Ok this is going to be long,
and
please don't take anything personally. I'm not trying to discourage you at all, just letting you know that it's not something you can do part time or half heartly and the costs can be HUGE.
First I see that you want to start a MX parts shop/dealer, awesome, I know that's something that you're passionate about.
Second, yes owning your own business is something to be proud and can be fun. Buuuuut, it's not all gravy.
- You're going to have to setup a business & get your retail merchant certificate $750-$1,000 (depending on the attorney)
- you'll also need an accountant
- You'll need a store front/retail space $1,000-$3,000 per month (depending on location and size)
- Utilities (gas, electric, water, phone/fax lines, internet service, insurance, etc.) hundreds per month
- You're going to need office furniture, shelving/displays, POS system & software, computer(s), office supplies, etc. - Thousands to first buy it, plus a little per month to replace the stuff that breaks etc.
- And last one of the biggest cost you're going to have is inventory. You can easily spend tens of thousands if not more. Remember with retail if you don't have the product in stock, they'll probably just go somewhere else to buy it.
Ok so you have the business setup and have the retail store full of inventory.
How are you planning on getting people to your store? Advertising, word of mouth, etc.
- Advertising you say? Well there goes 100's if not $1,000's per month (example - the small real estate company I work for spends between $2,500 - $4,000 per month)
- Word of mouth. Cheaper but not so good for when you just start up (nobody knows who you are yet) however after some time that will be the best advertising you'll have, as long as you make a good name for yourself.
Still sound like that easy gravy job yet?
Don't worry I left out the best part, you'll have NO life. Why you ask?
- What are your store hours going to be? Around here it's usually 9am-6pm M-F & 9am-3pm Sat. Somebody will have to be there at all those times. Which is where employees come in, but that's a whole another page.
- What about when you get sick, will you have somebody to cover for you.
- Your time will probably disappear (talked with the local dealer the other day, he can only ride Sundays but then he's too tired to ride or has family stuff.)
Are you thinking "ahh it's only 9-6 that's not to bad", well there's a lot more to it than that. Just ask Bruce aka Weathergeek. Look at me, I go to work at 8:30 & come home at 3:30-5, then I'm working on this site till 12:00-1:00am. Hit reset and do it again.
Almost forgot, with your age there's no way you'll be able to get a loan so you'll have to bring somebody else in with money and their goes half your business. Plus people probably won't take you seriously, remember we had talked about that earlier, how people will judge you by your age and not what you actually know.
Happens to me all the time.
Plus there's the thousands of little things I forgot or don't have the time to type out.
Again I'm not trying to discourage you and I hope you can work something out.
end
what was the question again?
Edit: What A2 said is good advice and excuse my bad grammar and spelling.