Rate Your Personal Potential for Retail Success
By Richard Parker: President of The Resource Center for A Retail Business™ and author of How To Buy A Good Retail Business At A Great Price© .
Are you ready to launch your career as a great retailer? Here’s a simple quiz to help you decide.
Ask yourself these questions:
- Do I have a positive attitude? yes no
- Does the notion of owning a retail business excite me? yes no
- Am I a strong negotiator? (As a retailer, you will need to negotiate with vendors, customers and lots of other people too.) yes no
- Do I bring any applicable experience and knowledge to the table? yes no
- Do I have a high level of tolerance for business setbacks and frustrations? yes no
- Am I genuinely enthusiastic about the products that I'll be selling? yes no
- Is my life relatively free from outside demands (family, moving, parenthood, etc.) just now? yes no
- Do I really want to make a long-term commitment to live in the area where the business is located? yes no
- Am I in good enough physical condition to lift and carry items that weigh as much as 35 pounds – such as shipments of incoming inventory? (Bear in mind, owning a store can be physically demanding.) yes no
- Do I have the follow-through to carefully build a business? yes no
- Am I prepared to deal with employee supervision issues, such as employees not showing up for the morning shift? yes no
- Am I willing to put in long hours? yes no
- Am I good at multitasking and managing my time? yes no
- Am I ready to learn as much as I possibly can about operating a retail business before I buy one? yes no
- Am I willing to continually educate myself about trends that impact on the products I would be selling? yes no
- Can I think on my feet and easily handle emergency situations? yes no
- Do I like working with the public? yes no
- Am I comfortable delegating away key responsibilities to attorneys, accountants and other professionals? (In retail, you cannot expect to handle everything yourself.) yes no
- Am I great at following through and bringing my plans to completion? yes no
- Am I certain that my spouse and family will support me completely as I buy and operate my store? yes no
Rating your score . . .
0 – 3 "no" responses – You are a great candidate to buy and operate a store
4 – 6 "no" responses – You need to address the reasons behind your No answers before you move ahead
7+ "no" responses – You really need address whether buying a retail business is a good idea for you
However, I need to add that there are really no right or wrong answers to the questions above. So take a little time to think about any No responses. What are they telling you?
For example, if you answered No to question #4 above (“Do I bring any applicable experience and knowledge to the table?”) that might simply mean that you need to add a few key skills before you buy a store of your own.
This article represents a fraction of what you’ll learn in How To Buy A Good Retail Business At A Great Price© - the most widely used reference resource and strategy guide for anyone thinking about buying a retail store. Read a detailed listing of what you'll learn.
