Backing out

So now I think about how do we back out, losing the least amount of money if the project is not successful? And when is the “point of no return”, where the largest commitments must be made? What do we need to do before then, to lower the risk of a mistake?

The most expensive part of the project is the land – around 100ac / 40ha is required. While it should have the same re-sale value as what we purchased it for, it’s possible we’ll end up paying a premium for it because it’s ideal for this business, but not ideal for anyone else! But the bulk of the property purchase should be recoupable, apart from things like legal and survey fees.

Track building, signage, irrigation, plantings, fencing – that’s all a 100% loss. Mmmmaybe it could be perceived as adding value to the land, but the chance someone is willing to pay more for that is slim (maybe a commercial MTB park operator?). Custom software for tracking ride tokens via RFID and the order wizard software will be a 100% loss as well, as will all of the time I have put into the project.

Mountaincarts? They are considerably expensive, and it seems unlikely to me that anyone local would want to buy 50 mountaincarts, unless they were starting a business themselves. Perhaps a ski resort looking to up their summer offering?

Shipping containers, tools, vehicles are all quite re-sellable, so that’s good.

All told, we’d lose around AU$700k if the business fails during the first season 😭. It’ll take a long while to work that off, so we want to be sure the spreadsheet is accurate, and work hard on that marketing plan (and that the product is safe and fun, the food is yummy, staff are responsible, there’s no vandalism, and the weather plays nice!).