Starting a business ?

[SPORTO]

I was wondering if anyone had any advice for starting a business. I am a Union electrician that was recently layed off. Work has been slow around us (more men than jobs avalible). And will be like this for a few more years maybe. I am interested in starting my own business. I was thinking about A Gym, a White castle (like we don't have enough fast food resturants by us), or possibly a sports bar. If anyone has any advice or suggestions for starting or getting a loan please feel free to reply back I need all the help I can get.
Thanks Fellas!!

 

[WhatsHisNuts]

Depends on what kind of financial position you are in. If you are going to start a franchise, I'd suggest looking into service industry ones that you can run out of a small rented office or even out of your home. Check out http://www.entrepreneur.com/franchiseopportunities/index.html for ideas and costs to start.

Since you have a skill, you should think about doing something to leverage it. Perhaps flipping properties would be an idea, although it sounds like you are in an are where the economy is dying.

Just some thoughts.

 

[hsams]

Gym fail 9 out of ten times in first 5 years of operation...

Franchises usually not the way to go-(I will explain later)

Sports bar--many people will give varying opinions-depends on where you live, insurance rates in your area, the state liquor authority in your area (state) etc-how many hours you want to work etc....

of the 3 choices I would go with the sports bar--BECAUSE--there is always someone else who thinks they want to run one if you ever have had enough and want to sell it-- ----I am financial advisor and I have more than 5 clients that own bar/rest--all doing very well financially.......get my email from Jack if you need more info....gl2u

 

[MadJack]

White Castle does not franchise in the U.S. Its nearly 400 stores in 11 states are all company owned and operated

 

[bubbas1]

The wife and I are in the middle of purchasing a bar now. Hardest part is the financing. Expect to put a minnimum of 25% down. Only go thru a financial services (place where they shop your business plan around to get you a loan) as a last resort. There fees are between 4-6% of the loan. Others have set fees af 3-5k. Interest will be alot higher than if you took a home equity loan. See if you can get the owner to carry part of the loan. Check out leasing a bar business to make sure thats what you want to do. That way your are not stuck with it forever if you decide its not for you.

You can go thru the SBA to get them to back your loan. It is alot of paperwork to do but its somewhat streamlined if you are a minority, female, or vet. They will even assign someone to you to make sure your paperwork and business plan are in order before you submit it. You can get pre-approved from the SBA but you still have to shop the package around to a bank to get a loan. (The bank has the final say)

We tried to get a bar a couple of years ago and the financing part was the reason it fell thru. We shopped the business plan around all over the place. We learned alot that time. The main thing was banks do not like to finance bars. So this time we had our ducks in a row and everything went thru.(as far as financial wise). We still have a bunch of hoops to jump thru before anything is final but at least one stress is out of the way.

One last thing..if you decide to go with a bar let me know. We bought a program for doing a business plan that was bar specific. The plan turned out really good.

 

[Ronnie]

Hey Sporto! Get my email from Jack, just opened a bar in December 06. I'll help anyway I can.