2000-4000 BTC loan - Hookah Lounge

[dank]

Well youre correct, his business can't be compared to yours. While his is an actual brick and mortar establishment, your's is merely a thrown-together business plan. And again, no offense intended, but hookah lounges aren't incredibly profitable as stand-alone businesses. Most are attached to established bars/coffee houses with a pre-existing customer base. Coming from a decade in the service industry with over half of those years in coffee houses WITH hookah lounges, its tough. To get the good seesha you have to order directly from UAE or Lebanon (trade with UAE is restricted). Importers in American sell sub-par quality seesha to white guys (again, not meant to be discriminatory, just a cold fact) at inflated prices. If you are interested more I would be willing to discuss more via PM and I can happily provide websites of both the places I managed as further proof.
Not trying to discourage you. If you have a corner on the market it is possible to overcome and become profitable after a couple years, theres just alot to consider. For instance, in some municipalities the ability to sell tobacco is linked to liquor licenses (limited by design)  

I guess we will find out, since it seems to me that hookah is quite profitable as a stand alone service.  Not that I think it's appropriate to compare it with any existing hookah lounge, really, mine will have a huge 6000 square foot facility with live music, an attached smokeshop, downtown, with colleges all around.  I think I'll be turning profit in a few months, not years, we'll see.

Where are you getting the idea that "hookah is quite profitable as a stand alone service"?  You just had someone who actually knows a thing or two about the business tell you that it's not.  

My calculations.

Of course the environment is probably bigger factor, which we will champion too.

[Bjork]

I live in a big State-College town and we have 3 (?) Hookah lounges here that I know of, all serve some sort of food also.  Regardless, if there aren't any other Hookah lounges in your big college town it shouldn't be too hard to succeed with proper marketing etc.

[dank]

I live in a big State-College town and we have 3 (?) Hookah lounges here that I know of, all serve some sort of food also.  Regardless, if there aren't any other Hookah lounges in your big college town it shouldn't be too hard to succeed with proper marketing etc.

Thanks for the support.

[dank]

We will also use diffused tips in our hookahs, for a smoother smoke.  Just another thing that will make us the best hookah lounge.

[MrTeal]

Dank, don't listen to people saying that you need to go out and work in the industry before actually starting a business. If this is something you want, go ahead and do it.

That being said, this business is very likely to fail even if you work hard at it. Deepak Chopra "If I will it I'll be successful" bullshit aside, most small service-based businesses fail in the first few years. Even if you had the history here to make people trust you with this kind of money, this would be a fairly high risk investment. You need to get a much more solid plan than a spreadsheet that say X people * $Y/person - rent = profit! if you actually want to start getting a real feel for the business and have them invest. If you're serious, you need to put in some serious legwork before coming around asking for investors. Thinking about what kinds of tips you'll use isn't part of a real business plan.

Good luck with this.

[RodeoX]

If you build it, I will come. 

[dank]

Dank, don't listen to people saying that you need to go out and work in the industry before actually starting a business. If this is something you want, go ahead and do it.

That being said, this business is very likely to fail even if you work hard at it. Deepak Chopra "If I will it I'll be successful" bullshit aside, most small service-based businesses fail in the first few years. Even if you had the history here to make people trust you with this kind of money, this would be a fairly high risk investment. You need to get a much more solid plan than a spreadsheet that say X people * $Y/person - rent = profit! if you actually want to start getting a real feel for the business and have them invest. If you're serious, you need to put in some serious legwork before coming around asking for investors. Thinking about what kinds of tips you'll use isn't part of a real business plan.

Good luck with this.

That's how I've always felt, if you want to learn how to do something, you don't watch other people do it, you do it yourself.

The spreadsheet's a little more complex than that, it's 40 lines long so far.  Once I talk to my lawyer and get an idea of regulations, licenses and taxes involved, they'll be added to the spreadsheet.  I'll probably take business counseling at a local college in the next week or two, as well.  Unfortunately, most everything I've ever planned in my life was planned in my head, I'll work to transfer it into a business plan over the next week.

I'm quite confident in this business and don't like waiting when I could be starting it, I hope an investor sees the potential I do.

Thank you.

@RodeoX Awesome.

[BorderBits]

Dank, don't listen to people saying that you need to go out and work in the industry before actually starting a business. If this is something you want, go ahead and do it.

Yeah, why on Earth would anyone need any experience in the industry in which they want to start a new business? The thing is, he is not doing anything.  He is asking for a handout.  He believes that his 7th grade business education and a few hours spent making up numbers on a spreadsheet based on nothing but his own intuition is worth someone forking over $40k.  No one with that sort of money invests in delusional children.  Well, he actually might find an investor a mark on this forum seeing as how there are many fools here asking to be departed from their coin.

[dank]

Dank, don't listen to people saying that you need to go out and work in the industry before actually starting a business. If this is something you want, go ahead and do it.

