I’m not sure I want to open a karaoke bar anymore. I talked to a few friends and I’m pretty convinced that it won’t be a good idea, because people go to bars to socialize-not sing. Besides, the crowd I’m aiming for-college kids- really don’t dig karaoke that much, well the majority: The Asian crowd is crazy about karaoke but that’s less than 20% of the population.

I still want to start a bar though! I’m 100% sure I don’t want to work for a corporation after college. I don’t like taking orders, or working under somebody. It really sounds like I’m a really stuck-up person, but I’m not! I have plans in the future to travel around the world, and working 9-5pm isn’t going to cut it. The average salary for an undergrad is 46k with benefits. I’ll admit 401k plans are badass, but I don’t like the fact that I’ll be earning 30k+ after tax. That’ll take me years to earn enough money to live out my dreams! I don’t feel like climbing the corporate ladder either, that’ll take forever; by the time I’ll be 40, I’ll be making 100k, how wonder.

Bar is a perfect business for me to start. I like drinking, hanging out with people, and staying up late. Yeah, I know I won’t be as much fun as I think it is, but I’ll be ready for it. Time to use my accounting, financing, marketing, and website skill to start a killer bar! I’m estimating I’ll start it next year, which will give me enough time to read and learn how a bar works. I don’t even know any mixed drinks yet!

Wish me luck.

Yeah.

 

I’m at my little sister’s bday party at  ITZ. Imagine an indoor carnival filled with little kids running around and being surrounded by a sea of noise, that’s ITZ. This place is pretty nice; it’s built in a Home Depot store, very spacious and high ceilings. However, the service is really horrible and inconsistent. Our party host didn’t have a great attitude and wasn’t friendly. She even asked the children(all around 13) if they wanted to listen to Lil Wayne for the party music. For those of you who don’t know Lil Wayne, he is the best rapper alive but his lyrics are full of adult content and innuendos, definitely not suitable for kids.

The atmosphere around this place is lively, but a little much. There are plenty of screaming kids that are constantly running around; i’m actually scared someone will knock my laptop over.

The people that come here have very diverse backgrounds. From individuals that dress suitable for rap concerts, tattoos on their arms and dragging shorts, to the indie crowd,  people that wear very tight jeans and handmedown tshirts. I’m not saying this diverity of people is bad, but i’m just not used to it. Maybe I have to be reminded that this is America; I should embrace it. However, there are a few people here that seem really shady, and I definitely wouldn’t leave my kids alone knowing they’re around. At least they have a police over patrolling the building.

Overall, if ITZ changed their service, by recruiting more professional people, they would leave a better impression. The location is perfect and the building is huge: They have over 100 arcade systems, two indoor roller coasters, and a bowling alley. The Price is very competitive, at $170 dollars for a party of 10, including 50 tokens and dinner.  ITZ is in the business to throw children’s birthday parties and children are the easiest to convince. When you convince the children, they will convince their parents, basically doing ITZ work. Also, imagine how many birthday parties happen everyday. Yeah, a butt load. Sure they’re banking, but I wouldn’t come back: The service wasn’t acceptable and in the end, that’s the most important thing in business.

I’m about to die from all the screaming and yelling. The employees around here are probably irritated too; thus, they provide bad service.

Yeah. 

I wrote a post about contract law and apparently it caused a lot of controversy, mostly with people that know nothing about law. I sent my article to my professor, who is a licensed attorney, and she agreed that it was correct( except for the 70,000 requirement for Federal Court, it’s actually 75,000); therefore, I highly doubt there is anything wrong with my article besides the diversity requirement for the Federal Court. But I receive emails and comments telling me that I’m completely wrong.

 

I want my hit back.

When you look at your traffic log, please remove 1 hit from todays hits (March 24, 2008). I accidentally clicked on the link from the eBay thread on M3Post.com forum.

Oh, and I disagree!

Wow, you come across as a completely arrogant, abrasive douchebag on the m3 discussion.

Enjoy your nights alone, and crying yourself to sleep over fighting other people’s battles when you’re completely wrong.

