and round with Brian on occasion. Especially when he starts telling me how "lucky" I am.  

My neice does the craft stuff - there's a lot of interest in it. Why not try the online thing  - I've plugged in her blog as a reference. Good luck to you!

http://pinklizzysews.blogspot.com/

Why not try the on-line thing? Because what I sell, people can already buy online or at their local sewing/craft shop. My super advantage is, that here there are no craft stores... except mine. If I don't have what my customer is looking for, I order it. I pay the shipping, they don't. And I make a profit.

My immediate focus is a 50-100 mile radius - that's a lot of customers. If I can create a large enough local customer base, while increasing my stock, my goal is to move to a much larger store and carry everything craft related.

But for now, I've got my hands full with what I have. Too much going on, with no help, and I could easily destroy what I have.

Maybe later as I grow and am able to hire some help, I am considering selling online craft items made by my customers. I am surprised at how many folks around here are computer illiterate. (Good for me though!)

I come from a long family line of business owners, I grew up in the environment and I'm still around it.  My familial social life is surrounded by business owners and friends who are business owners.  Just establishing my 'street cred'.

Hard work is worth a lot, that and intelligence are the two most important things in any venture and in the long run they are responsible for pretty much everything else you need.

Having said that, of course Brian is right, not everything is under your control.  Luck isn't the right word, but the reality is there are *plenty* of situations that you simply can't work your way out of, and some of those situations are totally outside of your control so there is an element of chance.  Success is the same.

If saying, "I won't fail, there is a 100% chance I will succeed!" helps keep you motivated, great.  But if you have a stroke tomorrow and you become quadrapalegic you're not going to work your way out of it, your business venture will be over.  I could rattle off a virtually unlimited line of scenarios resulting in financial ruin, prison, general disaster, etc. but I won't because you know that.

What you can do is minimize risk and maximize success to the best of your ability.  The rest...is down to luck.

Sandy: Congratulations! I hope you are successful, and more importantly, I hope you enjoy it.

But in another post it was said they had no personal time because they were working 24/7. Again, if that is what they want to do, and they are happy with that GO FOR IT. But just don't project yourself on others who don't want to do that and don't make life economically impossible for them.

FYI my boss doesn't care when we take our breaks or how many we take as long as our work gets done. And that makes it much more less opressive when you can pace yourself and don't have a corporate script micromanaging you. Now that does require me showing him I don't need to be watched, which I do on my own. It works well for me because he'll ask me to do something BUT, after that he gets the fuck out of the way because he knows I will do it.

I like my job precisely because I am not tied to it, other than needing to eat and have a roof over my head. I like my boss because he gives me the leway to have my own brain and think for myself and do things on my own. I run circles around my co-workers PRECISELY because I am well rested because, at least right now, I only need one job.

But that is not the case for most people BECAUSE of the exploding pay gap and the gestapo script corporate America does to it's workers. Mom and pop shops treat their employees much better because if they are going to be dicks to them, they cant hide in an office 5 states away and pick people off anonomously like a car company or Wal Mart can.

If the guy looking for hot dogs stops at my shop it is because he can't read signs or, maybe he's asking for directions...the point is, 'luck' has nothing to do with him stopping at my shop. He did it for a reason. Assigning the term 'luck' to the incident is equal to assigning credit to god when you need rain on your garden and -voila!- it rains.

I'd love to continue this but, I've got to go move a room full of furniture up to my attic now.

Later

I went through a period in my life where I didn't have food on my table except what I killed myself, I didn't have a roof over my head and another period where I had a roof over my head but was in an extremely unsafe environment. I got out of those situations by solving logical problems one at a time, not through "luck". Sure, everyone has different situations that they end up in through happenstance. Some might arguably be easier than others to overcome. If you mean "luck" as in the sense that a nuclear bomb hasn't blown up on my head (or some other unavoidable tragedy) then sure I am lucky, but really no more so than the kid working the drive-through window who also has not had a bomb drop on his head. Also, I suppose there is quite a bit of luck in being born in a country with a relatively free economy that gives you the opportunity to do what you want.

However, when you are talking about running a successful small business (or investing in one) luck is an extremely small factor and not any more important than your luck at walking up stairs. Would you say "Wow, I walked up the stairs without falling, that was lucky"? Of course not. Even though a little bad luck might have caused you to trip and break a bone. It is absurd to look at a successful business person and presume that they must be more lucky than all the failed business people and that is why they are different. I see this kind of logic in the poker room all the time, players complaining how unlucky they are or how lucky another player is that they never consider that their long term losing streak is because they are doing something wrong. In the short term, anyone can have a stroke of luck that has good or bad effects on them. Over the long term, you will find the persistently "lucky" are doing something better than everyone else.

