Wanting to Start a Segway Tour Business--Looking for advice

[Florida Ever-Glides]

Don't take the advice wrong, but if $100k is too much to start a business you may be getting in over your head. To do it wright it will cost a substantial amount of money. To do it wrong is just a waste of money. Slow down, get all of the ducks lined up, and get a clear picture of 'the good, the bad, and the ugly'. It will be time well spent...

[AggiePhil]

$100K isn't too much. That's actually about what I'm looking at needing to get started. But $130K for the dealership aspect alone is a lot IMO. Add to that all the other expenses you'll have to cover (plus all the expenses for the tour aspect) and you're probably looking at well over $200K. And THAT probably IS too much for me. So, for that reason, I guess I've almost written off the idea of there being a dealership aspect to my future business.

[nickyboy]

Originally Posted by AggiePhil

$100K isn't too much. That's actually about what I'm looking at needing to get started. But $130K for the dealership aspect alone is a lot IMO. Add to that all the other expenses you'll have to cover (plus all the expenses for the tour aspect) and you're probably looking at well over $200K. And THAT probably IS too much for me. So, for that reason, I guess I've almost written off the idea of there being a dealership aspect to my future business.

Don't get me wrong, being an Authorised Segway Tour is great, and it has many benefits (we have taken 3 bookings from overseas because of our "authorised" status). In addition to that, I am very proud that we are one of only 3 authorised tours in the UK.
However, you do not need to hold the dealer status to run a tour (many top tours are not dealers, Tom for example). Whilst I appreciate that many tour's are dealer add on's, in many ways they are seperate business's. One is a high turnover low revenue (relatively) operation, the other is a high value lower unit turnover operation. Concentrate on one (the tour operation) 1st as it is a lower cost set up and it is actually what you want to do. Contact your nearest dealer(s) and maybe set up a recipricol deal, they advertise you, you sent customers to them. After all, what better way to find out if you want to buy a Segway than take an extended test drive!
Recipricol links work well. For example CovRob and I both operate tours, but at opposite ends of the country. We promote each other on our websites, and indeed, it is not unknown for either of us to get sales enquiries from the others area, which we happily pass on and don't poach on each others area. We also talk about once a fortnight and exchange idea's, as well as having a good old moan at times, as it can be a lonely business, especially here in the UK with only about 7 dealers in total.

[drew.d]

Hey Phil,

My name is Drew and I am the loudest and proudest member of the Fightin' Texas Aggie Class of 2018! I am currently working for a Segway Tour Company in Houston and realized I want to start a Segway tour company in College Station. I wanted to know the reason why you never opened up a tour company or what information you have collected! I am going to send you a personal message and I hope we can meet and talk about the business, Segways and hear some Old Army stories!

[arcamedies]

Originally Posted by AggiePhil

Howdy all. After an incredibly enjoyable Segway tour while on vacation in San Francisco, I'm wanting to explore the possibility of opening up my own tour business in my area. I live in a beautiful central Texas city with a major historic university that thousands of students, parents, and visitors trapse across on foot every single day. Without going into a bunch of flowing linguistics, it really is an IDEAL place for Segway tours.

So with that having been said, what are some of y'all's ideas and suggestions about someone who is brand new to the game looking to start a touring company? I realize that the overhead to buy a fleet of new machines will be considerable, and I'm assuming that liability insurance will also be considerable (though I don't know just HOW considerable). Perphaps that would be a good starting point for discussions...

The best advice you can get is do what you want to, thousands of people will talk you out of doing something because they can't see your vision. Everyone on a tour signs a waiver. "Factory Direct 4 Ninebot" is selling new PTR Elites for $1795 a piece to blow out 500 units, these are the low cost Segways half the weight, Ninebot bought Segway in 2015, get a few and see what happens with less than $10,000 you can grow as you need to. PayPal has financing available as well. Best of luck

[airdale]

Originally Posted by arcamedies

The best advice you can get is do what you want to, thousands of people will talk you out of doing something because they can't see your vision. Everyone on a tour signs a waiver. "Factory Direct 4 Ninebot" is selling new PTR Elites for $1795 a piece to blow out 500 units, these are the low cost Segways half the weight, Ninebot bought Segway in 2015, get a few and see what happens with less than $10,000 you can grow as you need to. PayPal has financing available as well. Best of luck

As you state correctly......The part your missing, is with the cheaper Ninebots there is no redundancy....My biggest fear would be what the insurance would be monthly, and what would it be after the first uncontrolled shutdown?

Remember roller skating rinks?....Slides and diving boards in hotels?

Just food for thought.