North Carolina Business Startup Guides
Start a Business in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Are you starting a business in Chapel Hill, North Carolina? This article discusses the most important things to consider when opening a business in Chapel Hill.
Is Becoming an Entrepreneur Right for You?
Most new businesses don't make it, in part because the entrepreneur did not have the perseverance and abilities that are necessary to succeed. So, before you open a business, consider all of the implications of being an entrepreneur.
Before you move forward with starting a business, be sure to do these three things:
- Talk to other entrepreneurs in Chapel Hill. Get their take on what it's really like to be an entrepreneur.
- We recommend reading Why Small Businesses Fail. For aspiring new entrepreneurs, it's a must read article.
- Get feedback from somebody whom you trust. That's the best way to get a truly objective assessment as to whether others think you have what it takes.
Which Business to Choose?
There are many businesses that you can start. How do you know which type of business is right for you? You might get some good ideas about what kind of business to start by reading 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 an Ethnic Grocers Business guide or our Starting a Floors & Flooring Equipment & Supplies Business guide.
Remember that you are opening your new business in Chapel Hill. The business you want to start may already be well-represented in Chapel Hill. Make sure you fully understand Chapel Hill demographics before you lock in on your business idea.
Chapel Hill, North Carolina Demographic Information
Chapel Hill has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Chapel Hill demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Chapel Hill.
Businesses
As a new Chapel Hill entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Chapel Hill 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
Naming the Company
A good company name can give a big boost to a new startup. It might seem like an easy thing to do, but there are many things to consider when naming a business.
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: Branding Advice.
There's one other important factor when naming a business. Since you are starting a business in Chapel Hill, it's imperative that you check now that no other North Carolina company is using the business name you want to use.
Forming a Company in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
It's essential that your business is formed as a legal entity that is separate from its owners. Among other things, forming a legal entity for the business limits your liabilities.
The entity you form can be a corporation, LLC, sole proprietorship, partnership or other structure.
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 North Carolina, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in North Carolina. As it turns out, you are allowed to incorporate wherever you want. For example, it's very popular to incorporate in Delaware, and incorporating in Nevada has become very trendy as well. Don't forget, though, that you will have to register as a foreign entity in all states that you do business in.
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 Offshore Company Formation. You should also consider getting professional assistance from your business lawyer. Finally, if you are starting a business in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, our information on Incorporating in North Carolina may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in North Carolina.
Raising Money for Your New Venture
Getting your Chapel Hill business the capital it needs to succeed is a difficult chore. To obtain business financing, you will need to hear a lot of rejections before you finally find a funding solution that works for you.
Take advantage of our many articles on raising money, such as SBIR Funding.
For Chapel Hill entrepreneurs who want to raise money for a new venture, check out our List of North Carolina Angel Investors and our List of North Carolina Venture Capital Firms.
Improving Your Entrepreneurial Skillset
Successful business owners recognize that they don't know everything.
As an entrepreneur who lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, you will want to take advantage of the learning programs at local North Carolina educational institutions. It's also worthwhile to see if there are any networking groups or organizations in which Chapel Hill entrepreneurs get together to network and trade their business experiences.
Moving Forward
Most new Chapel Hill businesses underestimate the number of challenges they will face.
From this point on, you control your own destiny.
We are here to help Chapel Hill businesses to be successful. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Chapel Hill, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Chapel Hill.
- Resources for Chapel Hill, North Carolina Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Chapel Hill entrepreneurs.
- North Carolina Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in North Carolina.
- North Carolina SBA - With offices in Charlotte, Wilmington, Raleigh and Asheville, the SBA organizes many events and provides useful resources for new entrepreneurs and growing businesses throughout North Carolina.
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