Likely you'd be better of with a McDonalds. Fast food is ingrained in American life. Business is there no matter the economy and everyone eats. A woodworking store, on the other hand, is a niche market that can take a severe hit during an economic downturn.
Yeah, I too agree with the others - it would be tough! But MJ has a point. Today I heard a piece on NPR where some IT
*expert* was talking about the huge money that will be involved in data recovery, emails, etc. It sounds like your jobs got you down so maybe a change -within your area of expertise- would be more practical and have more potential.Good Luck!
Yup. SCORE one for B A R R Y !
-- Mark
Last I looked (which was a loooong time ago) minimum net worth required for McDonalds to even consider a franchisee was $2.5 million. I seriously doubt that any McDonalds has ever made money from day one since it takes a few weeks of having employees in training programs before you open and you better expect to grossly over staff for a several more weeks while that green staff learns the ropes even a little bit (not to mention the 50% turnover you will likely face from a completely green minimum wage staff and all of the free food you will be giving away to try to molify pissed off customers whose orders were screwed up by that green staff). This all assumnes that you have worked in and managed a McDonalds for several years because I guarantee you that you don't just walk in and start running a complex business like a McDonalds (or any other food service place shy of "Mom's diner"). I expect that the time from quiting your current job, though training, building a premanufactured store, equiping it, staffing it and just getting it open is at least 6 months - with no income and lotsa outgo. Major time is spent before that getting the franchise, finding and buying (or leasing) real estate in a viable market, etc. A short cut might be to purchase an operating store from McDonalds or an existing franchisee (with McDonald's permission of course) but they don't give away successful stores and who the hell wants to start out in a store that failed for someone else. Franchises are business opportunities designed to reduce the very high probability of bankruptcy that any new business faces - they are not viable get rich quick schemes.
Dave Hall
On Fri, 01 Dec 2006 22:16:34 GMT, "CW" wrote:
I thought the same thing. More likely you might get to spend 8 hours a day NOT working at the store after a couple of years getting everything in order and working smoothly ;-)
Dave Hall
There's always "McDougals!"
Especially since nowadays, most retail operations are 7 day a week, only closed on 5 or so holiday operations.
My buddy and his partner bought a 40 year old, 3-employee bicycle shop in early 1997. They now have 16 year-round, and about another 10 seasonal employees, including (8) front door key-holders and two dept. managers. Only now, have they gotten _down_ to 55 hours each, during the ~ 8 month season, and maybe 45 for the other months.
In 2000, they bought the four story Main Street building that houses the shop. They've now grown it into a business that sells the cheapest kid's tricycle, alongside $10,000 custom Serrotas and Calfees with the same emphasis on customer service.
They do very well, but they certainly earn it!
I know someone else, complete with a "40-hour" mentality who owns a retail radio control model shop (1 part-time employee, zero yearly growth, closed Sundays) who simply owns a "job", not a "business". We always kid him that the existence of the shop is simply to stop his well-employed wife from making him actually work!
The Woodcraft store in Latham, NY only lasted a few years before folding... The owner's cited being required to stock large quantities of slow moving merchandise, carving chisels and hardware in particular, and that tied up their cash. Another problem was that the slick, high profile location was expensive. They bled cash until they couldn't bleed any more...
For me personally, their product mix didn't offer much of interest for a walk in store--Woodworkers Warehouse was far more interesting. ;~) Additionally, the things that did appeal to me tended to be very pricy compared to other retailers prices. As a specialty mail order catalog business Woodcraft looks just dandy but even in an area as big as Albany/Schenectady/Troy, NY the store wasn't viable. It should be noted that there are woodworkers in the area too... my woodworkers club alone has about
1,000 members and most of them are in that area of NY.I'd due a LOT of due diligence before plunking down the bucks...
John
I should have gone to bed... too many punctuation and grammar errors for my taste. ;~) Doctored up text below!
Resist ... brick and mortar in that line is fast becoming an anachronism.
... snip
Let us know how that works out for you. ;-)
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+This is a long response as I just helped a couple of friends of mine look at this very subject with the very company in question about 3 years ago. Here are the salient points I remember.
Don't think you will be your own boss if you own a Woodcraft or any other successful franchise for that matter.
I have known the players here at our local Woodcraft for many years now, and the amount of $$ is staggering to get in, certainly the numbers floating around here at 400K level are correct. From what I understood when the local joint went up for sale, WC has it all mapped out for you.
This is what I got from some of the folks that looked into purchasing our local franchise. I wasn't there, but these guys are pretty straightforward individuals.
Price for the franchise and required store size are based on population of the area where you want to start the business. Certain stock items are mandatory and you will carry them at all times, even if they are slow movers. This keeps a familiar appearance of a WC store, no matter where it is located. Items that are purchased by the home office that they feel should be in the store are purchased by them, sent to you, and billed (they don't ask). Their sale and ad merchandise and timing will be yours, too. Only a certain amount of "outside merchandise" is allowed, so you shouldn't think it is your store to stock with the items you find.
