Now that we accomplished such a large set back in opening, I feel like we can do anything. Business is a lot about good self esteem and believing you can do it. I felt after the adjustments I made to my budget that I can still do this. So I continued cleaning and the store started to look like a retail store. I started laying out my displays and departments. Having departments and organizing the layout of a store is important. Also, tie in items is how you get that extra sale sometimes. I had to readjust some areas after I was done to allow for more items. This is all part of retail as well. You have to continue to move products. As I was setting up, some display items I wanted came up on Craigslist and at local auctions so I worked extra hard after work to get these items. I had a new timeline for opening and I was still worried about getting it done. I had it visioned and knew what I had to do, but I have always had employees to help with the change and I was not able to complete everything I wanted to in the time I had planned. So some improvements would have to wait.
As I was working, I never locked the door. People were very curious about the changes and they stopped by. I could have just shut them out and continued to work but my personal experience with customers is they want the personal touch. So when they stopped by I took a minute to explain I was opening in a week and I talked a little bit. Before I opened, I already had contact with 15 potential customers. These skills are all part of marketing. Marketing is not just advertising, it is selling yourself and what you are doing. You have to believe in yourself and your products to do this. From this point on, you never know when you may meet a potential customer so take every operating that comes your way.
"Everyday do something that will inch you closer to a better tomorrow." Doug Firebaugh
At a point in every business you have to make a decision to have a lite opening and then schedule your Grand Opening or just have a Grand Opening. I chose to go with a lite opening and set my Grand Opening on the 1st of the next month since it was a Saturday and it left lots of opportunity for me in my area. So the original date I had set to open was here and I wasn't sure I was ready. I had lots more envisioned than I had done. My start up funds were dwindling down and I was choosing between things. I started another plan and decided what I refused to open with out. I spent two full days and evenings finishing up to complete those. I had my signs ordered and was hoping they would be here and hung in time. Everything was coming down to last minutes and it was stressful. Somethings had to be relied on by others and I have issues with that sometimes (not sure why, I have never really been let down but). It was here and most stuff was completed so I decided to open the cash register on the second day I had planned to open after the pest removal. I was continuing to make changes during the day since I hadn't had everything set up as I wanted yet but I was ready and excited. The whole day went by and no one had stopped by. I was really bummed and thought maybe this isn't going to work out. About 15 minutes before I was set to close someone came in. My first sale happened and it was over 15.00 dollars. It gave me the hope I needed again to continue to next week. I framed my first dollar as most people do and have it displayed with my licenses at the store.
I now had one week till my Grand Opening and little things to do. I found out from the state of Pennsylvania that I can 3 events with free food a year and not have to have any food license so I planned a menu for my Grand Opening and door prizes. I gave myself a Grand Opening Budget and made adjustments. I finalized my advertisements, shared with friends and family, created door prizes and made food. Everything is ready but we are still setting up with 15 minutes to go before the store opens and people are outside. Stay tuned to next section to hear all about my Grand Opening.
I personally would do a lite opening again, but a friend of mine who owns a restaurant says they would not, they were only serving a lite menu since they were still waiting on supplies and they had several small issues that keep coming up. In my experience, what better way to iron all the details they did than with a lite opening. Some of the same issues could have came up during Grand Opening and then they would have been to busy to address them properly. They seemed really busy for their lite opening too. Nothing like mine. Different perception of same event. Please share your story.
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