POwder in Bansko on the 19th November 2007!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vATBzVx_egw
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Saturday, November 17, 2007
One more thing you'll need...
Another thing that is vital for setting up your ski chalet, or any business I imagine, is support.
My friends and family have been great - they have encouraged me so much, ok I have seen a few raised eyebrows and there have been worries expressed about my personal welfare but my wonderful friends and family know that this is what I want to do and they are behind me.
Which is what I need, because there are so many people who you will meet who will tell you that you are making a terrible mistake, too much competition, global warming, bulgarian mafia, isn't it better just to get a nice easy job? - I have heard them all.
The most annoying thing is that I have already though about and considered most of the negatives that anyone else can come up with - after all this is my future and not something that I have started on a whim, as some people seem to think! Yes it will be hard work but I'm doing it for me, because it is something I really want to do and I am passionate about it. Still, some people just won't be convinced.
You have to develop a thick skin - don't take it personally, just accept that there are a lot of cynics and pesimists out there - and keep in mind that you'll be able to proove them wrong one day.
My friends and family have been great - they have encouraged me so much, ok I have seen a few raised eyebrows and there have been worries expressed about my personal welfare but my wonderful friends and family know that this is what I want to do and they are behind me.
Which is what I need, because there are so many people who you will meet who will tell you that you are making a terrible mistake, too much competition, global warming, bulgarian mafia, isn't it better just to get a nice easy job? - I have heard them all.
The most annoying thing is that I have already though about and considered most of the negatives that anyone else can come up with - after all this is my future and not something that I have started on a whim, as some people seem to think! Yes it will be hard work but I'm doing it for me, because it is something I really want to do and I am passionate about it. Still, some people just won't be convinced.
You have to develop a thick skin - don't take it personally, just accept that there are a lot of cynics and pesimists out there - and keep in mind that you'll be able to proove them wrong one day.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Snyag (Snow snow snow)
Ooooooh, so much snow in Bansko. I only wish we had got the ski bus serviced last week instead of putting it off.... oops!
Rule number one for would be chalet owners: Be Prepared!
I'm realising that this is so much more important in the mountains because of the unpredictable weather - it comes in so fast and I just spend 3 hours charging round town trying to find the right size snow chains. We weren't expecting quite this much snow in Bansko in November!
Anyway, after working out how much this will cost you should add another half on - that's what I've done and so far it seems to be working (depressingly), there are so many little things that don't get mentioned when you start working out your costings.
For example, I just found out that there is another little tax of some sort that I have to pay after our chalet is built - that no-one mentioned to me despite me asking hundreds of times about this sort of thing - grrrr!
But hey, it's snowing in Bansko so I'm happy! http://www.banskoski.com/cam2_en.html
(and it doesn't look like it will stop anytime soon!)
Rule number one for would be chalet owners: Be Prepared!
I'm realising that this is so much more important in the mountains because of the unpredictable weather - it comes in so fast and I just spend 3 hours charging round town trying to find the right size snow chains. We weren't expecting quite this much snow in Bansko in November!
Anyway, after working out how much this will cost you should add another half on - that's what I've done and so far it seems to be working (depressingly), there are so many little things that don't get mentioned when you start working out your costings.
For example, I just found out that there is another little tax of some sort that I have to pay after our chalet is built - that no-one mentioned to me despite me asking hundreds of times about this sort of thing - grrrr!
But hey, it's snowing in Bansko so I'm happy! http://www.banskoski.com/cam2_en.html
(and it doesn't look like it will stop anytime soon!)
Friday, November 9, 2007
snow??
Hmmm.
There look to be some snow clouds up above - had a little bit but there's 12cm forecast for tonight. The locals have been telling me that we are in for a long cold snowy winter. I can't wait.
If it snows enough tonight maybe we'll jump on the dobrinishte lift and hike to the top for an off-piste run this weekend.
If the freezing temperatures are anything to go by there will be a lot of snow this winter - time to dig out my ski socks!
There look to be some snow clouds up above - had a little bit but there's 12cm forecast for tonight. The locals have been telling me that we are in for a long cold snowy winter. I can't wait.
If it snows enough tonight maybe we'll jump on the dobrinishte lift and hike to the top for an off-piste run this weekend.
If the freezing temperatures are anything to go by there will be a lot of snow this winter - time to dig out my ski socks!
And more research... and a business plan
My next question was funding. Even in Bulgaria, this wasn't exactly going to be cheap.
