Every day, more and more, I keep thinking about starting my own business (A sub shop). Right now, I work in one, and have only worked there for about two months, but I think I've learned enough to where I could run one. I have some brilliant ideas (in my mind) that I think would work very well. The only thing is that I'm in college, and don't know if I'd be willing to drop out to persue this. Also, I'd need to find a partner that would hopefully have some type of business or accounting degree. I'd consider changing my major to these type of things, but I have no interest in them, and I don't know if I'd ever make it through colege on a subject I hate. My next question is whether or not a bank would give an 18 year old and a partner a considerably-sized loan? I don't think they would, but I think it would be worth checking into.... Anyways, this may be just late night dreaming, but it may not. I'm just looking for some advice from some people that might know more about this...
bank loan no... good idea, yes. first 3 years expect to lose money. if you dont make money after the third year, shut it down. hire an accountant. most important aspect is location. buy eq used. expect to work 10+ hours a day every day. this isnt something you can do while in college...its a career.
Ideally you could find find a party owning an existing business like the one you want to be in -wanting to retire in 3 to 5 years. You could work out a "buy- sell" agreement so that the earnings from and operating business would pay off the retiring owner. That would also give you time to learn the business. You will need a relationship with a bank, accountant, and food vendors. This can be established working within the existing business. Please note that while starting make these relatioinships with the long term in mind- you do not have much money now, but it will pay off for them in the long run. Rmemeber - baby steps and planned growth. Low debt and close attention to orders. Every bit of savings will help profits.
See, there in lies my problem. I think I could succeed with it pretty easily, but I don't know if I'd be willing to give up a college education for it. I don't know if it failed if I'd be able to get back to college, and I also don't know how I'd finance it. If I could somehow answer yes to knowing I'd be able to make it back to college, and if I could find someone to finance me, I think I'd go for it. I'd also have to get the okay from my family...
YOu could try to open a branch of an existing restuarant. Whoever opened up the Buffalo Wild Wings here, is definetly banking on it. That place is almost always packed. Pie Wie too, and now soon to open up a Fridays.
Eddie, welcome to my dilemma, Ive always wanted to open up a cell phone store or pretty much any small buisiness, especially since sitting behind the desk 9-5 daily isnt my sort of a career path... but since I am a college student and 19, I cant, A. get any loans, or B. get myself to dedicate all my time to such a business... good luck... man, i really mean it.
I think the most realistic way for a young person to start a business is to do it on the Internet. May it be advertising (Million Dollar Home Page), Ebay store, or a blog, if you work hard and find a niche, I believe anyone can succeed, or at least earn a secondary residual income.
I had the brilliant idea of opening a BW3 downtown. I looked into it. For each one you open, they require you to have $1 million in capital. And, if it's your first time opening one, they require you to open two at once. There's no way I could arrange that much capital. Obviously, someone who had the money also had the same idea as me, dammit. Subway is much less expensive. Last time I checked, it would only take around $75,000 of capital to get a Subway going. I still contemplate the idea of it. But lemme tell ya, Eddie, the core of the concept is risk-reward. I can't risk leaving my career for a sandwich shop. Not with a wife and kid and a good, stable job. I recommend that you pursue it like hell AFTER you finish college. The biggest hurtle for you will be arranging capital.
I would seriously take a look at doing something online. I know that about 95% of the guys that start trying to build affiliate sites never make a dime. BUT I am typing this from the webmaster world pubcon in vegas and I have met a few guys today that are making obscene amounts of cash without having to deal with customers, employees or inventory. I just had dinner with one guy who spent the year traveling to India, Greece, Alaska and a lot of spots in between. His checks were automatically deposited for him the entire time. Some of the bloggers are doing ok, but the best guys seem to make about $5000 per month blogging. The best affiliate guys here are hitting $50,000 per month. (no b.s.) It is something you could get started on from college with minimal start up cost.
Take some business classes even if you don't have the stomach for them. As an owner, you need to have some ideas of the ins and outs. Read some books or course notes. Don't be afraid to take risks.
You really don't need a formal business education to start a business. You just need to have the natural instincts in knowing how to regulate employees, have proper product and treat your customer well. Like I tell all my friends who are thinking about business school- If you are going there to learn business, you are already one step behind. Business, or the art of business is something which a person inherently has. It is very hard to teach someone business if they do not have the intution to do it in the first place. So if you are a natural business man, quit school, and go full force into starting your business. School can wait, the competition does not.
at this age you quit school and you lose: 1. parents financial backing 2. parents roof 3. parents food 4. possible replacement for all of the above(in your education) i mean its a hard desicion. esp for someone still in their teens.
they build websites (some build 1000's) that promote companies products in return for a small % of the sale. One guy I talked to tonight doesn't even bother with that. He has over 5200 domains that just have ads on them. When someone types in one of his domain names and clicks on an ad he gets paid. Most of those sites only make a few cents a day. but when you mulitiply even a nickel a day times over 5000 sites you get a very large check every month. You need to know what you are doing or you waste a ton of money on domains that won't generate income.
