I found this website a few weeks ago after running a search for how to go about starting a hostel business & just reading through the forum posts & news items has given me some real motivation and lots of ideas + issues I hadn't even thought about!
Still after reading success stories I still feel stuck, so thought I would write a post to see if there are any suggestion...can't hurt right?!
What I want to do
After a recent trip thought Georgia (the country!) I feel so in love with the place, so much so that we are currently producing a documentary on it (but that's another story) and I that this could be the ideal spot where I could do the idea that has been circulating round my head for a while now.
Who Am I
I'm only a young bloke, 25 yo's; who packed his bags and left Australia 5 years ago and have been travelling ever since, working and moving from place to place.
I would consider myself quite ambitious and believe that I must at least try anything that I truly want or believe in.
So What's The Problem
The problem is that execution. The idea keep coming this and fast day by day; bigger and bigger and so trying to keep everything in perspective is proving challenging but trying to think big while starting small.
I think the biggest thing I can't wrap my head around is how the hell I am going to finance such a thing.
I would say that I am a bank managers risk. I'm young, I don't live anywhere, unstable jobs, no assets and make money only to spend it all before making it again. So I think the bank is out of the question plus the fact that project is on the other side of the world, so I guess that rules out the Aussie banks!
The local Tbilisi government is giving out tax and bank fee concessions for people investing in certain sectors, one of them being tourism; so I guess that leave me to find some kid of investor. No doubt an even bigger challenge than convincing a stubborn bank manager. Saying that thought I have made contact with a Georgian businessman that currently runs a guesthouse in Tbilisi who is currently looking for another property, but I really don't know if this will wok as I think we have quite different visions as Georgia has never seen anything like a 'European' hostel. It's possibly a good start though.
Then there is the business plan! I have done a couple in the past for other projects but nothing like this and to make it even more complicated trying to get data and estimated costs etc. would prove a nightmare when not even in the actual country.
So I really don't know what to do next. I'm only a young guy so maybe this is just another pipe dream but I really do think that Georgia, in particular Tbilisi is getting ready to take off in the tourist market and nothing like this currently exists; one simple look at flights between Europe and Tbilisi shows they have doubled in the last few years.
But it's all too easy to dream!
By posting this I hope no one gos running off to start a hostel there... well at least not without me haha
Cheers guys
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