re: Anyone here started their own bar?

I owned a bar for four plus years and ran it for three of those. Opened it when I was 23 by scraping together $6k with three close friends and talking a retiring loan officer into lending us $40k. Still close friends with two of my former partners.

Your profits going over the bar are a major concern. I've seen a few absentee owners make it work but usually it doesn't. And being there every night is a tough way to make a living.

Absolutely right about seeing people at their worst. Even the ones that are awesome 99 out of 100 times.

We never had many employee issues. Got luck with hires and just cut the ones that weren't working out. People were making enough money that they were sought after jobs.

I wouldn't do it again for some of the reasons outlined above. But the biggest one is liability. We got lucky. Had a guy die in a one car wreck after he left the bar. Crazy thing was we'd probably over served him 100 times but that night he showed up wasted, we gave him a beer that he didn't drink, tried to call him a cab and he said he was walking out to meet a friend. Still might have been liable had the estate sued.

There are easier ways to make money and the other perks wear off pretty quickly.