REV300

I actually posted this topic to someone in PM whom I thought is in a good position to answer this question, but no reply. Nevertheless, I understand maybe the question is too private to answer. So no choice got to post it here.

I am just wondering how much is the initial capital to open a proshop? How much is the difference comparing taking over an existing proshop versus opening the shop from scratch? On average, how much net profit can a proshop earn a month after deducting rental, electricity and water supply, taking in stocks...etc?

If one is a full time driller working for the owner, how much can the driller earn a month? I already have some info on hand, but want to find out more and also to ascertain my findings. Please do not name any shop or person here lest your post gets deleted by the administrator. Can reply me in PM if there are names to be mentioned.

Bowl great!

Storm

the reason why i nvr reply your pm is because i am busy and also in a dilemma as in how to put it nicely across to you cos i know its not gonna be a one sentence reply and i will be writing a long essay out and i need to see how to summarise it

how big is the population of the bowling community in sg?

how many bowling centers are there?

u wanna open a pro shop,
where u wanna open it?

in the bowling center or out of the bowling center?

if out of the bowling center,
how u wanna generate business from pple who buy stuff from a pro shop to your shop that is not located in a bowling center?

next,how well known are u as a ball driller that will make pple come to you even though u dun have a pro shop in a bowling center?

opening a pro shop is not only about having the cash t start up,
its about having a group of loyal customers who will be your living testimonials and they will bring customers to you,

u must understand the mentality of bowlers.....

buying stocks is just dumping your cash into a fix deposit account with no interest returns cos your money will be stuck in your goods.

working as a driller can only make money if u are able to coach at the same time....
if not,i can tell u its not worth it to be a driller,
reason being the time spent in the shop is not justifiable for that amt of pay,
u hafta open the shop 7 days a week and work long hours from 1pm till 10pm sometimes later and your eve of p.h,ph and weekends are burnt and that we are talking about a pro shop located in a bowling center how about a pro shop not in a bowling center?
next is even if u have nothing to do,u still need to be at the shop just in case lady luck smiles on you and let one customer walk in and buy stuff from you....


there are no bowling centers in sg now that can guarantee constant flow of customers and as far as i know,there are no plans of opening up a new bowling center so where u wanna open your shop?
even if there is,how u get the shop is tru bidding and based on your reputation.....

at the end of the day,a lot of pple run the business for the sake of THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
for mi,i used to earn 5 times more than what i am getting now by spending only 20% of the time working at the pro shop now,but one of the reasons besides the love of the game is i get to learn a lot of things related to the sports which is beneficial to my students thats why i took up this job and i hafta supplement my income by working in the morning before i open shop in the afternoon,so basically unless u are a person who is damn frugal if not working in a pro shop is not an option but that is the way u nid to start cos if not how u gonna open the shop?
u think just by attending some driller course u are ready?
u still nid to pick up the ropes of knowing how to recon the ball,replug the ball and map the ball(yes diff companies have diff ways of mapping the ball,so by attending one drilling course by one company alone is not enough)

all skills of being a pro shop operator are usually picked up tru the olden ways of apprenticeship and frankly speaking,its kinda hard for u to just stop what u are doing right now and go find someone to teach u what to do,for mi i was lucky cos over the past few years i was able to learn things from 2 diff persons who are totally diff in style and such but still over these few years,i only managed to learn about 30% of the whole thing and i am still learning everyday....

unless u go to us where its one of the criteria for being a gold level coach is u MUST clock a certain number of hours working in a pro shop and u will be able to learn more

asian style of working will still be,the master will keep all the skills to himself unless u "steal the kungfu" based on your own observations and persistency....

but if u are willing to learn,come look for mi,though i may not know a lot and still learning but than there are some basics wich u can learn if u are willing,in fact a few of my studnts already know how to recon and replug a ball just as good as any pro shop operator or even better in standard as compared to mi

i am not dissuading anybody who mght be interested in this business but than do think very carefully if u are willing to dump in cold hard cash to open a shop
or sacrifce your current income by around 50% or more to work in a shop

next thing is pricing,u charge your things too high,you wont get customers,u charge too low,u cant make much and risk your reputation being smeared by others in the same line for bringing the price down

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REV300

Words of gold and experience.

