What's wrong with my business plan?

[dstebbins]

I'm a business major in college, with big dreams of owning my own professional wrestling promotion. I've created a business plan that just has to be too good to be true. I'll show you my spreadsheet, and explain what all the jargon means, and I'd like you to explain where I've went wrong with this plan because there's no way my business can be this profitable.

Warning: Long post ahead.

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj93/dstebbin/wrestlingspreadsheetB1.jpg?t=1216346934
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj93/dstebbin/wrestlingspreadsheetB2.jpg?t=1216346961
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj93/dstebbin/wrestlingspreadsheetB3.jpg?t=1216346990
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj93/dstebbin/wrestlingspreadsheetB4.jpg?t=1216347009
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj93/dstebbin/wrestlingspreadsheetB5.jpg?t=1216347051
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj93/dstebbin/wrestlingspreadsheetB6.jpg?t=1216347087
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj93/dstebbin/wrestlingspreadsheetB7.jpg?t=1216347107
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj93/dstebbin/wrestlingspreadsheetB7.jpg?t=1216347224

weekly unit: How much it costs to employ one of these people or buy one of these items.
quarterly: Weekly x13.
yearly: quarterly x4
main event/midcard/jobbers/women/managers: Obviously, the on-screen talent.
ringsiders: Commentators and announcer/time keeper (he doubles up)
Ring Crew: People who set up the ring and perform maintenance.
referees & webmasters: self-explanatory
email guys: people who read and respond to fan mail.
executives, accountant, marketers, & head marketer: self-explanatory
band: a group of musicians who write the music for my wrestlers.
security: order-keepers in the arena
myself: Chairman of the board
Directors: Other members of the board, for a total of five.
merchandiser & snack seller: People who tend to the merch & snack booths
lawyers: A good lawyer.
misc: anyone I may have forgotten.

perma equip: Permanent equipment that I don't have to replenish.
ring, bell, & cage: self-explanatory. I got these prices from monsterringsandcages.com
railing: Security railing to separate the fans from the action
scouting costs: costs to recruit my first roster of talent.
belts: Championship belts; a main event belt; a midcard belt, and two tag belts.

recur equip: Equipment that I DO have to replace.
advertisements: You have to advertise to get yourself known, and I've allocated plenty of money to advertising.
weapons: Weapons for no-DQ matches.
tables: Tables for wrestlers to put other wrestlers through.
merchandise: self-explanatory
soft drinks & bottled water: drinks for the fans in attendance.
growth attempts: attempts to get my name out in the mainstream by means other than advertising.
worker's comp: Worker's compensation insurance is probably going to be VERY expensive.
Ring maintenance: I doubt I'll be using this much to maintain the ring, but I don't want to chance it.
bandwidth: I plan to broadcast my show over the Internet, so I'll need 500 servers at 8,000GB each. At $1,099 per server per month, that's $274.75 per week per server.
Hotel & Flight: I plan to provide the hotel & flight for my top talent in order to attract talent.
scout new talent: I want to employ a few guys to go to local shows and be talent scouts for new guys.
arena: I plan to be in the same city every time, and I know the price of this arena.
scouting tickets: I want to provide the tickets for my talent scouts to go to the shows with. Concessions are on them.
tickets: the cost of producing the tickets.
commissions: yearly premium to my state athletic commission for the permit to operate in my state.

revenue:
tickets: I put them at zero in case I have to paper each and every ticket.
Merchandise: At zero in case I don't sell a single bit of merchandise.
concessions: In case the fans bring their own food & drink
advertisements: 25 minutes of commercials spread out over the course of the entire show at $.12 per viewer per minute. That's a total of $3 per show per viewer on ad revenue alone. I only have to get 600,000 viewers to see the entire show to make a gorgeous profit on that show, as is shown in the profit section.

dividends: dividends delivered to the shareholders.

Shares of stock: the number of shares of stock in the company.
price sold: The price per share at the startup of the company. As you can see, initial investors make a profit off their investment after just four quarterly dividends.
stock sold: I sell one less than half the stock, so I remain a majority shareholder. As chairman of the board, I sell the remaining 2,500,001 shares to myself for one cent.
capital raised: stock sold x price sold.
borrow: The amount I need to borrow in order to make up the difference for at least one quarter of business before I declare bankruptcy.

This can't be realistic. I'm making over $36 million in profit per year, which is more than three times what TNA made in 2006. What am I doing wrong?

 

[Moonlight Drive]

I think, I didn't manage to get through all of it, that you may be not incorporating real life costs. You could have ring ropes breaking, worker demanding more cash and whatnot.

And, you won't automatically secure a TV deal, I think that's th big flaw. Even the No. 2 or 3 company in the world, depending on your opinoion, RoH, doesn't have a TV deal.

