The credit crunch has affeected everyone but i still manage to stay afloat. The same would happen with a microlight school.
I really am beginning to think that this is a giant wind up and I guess we are all falling for it, me included.
I cannot understand why you are bothering to ask anything, particularly as you appear to have joined PPrune just to ask this question. You clearly have done some research but your attitude to business and risk puzzles me. You say you have turned around a failing business. Good, then you must uderstand the way markets work and also understand that there is a world of difference between what is now a mainstream established business with presumably a good customer base and goodwill, i.e. computers, and flight training, which at the level you want to do it is and always will be a luxury activity. All, and I mean all, the flight schools in my area have had a torid time of it over the last few months. They have stayed afoat but others do not.
I already have 2 airfields willing to base my school (one i have been visiting for 10yrs or more and am very friendly with the owner as i did his computer for him) and the other which is about 20 miles away form my home.
OK, they may allow you to occupy their hangar and offices for free, or will they want you to sign a lease for several years, and probably pay a rent deposit. I am not sure if you friendly instructor charging you £20 an hour is the instructor your fledgling school intends to rely on to teach its students, but an arrangement "as long as it fits in with his schedule" is hardly a sound basis for operations when you are trying to build a student base.
we arent all dreamers. It just comes down to optimism that afew of you lack
Optimism is hugely important, but it is an additional quality and not a substitute for a sound business model. You seem to think that successful business rely simply on attitude and balls and nothing else. Those entrepreneurs who succeed do have those qualities but also understand their market and the economics and have a well thought out business plan. They are not casual b*llsh***ers who just talk the talk.
Do people think banks borrow money to small businesses for the fun? NO , they borrow money to small businesses to make money out of them , to exploit their need for cashflow.
I assume you are referring to banks lending rather than borrowing money! Particularly in the current climate they will want to see that you business can generate enough cash to pay their loan and to keep the wheels turning. They will want to see you plan with specific projections for cash, outgoings and profit. If you can persuade them to lend to you it will be at significantly higher rate than you are curently paying on a student loan and it is likely that you house will be charged as additional security.