tanu01

Hmm................. My last vacation was back in 1994

Black Sun

LOL...Very True

The wife and I have been planning a trip to NYC for the last 5 years. The closest we have found time for is watching Celebrity Apprentice and enjoying the opening shots of the NYC skyline..

It amazes me when people see opening a biz to 'spend more time with kids/family'...one of the biggest destroyers of the American Family is being tied to a biz. Owning a biz many think is, hire someone at min. wage to 'run it', while the owner sits at home by the pool. Far from it..

delany

I took my honeymoon for 4 days... came back and my staff had gotten in a fight and quit. The salon was closed for 3 days in a row...fun times!

tanu01

OUCH.......................

TanAtCoCoBeach

Yikes...

delany

Never went more than a day out of town after that. I luckily had a job in sales so when a client would call me to tell me the salon wasnt open, I could make it to the salon to open it. (I had regulars that would come every morning, so I gave them my phone number for just this reason).

jeasy02

Thanks for the replies everyone - again I have not made the investment and that is the situation we will be in next year and I simply wanted to get feedback on whether it would be a good idea to start one while in the midst of having a child. By no means I will take on the NON responsibility of being there while having someone else just run it. I still have a lot of thinking and planning to do and this is not something that is concrete at all. - but thanks for the information!

toasted1

@jeasy02 Where about are you looking in Boston?

jeasy02

Well ideally in Boston - but I know prices can be very expensive given the expensive real estate. I live on the South Shore, near Braintree, and honestly I do not have a set location as to where I am looking. I figure as long as there is a good amount of foot traffic and the potential for good business is there, then that is where I will go.

sunsally

No.

As someone taking on a new business, you will be involved in a whole host of things you have NO experience with - and it will involve a LOT of long hours, some mistakes, and more money than you will budget.

You will need to pay someone or do yourself to:

1. Research the industry

2. Research a location

3. Negotiate a lease

4. Research local building codes/requirements

5. Hire contractors/sub contractors/do work yourself

6. Negotiate equipment purchase and install

7. Train staff or train yourself

8. Work or manage a business open 7 days/week, 363 days/year, up to 70 or more hours per week.

9. Create marketing that MAKES people visit your business (it is NOT just enough to be in a "high traffic area" - not even close!)

10. Create an environment that encourages strong buying behavior and customer retention (when the economy is discouraging buying, your competitors and sunscare are discouraging retention)

11. Manage an ongoing budget for the business and all required paperwork, reporting, etc

12. Manage the cash flow from a start-up, seasonal, high risk business

And so on...........

Opening a restaurant has one of the highest failure rates - and everyone eats. Only about 10% of the population tans - and falling. And there are fewer and fewer "teens and young 20s" that tan other than minimally for specific events - they have had the "tanning beds are bad for you" DRILLED into them in the media, their schools and their homes since they were young enough to remember.

You said you both have full time jobs now. And her passion is owning a restaurant and yours is opening a gym. And you need "investors" and are going to friends for this. These are all HUGE red flags.

You do NOT have entrepreneurial business experience, you do NOT have the money to do it on your own, you do NOT have a easy home life (one active child, one infant on the way) and you are looking upfront to find a "low stress" opportunity.

This isn't it.

Save your money up from your current positions and spend time researching your "passions" - a gym or a restaurant - and when you have the money and the right time in your family to commit 100% to business - then consider those.