Want to own a night club?

[newman]

Of course you do. Clasping the hand of the regulars, scribbling "OK" on people's checks like Rick in Casablanca, booking acts that are going to be stars — or already are. Who doesn't think that'd be cool?

Well... here's a business opportunity, Loyal Reader.

I have a chance to rent the old Jimmy Tingle theatre/nightclub in Davis Square. I took a walk around it today, and it's in great shape. I could do a show there tonight and it'd be better shape than many of the venues we've played.

My plan is to create a theatre/nightclub that plays jazz, blues, big band, and swing, and also does some live theater type events (magic and maybe stand-up comedy). The vibe of the club is a little speakeasy-ish. We may also rent rehearsal space to dancers, actors, photographers, etc. during the off-hours for additional income. More details and projections are available.

Monthly expenses (rent, utilities, payroll, marketing, insurance, consumables, etc.) would be in the $10K/month range, and I'm looking to pull together backers for about eight months worth of expenses.

"Leaves me out..." I hear you say. "I don't have eighty thousand dollars".

You don't need too. I'm setting up an L.L.C. to fund this enterprise. The way and LLC works is that at its creation, the various partners are assigned a percentage of ownership. If there are two of us, it could be 50/50 or 92/8 or however we chose to split it. At the end of the year, each owner gets a statement and is responsible for the taxes on their percentage of the profit. That is, if there are two equal partners and the company makes a profit of $1,000.00, each partner is responsible for the taxes on $100 (and, presumably has received that $100 from the company).

I'm doing an early round of financing, where you can buy 1% of the company for $500. This isn't stock, and you don't get to vote. You do get a percentage of the profits — and if the company loses money one year, you also get to write off the loss on your taxes.

A couple of quick things:

- I'm only selling 49% of the company. I'm putting in 51% and going to maintain controlling interest. If you want to have input in how the company is run, drop me a note. Voting shares will cost more.
- This is early round financing; once I raise $12,500 (25%) the price of shares goes up to $1,000.00 for each 1% share.
- Opening date is projected to be beginning of April 2008.
- If you ever want to sell your share, the value is fixed at what you paid for it. If the company every gets sold, you get a percentage of the profits equal to the percentage of the company that you own.
- Income is paid annually for the first three years; quarterly after that.
- There's no guarantee this will work. You can lose all or part of your investment.

"Leaves me out..." I hear you say. "I don't have five hundred dollars".

I'm willing to do a limited number of shares for sweat equity. Commit to 50 hours of work, and you'll get a share. Work can be things like ushering, manning the box office, helping with promotion, painting, building a website, or anything else that appeals to you, benefits the club, and is within your skill set. If you've got a rarefied skill (like, you're a lawyer or an accountant), than I'll increase your hourly rate. The only catch with sweat equity is you have to complete your hours of work within six months of the time you make the commitment.

If you're interested and want more details, drop me a line or leave a comment.

Comments

[jacflash.livejournal.com]

I have a semi-rarefied skill, as you know, and I'm interested. Can I help?

[new-man.livejournal.com]

You have several semi-rarefied skills. I think I'd tap you to help put together a business plan, budget, and proposal to investors. Promo is also good, but I'm really good at that, so it's less valuable to me.

[jacflash.livejournal.com]

That'd be just fine. I'm in a crunch with a key client through Friday, but if you want to meet sometime in the first half of December, let me know.

[new-man.livejournal.com]

I'm not in a massive hurry. The landlord is being unreasonably reasonable. Next month would be fine.

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

I may have some $$ for such foolhardy, dramatic exploits. :)

[new-man.livejournal.com]

Sounds good to me. Where do we go from here?

[asdr83.livejournal.com]

So apparently 1% of a night club is not something I can put on my wedding registry, however both laurion and myself would be interested in doing the 50 hours of work needed for a share and would like more info.

Tempting...

[siriel.livejournal.com]

I imagine the web stuff you want is beyond my rudimentary skills, so that would put me in the 'grunt labor' category.

[new-man.livejournal.com]

OK -- I like you guys and I think you'd be fun to have around. I think Laurion probably has tech skills that could put him in the 'rarefied' category.

I'm happy to have (either one or both of) you on-board. That being said, do you seriously see having the time to do this? Your life is one of the few that I look at an think "And people say I'm busy".

Re: Tempting...

[new-man.livejournal.com]

That may be so. That being said, once the website is designed, someone's going to have to enter things into the calendar and update descriptions of shows. A certain comfort level with the web and HTML would make you an ideal candidate for that.

Re: Tempting...

[siriel.livejournal.com]

I'm fine with maintaining sites -- I've been picking up some scripting languages here and there, enough to read/tweak but not write from scratch. It's the commerce stuff I don't have any experience with, aside from setting up PayPal links. But it could be a lot of fun!

[hfcougar.livejournal.com]

I'm interested, though I can only afford one share.

I'm also potentially interested in helping out as it gets off the ground - probably not as sweat equity, because I don't think I can commit to 50 hours of anything right now, but to meet people, help out, do something different, etc.

[arachne8x.livejournal.com]

I'm interested in sweat equity, keep me posted.

Re: Tempting...

[new-man.livejournal.com]

We'll probably go through a second-party ticketing service -- although god knows which one -- which would be the bulk of the ecommerce.

On the other hand, if you were always looking for an excuse to learn the ins and outs of ZenCart (a good, free, shopping cart system) this could be your moment!

[new-man.livejournal.com]

I'm interested, though I can only afford one share.

I don't really expect too many people to buy more than one or two shares. But I know a lot of people, many of whom will think this is something fun to be involved in (and who trust my business acumen).

I'm also potentially interested in helping out as it gets off the ground - probably not as sweat equity

Fair enough. I'm sure that volunteers will always be welcome!

[new-man.livejournal.com]

Will do. Thanks!

We clearly know a LOT of the same people, but I can't tell who you are. Would you please friend me?

[arachne8x.livejournal.com]

Absolutely, I'll give you a hint. I'm the girlfriend of the other Newman from I Sebastiani... back in the day.

[new-man.livejournal.com]

Oh! Hi!

[rmd.livejournal.com]

i might be interested, but i'd want to know more about the plan and why you think you can make money with my money. :-)

[new-man.livejournal.com]

Fair enough. When I have a business plan (next couple of weeks), I'll let you know.

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

Well, I want to snoop at your business plan just a little bit, to gauge my risk. We should talk at some point, I suppose. Unfortunately my near-term schedule is completely ridiculous; perhaps next week or the week after. What is your timeframe for this endeavor?

[new-man.livejournal.com]

My timeframe is moderately relaxed. I've got five shows/events this month, so I'm not banging on this too hard before the New Year. Your only risk is that someone with more faith and less sense is going to come along and scoop up all the cheap shares ;-)

[thespian.livejournal.com]

I, on the other hand, am a great web developer, user interface designer and light programmer, but I get bored with maintenance. I'd be happy to talk with you about doing a clear, easily maintained design with automatic calendars, etc. I've worked for some big names. My only concern is that, even when giving a break to my non-profit customers, I charge about $20. So I'd want to talk with you about that; but send me mail at this lj account and I'll reply from my 'real' email address.

[dphilli1.livejournal.com]

I'm interested. I can do mix of sweat and $.

[jadasc.livejournal.com]

You know, I was eyeing the same space for use for the sort of events I often want to run. I could be in for a share or two.