Meh, I think that's it, but I'm not sure

 

[Headfirst For Hardcore]

you really can't aim to be a huge promotion unless you're absolutely loaded with money. All promotions lose money, and I've seen that it's tough to simply break even if you're in the indy scene. With all the wrestler salaries, and things like fly ins and accommodations, you can't really put an even estimate to who you're going to use and the prices they do. And even having something as simple as a major advertisement could be very tough to do too.

 

[dstebbins]

I think, I didn't manage to get through all of it, that you may be not incorporating real life costs. You could have ring ropes breaking, worker demanding more cash and whatnot.

And, you won't automatically secure a TV deal, I think that's th big flaw. Even the No. 2 or 3 company in the world, depending on your opinoion, RoH, doesn't have a TV deal.

Meh, I think that's it, but I'm not sure

Apparently you DIDN'T read the whole thing, because I'm not going to television; I'm broadcasting over the Internet with streaming video. I'm doing this because I get to keep ALL the advertising revenue.

As for headfirst, did you not read the entire thing either? I can sell stocks to people like Cary Silkin and Bill Gates to raise revenue, and borrow the rest. I found a website where you can reach 290 lenders and borrow up to $50 million per lender, and that's where the loan payments in the "costs" section come into play; in case I have to borrow an entire quarter's worth because I sold absolutely no stock.

 

[Moonlight Drive]

Yes, but you cannot guarantee things like Bil Gates buying your stock. And have you checked the website so its not a scam or something?

Other than that, the $36 million dollar thing must be a calculation error

 

[dstebbins]

Yes, but you cannot guarantee things like Bil Gates buying your stock.

No, but keep in mind I have accounted for not selling any stock whatsoever and having to borrow everything for my first quarter.

And have you checked the website so its not a scam or something?

Yes, yes I have. I need 500 dedicated servers at 8,000GB each. That's 4 million gigs, and at .5GB per show, that's a maximum of 2 million viewers per show. The servers are $1,099 per month each, which is a very reasonable price. They have many many clients that are already established websites.

I can even give you the name of the server provider so you can go check it out yourself. It's http://www.theplanet.com/.

Other than that, the $36 million dollar thing must be a calculation error

How can it be a miscalculation when I put it in a spreadsheet?

 

[Moonlight Drive]

^^I dunno, I'm just trying to answer your question. You could've missed clicked a number and fucked up the formula or something like that

EDIT-Are you still in college doing your major? I'm not sure if you are or not, but if so, why not show your teacher and get them to see? I'm sure they'd be more helpful than most of us

 

[dstebbins]

^^I dunno, I'm just trying to answer your question. You could've missed clicked a number and fucked up the formula or something like that

I've double-checked, triple-checked, and quadruple-checked my formulas. It's all legit. That's why I'm asking you, because there must be some kind of expense or revenue income that I've got inaccurate information on.

EDIT-Are you still in college doing your major? I'm not sure if you are or not, but if so, why not show your teacher and get them to see? I'm sure they'd be more helpful than most of us

In order for one of them to do that, they'd have to be a wrestling fan, because I need someone who knows the ins and outs of the business. That's why I posted this on this website instead of some business forum.

 

[1chiban]

"perma equip: Permanent equipment that I don't have to replenish."

Everything can break mark my words lol!

 

[dstebbins]

^^^Yes, but I only have to buy it once. Other times, I can just fix it.

Besides, with profits like this, I can easily dig into them to renew my permanent equipment about, say, once a year.

 

[monkeystyle]

I smell failure.

I didn't read a damned thing, but your ambition will be your downfall my man.

First, you successfully promote a show in your area, and learn from those already in the business, because as much as you and I think we know about the wrestling business, the fact of the matter is we know doodly-squat. First you learn then, you lead.

 

[monkeystyle]

Just read a couple of lines.

$50 million dollar loan online?

Hell, in that case I have a bridge in New York I can sell you if you're interested. It'd be great for shows!

 

[dstebbins]

Monkeystyle, if you're not going to be helpful, and just be a troll, don't post.

I'm actually training under a local guy to be a manager in wrestling to get my foot in the door and learn about how the business operates (this guy is not only the top babyface of the local fed, but also the owner of it), so I am getting an education.

So if you're not going to be helpful, go somewhere else and troll.

 

[monkeystyle]

My big red name says I'll go where I please to troll. Not to mention only my second post was truly trolling, and was more poking fun at your naivete.

 

[Wrestling Station]

Big fish eats smaller fish. It depends on the region, if there are already another wrestling business in that place, then the competition will lead to a non profitable business.

So you need to make sure about those things..
1- Location
2- Local area interests about the business you are welling to make.
3- The age majority of the population of that place.
4- The average income for that population per person (as you cant have a ticket that is so expensive that nobody or few can afford).