Business Plan Help Please

[aengelman]

Hi all!

I will try to keep this short. I recently found a property for sale where I would like to open a business. The property has been used for this type of business since 1970 under a few different owners. It doesn't appear as if the business itself is for sale, just the property. In all reality I will not be able to get financing as I don't have the credit or down payment I would need to get a business loan and the amount of money I need is too high to borrow it from friends and family. I don't think it would be right to start up a go fund me account for this....though there would be a charitable aspect to a part of the business.

Anyway...I have starting working on a business plan and I have a few questions. First, my plan for this property and a plan for starting this type of business from the ground up will be very different. I need about 250,000 to buy this property and get the things I need to get started. The cost to build from scratch would be much higher. Should I write 2? I guess I could modify the first one once this property sells and I know for sure that I've run out of time to get the funds.

I can't seem to figure out how to calculate operational costs. Would it be inappropriate for me to ask the current owners? They aren't selling the business like I said, just the facilities. Same with revenue. I know the going rate for the service, but how can I know how much business I will get?

Lastly, seeing the property in person will be very helpful for writing my plan. I've seen pictures, but I need to know about electric and water sources and the specifics of each building in order to develop a plan for what services I want to offer and how I want to expand in the future. I also need to know if any repair or construction would have to occur. Would it be horrible of me to ask to be shown the property even though I don't have a source of funds to buy it?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

[Owen]

Hi all!

I will try to keep this short. I recently found a property for sale where I would like to open a business. The property has been used for this type of business since 1970 under a few different owners. It doesn't appear as if the business itself is for sale, just the property. In all reality I will not be able to get financing as I don't have the credit or down payment I would need to get a business loan and the amount of money I need is too high to borrow it from friends and family. I don't think it would be right to start up a go fund me account for this....though there would be a charitable aspect to a part of the business.

Anyway...I have starting working on a business plan and I have a few questions. First, my plan for this property and a plan for starting this type of business from the ground up will be very different. I need about 250,000 to buy this property and get the things I need to get started. The cost to build from scratch would be much higher. Should I write 2? I guess I could modify the first one once this property sells and I know for sure that I've run out of time to get the funds.

I can't seem to figure out how to calculate operational costs. Would it be inappropriate for me to ask the current owners? They aren't selling the business like I said, just the facilities. Same with revenue. I know the going rate for the service, but how can I know how much business I will get?

Lastly, seeing the property in person will be very helpful for writing my plan. I've seen pictures, but I need to know about electric and water sources and the specifics of each building in order to develop a plan for what services I want to offer and how I want to expand in the future. I also need to know if any repair or construction would have to occur. Would it be horrible of me to ask to be shown the property even though I don't have a source of funds to buy it?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Well, since it has been used multiple times, one thing you might want to do some research on is why these past businesses failed.

No, GoFundMe is not an option for this. To be honest, businesses using GoFundMe now-a-days just looks odd since every campaign seems to be personal.

You might also want to start saving some money since bank loans aren't an option, or seeking angel investors. Unless you have that, you won't be able to start your business.

[Freelancier]

In all reality I will not be able to get financing as I don't have the credit or down payment I would need to get a business loan and the amount of money I need is too high to borrow it from friends and family.If you can't get your personal finances in order enough to put up the down payment or to get friends/family to invest in you, no reason someone who didn't know you would invest in your idea.

Start with putting yourself in position so that you don't need to get others to invest.

[0maha]

Strike one: You don't have any capital.
Strike two: You don't know enough about the business to estimate operational costs.

There's a certain evasiveness to your question...as if you don't want to give away too much. Business is almost never about secrecy and almost always about operations. I don't care who has my idea, as long as I can execute it better than they do.

Why not approach the current business and talk to them?

[Harold Mansfield]

...but how can I know how much business I will get?

I know this is but one line of your entire questions, but I feel it's a very...maybe the most important one.

You can't know how much business you will get. Without a plan, you will get nothing. Just opening the doors with no real marketing or advertising plan means you will be closing the doors very soon and probably with a lot of debt.

So when you're creating your business plan it's important to not just list what you hope to bring in ( anyone can pull numbers out of the sky), but how you plan on achieving those numbers.

FYI, "Word of mouth" and "Social Media" aren't plans. It's hope.

[Fulcrum]

So are you looking at buying a building with a corporate tenant or an empty building? You need to answer this question before doing anything else.