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About Anne-Marie Moore
Expertise
I have started, managed and sold several businesses. This includes retail outlets in strip malls and starting a home-based business. My specialty is starting and running a residential cleaning business to compete with the franchises. I am an expert in cleaning procedures, cleaning products, hiring and managing employees, subcontracting and expanding a business. I can address questions related to: offline and online marketing, customer relations, how to estimate house cleaning costs, employee hiring and management, subcontracting, office procedures, equipment and supplies, data management, and scheduling.
Experience
I hired and used professional cleaning services for over 15 years. During this time I became aware of the issues they seemed to be unaware of to keep their clients happy. I successfully built a house cleaning business to compete with the franchise services. I eventually sold this business at a nice profit after managing all aspects of the business to run at top efficiency. I also have a background in Human Resources and software.
Education/Credentials
Masters in Business and Human Resources
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You are here: Experts > Business > Small Business: Canada > Starting a Small Business > Retail or service
Expert: Anne-Marie Moore - 11/2/2009
Question
Could you tell, in general, what type of business is more profitable
with less operation expenses, retail or services, exmp: shoe store or SPA.
Thank you
Answer
Hi Valentina!
I have owned and operated a retail store and service businesses. This is a very general question that I will try to answer as simply as possible as it pertains to starting a small business.
Retail Store
You are responsible for the store lease for a set period of time, whether your business is successful or not. You are also in debt for the store inventory, until it is sold. Your success is dependent on store location, open/closure of streets due to city maintenance, street traffic due to condition of parking lot (ex: flooding during rains), success or failure of surrounding stores (ex: people don't want to location if surrounding stores are not a draw).
Service Business
You can provide services whether you have a business location or run the business from you home. Your success/failure is based on the service you provide therefore, you can always improve your service to meet customer demands. The only inventory you carry is that which is used during the service of your customers and can be controlled by the number of appointments you schedule.
After owning both types of businesses, my personal preference is to provide a service that is always in demand. Even if the demand goes down, I can always modify the services to adjust for customer need and what they are willing to pay. A service business is much easier to start with less starting investment.
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