Re: what do I need to start a digital photo printing business?

Business model scores a D in Final.
Boy are you lucky, if you were in my class, this would be a "D". You need
to do a little more research my friend. Your business plan is simple, but
disastrous.

If this brainstorm is for the US market, rethink yourself. I was in the
business doing the same thing with film and digital for thirty years and we
had good equipment, talented people, but that was the smallest part of the
process. Go back to the drawing boards and find a new business model. You
can't compete with Sams, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Costco, Eckerds, CVS, Wal-Greens,
Target, Sears, and soon thousands of automated kiosks.

Using an example...
We have a joke in Florida. The labs are gone because the Drug Lords put them
under. Eckerds, CVS and Wal-Greens.
In 1980 there were 790 INDEPENDANT labs in Florida. In 2003, there are less
than 57. All went under. Amateurs go to the least costly store. In the US
there is a lab on every street corner where there is a Pharmacy. Their labs
lose money. They are there to keep the customer in the store at least two
times or for one hour for additional shopping. They make more money on
presriptions in an hour than running those machines for the day. Pro work
will not sustain you. A pro lab is an entirely different operation.

Errr, by the way are you aware how many prints it takes at .29 to pay off a
175-$225,000 Frontier? Thats not something you put on your desktop. Are you
aware of the water, electricity, insurance, location, phones, bulbs, OSHA,
personnel, toilet paper, start up costs, advertising, and a thousand
miscellaneous costs added to this simple business plan of yours?

There are consultants at FUJI, KODAK, NORITSU and others who will gladly
help you secure the 250-500,000 dollars needed to establish a business like
this.
But the best source would be to contact an IPI owner who is independant in
the industry and has the best associate pricing on this equipment and works
at it daily...

Good Luck........

(B>)# I wish you well.....
Al Jacobson
Website: www.aljacobs.com
Website: http://web.tampabay.rr.com/ajacobs2

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