Office Space Expenses

$0

$7,000

Employee & Freelancer Expenses

$151

$352

Website Costs

$223

$7,215

Business Formation Fees

$5,600

$20,400

Equipment & Supply Expenses

$63

$200

Retail Business Expenses

$1,250

$11,650

Inventory Expenses

$350

$14,750

Software Expenses

$162

$3,094

Advertising & Marketing Costs

$75

$4,786

Total Startup Costs

$7,874

$69,447

Roll20

roll20.net

2,275

BoardGameGeek

boardgamegeek.com

2,627

Board Game Arena

boardgamearena.com

6,804

Fantasy Flight Games

fantasyflightgames.com

37,757

Cool Stuff Inc

coolstuffinc.com

42,058

The Game Crafter

thegamecrafter.com

76,800

Tabletopia

tabletopia.com

85,275

Promethean World

prometheanworld.com

90,180

Catan.com

catan.com

90,764

Board games maker

boardgamesmaker.com

164,183

Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario |

agco.ca

167,288

Flexibility

You can put as much time into the business as you'd like. If you like the work and have some initial experience, you can start small and manage all aspects of the business on your own.

Meaningful business connections

You never know who you will meet as a board game business. This could be the start of an incredible business opportunity!

High customer retention rates

Once a customer invests in your product, they've invested their time and energy to utilize your product/service which is highly valuable to them. Typically, your product or service becomes indispensable to your customer.

Easy to encourage "impulse buy"

In the board game business, you have a much higher chance of encouraging your customers to buy on impulse - you can easily alter the price, placement, packaging, and promotional value to influence the decision of your buyer.

Control of workload

With starting a board game business, you have the unique ability to choose how little or how much you want to work. You also have the freedom to decide which projects you want to work on, and can turn down the ones that do not interest you.

Unlimited income potential

With starting a board game business there is no cap as to how much income you can make. The stronger your business skills and the more energy/time you put into your career, the more you'll make.

Motivation of employees

If you plan to have a sales/content team on board, finding creative ways to motivate them can be a challenge. It's important that you're able to offer great incentives and a good work environment for your employees.

Longer Sales Process

A board game business can be a big time and money investment for your customer, so it's important you plan and predict a longer conversion funnel and stay in communication with potential customers.

Low margins

The gross margins for your board game business are typically around 40%, which can make it more challenging to incur new expenses and maintain profitability.

High employee turnover

In the board game business, employee turnover is often high, which can be quite costly and time consuming for your business. It's important to try and avoid this as much as possible by offering competitive pay, benefits, and a positive work environment.

Taxes

As a board game business, you typically pay self-employment taxes which can be quite high. It's important to understand what you will be paying in taxes each year so you can determine if the work you're taking on is worth it.

High overhead expenses

With starting a board game business, there are overhead expenses that come with selling a physical product. You will want to make sure you strategically budget for these overhead costs. We discuss this more in the startup costs section below.