Do I Buy Everything on My Planner?

No, you don't need to buy everything on the Mobile Planner to start a mobile business. Nor do you buy everything on the other Planners. Some large commercial locations would buy most of items listed, but they are very few.

The positive aspect of having so many line items available is that you may not overlook materials or services. On the other hand, we don't make any guarantees we thought of everything possibly needed. For that reason you can edit the "Other" labeled fields and insert materials or services you need.

There are many variables to knowing what you need to purchase. First of all, you may already own some furniture, equipment, tools and other things which you then don't need to list. For commercial locations the building you rent or purchase for your business will have a significant impact on what you need to "outfit it." Some buildings are simply better equipped than others. For mobile groomers the purchase of a new van usually means that it came somewhat to very equipped already, whereas when you buy an older used model, you may need new equipment. Indeed, everyone's Planner will be different from others.

So where does that leave you? You may still be wondering, yes but what do I need? For a commercial location, department or home-based business we suggest you start by determining the space you would like to have as your business. For a home-based business it is usually a converted garage or outbuilding. We suggest you take a tape measure and accurately measure the available space and note doors and windows, existing electrical outlets and water pipes. If there are wall partitions note them and with all of this information draw a floor plan. It's doesn't have to be high tech, but to scale is important. Do the same for a commercial location you have selected. If you haven't decided upon a location as yet, but you need to get an rough idea of the costs to "outfit" your business, create a desired floor plan and use that as a model.

With your floor plan handy as a visual tool start completing your Planner. Make several copies of your floor plan and as you indicate purchases of furniture, equipment and other items on your planner, note them on a working copy of your floor plan. You might find you are buying too much and running out of room, or the opposite.

We do want to mention that the Mobile Planner allows for a home office. Some mobile grooming business owners don't realize they should consider setting up a home office with a desk, computer and file cabinets. In some cases the business can actually pay rent for the space properly allocated for the business, and that rent is tax-deductible for the business. You must consult a tax professional to see if you are eligible. There are strict guidelines to qualify.

Overall our guidance in equipping a business is to get what you need to operate and to start generating "cash flow" business income. If you plan on having another groomer, or bathers in the future, you probably want to rent space for expansion within reason, but you don't have to fully-equip the future employees' workstations now. It makes sense to have the electrical outlets ready. If you are planning to have 2 stainless steel tubs but you are a new or young business, you could have the plumbing readied when you startup, but there is no need to buy the 2nd tub until you have established demand requiring 2 tubs.

We suggest that you go ahead and create a Planner with your dream business listing everything you want to make it real. Then, check back in with reality and highlight those purchases that could wait a year or two while you grow the business and they become required to meet actual demand for services and/or retail.

Preserving cash is important for new business. When you start a business you should have enough cash on hand (and more) until you reach your projected breakeven point (Pet Grooming Business Plan Helper & Sampler, a Grooming Business in a Box® product actually computes your breakeven point for you). For example, and this is very general and simplified in nature, if you groom 5 pets a day, the income from the first 3 pays your operating expenses and the other 2 is the profit of the day which often becomes the personal income for the owner, thereby 3 is the breakeven point when we don't consider the owner's personal income from the business. You can perhaps see how important it is then to preserve cash, and one of doing that is to not buy more than you need when you startup. Again, 1 grooming table could be fine until you really need the second one.

We close here and guide you to additional tips and articles helping you to narrow down minimum purchases in the Main Control Panel at Outfit a Grooming Business.