My wife and I have developed a preliminary business plan for a history and international culture themed overnight camp focused (initially) on the 8-12 year old age range. The idea is to explore history and culture through art, theater, music, reenactments, food, and sports & martial arts. We are hoping to have the camp located in Southwestern New Hampshire, Southeastern Vermont, or Western Massachusetts (the area where we grew up). We do not yet have a location.
We?ve reached the point where we feel we could benefit a lot from the consulting services of someone experienced in starting and running summer camps. My wife and I have experience with camps as campers and counselors, but have never run a camp. That being said, my wife has a masters in business from MIT, I am a lawyer, and we have started up a few businesses in the past ? so we have a few assets to bring to the table.
We are hoping to consult with someone who could evaluate our current business plan and help us develop and understand:
(1) Our target market, pricing strategies, budgets, and realistic growth projections;
(2) The pros and cons of buying a large acreage property and building camp facilities vs. leasing a camp vs. trying to buy an existing summer camp;
(3) An understanding of the current business climate and most frequent challenges faced by start-up camps;
(4) Developing the proper timing for when to quit our current jobs and begin launching the camp on a full time basis;
(5) (optional) Assistance with program/curriculum development.
It also might be useful to be in contact with a real estate agent who specialized in camp real estate (if such a thing exists).
Do you have any recommendations of who I should contact?
Many thanks for your advice!
Ben Wyatt
