Ohio Business Startup Guides
Open a Business in Athens, Ohio
Need help starting a business in Athens, Ohio? We've got the information you need to open a business in Athens.
Which Business to Choose?
There are many businesses that you can start. How do you know which type of business is right for you? We recommend that you read Good Business Ideas.
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 Starting a Game Birds & Venison Business guide or our How to Start a Golf Equipment Rental Business guide.
Always keep in mind that your new startup will be located in Athens. Some businesses will do better in Athens than others. A critical consideration is whether Athens demographics mesh well with your startup concept.
Athens, Ohio Demographic Information
Athens has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Athens demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Athens.
Businesses
As a new Athens entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Athens 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.
Businesses
Is Buying an Existing Athens Business a Good Strategy?
An excellent way to get started in business is to Buy a Business in Ohio. Follow that link and you might discover several good businesses for sale in Athens.
If you are going to be buying a business, you may want to read this article: How to Buy a Business.
Picking a Company Name
A big decision when starting a company is choosing a company name. Believe it or not, choosing a good company name can be a big contributor to your business success.
Pick a company name that isn't too generic. If you do a search engine search for your proposed name and a billion results come up, you may want to reconsider the name. It's much easier to come up in the search engines when your name is fairly unique.
To get up to speed on what makes for a good company name, we encourage you to read this useful article: Naming a Business.
As a final piece of advice, remember that because you are starting a business in Athens, it's imperative that you check now that no other Ohio company is using the business name you want to use.
Don't Forget to Create a Business Plan
Having a business plan is essential to the health of your new business. In effect, your business plan is your game plan for how you hope to grow your business. Starting a business without a business plan makes you more prone to becoming a business failure statistic.
If writing a business plan is on your to-do list, be sure to read Business Plan Contests. A great resource for business planning assistance is the face-to-face free consulting available from your local SCORE chapter in Ohio.
Marketing Your New Business
To rise above the crowd in Athens and build your business, having an excellent marketing plan is fundamental to your doing well.
You can learn quite a bit about marketing on our site. Dealing with Angry Customers discusses marketing strategy and tactical marketing in a way that should get you thinking about how to creatively promote your business. That's just a taste of the many useful articles we have on Marketing a Small Business.
Moving Forward
Most new Athens businesses underestimate the number of challenges they will face.
From this point on, you control your own destiny.
We are here to help Athens businesses to be successful. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Athens, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Athens, Ohio
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Athens.
- Resources for Athens, Ohio Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Athens entrepreneurs.
- Ohio Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Ohio.
- Ohio Small Business Development Center - Whether you're starting your business, expanding your business, or just looking to stay in business, the Small Business Development Centers of Ohio (SBDCs of Ohio) can help with professional guidance by connecting you with research, financing sources, and training opportunities.
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