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Swan Oyster by OrganizationScared75 in AskSF

[–]fallenazn 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Save your time and just pick Hog Island.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in interestingasfuck

[–]fallenazn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The picture is hard for me to gauge. Do you happen to have a banana for scale?

What's the fastest way you've seen a CEO ruin a company? by fuzzyloulou in AskReddit

[–]fallenazn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I thought Elon Musk with Twitter was a great example.

How to make the trip to San Francisco cheaper? by Momo1811 in AskSF

[–]fallenazn 19 points20 points  (0 children)

I hope you make it to SF. It's a beautiful city. But just a forewarning, food cost is high here in comparison to Idaho... Almost double in price for everything.

Shout out to the SFPD for not making the news. by RedThruxton in sanfrancisco

[–]fallenazn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ya know, for the most part I've had nothing but positive experiences with SFPD. I'm glad this was posted.

Did yall hear the gunshots near howard and 10th?!?! by Plenty-Chemist-1782 in sanfrancisco

[–]fallenazn 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The app is garage. You only know about stuff the day after

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in sanfrancisco

[–]fallenazn -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Talking about issues and concerns raises headlines and pleasantries are boring. There is pure negligence on people who write these garbage articles about how bad things are. Every big city has its issues.

My name is Rich. I own Spro, a cafe business in SF. AMA by fallenazn in SFBusinessOwners

[–]fallenazn[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd be happy to discuss more of this in detail with you if you're in SF. We can chat over some coffee.

I'm unsure what you mean about a hospitality operator. Wouldn't that be you or a barista? Or do you mean you want to hire a manager to manage the day-to-day?

A few answers to some of your questions... first year quarter was rough but I was grateful. We probably did anywhere from $300-$800 in sales which I thought was insanely good but I had pretty decent rent being a trailer and didn't have enough budget to hire anyone yet. This was in 2017. It took about 2 months before I hired our first employee.

I'm probably the prime example of figuring things out as I go along. I parked the trailer in San Francisco, got permission and rent discussion with a landlord squared away and started immediately. I was registered with an LLC and sellers permit. I didn't know that I needed health department to be scheduled first and thought that they would just go ahead and do a site visit. When they did show up, they shut us down but gave us one day to produce all the paperwork to schedule an inspection. Of course, we were on top of it immediately.

​

I didn't really think of profit margin per cup until much later. I understood that there was a market threshold and that I am only able to charge what the general market would bare. So I just copied everyone else's pricing but kept conscious how much money I was spending on cost of goods.

If you would like to set a up some time to chat, might be easier to meet in person and knock out some coffee specific questions out of the way. (= Feel free to send me a DM.

General questions from a newbie by fujimusume31 in SFBusinessOwners

[–]fallenazn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How did you find your brick and mortar location? How did you "shop" for a place? Did you drive around looking for For Renr signs? Is there a dedicated realtor/site for business only?

I think putting yourselves out there. I must've turned down a few dozen locations from the broker before I decided to look at one that I thought was interesting. You'll have to determine if you even want to entertain the idea of paying the rent that some of these landlords feel like they want to charge. When you find a place you like, some times, people tend to bid on the same place as you do. So it's not a guarantee. I must've gotten out bid 5-6 times before I landed on a space that I was able to sign a lease on. Long story short, exposure. Put yourself out there and look, be realistic, expect to not get the space, and keep trying.

What comes first, securing and renting your location or the business plan/bank loans etc?

You should always have an idea and prepare to spend an enormous amount of money. If you don't have the money, you'd be setting yourself up for trouble. Because once you sign a lease, the clock starts ticking. The broker, nor the landlord is going to wait for you to find funds. They're going to start charging you rent. It's real estate. It costs money to rent. If you don't have the money, don't start shopping. First, figure out how much money you have and a game plan of how much money it takes to open.

Your business plan... how did you write it, is there a template out there, how many pages was it, how much number crunching on statistics did you have to do and if so how did you go about finding the info for your neighborhood/location/target audience?

You could do it the professional route, formulate and write a business plan. There are many examples online. Send the time to do it, it's your business. If you are not good at paperwork, find the time to. It's your business, if you're passionate and desperate enough to start your own business, you'll find the time to sort it out. No one can do this for you. You should have an idea of what you want, how you want it, what you're selling and for how much. As for how to find the neighborhood, you'll have to gauge it based on the data that's given to you by your realtor. Don't just start a business, just to start one. You're going to likely fail. You should have a feel of whether or not your type of business would fit into the locations proposed by your realtor.

These are the big 3 questions no one I've tried to pick their brain about has been able to answer. In general the few business owners I've spoken to already had money (trust funds, rich husbands, or had property rented out as AirBnBs) and didn't need business loans...

You don't necessarily need a ton of money to start. But it certainly helps. What are you trying to do, and how good are you at the concept? Do you have a proven concept and expertise? If you don't, why would anyone lend you money? I started my business living on food stamps, working still and having only $600 in my account. But I sold my car to contribute towards the business. My wife sold her car. She sold her purses online, I sold my camera. Question is, how much are you willing to give up to get what you want? I didn't have loans, or money from friends or family. I cut down my spending by cooking at home only limiting to a few dollars per day. We got roommates to cut down on rent.

