As someone who opened a similar business I thought that the ratios that were listed as rules of thumb were failry on target with my experience, but the statemen

As someone who opened a similar business I thought that the ratios that were listed as rules of thumb were failry on target with my experience, but the statement "If you haven't hit the latter mark in a month, close" was crazy. 1.) Your potential customers are creatures of habit and it takes time to change their traffic patterns. Your grand opening is your biggest splash and a key time to get attention, but getting return customers is a struggle to reshape their patterns. 2.) A new business should ideally be properly capitalized to slug out way more than a month. Not only does it take time to get people in the door but it takes you and your staff more than a month to adjust to the unexpected, get your act together, and polish your product. If your new business is going to be your only stream of income you need capital available before going in to stretch more than a month. This piece of planning is every bit as important as the name on your shingle. Opening a new and not yet profitable business does suck up your whole life, but if you succeed that doesn't have to last forever. Its after this initial "slugging it out" time period that you can reclaim your life.