I want to run a profitable animal rescue and adoption in a whole new way. Build a stone castle, include a small village of very basic houses several hundred feet from the castle. Use the buildings and castle as Event rental space. Weddings, Birthdays, Clubs like SCA.org, and the full contact MMA armored tournaments. That end will be the profitable side of the company with a percentage of the profits funding the animal rescue and adoption side of things. The village or the property will have areas for animal adoption with employees to help work the process. EMPLOYEES: I want to work out a way to have disabled veterans. Particularly violent PTSD veterans as employees. I am 100 percent disabled due to PTSD and tend to be very violent. Training in plate armor and handling animals has helped me find ways to feel somewhat comfortable in public situations. I want to give others the same opportunity and one they can call a job or profession.
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Thank you Howard for the sound advice. I am familiar with the 6 P's and and your right its the perfect mantra. I am familiar with developing plans to breach buildings, approach emplacements and other non civilian operations. A business plan is a completely unfamiliar beast to me. I would like to start putting a first draft together but don't know where to start or what information is needed in the briefing. Lets not even get into the lack of intel I'm working with currently. As far as interest is concerned. I have noted in my short career as a melle fighter that there is very few spaces for medieval tournaments to hold their events in America. Europe has dedicated arenas and world class tournaments and wars. Right now is the time to open up space in the Americas. The sport is only going to continue to grow. Like MMA it is brutal and entertaining. Like MMA it will grow like wildfire if given the proper representation.
It's great that you reached out. As the replies indicate, the vision you have is easier said than done.
One of the key elements to success in this is to have a purpose or a 'why' and you have that. I suggest you read 'Start with Why' by Simon Sinek or watch the TED Talk video he has (Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action ).
Your business model is different and that can be your strength. Before you seek investment or put your own money into it, it's always a good idea to prove your concept. Perhaps you could ask potential customers if they would use an event space like the one you are thinking of? Remember -what people say and what they actually do are not one and the same. It's prudent to discount what people say by 50%.
Beware of the Field of Dreams mentality!! Many small business owners have this. They believe “If you build it they will come.” “It,” being their business, and “they” being customers, but too often businesses struggle and can’t figure out why, and the owners don’t know what to do next. They often have to call it quits shortly after finding out that they were wrong. They built it and no one came. These owners take this approach with everything in their business, from their website to their design, nothing has a plan, and everything is in their heads.
The key to winning in business is all about planning. The military uses the 6p’s as an ode to preparation. The 6 p’s are Prior planning, prevents piss poor performance. The same is true for business you must plan and think about possible pitfalls or risks. With a strong plan in place, business owners can avoid this Field of Dreams Mentality and build a strong sustainable business that they can garner a decent living from.
Thank you for the advice. My current long term plan is to start off small. When my wife and I relocate to Washington, we plan to purchase property and build a permanent small rental cabin or yurt. Live in that while building our forever home and then use the small home as a vacation rental. During that time I plan to use my property as event space to make money as well as provide free event space for already existing animal rescues in the area. I currently don't know anything about property zoning and I am the first to admit I am a pretty dumb grunt. Any advice on how to strategically engage that side of things would be very helpful. That's the current, IN.....MOTION.....long term plan. I play the lottery to try and prematurely advance that plan. Cant win if your don't play...as they say.
The same idea occurred to me. I am a therapist and use animal assisted therapy and know the potential benefits. I wonder if you could start with a small AAT program for vets (you could even just have 2-3 dogs of your own) then seek out government grants for that program which could grow the visibility and funds of the animal shelter. The first step would probably be looking into certification requirements for therapy animals. Having animals around could even be a selling feature on the event space if they were considered to be fully trustworthy in their behaviors and could interact with guests or renters.
Justin - Seems this would require a sizable investment to make happen - I'd guess $1 million or more - so how about starting off small? The animal rescue idea sounds great but shelters tend to exist only with donations as they're not profitable. How about an animal therapy program for PTSD vets? You won't need to buy anything and you can start quickly. This would bring what you know works to other vets in similar situations. Just one idea.
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