Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA
A Business Consultant's Perspective
Is Your Orlando Business Idea Viable?
Orlando drew a record 76.7 million visitors in 2025, and retail space here rents for about $31 a square foot. Customers are not your problem. Rent is.
Your Orlando business idea is viable when three numbers agree: startup cost plus runway, cost per sale, and break-even sales per day. Most owners never run them. Dr. Paul, Orlando business consultant, has run them with 1,000+ owners, and this page runs all three on a 1,500 square foot Orlando space at today's rent. The trade is already yours. The math behind it is where Dr. Paul helps, and you leave able to run it yourself.
Want Dr. Paul to run yours? Call or text (321) 948-9588.
Last Updated: 10/29/2026 · Written by Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA, Business Consultant
What Viable Means
Viable Is a Number, Not a Feeling
Every owner thinks the idea is good. That is why they are starting it. Viable means something narrower: the idea can cover its own costs, pay you, and still be standing in month seven. Three numbers decide that.
Startup Cost Plus Runway
Everything it takes to open, plus six months of fixed costs with no customers. The second half is the part everyone leaves out.
Cost Per Sale
What one haircut, one brake job, or one plate costs you in materials, time, and your own labor at a real wage. If you leave yourself out, the number lies.
Break-Even Sales
Fixed costs for the month divided by what one sale leaves after its own costs. That is how many sales you need before you make a dollar.
If number three is more than your location, your hours, and your market can deliver, the idea is not viable as planned. That is not the end. It means the price is wrong, the costs are wrong, or the space is wrong, and you found out before you signed anything. That is exactly what a business consultant in Orlando is for, and it is the first test for any Orlando business idea.
Ready for Help?
Four Ways to Work With Dr. Paul
01 · Start Here
Business Consulting
Two or three hours on your real numbers. You leave with the three figures, a yes or a not-yet, and what has to change.
Consulting and prices →02
Business Plan Writing
The idea passed. Now the bank or the landlord wants it in writing. Dr. Paul writes the plan and the five-year financials in seven days or less.
Plan writing and prices →03
Fractional CFO/COO
Already open in Orlando and not sure the numbers work? Dr. Paul reads them with you every month, part time, so you can run the shop.
Fractional CFO and COO →04
Small Business Education
Free guides on testing an idea, market research, and planning for owners who learned the trade first. Prefer to write your own plan? See the templates.
Free guides →The Orlando Reality
Why the Same Idea Works in One Orlando Corner and Fails in Another
Orlando has the customers. What it does not have is cheap space to reach them from. Rent is the fixed cost that turns a good idea into a bad business, and in this market it is tight.
Sources: Matthews Orlando Retail Market Report, Q1 2026 (CoStar data); U.S. Census Bureau estimates reported by the Florida Phoenix, March 2026.
Read those three together. Under 4 percent vacancy means the space you want has two other people looking at it, so the rent is what it is. And $31 a square foot is the base. Add property taxes, insurance, and common area charges, which can add a sizable share on top of base rent, and your real occupancy cost on a modest space can run well over $4,500 a month before a single customer walks in. Ask the landlord for the exact figure in writing.
That is the number most new Orlando owners meet for the first time at the lease signing. Dr. Paul's job is to make sure you meet it on paper, two months earlier, when it costs nothing to walk away.
Show the Math
The Viability Test on a 1,500 Square Foot Orlando Space
A made-up owner, real Orlando rent. Say you want to open a small service shop, a nail studio, a dog groomer, a quick-service counter, in 1,500 square feet. Average ticket $60. Here is the test, step by step.
What it costs to be open with zero customers
| Base rent: 1,500 sq ft x $31 per sq ft, divided by 12 months | $3,875 |
| Taxes, insurance, common area charges, assumed at 30 percent of base | $1,163 |
| Utilities, phone, internet, software | $650 |
| Business insurance and licenses, monthly average | $250 |
| One part-time employee, 25 hours a week at $16 plus payroll cost | $1,900 |
| Owner's draw, the minimum you need to live on | $4,000 |
| Loan payment on $60,000 of build-out and equipment, 7 years | $900 |
| Total fixed costs per month | $12,738 |
| Average ticket | $60 |
| Less supplies and product used per ticket (about 15 percent) | $9 |
| Less card processing at 3 percent | $2 |
| Contribution per sale | $49 |
| Fixed costs $12,738 divided by $49 per sale | 260 sales per month |
| Open 26 days a month | 10 sales per day |
| Break-even sales per day, every day, just to get to zero | 10 |
Ten paying customers a day, at $60 each, before you make a dollar of profit beyond the $4,000 you paid yourself. Can your location, your hours, and your marketing deliver ten a day in month one? In month three? If the honest answer is "probably by month six," then Step 1 just grew: you need six months of that $12,738 gap funded before you open, which is $40,000 to $75,000 of runway on top of the build-out.
