I need some good opions on why to open a paintball shop.

[paintballfreak90]

My mom brought up a great point that my dad should go into the paintball buisness and open a field. Me as a 14 year old paintball lover think it is the best idea and is my dream come true. Just to make my dad more interested could anyone as a field owner or someone who knows this information answer some questions. I know some of them but i just need some more backup on them.

-How much money does it cost to start a field? Indoor price and outdoor price(wat is the difference) Insurance, fill stations all the stuff.

-How much money do you make a year on average?

-Explain to my dad how much paintball is thriving and becoming really big.

-How it doesn't make kids want to go shoot people with real guns?

-Why do people play paintball and enjoy shooting at their friends?

-Will it make younger kids all into real guns and want to go shoot people?

I just really want my dad to go into this buisness or just at least like paintball more and let me do whatever with paintball gun trade/buys so maybe you could convince him that it is a great sport and there really isn't anything wrong with it.

[Lohman446]

Points to consider with any business

Very few businesses based of standard business models make anything in the first 1 to 3 years. IE - be prepared to live off savings.

Most businesses take roughly seven years to take in profits what they originally invested in the years they were loosing money.

[Maggot6]

I dont know connetticut's weather patterns, but I understand outdoor feilds SUCK in the snow....Consider that ...And yeah, places that are new don't make much for the first year or so, unless you have some raging children in your area...I've never had the urge to take a .45 and blow someones head off just because paintball guns are available. If a kid wants to blow someones brains on the wall, it is not because he is used to shooting a paintball gun (my opinion....) Maybe you should do a survey or something at a highschool to see how many kids would be interested...

[Number13]

Honestly, and I mean no offense, but if he's sent you to get the answers to those questions I'd suggest he save himself and his family the stress and expense that starting an operation would entail. It's not a dream-come-true for you, as you may think. It is very stressful to start a small business and requires a dedication beyond just enjoying the sport or wanting to make a little money on your child's hobby. Paintball is expensive as a sport and highly competitive as a market. Unless he intends to do laborious and time consuming research on his own into the matter, I suggest he avoid entering the business. It will ruin the fun of the sport for you and for him if you enter it as a hobby business. If entered on a whim, it will end up as a large capital loss and build a lot of animosity towards the sport, as well as resentment within the family for having felt pressured to start the business.

To start a business, you have to do so for the sake of turning profit--not because you think it's a cool area to work in. Entrepreneurship is a dangerous undertaking that must be done seriously and only after insightful deliberation.

[tony3]

The first thing he needs to figure out, making money probably won't happen, you need to be in it for the love of the sport to get out alive. That is what about every field owner I've talked to/seen on the forums say.

[paintballfreak90]

hmm interesting. I guess this was a bad idea. thanx for the help though.

[Lohman446]

I don't mean to discourage you from your dreams - I do mean to discourage your from pipe dreams.

You want that explained. By all means if this is something everyone wants (any business) than go for it. But do not go into it expecting things that just don't, under nomral business models, happen. If you are truly interested in doing this see if your dad will take a couple college classes with you in business administration / retail management / theory etc. Try to do this at a local level where the instructor will have true working knowledge and not just theory.

Most businesses fail in the first year because the people operating them were not prepared for the realities of starting a business. To those of us running already establised businesses this is great news. By all means.. if this is something you real want invest the time, the money, and the effort into. However, have a realistic idea of the risk to return ratio of what you are planning.

College courses may not be made available to you (though I expect a community college would let you if you explained to them what you intended). It may be worth it, if you don't have the knowledge to properly evaluate the situation to hire a consultant to come in and advise you - this will cost money but give you a more realistic risk to reward analysis.

[magmonkey]

ok as a small shop owner, here is my take on it.

it is a rough road, I don't make enough off of paintball alone to support my family, so I have a full time job plus the shop

my day starts at 4:00 am when I get up to check the email. I go to work at my "real" job (wich I HATE MORE THAN ANYTHING IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD!!)

I get out of he.. my "real" job at between 2:00 and 4:00 pm take the 50 mile drive to get to the shop, run the milling machine, answer more emails, assemble completed markers, do the shipping, basicly run around like a chicken with his head cut off.... until it is time to go home and visit with my wife who gets out of her real job at 12:00 am

that being said, I refuse to give up.... there IS money to be made in paintball and from the time I get up in the morning until the time I go to bed at night I am consumed with three things

#1 my family
#2 Paintball
#3 how to make enough money in this sport to be able to do it full time


I have two tem man airball fields, 30 rental markers, 18 scuba tanks, a booster, 3 chronographs, and no land or building to set it up in

I have a full machine shop, and great design programs so that I can design and build just about anything for paintball
and we are working out of my bussiness partners garage.


