Is your haunt making over $250,000 per year?

[Uptown Haunts]

Serious question.....

Will Osama Obama help the needy with his multiples of $250,000? It must be nice to have lots of disposable income....

[Jim Warfield]

"Bought" via freely given donations from average people versus previous elections "Stolen" via having your brother be the governor of hanging Chad.
Every election has been "bought".
Sort of like taking your street driver to a concours car show and wondering why your 63 Studebaker didn't beat out the Ferrarri that was trailered in.

[Uptown Haunts]

No Purchase Necessary

Jim,

Who do politicians "buy" elections from? Is there an Election store somewhere that I don't know about? Can I get a price list?

Printing, mailing and advertising for an election campaign can get pretty expensive even on a small scale. All money must be accounted for as required by law. With my mother's current county row office that she holds, we ran huge fund raisers in the first 3 of her election cycles. Each term is 4 years. Since then, we ran smaller events which yielded far less campaign revenue and received even smaller donations. Naturally, all printing, mailing and advertising costs have gone up considerably since her first campaign. People just don't have the extra cash to kick into campaigns anymore.

Being well liked by the voting public and running a clean, efficient office, there was one election where she won by a margin of just over 37,000 votes county-wide with a total of 96,000 votes cast for her office. In her first election victory, she won by only 28 votes out of 92,000 total. Voting machine recounts took about a month. She is now in her 9th consecutive elected term of office. Proof that not every election has been bought. Some people actually earn it.

[JamBam]

Redistribution ??

The issue of redistribution of wealth is ongoing.

When the Reagan tax cuts hit, I was a laid off construction worker. My part of the pie was reduced by Reagan because the unemployment comp was taxed for the first time.

Who benefited? The people needing it the least. Some would say, those are the 3-5 % of the population netting $ 200-250 K.

So, in the Reagan tax plan, the wealth was "redistributed" to the top.

Now, Mr. Obama has proposed repealing Bush's tax cut and go back to pre-Reagan taxes. McCain has so many foot soldiers (most of whom will never net 250K), including "Sam the Sewer cleaner" (Joe the plumber for you that believe the BS) that it is sad. Sad that people don't even know they are helping undermine themselves. The McCain ads said Obama was going to raise taxes. What he didn't say was if you made less than 200-250 K, it didn't apply to you.

The financial bailout recently was done by the same administration that grew government by 40%. That means more taxes. The same admin that helped keep minimum wage stagnant for nearly ten years. All while the two wars were making many of his and Cheney's buddies fantastically rich.

Now unemployment is rising and will be until credit opens up. It is hard to argue with real data. Check out this chart http://www.ibew.org/legislative/W080714_JustFacts.pdf . It shows how when the federal deficit is low, the unemployment is low over the last 40 years.

All most people want is to make a decent living, support a family, and have a little spending cash. The American dream of becoming rich is left for two types of people. Those that inherit it and those that work their butts off, have some things go their way, and are able to succeed!

[Marr Branch]

I only take cash at my haunt, u fellas making 250,000 a year might want to do the same.

[badass]

when i get some time ( may be november) im gonna read this thread
the facts r in..were fuked
but its nothing new.. really..
we have been living on this false economy for way too long..
everyone fresh outa school..
livin in a house they dont own..
drivin a car they dont own ..
sittin on furniture they dont own..
watching a tv they dont own..
not tring to piss any one off here just chimin in
but this didnt happen over night..
and this country is plum dumb full of whiners....but smile
on the bright side...
people still love haunted houses
and i still love making em

so bring all your gold to the Haunted Hoochie..
highest prices paid..
at 20 bucks a gram..
your kids r countin on u

no really i will buy your gold

[shawng]

appropriate post to show our haunt promo vehicle. lol.

I think this is an appropriate post to show our haunt promo vehicle, it definitely beats driving a hearse, and gets just as much attention :-)
lambohh.jpg

[7thCIRCLEOFHELL]

Yeah I also wondered about this pay scale???

