Thank you, Jeff and Tina, for your comments.

Our friend graduated from the Motorcycle Mechanics Institute in Phoenix - if you're unfamiliar with them let me assure you it's not a flash-in-the-pan outfit. He paid $30k for his 2-yr education, graduated top of his class and MMI is the leading source of techs and mechanics for virtually ALL industry players. Race teams tap their mechanics from there, privateers start there, etc. The instructors are business owners themselves, or racers, or work in OEM or aftermarket companies.

My husband has ridden motorcycles his whole life, starting with a 50cc dirt bike when he was 3-years-old. It was our love of bikes that inspired our friend to attend school in the first place. As time passed we all came to the realization that our working lives thus far have almost painted us a Yellow Brick Road to where we are now headed. But how stupid would it be for us to rent a building and go into all sorts of debt just because we can? Better to start slowly and build up, take short steps until we can take longer ones. Our final vision for our business is much more than a bike shop (we don't intend to specialize, either; if it has an engine and isn't a passenger car or truck, we'll work on it for you). We intend (eventually!) to locate a large piece of commercial property and build and actual motocross track on it. Perhaps a foam pit. We've even kicked around the notion of putting in a paintball course if we have enough land. We want to make it a DESTINATION, rather than just a place to get parts or have your bike worked on. Naturally this will require all sorts of liability insurance and waivers and such.

Here's the neat part: a fourth friend of ours is a lawyer and is more than willing to help us navigate the legal waters we're getting into, at every step. We are doing everything we can to cover our bases and go about this intelligently and realistically.

Tina, you'd mentioned insurance. I will definitely look into partnership ins when the time comes. When our son was born I insisted on life insurance, so at least our family would be privately taken care of. We have $500,000 worth of coverage already on ourselves - MORE than enough in our part of the country to take care of anything needed, even after Uncle Sam takes his cut. We are currently looking into alternate sources of startup capital besides loans, although we'll probably need those, too. Our friend has offered his home, which he owns free and clear, as collateral should we need said loans. He has no children or wife and refuses to let us risk ours. Which I'm willing to let him do! But as I understand it we have some options before taking out bank loans. And that's all in the future, anyway, so we have time to research. You'll probably see me on those boards, asking questions.

You'd also mentioned how businesses can be seasonal. Don't I know it! The place I work for now is located next to a major lake and is VERY seasonal. A bike shop will be, too, without doubt. We intend to sock away cash for the lean months, and spend that time acquiring and customizing bikes and ATVs for resale. My husband is skilled in paint and body work, so we hope to push that during the winter. We think it's a great time, since it's too cold to ride anyway; people will use those months to improve their rides. We'll also have clothing and accessories, and I've been thinking of ways to bring in winter business. Winter is also a good time to attend trade shows and events where networking would benefit us. Overhead should be low, since we won't have employees outside ourselves and in winter we won't carry a lot of back stock. The place I currently work is a small, privately-owned business and my boss pretty much relies on me to do everything. I order stock, I handle AP and AR, I balance the books daily and monthly - I couldn't have asked for better practical experience in behind the scenes business management.

We will get our LLC when the time is right and have chosen a company name. Our lawyer pal will help us draw up the necessary partnership paperwork and help us get our proverbial act together. Once things start moving in the direction of actually getting a location, we will set down the rules in stone and get our ducks in a row.

We're going to do it. There's no doubt. At this point, I'm almost actively digging up people to tell me the bad stuff just so I don't get blindsided by something I didn't anticipate. It's just amazing to me sometimes, looking back on the last 10-15 years, how it seems so obvious that we are supposed to do this. At 19 years old I was in charge of the entire backorder dept for a large retail furniture store, and handled the accounting on weekends. Who lets a 19-yo do that?! I won't outline my entire work history, or my husband's, but the skills we've gained on the job are going to significantly help us with this venture.

Boy am I glad to have found this site!
Thanks again!