How to Start a Baseball Clinic Business

Baseball clinics focus on teaching youth players the skills they need to play the game successfully. You can teach younger players the fundamentals, while with older players you can focus on more-complex aspects of the game such as strategy and situational baseball. The best times to hold baseball clinics are during the summer or during winter and spring vacations when young ballplayers are out of school. You can design your baseball clinic as a day camp or an overnight camp depending on the facilities you have available.

Instructions

    • 1

      Form a corporation. Forming a corporation allows you to create a separate business entity that is responsible for the camp. This not only limits your personal liability in the case of a lawsuit, but also allows you to run a separate set of financial books aside from your personal expenditures. The process and cost of incorporating varies in each state. Contact your state's secretary of state for information; see References for a list of the secretary of state in each state.

    • 2

      Open a business banking account. As expenses arise and players send money for the baseball clinic, you need to keep a separate set of books. After you incorporate in Step 1, you will get a tax identification number from the Internal Revenue Service; this is like a Social Security number for your business. Use your tax ID to set up a business bank account. It is preferable to set up both a checking and savings account, as well as an ATM and debit card linked to your account. Keeping the majority of your money in your savings account helps guard against debit card theft.

    • 3

      Purchase insurance for the baseball clinic. Contact an insurance company that specializes in camp or clinic insurance. Provide them the general details of your clinic, and get a rough estimate for the cost of insurance. You can lock in the costs of insurance closer to the clinic dates when you get a hard count of exactly how many players will be attending.

    • 4

      Secure a facility for your baseball clinics. There are many facility options including the local park and recreation department, college campuses and minor league ballparks. Contact these entities, and ask if them how much their rental or license is for the field. Check other issues such as terms of use -- for instance, if you might only get the field until a certain time each day -- until you find a facility that meets your need.

    • 5

      Advertise your baseball clinic business. Get out into the baseball community and let people know about the clinic. Set up a website, hand out fliers at games and become friendly with local youth, high school and collegiate coaches and inform them of your clinic. The website should reflect some basics about your business including the type of clinic you are offering, the dates, times, location, cost and information about your baseball qualifications.

    • 6

      Purchase or rent equipment for the baseball clinic business. You need equipment such as baseballs, bats, batting helmets, batting tees, bases and catcher's gear. You also should buy water jugs and first aid kits.

    • 7

      Hire other coaches or personnel to help you run the camp. Find people with a lot of baseball experience. For example, many youth players enjoy working with current and former collegiate and professional baseball players. Having experienced, quality personnel becomes another selling point for your clinic.

    • 8

      Hold your first baseball clinic. As you start your baseball clinic business it is imperative that the players not only have fun but learn and improve their baseball skills. The word of mouth from the clinic will help spread awareness of your business to make it more successful.