Many haunted houses and hayrides are calming they bring in 65,000+ patrons. and if you were to take that times $20 price ticket which is very very low!!! Considering vip passes in such would make a total of 1.3 million!!!! take away half of that and and that's well over half a million for the year! Are my figures wrong or is this the business?

[austind]

Larry is right

Larry I hate to say it but you are right. I am a business owner and my company is hiring right now. If I have to pay more taxes then my guys have to do more with less. Owning your own company means that you have to take care of your employees and make sure the have a job tomorrow, that means I have to make sure we make money for all of our well being. When cash flow is tight I am the one who will hold my checks for a month or so. When did it become a crime to make money and why does that mean that we have to support thoses who don't work hard. I started out with nothing and now do well for myself, but I have friends that don't put in the time and effort and collect handouts because it is easier than getting off thier butts. We all had that group of people that did nothing back in high school and a lot of them are struggling now. Is it my job to support them, they were told that if the didnt try that they would go nowhere in life, just like me. I have three guys that I hired as temps five years ago with only a high school education and they are now making over 60K a year. They worked hard, went the extra mile and actted like the we're part owners when it came to work, so now that I have trained them the make pretty good money. I can't find good help right now, and don't have the time to try 30 guys to find one good one. This is in Detroit where we have the worst unemployment in the country, it's easier to suck off the titt of society than to do what you can for yourself. Sorry for being negative but I had a kid at 18 it woke me up and I began working on becoming a man, I worked 3 jobs and we some how made ends meet. Now I am working on becoming a kid again by getting in to the haunt business, and hope to put more good people to work. I wish everyone a successful year this year, keep working hard and it will pay off in the long run.

P.S. you don't have to give the government any of your money if you spend it on more props.

[shawng]

AustinD,

Just wanted to reply to this "P.S. you don't have to give the government any of your money if you spend it on more props. "

Thats not true, if you are buying props, especially anything worth over a few hundred dollars, they are depreciable assets, not expenses. So you can't make $100K in haunt profit, spend $100K on props and call it $0 taxable (not legally anyways).

[austind]

Right

You are correct unless you don't count it as a asset. If you lease the equipment on a short term lease you avoid this mess. Plus mask, prosthetic, fog juice, fire retardant and things like that are a operational expense. You can get creative with this also by increasing advertising and having family work for you that have a lower taxable rate. My son works for me and gets paid a high hourly rate and he has to pay for his own car and insurance out of those funds. This makes his car and insuranse basicly paid for out of the company funds leagaly and gives him a good reson to work hard. I also lease a lot of my own equipment from myself so they are an expense from another company I own that is not making alot of money and give me ability to suport my employees the better until it grows large enough to support it self. My wife is a CPA / Tax accountant and she has worked it all out so that the dollars are still taxable but at a lot less than normal. The bottom line to this rambling is that there are ways to work around problems especially if you have a good lawyers and CPA.

[HauntedMemphis]

AustinD,

Just wanted to reply to this "P.S. you don't have to give the government any of your money if you spend it on more props. "

Thats not true, if you are buying props, especially anything worth over a few hundred dollars, they are depreciable assets, not expenses. So you can't make $100K in haunt profit, spend $100K on props and call it $0 taxable (not legally anyways).

They are depreciable over 10 years. So all you have to do is spend 10x what you make and you are all set.

[Twin Locusts]

About 2/3 of Americans are currently struggling just to pay their bills. So when your concern is the tax on GM, Ford, White Castle, or the few who actually do make over $250,000 per year, I think you are not in touch with most of America, who are just trying to make it through each day. Let's worry about all of us first and then worry about giving the money-makers a tax break.

RF, I understand and am empathetic to your concern for workers. I can tell by the phrase, "not in touch with most of America", that you are, to some degree, in tune with political rhetoric. Please take the following as a sincere, humble attempt, to offer an understanding of the bigger picture - my remarks are in no way meant to be disrespectful or offensive. It's just that seldom have all the markers of misunderstanding been present in a single paragraph as yours above. Can't guess your age but at some point you have been lied to, egregiously lied to.

