how to start a business?

[theicecreamdan]

I want to open a bar, how do I convince people to give me money to do it?

[soon2bs13]

come up w/ a good business plan/ marketing plan... have a good accountant..

[Realchaos1]

guns seem to work, maybe a bomb made of nitrious

:D haha but on a serious note, Business Proposels, education and good credit.

[mrmephistopheles]

www.sba.gov

research & save money.

Write mission plan, purchase business license. Scout for possible locations/pre-established businesses.

Make sure your credit is pretty decent.

Get SBA loan.

[TheWolf]

Being that I've already opened my own business I'd say. A bar is a stupid place for money. First things first. See if your county even sells liquor licenses. Some counties do a lottery system where you have to buy a 4k ticket to have the chance of buying a 50k license. some people are selling licenses from closed down bars. Make sure they can transfer to your side of town. No sense trying to open a bar without alcohol. SBA loans are cheap and people says you should get one. An SBA loan will not cover the cost that you need. Last I checked you can get upto 150k from one. If you can't pitch this idea at bank of america then you don't have enough money down. After running some small numbers you would need about $50k of your own money+ a license and atleast if not more and about 200k in financing for a small bar.

[gotta240]

Sup icecream man.

I've also contemplated opening a bar here in SD. TO the guy above, how the hell do you spend 250k. on a bar? I'm not talking shit, just curious.

I figure 50 grand, plus the licence should be fine.

Basically, you rent a hole in the wall. You throw in a pool table, dart boards, etc. and buy alcohol/frigdes.

[Frosty_spl]

Sup icecream man.

I've also contemplated opening a bar here in SD. TO the guy above, how the hell do you spend 250k. on a bar? I'm not talking shit, just curious.

I figure 50 grand, plus the licence should be fine.

Basically, you rent a hole in the wall. You throw in a pool table, dart boards, etc. and buy alcohol/frigdes.

...and you bearly pay off loans, because you can't make money off a dive bar.

[gotta240]

i disagree. It depends WHERE the dive bar is at.

A dive bar near a beach location would probably do MUCH better than a "club bar". Buisness is like real estate imo. Only 3 things matter-location,location,location

[A Spec Products]

Do it Boiler Room style.

Turn living room into casino.

Buy booze.

Hire scrippers.

Profit!

[sr240mike]

My best guess would be to become a bartender for a few years at a well run establishment. Learn everything about it so you know what you could improve on. Then consider opening your own. And if you know nothing about opening your own business your failure rate is likely to be much higher. Over 50% of small business' fail within the first 4 years, higher for restaurants, and even higher for new club/bars. To succeed I suggest you find someone else who wants to open a bar. Somebody who knows a lot more of what will be involved than you do and then form a partnership with them. You'll have to have something to bring to the table though.
http://www.smallbiztrends.com/2005/07/business-failure-rates-highest-in.html

[S13SilviaGirl]

The only down side to being a bar-tender or bar-owner is that people can sue you if they get in trouble. For example, my cousin was a bar tender and a guy she was serving got in a wreck and died...he only had like 4 beers and a shot over a few hours. Well, his family took her and the bar owners to court saying that it was their fault for not stopping him before he left to drive home. Just some food for thought.

[eXpLoSiVe]

I've been looking into also starting up my own business with my mother; I’ve been considering this ever since she got laid off because the company was sold. My mother has been doing freelance computer work and consultation. She has a few companies that she regularly visits so she's been able to cover a full income and have a considerably less stress compared with her last job.

My job is ok, but I would love so much more to start my own business so I’ve been reading and looking up stuff on the net. Take a trip to the local Barns & Noble or Borders and check out a book on starting up your own business and you will get a fair idea of what you are in for. I'm not gonna lie and say its not a big risk because doing somthing like this, and I've gone through many scenarios in my head, but then again my current income can be taken away with just 2 words, "You're fired", so there's a risk in that too. I'll post up some links on what I've found later.

Good Luck mang :wavey:

[TheWolf]

I'm buying a new warehouse and currently run my own business. infact in the center where our warehouses are they are selling commercial spaces for places like bars and other retail locations. A bar is going in up front. He got 1800sqft for $225k. It's not in a hot side of town and it's not in a dive. Thats with nothing inside just a concrete floor and the plumbing stubbed in. If you feel like "Oh I can just rent" then you will find that overhead will eat you alive unless you have an instant sucess. My friend on the other side of town who runs his own thai restaurant and bar. His cost about $145k to setup with renting the space. In our town, bars must have a certain % of their income come from food sales. Hence why they always hustle cheap wings etc.

How you can spend 150k.

Commercial Refridgeration. Cook area. tables, fryers, plates, baskets, everything required to serve a basket of fries or chicken wings or burgers. Fire Hoods, Ventilations, Fire systems. Certifications from state health.

Electric. In any circumstance no place comes with electric as you like it. You can't just run extension cords to the center or areas where you need power. Everything from the lights in the drop ceiling to the power at the bar to any kind of TV you plan to run. All must be done by professionals. Remember commercial TV costs about 8x what it costs at your house.

Insurance. What you let some drunk guy out of the bar with his keys instead of cutting him off after his 5th shot of petron. Yes you can be responsible.

Just the bar. The actual wood with comercial ice maker, blenders, glassware, liquor, beer taps, kegerators, touch screen POS machines.

Setting up. Flooring. Chairs. barstools, paint on the walls, flooring, everything.

You'll find out that you can't home depot stuff without certain general contractors to sign off on stuff or you'll never get your CO.

Things that are surprising so far being in business for two years.
Phone! WTF bellsouth gets $110 a line. Remember you need one line for phone.. maybe one line for internet.. one line for credit card terminal line..
The amount employee's don't value your money.. I'll catch guys screw up an order and be like "I'll just overnight it to you" and tell me "Good thing, I made the customer happy" like they've done a favor for you. No what they did was cost me $35 because they were to stupid to do it right the first time.
Staffing. People who work cheap are not reliable.
People who work part time are not reliable.
Someone who takes home $5 an hour will cost you $9 an hour.
Accountant will cost you $1000 a year. Well worth it to makes sure your sales tax is in order. You will get audited.
Partnerships are dumb. Both always feel they work harder than the other guy. Then when you split it. You feel the other guy hasn't earned his keep.
One guy takes off to goto the doctor and doesn't come back in. The other guy feels cheated. Etc etc.

Things I've learned at bars.
Fights happen. You can't collect on broken merchandise. The cute chick at the bar. Is your biggest thief. Cool college bars are great because the bar tender is someones friend and somehow free product gets passed out. This usually results in much larger tips for bartender. Stealing your product.
Barflies. God how could one possible want to be around drunks forever. There is a cool bar out at the beach here in Jax that has cheap beer.. pool tables and a nice place. The problem is bums go in there and buy one beer and then turn a game of pool into a 5 hour ordeal.

Recomendation.
Come up with a fiscal plan to save 40k personally. This is like your first test. Not dip your house for 40k but earn it and save it and stack it. 98% of the planet can not stack 10k in their house without spending it. if you can do 40k then there's hope and study the book the richest man in babylon. Read it atleast 5x. That's a good step 1.