Starting a Business Articles
Opening a Tours & Charters Business
Here's some helpful information that is ideal for aspiring entrepreneurs who want to open a tours and charters business. Read this before you start!
Thinking about opening a tours and charters business? We tell you what you need to know to get started.
How to Create a Winning Tours & Charters Company Business Plan
You've heard that a quality business plan is the first step toward a successful tours and charters business.
Although it might seem like an unnecessary formality, your tours and charters company's business plan is a document that will shape your goals and strategies on a go-forward basis.
If that's not enough, consider that business plans inoculate your business from common 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.
Evaluate Competitors
Well in advance of opening a tours and charters business in your town, it's a good idea to see how you will fit in the competitive landscape. We've provided the link below to help you generate a list of competitors in your city. Simply enter your city, state and zip code to get a list of tours and charters businesses in your town.
How tough is the competition in the market you are considering? If the competition is too tough, you may need to think about starting the business in a different area or even start a completely different business instead.
Studying the Market
Once you've finished assessing the competion, it's essential that you learn as much as you can from somebody who is already in the business. If you think your local competitors will give you advice, you're being overoptimistic. The last thing they want to do is help you to be a better competitor.
However, a fellow entrepreneur who has started a tours and charters business in a different city may be willing to share their entrepreneurial wisdom with you, after they realize you reside far away from them and won't be stealing their local customers. In that case, the business owner may be more than happy to discuss the industry with you. 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 quickly and easily locate a tours and charters business manager in another community?
Here's how we would do it. Try the useful link below and key in a random city/state or zipcode.
Acquisitions vs. Startups
To become a tours and charters 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 tours and charters business may be the better choice.
An acquired tours and charters business is a known quantity; a startup is less certain because its forecasts depend on estimated outcomes. 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 Buying a Franchise
Your chances for growing your business greatly improve when you opt to franchise in lieu of doing everything yourself.
As part of your process in starting a tours and charters business, you would be wise to investigate whether franchising might help you avoid common entrepreneurial mistakes.
The link below gives you access to our franchise directory so you can see if there's a franchise opportunity for you. You might even find something that points you in a completely different direction.
Entrepreneur Interviews
These interviews should be of interest to you.
- Interview with Georgette Blau, Founder of On Location Tours, Inc.
- Interview with DC Metro Food Tours Founder Jeff Swedarsky
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Consideration Before Buying a Franchise
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