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If you need guidance in your business, there are several places that provides help to entrepreneurs. Here are places where you may be able to find a mentor and get advice: - Government Mentoring Programs such as SBDCs, which works with community colleges and local business development councils to offer mentoring programs www ... ; or the Women's Network for Entrepreneurial Training www ... - Volunteer programs such as SCORE www ... which is composed of mostly retired executives and entrepreneurs - Formal mentoring programs such as Athena Foundation www ... , Helzberg Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program www ... , or The Aspen Institute MicroMentor Program www ... - Professional organizations such as the National Women’s Business Council www ...

by imisidro

10 months ago

Asker's Rating: 

If you're truly interested in creating a combination of homeless cats and decorating, I hope you have an exit strategy in place. This is the kind of small-town thinking that makes stores like yours fail. Do NOT put any animals in your store. Or ONLY put animals in your store, though you will need new licensing. Also, because you are redoing the entire philosophy of what your business sells, close your doors for a while, rename it or come up with a new logo, and have a new grand opening to create some buzz in the community. There are many stories of small businesses that go bankrupt because the loyal customer base that they have no longer is interested in your product, and new customers never come along. Write up an entirely new business plan and think this through. Would you want to walk into a home decor store and have cat hair and urine smelling up your new upholstery? One or the other.

by adam_1182- 10 months ago

You've a lot to sort out here and it needs putting into some sort of order. Step back from it all and think about where you want to be in 5 years. How does what you're doing now help you to get to that point? Before you change track with your store business, think about how you're marketing it, the type of people who have bought from you over the years and how you can sell to them again or to others like them. Selling everything at half price is a drastic step and will run you out of business faster than anything. Are there ways that you could promote it that you haven't tried before? It's always worth contacting existing customers about recent stock. Don't blanket them all with the same mailer. If they're interested only in tables, contact them about tables. Your idea for the cats sounds like a worthy cause but you say there's no heart for it where you are. This makes it tricky getting support. Investigate the possibilities of setting up a charity or working with a national charity that does something similar. It can help you become noticed more easily. As a charity, it's often easier to get press coverage for what you're doing. As with your other business, it's all about raising awareness of what you're doing. With both your businesses, it sounds as if you need to plan where you want them to go. There's no magic formula for this. Order your thoughts by putting down on paper where you've come from to reach your current position, set out where you'd like to be in the next 12, 36 and 60 months and how you can get there. Maybe there's a way that you can do something through your existing business to raise support for your catopia. Whatever you do, don't try to be all things to all people or take on too much at once. If you do, you'll end up doing none of it well and pleasing no-one, inlcuding yourself. I'd try for some publicity about something newsworthy in your store - say a line that's coming back into fashion - that will raise people's awareness of what you do and re-establish it as a sustainable source of income so that you can work out how to develop your other business. Good luck!

by Rosemary P- 10 months ago

It's never good to mix pets with business. Too many people are allergic to pet hair and cats are one of the main animals that people are generally allergic to. My suggestion would be, if you wanted to do this, make sure the cats are in an area that is completely closed off from the public. Maybe try building a glassed in area for the cats, or plexi glass (it's cheaper.) This will keep people from complaining of allergies and keep people coming back to your store in spite of the cats. Usually only pet stores can get away with this sort of thing the marketing would be REALLY tricky. I'm at a loss for a marketing scheme there. As for the other part, my mom is a lisenced auctioneer. She's been dealing in this sort of thing for years. Consignment can work if you do it right, I've known many people who have gone into the consignment business and had to close out after one year because they didn't plan. Make sure that the percentage you're taking from the consigment is high enough that you'll make a small profit. Never accept small consignments (small being like 1-3 pieces of furniture unless you're absolutely sure they'll sell for a big enough amount.) Do some research at other consigment stores around you, go in them for about 2 weeks and remember what they have in stock and see what's selling. So you will know what to put in your store, what people are looking for.

by Jenna- 10 months ago