Business Idea

So for my entrepreneur class I came up with this idea. It’s basically a little rail park in a city or in a ski town that would be open during the day as well as at night with lights setup. Let me know what you think along with some suggestions on making it better. Thanks.

My business opportunity is something that I am very much interested in as well as something that I think would make some money. I am a skier who frequently uses the terrain park (jumps, rails, etc) and I think that the resorts around here (Lake Louise, Fernie, Sunshine, Nakiska) all undervalue and underestimate the value of their terrain park. In most cases the resorts put far too little effort and work into one of the major selling features of their mountain. It is quite common for skiers and snowboarders both to build snow jumps with a path in to a rail in the city so they can slide it. With doing so these skiers and snowboarders come into problems such as the time it takes to build the jump, the actual problem of finding a realistic rail to do, and also the fines associated with getting caught of provate property. My idea is to start up a small area that has a set of rails and obstacles on a piece of land fairly large and on a gradual slope. The land would preferably be located in a sort of ‘ski town’ or a large city in a location that was fairly centrally located. The land would also have to be in a climate that has a long winter season.

The costs involved with my opportunity would be fairly small and would be kept to a minimum. Obviously the main cost would be the land itself and it would also be the most difficult to acquire. The rails could be built on location with a MIG welding machine. There would be no need to have any sort of chair lift because in a rail park the costumers could simply hike up to the top of the feature they are choosing to do at that time. As I have read on the internet anyone can make a fairly small snowmaking machine for around $500. This cost wouldn’t even be necessary in a climate that gets lots of snow. Overall I would try and keep costs as low as I could. I would invest more money in building rails and snowmaking as the park grew in popularity.

To actually make money an admission fee would be charged for each visit or even a pass could be purchased for a season. Features would be setup so that the park would be usable for all skill levels. The rails would also be open at night with lights set up so that it could become a night time activity for people after riding at their resort during the day. If the park grew in popularity there could even be competitions held in order to bring in more business and spread word of the place. In the months during which the park would be closed due to summer weather the owner would most likely have to find some other way of providing for themselves. I honestly believe that if done right and with a good setup this idea could be a very fun and make someone a fair amount of money.