Hi friends. So I want people to enjoy pinball. I want them to enjoy my games and I want a venue for expanding my collection. There's a sleepy beach town I love that has zero pinball machines within about an hour's drive in any direction. Because you can't make money on pinball alone in a smallish space without tons of traffic I was thinking about buying a lot near the beach and leasing space to residential tenants or other business owners in a building I'd raise, leaving me around 1000 square feet for a dozen games and a few tables for people to hang out, have a snack, charge their phones or play tabletop games. Behind the modest token revenue and the tenant income would be merchandise sales, snacks and beverages, in-home game rentals and events.
So I have a business plan. I have my eye on a lot three blocks from the water. I have a rough financial model. I'm looking for funding in a climate where lenders aren't interested in startups. What I'm most apprehensive about is that in order to satisfy my desire to spread the pleasure of pinball, I also need to get excited about managing the real estate and the leasing and the retail and a bunch of non-pinball stuff.
What do you think? Am I gearing up to do something challenging and fun, or am I setting myself up to fall out of love with pinball? How do you scratch your "spread the love of pinball" itch without a seven-figure budget?