how does a young and inexperienced entrepreneur start a business with high OH?

Question

I am a regular 22 year old college student. I have a business idea that would take x of millions of dollars to start. How would i go about getting funds/started in the process of building an indoor sport complex? It would consist of basketball courts, a turf soccer field, and other areas for volleyball and other sports. Winter takes up 8 months of the year here, limiting the use of the outdoor arenas. A lot of people get throught the winter by playing sports. There are limited places(that are nice) to go for sports such as soccer, basketball, volleyball...etc. There are 3 recreation centers, a YMCA, and few health clubs that arent even involved with sports. Some high schools rent their gyms out but it is pretty pricy. There is one sports complex that is semi new but poorly ran. They have a turf field and 5 courts for basketball, volleyball, etc., that are made from this weird plastic flooring. I am convinced that if there were another sports complex, that it would be very successful.

Answer 1

First write a business plan. How? Go to the library and ask the research librarian for help in picking out a book to use as a template.

Second, contact 'SCORE' (Service Corp of Retired Executives) in your area. These are people who have run businesses and volunteer to help people like you. They may be able to put you in contact with an investor who can supply you with funds.

Third, is there a professional athlete in your area who would add his/her name to your gym? It would help you get publicity.

Answer 2

You have to have the market for it. Go to the sports complex and ask how frequently or difficult it is to rent out the courts. If there is alot of free time, I would be concerned. Even if it's poorly run, if people want to play sports, they will. And it being winter 8 MONTHS of the year leads me to believe you are not in a heavily populated area. If you are, you really have to find out the number of people who want to do the activities for a cost that you listed. Would a Hockey rink be an option? And if the new sports complex is poorly run, why is that? You could wait until they go out of business and buy the business for less than new, but again, it they don't have the clientel to support it, you throwing money away. And if you open in direct competion, how many of their customers do you really expect to take away. You could be over-saturating the market. I have seen many basketball clubs such as this fail due to lack of interest. Even in heavily populated areas as the fees and cost prevent a regular client base. The key to opening up a business is low starting cost and overhead. Build you business as sales increase. Timing is very important - have a product or service that is needed, not just a passion of yours. It's a great to be passionate about something you love and turning it into a business, but you have to be realistic. Have you ever noticed a chain start shutting down stores due to unprofitable due to too many units? Burger King shut down over 1500 stores due to a drop in sales, oversaturation, and gained a poor reputation as quality and service sucked due to expansion with poor execusion of their mission from a mostly part-time staff that were not trained, just hired to fill spots.

Answer 3

You need to write a business plan and get your idea patented. The business plan must be detailed and well written in order for possible investors to read and understand it, If possible, prepare a power point presentation. I am sure that your local government would be interested in this project.


Try these links for some pointers.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/bizstartups/index.html
http://www.entrepreneur.com/businessplan/index.html