Checklist for Starting a Dry Cleaners Business: Essential Ingredients for Success
If you are thinking about going into business, it is imperative that you watch this video first! it will take you by the hand and walk you through each and every phase of starting a business. It features all the essential aspects you must consider BEFORE you start a Dry Cleaners business. This will allow you to predict problems before they happen and keep you from losing your shirt on dog business ideas. Ignore it at your own peril!
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A Step by Step
Guide to Starting a Small Business
This is a
practical manual in a PDF format, that will walk you step by step through all the
essential phases of starting your Dry Cleaners business. The book is packed with
guides, worksheets and checklists. These strategies are
absolutely crucial to your business' success yet are simple and
easy to apply.
Copy the following link to your browser and save the file to your PC:
https://www.bizmove.com/free-pdf-download/how-to-start-a-business.pdf
Complete Step by
Step Starting Guide
Homework has taken on new meaning
recently. The drive for economic self-sufficiency has motivated
large numbers of persons to market their skills and talents for
profit from home. Our increasingly service oriented economy
offers a widening spectrum of opportunities for customized and
personalized small business growth.
Though untrained entrepreneurs have
traditionally had a high rate of failure, small businesses can
be profitable. Success in small home based business is not an
accident. It requires both skills in a service or product area
and acquisition of management and attitudinal competencies.
The purpose of this guide is to help
you take stock of your interests, aptitudes and skills. Many
people have good business ideas but not everyone has what it
takes to succeed. If you are convinced that a profitable home
business is attainable, this guide will provide step by step
guidance in development of the basic written business plan.
Information Gathering
While the reasons for the rapid
growth of home based business operations may vary from the need
to supplement family income with few hundred dollars all the way
to a sophisticated technical consulting service billing hundreds
of thousands of dollars, there are many common characteristics
and challenges to be considered in launching most home based
businesses, regardless of size. Some tasks are universal to all
small business startups, while others are unique to a home base.
Careful planning, based on interviews
with dozens of home based operators over the past decade
indicate that special planning is required to research legal and
tax issues, proper space utilization and to establish time
management discipline. Inadequate or careless attention to
development of a detailed business plan can be costly for you
and your family in terms of lost time, wasted talent and
disappearing dollars.
The Entrepreneurial Personality
A variety of experts have documented
research that indicates that successful small business
entrepreneurs, whether male or female, have some common
characteristics. How do you measure up? On this checklist, write
a "Y" if you believe the statement describes you; an "N" if it
doesn't; and a "U" if you can't decide:
_____ I have a strong desire to be my
own boss.
_____ Win, lose or draw, I want to be
master of my own financial destiny
_____ I have significant specialized
business ability based on both my education and my experience.
_____ I have an ability to
conceptualize the whole of a business; not just its individual
parts, but how they relate to each other
_____ I develop an inherent sense of
what is "right" for a business and have the courage to pursue
it.
_____ One or both of my parents were
entrepreneurs; calculated risk-taking runs in the family
_____ My life is characterized by a
willingness and capacity to persevere.
_____ I possess a high level of
energy, sustainable over long hours to make the business
successful.
While not every successful home based
business owner starts with a "Y" answer to all of these
questions, three or four "N"'s and "U"'s should be sufficient
reason for you to stop and give second thought to going it
alone. Many proprietors who sense entrepreneurial deficiencies
seek extra training and support their limitations with help from
a skilled team of business advisors such as accountants, bankers
and attorneys.
Selecting a Business
Perhaps you have already decided what
your home based business will be. You know how you will serve
your market and with what. If not, but you are determined to
establish a home based source of income, then you need to decide
exactly what business you will enter. A logical first step for
the undecided is to list potential areas of personal background,
special training, educational and job experience, and special
interests that could be developed into a business.
Time Management
For both the novice and the
experienced business person planning a small home based
enterprise, an early concern requiring self-evaluation is Time
Management.
It is very difficult for some people
to make and keep work schedules even in the disciplined setting
of an employer's office. At home, as your own boss, the problem
can be much greater To determine how much time you can devote to
your business, begin by drafting a weekly task timetable listing
all current and potential responsibilities and the blocks of
time required for each. When and how can business
responsibilities be added without undue physical or mental
stress on you and your family? Potential conflicts must be faced
and resolved at the outset and as they occur Otherwise, your
business can become a nightmare. During the first year of
operation, continue to chart, post and check off tasks on a
daily weekly, monthly basis. Distractions and excuses for
procrastination abound. It is important to keep both a planning
and an operating log. These tools will help avoid oversights and
provide vital information when memory fails. To improve the
quality of home work time, consider installation of a separate
telephone line for the business and attach an answering machine
to take messages when you do not wish to be distracted or are
away from home. A business line has the added advantage of
allowing you to have a business listing in the phone book and,
if you wish to buy it, an ad in the classified directory
Is a Home Based Business Site
Workable?
Where in the home will the business
be located?
What adjustments to living
arrangements will be required?
What will be the cost of changes?
How will your family react?
What will the neighbors think?
It will be important to set aside a
specific work area. For example, more than one fledgling
business ledger has gone up in smoke, been chewed by the family
dog, or thrown out with the trash when business records were not
kept separate from family papers. Ready access to business
records during work hours is essential, but they must be
protected.
