Starting a RUNNING CO. .... Any suggestions?? (Read 869 times)

What are some necessary steps? We have capital of 5 - 10K dollars and we would like to contact a shoe company for a potential sponsorship and/or printed apparel for team gear..?!? Looking for tax deductions has caused my employer to motivate me to start up a running company. He already sponsors several international soccer teams and this would be one more outlet as a tax break. My cousin and I both are avid runners and first-time qualifiers for 2010 Boston, but beyond that I don't know many runners. ANYONE that has started something like this or has any input please offer it up as I am all ears.

I DON'T mean a company to sell apparel or shoes. More along the lines of a group of runners that are part of team, and we can be outfitted with team gear and share training as well as do races together...

I don't think there is a business case... It's less Running Company, more Tax Shelter. If you have a dedicated company for this... you'll need to turn a profit at some point (2 out of 5 yrs...)

Call me crazy, but isn't the point of a business to provide goods and/or services? For some sort of fee? If you are trying to find something to pour your money into while at the same time financing your running career and hiding dough from the feds, why not creat a non-profit? Create a charity or allign yourself with an existing charity?

Unless I miss the mark, the "good and/or service" would be advertisement. Form the club, outfit it in some snazzy hot pink and neon green (or whatever) eye catching outfits, run the club in as many races regionally as one can with hopefully some level of success until other begin to notice any maybe even look for your hot pink and neon green outfits, then plaster logos for your sponsors on them. Is that the idea...?