South Carolina Business Startup Guides

Start a Business in Abbeville, South Carolina

Are you starting a business in Abbeville, South Carolina? This article discusses the most important things to consider when opening a business in Abbeville.

What Business to Start

An important decision is what kind of business you want to start. To stir your creative juices on what kind of business to start, take a look at Business Ideas That Don't Make Sense.

For in-depth how-to guides on how to start specific businesses, browse our Good Businesses to Start section of our site. For example, you might be interested in our Opening a Bartending Instruction Business guide or our How to Start a Fish & Seafood Wholesale Business guide.

Don't forget that you are starting a business in Abbeville. Some businesses will do better in Abbeville than others. Study Abbeville demographics and do a competitive analysis as part of your startup planning process.

Abbeville, South Carolina Demographic Information

Abbeville has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.

To give you a better feel for Abbeville demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Abbeville.

Business Size
# of
Businesses
1-4 Employees
2355
5-9 Employees
660
10-19 Employees
435
20-49 Employees
225
50-99 Employees
75
100-249 Employees
105
250-499 Employees
30
500-999 Employees
0
1000+ Employees
0
All Abbeville Businesses
3885

As a new Abbeville entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Abbeville for each business category. By looking at this chart, you can get a general sense for how much competition there is in the business niche that you are pursuing.

Business Type
# of
Businesses
Ambulance Services
1
Appliance Repair and Maintenance
1
Architectural Services
1
Automotive Parts and Accessories Stores
5
Beer, Wine, and Liquor Stores
2
Broadwoven Fabric Mills
1
Business Associations
3
Cable and Other Program Distribution
1
Cafeterias
2
Cemeteries and Crematories
1
Child Day Care Services
2
Commercial Lithographic Printing
1
Consumer Lending
7
Convenience Stores
1
Copper Foundries (except Die-Casting)
1
Couriers
1
Credit Unions
2
Electric Power Distribution
2
Exterminating and Pest Control Services
1
Farm Supplies Merchant Wholesalers
1
Finish Carpentry Contractors
3
Fitness and Recreational Sports Centers
1
Flooring Contractors
2
Florists
1
Food Service Contractors
1
Full-Service Restaurants
6
Funeral Homes and Funeral Services
4
Furniture Stores
4
General Automotive Repair
2
General Freight Trucking, Local
3
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals
1
Glass and Glazing Contractors
1
Hardware Stores
1
Home Furnishing Merchant Wholesalers
1
Home Health Care Services
2
Homes for the Elderly
1
Household Appliance Stores
1
Insurance Agencies and Brokerages
6
Jewelry Stores
1
Limited-Service Restaurants
11
Logging
3
Machine Shops
4
Masonry Contractors
4
Motorcycle Dealers
1
New Car Dealers
1
Nursing Care Facilities
1
Offices of Dentists
2
Offices of Lawyers
2
Offices of Optometrists
2
Pet Care (except Veterinary) Services
1
Petroleum Bulk Stations and Terminals
1
Pharmacies and Drug Stores
2
Portfolio Management
1
Retail Bakeries
1
Roofing Contractors
1
Savings Institutions
1
Sawmills
1
Securities Brokerage
1
Site Preparation Contractors
3
Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars
1
Tax Preparation Services
2
Temporary Help Services
1
Theater Companies and Dinner Theaters
1
Tile and Terrazzo Contractors
1
Tire Dealers
1
Title Abstract and Settlement Offices
1
Truck Trailer Manufacturing
1
Used Merchandise Stores
1
Veterinary Services
1
Video Tape and Disc Rental
1
Wholesale Trade Agents and Brokers
1
Wired Telecommunications Carriers
2
Wood Office Furniture Manufacturing
1

Naming the Company

Making the right decision when choosing a company name is very important. There are many decisions you'll make now that you can change later, but changing a company name years down the road is not very easy. So, choose a good company name at the outset.

We strongly advocate that you make sure the ".com" domain name is available for your company name. Every business needs a strong Web presence these days, and having a non ".com" domain means somebody else may outrank you in the search results for your own company name.

Numerous company naming issues are discussed in more detail in this article: Branding Advice.

There's one other important factor when naming a business. Since you are opening a business in Abbeville, it's critical that you ensure that your company name has not already been claimed by another South Carolina business.

Don't Forget to Create a Business Plan

A business plan is essential in maximizing the prospects of your new company. Indeed, a business plan is a written description of the future you envision for your business. Failure to write a business plan is a recipe for disaster.

To learn more about business plans, read The Art of the Executive Summary. You should also take advantage of free counseling sessions provided by your local SCORE chapter in South Carolina.

Raising Money for Your New Venture

Raising money to fund your new Abbeville business will be harder than you might expect. If you don't have a rich uncle to fund you, you'll need to be creative in how you approach your fundraising efforts.

Recognizing this challenge, this site contains dozens of articles on raising money, including one we recommend entitled 504 Loans.

For Abbeville entrepreneurs who need startup capital, check out our List of South Carolina Angel Investors and our List of South Carolina Venture Capital Firms.

Marketing Your New Venture

To grow your Abbeville business, you'll need to have a good marketing plan.

You can learn quite a bit about marketing on our site. Advertising on Google is an article that will generate a few thoughts on your marketing plan. That's just one of the many useful articles we have on Marketing a Small Business.

Never Give Up

As an entrepreneur in Abbeville, you won't be working for the boss anymore. You are the boss.

From this point on, you control your own destiny.

This site is all about helping entrepreneurs in Abbeville and elsewhere to achieve real success. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Abbeville, neighborhood development and overall economic health.

More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Abbeville, South Carolina

Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Abbeville.

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