I am currently doing an MBA from a top-tier institution and have good varied work experience. I am looking to get into nightclub mgt/owning them in either vegas, Ibiza , or maybe cancun , mexico.My question is if I need an MBA for that line of work? I suspect yes because managing/owning nightclubs deals with all aspects of a business that a service and/or products based business will have.No smarty pants ansers please; I am seriously considereing this ...I want to follow my dreams and am willing to work hard to get there.

I do not believe you need an MBA for that work. What you do need though is a good dose of entrepreneurial spirit and business street-smarts. For all of an MBA's merits, it does not have the power to imbue you with those characteristics - you build them "on the job" (or you're born with them, but that's a debate for another time).So, do you need an MBA to do the job successfully? No, more than many jobs, it will not be something you need to use every day.Will you find aspects of the MBA useful? Yes, you will probably draw on experiences from that part of your education throughout your life.Do you need an MBA to get through the door? No, an MBA will not be on nightclub owners' requirements lists when hiring a manager. And if you're buying a nightclub then the seller will only discriminate on the basis of the green stuff.

If this question is serious (I doubt it is) then the fact that you had to ask shows your probably not cut out for this type of work.I know plenty of nightclub owners / managers and not one of them would even know what a MBA is (one of them is a millionaire but can not even write!)What you need are firstly contacts, a sense of what's cool and what isnt, people skills and most importantly respect from all sorts of people including many not so nice ones.Think of who you'll deal with on a day to day basis - security, drunk / drugged up customers, staff whose dedication to the job is questionable and very probably gangsters and drug dealers.I dont see how a MBA would prepare you for any of that. True you might have the best kept books in town but that's about it.Sorry to shatter your dreams!

Yes, I imagine the MBA will help a lot when you're negotiating kickbacks from drug-dealers and bribes to local police.

My goal is not to get into the operations of a nightclub. I'll hire someone to do this. Thus, i dont quite forsee getting involved with dodgy ppl who frequent the club. As mentioned before, i'll hire a cunning operations mgr to take care of these things. My role will be as a financier, thus, heavy on profit and loss, balance sheets etc...I'll be in the background, but will have vip access when i need it.

Ha

Pear?

Would have been better to have done an msc in drug dealing and having an aca to fiddle the books

This has to be a wind-up or is just indicative of consulting/ business school types who don't understand what starting your own business is all about (apart from a minority).If you want to start a business in something, you don't need a qualification - you need to just get out there and do it. Learn as you go along and wing it a lot of the way. Listen to these previous posts. You are acting like there's an experienced hire training scheme. Forget the MBA pronto. You need a bit of balls, some contacts and a bit of capital. NO QUALIFICATIONS NEEDED!!I know people who have run large clubs/ bars succesfully aged 21 without having done any higher education. Btw, you need to be present on both the operational and financial side to be successful.

You will also need expertise on ISO9001 for cloakroom processes and Investors in People for the bouncers.I could flog you a SAP inventory management solution for your Smirnoff Ice fridge too.

Hey get out of my way!!! I was here first!!!! What he needs is his processes carefully mapped out in which case I'm the man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Allow me to interlude here. A guy comes on in here professes that he is interested in starting up a nightclub and is enquiring here about the virtues of qualification to realise his dream.Let me give you my two cents worth:An ACN process mapping, IT strategy, IT architecture, IT benchmarking, SAP implementation, change management, process management, performance configuration charlatan is received his comeuppance from the ACN hierachy because it has become palpably clear that drawing unilntelligible, incomprehensible process diagrams in viso is not value-adding to clients and so he has been given his P45 poste haste. The guy then realises that ACN IT-orgy fest that he has indulged himself in has left him ill-equipped to handle the world of commerce and so in a desparate attempt to salvage something from his flickering career, he decides to embark upon an idea that if it were not so preposterous would be hillarious.ZB ZB

There seems to be an overwhelming feeling that nightclubs are seedy places. Not all are like that. There are many respectable joints that are frequented by only the upper crust of society. This is what I plan to be involved in. And yes, i'll hire 'Enthusiastic Grad' to be the ops mgr mapping out processes, and yes, ill buy the SAP Inventroy mgt software to manage the smirnoff and drinks too.As for ZB, can i get your esteemed advice on industry trends as to when the future of nightclubbing is heading? By the way, I never worked for ACN, but rather worked for IBM Global Services- doing charlatan stuff like presenting complex process maps, talking like i'm jesus christ etc.

"There seems to be an overwhelming feeling that nightclubs are seedy places. Not all are like that."I think you'll find they are, some are just better at hiding it than others and have a better class of drug dealer in the premises."frequented by only the upper crust of society" say like ex-coke addict Tara Palmer Tompkinson or Prince Harry who enjoys dressing up as a Nazi?Give me a Ritzys in Blackburn any day of the week!

unilntelligible

See my original post. No mention of drug dealers. The fact that you are even agreeing that you will be getting a graduate to do process mapping shows the depths of your naivity. Do you think that Richard Branson started off think about who he can get the process mapping done?Are you going to start a graduate scheme to recruit ops managers?You will learn more about nightclubs working behind the bar for a year than doing an MBA. Really. That is a serious comment.

Have you ever even been to Ibiza?! Let alone worked a full season or few there in the nightclub industry?!As someone who has......please listen:You don't just rock up with your impressive looking academic CV and get into management or ownership of a nightclub there! End of.Ibiza has been going for years and years - with relationships, and feuds, built up between investors, owners, managers, promoters, DJs, various groups of drug dealers and gangsters, the police, government officials and many more people.To even have a chance of being successful as a nightclub manager or owner you need to know and understand Ibiza - the scene, the music, the people, the whole general vibe and workings of it.Sorry, but the fact you asked the question heavily implies you do not understand the scene.Cancun I cannot comment on though........I haven't been there.

oh well....looks like ill have to go back to my day job of spreadsheets, process diagrams, etc...looks like my dreams of ibiza/cancun are over since i dont know any drug dealers, politicians, late night comedians, international DJ's, and various other 'stakeholders'...

Cherish your dream, never let others take it away from you, nuture it and love it and keep working towards it and one day your dream will be real.PS strongly suggest you chuck in the Big Blue job and go and work in the industry.