Now that Lance Armstrong is done fighting all the people that don’t like him, I’m assuming for passing all his drug tests. He can now focus on his charity and paintball would be a great addition. In Lance’s latest post on his website today he said that his foundation focuses on serving people and families affected by cancer. What better way than to start a paintball field!
Here at Money Paintball we have supported many charity based paintball fields through our own charity. Paintball is such a great sport because anyone can play in any condition. Some may not be in a condition to get shot back but they sure can enjoy doing some shooting.
Even if you have started a paintball field already or are still planning, I encourage you to create some space to do some charity work. It could be once a year, once a quarter, once a month or more. Something is better than nothing. It could be as simple as allowing inner city youth to play for free once a month. Worried about the cost? Give them the new splatmaster guns, they could play all afternoon and a group of 10 would only use one case of paint max!
If your totally clueless on what charity to support with your paintball field don’t worry. Just put up a little paper sign by your registration that says: Do you know a good charity? We want to help! and watch what happens!
There is a lot of magic in giving, try it!
First off this blog isn’t about the Cathy family and what Dan Cathy said or meant etc.. What it is about, is what we as paintball business and field owners and people looking to start a paintball business or field can learn from it.
Let’s go back in time and see what the paintball perceptions were in the 80’s at the start of our great sport. Paintball was for Ex Vietnam Vets and people that wanted to play War Games, and it was really, really expensive. I paid $10 for 10 shots at our local field!
Now the 1990’s Paintball was perceived as a obscure sport for reckless thrill seekers, similar to Hang Gliding or Sky Diving. People at my church used to come up to me and say, I heard you were in the Ping Pong business or the Pinball business. Paintball was still an unknown to the masses. And starting a paintball field was unheard of!
In the 2000’s Paintball became a house hold name and mainstream thanks to all the Big Box stores carrying the markers and supplies. In the mid 2000’s Money Turf was used as ESPN covered Paintball and now Paintball became at last a Real Sport. Before the crash, money was easy to get and starting a paintball field was extremely easy.
Present Day, Paintball is played by all races , religions, ages 10 – 100, economic brackets and it’s played in over 60 countries in the world.
Your perception of Chick-fila may have changed over the last week, but aren’t you glad paintball’s perception has changed for the better and is embraced world wide? Just imagine when paintball gets in the Olympics in 2020. More on that in a different blog.
A successful Paintball Field will have 4 main streams of income:
Entry fee
Paintballs
Air
Rental Gear ( Mask, Tank, Marker)
You want to price them high individually and then offer a discount for a package.
Example:
Entry fee $25
Paintballs $15 for 500 rounds
Air $10 all day
Rental Gear- mask,tank, marker $25
Then offer a Gold Package that includes: Entry fee, 500 rds. of Paintballs, Air ,Rentals for $55
or a Silver Package that includes : 1/2 day Entry fee, 200 rds Paintballs, Air , Rentals for $45
Why? Well for one thing the customer can see in black and white that he is getting a great deal with the package. Keep in mind most of the profits are made from players renting equipment, these are the areas to focus on , private groups like: Birthday Parties, Church Groups, Bachelor Parties, Bachelorette Parties and Corporate Groups are the Big 6 that will give you 85% 95% of your profits. Focus on these areas.
Then next question most people ask that are looking to start a paintball field is, how much should I charge for each stream ( paint, air, rental gear & entry)?
Should my entry be high and paint prices low? or the other way around?
Also you may be wondering about Walk on Players or Tournament players that both have their own gear.
Don’t panic, I will cover these questions quickly and simply:
Regarding what your pricing should be for each stream ( paint, air, rental gear & entry) The simple answer is, it doesn’t matter. As long as they equal a MUCH HIGHER PRICE than your packages.
Plus, you can always change them. That’s what’s so great about the paintball business and starting a paintball field, it’s flexible. Try the prices listed above for a month or two and then change them and see what happens. Each paintball field has it own unique success formula with in the formula. Meaning, that in some parts of the country a high entry fee and low paintball price works really well. For other fields just the opposite is true.
Now the question arises about field paint or bring your own paint. The best solution that I have seen in 16 years and what we use on our Franchise Fields that run 200 to 500 players a day is…. If you rent our gear you have to use our paint. Simple!
Finally let’s touch on Walk on Players and Tournament Players, these are key areas when starting a paintball business or paintball field. Keep in mind 85% to 95% of your profit comes from the rental player! This is your main course, so focus on that, Walk on players are like your gravy. If you get a big group one week , excellent, if not, no big deal. Walk on players will find you and you don’t have to market to them. Just supply them with great reffs and great fields and they will come again and again and bring friends with them.
DO NOT EVER let your WALK ON’S play with your rental parties. Keep them separated at all times. Also as your walk ons grow you want to have two groups, beginners and advanced. This keeps new players from getting shot up by the experienced players with the high end guns.
For Tournament players, this will require a separate blog, so keep reading to find out more about how to start a paintball field successfully.
For 100% financing and turn key packages, check out moneypaintball.org