How a Men’s Clothing Store Increased Profit
By 600% …

You can only cut your expenses so far before you have to start growing to make a profit.
- Brad Sugars –

The Business
Name: The Club Shoppe, New South Wales, Australia
Director/Owner: Tim and Natasha Roberts
Business Sector: Apparel and Fashion

The Challenge
When Tim and Natasha Roberts bought their business, they set themselves a few goals that they thought were reasonable.

First, they wanted to make the business profitable, and to increase turnover by 50% and profit by 70%. To put this in perspective, they thought that if they could make a total profit of $150,000, they’d be more than happy.

They also wanted to pay $150,000 off their business loan and to be in a position to hire a new team member.

Of course, they also set themselves some personal goals such as being able to spend more time with the family, to earn enough to landscape the backyard, and to get focus and direction back into their lives.

So how did they feel on purchasing the business?

Instead of feeling elated, they felt lost, and instead of feeling self-satisfied, they felt trapped – hardly what they expected on achieving their dream of owning their own business.

To make matters worse, the business had a severe cashflow problem when they bought it. It had too much inventory tied up. Profitability was low and discounting normal.

Like many, they decided to keep the original owner on in an effort to make a smooth transition, and they felt reluctant to try anything new. There was no loyalty program in place and no real communication with clients. It became blatantly obvious that their best marketing efforts had not worked.

It was not a fun place to be, and the atmosphere could be described as dull, at best. They spent their days just waiting for clients to walk in.

Now that you have a basic understanding of the situation facing Tim and Natasha, let’s hear the details from Tim.
This will give you a very good understanding of what he went through in facing-up to the challenges that lay before them.

It will also give you an idea of how important it is to take responsibility for your situation, in being able to recognize the signs and to take positive steps to put things back on track, so you can meet your longer-term goals.