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Your nightclub venture starts here! These are the most frequently sent questions with comprehensive answers to them, which in addition, will also provide a broader level overview of Nightclubbiz.com and the services it provides. Nightclubbiz.com has maintained the largest and most comprehensive nightclub operations resource since 1994. Many other resources have emerged since this time; however do not provide the depth of information on the core operations level. Nightclubbiz.com is for those seeking a broader scope understanding of today's social entertainment arena. The demand for high quality nightclub entertainment product could never be higher and money does not seem to be an issue within this fast growing newer demographic. Now, attracting the interest of this high dollar crowd is not as simple as opening up a big box with trendy décor and lights. These new generation consumers are not your average assortment of modest spending club goers, trend seekers, posers, or kids. They're a highly diverse audience of professionals, singles, divorced, and separated consumers, combined with yet another emerging demographic that are delaying marriage well into their late 20's /early 30's. These are the people with plenty of money -the big fish so to speak and there are lots of them. They're the demographic that many operators fantasize about, but few manage to attract. Ultimately the choice is yours. You can open a nightclub and assume the 'shot in the dark' approach to operations. Or, you can educate yourself and actually go into the business with a solid vision and refined methodology.
I cleaned up the site… All articles have been added to the 22,000 page knowledge base in the members area. For $69.95, you get 1-year of access and a 60-minute live consultation with me. See the full details here.
The 22,000 page knowledge base encompasses hundreds of articles, guides, and past discussions amongst real nightclub operators and other personnel. The knowledge base covers every aspect of the nightclub /bar operation, but more importantly from a multi faceted perspective, as opposed to someone's single minded idea of how 'all' nightclubs should operate. The Nightclubbiz.com knowledge base 'is not' a mishmash of one-off promo's and short lived gimmicks, which elude to instant success for any nightclub that uses them. One problem with an increasing number of nightclub related websites, is conveying the erroneous impression that nightclub operations are all about getting on top of the heat of the moment trend or promo. Expressions, such as hot, amazing, and fresh are a few of the terms most often used to bamboozle less experienced operators into believing that using these (hear today, gone tomorrow gimmicks) are all you need to operate an entertainment venue, plus it'll be fun too! Very little is discussed, or at least in any detail regarding the core operational model, mindset of the consumer public, much less a means to interpret market climate. Little is discussed on building a team of staff or management that are actually competent, as opposed to needing continuous handholding. This may explain why many new nightclub openings today (and especially larger city ones) actually believe they'll operate 'hands free' so to speak. You outsource the management, DJ's, and security staff, while handing off the entertainment component to 3rd party promoters. It's no wonder why most of these ingenious operations can barely survive one night a week. Nightclub business in a can, right? Well.. If you're thinking of doing that, it's highly recommended you watch a real-life TV series called "The Club", which is a 15-part series of a nightclub operation in Las Vegas. Here you'll observe the classic scenario of what happens when you attempt to put a 10-million nightclub on cruise control. You'll observe the lack of direction, management, and overall control of the operation as it plummets into oblivion. You'll get to see what happens when you hire staff "based" on someone that knows another employee. You'll see promoters that are hired as managers (if you can believe that), while DJ's, bouncers, and one-night promoters run wild. I mean.. It's a really a great characterization of how many clubs are operated today. And what are those questions again? Why is the nightclub failure rate still hovering around 75%? How can a multi million dollar nightclub crash in just under 12-months? Put another way, imagine where Walmart, Starbucks, or other fortune 500 companies would be today if they operated in a similar fashion to many nightclubs? In any event, the Nightclubbiz.com knowledge base is focused on the numerous facets of the core operation, in addition to an in depth study of the social entertainment consumer. In essence, a nightclub is like any other business -you need to actually know what you're doing!
While Nightclubbiz.com offers help to both new and current entertainment operations, the bulk of traffic is new startups. These venues generally consist of everything from the standard issue dance club or lounge, to high-end mega clubs in larger cities. Just for the record, a bar, sports bar, them venue, small town top 40 club, martini bar, or even adult club venue are all members of the social entertainment family. Nightclubbiz.com packs extensive background, from both a startup and operational perspective in all of them. Most newcomers, at least in the initial stages are just plain overwhelmed with the amount of considerations that must be addressed in the pre-opening phase. Now approaching 10,000 consultations, Nightclubbiz.com has developed a highly refined ability to:
In essence, Nightclubbiz.com does not waste your time through stalling tactics -generally in the form of hounding the client for additional consulting fees. There are no contracts, retainer fees, or long-term obligations. There are no travel, flight, or lodging costs imposed upon you. We get right down to business -the business that's important to you just minutes into the phone call. And best of all… Nightclubbiz.com was the first ever to offer online Nightclub Consulting beginning in October 1994.
