Wow. I think that
best sums it up in one word.
The Guide is big. One of my first thoughts was "$199, and
it's photocopied?" We found out, from an interview with Guy
Cooper, that The Guide is updated every two to three
months. Since new versions are always being printed in small
volumes, this is the most economic binding and printing
available. In fact, the copy we received included WARPIG's
address in the resource section, less than 2 months after we
moved. This is not a stale book. It is very up to date, and we
are now very pleased to recommend it to people who are
considering starting a field.
For many people,
$199 seems steep price for a book, but The Guide is
packed with information, and after having read it, I can't
imagine starting a paintball field without it. I am very
confident in saying that the knowledge in this book will more
than pay for itself in increased profits, or protection from
loss. In the $6,000 to $12,000 needed to start up a paintball
field, the cost of this book is pretty small.
Here are a few of the topics covered:
-
Laws effecting
paintball
-
Zoning
-
Negotiating a
lease for a field
-
Sanitation
requirements
-
Insurance
-
Getting start-up
capital
-
Licenses and
permits
-
Accounting
-
Wisdom of
marketing toward regular players or newbies
-
Retail sales
-
Increasing
revenue
-
Tax planning
-
Rental of
equipment to and from other fields
-
Presentation at
shows
-
Equipment
purchase, storage and maintenance
-
Bulk Co2 fills
-
Complete daily
operating procedure
-
Dealing with bad
paint
-
Game scenarios
-
Running
tournament
-
Safety (79+
pages are devoted to various aspects of this topic)
-
Customer service
-
Promotional
material
-
Much, much more.
That's just a
sample. The table of contents is over 8 pages long.
The knowledge Guy
has packed into this book comes from his years of experience as
a successful field operator in Colorado, and through the
experiences of the many fields he has helped start around the
country through his company, Pro Star Sports. If you are
considering starting a field of your own, it is an excellent
base to build on. Also, since the material in the guide changes
regularly, updates are available on a regular basis at around
$20 each.
Review from
Paintball 2Xtremes Magazine:
Opening and successfully running a
paintball field in the new, highly competitive local paintball
marketplace is difficult at best. A paintball-interested
entrepreneur needs all the help he or she can get, and one of
the best sources for this help has, for quite some time, been
the Paintball Field Operator's Guide from Pro Star Sports.
Divided into thirteen sections, the latest incarnation of the
Guide, which was awarded the Paintball Consumer Reports
International (blast from the past) Four Star rating for
quality, covers everything from paintball clipart such as
splats, to how to officiate a tournament, approach local
government for proper zoning and approval, to things in
paintball that do not even exist any more, such as Lazerball and
Hutch. With diagrams of speedball fields and sheets to help
field owners control rental equipment, and everything else a
field owner could ever conceivably need in terms of paintball
business knowledge, the latest version of the Paintball Field
Operator's Guide from Pro Star Sports is an outstanding piece of
equipment that no field owner should be without. The only thing
to change is the drawing on the cover; to make the two
fun-loving paintballers put some facemasks on.
If your looking at starting a
field in Europe, contact the Untied Kingdom Paintball
Sports Federation (UKPSF) or visit them
online, or
email them. You can also
find their own review of the
Paintball Field Operators Guide as well. They will assist you in
every way they
can concerning field operations in Europe.
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