Are you a social person, a mixed drink connoisseur or just love to see people having a good time? Opening a bar may be the perfect business for you. Most people dream of a career where you get to sit around and have a good time with people surrounded by all the alcohol you can consume. While all of this is great, there is a business side to it as well.

As with many other businesses, location is key to your success. You want to be in an area with a population able to keep you in business but not surrounded by other bars (or in some cases, very popular nightspots filled with bars might do the trick). If you cannot find an area without other bars close by, try to find one that has very crowded bars and see if the customer base would like another option that is less crowded. It could be that they go there because there are no other options close by, actually, not enough bars for the population. When you have picked a location, see if you can even get a liquor license, most areas have a maximum amount of licenses per county or township. It would be bad to build a bar just to find out you can't get a license.

The next thing you need to do is decide if you want your bar to have a theme or gimmick. Do you want a dueling piano bar, karaoke bar, dance club, or just a regular place to drink? This also will vary depending on your location/demographic. Try to hire experience when filling your bartender and waitress positions, a relaxed, solid staff says a lot for your bar. The last of the basics is to get your alcohol vendors set up and start pouring.