Could I get a bank business loan? No - they won't give away cash to be taken to Bulgaria, suggetsed that I ask my parents to mortgage their house as that is cheaper than getting a business loan anyway. Well, at least he was honest.
But mortgaging my parents house didn't really seem to be the best option to me - they had already said they would lend quite a big chunk of money so I felt I couldn't really ask for anymore.
So I tidied up my business plan and sent it around a few retired very wealthy people who like investing - I was looking for a business angel and I was very lucky - I actually got a choice of two.
The business plan was very important. Not only to help me find finance but to help me see all the different bits and pieces that I needed to consider - it took me a couple of weeks working on it intensively to get it in a readable state but it made me write down everything.
This meant that other people could see all my ideas - they weren't all locked up in my head, so if I forgot to mention something, if they read my business plan it all becomes clear.
And there were bits that I hadn't considered in detail like exit strategies and insurance, that I had to cover. I used the book, The Definitive Business Plan http://www.amazon.co.uk/Definitive-Business-Plan-Intelligent-Entrepreneurs/dp/0273659219/ref=sr_1_9/202-9471987-9804616?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194594852&sr=1-9 (that's it on Amazon) to help me, and it was very useful and easy to read, but there are loads of different books and websites out there for you to plough through.
I'm still working on my business plan, every 4 months or so I go back read through it, update any bits of research that I have been doing or change any bits that I am learning more about. Doing this keeps me focused and stops me wandering off on a tangent.
Business Link give pretty good advice, they have a section about writing a business plan on:
http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?topicId=1073869162
Writing it all down made everything a lot clearer and really made me want to get going.
www.christopherchalets.co.uk
Could I get a bank business loan? No - they won't give away cash to be taken to Bulgaria, suggetsed that I ask my parents to mortgage their house as that is cheaper than getting a business loan anyway. Well, at least he was honest.
But mortgaging my parents house didn't really seem to be the best option to me - they had already said they would lend quite a big chunk of money so I felt I couldn't really ask for anymore.
So I tidied up my business plan and sent it around a few retired very wealthy people who like investing - I was looking for a business angel and I was very lucky - I actually got a choice of two.
The business plan was very important. Not only to help me find finance but to help me see all the different bits and pieces that I needed to consider - it took me a couple of weeks working on it intensively to get it in a readable state but it made me write down everything.
This meant that other people could see all my ideas - they weren't all locked up in my head, so if I forgot to mention something, if they read my business plan it all becomes clear.
And there were bits that I hadn't considered in detail like exit strategies and insurance, that I had to cover. I used the book, The Definitive Business Plan http://www.amazon.co.uk/Definitive-Business-Plan-Intelligent-Entrepreneurs/dp/0273659219/ref=sr_1_9/202-9471987-9804616?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194594852&sr=1-9 (that's it on Amazon) to help me, and it was very useful and easy to read, but there are loads of different books and websites out there for you to plough through.
I'm still working on my business plan, every 4 months or so I go back read through it, update any bits of research that I have been doing or change any bits that I am learning more about. Doing this keeps me focused and stops me wandering off on a tangent.
Business Link give pretty good advice, they have a section about writing a business plan on:
http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?topicId=1073869162
Writing it all down made everything a lot clearer and really made me want to get going.
www.christopherchalets.co.uk
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Research, research, research
Does it all sound a bit easy so far?
It wasn't quite so simple, it wasn't just a question of where I could afford to set up - I spent weeks and weeks researching the area, the ski holiday market, the summer mountain holiday market - I don't want a business that I can only run for 16 weeks of the year, after all.
Then there is the question of transport - I won't go into it now as I don't want to bore you to tears but the airline industry is sooooo complicated and it is near impossible to get a straight answer from anyone, unless of course you want to give them a big wad of cash!
But if you are interested in some market research:
The ski industry report 2007
http://emag.digitalpc.co.uk/welcome/sir/sir-11-07-2006.asp
The Ski Club of Great Britain Snowsports Analysis
https://www.skiclub.co.uk/skiclub/presscentre/snowsportsanalysis.asp
Mintel's Snowsport Report 2006
http://www.mintel.com/docs/trade_abta_snowsports.htm
That should be enough reading for now. I just wanted to show that it is important to have a good idea who your market is and whether there will be enough customers to go around!
My next problem is pesky global warming - this depends on who you are listening to. the doom sayers predict that we will not be able to ski in low resorts in a few years while the more optimistic are pointing out that gulf stream is changing and the next ice age is on the way!
This is the problem - no one can predict what will happen, however, I did think it was important to be somewhere where there are alternative activites, just in case.
