A key element in any start-up is the business plan. The business plan is your road map to success. Without a map you can get lost. Review a list of publications about business plans Business Plans here.

Automatic Merchandising magazine has an excellent article on business plans.

Due to the comparatively low initial captial requirements for starting a vending business the vending industry has a tremendous amount of business opportunities hawking the easiest money to be made in the world. Most opportunities, routes, businesses are geared at a sales price of five thousand to thirty thousand dollars. These opportunities are offered daily in just about every local newspaper. Open the ads some day and call them up. Take their information and plug it into some of the Vendline RouteMaster Tools.

Vendline offers links to sites which can help you in evaluating a business opportunity, understanding some of the various areas of vending where scams can and do exist, and offer tools for an analysis of the claims made by some of the companies which are selling businesses, and or routes.

Here is a starting list of links to review:

Government Agencies:

Service Corps of Retired Executives
US Chamber Of Commerce
Small Business Institute
Federal Trade Commission
Small Business Administration
Trade and Development Agency
National Fraud Information Center
U.S. Department of Commerce
U.S. Business Advisor

U.S. Census Bureau
U.S. Postal Service
Bureau of Labor Statistics
U.S. Department of Commerce

General Business:

Business Today
National Association For The Self-Employed
National Home Office Association
U.S.A. Home Based Business
America Business Women's Association
National Association Of Women Business Owners
National Federation of Independant Businesse
Small Business Development & International Trade Center
World Trade Center
SmallBizNet
Business@home
MIT Enterprise Forum
California Trade and Commerce Agency

Useful Links:

Easy Money? Report On Vending

Periodicals:

US Nation's Business
Consumer World
Automatic Merchandiser
Home Office Computing

In addition:

Some generalizations:

• Just about anyone who is trying to sell you a route is not looking out for your self interest.
• Just about anyone who is trying to sell you a route of some sort has something to hide.

Your position is that you have to discover that you cannot believe what a sales person says. One exception is that of price only after it is on an invoice in your hand.

Secondly, you have to discover the implicit costs of running a business. All operating costs which any business must face must be discovered and documented.

• What price can I charge in the market.
• How much will my explicit and implicts costs, both fixed and variable be.
• How different business senarios using competition, price, and cost data can ultimately affect your economic staying power. (The exercise alone will allow you to plan for planned changes in your business envirionment.)

Vendline's advice: NEVER buy a vending route. Always start your own route with the help of another vendor, or, with a sales rep from a reputable company.

More Vendline advice: NEVER use a locator. The only way to keep a location is with a personal relationship. You have to control that relationship from the very beginning. What a locator states in his sales pitch may not be feasible, prudent, or business wise. YOU, a partner, employee, someone with a vested interest in the success of the business must initiate the relationship NOT an outside party or agency. Would you use a locator to find a spouse?

You may have been to some of the bulletin boards out there and noticed the banter between the users many of which are professional ( their term not ours) locators. Note the quality, the tone, and subject matter of some of the conversations and you will get a good idea of what that element of the Vending industry is comprised of. The point here is that there is a tremendous amount of sleaze in vending and you will do well to steer clear of it by keeping to yourself and keeping all tasks in house and not outsourcing the most critical element of your success.

Take any and all claims for sales with a grain of salt. All sales figures are inflated, all costs are underestimated and most costs are not mentioned at all.

It is not a matter of "if" you will get ripped off but "how badly" you will get ripped off before you head is out of the clouds.

Remember: NEVER EVER approach, inquire, telephone, email or otherwise contact ANY Vending BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY.

As this is written we can imagine the indignation of the "professional locators" and the "honest" business opportunity perveyors. "We have a vested interest in the success of our clients" you may hear. "We help them succeed by offering our knowledge" they cry. See how many will answer the phones after the sale when their callerID states you are on the line about a problem, or, maybe even a refund.

The basis of my vending knowledge is running a single full line route for 12 years. The basis of my business knowledge derives from that experience, as well as, formal business training, in both a corporate and educational setting.