255 - How He Turned a $150K Into a Million-Dollar Wedding Venue & 5 Coffee Shops with Alex Nelson

Nikonomics - The Economics of Small Business

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Join me, Nik (https://x.com/CoFoundersNik), as I interview Alex Nelson (https://x.com/weddingvenueguy).

I'm thrilled to welcome back Alex Nelson, the wedding venue guy! When we last spoke, he had just launched his incredibly successful Iowa wedding venue with zero experience.

Now, Alex has expanded beyond the venue, buying five coffee shops and supporting his wife's baby boutique, leading me to call him a mogul. We dive deep into his journey since that first venture, starting with how he and his wife booked their own venue a year and a half out, inspiring the business idea.

Alex shares the shocking reality of building a multi-million dollar venue from the ground up, dealing with massive budget overruns (the original $1.5 million budget ended up closer to $2.7 million!).

He explains the intense stress of unexpected construction delays that forced them to refund deposits from booked weddings, a situation he said felt like the start of a Ponzi scheme. We also discuss the key advantages of using an SBA 7A loan for real estate projects, specifically the 25-year amortization period.

Finally, Alex details his shift from the high-ticket, specific needs of the wedding venue business to acquiring and rebranding multiple coffee shop locations, and offers excellent advice for anyone looking to enter the wedding venue space, including essential ways to test demand.

Questions This Episode Answers:

1. What are the key advantages of using an SBA 7A loan when financing both real estate and a business?

2. How do you accurately gauge market demand for a new standalone wedding venue?

3. What happens when catastrophic construction delays impact a business that operates purely on pre-booked deposits?

4. Is it easier to buy an existing business (like four coffee shops) or build one from scratch (like a wedding venue)?

5. What is the most critical first step (and financial commitment) an aspiring wedding venue owner should take?

Enjoy the conversation!

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This week we covered:
00:00 – How he discovered the wedding-venue idea

03:02 – Booking a venue before even being engaged

05:26 – Saving money & early planning

07:36 – COVID moment: deciding to build now

10:01 – SBA loan plan + cost jump to $2.7M

12:27 – Construction delays & real challenges

17:19 – Taking deposits before the venue existed

19:34 – Stress, refunds & near-disaster moments

24:20 – Year 1–3 revenue growth

29:04 – Buying & expanding multiple coffee shops

36:16 – Scaling operations & improving systems

41:02 – Future plans: more shops + another venue