Not a bar owner, but I spent some time working in fancy restaurants with bars and know some bar/restaurant owners. The fun parts of owning a bar (stuff like re

Not a bar owner, but I spent some time working in fancy restaurants with bars and know some bar/restaurant owners. The fun parts of owning a bar (stuff like researching and inventing fancy cocktails and chatting up customers, etc) are a small part of the job. The less glamorous parts of the job involve: not having much of a social life because even when the bar isn't busy you still will be, figuring out how to get consistent customers that you want to get (a well-off crowd that wants to peacefully enjoy an expensive cocktail you can make money on not the loud biker gang that wants the cheapest possible beer), finding reliable employees without any substance abuse problems, dealing with employees that give away large amounts of products for better tips or outright steal product, dealing with borderline drunk/harassing customers, making sure none of your customers die, making sure you don't fuck up any one of a thousand health/safety/alcohol regulations and lose your business, doing accounting and making sure you're pricing things correctly to be profitable, etc. Luckily, you're on the right track. Your first step should probably be working in a bar. It might be smart to try and it do it a little out of your town (even with a longer commute) and tell the bar owner your plan and offer to work for minimum wage if he's willing to mentor you directly.