After all is said and done shaping your retail idea with the right financing is probably the biggest challenge any budding retail business entrepreneur will face.
To raise money for the execution and/or development of your retail business idea’s is a constant battle. When  you have only a retail idea people will suggest: "come back when you’ve got the first retail store working". When you have the retail store operational and working they will tell you “it is too soon to know if your retail project is actually working and will have a future". A catch 22 if ever there was one!

Invest all you have of your own in your retail idea

It is without doubt a must that you invest all you have of your own before you can even think to ask anyone else to do so too. Banks – who seem to be somewhat reluctant to support old trade ideas such as retail will ask you to forecast at least 5 years ahead and also will ask you to tell them in a retail business plan why they should believe you. Background, passion and experience should therefore shine through in your retail business plan. It needs to be based on solid ideas and facts and figures but also needs to clearly reflect your vision and passion without becoming too vague and optimistic.Excessive confidence and optimism is always a negative... pessimism however is a natural no-no!
So here again you can see the dilemma that faces any entrepreneur with a great retail store idea and / or concept. So you have succeeded in raising the start capital?! What comes next …

Work, work, work to develop your retail concept into reality? Not so, I am afraid!

Raising more money to develop the retail start up! You will have to face up that looking for money will be a constant  task you have, for as long as you run the operation. As Howard Schulz (Starbucks) so neatly put in his biography:  "always looking for money, talking to investors and finding that the business always needed more money became my daily chore and took up lots of my time".

Make sure that you have a good partner or member of the team that is savvy with finances and/or administration . You are the ideas person HE/SHE needs to be able to talk and argue with banks, investors and other financiers . This must allow you to do the creative and motivational work that is so needed by a starting concept.

Retail Investors – help or hindrance?

“Success has many fathers, failure is always an orphan”
Never forget this saying as it is unfortunately too true .When your business develops well every investor will love to claim his contribution in the success. It is therefore clearly of great importance to ensure that you – as founder – remain in charge (or at least as long as possible). My unfortunate experience has been that when an entrepreneur does well, his business  always  needs more money to grow. Investors (especially the VC kind…) have a tendency to put pressure on you as far as speed and control are concerned… Be aware !

• Ensure clarity of Vision, make sure that all participants subscribe to the goals you have set …Only if all partners walk in unison the same road will finances achieve the required results.

• Don’t let financiers become controllers and or administrators! They supply risk capital You supply the ideas and the execution!

• Try to achieve synergy in money supply and know how. Try to get investors that share your passion and understand your ideas fully. Better one shareholder that does than 4 that only see $$$$$$ and are not really interested in your retail business idea.

I tried in this entry to maybe give any budding entrepreneur a little feel for one of the most challenging aspects of any new retail concept/business . Money is that challenge but not the “flat “hard cash you need alone to raise but money that supports, that encourages and that is "patient". That’s the kind of finance you need to find.

It is not easy but from experience I know that it is there …You just need to search and look for it .

Good Luck !

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