Yeah, why on Earth would anyone need any experience in the industry in which they want to start a new business? The thing is, he is not doing anything.  He is asking for a handout.  He believes that his 7th grade business education and a few hours spent making up numbers on a spreadsheet based on nothing but his own intuition is worth someone forking over $40k.  No one with that sort of money invests in delusional children.  Well, he actually might find an investor a mark on this forum seeing as how there are many fools here asking to be departed from their coin.

I'm asking for a loan which I'll pay back at a fairly high interest rate, you call that a handout?  It's really not that complicated, you start the business and you run it.  Can I tell you what I'll be doing at this time each day when I have the hookah lounge running?  No, because I live in the moment and that's how you get shit done.

Also, this is an opportuity I have now.  There are no hookah bars in my city, now.  If I sit around for two years, guess what, there might be another hookah bar.  If I take this opportunity I have now, I will be able to establish myself with the entire city as they will have nowhere else to go.  I'll be most successful if this happens now.

By the way, I've spent over 24 hours gathering info and developing that spreadsheet, I've been working on it most of each day over the weekend.

I'm not a child, I'm a young adult becoming a man and if I've learned anything, the most important part of becoming a man is to get shit done, which I've been doing a lot of.  Where is the delusion in this?  Is it because my spreadsheet doesn't really exist?  Or do you really think no 18 year old has ever manifested creative business ideas into reality, successfully?

[MrTeal]

Dank, don't listen to people saying that you need to go out and work in the industry before actually starting a business. If this is something you want, go ahead and do it.

Yeah, why on Earth would anyone need any experience in the industry in which they want to start a new business? The thing is, he is not doing anything.  He is asking for a handout.  He believes that his 7th grade business education and a few hours spent making up numbers on a spreadsheet based on nothing but his own intuition is worth someone forking over $40k.  No one with that sort of money invests in delusional children.  Well, he actually might find an investor a mark on this forum seeing as how there are many fools here asking to be departed from their coin.

I never said he was. I was merely refuting the conjecture that he should go get some shitty job in the industry the earn his dues before opening a business. It seems you might have missed the rest of my post where I said that his current prep work is inadequate, that he needs to put serious work into a real business plan, and that even then this is likely to fail.

I like the Dank show even for all the shit I give him for his crazy ideas. It would shock me if actually succeeded in his goals, but I'd be happy to see it if he did. Sure no one here's going to give him $50k, but if he can get enough together to start this up it would be a great learning experience for him.

[Bjork]

Hey Dank, you should shadow some Hookah bar owners/managers in nearby towns and buddy up to them. 

[dank]

Hey Dank, you should shadow some Hookah bar owners/managers in nearby towns and buddy up to them.  

I would but I don't really have time for that, I'm more of the learn as you go kind of person, anyways.  I'm gonna have this thing up and running this year one way or another.

[BorderBits]

Hey Dank, you should shadow some Hookah bar owners/managers in nearby towns and buddy up to them. 

He would, but he's busy not having a job, making up numbers for spreadsheets, and asking for handouts.  Plus, he'd probably have to ask his folks for a ride.  There's really no sense in doing something that would give him real world knowledge of the business that he wants to start. 

[bitcoinbear]

Why not get the loan from the Bank of Dank? Do they think it is too high risk?

[dank]

Hey Dank, you should shadow some Hookah bar owners/managers in nearby towns and buddy up to them. 

He would, but he's busy not having a job, making up numbers for spreadsheets, and asking for handouts.  Plus, he'd probably have to ask his folks for a ride.  There's really no sense in doing something that would give him real world knowledge of the business that he wants to start. 

Making up numbers?  Would you like to review my spreadsheet and tell me what's made up about it?

I have real world knowledge regarding hookah.  I've smoked at hookah bars, I have a hookah sitting right in front of me.

I've run plenty of web based businesses, I know how it works, don't tell me I'm incompetent because I haven't done it the way you want.

There's no sense in waiting around when I have the opportunity to maximize profit now.  You're missing that part.

[bitcoinbear]

Out of curiosity, which city are you setting this up in?

[dank]

Out of curiosity, which city are you setting this up in?

I'd prefer not to disclose to non-investors at this time.

[BorderBits]

Making up numbers?  Would you like to review my spreadsheet and tell me what's made up about it?

Yes, I would.  Post or PM a dropbox or google docs link. 

[Rarity]

Out of curiosity, which city are you setting this up in?

I'd prefer not to disclose to non-investors at this time.

Seems like information anyone will be asking for before investing.

[bitcoinbear]

Out of curiosity, which city are you setting this up in?

I'd prefer not to disclose to non-investors at this time.

Seems like information anyone will be asking for before investing.

Right. How is anybody going to invest if you will not even share simple things like where it is, let alone important information like your identity?