There is a simple but rarely understood concept in economics. It's called supply and demand.

When in preparation for your life via education, trade apprenticeships, backyard wrestling , etc you, at some point, decided to sell your time. Your plan was either long term or short term.

Once you make this decision you must find ways to fetch the highest dollar for what you have to sell. This two party transaction requires a buyer.

The buyer is also called an employer; in this role the buyer pays market value for labor or services by the hour.

When what you have to offer your village, your city, your market is labor-over-time you had best be concerned about the viability of the buyer. To take any other approach is an ideal instilled by romantic fiction, not economics. We are born owed nothing; each decision we make, great and small, leads us to a station in life chosen by us. Even having an opinion about the station of those that chose deeper education, risking capital in the market, or a trade that commands a higher price is one of the great embarrassments of America.

Alas, today is a new day and an opportunity to grow and compete in the market. An investment of 13:45 in the video below should improve your strategic approach to the labor market. If you work by the hour, think of yourself as a walking investment and use cost benefit analysis to find ways to improve your value everyday!

Godspeed, and good hunting!

[shawng]

Exactly the point i was trying to make, any prop that isnt a consumable (ie. low cost item, or cheap masks etc) HAS To be depreciated. I dont want to sound rude, but it doesnt matter if an accountant (or your wife whos an accountant) told you otherwise. Tax law is pretty clear on this. I mean you can claim and expense whatever you want, you can expense something that never cost you a dime, but if an audit comes.... watch out!

[drfrightner]

I think this topic got way off track here...

Getting back to the original post I wanted to say something here... I think almost ANY haunted house can gross over $250k any day all day long. With the ticket prices as high as they are now this is nothing to achieve honestly. We are talking what 10,000 to 15,000 paying guests ... depending on your ticket price you should be able to achieve this number every single season.

I just wanted to say if you are not hitting these numbers don't despair because I can help you not only crush that number but hit numbers much higher.

I can honestly say if my haunted houses did this amount we'd be talking about an auction right after the season... my expenses are so high its not even funny. So if you are running a modest haunt with modest expenses I think you can make a profit at these numbers if you do things the smart way.

Most haunters run around buying 10,000 animations that break five minute later, or spend what little they do spend on the wrong things... in order to build up your business you must start with yes a good product (your haunt) but you must also have an even better presentation.

I'd ask all the haunts who voted NO they do not make this amount of money look in the mirror... view your website, your photos, your videos, logo, flyers tv ads, or whatever do they stack up are they any good compared to what you know is out there? If the answer is no then that is where you start right there... you could and can correct all of that with less than 10,000 you wasted on a broken animation.

If you correct all the things I just mentioned watch your attendance DOUBLE in the first year...

I've said it before and I hope people take notes and follow along and believe what I'm saying because I'm 110% right!

Look attend my seminar at TW... I do one seminar a year always geared towards what I enjoy most HELPING PEOPLE MAKE MORE MONEY! If you don't take my seminar and you attend some silly how to make a prop or detail something seminar you are a complete FOOL! Yes those seminars are cool but you are haunters you should know this stuff already... you should be making yourself a smarter business man, operator, more of a marketing guru over and above all else. Trust me! Seriously take my seminar and I will help change your life and your business! It will be the best one at the show I know this for a fact... because I will teach you how to make your business better!!! In my mind that is the single most important thing you need to know because once you accomplish that you can do all the other stuff because you'll have more money to do the detail, to buy the props to do things you couldn't before... then those seminars are more important than the business because now you can refine your product with a healthy budget!!!

Lastly BUY THIS DVD http://www.hauntedhousesupplies.com/...uccess_dvd.htm

I did make this video to get rich, I made it to HELP YOU PERIOD!

Larry