I agreed with all that you had said. Honestly, I had pondered over all these questions for years now from the moment I took bowling seriously. I also lurked around proshops, observed and asked questions. Did some info gathering along the way. I think it wouldn't do any harm to attend the drilling courses right? You have any experience with the overseas courses? Or you know of someone who attended before? What's the feedback?

For me, I think why not do something that one can feel happy and proud of at the end of the day than making tonnes of money which one can't bring along into the coffin? Anyway I am still in the process of gathering more info first.

You are able to teach people about drilling in the shop? That means you own the shop? Eh..with appreciation, don't mind me telling that my question had not been answered? The capital, rental and profit thingy? (Can PM me also)

Bowl great!

Storm

whether i am able to teach or not its not an issue,its whether u have the interest to learn that is the main factor
if u wanna learn from mi you will hafta learn from the bottom hehehehe
anyways as for feedback,i cant give u a really good feedback cos everybody has their own perception good and bad

the capital?
well,wont be able to reveal much to you cos diff things got diff costs
rental wise its also very subjective
as for profit....thats an even more subjective thing and to be frank on an avg we need to sell around 20 basic packages a month to just cover the rental and not including the money of stock and workers pay with regards to the place i am at

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REV300

From reading the posts and what I had gathered thus far, I guess most proshop operators really don't earn much. Even the big name proshop owners have to do coaching. I asked them why they still have to do coaching despite good business in the shop? They told me if not how to sustain the business?

However, I still have my doubt because I notice every weekends starting from friday night, their shops are always pack with customers (and I am talking about buyer, not those see see touch touch but no buy type). And although most bought packages, there are still a lot of them buying high performance balls. One worker of a shop told me that every weekend, he, the boss and the drilling machines never get to rest.

I am thinking they are either afraid of letting people know that it's actually a lucrative business and more people will come onboard to share the pie or they just think money is never enough. That's why I posted here hoping to get some honest answer.

But if proshop operator really "tan bo chia", then how come I see some shops that almost always has no customer at all (even on weekends) sustain for 5 to 10 years or more? Just by coaching alone to pay the rent?

Storm

the reason is because the profit margin is not high...thats why we need to do coaching to sustain a decent living....
u all think by selling u guys a high end ball we earn a lot?
the profit margin is only about $20...
and how many high end balls we need to sell a month to sustain a comfotable living?
well based on just rental of 3k per month we need to sell 150 high end balls...
and dats excluding stock costs and labour costs that we need to incur...

its not that we are not willing to share its dat unless everyday we get 5 persons buying high end balls but who can guarantee that?

as a pro shop guy selling a ball with the time incur is about 45min per ball we earn $20 as coaches we earn about $40 or more per hour....
so which is more profitable in terms of time spent vs labour?
of cos we need to do coaching to supplement on the days where there is no sales at all.....

we recon a ball taking us a few hours just to earn that miserable $60-80,of cos if i were to compare it to coaching its much more worthwhile to coach....

if u still wanna insist that we are hiding,i got nothing to say.....

cos the way i see it is u only see weekend...how much can 1 weekend of profit generate?
enuff to cover the quiet days of the remaining 4 days of the week?

1 day of 6 hours of coaching around $240 x 5=1200
$1200 x 4weeks= $4800
that is enuff to cover the rental n labour of e shop...
wat u sell in e shop is your own profit,thats why most pro shop guys do coaching as well.....

dun paint a beautiful picture of running a pro shop....
this is sg not us or europe where the population is very big....
yes in terms of comparing that part of e world its profitable....
this part of the world?
forget it man....

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mica2005

Why still operate a proshop?

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REV300

Haha guess it's his passion. I can understand that kind of passion. But as said, if operating a proshop makes peanuts, then the only thing that keeps one going is passion and love for the game. But sometimes, the bread and butter is still more important. Passion can't feed the stomach. That is what holds me back despite already planning this for years.

To give up a job which provides a comfortable living to go into a passion which is filled with uncertainty and earn peanut...or not to? Guess I am still struggling with that question.

From what Pyro said, it seems much more lucrative to coach? No proshop = $4800 in pocket. No rental, no overheads, no stocks, no electricity and water bill...etc. Then maybe just do coaching instead? Haha.

Bowl great!

Storm

no pro shop where u get your equipment done up?
also in case u dun realise most pro shop owners are crazy about the game thats why its th passion that keeps them going


dun think u understand what we are talking about...duhz...