Hello my name is Michelle, I am currently researching starting a thrift store. How do I find out how much start up money I will need? Thanks...

Hello Michelle:

Write a business plan.. It'll tell exactly how much you need, plus lots of other stuff you're going to need too. I'd consider my business plan my structure for fulfillment.

No, it's not written out of the blue. There's software that guides you through the process. I like Business Plan Pro. It'll cost about $50.

excon

I'm seconding what Excon said, but to add a bit of detail:

You basically need to figiure out what your cash flow is going to be, and then you cover the negative cash flows that you expect to incur in the first few months with a loan or other source of cash. In the first few months you will probably have expenses such as a lease for retail space, equipment purchases (shelving, racks, lighting, point of sale equipment, software, etc), inventory purchases, advertising expenses, utilities, shipping, an accountant, and salaries for your employees (and perhaps yourself). Your initial revenues will likely be pretty small at first, and your plan would hopefully include increasing revenues as the business grows. At some point your revenues will exceed your expenses (hurray!) but until then you'll have negative cash flows. So to stay in business you'll need a hunk of cash up front to cover the difference. If you plan to borrow this money don't forget to include interest charges in your list of expenses. To determine how much cash you'll need - you need to write out a detailed business plan with your best estimates of how much your revenues and expenses will actually be, month by month, for at least the first two years, and quarter by quarter after that for the next three years.