Perhaps Creating A Business? Ideas?

[embellishedego]

So even though I'm only 16 and graduating high school hopefully in another single semester, but some fellow business students and I were thinking about owning and running an airsoft, paintball, or just a general milsim and weaponry business after we all graduate. Technically I was wondering what exactly it takes to open and run a successful airsoft/milsim field or arena. I'm guessing we would have to deal with first off creating a business plan, getting a start up loan, acquiring a TN business license, creating a release form, somehow attracting players/spenders, and so on. I'm an accounting student through Anderson County High and Roane State, but I feel like no amount of research can help me out like just asking players what would attract them. A group of friends and I have considered opening our own business and we believe that this is a good niche to do so in, but we are only airsoft players with broad imaginations. So i guess this is a basic list of stuff I might need opinions on (no rush for improvements or suggestions, because we have a while):

Land
Building(s) or Structures
Rental Weapons/Gear
Proper Advertisement
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!!!!
Waivers/Fees
Repairs/Merchandise Shop, which would sell gear/guns/bbs/etc.?
Maybe Broadening the list up to paintball, a firing range, gun store, safety courses, etc.

Bear in mind that I am just creating a possible rough draft of a possible business in the near future, so don't slam us too hard! Also if this is on the wrong forum please correct me, I don't wanna break any rules. Thank you for your time!!!

[Fluffy Boy 32]

[embellishedego]

Thanks for the input! It really does help. I think if we do pull through with the idea, the field would be located in either Clinton, Oak Ridge, or even Knoxville. We kind of drafted today that we would have to invest in a good MOUT complex, run a cqb part, and have a kind of a building/store/firing range/etc. part, which could be very tricky. We would need a ton of land and a large amount of capital to be able to pull it off. I don't know if we can afford to risk the debt to actually do every single aspect that we initially wanted. The profit margin would be very low and some employees would ultimately have to volunteer at first, which means that operating hours would be evenings and weekends at first. This truly is a work in progress, as every other business is. Any other suggestions you may have? Because that was really helpful!

[Fluffy Boy 32]

I would probably start off with the bare minimum. Small station to pay field fees, chrono in and the field itself. If you have people bring their own guns and gear, it will save you from opening up a pro shop. Once you become more known and get a good following, expand to larger enviorments, a store, etc.

[shortfuze]

just adding my 2 cents, but what age group are you more targeting? the older (16 and above) or the younger (15 and below)? because from my personal experiance i've noticed the younger crowds enjoy more CQB, tight quarter fields. plus it's easier for them to remember it so they wont be as lost as on some of the bigger fields in the state, and out of state. the older group enjoys more of the larger terrain fields with lots of diffrent possiblities for advance, defense, and stratgy. i would suggest that if you do start a merchandise shop on location to keep it to a low amount, dont start out with to much cause then you'll be left over with to much equipment that you couldn't sell then your business already starts in the hole. if you do decide to put a "gift shop" on site i would keep it to simple gear; vest, hip holsters, masks, goggles, etc... and to only sell clone brands to start off with; E1, CYMA, JG, etc... Atleast till you see that they're a hit then start to sell the top brands; CA, KWA, TM, etc... as far as every thing else, fluffy already specified most of it, and i would agree with him.

[redneckemt]

The economy is down. There have been a ton of paintball fields that have been around sense paintball started getting popular, that are either closed or struggling. A bunch more fields both airsoft and paintball have tried and failed in the last few years, a few have made it but not many. The economy right now and for the foreseeable future is going to be hard on any hobby related business. My advise don t risk anything right now.

You want to try anyways. Don t listen to anybody that says don t do paintball and airsoft. You are wanting to run a business not a hobby. Business s need customers, do everything you can to have as many customers as you can. Just run them on different days, unless you got a lot of cqb stuff set up, people ain't going to get paint on their gear.

People want cqb fields with all kinds of cool stuff without understanding the cost and up keep. Start small and grow. Cqb fields are dangerous if done wrong. And please don t do the junk car thing.

Problems you are going to encounter.
You are 16. You will have a hard time (if you even can) getting insurance, and I think even a business licence.
You are going to have a hard time beating Internet prices if you do a store front for anything more than bb s and gas.

[BigRed1]

I second Redneckemt. Your vision, drive, and ambition are to be loudly applauded. When I was 16, I was still trying to figure out my locker combination and come up with the courage to talk to a REAL GIRL . And here you are trying to start and run your own business. Way cool.

That said, having an adult on board who can sign the papers, get the insurance, and be the responsible face to the business will go a long way to gaining you the access and legitimacy you'll need to make a real go of this.

Of course, all of this is from a guy whose closest experience with big business was asking if you want fries with your order at Burger King. So, feel free to ignore any advice I give on this subject.

[embellishedego]

Thanks again for all the input! A business really is just a vision until you have the cash and the materials to run it, so basically its just an idea. I moreless decided that we should just stick to mainly a store with a smaller, nice CQB field on the plot, which is just an idea. Having friends that are 18 really does help with the insurance and loan parts. It's gonna be tough to even get this off of the ground, but the vision is there. I work at ShopRite in Lake City and my boss had me cash his check, a mere $600 something for almost 80 hours of work! Turns out he makes almost $7.50 an hour, and when I brought that up he told me something that resulted to the following, "A day doing something you love and enjoy will overcome any amount of money you make, running your own business is extremely fun." I guess I was just thinking, you know, that I wanted to open up a business by doing something we all love and enjoy. Call it a shot in the dark if you want, but it is possible to succeed. I'm not disagreeing with anyone because unless in the perfect, optimum conditions, a retail store could easily suffer and fail, but come on now, who doesn't dream of running a company like AirsoftGI or even Parafrog in Knoxville? I think it would be a ton of hard work, but worth every single minute of the struggle. Thanks Guys!

[embellishedego]

[redneckemt]

Problem with running a store, you are going to be hard pressed to beat the prices of most Internet stores. Reason. They might sell 500 echo1 M4s in a month, you might sell 5. They are going to get a better price based on the volume of guns they are buying from their distributor. Even having a Retail account through airspaly used to only knock a few dollars off each gun. But we were ordering small numbers of guns

Now an idea I did kick around at one time several smaller stores making group buys on items. Say I ge got a store in Nashville, Bubba J has a store in Memphis, and Walter has a store in Johnson City. We are all working together. Instead of three small orders, we make on decent size order, ship to one location, and then reship or mail to the other stores. The more you order the better the rate for each item.
The Internet is really killing the local business, and that's for any anything.

[embellishedego]

We have actually decided to hell with a business, we're gonna create a field resembling secret city in its prime, but with individuality of being able to have more land and customize it. Our objective is to find land that will allow us to build/modify in return for say 25-50% of all field entry fees as repayment, because at this point, we just want a local place to play. We want to create a field for the players, by the players! We are looking for any land owners in Clinton. If anyone has any possible contacts, we'll get them from you and set up further meetings. Thanks for all of the advice and support guys, it really does help. An ambitious mind can create anything, and with you all and the community of airsoft here in east Tn, we feel that we can truly accomplish whatever we want to build! Much love, see you all on the battlefield!

[Gavin]

Good luck! Also, I don't think location is too big a deal. Dead End airsoft in Maryville is in a location more remote than Antarctica, seems like it to me, at least