Howard Millard recently opened a retail store specializing in hiking equipment and accessories. He was quite comfortable making decisions about the kinds of equipment he would stock in the store$$s inventory, the d$$cor of the retail space and his marketing strategy.

An avid hiker since he was in his early teenage years and a competitive athlete, Howard knew the type of equipment that would be best to his target audience, and he knew that he needed to round out his merchandise mix with hats, shoes, energy drinks, snacks and other accessories. He was however, not certain about how to source the financing for this business venture. In speaking to a colleague he admitted that he personally did not possess the required financing to start such a business.

To that end, he was cognizant of the fact that a sound business plan was necessary before approaching any potential lending institution or investor. This plan would provide details on the amount of money required and how he intends to utilize the funds. In preparing his plan he researched the possible fixed expenses which included utilities, property rental and his personal salary to afford his daily living expenses. Further to these, he estimated how much it cost to renovate the store to suit his needs with items such as shelving, storage racks, cash registers, signs and cold storage for the energy drinks.

To make sure that he did not underestimate these costs, Howard assumed that he would pay retail prices for everything. He included the salary for a part$-$time employee and advertising costs and calculated an annual cost of $$60,400\mathrm{.}00.$ Given that the plans for the store$$s fixtures are in place, Howard needed to stock it with inventory. Adding in the costs of accessories brought the total cost estimate to $$70,500.$

Howard estimated that his monthly operating expenses would be $$8,000\mathrm{.}00,$ but his business plan included strategies for reducing them by generating publicity for the new store and promoting it at sporting events and the local gyms. The business plan created by Howard called for raising enough start$-$up capital for his hiking equipment and accessories store to survive without any revenue at all. He managed to come up with $10\%$ of the $$82,000$ start$-$up cost he estimates he will need to open the store.

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