Good advice on the llc. although I’m gonna be pouring a ton of my life savings into it, I am so inexperienced with doing small business stuff that at first i thought I’d do sole proprietorship. Got the llc in process with state and feds now. I‘m working on renting a retail space and creating my business plan to use for grants and maybe an SBA loan, as well as working in the inventory itself- restored motorbikes. Also trying to find a clothing wholesaler that can make the throwback moto jerseys I’ve designed. Thanks for the tip about figuring out when to file taxes. you’re right there’s tons of resources, just feels overwhelming.
Yeah but you have to do it. It's worth the time researching.
Do you know people who would you could solicit to invest in your business?
Is there a market for this?
An entire market of guys who love doing wheelies.
yes. its in california in an area full of rich boomers (and gen x) who spend crazy money on toys and think they can buy "cool". they cant buy being cool of course, but they buy the bikes.
sorry to double post-but I can commit $150k of my own money and hope to supplement that with grants and and SBA loan. Your point about putting together a plan is dead on- im making a detailed cash flow plan and amgiving myself 1 year of runway to have a month where i break even. the economy is going to be a shitshow, but my customer target is super rich guys who buy these as toys. many of the bikes i have already purchased and own. they range from close to full factory restored to needing some tlc but in running condition. just like classic cars, they are assets which will hold their value and can be liquidated if the business goes tits up. unlike classic cars, there probably wont ever be a massive increase in value across the board like in the early 2000s.
hell no, one must sneed.
Thanks for your response. I feel the same way as your boss- i need my first hire to not be a retard. It’s hard to judge people when they interview though. Plus, I’m looking for an employee, not a partner. I don’t know if what I have to offer would be appealing to someone who is not retarded. In the area I live in I think I’d need to pay someone like $40-$50 per hour to compete with other start ups and companies and so, I won’t be able to afford an employee for a long time.
Though I understand where he is coming from, I'm going to agree to disagree with this comment because. IMHO...
yea, i've spent over decade in silicon valley and my experiences were mixed. But I think the above poster made some good points. intelligence is a huge factor when youre very young. If nothing else, it gives you confidence.
Make sure the first hire is well paid. If the employee isn't an idiot, he will know his worth, and if the pay doesn't match or exceed that, he'll leave.
Fair call mate. You clearly believe in it. If you do, are there people who you can reach out to who would stake you to get going? Let me put it this way, say you could get $50k from friends and family at the start rather than going all in yourself. If you do need more capital a year down the track because you aren't breaking even, possibly because of an economic downturn, is that going to be easy to achieve, vs. if you're able to get a properly cheap loan now or offer a minority ownership stake which you could buy out later?