Don't Let Your Dream Business Turn Into a Nightmare: A Cautionary Tale for Would-Be Entrepreneurs

By Alan Stransman

Do you have an idea for a business?

A really good idea?

Do you think that if you could just get that really good idea for a business off the ground that you could be the next Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg?

Well, before you rush out there and find investors for your really good business idea, you might want to read Alan Stransman's "Don't Let Your Dream Business Turn Into a Nightmare: A Cautionary Tale for Would-Be Entrepreneurs".

Why?

Because he has been there, and he has the arrows still sticking out of his back to prove it.

It was the summer of 2004, and Alan Stransman had a really good idea for a business. As the creator, writer, producer and director of the television series, Spectacular Spas, he had visited more than 50 of the top resort and destination spas in the world, had filmed more than 200 spa treatments and services and interviewed the "movers and shakers" in the international spa industry.

And now he was set to take all of the knowledge and expertise that he had acquired and roll it into not only one of the first day spas for men in the world, but the leading men's personal care brand in the world, with a chain of day spas and its own exclusive line of men's skincare products.

He was all set to do it - except for the fact that he didn't have the money - and so he built his dream business with someone else's money.

And how did that work out?

Find out in his memoir, "Don't Let Your Dream Business Turn Into a Nightmare: A Cautionary Tale for Would-Be Entrepreneurs".

If you have ever had the idea of starting a business with someone else's money, this book is a must read.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alan Stransman
• Release date: Jan 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310111419

Alan Stransman

Alan Stransman is the author of two book: "Don't Let Your Dream Business Turn Into a Nightmare: A Cautionary Tale for Would-Be Entrepreneurs" and "So, Why Have You Never Been Married?: A Memoir of Love, Loss and Lunacy", the former of which has been taught in entrepreneurship programs at the university level.Alan Stransman is a former television writer/producer/director, the creator of the television series "Spectacular Spas", which was broadcast in over 50 countries worldwide, and the Founder of one of the first day spas in the world for men, called The Men's PowerSpa.

Book preview

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Don’t Let Your Dream Business

Turn Into A Nightmare

A Cautionary Tale for Would-be Entrepreneurs

by

Alan Stransman

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Copyright 2013 by Alan Stransman

All Rights Reserved

Published at Smashwords by Alan Stransman

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He who pays the piper calls the tune.

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Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

Chapter One

A Really Good Idea for a Business

Chapter Two

You Still Have a Really Good Idea for a Business

Chapter Three

I Told You This Was a Really Good Idea for A Business

Chapter Four

Anyone Can Have a Really Good Idea for a Business

Chapter Five

Don’t let Your Dream Business Turn Into A Nightmare

Epilogue

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Foreword

By Skip Williams

As a Spa Business Consultant for almost 18 years specializing in business profitability, feasibility and turnaround, and an author myself, I am delighted to recommend Alan Stransman’s book, Don’t Let Your Dream Business Turn Into a Nightmare. I have felt the pain for my clients as I saw them experience much of the same challenges described in Alan’s book and have spent sleepless nights worrying and working with them to save their business.

If I had to sum up the journey that this book takes us on in a few words they would be: Idea  Implementation  REALITY  Success or Failure???

Even though this cautionary tale is not very flattering to consultants, and even though it is about business troubles within the spa industry - in which I specifically sell my consulting services - I cannot help but love the humor and poignant moments in this book!

When I first read Don’t Let Your Dream Business Turn Into a Nightmare, I could not put it down as Alan cleverly revealed his experiences when launching his dream business, outlining the pitfalls, challenges, and frustrations. It reminded me of the hundreds of clients I have had over the years who found themselves in similar circumstances and on the verge of failure.

If you want a book that is both humorous and illustrative of what can and will go wrong when bringing your dream business to reality then read on, my friends. You have come to the right place!

I am reminded that ideas, even great ideas, are easy, and that very few people go through life without having a brilliant idea for a business or invention. In fact, most people have several during a lifetime. But things get much more difficult in the implementation of that idea.

Alan shows us that much of the difficulty comes in the form of securing the capital needed, as well as in the hundreds of other challenges in getting your dream off the ground. Some of those details can destroy the dream before it can breathe but most are just details that even when done wrong can easily be rectified. He shows us how the moment the first dollar is spent, a lease is signed, the shovel put into the ground, or the patent is approved, there is a commitment - a commitment to the others you have involved in making your dream come true.

It is a Herculean task to open a business or bring a product to market. And when you are doing the work, as passionate and full of energy as you may be at this time, you think you will never work any harder than you are working at this moment.

The long hours, the sleepless nights, the overwhelming details - you face them all with a smile because this is the actualization of your dream. You have a clear goal, you have a deadline to meet, and while difficult, most things that will create success or failure are within your control. You dream about the day you will open for business. You imagine that you will sit back, put your feet on your desk, smoke a big cigar, and just cash those checks. Yeah baby!

What you don’t realize at that moment - and what I hope Alan’s book helps you to realize - is that this is the starting line, not the finish line. As monumental an effort as getting the doors open is, or bringing the business to the marketplace was, the real work begins the day you open for business. And what you also may not realize is that you have a lot less control over the marketplace and what customers will do or like than you did over investors, contractors, government agencies, and employees.

