Adventures with Corndog: Corndog's Fish Store
- Thread starter Corndog
- Start date
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Guest, did you like the last podcast notification?? Well here's the second one, and for the third podcast! Yep. This Thursday 8-8-24 at 7pm Central
Go here to check out his podcast thread for info on topics and links!Go into the FoH discord and find the Happy Time Fun Hour channel and give it a listen!
Sunday was $175. Today was $211. Insane for a Monday. I was honestly guessing like less than $20 for a monday.
how much sales do you need to make on average / day to break even and or a living wage (at least 3k/month)? what are the major fixed costs/amounts other than rent? (850).
Is there a reason you are closed Thursday? Changing your day off to Monday or Tuesday would be better.
When I managed a fish store. Thursdays were always the weakest sales. Mondays are busy because people grab things "first things monday morning" meaning I'll grab it after work on Monday etc. Stores close early on Sundays, which means if you see your fish are sick after 6pm, you'll be in first thing on a monday.
Fixed Costs:
Rent - 850
Power -500
Internet -100
Insurance -54
Wage 2000 - This will go down if I dont make enough etc. But thats the goal.
Roughly 3600 a month in outgoing. Which means I need to sell roughly $7200 a month. Dry goods are marked up basically 2x. Fish 2-3x.
26 days a month being open. Means $275 a day to break even with a sustainable take home wage.
Rent - 850
Power -500
Internet -100
Insurance -54
Wage 2000 - This will go down if I dont make enough etc. But thats the goal.
Roughly 3600 a month in outgoing. Which means I need to sell roughly $7200 a month. Dry goods are marked up basically 2x. Fish 2-3x.
26 days a month being open. Means $275 a day to break even with a sustainable take home wage.
Shonuff
Mr. Poopybutthole
- 5,538
- 791
When you have good times, save it. You never know when you'll hit a rough patch. Most small businesses go under for lack of working capital. I remember when I was in college, we had a snow storm that shut the town down for one week. Within three weeks, 1/4 of the businesses went under. They just didn't have the working capital saved up. Cash is king.
Short answer is too many 
46 hours the business is open to the public with probably another 10-12 outisde of business hours when you factor in chasing things down etc.
I've got someone I'd like to bring on when sales justify it. They'd be a 3 day a week person. 22 hours a week. Roughly $1600 in sales to justify it.
46 hours the business is open to the public with probably another 10-12 outisde of business hours when you factor in chasing things down etc.I've got someone I'd like to bring on when sales justify it. They'd be a 3 day a week person. 22 hours a week. Roughly $1600 in sales to justify it.
So if you meet break even mark its basically a 60 hour work week earning aprox $8.50 an hour. What type of growth do you expect in the first few years? Is that growth limited to walk in customers, or can you grow other ways? I know basically nothing about fish stores, but could sales theoretically double in 3 years for example? What is best case scenario? - I assume you do not expect to be earning that wage in perpetuity.
It's hard to say how fast I'll grow. But I do know there's a store in my state that can do 20k in a weekend. It's the same size as me. I don't even have a sign up yet that has my business name on it yet.
Also craigslist ads have turned out way better than I could have imagined. Tons people have come in to my store from those postings.
Today's sales were $308. $230 of that was from craigslist walk ins.
I'm not sure what the best case scenario looks like. It's probably something like 2 people doing aquabid sales, and 2 people on the sales floor 3 days a week and bringing in 20-25k a month with 10kish on overhead.
Also craigslist ads have turned out way better than I could have imagined. Tons people have come in to my store from those postings.
Today's sales were $308. $230 of that was from craigslist walk ins.
I'm not sure what the best case scenario looks like. It's probably something like 2 people doing aquabid sales, and 2 people on the sales floor 3 days a week and bringing in 20-25k a month with 10kish on overhead.
I remember a post a few pages back that mentioned you borrowed to finance the capex? At what point do you need to start servicing the debt, and how will that affect your monthly fixed cost?
I have 2 debts currently. One for about 9k for contracting work, and 50k from an investor. My contractor debt is interest free for 1 year. Then a 5% interest rate with a payment plan over 5 years. And my investor pay back is starting the year the business turns profit, paying the debt back over 4 years. There is profit sharing with the investor since if I don't make it, I don't owe anything. There's also incentives built in. If I can hit 100k in sales the first year. 15k of the repayment is knocked off. etc.
In the short term, the contracting work could add to the monthly cost, but there are enough funds sitting in the bank to just pay it outright. But since cash is king, probably won't pay off till right before interest starts, or just take the 5% interest loan depending on where I'm at.
In the short term, the contracting work could add to the monthly cost, but there are enough funds sitting in the bank to just pay it outright. But since cash is king, probably won't pay off till right before interest starts, or just take the 5% interest loan depending on where I'm at.
Shonuff
Mr. Poopybutthole
- 5,538
- 791
I can't stand CL customers. Since we are a service business, they try to get us to work for like 10% of my cost on their jobs, and tell me I should thank them for that.
If it's working for you, great. But I don't think CL is good for service business.
opiate82
Bronze Squire
- 3,078
- 5
Just going to say, don't forget about all the little expenses as well. Credit card processing fees, payroll taxes, B&O, repairs and maintenance, etc. I'm sure you were just doing a basic breakdown and have all of that covered, but it is easy to forget all the nickle-and-dime stuff that adds up for a business.