Start a Business
How to Start a Water Sports Business
Launching a water sports business is a rewarding experience as long as you separate yourself from the competition. Here are a few secrets on successfully operating a small business.
Thinking about opening a water sports business? We tell you what you need to know to get started.
Benefits of a Water Sports Business Concept
Consumer enthusiasm is an undeniable advantage for entrepreneurs interested in breaking into the water sports industry. In the right area, a thriving water sports business can serve as an epicenter of commercial tourist activities. But demand isn't the only potential benefit water sports businesses have to offer.
Water sports businesses are also extraordinarily diverse. From an entrepreneurial perspective, this gives you a high degree of latitude in choosing specific business activities that hold the most promise for profitability. Rather than being tied down to a specific concept, it's possible to design a successful water sports business around geographic limitations, available resources and your personal preferences.
Sample Business Model for a Water Sports Startup
Water sports startups can range from full dive and tackle shops to simple boat charters. But when resources are tight, you need to identify a business model that has relatively low startup costs, but big potential for generating attention and enthusiasm among your customer base.
To get the ball rolling, consider launching a water sports business with a reliable powerboat and a handful of pull-behind attachments. Inflatable banana rides, tubes, skis, wakeboards and other pull behind options aren't exorbitantly expensive, yet they are fun and (most importantly) extremely visible.
Starting with the essentials, expansion opportunities are limitless. A simple growth strategy may be to quickly add parasailing to the menu of services and to increase revenues by adding more towboats to your fleet.
Water Sports Startups: Special Considerations
Water sports businesses aren't all fun and games. To stay on track, you'll need to be prepared to spend every waking hour on the beach and to address several special considerations, including the need for a robust liability insurance policy.
You may find that insurance companies are wary about providing coverage for water sports businesses and those that offer it charge higher premiums than they do for standard business liability policies.
Furthermore, zoning and beach access is a problem in congested tourist areas. Finding a location with adequate beach and dock access can be challenging, but if you plan to install a floating platform you may be in for a long struggle.
How to Create a Winning Water Sports Company Business Plan
You've heard that a quality business plan is the first step toward a successful water sports business.
Although it might seem like an unnecessary formality, your water sports company's business plan is a document that will shape your goals and strategies on a go-forward basis.
Furthermore, a good business plan will help you avoid key startup mistakes. Lacking a solid business plan, many startups find themselves rudderless and incapable of executing consistent decision making processes, while committed business planners rely on their plans to guide all of their decision making and short-term planning efforts.
Review the Competition
Before you open a water sports business in your area, it's worthwhile to find out how you will fit in the competitive landscape. Try our link below to get a list of local competitors in your city. Complete the form by entering your city, state and zip code to get a list of water sports businesses that are close by.
Is the established competition doing a good job? It's important to understand their strengths and weaknesses and think through how you'll stake up against those established businesses.
Learn from Others Who Are Already In This Space
As part of your due diligence on opening a water sports business, you really ought to have a conversation with someone who is in the business. If you think your local competitors will give you advice, you're being overoptimistic. It'd be crazy for them to teach you the business.
On the other hand, an individual who has a water sports business in a different city may be more than happy to give you a few tips, once they realize that you are not going to directly compete with them in their community. Many business owners are happy to give advice to new entrepreneurs In my experience, you may have to call ten business owners in order to find one who is willing to share his wisdom with you.
How does one go about finding a water sports business founder in another community?
Easy. Find them using our link below and start calling until you are successful.
Acquisitions vs. Startups
To become a water sports business owner, you'll either need to buy an existing business or start one from scratch.
Unless you have compelling reasons to launch a new business, buying an existing water sports business may be the better choice.
Established water sports businesses are already equipped with the resources and processes new business owners struggle to acquire. If you're diligent about finding the right acquisition prospect, you may be able to leverage a business buying strategy to rapidly propel yourself into a position of industry leadership.
Consider Franchising
If done right, a small business startup takes months and months of preparations just to lay the groundwork for the first day of business.
That makes franchising an attractive alternative to traditional business startups. Today's franchises make it easy for young business owners to start their companies on solid footing and include a broad range of opportunities that can be found in our sports franchising directory (see link below).
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