Evan Carmichael advises against opening a full retail store without proof of demand. Instead, test the concept cheap: partner with an existing retailer, run pop-ups at local events, or use temporary displays. He incubated his own startup in a VC office for free in exchange for mentorship.
Chapters
Find a low-cost way to start and test your business. It's one of the best ways to get started and will make sure you don't end up bankrupt. I got a question from one of my readers, Malin, who wrote in saying she wants to start a small party supply store in her area. She feels like it's needed in her local market and wanted my advice on how to get started because she doesn't have any money to do it. This is a great question, Maylyn, and congratulations on wanting to start this business. I'm excited for you. Here's what I want you to avoid. I don't want you to go open a store, spend tons of money doing this, buying supplies, renting a location, being locked into a long-term lease, hiring employees, and it doesn't work out. That's the scenario for most entrepreneurs, and I really don't want that to be you. So my advice, my recommendation is start small. Test it out, see if this works, see if it works, and see if this is something that you enjoy doing or not. I would find a store or location that is in your target market and find a way to partner up with them. Find a way to have a small section of their store or do something outside in the summer. Some way to test your market so you don't have all the huge costs that are associated with starting up your own location. Maybe you exhibit at an event that's sponsored by, you know, events that are put on by local charities. Find a way to test out if that area is going to work for you or not before you go investing a lot of money and time into it. I remember when I was starting a software company, I wanted a location, but it was gonna cost a lot of money. You know, renting a location costs money. And so I made a deal with a local venture capital company and said, I want to start this new business. I see you have a couple desks open. Can I work from your office? And the deal we made was They would give me space and they would give me advice and ideas. These are all guys in their 60s or 70s, and I would help bring them new potential clients and also some advice around technology, something I was good at naturally. And so I incubated my company out of their office. We both benefited from the relationship. I didn't have to pay anything, and I had a prestigious address, one that would normally cost thousands of dollars a month to have. And so you have to find a way to get started on a small scale without spending a lot of money. Have the big goal. I want that for you. I want you to have your million-dollar idea. It's great. Don't lose sight of that, but act small. You have to protect your downside risk. That's the best way to get started. That's my advice for you because I don't want to make— I don't want to see you going bankrupt. It's the common mistake that most entrepreneurs will take. So good luck with that. For those of you watching, if you agree, if you think you're going to bootstrap your business, if you're currently bootstrapping your business, give this video a thumbs up. I love seeing those come in. It makes my day all the time. And if you have a question for your own business, I'd love to try to help you out. If you wanna leave it in the comment section below. So thank you and I'll see you soon.
