How would a university student best start a small retail business with next to no money?

Question

19 year old from Brisbane, studying part-time. How do I do it?

Answer 1

Depends entirely on what you plan to sell. If its something that can be sold from home, this could be a cheap way of starting out.

Alternatively, once you have a solid business plan, you may want to start out talking to big companies that produce complimentary goods to help you out. For example, if you are planning to sell cds, you could contact CD player manufacturers to get them to provide the stereos in your store - they may be willing to do this as long as they can put their logo in your store.

You can get help from comapnies like mastercard and visa for things like store awnings - they pay for the awning with your store logo, as long as the mastercard/visa logo also gets on there.

You may also want to start out small - maybe find a local market. Stalls are cheaper than stalls and could be a great way for starting out and getting your name out there. Once you start doing well enough you can let your regulars know you're moving to a store.

Answer 2

I have never tried this, but I read about this method years ago. Find a vacant retail location you like and contact the owner/agent. Let them know that you would like to use the vacant place for a percentage of gross profits until they find a regular tenant. They like their shopping centers to be full because it means higher rents, you aren't tied to a long lease in case things don't work out as well as you hoped. The drawback is you may have to change locations with little notice.

Answer 3

It's hard to rent a place and buy inventory with no money. At http://ewebsmith.com you can do it online for free.

Answer 4

here is some good ways.

http://www.harmon.moneyways.com