If you’re not a little nervous about signing a lease, you’re not thinking hard enough. 


Truly – it should cause you some anxiety to make a multi-year, legally-enforceable commitment since you literally have no idea what the future holds. Unless you’re a regular at the high-rollers table in Vegas, making a bet valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars (or more) is pretty terrifying. And even indie retailers who have signed leases many times over still get nervous. 

 Rafael Nadal Waiting GIF by Australian Open

So how are you supposed to get comfortable with signing a lease if the uncertainty of the future looms so large?

 

✨ Your business plan is how. (Did you guess I was going to say that?!)

 

As we’ve discussed before, at Pedal we literally won’t take clients out to tour spaces until they’ve completed their business plans, including their financial projections and a capital budget. Similarly, when we’re helping an existing business renew their lease, relocate, or expand in place, the very first thing we do is create a capital budget and new projections.

 

Is this because we love spreadsheets or enjoy making people pump the brakes? No. We do, in fact, love spreadsheets, but all this work is not for us…it’s for our clients. Because there absolutely will come a time when they say to us, “guhhhhl, I’m really feeling nervous about all this. It’s such a big commitment.” 

 

And this is the exact moment when I whip out the “Ferris Wheel of Terror” – a drawing that I commissioned from my daughter when she was in first grade. As a good mom, I tacked it up to my bulletin board, but back when I asked for it years ago, I wasn’t expecting that I would pull it down and show it to literally every client at some point during their lease negotiations. 

 

Behold…

As you can see, the little person at the top of the ferris wheel is the retailer. As she rides, she experiences a cycle of very real emotions. First is “this looks scary,” which rapidly turns into full-meltdown “I’m falling!” But as she continues to ride, she thinks, “but my math is right?!” which then turns into, “I can do this!”...and then the cycle starts again. Round and round she goes.

 

In this illustration, the structure of the ferris wheel – the steel that holds the whole thing up – is the business plan. There are many, many moments in the leasing process that cause you to say, “this looks scary!” and “I’m falling!” But when we look back at the business plan, the careful thought and planning is what assuages the anxiety and turns it back into confidence and excitement. 

 

And like the ferris wheel, the experience of signing a lease is cyclical. Some people experience the “fall” only once or twice, while others ride the wheel multiple times per day (seriously.) But in both cases and for everyone in between, it’s the business plan that holds everything together and allows us to get to a signed lease.

 

Honestly, when you become a retailer (or if you’re already one), you never really get off the ferris wheel. Owning your own business – especially a retail business – is a thrill ride. The highs are high, and the lows are low. The best we can do is to make thoughtful plans, hang on tight, and try to enjoy the ride.