Tennessee Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Cleveland, Tennessee
Thinking about starting a business in Cleveland, Tennessee? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Cleveland.
Will You Be a Good Entrepreneur?
Most new businesses fail, in part because the business owner did not have the entrepreneurial skills and traits needed to succeed. So, before you open a business, consider all of the implications of being an entrepreneur.
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 Cleveland. They are usually very willing to share their insights on the ups and downs of being 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. Others sometimes know you better than you know yourself.
Choosing the Right Company to Start
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 Evaluating Your Idea.
If you still are not sure what type of business to start, peruse the Good Businesses to Start section of our site. For example, you might be interested in our How to Start a Safe Experts Business guide or our Starting a Radiology Chiropractors Business guide.
Remember that you are starting a business in Cleveland. Some businesses will do better in Cleveland than others. Study Cleveland demographics and do a competitive analysis as part of your startup planning process.
Cleveland, Tennessee Demographic Information
Cleveland has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Cleveland demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Cleveland.
Businesses
As a new Cleveland entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Cleveland 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
Company Formation in Cleveland, Tennessee
It's very important that your business is formed as a legal entity that is separate from its owners. Doing so will shield you from personal liability for business debts and obligations.
When forming a company, you will decide among 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. Just because you are starting a business in Tennessee, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Tennessee. As it turns out, you can incorporate wherever you want. However, if you do incorporate in another state, you'll have to register as a foreign corporation in your home state.
There's a lot to know about forming a company. We recommend you read some of the educational articles about company formation that are availabe on our site, such as ESOP Formation. You may also want to seek the advice of an lawyer. On a final note, since you will be starting a business in Cleveland, Tennessee, our web page covering Incorporating in Tennessee may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Tennessee.
Don't Skip the Business Plan
Writing a business plan is vital in maximizing the prospects of your new company. Indeed, your business plan is your game plan for how you hope to grow your business. Not having a business plan will greatly reduce your chances of business success.
To learn more about business plans, read Business Plan Mistakes. A great resource for business planning assistance is the free business counselors available to you through your local SCORE chapter in Tennessee.
Where to Get Money to Start a Company
Raising money to fund your new Cleveland 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.
Take advantage of our many articles on raising capital, such as 504 Loans.
For Cleveland entrepreneurs in need of startup financing, check out our List of Tennessee Angel Investors and our List of Tennessee Venture Capital Firms.
What's Next?
Most new Cleveland businesses underestimate the number of challenges they will face.
From this point on, you control your own destiny.
Our goal here is to promote the vitality and growth of small businesses in Cleveland 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 Cleveland, Tennessee
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Cleveland.
- Resources for Cleveland, Tennessee Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Cleveland entrepreneurs.
- Tennessee Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Tennessee.
- Tennessee Small Business Development Center - If you are a small business owner, entrepreneur or you are thinking about starting a new business, the Tennessee Small Business Development Center (TSBDC) is ready to help you every step of the way!
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