We often think that if you have a great idea, and that if you build it, they will come, but the reality is a bit different. More often than not, opening a business and running a business are two different skill sets and both are very different from working for someone else.

You now find yourself at the mercy of the customers, or the lack thereof. Worse yet, you are trapped. You can’t go back now - you cannot say do over. You are at a poker table and your chips are all in. You have no choice but to wait for those cards to fall onto the table and let you know whether you have won the World Series or have lost everything.

Alan illustrates this trap wonderfully in his book and shows us how things can not only go wrong, but how you can find yourself alone with no one to turn to and without a direction.

Business is not easy and the spa business is more difficult than most. MBA’s and consultants do not guarantee success, although thoughtful analysis and good advice can save a business, but there is no magic bullet. Text books can’t always answer your questions. Once the business is operating, the best you can do is analyze, test, measure and adjust.

Sometimes the sheer will of the person involved can propel a business further than the idea alone would, and such is the case with the Men’s PowerSpa, whose story is told in this book. Alan’s determination made up for many of the sins or mistakes made, but the marketplace is a fickle mistress, trends come and go, and economies change, and you can’t force even a good idea down the consumer’s throat. Pure determination will not guarantee success either.

Every business that succeeds needs bold ideas and determined owners, and in Don’t Let Your Dream Business Turn Into a Nightmare, you will find that Alan had that in abundance. He knew instinctively that trying to be just another me too in the marketplace was not enough and while it is important to do things as perfectly as possible, it is more important to do things differently, to differentiate yourself, and to be unique.

Financial success may not always be the best measure of success. Instead, when reading this book, I would suggest that you measure success based on effort, unique ideas, follow through, creative concepts, customer satisfaction, and – perhaps, most importantly – ask yourself, did Alan learn and/or grow from his experience. Whether you win or lose in business, your business will take its toll on your health, your personal life and your finances. This book prepares us for all of this with a window into his personal challenges, but even an honest writer like Alan can only scratch the surface as to the sacrifices that he made and hint at those that you will inevitably have to make.

The entrepreneur takes pride in the journey, not the destination. He or she would rather be poor and create something amazing than be rich and playing it safe. While many observers may see entrepreneurs as gamblers or risk takers, they often do not look at themselves that way, because their strong belief in their own abilities and determination stacks the deck in their favor.

As a serial entrepreneur myself I can tell you that I have failed more times than I have succeeded. I have employed many people at higher salaries than myself. I have been poor more times than I would like to admit. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. And I hear the same from most of the other business owners I know because easy success is no success at all, and failure is the best business school in the country.

Alan Stransman’s book chronicles an expedition into a nightmare, and while I trust that it will help readers learn how to avoid the pitfalls involved in starting a new business, my fervent hope is that the difficult journey described herein does not discourage the true entrepreneur from following his or her dreams. If Alan had not pursued his dream, he would forever be talking about the one that got away, and this very valuable book would not have been written. To me, my friend, the fact that Alan persevered to write this book is success and personal satisfaction all rolled into one.

But I’ve prattled on long enough. Let’s hear Alan tell his story in his own inimitable style. Enjoy!

Skip Williams

Dec. 2010

Skip Williams is the author of The Reluctant Spa Director and the Mission Dream and The Reluctant Spa Director; Between a Rock and a Hard Place, and is a recognized authority in the spa industry. He was recently voted Spa Person of the Year, and has over fifteen years of experience in the management, financial development and operational fields in the Spa and Hospitality Industry as a Spa Director and Business Project Consultant. He has been involved in the development of well over 500 spas throughout the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean.

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Preface

Do you think you have a good idea for a business?

A really good idea –something that has never been done before?

Do you ever imagine that, if you could just get that idea of yours off the ground – it would really take off?

And you just might become the next Bill Gates, Founder of Microsoft, or Michael Dell, Creator of Dell Computers or Howard Schultz, the driving force behind Starbucks.

Come on. You could be like those guys, couldn’t you?

If you could just get that really good idea of yours off the ground.

The one that you believe in, are passionate about and that could change the world – or, at least, change your life.

Your dream business.

Okay -even if you didn’t turn out to be the next Bill Gates, you would at least achieve your dream of being your own boss, of working your own hours, and of achieving financial independence. Wouldn’t you?

Then what’s stopping you? Why haven’t you done it?

Ahh….I get it. You don’t have money of your own to invest, you have never written a business plan and you have no experience running a business.

So what?

You have a really good idea. And really good ideas are worth something.

Worth a lot!

And besides –aren’t we living in the era of just do it?

Okay, that’s someone else’s slogan – the guy who started Nike – Phil Knight –another guy who had a really good idea and became a billionaire.

Just like you could….

If you could just get that really good idea of yours off the ground….

What if I told you that you could get that idea of yours off the ground –in less than a year? Wouldn’t you want to know how to do that?

And -what if I told you that if you did get your really good idea off the ground - your dream business - it could turn into a nightmare?

Wouldn’t you want to know how not to do that?

In the following pages, I am going to lay out a possible scenario, whereby your dream business could turn into a nightmare. I know that this scenario is possible, because it happened.

It happened to me.

For the purposes of this story, we will assume that you are me, and that the dream that I had is your dream.

(If you are expecting this to be a how to business book,