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Ten Greatest Ideas for Building the Retail Business of Your Dreams • 113

The timing is a matter of capital and resources. It is a question of weighing up
your obligations to your dependants, saving enough capital to put some money in as
shareholders' funds and going for it as soon as common sense tells you these things
are in balance.

A lot of people succeeded in getting going by having one partner leaving work
and starting the dream, while the other continued earning in their current job,worked
for the dream during their time off and did not draw any money out of the new
business.

Finally in terms of timing, think about the premises you will need. Any business
is a mixture of creating a good strategy and business plan, operating efficiently and
seizing opportunities. The right premises will tend to belong to the third of these.
You will have an accurate idea of what you are looking for and in what area it could
be, but it could take some time to find the ideal place. When it does appear it is a
strange irony that the shop or the workshop, the millstone round your neck, could
very well be the clincher for when to plunge in.

Idea 67 - Tobuy or not to buy

Do you buy premises or rent them? This is a difficult one since it brings another
potential source of profit to the business - if you buy you may make a profit when
you sell the premises. On the other hand if you are selling the business as a going
concern it may make little difference to the value of the business whether the shop is
purchased or rented.

Probably the best way of making the decision is as a straightforward financial
test. Assume for the moment that all other things are equal; you will sell the same
amount of goods from the shop however you occupy it - owner or tenant. Now
make a five-year cashflow of the outgoings involved for each method. Get the insur-
ance side right and the rates and other expenses. Now discount the cashflow for
time, and arrive at the net present value of the two methods and decide on the better