Washington Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Bainbridge Island, Washington
Thinking about starting a business in Bainbridge Island, Washington? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Bainbridge Island.
Are You Ready for the Challenges of Being an Entrepreneur?
Being an entrepreneur is difficult, much harder than working as an employee. Are you positive you want to start a business?
Before you move forward with starting a business, be sure to do these three things:
- Talk to other entrepreneurs in Bainbridge Island. Listen closely to their experiences and see if you think you too can be successful.
- We recommend reading Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs. For aspiring new entrepreneurs, it's a must read article.
- Seek the advice of somebody who knows you well. Ask them directly: Do I have what it takes to be an entrepreneur? Listen carefully to their answer, as they presumably know your strengths and weaknesses.
What Business to Start
An important decision is what kind of business you want to start. If you are struggling with what type of business to start, read Finding Your Niche in Life.
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 Cold Storage Warehouses Business guide or our Opening an Excavation Contractors Business guide.
Always keep in mind that your new startup will be located in Bainbridge Island. Think about what needs are currently being underserved in Bainbridge Island. Make sure you fully understand Bainbridge Island demographics before you lock in on your business idea.
Bainbridge Island, Washington Demographic Information
Bainbridge Island has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Bainbridge Island demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Bainbridge Island.
Businesses
As a new Bainbridge Island entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Bainbridge Island 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
Getting Money to Start a Business
Getting your Bainbridge Island business the capital it needs to succeed is not an easy task. Bootstrapping, which means growing the business without outside funding, is the best alternative, but that's not a viable option for many startup plans.
Fortunately, this site contains dozens of articles on raising money, including one we recommend entitled 504 Loans.
For Bainbridge Island entrepreneurs who need startup capital, we have assembled a List of Washington Angel Investors and our List of Washington Venture Capital Firms.
Promoting Your New Company
Whether your goal is to attract Bainbridge Island customers or you plan on selling elsewhere, you need a great marketing plan.
There are myriad resources on this site to help you with your marketing plan. Six Tips for Getting Customer Testimonials 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.
Bring in Revenues
Do you know how to sell? In order to attract customers to your new Bainbridge Island business, you need to focus on sales.
Good selling involves demonstrating that your wares meet your customer's needs. Let us help you refine your selling techniques through our many useful sales advice tips.
Anticipating Prospect Responses offers some helpful tips on how to sell. It's one of several good articles on our site regarding Entrepreneurial Selling.
Never Give Up
As an entrepreneur in Bainbridge Island, you won't be working for the boss anymore. You are the boss.
If you choose the right business and love what you do, you will greatly increase your odds of success.
This site is all about helping entrepreneurs in Bainbridge Island and elsewhere to achieve real success. We have a wealth of experience in business start-ups, financing, marketing, sales and more...and we've made all of our knowledge available to you.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Bainbridge Island, Washington
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Bainbridge Island.
- Resources for Bainbridge Island, Washington Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Bainbridge Island entrepreneurs.
- Washington Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Washington.
- Washington Small Business Development Center - Washington Small Business Development Centers promote economic vitality by providing advice, training and research to Washington entrepreneurs and existing Washington businesses.
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