Well iam taking the plunge

[Double D]

Originally Posted by Blackshirts

Is it possible to have an indoor range at your location? That will get people in the door.

The costs of an indoor range are tremendous and many many laws and regulations are to be followed IF you can even get approval in your area. You better be ready to drop the big bucks and jump thru a bunch of hoops on permitting.

[time2shoot]

All I can say is good luck.

[25yretcoastie]

Are shops allowed in Detroit?

[Mr_Shamrock]

I know it's not the same but I had a motorcycle shop for a while and it did ok, but I had a boat load of cash tied up in inventory that no one ever bought. It is impossible to stock everything people want and 75% of the time I had to order the parts. I usually had the parts the very next day and gave a "discount" on anything that had to be ordered, but I had customers on a daily basis that walked out the door b/c I didn't have what they wanted on the shelf and they didn't want to have to order it. The internet definitely made it very hard to compete. Like already mentioned there were certain items I could buy cheaper on line than from my suppliers. What kept us afloat was the mechanic shop.
I have no idea of the expense but our local gun shop has a firing range and that keeps the store packed. I know they sell a load of range ammo. They also offer classes - from intro to guns to more advances self defense classes as well as weekly shooting competitions that get people in the door. My experience with buying guns and ammo is - yeah you can get stuff cheaper online, but after you factor in the shipping or the FFL fee's your better off just buying locally most of the time. Gun prices are funny - the new and used prices are so close. There is a pawn shop around here that is consistently $10 cheaper on their used guns vs. the new gun's at the shop about a mile a way. I don't know how they stay in business.
Good Luck!

[1969SS396]

Did we scare you off?
Wondered how you are making out with your endeavor?

[mjp28]

Wow when you said taking the plunge I thought you were getting married....or enlisting with Uncle Sam.

On any business I always recommend do some homework on your field, competition, pricing, inventories all of that -and- the basics of how to run a business.

One teacher I had wrote a management book based on three very basic principles, works in a broad range of businesses, I never forgot them, "POC":

PLAN
ORGANIZE
CONTROL

Plan, very briefly get a business plan, get as much information on both your business like the equipment and supplies needed and how to setup and run a successful business. There's a lot of good information online and other places to help here. Put your plan notes down on paper to give you something to work off of and compare with actual results.

Organize your plan, put the wheels in motion, get things like your basics like advertizing, marketing working. Hire help or go it alone? Supplies, overhead, operating capital (seed money) all of that.

Control, compare and check your results against your original plans, make necessary changes as you go, tweak things, throw out some things if necessary. Check your finances to see if you're on target. This can be your feedback loop to revise your plan as necessary.

Just keep thinking "POC" keep it simple but effective.

I've seen text books and teachers who teach 4, 5, 8, 10, 11 steps to management, I feel you can get all balled up with all of those steps.

Just a few thoughts, I was in school for a long time and working a lot more, most all in front line or upper management.
mjp

[justsomeguy]

I did back out your replies are hard to swollow i still feel very confident in my business plan though.I am out of my house right now and just dont enjoy it.I feel if i had a commercial location i could do much better. Ive been cornering the market here on the AR15 business noone around here has yet to to do it and i have but iam losing everyday because people just dont want to knock on my door for a bolt carrier and to be honest i dont want them to!!!! i also want to carry Bows we have no good shops at all just the big box stores and to be perfectly clear they suck people around here go cuz they have to. My main focus was going to be hunting and tactical rifles hand guns are nice to look at but they are like tring to fix someone up on a blind date,evryone likes something different ya know. I am also a NRA certified cpl instructor and basic pistol as well so classes were a must as well as hunter safety for the youth. I wanted to have the DNR machine for all license including orv and snowmobile not a money maker but one more reason to come in the door. The store front i had picked was on a corner lot with a tru value hardware store next door thats been there for 52 years. I had the city close to allowing me to have a " training range " for my CPL student just a ballistic rubber back stop and walls just for " Students " to complete training also doubling as a archery test range for customers wanting to try a new bow out. The fear of failure was more than the vision of sucess though. I will get there as soon as i get my man ballz back lol thanks for your responeses.

[justsomeguy]

Originally Posted by 25yretcoastie

Are shops allowed in Detroit?

LOL thats great......Actually no they arent iam looking at the suburb just north of it.