Starting or franchising a convenience store is a great way to get your feet wet in owning your own business. These stores allow patrons to purchase food, drinks, medicine and other items quickly, without a long trip to a grocery store. One of the advantages of owning one of these stores is the high margins placed on the products. After all, convenience has a price. One good way to find out how well your store is doing financially is to create a balance sheet. This is one of the best ways to get an overall snapshot of your business.

Gather all of the paperwork relating to the finances of your store. You'll need a record of all accounts, including those owed to vendors for products purchased as well as money owed to the store by customers or credit card processors. You will also want to find copies of any lease agreements, bank statements and cash on hand.

Create your balance sheet. For a small business like a convenience store, making a balance sheet from scratch is simple. Using either a spreadsheet program or a simple paper and pencil, create two columns. Label one "Assets" and the other "Liabilities."

Determine your assets. In the "Assets" column, write down the value of everything the business owns, line by line. This includes everything from the cash sitting in the cash register to the goods sitting on the shelves waiting to be sold. Also include the fixtures, shelving, cash register and equipment. If you own the store, you can include that value too, but don't include it if you are leasing or renting. Finally, add in any accounts receivable, including money owed to the store by customers or credit card processors.

Figure out your liabilities. In the liabilities column, write down the value of any money that the store owes. This includes money owed to vendors, income and sales tax, employee payroll and long-term debts like mortgage or money owed on equipment purchases.

Subtract the value of the total liabilities from the value of total assets. The number left over represents the owner's equity. This is how much your convenience store is worth. If this value is negative, the store is in trouble, and efforts should be made to cut expenses and increase sales and profits.