Q: This includes electronics, gems, and jewelry, as these are the most pledged items at pawn shops. One of the best ways is to go online to an auction site like eBay and study what people pay for various goods. This will give you a good idea of the general retail value of items at a certain moment in time.  Bear in mind that over the course of time, trends change, so you'll need to remain up to date with current retail values in order to assess correctly. You can also visit other pawn shops in your area to see how they are pricing items. Apply for an internship or a job at a local pawn shop. This will allow you to learn how professionals assess goods, as well as how they determine what percentage of the assessed value to pay in the event a customer wants to sell an item. This is a strategic plan that will guide you in achieving your goals for the business. You can find more details about how to write a plan  here, but you will want to include:  Your business concept: The focus here is on describing your business and the market for your products and services. Market research: Market research is critical, as it describes the nature of the market you are entering into. Identify who your major competitors are, who your target market is, and the preferences and needs of your target market. A marketing plan: This should describe how you plan on addressing the needs of your market, how you will communicate with customers, and how you will advertise your shop. An operations plan: This will describe your operations on a day to day basis. It would include, for example, how you will make loans, how you will acquire items to sell, how you will price items and what interest rate you will charge for loans. A financial plan: This would outline how you will finance your business, what your expected costs are, and projections as to your revenue. Using your financial plan   determine your projected annual expenses and gross income. You'll need to have enough capital to cover both your operating expenses and your customer loans. If you do not, you will need to take out a loan. Operating expenses include licenses, permits, insurance, a location, security system, contracts, employees' salaries, display cases, accounting software and repair costs of goods you want to resell.
A: Learn how to assess the value of goods. Create a business plan. Estimate how much start-up capital you'll need.

Q: Developing a healthy identity is essential to changing your life for the better. Who are you?  Who do you want to be in the world?  How do you see yourself?  How do you think others see you?  Exploring and changing how you view yourself and how you feel others see you is an extremely important factor. This can lead to real world change in behavior and give you the motivation to continue the strive to change your life for the better. To learn more about yourself, take the Briggs, Meyers, & Jung personality test, which is a short questionnaire that can give you insight into general components of your personality. The test uses general personality types and explains where you fall within them. Use your results to explore what feels true about you. This will help you with understanding some basic functioning of your personality, which can help you change your life for the better. Self awareness and understanding is the leaping off point in making positive change in your life. This test is freely available online. Using your changes journal, write down attributes about yourself that you admire. Are you kind?  Do you make people laugh?  Remembering that intelligence comes in many forms and not just book smarts or credentials, do you feel intelligent? Are you curious? Start with the positive aspects of who you are and use your journal to create a robust list of things you truly like about who you are.  Don't restrict yourself!  Write freely about anything large or small that you like about yourself.  Do you like your hair?  Your fingers? Do you like your voice or the way you speak?  Do you like your sense of style?  You are a whole human comprised of many parts that you perceive about yourself. Surprise yourself with how complex you really are and dig deep to reveal the many facets of yourself that you truly admire.  Creating positive change in your life means finding the person you really are and honoring that person. Now that you have a long list of the things you like, make a list of things about your personality that you want to develop. Remember, change and development is something you strive for and won't happen overnight. Just because you write about how you hate losing your temper in a journal does not mean you will wake up tomorrow without a temper.  Writing it down helps with self awareness. You can't change or develop what you aren't aware of.  Don't be too hard on yourself as you journal.  Avoid using black and white or extreme statements like, “I'm stupid” or “I never do anything right”.  Keep your focus on being a human who is not perfect and makes mistakes.  Try to think about personality traits, such as being less shy, having more control over your temper, being more organized, or becoming a better listener. Everyone is flawed, and part of the strive to make changes for a better life is looking at yourself and your personality as a work in progress. After you know what you want to change, set small, achievable goals that will help you change small parts of your personality.  Focus on one attribute at a time.  For example, tell yourself that you are going to use active listening in at least one conversation today.  Write about ways that you can actively listen in your everyday interactions and implement them.  At the end of the day,  journal about your experience and how well you did.  Where there times you were successful?  Where there events where you did not listen as well as you could?  Journal about how it feels to start changing facets of your personality. Start slow because you don't want to overwhelm yourself by trying to change all at once or expecting perfection. Stay positive that it will happen. The more proactive you feel about creating a more grounded, fulfilled self, the more motivated you will be to continue to change your life for the better. Take a moment everyday to be grateful for exactly as you are.  Part of changing your life for the better is getting to know yourself, embracing your strengths and flaws, and feeling comfortable in your skin.  Acceptance of yourself can help you feel confident about yourself, your life, and the changes you want to make. If you are having trouble changing the way you think about yourself, find someone who can be there for you emotionally. This may be a family member, a friend, or a coworker you trust. Educate yourself about ways to change negative thoughts about yourself. If you feel as though you could benefit from counseling, find a counselor that you feel comfortable with. If you feel overwhelmed by becoming more aware of yourself, your choices, and your emotions, you may want to seek out a therapist. Changing your life on a meaningful level is a challenging journey, and being strong also means knowing when you can benefit from guidance and help.
A:
Assess your self identity. Take the Briggs, Meyers, & Jung personality test. Focus on what you admire about yourself. Decide what you want to develop. Set small, achievable goals. Be grateful for who you are. Seek emotional support.