After developing their business model and forecasting expenses, many aspiring entrepreneurs are suffering from sticker shock. Instead, she partnered with her friend Natalie Sawyer, a Lipscomb University alumna, to brainstorm about ways to meet shared goals by bootstrapping. Inventory is the final major cost for their business.

When launching a new business, relying too heavily on the details of your business plan can actually lead to failure. Entrepreneurs need to spend much less time at their computer imagining their new business and more time out engaging with real, live customers. Use real customers to test the assumptions of your business model.