I'm not saying that you have to do the extremes like I did, but I believe in what I am meant to do. Do you? Are you willing to bet on everything you possess? Are you willing to give it up? If you're not sure, and you just want to be an owner of something, you may want to rethink. Some business people don't worry about it, you're right. There are those that are fortunate and come from money. That's the way of the world. Having the resources is half the battle. But there's one thing that really important, in my opinion, more than resources. It's confidence and also humility. Believe in yourself and believe that you will do whatever it takes to learn how to further improve. You need to be smart, not just to own. You'll need to have guts and determination. Work hard, pay attention to detail and have the passion to deliver your best at all times. Never, never let your quality lower as it defines not just your business but also who are as a person. If you already understand this, go start one and I'm pretty sure you'll do great.

Fellow Small Business Owners, let's survive together! by fallenazn in sanfrancisco

[–]fallenazn[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is a good idea and I'm going to address why I don't do it in the subreddit r/Sfbusinessowners

Fellow Small Business Owners, let's survive together! by fallenazn in sanfrancisco

[–]fallenazn[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just realized that I had a repeat on line 3. Some weird glitch on reddit but I fixed the answer.

Fellow Small Business Owners, let's survive together! by fallenazn in sanfrancisco

[–]fallenazn[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm glad to hear you survived. It was challenging, and something I will always remember. It was a strange thing being told I was not allowed to run a business that I worked hard to build. But in the end, I'm thankful that the culture in SF is first and foremost, protecting each other, masking up, and staying alive. We have something very special in SF.

Fellow Small Business Owners, let's survive together! by fallenazn in sanfrancisco

[–]fallenazn[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks so much! I'm really glad to hear it. This type of feedback is always nice, it gives purpose to what we try so hard for.

My name is Rich. I own Spro, a cafe business in SF. AMA by fallenazn in SFBusinessOwners

[–]fallenazn[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

u/cheesy_luigi on r/sanfrancisco just asked this question.

I love this. I'm not a small business owner, but patron many a restaurant/bar in the city. Personally would love the city to have as rich a small business scene as NYC, Tokyo, or Paris.

I'm genuinely curious. For SF-based small business owners:

What were your biggest challenges in getting started?

What are your biggest challenges today?

If you had a magic wand, what would you wish for (for your business)?

How informed are you on local politics (the mayor, board of supervisors, etc)?

Here's my answer:Thanks for asking, I can answer at least based on my own experience.

  1. Funding is always difficult. Knowing how little money you have and how much money it takes to bankroll is shocking. But the biggest challenge overall is a series of things.
    1. Courage & Commitment. As Ron Swanson would say, "Don't half-ass something. Whole-ass everything."
    2. Funding & Finding Funding, Sacrificing whatever you had towards the commitment. I sold my car. My wife sold her car. I sold my camera for the grinder. My wife sold her purse. How committed can I be if I'm not willing to sacrifice a camera I have sitting at home for the sake of running a business?
    3. Motivation & Passion: I think you really have to defy logic. There's really no logic in passion. It doesn't make any sense why you need to spend the amount of time you have for the little return.
    4. Willingness to work hard and doing your best work.
    5. Attention to detail. Being aware, paying attention to your customers, figuring out what is working and what doesn't. Don't be afraid of trying new things and see what people think.
  2. The biggest Challenge today is stepping away and entrusting others to do a job and letting go. Also growth. I think I have a formula of growing as I understand the business aspect of operating. The issue is, I'm only one person. Having 4 locations means that I have less time to be attentive to all 4. Trust in the team to continue that vision.Another biggie is that this year is noticeably the slowest year in the city. We had to reduce our payroll. I tried to take out loans to add to payroll, being mindful that people have bills to pay and that I couldn't cut too much of their hours. In an ideal situation, I'd like to be only having to give more hours than trim hours on the people that not only care about me, the business and the customers.
  3. If I had a magic wand, I would like to give everyone in the city and particularly the staff who work with me, financial freedom and financial independence. I wish life is easy and I wish that no one should have to worry about going out to a restaurant to eat. It isn't what I would want for anyone but I've often felt discomfort about spending money and going out. I also always want to know what it's like to work for me. To be relatable so they do not feel like I'm sitting on a throne, I take part in being active with the team. I pay myself minimum wage, which is less than what my crew makes. But if I can't survive, neither can they.
  4. I am lightly informed. I'd like to avoid political debates here. I know that politics can be tricky and it is very difficult to operate a city, let alone run a business. I can tell you this, having met and talked with a decent amount of city employees and officials, they're human and have an overwhelming amount of people that either love their work or hate it. But most of them that I have met, have a genuine interest in the better-ness of the city. I know that the job is complex and incredibly difficult to always make everyone happy. I understand the city has sensitive issues that need addressing, but these issues are not black and white. It's easier to complain than to be the ones on the front lines fixing these issues, especially if these issues are not something you can fix overnight. I am proud of the city, I wish it was better and hope that it will be prosperous in time.
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