Unlike many others, Nightclubbiz.com discloses its fee structure for the nightclub help services, as opposed to insisting you 'call for pricing', which is essentially a means to pressure sell you over the phone. The services here are well priced and designed to accommodate everyone's budget. Once again, there are no contracts, retainer fees, long-term obligations, but best of all… We can get right to business within hours if you want. See the options and pricing here.
First of all, I'm not offering full business plan services and simply because of the fact that less than 1% of them result in procuring funding. They're expensive -thousands of dollars in many cases, but sadly, do little more than provide a false sense of hope of for the majority of aspiring nightclub entrepreneurs. I refuse to take money for anything that (in actuality) offers about a 1 in 1-billion chance of success.
Business plans do serve a purpose, but in many cases are misunderstood as the 'first step' to moving forward with a nightclub venture. Instead, try a five to seven page executive summary, which highlights the key aspects of the proposed nightclub venture. There are many reasons why executive summaries are much more 'investor friendly', but here are a few:
Most investment sources are the wiser to canned or 3rd party business plan services, which often convey the impression that someone else dreamt this whole thing up for you. You need to convince the source that you're in control of the ship. Having someone else bang out a business, which is clearly the result of plugging numbers and statements in a cookie-cutter template of sorts, will NOT fool the majority of investment sources. In many cases and most notably nightclub related proposals, the executive summary can be your best friend. It generally consists of five to seven pages, which highlight the essential components of the business offering. This is a summarized presentation of your offering, which gets down to business quickly by addressing the issues most important to a potential source. Articulated correctly, you'll maintain their interest, which could lead to second base. What is second base? You may receive a phone call requesting additional information, and if this goes well, 3rd base, which is the request for a broader scope business plan. To be honest, of all the nightclubs I've seen funded, a formal business plan was never involved. That's not to say that you won't need one. The point here is understanding the time and place for one, and it's NOT on first contact. By the same token, would you propose marriage on a first date? The other problem with business plans is that you need to keep continuously updating them, which in itself can be daunting undertaking. If you alter one component, you need to consider what other components need to be revised as well, otherwise you end up with a hacked up looking document with many contradicting assumptions. Nightclubbiz.com offers the following business plan services:
Business plan rewrites: If you've already composed a business plan, or are at the stage where your source is requesting one, I'll preview it before you submit it. If changes need to be made, I'll suggest these to you first. If you ok them, I'll make the agreed changes.
Unless you actually live in the target marketplace, it's impossible to render accurate financial projections, and no matter how many online consultants, experts, and business plan software programs try to convince you otherwise. In all honesty, if I were to become personally involved with any nightclub venture, which exceeded $300,000 in capital funding, I'd hire the services of a local accountant or business lawyer to tackle the job of assembling financial projections that are accurate and DO NOT make an ass of me in front of an investor whom posses the question: "How exactly did you arrive at these figures"? Ummm geee… Some nightclub expert on the Internet said so… The truth is it's very unlikely that many of the so-called nightclub experts understand tax law in all states, posses an MBA, or own a small business law firm. As a result, they're not qualified, nor have any business involving themselves in what could be considered the most critical aspects of a business plan presentation, and also where your credibility will be put to the test. If and when a prospective investment source gives you the opportunity to make the pitch, you'll get one chance to get it right. Don't mess it up with half basked assumptions!
Generally, an existing nightclub would contact Nightclubbiz.com as the result of a distressed operation, and or other problems that have seriously destabilized the business. First of all we do not rain a barrage of gimmicks, promotions, contests, or other gibberish that promises to turn the troubled operation around overnight. Nightclubs at their very best are complex creatures. The troubled nightclub operation is 'exceedingly' complex, in that understanding the endless array of composite attributes, which are 'unique' to it's situation, or better termed (cause and effect) must be carefully understand "before" going nuts with all sorts of suggestions, solutions, and guaranteed fixes. Many nightclubs plunge themselves into bankruptcy by falling prey to "panic spending." That is, they're so emotionally overwhelmed with the prospect of losing the club, they get talked into burning off the limited and remaining balance of funds on a bombardment of quick fixes, one-night events, promotions, advertising, Internet experts, and everything but the kitchen sink in terms of reviving the failing operation. Naturally this never works and by the time they've figured this out, the locks are being placed on the doors. Can you say Chapter 11? Suffice it to say, Nightclubbiz.com approaches the troubled nightclub operation with a thoughtful and receptive approach. We spend more time asking questions and developing an "accurate understanding" of the situation, as opposed to seeking ways to pitch you on quick fixes, which generally results in plunging the club deeper into financial ruins. I only say this, as the nightclub operators that fell victim to these ridiculous ideas almost always contact me at some point after the fact, and at which time they disclose the entire saga of who told /sold them what. Unfortunately, they're now beyond distressed and have gone critical. I can't do much for them at this point. In short, Nightclubbiz.com focuses its attention on the internal operation. You can't solve a problem until you actually know what it is. In the majority of nightclubs, problems generally originate from flaws in the operational model. In many cases, nightclub operators seem to believe they have the entire operation under control, and that no problems could possibly exist in the core model. We need new promos --that's what it is! That's almost always 98% wrong. Causality 101… There needs to be 'cause before effect'. Nightclubs do not end up empty, riddled in violence, or closed as the result of mere happenstance. An event, perhaps several occurred within a specific timeline that resulted in the predicament they're in now. So how gimmicks are supposed to address or correct these issues is beyond me, but many nightclubs continue to buy into this false sense of resolve.
