Book excerpt: Setting up a shop, retail unit or market stall is one of the most accessible small business start-up options - it needs no specific training, no compulsory qualifications and no large capital outlay. Give your business a head start by following the advice in this book to make sure your business is built on solid foundations. It will tell you: how to research your business idea to ensure it will be a success; what you need to do to turn your idea into reality; and, how to manage yourself, your stock and your money to power ahead through good times and bad. No other book divulges this sort of insider knowledge of the retail trade. Author Val Clarke has over ten years' experience of starting up shops, running and selling them as well as importing and wholesaling. She has traded in a wide variety of goods, from clothing to furniture. Her latest venture, a mainstream gift and jewellery shop, opened in September 2007. This business is thriving, proving that her methods are successful and that times of economic downturn are also times of opportunity for the shrewd shopkeeper. 'When I opened my first shop I wished there was a book to help me. I learnt by trial and error, from my own mistakes and those of others. With this book you'll speed up the learning process and start to make a profit from day one'!