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5 Replies Last post: Apr 28, 2009 5:05 PM by bizconsultant

First Business in Fitness Gym.. Advice Please!

Jun 25, 2008 5:15 PM

Click to view total_fitness's profile Professional total_fitness 3 posts since
Jun 25, 2008
My husband has been in the fitness industry for 7 years and is ready to open his own fitness facility. We have designed a very extensive Business Plan, followed by research in the marketable land where we live, along with statements for this year from our CPA. We are looking to lease available space/equipment, etc. Our dilemma is...our income from previous two years does not come close to what we are making this year (due to being in graduate school full time). Our credit is excellent/good. We are wanting to open this facility in an area of Texas which has only 3 fitness facilities in a 25 mile radius. (the odds are in our favor!). With experience in Fitness from Texas and NYC, I believe this is a great business opportunity and investment. Here are my questions...

How can we find an investor if we do not qualify for SB loans on our own?
Are their any loans we can apply for as a Minority-Owned Business that would be to our advantage?
What about Venture Capitalists?

Any information/advice would be greatly appreciated!
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Click to view Adducent's profile Mogul Adducent 338 posts since
May 22, 2008
1. Re: First Business in Fitness Gym.. Advice Please! Jun 26, 2008 4:53 PM
in response to: total_fitness

Hi,

Without credit or collateral to get debt based funding, the only avenue you may have is to try to raise capital by selling equity.

If your plan is solid and the business a viable opportunity you may be able to find an "Angel" investor who would provide some funding for you. Angel investors can and do put money into small private businesses that are opportunities of interest to them. You can search online for "angel investors" and you will find a number of resources and web sites that will help you with sources of those types of investors.

Most Angels that you find that way may be more interested in high growth businesses and larger transactions. Your best bet may be to check locally for smaller "angel" type investors that want to put smaller amounts of money into a business of your type.

You also might want to try "social lending" sites such as:

http://www.lendingclub.com/

https://us.zopa.com/

http://www.prosper.com/


If you need a large amount of funding you should look at using your plan for the basis to have your attorney prepare a Private Placement Memorandum. Also known as a PPM this is the document that covers all the legal aspects of raising capital from from private investors by selling them stock (and sometimes bonds, which are often convertible to equity). if you are interested in raising capital that way then check with your attorney about a Reg D PPM filing; the costs etc. For that your plan should be well prepared and include at least 3 years of pro forma financial projections.

I hope the above gives your some help or food for thought. Best of luck to you. If you have questions on the above post them here or contact me and I'll help you as best I can.

Dennis Lowery
Adducent, Inc.

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Click to view NRU Investor's profile Mogul NRU Investor 35 posts since
Dec 28, 2007
2. Re: First Business in Fitness Gym.. Advice Please! Jul 2, 2008 1:55 AM
in response to: total_fitness

Good evening if you are looking to accept credit cards I know that I can definitely help you out. I know there are alot of companies out there that promise you things that sound good but you have to be very careful. I know that you are need to accept credit cards, but would I would like to do is save you money which is important but last but not least is help you make more money, which is the reason why you went into business. With Alpha Omega Processing powered by NPC we have over 25 years in experience with credit processing. NPC processes 1 out of 4 credit card transactions in the world, and is the 5th largest processing company in the U.S. We offer no annual fees, no application fees, and no contracts. We offer the lowest rates and it will only go down from there,not up. Feel free to call me at 678-371-5049- so that I can get all of your questions answered or you can email me at tmack0306@yahoo.com. Give me a call so we can talk about your business and get your business off the ground.

Tory Mosley
Business Owner Advisor
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