 

 
What a great method to argue: First you criticize the writer, then you say the article is wrong but say nothing to support your argument. When you send me emails like that how do you want me to respond? Would you be happy if I just said “SORRY, I’m so wrong YOU WIN: Your email made me realize it” . Only thing I get when I receive these emails is a good laugh and material to write about.

 
This post is dedicated to the two people who send me those emails. Without ya’ll this post wouldn’t be here and I wouldn’t have realized how many brilliant people post on M3 forums. Makes me think about ever getting a BMW again.

Yeah.

I went to Jimmy Johns sandwich shop for lunch, and saw 11 people working there. It would be reasonable if there were customers, but I was the only one there. I bet they have to pay 9 dollars per person, so $9 x 11ppl = 99 dollars per hour for just Direct Labor. How many sandwiches do you have to sell to even pay for direct labor? They charge $5.25 a sandwich, which would mean they have to sell 19 sandwiches a hour or one per 3 minutes. Even if they break even with Direct Labor costs, they still have Direct Material, Overhead and Fixed/Administrative Costs to deal with.

 I don’t know how much Direct Material they need to buy to make the sandwiches; I would assume 20% of the price, so 1.05 lost per sandwich. For Overhead costs they have the sandwich dressing, wrappers, bags and napkins, all of which aren’t much individually, but when combined can cost a fortune. Direct Labor, Direct Material, and Overhead constitutes the product cost; the $5.25 per sandwich is set because management tried their best include all those costs in the product. But with the massive surplus of Direct Labor Costs- they had 11 people working– they need to either cut labor or increase their price to make a profit.

Not only do the profits from their sandwiches have to pay for Direct Labor, Materials and Overhead, but also fixed expenses, which could be ulities, insurance and rent. With all of those elements added together, it’s difficult to have too much of an expense and still make profit; in this case they had too much Direct Labor. Because the product price can’t fluctuates daily, but expenses can, a efficient accounting system needs to be setup to avoid problems like this. When I do my karaoke bar I’m going to make sure I have a dynamic Activity Based Cost system to account for the changes in pricing.

 I’m not sure why they had 11 people working at one time, maybe it was for training. But I’m sure that it’ll be really hard to pull a profit today.

Yeah.

 

Hooters is an American restaurant best known for having female waiters and chicken wings. But honestly, who really goes for the wings? Most people go to Hooters, because its concept is based on female sex appeal.  

 

A great thing for this restaurant is that it scales its business: Not only do they have US operations, but they’re known internationally. Countries such as, Spain, Switzerland, Singapore, Korea and even China have Hooter restaurants. Their expasion isn’t a surprise, since they focus on female sex appeal and not food. If Hooters has gorgeous female staff, they can serve only water and bagels and they would still have customers. For them, it’s all about the quality of service.

 
Check out these Hooter girls in China; unfortunately, they aren’t as hawt as the Hooter girls in USA. Also,  I bet they get paid less than $300 a month, which is pretty sad.

I found some of the properties I was interested in leasing; the prices are far greater than I imagined. The one above is around 4200sq feet and rents for 50 dollars /sq feet annually; that’s around 20k a month IF you pay by a yearly rate. Get this, the lease doesn’t include maintenance, tax, or insurance; were talking about another 3k a month -at least- for those fees. But the great thing about this location is that thousands of people pass by daily: There are around 25,000+ people that live within an one mile radius. So if you can’t sell here, most likely you won’t sell anywhere.

I’m most likely not going to do start this business this year: I probably won’t get enough loans approved to pay for everything. My initial budget was around 400k, but with this change I’m budgeting closer to 700k. Another setback is that I’m not 21 years old, which means I can’t get a liquor permit. That’s very detrimental to my plan, because drinks bring in a lot of revenue; that’s why some clubs have no cover, they make their money off 4 dollar drinks–that they purchase for far less.
Oh well, I’m still going to do research on it; when I’m ready to actually get a loan and start I’ll be really prepared.

Yeah.