I have been playing since 1989 and this is all i want to do

you just need to be at the right place at the right time


ALan
DC

[jewie27]

-How much money do you make a year on average? I can't really say for sure, but A LOT.

-Explain to my dad how much paintball is thriving and becoming really big - It's the fastest growing sport in America.

-How it doesn't make kids want to go shoot people with real guns? If kids really wanted to shoot people for real, they would do it regardless of paintball or not. Paintball doesn't teach violence.

-Why do people play paintball and enjoy shooting at their friends? To learn teamwork/communtication and have fun/excercise.

-Will it make younger kids all into real guns and want to go shoot people? No. I wouldn't want to own a real gun. I've been playing 5 years.

I just really want my dad to go into this buisness or just at least like paintball more and let me do whatever with paintball gun trade/buys so maybe you could convince him that it is a great sport and there really isn't anything wrong with it.[/QUOTE]




It's hard to convice adults that already think negative of paintball. Show him how safe the sport is under controlled conditions. Take him to a commercial field and show him how it's run. Show him the safety rules and protective goggle systems we use. Show him the statistics put out by paintball insurance companies.

Bottomline - Paintball makes millions of dollars a year and is safer than golf/bowling/badmition/tennis/football/soccer/baseball/etc.... The insurance companies have proof if this.

[Codekevin0403]

ok well i am NOT an owner of a field, but i'm very good friends with the owners of our local pro-shop and paintball field.

1) as someone mentioned before, it takes 1-3 years to finally make a little money (take it from my friends...) so you should be financially stable before investing in such a big thing.

2) paintball is one of, if not the fastest growing sport in america. on a small scale...in my town, 3 years ago, on a saturday when you were at the field, you'd find maybe 14 players tops. now, go here on a saturday with some nice weather and you'd easily find 65+ players.

Also, if you are opening a field, also consider opening a shop because i can tell you, my local field doesn't make nearly as much money from the field as it does from it's shop.

3) Many people play paintball just because it's fun and many people have good things to say about it. Word of mouth spreads fast

4) To tell you the truth, i have absolutely no idea how much it costs to set up a field. I can tell you that an indoor field will cost more than an outdoor field by common sense. I guess some things you have to buy, if you want a speedball field, are bunkers, and those can range from 2500-4500, so be ready for that. Also you want a decent amount of land before you open your field-nobody wants to play in a cramped area! And if you have an indoor, you have to have the cost of building the building, heating it/cooling it, and other stuff

hope this helps...

[Lohman446]

-How much money do you make a year on average? I can't really say for sure, but A LOT.

WHAT? This is based on an educted review of fiscal documents regarding return on investment of paintball fields right? Recurring overhead factors (insurance, electricity, supplies, employee costs) have been taken into account as well as start up fees (rental markers, masks, building, fields, etc.) and risk (of being sued while holding inadequate insurance, etc.) I assume. If its not based off of actual past returns of an actual field or store is it based of a well reasoned theoretical business model based on quantitative analysis? Or is is this just speculation based on "I see how much they charge for paint" etc.

Bottomline - Paintball makes millions of dollars a year and is safer than golf/bowling/badmition/tennis/football/soccer/baseball/etc.... The insurance companies have proof if this.

Show me the proof? Considering the insurance costs associated with most fields (should rumors be beleived) I would assert that insurance companies risk management divisions have a pretty good idea that there are distinct dangers involved in paintball. Is it relatively safe, sure... but badmitton and bowling? You are sighting a study I think done some time ago, before the big boom in speedball and today's extreme rates of fire. A study indicating less people were injured in some sports than paintball. What you fail to take into consideration are unreported injuries, severity of injuries, and injuries per participant. Data can be skewed to support most any position, but look into insurance rates before you assume they are going to be low because someone on the internet told you paintball was safe. I just don't think that an insurance company is going to beleive that.

[jewie27]

still safer than bowling and golf. I've been reading AGP for 5 years...

[ApexAZ]

I really don't see how paintball can be safer then golf :o

I mean, I guess if you take into consideration the risk of getting hit by someone elses golf ball...?

[jay b]

Golf

Golf is more dangerous, played paintball all my life basically no injures, play golf for 3days and get a driver to my face and break my cheek bone and get a crap load of stitches.

[johnson88]

Golf is more dangerous, played paintball all my life basically no injures, play golf for 3days and get a driver to my face and break my cheek bone and get a crap load of stitches.

or getting run over by one of those golf carts lol