“Experience is a cruel teacher,” says Bill Vickery. “Effective, but cruel.”
As the director of the Small Business Development Center in Cape Girardeau, Vickery is well acquainted with the risk of opening a new business. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, only about 44 percent make it through the first four years.
“The No. 1 business failure is from lack of planning prior to opening doors,” Vickery says. “That would include making sure they have sufficient capital, pricing, profitability, cash flow. It’s all part of the planning process.”
Prior to opening Grace Cafe, a Cape Girardeau coffee shop, Grace Parry and her husband spent years traveling to Paducah, Ky., St. Louis, even Colorado in search of ideas. They did research online and joined the Specialty Coffee Association.
“We had no real business plan but a fast learning curve,” says Parry. “Even with a plan, though, nothing could have prepared us for what we ended up having to do. You just have to be very flexible, creative, and resourceful.”
Rich Behring kept his kitchen appliance specialty shop, Kitchen Gizmos and Gadgets, open for three years before closing last November.
“We started on a shoestring budget,” says Behring, recounting the difficulties he faced in getting financial backing. The former military cook with experience in retail began his small business with a simple plan.
“I knew how much I opened with and how much I had to make per month,” he says.
Although he tried some advertising, Behring says the lack of capital limited his opportunities. Even after three years, people would come in having never known the business was there.
Photo by Business Today.
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