Hello all, I haven't dropped in in a while as I have been extremely busy at my store. Things are going ok sales wise. Problem is, I am not happy that I own a co-op and the things I used to sell, someone else sells and she is telling me that I cannot sell them, I have to remove them from my store. When I first came to another co-op she was already there. Then the co-op shut down. I opened a store and brought everyone with me. Her superiority/seniority got grandfathered in. We sold things in the same taste, but different (I sell Indian imports and Belly Dance supplies and she sells Belly Dance supplies, but our styles are opposite.) I have suppliers and I told her about them. Stupid me. Now she is selling them and telling me to get my things out. There is a "no competition" clause though not written, is understood. I am heartbroken as I have used these vendors for over six years. They have helped me through the lowest of my times as well as the highest. Also, I work very hard in my store. We are open 5 days a week, but usually I find myself in there 7 days a week sometimes getting in at 8am and leaving at 8pm. I work to the bones for this store, and she drops in maybe twice a month to drop things off and has the nerve to take it upon herself to bestow herself the title of "Partner". She has bullied me to run all the other vendors out. I am not allowed to sell whatever I want and love as you can see by her power. And although I am the store owner, and the name of the store is The Pink City (We all have our individual business names within The Pink City) all of her advertisements list our address without mention of the store name, as if she is a free standing individual business with nothing to do with us. People call on the phone confused that they have the wrong number when I answer as The PInk City and not her business name. People are mad that they cannot find "her" business because it is not on the sign outside. Thing is, I used to sell the pretty good before I joined into this group and I am tired. I am tired of being bullied, I am tired of not selling what I love, I am tired of selling my vendors items for her. I am tired of being used and unappreciated. I have worked hard to build this business. Here is what I want. I want her gone. I need my creative freedom. But she knows that I do not have the revenue to pull the store by myself, so she has me by the throat and can walk all over me. Some people suggested I get counseling for co-dependancy, but that is for another tribe! Here is what I need to do. I need to secure a small business loan for about $15,000. I need to go and buy the inventory needed to fill the back rooms that she now occupies. We agreed that we need to split, but she wants until February and I cannot take working so hard to sell my inventory (meaning this is what I used to do and now that she does it, I cannot sell it - she was the belly dance vendor when I came to the original store, so she has the priviledge). If you want to hear me crying and ranting in detail, it is here: tribes.tribe.net/fdhb/thre...2980aae97b
Every dollar I make for her should have been a dollar I made for myself. She has no idea of store revenue. But it is pretty stable. And she is not the best at what she does, but I know what to do that if it were my stuff in there, sales would double. As I was saying, I looked at financial projections and if I could secure a small business loan, my daughter and I could afford to have a decent life. Now I know in order to obtain a small business loan, I need to have a business plan in place. I also read in previous posts, that of all business that succeed, one thing in common that they shared is that they all had a business plan. Also, my credit score is about 578. I do not think I can get a business loan at that number. I am praying hard that this month I can have enough left over revenue to pay down my credit cards to (I think I read that a good number is 30% of the limit is a good number to pay down the cards to) and pay off one blemish for a TV cable bill. Anyway, as for the business, numbers look good. How realistic is my plan, and how fast do you think it could all come together with diligence? I was thinking of going to the SBA to talk to them, but maybe with my credit score being what it is, it is a bit premature. Also, I think it takes about two months for your credit score to really reflect all these changes I need to do above. For example, when I pay off the cable debt, it takes 30 days for them to report it to the credit bureaus, and then 30 days for the credit bureaus to update their information. Any suggestions on a business plan template? I went to a small business meeting with SCORE and when they showed and example of a business plane, man! it was overwhelming! 7 pages! aiy yi yi! Any help would be appreciated. I am miserable and I have potential to make my business something bigger, but need to find the right steps...