🐶 Negotiate your lease like you'd train your dog

A few weeks ago, we talked about why you shouldn't be afraid of a ten-year lease term, but we know that many new retailers are most comfortable starting with a five-year term (or even shorter).

If you determine that a shorter lease term is best for your business, here are two tips to keep in mind:

1. Ask for multiple renewal terms of at least three to five years a piece. If things are going well, you do not want to find yourself homeless with a growing business.

2. Negotiate your lease like you're committing to it for ten years or more. You may be tempted to think that you don't need to think long term in a short term deal...

BUT leases are like dogs, and just as you house train a puppy so that they don't pee on your bed when they're big, you want to lock down the "rules" of your lease as early as possible.

Here's the critical point -- if you elect to renew your short term lease for another five or so years, in most cases, ALL the lease terms that you negotiated in your initial short term lease are going to carry right over into your renewal period. So even if you didn't care about things like Radius Restrictions or Assignment Clauses when you were just starting out, you'll definitely care about them in your fifth, eighth, or twelfth year of business.

Cleaning puppy pee off the floor isn't so bad, but it's not cute anymore when you've got a big old dog, so think long term even when it doesn't seem like a big deal in the beginning.