Check the reasons below for and
against working at home that apply to you. List any additional
drawbacks or obstacles to operating this business at home.
Pros / Cons
Lower startup costs / Isolation
Lower fixed costs / Space
limitations
Tax benefits / Zoning
Lifestyle flexibility /
Security concerns
No commuting / Household
____________ / interference
____________ ____________
____________ ____________
Note that changes in personal habits
will be required. Examples:
Self discipline to keep TV off while
working.
Limiting personal telephone calls in
length and number
Diligence in meeting work deadlines
when no one is checking
Ask family members to comment on pros
and cons. Their concerns may require reconsideration of some
specifics.
Whether you manage a factory, wholesale
outlet, retail store, Service shop, or are a contractor, you'll
need to sell. However good
your product is, no matter what
consumers think of it, you need to sell to survive.
Direct selling methods are through private sales efforts,
Advertising and, for many businesses, display - including the
packaging
and styling of this product itself - in windows, in
the establishment, or both. Establishing a fantastic reputation
with the
general public through anyhow and distinctive
services is a direct method of selling. While the latter should
never be neglected,
this brief discussion will be confined to
direct selling methods.
To establish Your Company on a
business footing requires a great deal Of competitive personal
selling. You might have established
competition to overcome.
Or, if your idea is new with minimal or no competition, you've
got the additional problem of convincing
people of the value
of the new idea. Private selling work is nearly always essential
to accomplish this. If you aren't a good
salesperson, seek an
employee or asociate who's.
Another way to create sales
is by marketing. This may be achieved Through newspapers,
shopping papers, the yellow pages section of
the phone
directory, and other published periodicals; radio and tv;
handbills, and direct mail. The media you select, in addition
to the message and style of presentation, depends upon the
particular customers you wish to reach. Plan and prepare
advertising
with care or it'll be unsuccessful. Most media
are going to be able to describe the characteristics of their
viewers (readers,
listeners, etc.). Since your initial
planning described the characteristics of your potential
clients, you want to match these
features with the media
crowd. If you are selling expensive jewelry, do not advertise in
high school newspapers. Should you repair
bicycles, you
probably need to.
Advertising can be very costly. It Is
a Good Idea to put a limitation upon An amount to spend, then
stay within that limitation.
To assist you in deciding how
much to invest, study the operating ratios of similar companies.
Media advertising salespeople will
help you plan and even
prepare advertisements for you. Make sure you tell them your
budget limitations.
A third method of stimulating sales
is effective displays both in Your place of business and out it.
If you have had no prior
expertise in screen function, you
are going to want to examine the subject or turn the task over
to somebody else. Observe screens
of other companies and read
books, trade magazines, and the literature provided by equipment
manufacturers. It could be wise to
employ a screen expert for
your opening screen and unique occasions, or you may obtain the
help of one on a part-time foundation.
Much depends on your
type of business and what it requires.
The appropriate
amount and types of marketing campaign to utilize vary from
business to business and from owner to owner. Some
companies
prosper with low-key revenue efforts. Others, like the used-car
lots, flourish on aggressive, hoop-la promotions. In any
event, the significance of successful selling cannot be
over-emphasized.
On the other hand, do not lose sight of
your Key goal - to Make a profit. Anyone can produce a large
sales volume selling dollar
bills for ninety bucks. But that
won't last long. Keep control of your own expenses, and cost
your product carefully.
Record Keeping. 1 essential
element of business management is the keeping of adequate
records. Study after study shows that many
manager failures
could result from inadequate records or the proprietor's failure
to use what information was accessible to him.
Without
documents, the businessperson cannot see in advance that way the
business is going. Up-to-date records may forecast
impending
disaster, forewarning you to take action to avoid it. While
additional work is required to keep a decent set of
documents, you will be more than paid for the effort and
expense.
If You Aren't prepared to maintain adequate
records - or have someone Keep them for you - you shouldn't
attempt and run a small
business. At a minimum, records are
needed to substantiate:
1. Your yields under taxation
laws, such as income tax and social Security legislation;
2. Your request for credit from equipment manufacturers or
even a loan From a lender;
3. Your claims about the
business, should you would like to market it.
However,
most important, you need them to run your business successfully
And to raise your profits. Having an adequate. Yet
simple,
accounting system you can answer these questions as:
How
much company am I doing? What are my costs? Which appear to be
too large? What's my gross Profit margin? My net profit? How
much am I collecting on my charge business? What is the state of
my working capital? How much money do I have on hand? How much
in
your bank? Just how much do I owe my Suppliers? What is my
net worth? That is, what is the worth of my ownership of The
enterprise? What are the trends in my Receipts, costs, gains,
and net value? Is my financial situation improving Or growing
worse?
How can my assets compare with what I owe? What is the
Percent of return on my investment? How many cents from each
dollar of
Sales are net profit? Answer these and other
questions by preparing and studying balance sheets and
profit-and-loss statements. To
do this, it's Important that
you record information regarding trades as they occur. Maintain
This information in a comprehensive
and organized manner and
you'll be able to answer the above questions. You will also
possess the answers to these other vital
questions About your
company as: What services or products do my clients enjoy best?
Next best? Not at all? Do I take the product
most frequently
asked? Am I Qualified to render the services they need most? How
many of my charge Customers are slow payers?
Shall I change
to cash only, or use a credit card Charge plan?
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