Tweet

Should You Start a Retail Business, Stay with Retail Management or Look at a Star Business Online?

Guest post by: Mike Morgan

Article Overview: Retail management? Start a retail business? What about the current economic conditions? What other alternatives are viable? In this article I offer my solution to some of the problems facing people who are part of a sector that has suffered greatly in the last couple of years.

Should You Start a Retail Business, Stay with Retail Management or Look at a Star Business Online?

If, like myself, you have a career based in the retail business sector you will know how difficult the last couple of years have been to create any sort of growth. Many retail companies have not survived the recession. I have seen so many small and large businesses fall over once the sales started to drop. You may be thinking that because of your experience in this area that it is wise to continue on your career path and to either continue with a position in retail management or to really challenge yourself and take the plunge into owning your own enterprise.

I have done both. I spent years in retail management before starting a specialist retail store. Both options have their own set of challenges. I will touch on these in this article before introducing an option that you may not have even thought about.

Let's say you decide to stay in the retail management career.

Okay. You are working for someone else, you are answerable to them, you have to adhere to the rules, and the budget that they set for you. There may be certain operational procedures that you disagree with but what can you do?

They will set how much you can earn and if you are really lucky you will get to negotiate for an increase annually.

You will have to work unsociable hours including weekends that will take you away from your family or your interests.

You will have to deal with staffing issues including days off sick, leave, personality clashes and all manner of other crises.

You will have to commute to and from your retail store rain or shine in rush hour or late at night.

What about starting your own retail business then?

You will have to negotiate a lease which you are responsible for even if you are no longer trading in the future. You will have to buy inventory to fill the store. You deal with insurance, utilities, legal costs, suppliers and reps. You have all of the staffing issues already covered. You ride the roller-coaster of good sales days followed by the frighteningly quiet days. You pay yourself a pittance and tell yourself that this is just a short term thing and you will be making much more when the shop starts performing. You agonize whenever the council decides to dig up the road outside or the weather is horrific or a major sporting event is on that kills your foot traffic.

Think now if you had your own star business online! Think how that would eliminate many of the really bad elements that come with working in the retail industry.

You would need a computer and a phone.

No inventory.

No leases.

No massive setup costs.

No expensive branding.

No staff to employ.

No clock to work to.

No one but yourself to tell you what to do.

No commuting.

No difficult customers.

Right! I made the move to one of the fastest growing global industries a while back after researching the many, many business opportunities online. The great thing is there is no recession on the internet. A billion and a half people are now online and because of the incredible advances in the technology the dream of working for yourself from your home is more easy to attain than you probably realise. And you can run your business from anywhere in the world!

You will need to find a business with integrity. A business that has a training system and marketing system that will give you the full support necessary to achieve your maximum potential. It should have a culture of community where those that are already successful help the new business owners to use the system to reach the same level. It should have a compensation plan that pays large up front commissions and healthy residual payments. It should be led by a team of entrepreneurs who actually care that you succeed with their system.

Making the move to the world of online business has been a very fulfilling one for me. Could it be the same for you?

Related Articles
  5 reasons to automate your Retail
  PoP (Point of Purchase) Visual Merchandising
  Essential Steps Needed To Start An Online Retail Store
  What is POS or Retail management software and why it is required?
  Social Media for Retail Marketers

Article Tags: budget, business sector, career path, challenges, crises, insurance, management career, nbsp, operational procedures, personality clashes, plunge, rain, recession, retail business, retail companies, retail management, retail store, rush hour, sick leave, unsociable hours
Referred by: http://jaykubassek.com



Related Forum Posts
Happy Worker as of Dec 31 2007 - Here's mine... I'm now off to make an offering to the business planning gods for their help in getting to these goals & beyond. To the combined success of Prophets 2 Profits! ----------------------------------------- 1) Corporate a) Retail - Sales reps covering all major markets (1M or more) - Retail product launch plan - 1 more retail release (TBD) b) The Toy Agency - Systems for: o Creative process o Pricing o Manufacturing o Logistics - Marketing agency strategy in place - 1 new customer every 2nd month (5 new customers); 1 of which will be rev of >= 500K/year c) Business - Creative talent pool management strategy & process - Outsourced and/or weekly bookkeeping - Monthly budgeting & forecasting - Better banking organization (Line of Credit, CCs, automate billing for appropriate vendors) - Team total of 5 - Larger office d) Web site - Daily updates - Start of separation of Blog/TTA/Retail 2) Personal - Most weekends “off”! - Entirely separate personal finances; basic personal financing plan - Family….?
Seek Venture Capital & Funding - Hello, Greetings from India. I am Seeking Venture Capital for Offshore Software Company Start-up. Need advise along with Business Model Sample. I have a basic outline for an offshore company. 1. Technology - like Microsoft Dot Net, Java, LAMP 2. Talent Team - Found Good Technology Developers. 3. Where I can get the leads/potential customers - Leads have been identified who are willing to move forward offshore projects. 4. I do not have resources like funding. It is a very critical factor to me Industries: Manufacturing, Real Estate, Retail, Insurance, Distribution & Logistics, Healthcare, Industry Associations and Software Product Development, Agricultural Industries and Etc. Services: Offshore Software Development Company. Offices to be located: Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India and USA. Products/Services/Applications in areas like POS & Billing, Sales & Distribution, Production Planning, Material Management, Inventory Control, Plant Maintenance, Purchasing, Accounting and Logistics. Dynamic Web Programming with Database Driven Content Management Systems, Online Stores for E-Commerce, B2B Solutions, Community Portals, Website Redesign and Development, Custom ERP with Enterprise Wide Functional Modules such as Marketing, CRM, Accounting, Inventory Control, Sales & Distribution, Production Planning, Purchase & Stores, Logistics and Supply Chain. Seek your further questions and help. Thank you, Best Regards, Jayapratap.
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Re: HOw to market a B2B consulting company - [quote="zohahunt77":428owzbi]Hi, I was wondering if anyone can tell me the difference between B2B and B2C. I don’t know about b2b marketing but I have done marketing so know things about it. I will suggest you to take online services which will spread your business all over web network. Online marketing is the best way to market any business.[/quote:428owzbi] B2B = Business to Business - You are marketing to other businesses. B2C = Business to Consumer - You are marketing to consumers.
Your Intial Mistakes Business - Hi, When I started my business I had made a lot of mistakes initially. These helped me in learning the art of the trade and today when I look back, I feel that these mistakes were quite silly. I had made my learnings then and those learnings have helped me time and again. Some of the mistakes I made were - i. Wrong Time Management ii. Wasting money on glossy Brochures and Business cards iii. Believing what they taught me at school was 100% correct iv. Giving too much when it was not required...... I would like to find out what have been your faltering moments in Business when you had started and what/how did they help you grow. Regards


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Time management for DIY PR

Starting A Set of Books

Making the Most of Your Trade Show Experience

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.