Would You Do It If Given The Chance

[bigred]

as many of you know, I have worked in the retail field as well as technology. I actually loved the challenges of retail. I do also love the pay and perks of working as a network admin.

 

But here's the issue. I've been given the chance to purchase my own Computer Builders Warehouse franchise. I know the idea of putting an adict like me in a store like that sounds dangerous, but I'm pretty sure I can run a store like that just fine (my dept at compusa was like a cbw in the regular compusa store... parts, BTO computers and service). I can retain my current job and simply hire a store manager to carry out my policy in the store (I already have one in mind).

 

Should I shell out the $$$ and do it? or not? why?

 

 

no this is not a poll, I want to hear logical reasons why I should / should not do this.

[howie b]

how large of a warehouse are we talking about? How large of a volume does this place sell? If it's not a huge financial risk, I would go for it. Make more productive use out of your excess money instead of buying more goodies *cough* FX-51system *cough*

[bigred]

they're not so much a warehouse. they're a fairly large retail chain (one of the OCC lan party's sponsors) of stores that sell parts, and BTO system. I'd have to put down $50k for the first year, but in a good location that $$$ comes back fast (I want to put the store in the rochester hills area of michigan where they're building $300k houses like it's going out of style). The regional manager that owns the madison heights store, and oversee's the rest of the stores in the area makes over $200k a year.

 

 

Oh and that FX-51's days are lmitted already. I pre ordered my FX-53 thru the CBW my brother is working at for $899.00 this afternoon.

[Overclocker16]

bigred.

 

I say if you have the money and you think you can do it, the YES start it.

[howie b]

You seem pretty confident in its potential sucsess, and speaking purely as an economist, if you are not going to LOSE money on this business venture then you are better off for it.....I guess what I'm trying to say is GO FOR IT!

[O(V)eGA_l2el)]

I think its a good opportunity.

[Some_Guy_]

There's only one way to find out, red. I'd say go for it. Then again, 50K is a lot to gamble with.

 

Talk to some other business owners in the area. See what their customer base is like.

[andrusk]

As long as your in a good location and the market is prime for it. Id say go for it. But i would probably do more than just hire a manager to take care of it, youll get screwed that way, the only way to insure things are run the way you want is to run them yourself. Its all up to you, I think it would be fun!

[Neural Interface]

It sounds good man, Go for it

[syneze]

buy a mcdonalds instead, you'll make more $$. Plus they guarantee a profit.

[Trakfast11]

are they any others computer part stores already established around that area? And what type of prices do the other stores have? would you be able to sell for less than the competition, but still be able to maintain a profit? are you going to offer anything unique over what other stores are offering? it would help to have a reason for someone (that lives closer to one store) to drive further out to your store (what benifits would there be to make the extra drive worth-while?). what group/groups are you targeting (customer base/business/combination?). you also might want to look into ways letting people know you exist, so you probably will want to look into different ways you could advertise or let people know you are out there (and also figure estimate how much it would cost to do that advertising). you'll probably want to decide on how much you are willing to spend on advertising before hand (if any), so you don't end up spending much more money than you initially planned to.

 

you should also consider how many people you'll need to employ and for how much. decide what the store hours will be and estimate how much it will cost to keep the building running (electricity, etc). also, (i haven't been checking up on the market or anything), i'm guessing that most people won't buy a new computer shortly after a previous purchase (some wealthy included), unless they are addicted to new technology/greater performance, etc... (so if the market was good, a short-term lull could potentially be expected to follow in the computer market in the near future [especially if technology were not progressing that much. and even if technology does progress at a fast pace, the consumers still need to have enough money in order to upgrade. making big technological increases in the consumer market won't increase sales if people have already recently spent a nice chunk of money on previous purchases]) but we also know that a relatively new technology has been slowly emerging into the market (64bit) and it could be expected that some of the first people to buy this technology would be the more affluent (but not always. (the rest of this blue section is not as relavent so skip this part if you want: just because you're well off doesn't mean you spend money and buy whatever you want. there are people who can manage their money well when it comes to certain areas (this is a generalization. i don't know about all or most since family/household is different and different people manage their money differently). its much easier to curb the urge to buy things that you don't have as strong of a desire for.)))

if you are located in a place with a nice amount of people that are really into computers and related technology, have enough money, and are willing to spend the money, then you are fortunate to have found a nice place to start a business (not including other outside factors). also, its not that bad of a time to get a computer business up considering people will be upgrading their systems to 64bit technology over the coming years and the area you are considering to potentially establish your business, from what i read earlier in this post, is a wealthy one. they could potentially be some of the earlier adopters of 64-bit tech.

 

i have a slight headache right now and was (at first) going back over and editing some things, but now my head is beginning to hurt more and i really don't feel like looking over this at the moment so i've stopped. don't really feel like editing this post that much. i'm going to take a nap. very good luck with your decision bigred! i'm sure you've considered a lot of these things already, but it never hurts to hear those things again. also, even when all the signs point to GO, it does not guarrentee you'll be successful, but also you might not gain as much if you don't take risks along the way. if people did not take risks in the past, a lot of things might not have been possible today. there is definately a lot to consider. the very best of luck to ya bigred! (on your decision and your future).

 

p.s: how much time do you have to decided whether or not to take up this offer?

[LobbDogg]

If I were in your shoes, I would do it, but I would also make sure you look into everything, and research everything like Sneyze said. Poor planning can cost you down the road. And like someone said earlier in this post, you should probably do it yourself. I know that there is only 24 hours in a day, so you can't be everywhere. Make sure you keep the store the way you want it run. So make sure you choose someone you completely trust.