That is the whole test. Change the ticket to $85 and break-even drops to about 7 a day. Cut the space to 1,000 square feet and it drops again. Skip the employee for the first ninety days and it drops a third time. Viable is not yes or no. It is which version of the idea works.
From a Business Consultant's Chair
Dr. Paul's Insight: The Mistake Is Almost Never the Idea
After 1,000+ owners, Dr. Paul can count on one hand the ideas that were truly bad. Orlando is not short on demand for good mechanics, good food, good childcare, or good dentists. What kills new businesses here is the gap between a good idea and a viable version of it, and that gap is almost always rent, runway, or price.
The pattern he sees most: an owner who is excellent at the work signs the lease first because the space is perfect, then builds the numbers backward to justify it. The honest version runs the numbers first and lets them pick the space. Same owner, same idea, same city. One of them is still open in year three.
Here is the test he gives every owner who calls: if you cannot tell him your break-even in sales per day, you are not ready to sign anything. Not because the idea is bad. Because you do not know yet. Two hours fixes that. Organize-Plan-Grow™ starts there.
Orlando Only
Two Orlando Facts That Can Change Your Break-Even
Rent is one fixed cost. Here are two more things an Orlando business idea has to survive before it is viable.
Sources: Visit Orlando, 2025 visitation release, May 2026; City of Orlando, Get a Business Tax Receipt and Get a Certificate of Use.
Who are your ten customers a day? Tourists or residents. Decide before you run break-even. A tourist-driven idea rides a market that can swing fast: total visits hit a record in 2025 while Canadian visits fell by more than 13 percent. A resident-driven idea may grow slower but steadier. Price it, staff it, and pick the space for the customer you actually expect.
Can you legally open at that address? The city says every business inside city limits needs a City of Orlando business tax receipt before it opens, most also need a Certificate of Use that confirms the zoning allows your business there, and you need an Orange County receipt too. Run the city's zoning check before you sign. A perfect space in the wrong zoning district is not viable at any rent.
Before You Sign Anything
Five Questions to Answer Before You Open in Orlando
If you can answer all five with a number, the idea is probably viable. If two or more are a shrug, call before you sign.
- What is my full occupancy cost, not just base rent?
Ask the landlord for the triple-net or CAM figure in writing. Then add it to the base. That is your real rent.
- What does one sale cost me, with my own time counted at a real wage?
If you would pay someone $22 an hour to do what you do, your time costs $22 an hour. Price it in.
- How many sales a day is break-even, and is that realistic in month one?
Run the math above on your numbers. Then ask three owners in similar Orlando shops what their first ninety days looked like.
- How many months of fixed costs can I fund with no customers?
Six is the target. Three is the floor. Fewer than three and the idea is not viable yet, no matter how good it is.
- What would make a lender say yes?
Even if you are not borrowing, write the idea up the way a lender wants to see it. If it does not survive that, it will not survive Orlando.
Learn the Numbers
Break-Even, Cost Per Sale, and Cash, Taught Through Stories
Dr. Paul's Fabled Forest Business School Series · Book 2
Accounting and Finance for Small Businesses
The three numbers on this page each get their own chapter: cost of goods sold, break-even analysis, and cash flow, taught through one Fabled Forest owner at a time, with the arithmetic shown and a one-page worksheet to run on your own idea. Written for owners who would rather be doing the work than reading about money.
Get Book 2 on Amazon →Watch Dr. Paul Walk Through It
Short lessons from Dr. Paul's YouTube channel that go with this page.
MBA Business Plan Writer for Orlando, FL
Startup opportunities and business plan advice from Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA, for owners in Orlando, FL. (5:29)
Business Opportunity Tip # 1 for Orlando, FL.: Handcrafted Furniture is back with a Vengeance!
A quick business plan tip from Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA, for small business owners in Orlando, FL. (5:59)
FAQ
Viability Questions Orlando Owners Ask
How do I know if my business idea is viable?
How much does it cost to rent a small retail space in Orlando?
What is a break-even point and why does it matter for a new business?
Can Dr. Paul test my idea before I spend anything?
Know your break-even before you know your landlord.
Keep Going
More for Orlando and Central Florida Owners
Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA
Business Consultant, Author & Educator | 14+ Years | 1,000+ Clients Served
Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA is a business consultant, author, and educator, and the founder of Quality Business Plan. He works with Orlando and Central Florida owners on business planning, financial modeling, fractional CFO services, and the everyday problems of businesses that depend too much on their owners. He is the creator of Dr. Paul's Organize-Plan-Grow™ Strategy, author of numerous published books on Amazon including Dr. Paul's Fabled Forest Business School Series, and publisher of over 1,000 business-focused videos on YouTube. He has taught as an adjunct college instructor and teaches in Florida public schools.
This page is for general educational purposes only. It is not legal, financial, tax, accounting, or other professional advice. The worked example uses an illustrative business with rounded figures; rent and market data are cited to their sources and change over time. For decisions about your own business, consult a qualified professional.