Look beyond your dodgy Etsy account and your half-baked Tumblr profile if you want to be a true entrepreneur. Discard your failed attempt at a business blog and let your WordPress account rest in peace.

When the internet isn’t the place for your business, you’ve still got one more option available to you – reality.

Real World Businesses

The real world, for those of you who don’t know, is where all business used to happen. People got rich by running ‘shops’ (ask your grandparents), where transactions were made via conversations between staff and customers (not an email in sight).

While internet giants like Amazon have stamped on many high street stores like they were a bug on the sole of their shoe, many savvy entrepreneurs are still finding success on the in physical locations.

And these aren’t outliers, either. Depending on what you do, your services will translate more effectively than others. Discount stores, cafes and clothing stores, for instance, are all still riding high in city centres across the UK.

But that doesn’t make opening a shop a low risk gambit. With companies shutting at a rapid rate – some sources estimate a high street store shuts every second – you’ll need to be a crafty entrepreneur if you don’t want to end up like your Etsy store.

So what do you need to know before you open your doors?

Find The Right Provider

Sleepwalking into a property purchase is no way to begin a business venture. You’ll need the most effective consultants when it comes to purchasing a commercial property, one with a particular wealth of knowledge in the area.

The right company will be able to lead you to your ideal premises, considering your core demographic and your budgets. Find the right one and you’ll be off to a flying start.

Court The Right Customers

What kind of customers do you want flooding through your doors? Serial browsers, impulse buyers or people who’ll keep coming back? In an ideal world, you’d always have customers who’ll return to you like a moth to a lightbulb. But in reality, you’ll have to treat everyone as politely as possible.

Even someone who doesn’t make a purchase there and then might return, or else they could refer a friend to your premises.

Customer service can be a difficult façade to maintain – after all, some people really do take the biscuit – but with a smiling presence you’ll either kill them with kindness or leave them impressed with your commitment to effective service.