View Single Post
Old 09-01-2009, 05:38 AM   #10
Rathji
Franchise Player
 
Rathji's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Supporting Urban Sprawl
Exp:
Default

My advice is stay as small and flexible as possible. Just because you need a 'permanent' address does not mean that you need to rent out warehouse space. The best plan is running out of the home as long as possible, then if you do need to upgrade later on, you will still have the option of receiving mail etc at the old address.

At that point, get a 2 room office with a flexible lease that you can get out of if things go south. Run your shipping from there for as long as possible, expanding storage using self storage options. An office can hold a heck of a lot of candles etc.

My dad ran a business selling books, gift baskets etc in office buildings downtown for a while when I was younger. He sold many hundreds of these large items every week and was more than covered in terms of space by renting an old garage bay in Inglewood. With smaller items the space required goes down even more, so the self storage option (which would be alot more secure IMHO) becomes alot more economically viable.

Remember most small businesses fail in the first 2 years (See this gov Can site). This is just my opinion, but most fail due to trying to grow too fast and creating larger overhead than is required. If you work the business into your current expenses, and start it from home you have a much larger chance of it becoming and remaining a profitable business venture.

Good Luck.
__________________
"Wake up, Luigi! The only time plumbers sleep on the job is when we're working by the hour."
Rathji is offline   Reply With Quote
The Following User Says Thank You to Rathji For This Useful Post: