Once you have a final edition, I suggest that you put a date on the front cover, as well as a line that reads: “given to: _________,” and fill the blank line out every time you submit a plan to someone. The first in my family to graduate from college, I earned a BA from St. Norbert College. Here again, the more specific numeric information you can show, the better. What do you think is more well known and why, Pokemon or SpongeBob SquarePants? Company valuation can be measured based on the firm's own performance, as well as in comparison against its industry competitors. Mel Thompson, who I’ve mentioned in previous columns, can also be hired to write a business plan for you. Showing a business plan to a landlord can demonstrate that you know what you are doing, have a plan to make money to pay the rent, and intend on staying in that location for a while. So then you're left with the 55% or so. Korey is planning to open a comic book store. You should be prepared to provide a complete financial detail of all of your start up costs, including: build-out and repairs, fixtures, merchandise, any rent you pay before you open, initial marketing, etc. There’s really only one comic book wholesaler from whom you’ll be ordering your inventory (Diamond), and they can be a bit expensive, furthor cutting into your profit margin. You’re wondering, “What do I talk about in this business plan thing?”. The previous section and this next one are the places where you are really selling your store and your ideas to readers of the plan. It’s kind of amazing the DM has lasted this long, given all the stupid creative and business decisions made by the Big 2 over the years. They write the dialogue and how the story will progress. Comic stores I think may take something like 45% of the price you're paying. Let me begin this column with an apology. Why? These were pilot programs to see how the government approach to health care would work but they are being ignored completely. Now, it’s time for the grand finale of your business plan: a summary of all of these numbers. Show company earnings relative to revenues. The comic book market is foundering a bit at the moment (as opposed to, say, 15 years ago), so it’s difficult for even the successful stores to turn a huge profit. Here, you can explain the growth in comic book sales over the last few years and discuss how factors like the increasing number of comic book based movies continues to help spur growth in this market. Your profit margin is arguably the most important metric of success for your store. ... Anime & Comics Tagged With: comic book store, location matters. Still have questions? That's why well run comic stores have a very good sense of how many copies they'll sell of something. Image Comics Launches Mail-Order Service: A Threat to Comics Ecology? Are the residences within a three-mile radius young families or retirees? Example: A hat costs $10 from the supplier. The States that have health insurance programs have shown that government control has actually increased the costs of health care. Who will win? This will be the most work, and you should still have a business professional look it over, however it is the least expensive method. Free Comic Book Store Business Plan For Raising Capital from Investors, Banks, or Grant Companies! Once I liquidated my massive inventory of 3,200 comic books, I had done over $17,000 in sales with a final profit of $8,986 to fund my startup — and a great story. Profit margins are a little bit different. Margins and Profit. He's run the shop out of the same location for more than 40 years and he wants to pass the mantle. If so, what is it and who will get it? Comic Books: Buy, Sell, Trade, Consign, Collect. Before that, Marvel has to pay the writers and the artists, as well as the inker, the colorist, the letterer, and people on their editorial staff (who are probably on salary, and not paid "by the book" like the writer and artist). Book Stores. Your Turn: Would you buy and sell comic books to earn money? Net sales or revenue was $84.310 billion (highlighted in blue). According to their own published data, the profit margins of the big corporate publishers are increasing. Try to get traffic counts for the street(s) that pass your location, and include those in your plan. At his comic book store, Korey's Comics, Korey sells approximately $3,250 in comic books each month. Net income was $19.965 billion for the period (highlighted in green). So, I’d say yes, you should have a business plan. Prior to becoming a comic book retailer I was a stock broker, and then gave up that stress to own my own house cleaning business. A fair chunk of that goes to the distributor, and there's only one distributor left, Diamond comics. A non profit health insurance actuary could answer many questions regarding the whole issue. Discuss percentages: 60% of the store merchandised with new comic books @ 50% profit margin, 10% back issue comic books @ 80% profit margin, 10% action figures @ 25% profit margin and 20% graphic novels @ 50% profit margin—for example. I would consider all of these people storytellers in one way or another. 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Carl Forrest is the cofounder of DataSetGo. If you are your only employee at first, do the same thing but just for yourself, and then discuss when you might hire employees down the road. Next time you walk into a thrift store, just imagine spending 10 minutes at the book section… and walking out having made $50, $100, $600, or even more depending on if you want to go high volume, low margins (which basically means a low profit margin for each book, but getting a LOT of books … It depends upon where you are located. In my earlier columns, I explained what I think are the basics of business ownership: taking some basic business/entrepreneurship classes, understanding ethical business practices, and understanding the personal and financial demands. Who will get them? But that 45% profit margin is why they can afford to give regular customers discounts of up to 20%, depending. Once I liquidated my massive inventory of 3,200 comic books, I had done over $17,000 in sales with a final profit of $8,986 to fund my startup — and a great story. 0 1429 Like 0 people like this Pre-Tax Profit % 0 2749 Like 0 people like this Gross Margin % Inventory Productivity. If they overestimate, that's money down the drain. You can learn from my experiences and mistakes, so that if you should decide to do this for yourself, you can get off to a strong start. So if I'm going to go the specialized niche-within-a-niche strategy, maybe the store should have something else "comics adjacent" to help with income, something to bring in potential customers who are apt to like comics but just don't know it yet. Understanding profit is simple; it’s the pure income generated after all expenses. “A comic book store runs on a pretty slim profit margin already,” says Adair. Even if you have someone else do your business plan, this is a good idea. Will you offer any kind of subscription or holding services? If the store discounts the book during a 20% off promotion they have to sell two copies to make that same $4 profit. Running a comic shop has always been a business with a low profit margin, done more out of love than to get rich. But don’t just discuss it with words, be prepared to have some graphs or charts showing at least five years of sales for comics and graphic novels and any other items you are considering selling in your store. Riverby Books D.C., a used store on Capitol Hill, closed last year after owner Steve Cymrot was hit by a truck and killed. I think it depends on whether the book store owns or rents the building they are in to determine their profit margin, but I would say they get a minimum of $1 per comic book at that price. I haven't heard any reports from insurance actuaries. 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