What is a Pre Opening Budget?
A pre opening budget is a budget that's created before a business opens. It includes all of the costs you expect to incur as you get ready to open your doors, including marketing and advertising, OS&E, furniture and décor, insurance and permits, training and education for staff members, and any other expenses related to getting your doors open. Pre-opening budgets are often used by businesses that are just starting out, but they can also be helpful if you're planning on changing things up or expanding in the future.
Why are pre opening budgets important?
Pre-opening budgets are important because they help ensure that your business is profitable, which helps you run your business for the long term. In order to achieve profitability, you need to make sure that you have enough money coming in to cover all of your expenses (including payroll). If your pre opening budget is accurate, then it will help guide you as you make decisions about how much inventory to buy and what type of equipment you need to purchase.
How do you know what to include in your pre opening budget?
The pre opening budget is the plan for your business's initial expenses. It's a list of everything you'll need to open your doors and start earning revenue, from rent to equipment purchases. The tricky part about pre opening budgets is that you don't know exactly what you'll need until after you've opened. That doesn't mean you can't make an educated guess as to what kinds of expenses will be coming down the pipeline in the next few months, though! You'll want to rank how important each item on your pre opening budget is and determine how much money can be allotted for each one. For example, if you're planning on buying a new computer system for inventory management, it's going to be more important than buying a new pair of shoes or ordering some new t-shirts. That's why we suggest ranking each item on your pre opening budget according to its importance (1 being most important). Then when it comes time to start spending money, you can make sure that the most important items get funded first!