And apparently the folks at WC are upfront about the $$ requirements. They told the guys that were looking at the franchise that they needed enough additional income and savings to hold on for about 3 years or so until it was up and running correctly. 3 years income!! Then they could pay themselves a nominal salary. It seems the real income starts when you open your second store (no kiddin').
And me speaking as an employer, if you haven't managed, hired, fired, paid, scheduled, or trained employees, you are in for a real shock. In your mind you are thinking you will find a retired craftsman, some old German guy (OK, that's my dream) that would do the job for the love of woodworking. Check out the feedback you get when you tell that cranky old sombitch to do something he doesn't want to do. Or take a look at the youngsters working in Home Depot... even the good ones are most green as gourds. These will be your affordable labor to fit your business model. Solving benefit disputes, working around sick time off, personal time off, employee infighting, bad/childish behavior from full grown men, overtime pay, meetings with your state unemployment commission... if you haven't done these things you should really take a crack at that first as a manager or asst. manager somewhere to get a feel for it.
Our local store survives by hiring well meaning retirees that have at least one income, and sometimes 3. We are in a military town that had
5 bases for 60 years, so we have a lot of retirees looking for something to do that are more interested in keeping busy than making a career mark after retirement. Perfect for WC. But I don't know what the talent pool would be like where you are.And I agree with Swingman on his keen observation.
I sent a buddy of mine opening a small custom shop over to WC to buy his tools. Pricing wasn't that good, the people weren't that knowledgeable at WC, they didn't have all the stuff he wanted. So, we talked about it, and he went to Amazon where I thought he should have gone in the first place. He bought his Jet cabinet saw, Jet 15" board planer, Jet 6" jointer, Jet 16" bandsaw, Jet monster dust collector, and a pile of accessories and he got some free promotional goodies from them (a Bosch router and a router lift for one!). Shipping was free. It was shipped to his door. He saved about $2600 at Amazon over WC. WC was higher on all the tools, and he had to pay taxes on his purchase locally. On top of that, WC charged for delivery of EACH tool, not just a large truck and mover rental.
Needless to say he was thrilled things didn't work out for him at WC since he saved a pile of money. The only reason he went there in the first place was that he felt like he was supporting our local economy. (A civic minded chap.)
I don't buy anything at WC anymore. I buy all the disposables and tools I need on the net. Our local store is hurting for that very same reason as I am certainly not alone. And it has not gone unnoticed by me and many of my cohorts (including one that works there) that a lot of the merchandise in WC is the same as in *gulp* Harbor Freight. Different packaging, but the same product.
If it were me, I would try something along the lines of developing a new skill. While you have income, take some furniture making classes and invest in some top notch tools. If you want to get into woodworking as a profession, you need to learn how to do a lot of different tasks very rapidly, and that takes practice. Do that while you have income and no employees.
Whatever you do, good luck!
Robert
A fraternity brother and I were having lunch one day, when he announced he was going to fold up what had been a very successful consulting engineering business that he started by taking out a $5K loan on his house.
When I asked him "why", he answered, "Because I'm getting tired of having to hold a guy's swantz every time he has to go to the bathroom."
One of the reasons I run a one man band.
Lew
A woodworking store doesn't necessarily have to say "Woodcraft" on the sign to draw my business. If the franchise is too $$$$ to startup, why not do your own thing. --dave
I choose Polesoft Lockspam to fight spam, and you?
Without an excellent location you may be in serious trouble starting a store. Plus, you will work 60+ hours a week. I'd definitely shop more at the nearest Woodcraft store if it wasn't so far away. I buy
90% of my needs online, except for wood which I get free or make a purchase twice a year. Gasoline costs are just too high to drive my truck long distances and I don't expect that to change much.
I'd=A0definitely=A0shop
h=A0to=A0drive=A0my
OTOH, I work at a Woodcraft store in Spokane and we get customers drivi= ng from Idaho, Montana, and spots 100+ miles away in Washington just to come to= our store.
--=20 It's turtles, all the way down
The "Build Your Own" platform, of course.
"Sawdust in every pot"
Vote for Old Hickory
All problems are nails since everyone owns a hammer.
The official Party drink is the screwdriver.
That should get the thread started.......
Roy
Mark ... move Quicken to Linux. I'll buy the first copy.
Bill
That would be 8 hours before lunch. And 8 hours afterward.
I used to manage a Dominos Pizza store. The only day I actually spent 8 hours there was Christmas day ... when we were closed.
Bill
I certainly don't have years
Well, I suggest that you continue doing what ever you are doing. It is rare and very hard to for any new business to show a profit the "first" year.
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