i need your help!!!

[dreamer]

My name is Joel, I'm 21 from Chicago. For a while now I've always wanted to open up my own lounge/nightclub, but I don't know where to start. I'm only 21 and I just don't undertstand what the steps are for doin this. I one day hope to open a lounge/nightclub in the heart of downtown chicago and then expanding to Miami, Los Angelos, and New York. 9an someone help me on what I need to do please??? Should I try to find investors or should I just save up my own money?? I want to build one from the ground up. I have so many ideas and I know every detail that I want to put into this. I'm so dedicated so if I could just get some advice I'd appreciate it.
Thank you

[rootsreality]

Get a job in a bar or restaurant and soak up all the information you can. Save your money too. Investors want experience behind any project.

[walawdog]

Well....you are talking about doing a big project in big cost locations. So, you are going to need a crap load of your own money...or a crap load of somebody else's money. This is especially true if you are talking about building something entirely new from the ground up. Do what Roots said and work in the industry, save your money, make contacts, and then do it....unless you hit the lotto...and then you can just do it now.

[dreamer]

Thanks for all the good advice I really appreciate it. I've looked around in downtown Chicago and I found a lot of buildings that are in a great location and I'd love to start somthing there. I'm sorry if I made it seem as if I wanted to build a building and start frm there but in reality I want to lease a building and and build from there. Where do I find these poeple that would be willing to invest money? I started saving myself but from what I hear I'm goin to probably need like 600K and right now I don't have ne where close to that. I have some but not that much.

[walawdog]

Honestly, getting anyone to loan you money....is going to be really tough. Unless you have a wealthy family member, banks are pretty tight with their $$$ when it comes to bar/restaurants.

[baseballbar]

Ditto on all the advice telling you to get front and back of house experience working for someone else before you spend any of your own money or sweat equity trying to open a place.

But if you're still going to dive headfirst into opening in the City of Chicago go find a lawyer who does a lot of liquor license applications before you even think about signing a lease. Chicago's liquor code runs over 500 pages and at least 400 of those are restrictions on where a bar or club can operate.

There have been a few club openings in downtown delayed many, many months due to bad luck and/or a lack of due diligence before signing a lease.

Good luck.

[dreamer]

Baseballbar thanks for the advice. I want to get a job somewhere in the city but its just so hard cuz guys don't ever get hired. All they want is girls. If this all means I have to save my money then that's what ill do because I'm goin to make this happen no matter what. I want to learn as much as I can.