The primary objective is to enlighten new and current operators on both the rudimentary and in depth facets of a social entertainment venture. The music, lights, theme, staffing, and alcohol are elementary… Understanding the social entertainment consumer on an intellectual level is becoming increasingly important. This is the 21st century where leisure entertainment has blossomed into an infinite range of social pleasures that range from party cruises, to exotic playgrounds, such as club Hedonism. The divorce rate has reached a historical high of 52% and there are now more single people than ever with plenty of money to spend on entertainment. Put simply, nightclubs need to understand that we're no longer in the 80's where cheap promos, cheap drinks, huge base bins, and shallow gimmicks will result in huge profits. We're in a VERY DIFFERENT world now. Many nightclubs continue to do a splendid job of attracting kiddies and short lived trend-seekers, but have yet to capture the much larger majority, which is the 25, upwards to 40-age group. This is where the bulk of revenues reside, however you won't attract these big fish with much of the silly nonsense observed going on today. Furthermore, this is exactly why many nightclubs can barely sustain a couple of profitable nights of business -they're fixated on the lowest spending minority in most cases, as is their competition. So essentially, everyone on the block ends up with a measly piece of the lowest shelf consumer.
It's no different than opening an auto shop, but your knowledge is limited to pumping gas, refilling window washer, and checking oil. With this limited knowledge, you'd be breaking more things than you'd fix. The nightclub business is tough, fast, and unforgiving. It's survival of the fittest and crybabies will not survive. As a result, Nightclubbiz.com is not the place to come if you're looking for a feel-good hug. From dealing with investment sources, to the ins and outs of the day-to-day operation (if you ever get that far), you'd better be prepared for an endless slew of hard knocks and rainy nights. As a result, coddling our users, or filling our pages with niceties and tender commentary is not something we do here, and simply because it's contrary to 'reality' in the nightclub entertainment arena. If you want that, there are at least two other sites that specialize in it, and good luck to ya! At Nightclubbiz.com, we bread winners, not cupcakes. The very essence of a successful nightclub operator is one with a solid vision and disciplined mind. Much of our approach is focused on exactly this. No doubt, there are thousands of people that "think" they're going to conjure up an idea of the century; get funded; and go to the races. The truth is, only 1% of these ambitions actually end up funded and operational. The larger majority of these ambitions translate into half-baked ideas, misguided approaches, and endless business plan presentations that now reside in the bottomless pit of oblivion. More unfortunate, are the obscene amounts of money invested into what otherwise were false hopes of becoming an overnight success story. Think twice before dealing with those who tell you 'exactly' what you want to hear… This is an abundance of that in this business.
In some cases yes, however most of the consulting sessions are now conducted over the phone, as much of what I need to know can be obtained this way. Additionally, it's a highly cost-effective means of consulting, as the client pays no flight or lodging fees. In some cases however, I will agree that it's necessary to travel to the physical operation, even if only for a night or two. What happened to those power nightclub /weekend consultations? For a short period of time, I was offering this service to nightclubs interested in obtaining my perspective on their live operation. I'd head out to the club for a Friday night, and or whole weekend where my self and the club owner could have a close look at the ins and outs of the venue. The reason this service was cancelled was because of time constraints. With many worldwide consulting clients, it's tough to take off for any period of time. Many of the consultations are carried out over the weekend, so it's basically a 7-day a week operation here. That said, I may begin offering these weekend services again, depending on available time. This provides the advantage of spending a couple of nights with the operator as we observe the actual nightclub in progress. After much analysis and discussion with the operator, I submit a full written report of my observations, findings, and suggestions. Sometimes, I'm called out to study a specific issue, while in others the operator just wants an overall review of the operation. At the same time, we can brainstorm and discuss an endless assortment of new ideas, plus look at ways to improve overall business performance -it's actually a lot of fun. If the nightclub evaluation service interests you, contact me here. Time permitting of course...
