Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

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If you want something you have to MAKE IT HAPPEN. No excuses. Take responsibility for your life. You have to push, push, push, and NEVER quit.

If you`re going to play the game, you have to know the rules.

I read your post and for the first half, was skeptical. Running a successful bar is one of the most difficult enterprises. It looks easy, but it`s a real problem.

Then I read that your wife has run several family establishments already. Assuming that means related businesses, like other bars, your "credibility level" instantly tripled.

See?

You`re likely going to have to get some financing, probably through a business loan. Generally speaking, many lenders already know that a bar is a risky venture. They also know that background, experience, and knowledge of inventory, etc., are key.

The book learning and business courses are absoluely a great idea. Without understanding the fundamentals of business, nobody`s going to make money. So you should certainly get into that. But in terms of your proposal, you`ll want it focused very heavily on your wife`s existing background and experience.

The other aspect of the proposal will be a well-thought-out financial section of your business plan. As soon as you mentioned "motorcycle," you introduced "biker bar," and all the pejorative images thereby associated. Leave that out.

You can "decorate" your bar or build it around a "theme" in whatever way you want, just don`t talk about opening a "biker bar." So what if it`ll be middle-aged men driving Suzuki bikes, wearing polo shirts. :-) You don`t really need to discuss that all in the presentation to your lender.

Instead, focus on square footage, costs for intallation and major purchases, licensing fees, inventory, location, plumbing, and projected market. Have your best case, worst case, and expected case numbers, along with your structures of when you expect to break even.

Your military background is a strong benefit, not only in possible government help for veterans, but also in your natural association with discipline, honor (for paying back the loan), stability, and stick-to-it-edness. So you could consider building on your wife`s financial knowledge and your operations experience.

Hi Chase,
What I`d suggest would be to use your interviews and discussions with the contacts and friends you have in the business, to create the overall outline of the business plan. If you use a template for a plan, it can work...but it also can gloss over or miss important parts that are specific to the liquor and entertainment business.

Take notes when you speak with your contacts. You might set it up as a formal meeting, rather than just catching them "around" and talking casually. As they talk and you ask general questions, keep those notes. When you`ve spoken with them all, then you can use the notes to form your outline headings, following the "Summary" (or Executive Summary, or Overview).

The global categories will be such things as location and real estate estimates, traffic projections, market research and probable-estimated traffic, marketing costs, and then financials. Within the financials, you`ll have your summary of main items, then your secondary documentation.

In the secondary documentation, which you can do as a sort of appendix, or "Exhibit A" type thing, you`ll have line items for almost everything. For instance, how much will your tables cost apiece, for each type of table. What about booths and banquettes. How about the bar itself, along with barstools. What fixtures and finishings will you be using.

Then there`s things like a jukebox or music system, vending area, carpeting (cyclical carpet cleaning too), ceiling (acoustical tile?), bathrooms, grill and kitchen if you`ll have that, and the list goes on and on. You`ll even have to price out things like salt and pepper shakers, straws, napkins, lemon squeezers, shot measures, trash cans, and so forth.

A spreadsheet obviously is the way to go with this. Again, it`s an "exhibit," which you refer to in the body of your financial section.

So to answer your question, your proposal may end up being only a couple of pages, depending on who you`re presenting to. But they may want to see ALL the details, depending on who they are. It`s not that you would do all this instantly, but that you work it layer by layer, sort of like a "spiral."

Go through the whole thing on the first level, with general statements for the main things. When that`s done, start over, and add more detail (granularity, if you want the corporate jargon term). :-)

All great points !  I`ve written 2 business plans for friends. I bought a `how to` book about writing business plans and I`m glad I did these myself. Writing the plans myself forced me to look at all aspects of the businesses and many things I would have never thought of. In the end, I felt I could answer any question reguarding any aspect of each business.

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If you want something you have to MAKE IT HAPPEN. No excuses. Take responsibility for your life. You have to push, push, push, and NEVER quit.

If you`re going to play the game, you have to know the rules.

Writing a business plan is only threatening when you`re intending to present the plan to heavy-duty financial lenders. They may be investors, venture capitalists, bank loan officers, or whatever else, but they`re used to making people freak out. :-)

The basic reason we make a business plan is very similar to putting together an itinerary for a vaction trip. In the excitement of the action, we don`t want to forget certain important things. One of those things is, "why am I doing this at all?" That`s the mission statement, and the life plan part of opening a business.

Another important part of the business plan is just what Saber102 is saying: It helps us to really focus down in detail on the many specific details involved. Here`s another way of putting it.

Suppose you want to build a robot, and your first thought is you`d like it to open the door for you---a sort of butler to impress your friends.

Think about opening a door. It`s something you do all the time, so you`ve totally forgotten all the bits and pieces that go into the process. To begin with, you have to locate the door. For you, it`s simple---you just look around and go to the door. But to the robot, you have to tell it what "look" means, and what "around" means. It has to recognize the front door as different from the closet door, bathroom door, bedroom door, and refrigerator door.

When it gets to the door, how hight should it raise its hand? Which direction should it move its arm? How much pressure should it exert on the handle? In which direction should it turn? When should it pull---how does it know?

See, the details of a process are many and they`re sometimes simple, other times complex. You go to a bar and order a 7-and-7. Fine; how many glasses do they have? How much liquor do they have? Where`d they get the ice? How often do they get a soda delivery? From whom do they get what kinds of deliveries? Where do the trucks park? Where do they store kegs of beer, versus bottles of liquor? Is there a refrigerator behind the bar, or more than one? How big is it?

As you build a business plan, it helps you to envision the actual bar itself. You can start to see it, and see yourself working there each day. You envision a customer coming in and......what? Do they sit down, stand at the bar, or sit at a table? Then you ask yourself where all that "stuff" came from, and how much did it cost. See?

The actual writing out of the whole thing can be a collaborative effort, but my guess is that you can do it all with your wife. She`ll have lots and lots of questions and ideas, and between the two of you, it can most definitely be a whole lot of fun. :-) Don`t freak out! Don`t think you have to make a business plan look like a book example. It`s a "to do" list, with just a lot of details.

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If you want something you have to MAKE IT HAPPEN. No excuses. Take responsibility for your life. You have to push, push, push, and NEVER quit.

If you`re going to play the game, you have to know the rules.

Here`s a site that`ll at least get you started on "How to Write a Business Plan."

Don`t forget that you can always visit the SCORE site, as well as the Small Business Administration (SBA). Do a Google search for "how to write a business plan" and you`ll find many resouces. One of them should resonate well with you, and give you additional ideas.