How to realize the project of your life!
Hello Legendary Animals,
I hope you are well, today I'm going to explain you what I did to create my park. My project is a bit atypical and that's why I want to explain it to you. Behind the creation of my park, there is a process that has been maturing in me for a few years without me knowing that I was going to create a park one day. It's completely crazy in fact... Anyway!
So first of all I'll give you a quick presentation of the project.
Our goal is to welcome riders and their families who practice or not wakeboarding.
To propose healthy food made on the spot with selected products in accordance with the nutrition of the sportsman, while being tasty.
To have a place where wake enthusiasts and non enthusiasts can meet in an open spirit of sharing and conviviality.
My original personal dream is to ride a full-size, alone and to share my passion.
So we made our dream come true by creating the Dahu Wake Park.
In terms of investment, what does this mean?
We bought a 7.5ha estate located near Bordeaux, in the region of Libourne, Saint-Emilion. It includes 5 floating cottages to accommodate 15 people max, 2 cottages on the bank, a common cottage where we serve half-board if we can not serve on the terrace, the technical chalet, a house and a water ski lift open to all and all year.
We have also created the Legendary Bistro which complements all this and feeds our guests. Locals are welcome to join us during our opening hours and you don't have to be a resident of the chalet to come to our place. So there are 2 spaces. A private one which belongs to the residents, a private one for all people passing by. So first advice, do what is in agreement with you! What others do is not what will help you. If you create a park, know why you are doing it and look at the global project and what you are going to put in it. Think about the negative before you think about the positive.
Once your project is defined in the main lines, all that's left is to put everything in place to achieve it and this is where you have to find the place, the budget and finally the key people. First of all the place, I underestimated this part and I thought that a simple lake would do the trick because my goal in life is to ride and ride and ride. BUT fortunately my wife was there! The place must be at the height of your project, it is fundamental!
--> Avoid the old dumping grounds
To realize our dream, we had to be close to the train stations and airports, easy to access by highway. In our case, the airport is 45 minutes away, the train station of Libourne is 25 minutes away and Coutras is 5 minutes away.
At the beginning of the project we had the choice between a project in Croatia. But there was too much to do to put together the existing business, so we looked around France and found one in the Ardèche, one in the Dordogne and finally one here in Sablons which we fell in love with.
At the budget level
In this post you will list everything you want to do in its entirety. This does not mean that you will do everything from the beginning. It will give you an envelope and it will allow you to define the financing and development plan of the project.
It can be 3-5-7-9-20 years, it's up to you to determine that with your accountant and broker but we'll see later. This is what we call a business plan. At this stage, you can allow yourself to imagine everything so that your project is attractive, but above all, it must be well put together because you will have to prove to the banks that you can pay back what you borrowed. In our case, we are at 25/30% of the global project that I would like to achieve. But first I have to see if my current project is viable to be sure to continue investing in it.
Now that you've gone through these steps, you need an accountant and a good one. I thank mine who took a long time to challenge me on my entire project. Without him, our whole project would not be on the ground today. You have to make the forecasts with him. This is the most delicate part. Are you going to be able to borrow what you are asking for?
This is statistical data based on projections of a future that you and your accountant have determined. Make as many as you need to validate your project on paper.
Concerning my project, the investment in the wakepark represents 25% of the total, another 25 percent are works and the rest of the 50% is land. The purchase of the lake, the floating chalets and my house).
Then you have to find the people who will help you to realize your project.
These people will make your project happen or not. That's the crazy part. If you've done your homework with your accountant and you live, you sweat your project. You will convince! Well, you have to convince.
Who are these key people?
1. The mayor or the president of the community of commune who can veto the construction of a water ski lift.
2. A broker who will study your project and see if in the financial language, the project can be well accepted by the bank. He will discuss with each bank and will take the temperature for you. He must also be convinced of your project. Change broker if you see that he is not convinced. If after 5 brokers you haven't found one, rework your project.
3. Finally, the bank. It is very likely that they will ask to meet with you to see if you are up to what you are asking.
Our project was so customary, he had never seen that anywhere, we had to convince them. The bank looks at whether you're going to be able to pay back the money and whether you're going to be able to live off it. So they take the figures of other companies in the sector and study your development potential.
In our case, we were lucky because this project does not exist and we had a one in two chance of being refused the loan. I had to redo the project 5 times with different documents to answer their questions and finally reassure them. Tell yourself that you have to have answers to everything regarding your project.
Also, think about the help!
After each meeting with an elected official. Ask if you fit in the boxes to get the help that your region, department, etc... offers. If you get an honorary loan from your region, for example, the bank will consider that as a cash contribution and that's good for the future! On our side, once I got the financing, I had to find the companies I was going to work with. We did most of the work ourselves except for the electricity and the water ski lifts. I would like to thank all the people who came to help us during our difficult start. I broke my ankle, we had delays, bad surprises but also good surprises. The path of the creation of a project is full of pitfalls but it is also these pitfalls that make your project worth it.
Finally, December 2018 we got our funding. From then on things were much cooler. You know you have the money you asked for, or almost. All that was left was to make an appointment with the notary to purchase the property and select the companies we worked with. In our case, I chose a Canadian water ski lift, the Konex brand. This system seduced me because you can customize everything on it. I chose camo colors for the tower so the pillars would blend in with the trees.
We also had a technical challenge because the line is exactly 300m long and few water ski lift brands are able to handle that. So that also drastically reduces the possibilities. Finally the modules, I made a partnership with Stax Unlimited, Markus. Who helped me in the reflection of my park.
So I heard some scary stories when I started announcing that I was going to create a Park. People wanted to know where I was going to set up. I kept it a secret until the end. You can understand that sometimes it doesn't suit a person who is already established to have a competitor close to home. And that's why it's important to make your project your own, because it will avoid competition and increase the range of choices for the customer.
We are in the middle of a containment period due to the coronavirus. Which companies will close because of it? Which ones are going to hold on? I don't know what the future will bring, but in any case, know that the passion is still there and that even if tomorrow the project would end for me, I would have taken a lot of pleasure in doing what I did, what I do and what I will do.
Thank you to all those who went through this video and article.
Once the lockdown is over, we look forward to seeing you at the reopening of the Dahu Wake Park.
Until then, be well.
Ciao legendary animals
