It began much like purchasing a house for the first time. I had done all the research and I had a plan for the store location and all the fees involved. I got preapproved for financing and began by working out the details with the landlord before we settled with the previous owners on the remaining inventory. The last time I was at the store before negotiations began I wrote down the important things I didn't want to open the store without and found a current value for those. The sellers had a price they were asking for the items but my totals were not adding up to theirs and I was not interested in keeping all the items they had for sale. I was interested in display units, cash register, and office supplies. With the help of my husband and his uncle they helped me practice negotiations and I had a starting price and a price I would have walked away. The previous owners must not have been trained in negotiations because they took my first offer and it was almost half of there listing price. I started low so they would counter offer. Shows you never know what you can do if you just ask. I had them sign a contract and had it notarized. I was very excited and after the previous owners and notoriety left I started to really lay everything out in my head. It was mine and I could create the dream I had imagined. Having managed a thrift store in the past, I was able to make changes I thought would be effective.
The timeline on my business plan began. I had 2 weeks to get ready to open. So each day after getting the kids off to school in the morning, I took my little buddy( still working out notice of previous job) and we went to clean the store. That was a major issue with previous owners that store was very dirty but I knew that going into it and it was only cleaner and elbow grease which I have lots of. So I started cleaning one section at a time and I was home in time for kids to get off the bus and my husband and I went for the additional supplies we needed each evening. I kept real close to my budget and tried to combine places we had to get certain things to save fuel. After a couple days of cleaning things were looking great and all the legal issues were falling into place. Every owners dream to start a business with lots of planning and everything go as planned....
Until I realized with my cleaning that I had awoken a pest of mass proportion and I had an infestation. Not something I had planned for, I hadn't even discussed pest maintenance in my month to month budget. So after my 1st real week of owning my business I faced a set back that was so bad I almost took it as a sign I was not to continue. My esteem was at a low point.
"Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent" Marilyn vos Savant
I researched the best way to remove my pests and made a plan to defeat them. I started treatments and went in the next day to see if I succeeded only to find more. The treatments went on for about a week and I was trashing some of my inventory to prevent the spread of more pests. My husband had taken off work to help because it was more than one person could handle. I just wanted to go home and cry. All the new items I had been getting, I had stored in my house and my budget for some items got cut for price of the treatments. It was clear, I was not going to meet my deadline of two weeks to get the store open. After a week of treatments and not seeing progress, I called an exterminator to get prices. I couldn't afford one but if I was to continue I had no choice. After getting prices we started talking about my problem and he told me why my treatments were not working and what prep work I would have to do if he came. It was enough information that I changed my treatment plan without having to hire him. My support system at home was just as worn down as I had been about the set back. One day on our trip home, we almost hit a pig in the center of the road. To some this is nothing, but with my Native American background, pigs are a sign of abundance and luck. Often why we eat pork on the first day of the year in Pennsylvania. So with this sign, we continued on and solved the pest problem......
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