As it is, we have golf, horse-riding, mountain - biking, kayaking, hunting, all sorts of other sports are developing around Bansko so that helped my descision.
Anyway I must go and tidy up the website, I have been neglecting it recently in an effort to get my Bulgarian ID cards... but i'll get to that headache later.
www.christopherchalets.co.uk
It wasn't quite so simple, it wasn't just a question of where I could afford to set up - I spent weeks and weeks researching the area, the ski holiday market, the summer mountain holiday market - I don't want a business that I can only run for 16 weeks of the year, after all.
Then there is the question of transport - I won't go into it now as I don't want to bore you to tears but the airline industry is sooooo complicated and it is near impossible to get a straight answer from anyone, unless of course you want to give them a big wad of cash!
But if you are interested in some market research:
The ski industry report 2007
http://emag.digitalpc.co.uk/welcome/sir/sir-11-07-2006.asp
The Ski Club of Great Britain Snowsports Analysis
https://www.skiclub.co.uk/skiclub/presscentre/snowsportsanalysis.asp
Mintel's Snowsport Report 2006
http://www.mintel.com/docs/trade_abta_snowsports.htm
That should be enough reading for now. I just wanted to show that it is important to have a good idea who your market is and whether there will be enough customers to go around!
My next problem is pesky global warming - this depends on who you are listening to. the doom sayers predict that we will not be able to ski in low resorts in a few years while the more optimistic are pointing out that gulf stream is changing and the next ice age is on the way!
This is the problem - no one can predict what will happen, however, I did think it was important to be somewhere where there are alternative activites, just in case.
As it is, we have golf, horse-riding, mountain - biking, kayaking, hunting, all sorts of other sports are developing around Bansko so that helped my descision.
Anyway I must go and tidy up the website, I have been neglecting it recently in an effort to get my Bulgarian ID cards... but i'll get to that headache later.
www.christopherchalets.co.uk
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Ski in Bulgaria??
Yep,
I was surprised too! I had never heard of anyone skiing in Bulgaria but the property prices were so low compared to France that I felt like I had to check it out.
After doing a little more research I discovered that Bulgaria has 3 main resorts - all quite small but all beginning to develop. More hours spent on the Internet convinced me that Bansko was the most promising of the lot - with recent investment meaning that all the lifts were new for 2005. So no rickety communist chairlifts then?
Still - Bulgaria. I didn't know anything about it, I just had some vague idea that it was a bit like Russia...
So we went on a little trip (the first of many), it was the end of Spring (May/June) but there was still snow on the moutains and I even managed to throw a couple of snow balls around! This impressed me and after walking up and down the pistes I decided like in most resort, they would be much more fun to ski on.
So, our search began:
On the internet I had seen a number of promising looking properties BUT on arrival in Bansko I was a little shocked. I had entered a building site - a huge number of apartments were going up, and the old houses that looked quite quaint were dropping to bits and were generally badly built.
It was a bit disapointing, but when you look closer at Bansko you realise that there is a bit more to it. The old town is lovely and has houses hiding in beautiful walled courtyards - these fortified houses are so unusual and walking through the cobbled streets is very different to strolling round the usual purpose built resort.
I started to see what Bansko had to offer.
I was surprised too! I had never heard of anyone skiing in Bulgaria but the property prices were so low compared to France that I felt like I had to check it out.
After doing a little more research I discovered that Bulgaria has 3 main resorts - all quite small but all beginning to develop. More hours spent on the Internet convinced me that Bansko was the most promising of the lot - with recent investment meaning that all the lifts were new for 2005. So no rickety communist chairlifts then?
Still - Bulgaria. I didn't know anything about it, I just had some vague idea that it was a bit like Russia...
So we went on a little trip (the first of many), it was the end of Spring (May/June) but there was still snow on the moutains and I even managed to throw a couple of snow balls around! This impressed me and after walking up and down the pistes I decided like in most resort, they would be much more fun to ski on.
So, our search began:
On the internet I had seen a number of promising looking properties BUT on arrival in Bansko I was a little shocked. I had entered a building site - a huge number of apartments were going up, and the old houses that looked quite quaint were dropping to bits and were generally badly built.
It was a bit disapointing, but when you look closer at Bansko you realise that there is a bit more to it. The old town is lovely and has houses hiding in beautiful walled courtyards - these fortified houses are so unusual and walking through the cobbled streets is very different to strolling round the usual purpose built resort.
I started to see what Bansko had to offer.
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