I don't do that here… As a manager and operator, I gave up on resumes back in the late 80's. Ever heard of the expression "Bullshit Baffles Brains"? Well, the nightclub business is considered the very heart of that. As much as I love it, the honest truth is that about 5% of what you read and hear is true, while the remaining 95% is composed of half truths, misinformation, gross exaggerations, and blatant deceptions. As I write this document, I have 600 nightclub resumes sitting at the bottom of my filing cabinet, which go back as far as 1988. Due to the fact that nightclubs are transient business ventures, (hear today, gone tomorrow), it's exceptionally difficult to attribute any real validation to the many claims often posted on a large number of these resumes, and now websites as well. If the club has since closed, or changed ownership, how do you verify someone's claim of being a manager responsible for increasing revenue by 2-million a year for example? In other cases, a lower level intermediate employee crafts a resume riddled in success stories and 'does' provide a reference, however upon contacting the reference, it's often clear that this so-called reference has been coached to agree and endorse the claims. For all you know, you could be talking to the guy's mother... The nightclub arena can be an ambiguous one at best sometimes, which provides plenty of opportunity to make things up that no one can really verify. Theoretically, the only way you could really verify someone's claims; be them on a resume, portfolio, or that of a consultant would be to to demand cash balance sheets, profit & loss statements, and certified tax returns, which clearly document financial performance "before" and "after" they came on board. It's all about financial performance, right? Well… No nightclub in or out of business is going to disclose this information. Hence the claims in a resume or portfolio "cannot" be 'legitimately' verified --they must be accepted at face value. For me personally, I tend to verify the extent of someone's knowledge through face-to-face discussion. This way, I can ask my own questions on the spot, which based on the way they respond, will tell me a lot about whether they're seasoned, or merely an amateur trying to over exaggerate the extent of their knowledge in this industry. I refuse to look at anything that's pre scripted, nor will allow any situation that allows an applicant to 'rehearse' their responses. I also expect to be held to the same rigorous standards, should anyone care to question my background. But the question still remains 'what is my experience'? I'm not sure how to post this in summarized fashion. In short, I started my career in nightclubs at age 16. I've worked every position in the operation, but the bulk of my learning years were spent in the heart of the entertainment, which was the booth. Early in the game however, I discovered that I enjoyed taking on troubled nightclub operations in an effort to turn them around. This resulted in not staying in one club, but working numerous types of entertainment venues and often simultaneously. Full time management was disinteresting to me. First of all, I found it stifling and exceptionally boring, as once everything is running smoothly, the tasks become redundant and not terribly challenging. Secondly, you must commit yourself to one venue, which means missing out on all the action of problem-solving for many different venues. No matter what venue I worked, I'd always end up acting as an advisor to owners and upper level management -it just always seemed to end up that way. At some point, I realized that my purpose in a nightclub was really more of an analyst /problem-solver, as it's what I did best. I did not like to be in the limelight. I preferred to work quietly in the background studying the composite facets of the operation and always coming up with new out-of-the-box ways to improve market interest and cash flow performance. I've been involved with one soul ownership and two part ownerships of entertainment venues. One of them was a resort nightclub on the island of Barbados. As an important side note, nightclub ownership means absolutely nothing in terms of weighing someone's competence and knowledge. The nightclub failure rate still remains at 75%, so it'd be hard to argue that owning a nightclub, or holding a management position makes someone the wiser. I'm only mentioning my involvement as an owner as one facet of my background -not as a means to claim superior knowledge. Knowledge comes from working many many various types of entertainment operations. This is how you obtain a multi faceted perspective of the business. The positions, be it manager, bar tender, DJ, or owner matters not in this case, as there's no evidence that managers or owners are inherently smarter than everyone else. That may change in the future, but at present, (number of years invested) in 'multiple entertainment environments' seem to be present in all people I know that posses a well 'above average' awareness of the social entertainment business. Needless to mention, I also posses 15-years of international consulting experience, which is the result of Nightclubbiz.com. I realize this is not the classic nightclub resume some may expect, but at least it's sincere, as opposed to an over hyped document riddled in ambiguities, over exaggerated claims, and success stories that no one could 'ever' verify. Hopefully that addresses most questions. Should you have additional ones, please send them here. |
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