Good "luck" is found in business by creating your own opportunities or being prepared and watchful for opportunities. In Sandy's example she had a busybody who turned out to be a good advertising tool for her. Was there a small portion of luck in that the busybody stopped by her business? Maybe. But Sandy did extensive advertising and put her business out there. Then she made sure her potential customers (including the busybody) had a positive experience. It was BECAUSE of Sandy's choices and actions that the busybody decided to provide her free advertising. A successful business owner will always create and nurture positive relationships with people who might be beneficial in the future. You would be surprised at how many up and coming business owners fail to do so. It seems obvious that a business owner should shamelessly self-promote themselves but some businesses are downright hard to find. A business owner like Sandy who obviously loves to talk about her business will attract more people to her store. If she provides them with a good experience, some of them are going to advertise for her, others might never say a word about her store to anyone. It isn't "luck" that brings in people who will advertise for you, it is volume. If you bring in enough people and provide enough of them with a good experience some of them will advertise for you. 

You might think that it is the "luck" of who you know or meet that helps make you successful. Well, who you know and who you meet is extremely important but is most effective when you get to know people intentionally. There is a lot of money to be made from introducing people to other people that they need at the moment. That is why rich people have such thick rolodexes. Now the person who is raised among such people might have a small advantage, it is by no means a closed circle. Especially if you prefer to deal with small start-up businesses (as I do). Successful small business owners are always happy to talk to anyone and everyone about their business. They have a true passion for what they do. They will also be more than happy to give you a business card. Most importantly, when you ask in depth questions about their business and its operation they will often tell you about what they need. If you can fulfill that need or know someone who can you have a money making opportunity. The most universal need is cash, you would be surprised at how many people who are millionaires on paper have surprisingly little cash available without taking out loans. Their assets tend to be tied up in their business. If you can help people get what they need you can get good things in return. What you get varies by the situation. Sometimes it might be a commission, ownership in the company, a favor or just a "thanks a lot, let me know if I can ever do anything for you" depending on the exact situation. 

If you go out and meet enough people, some of them will be useful. It is a sheer numbers game. The more people you know and talk to the more likely one is to present you with an opportunity. Of course, taking advantage of that opportunity and recognizing those opportunities that can be profitable and those that are money pits is another task entirely and a different chapter in my unwritten book. And another task that is more skill than luck.

In Sandy's case, it would make sense for her to get to know local business owners, people involved in her industry either professionally or as hobbyists, and anyone who might be able to provide services that she might need in the future. Based on what she has posted it sounds like she is already well on her way to knowing the right people. Is it luck? I think not. She obviously has a great passion for what she is doing and I doubt there is anyone she comes in contact with who doesn't know about her business (except for perhaps the people at Sonic). So when people check out her store and are attracted by her charm it should come as no surprise that some of them are going to tell their friends about the great little shop that just opened up and has the nicest owner, you just have to go check it out. That is not luck. 

Now is she lucky that her store hasn't been struck by lightening and burned to the ground? I suppose. Is it lucky that that fabric industry has not had draconian regulations placed on it that would prevent her from entering the industry that she would experience if she wanted to be say, a health insurance company? I guess. Although that luck is really secondary to the ultimate success/failure of the shop. When it comes to getting the customers in the door and making them happy, that is ALL skill. If someday she finds that customers are not coming in the door, she will have to analyze her business and determine what is wrong. The simple check list is Am I offering a product people want? Are people who want my product aware of my store? Are my prices good enough? Do people enjoy their shopping experience here? Based on the answers to these questions she might have to change a few things. That is skill, not luck.

In short- yes. 

Lol,

Well for Sandy she is dealing with about 4.76% luck give or take. If I were to decide to start a new business it would be about 1.7% The difference is due to our ages since a crippling health problem or death is probably the most likely obstacle that would prove unsurmountable. Since her business is new, I assume it would go under if she was unable to work due to health issues. On the other hand, most of my current business interests do not require any direct effort on my part and would operate quite well even if I was in a coma or even dead, not that I would care at that point.  

PS Beyond Saving.... you know, if I had an investor backing me, where I could afford to purchase all of the craft items I KNOW I could sell right now, instead of buying in dribs and drabs so as to not stress my credit card, and I could afford to rent an actual store in town, and hire several employees to handle the throngs of shoppers, I'd  be whistling Zippity-Do-Da out my butt. (remember the Griswold's 'Vacation'?)

Seriously, one of my distributors has a sale on DMC floss, all 475 colors on a spinner rack, ($4,000 retail). I told one of my customers about it today and she said she wished I would buy it because that's her preferred brand... and she's an expert cross-stitcher.

I have a Pay Pal account....

(I hope you know I'm just kidding with you)