"I can't afford a computer for my store".  That's a comment I hear all too often from new store owners.  While the costs of opening a new store can be sizable, I believe that not including money in your budget will actually COST you money in both the short and long-term.  Let's take a quick look at a cost-benefit analysis of automating your store and determine when the computer will have paid for itself.  We'll make the assumption that your time is worth $20 per hour (how much is it worth to your family?!).

Cost of computerization

Benefits of computerization

If we assume your shop is open six days a week, the time spent would be 18 hours per week (times $20 per hour) or $360 per week.  Dividing our computerization cost of $2,595 by $360 gives us a payback period of about 7 weeks, or less than two months!!   Now some of you are undoubtedly questioning my figures (as this tends to be somewhat subjective) so please, use your own numbers and apply the same logic.  I think you'll find, if you believe your time is worth anything, that computerizing your store will pay for itself quicker than you think.  This is especially true if you've hired an employee to perform those tasks.