New York Business Startup Guides
Start a Business in Brooklyn, New York
Are you starting a business in Brooklyn, New York? This article discusses the most important things to consider when opening a business in Brooklyn.
Is Becoming an Entrepreneur Right for You?
An entrepreneurial life is demanding, and can be orders of magnitude more strenuous than working as an employee. Are you certain you want to go into business for yourself?
Because entrepreneurship is not for everyone, we recommend you do the following to help you assess whether you should move forward with starting a business:
- Talk to other entrepreneurs in Brooklyn. Get their take on what it's really like to be an entrepreneur.
- We recommend reading Should You Become an Entrepreneur?. For aspiring new entrepreneurs, it's a must read article.
- Have a candid conversation with friends and family. That's the best way to get a truly objective assessment as to whether others think you have what it takes.
Brooklyn, New York Demographic Information
Brooklyn has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Brooklyn demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Brooklyn.
Businesses
As a new Brooklyn entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Brooklyn 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 Franchising a Better Option?
As you drive around Brooklyn, you'll see that franchises make up a large percentage of local businesses. But is franchising the right option for you?
We highly recommend you look into purchasing a franchise. This site has dozens of articles on franchising, such as Why Franchises Fail. Get a thorough education on franchising by browsing all of our Articles on Franchising.
To learn about specific franchise opportunities, check out our Franchise Directory.
Sample franchise opportunities include Subway Franchises and Starbucks Franchises. Alternatively, you can browse franchise categories, such as Accounting Franchises and Moving Franchises.
Note on Brooklyn Franchise Opportunities: You will need to contact franchisors directly to see if their franchises are available in Brooklyn.
Forming a Company in Brooklyn, New York
It's very important that you form your business as a legal structure. Doing so will shield you from personal liability for business debts and obligations.
When forming a company, you will select one of many company types, such as a traditional C-corporation, a Limited Liability Company (LLC), or an S-corporation.
Incorporating is a very popular way to form a business. Of course, you have to decide which type of corporation to form and where to incorporate. If you are starting a business in New York, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in New York. In fact, you can incorporate in any state you would like to. However, if you do incorporate in another state, you'll have to register as a foreign corporation in your home state.
There are many nuances to forming a company. We recommend you read some of the educational articles about company formation that are availabe on our site, such as Where to Incorporate. You may also want to seek the advice of an attorney. On a final note, since you will be starting a business in Brooklyn, New York, our web page covering Incorporating in New York may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in New York.
Don't Skip the Business Plan
A business plan is vital to the health of your new business. In effect, 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.
Before you start writing a business plan, we suggest you skim The Art of the Executive Summary. You should also take advantage of face-to-face free consulting available from your local SCORE chapter in New York.
Marketing Your New Startup
Whether your goal is to attract Brooklyn customers or you plan on selling elsewhere, you'll need to have a good marketing plan.
We have some great resources on this site for entrepreneurs who are working on marketing plans. Advertising in Magazines is an article that will stimulate a few thoughts on your marketing plan. That's just a taste of the many useful articles we have on Marketing a Small Business.
Moving Forward
As an entrepreneur in Brooklyn, 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.
Our goal here is to promote the vitality and growth of small businesses in Brooklyn and throughout the United States . 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 Brooklyn, New York
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Brooklyn.
- Resources for Brooklyn, New York Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Brooklyn entrepreneurs.
- New York Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in New York.
- New York Small Business Development Center - The New York State Small Business Development Center delivers high quality business counseling and training to New Yorkers who want to start a business or improve the performance of an existing business.
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