Advice

[bolt91 31]

Hoping to get some insight here. My career goal is to open my own pro shop or obtain a franchise of a well known shop.

Anyone have any tips on how to go about accomplishing this? I'm finishing up college soon and I want to jump start this as soon as possible.

ANY feedback is welcome. I'm currently in the Chicago area.

THANKS!

[Chadd 916]

The first thing I would suggest is working in the industry for a number of years to gain experience, especially on the purchasing side of things. It's an extremely difficult industry and there is very little margin for error.

[StManTiS 2]

Owning a pro-shop will involve most likely purchasing real estate in which to run the shop. It would be zoned as commercial so a mortgage would be difficult to pull off with student loans. Now then to pay off your loans and jack up some bank score you could look at buying a 4plex and living in one unit while renting the other 3. Between the rents incoming and tax write offs for depreciation which will cause you to have a paper loss every year you should have a net income on the property as well as a place to live. Now realize land-lording is not for everyone, but it will save you a lot of money in terms of not hiring a PMG. More interesting though is that after 2 years you can sell the property with 250,000 of the proceeds being tax free if you are single or 500k if you are married. Now after paying off you mortgage and taxes you should end up with enough principal to put down on a commercial lot. Now that's the real estate aspect of it.

On the business side you would probably have to grab a job at a national level retailer and see how they do business and what makes them profitable.

[XveritasX 13]

I agree with getting a job in the industry for a few years. You will need the experience, and it will help to build relationships. In Canada we have Source for Sports which is a group on independent retailers that combine to form a national buying group. Idk if the States have anything similar, but it may be another option to look at when you are ready to take the step.

[shooter27 116]

Owning a pro-shop will involve most likely purchasing real estate in which to run the shop. It would be zoned as commercial so a mortgage would be difficult to pull off with student loans. Now then to pay off your loans and jack up some bank score you could look at buying a 4plex and living in one unit while renting the other 3. Between the rents incoming and tax write offs for depreciation which will cause you to have a paper loss every year you should have a net income on the property as well as a place to live. Now realize land-lording is not for everyone, but it will save you a lot of money in terms of not hiring a PMG. More interesting though is that after 2 years you can sell the property with 250,000 of the proceeds being tax free if you are single or 500k if you are married. Now after paying off you mortgage and taxes you should end up with enough principal to put down on a commercial lot. Now that's the real estate aspect of it.

I think you're probably putting the cart before the horse here. Location selection is clearly important, but it also sounds like its well down the road for the OP. Also, while owning the real estate for the store is nice in theory, it requires a large up front capital outlay. I'm going to guess that most start up shops find it more profitable and economically feasible to lease space at first. And there is plenty of good retail space available atm.