How to get started outfitting
03-20-2018, 01:33 PM
#21
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location:
Posts: 6,357
I recommend that you spend a lot of time researching this. In an initial stage of research you should be looking to expose subjects that you need to learn about. For example, what kind of liability insurance do outfitters need to carry? For example, what happens when a personal injury lawyer is out on a hunt with your outfit, a mean horse bucks him off, and then he ends up a paraplegic. Isn't he going to sue? What other like issues are involved?
I recommend you find an actual outfitter and take him out to dinner and drinks and ask him to tell you about these elements of the business. Tell him in advance what your dream is and what you are thinking about doing. For a free dinner and drinks, the right kind of outfitter will talk with you. Actually, you ought to do this with three or four different outfitters. I'm particular that it be dinner and drinks and that it be a kind of one-on-one situation. I think you'll get better, unfiltered answers in this environment. There is enough time for the guy to unwind and get rolling. The drinks should help him to speak more candidly than he otherwise might.
If you are going to do this with borrowed money, I wonder what is involved in persuading a bank to lend the money? Is outfitting considered a good risk for a bank to invest in? What kind of collateral would they expect? Or another way of looking at this question would be how much skin would you need to be able to put in the game for them to be willing to lend you money? Maybe you need to put in $50,000 of your own cash money -- into assets (e.g., collateral that the bank can repossess and sell) not into operating expenses -- in order to get the bank to put in $50,000 for assets?
You might think about finding some outfitter that you can partner with. Maybe you could find some outfitter who would be willing to let you buy into the business with a 50/50 share? Maybe you could buy in with a 40/60 share (the original owner retains majority interest)? Depending on what your dream is, this might check the box. Maybe you could structure it so that you start out this way and have the option to buy out the partner's stake when he retires?
I recommend you find an actual outfitter and take him out to dinner and drinks and ask him to tell you about these elements of the business. Tell him in advance what your dream is and what you are thinking about doing. For a free dinner and drinks, the right kind of outfitter will talk with you. Actually, you ought to do this with three or four different outfitters. I'm particular that it be dinner and drinks and that it be a kind of one-on-one situation. I think you'll get better, unfiltered answers in this environment. There is enough time for the guy to unwind and get rolling. The drinks should help him to speak more candidly than he otherwise might.
If you are going to do this with borrowed money, I wonder what is involved in persuading a bank to lend the money? Is outfitting considered a good risk for a bank to invest in? What kind of collateral would they expect? Or another way of looking at this question would be how much skin would you need to be able to put in the game for them to be willing to lend you money? Maybe you need to put in $50,000 of your own cash money -- into assets (e.g., collateral that the bank can repossess and sell) not into operating expenses -- in order to get the bank to put in $50,000 for assets?
You might think about finding some outfitter that you can partner with. Maybe you could find some outfitter who would be willing to let you buy into the business with a 50/50 share? Maybe you could buy in with a 40/60 share (the original owner retains majority interest)? Depending on what your dream is, this might check the box. Maybe you could structure it so that you start out this way and have the option to buy out the partner's stake when he retires?
