Two of my friends and I have a dream of starting a club, but as of yet, only one thing has been holding us back--money. I'm a chemist, one of my friends is mcguyver, and the other is a computer guru, though we are all quite talanted in many different arenas. We planned out all sorts of things from what type of eq we would want/need to what music we would play and what advertizing, food, liquor etc. Depending on what city you are in, just remember this, you cannot have a pure trance club unless you are in a city large enough to support it. I am currently linving in Indianapolis, and have though about starting a trance club myself because of the huge lack of trance clubs, or at least clubs that will play one night of trance. The problem though, is that even with 1.5 million people living in the city, and all of the people that go to clubs/bars etc, I would need those who love trance to come to my club not only once a week, but several times a week in order to stay in business if I only play trance. What I would suggest, is if you CAN work up the capitol, then you have to have other genres of music availible to bring in a much wider and diversified crowd. You may not like the music that is played on all night, but when you commit to being a business, your primary intension will be to bring in enough money to STAY in business. I was planing on making the main nights (friday and saturday) trance, and other nights DnB, RnB, house, jungle etc. Or have multiple rooms so that you have 2-3 choices each night,or on main nights, and keep the other rooms closed during the week.

By the fact that you were suprised that a liquor license cost about $80K, then I think that you are severely underestimating what it will cost--even with government assistance--to start up and maintain a club for long enough to bring in a crowd large enough and consistantly enough to not go under. First off, you may be able to be ambitious and get your club started within 2-3 months of when you first found a venue to rent. So at minimal, you will need three months rent (at probably close to $3k-$10k a month depending on the size), then utilities, which could be as much as $1k a month once it gets going. Those speakers, lights and air conditioning will cost you a fortune when they are running for several hours every night! Then you have to have the capitol to buy the sound system and the lighting system, which alone could be $50k-$100k, unless you find a place to rent it from, which will be another monthly expense. Then you have to hire and train people, which will be another monthly expense that varies by the size of the venue. Not to mention advertising, liquor license, benifits for workers, lawyer fees, city licenses, taxes and plenty more...

All in all, I would suggest that you have about $250,000 plus about 3-6 months worth of operating costs before you even think about opening up a club. If you don't have this much money, I would put off the club idea until you do. But don't think that I am discouraging you for one bit! Look online for government assistance programs etc. Matthew lesko (the question mark suit guy on TV) has a book you may want to buy www.matthewlesko.com which will help you find these government programs. I think the book is $40 or so, which is well worth the thousands in funding that the book may help you find!

Tell me how it goes, or what your specific ideas are and maybe I can help you plan things out more!