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Wife Wants To Start A Brick And Mortar

Johnny boy

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"Hey honey, before you do anything else, just go find some evidence that people will give a fraction of a F*ck and spend any money whatsoever on whatever you want to sell. Personal evidence that people will actually be willing to buy from you, actual demand, like leads or pre-orders."

This is worth 5 books, 40 hours of youtube videos, $20,000 in mentoring and 2 MBA degrees.
 

MJ DeMarco

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My wife wants to start a Brick and Mortar

What kind? There's a big difference between a restaurant and a fashion boutique. Both, however, sound like time and fiscal prisons.
 

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My wife wants to start a Brick and Mortar and I want to show my support. She is VERY new to anything business and I’m looking for a good book I can get her that helps to explain some very basic information about starting a business (Permits, forming an LLC, taxes, commercial rental space, small business loans, etc. etc.) Does anyone know of any books like this? All the ones I read are more big picture and less about starting from zero. Thanks in Advance!

"It is literally impossible to produce a consistent result in a business that depends on extraordinary people. No business can do it for long. And no extraordinary business tries to!" (Michael E. Gerber, The E-Myth Revisited)

Anyway...

If you and your wife know next to nothing about starting "a business", a book is less help than getting someone to help you.

1. Connect to a local Chamber of Commerce.
2. Find networking groups.
3. Connect with local small business mentors (for example, you want to open a coffee shop? Then find a coffee shop you love and connect to the GM/Owner).

Example, when I first started a junk removal company, I reached out to Brian Scudamore. Yes, through my network we connected and his advice proved invaluable! That was a decade ago... but concepts I learned from him stay with me today.

And be careful getting advice online from random people. Internet is full of shit advice. ;)
 

fastlane_dad

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My wife wants to start a Brick and Mortar and I want to show my support. She is VERY new to anything business and I’m looking for a good book I can get her that helps to explain some very basic information about starting a business (Permits, forming an LLC, taxes, commercial rental space, small business loans, etc. etc.) Does anyone know of any books like this? All the ones I read are more big picture and less about starting from zero. Thanks in Advance!
This sounds like a tragic recipe for disaster ... unless you REALLY really have all your ducks in a row, which I doubt you do.

These usually start of as 'passion' projects and turn into nothing but such, with a minimal survival rate OR something that barely floats about.

Brick and mortar for a complete business newb, without any previous experience in business or a field relating to it (or potentially even working for one) -- is a big no no.

Without knowing too many details on you, your spouse, your proposed business or your financial situation ... I'd save your sanity, wealth and marriage and tread very very carefully.

Why not start somewhere where the risk is overall lower, you can learn step by step and land somewhere where asymmetric risk/return is far greater (online business, etc) ?
 

MJ DeMarco

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We could really help if we ever found out what *type* of B&M biz we're talking about.
 

WillHurtDontCare

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My wife wants to start a Brick and Mortar and I want to show my support. She is VERY new to anything business and I’m looking for a good book I can get her that helps to explain some very basic information about starting a business (Permits, forming an LLC, taxes, commercial rental space, small business loans, etc. etc.) Does anyone know of any books like this? All the ones I read are more big picture and less about starting from zero. Thanks in Advance!

get her to make a shopify store and play around with getting sales via facebook ads

That takes way less start up capital than start a brick and mortar business. Plus, depending on what she sells, you could go down that route later if it suits you.
 

SchmittlingC

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My wife wants to start a Brick and Mortar and I want to show my support. She is VERY new to anything business and I’m looking for a good book I can get her that helps to explain some very basic information about starting a business (Permits, forming an LLC, taxes, commercial rental space, small business loans, etc. etc.) Does anyone know of any books like this? All the ones I read are more big picture and less about starting from zero. Thanks in Advance!
 
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Antifragile

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All of you who responded to this thread by a two-post New forum member! Yeah, I mean YOU, if you really want to help people, choose real people.

Here is a real business. Real sweat and tears. Real results & real struggle. As fun as it is to "help" some random wannabe on the internet... threads like this one below should get more attention and way more help.

 
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Kak

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"It is literally impossible to produce a consistent result in a business that depends on extraordinary people. No business can do it for long. And no extraordinary business tries to!" (Michael E. Gerber, The E-Myth Revisited)

Anyway...

If you and your wife know next to nothing about starting "a business", a book is less help than getting someone to help you.

1. Connect to a local Chamber of Commerce.
2. Find networking groups.
3. Connect with local small business mentors (for example, you want to open a coffee shop? Then find a coffee shop you love and connect to the GM/Owner).

Example, when I first started a junk removal company, I reached out to Brian Scudamore. Yes, through my network we connected and his advice proved invaluable! That was a decade ago... but concepts I learned from him stay with me today.

And be careful getting advice online from random people. Internet is full of shit advice. ;)
Expanding on this, because I agree.

E-Myth is a good place to start assuming y’all have read MJ’s Millionaire Fastlane .

Run your plans through the CENTS filter. Do you have control? Is entry somewhat protected? Are you fulfilling a need? Can you remove your time? Can it scale?

On one hand, a local business can stay local and continue to entrap its owners.

On another hand a lot of big businesses are local until they aren’t.

The point is to make sure to build a business that your wife owns, not a business that owns her.

What is the general idea for the venture? What do you have planned out so far?
 
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BizyDad

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Hey honey, before you do anything else, just go find some evidence that people will give a fraction of a F*ck and spend any money whatsoever on whatever you want to sell. Personal evidence that people will actually be willing to buy from you, actual demand, like leads or pre-orders."

I second this. I did it myself a decade ago...

This will accomplish 2 things.

1. It will get her starting to think like a business owner.

2. It will give you time to evaluate how much to be supportive.

That second one is important. We all want to be supportive of our partners (Well, except maybe Johnny_boy. Lol.) Speaking from experience, supportiveness can have its limits. And it's tough to tell that in the beginning when everything is all roses and big dreams.

But if she starts this and isn't willing or able to see it through, you and her will face needless problems. This might even be a thing that comes between you.

On the other hand, of she does these 2 things and does them quickly, you'll see she has the aptitude to take guidance, think like a business owner, and tick off tasks at a pace that a business owner needs to.

One other thing I'll suggest. Have her write out a "business plan". I'm not talking some MBA level document. More like having her put her thoughts on paper about how she's going to grow the business and what it will take to grow the business.

I have helped 3 partners start businesses. Each time it became a source of strife in the relationship. But if she does these things, you guys can get on the same page now, while everyone is calm and level headed, and you can remain on the same page later when the problems and challenges start coming...
 
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Antifragile

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Kevin88660

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My wife wants to start a Brick and Mortar and I want to show my support. She is VERY new to anything business and I’m looking for a good book I can get her that helps to explain some very basic information about starting a business (Permits, forming an LLC, taxes, commercial rental space, small business loans, etc. etc.) Does anyone know of any books like this? All the ones I read are more big picture and less about starting from zero. Thanks in Advance!
You need to get her to read the book “The lean Startup”.

Keep cost and expansion control and focus on testing between before spending huge money. Long term business strategy is about survival and staying in the game.

Then she can reassess the existing business idea.
 
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