Mississippi Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Columbia, Mississippi
Thinking about starting a business in Columbia, Mississippi? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Columbia.
What Type of Business Should You Start?
There are many businesses that you can start. How do you know which type of business is right for you? If you are struggling with what type of business to start, read How to Evaluate a Business Idea.
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 How to Start a Mail Box Rental Business guide or our Opening a Cut Stone & Stone Products Manufacturers Business guide.
Always keep in mind that Columbia is the place where you are starting a business. The business you want to start may already be well-represented in Columbia. Only by spending some time analyzing Columbia demographics can you decide if there will be strong demand for your business idea.
Columbia, Mississippi Demographic Information
Columbia has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Columbia demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Columbia.
Businesses
As a new Columbia entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Columbia 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
What About Buying an Existing Columbia Business?
An excellent way to get started in business is to Buy a Business in Mississippi. Follow that link and you might discover several good businesses for sale in Columbia.
For anybody who wants to buy a business, we recommend reading this useful article: Hold Harmless Agreements When Buying Businesses.
Choosing a Company Name
Making the right decision when choosing a company name is very important. There are many decisions you'll make now that you can change later, but changing a company name years down the road is not very easy. So, choose a good company name at the outset.
Company names should be fun to say, and they should help people to understand what you do and how you differentiate yourself in the market.
To get up to speed on what makes for a good company name, we encourage you to read this useful article: Naming a Company.
On a final note, given that you are planning on starting a business in Columbia, it's very important that you make sure your company name has not already been claimed by another Mississippi business.
Marketing Your New Business
Whether your goal is to attract Columbia customers or you plan on selling elsewhere, having an excellent marketing plan is fundamental to your beating the competition.
There are myriad resources on this site to help you with your marketing plan. Internet Advertising is a good read to get your marketing juices flowing. There are many more articles on marketing on our site. Visit our Small Business Marketing resource section to see them all.
Learning More About Entrepreneurship
Successful business owners know that what they know now may not be enough to ensure their future success.
Given that you are starting a business in Columbia, Mississippi, you should investigate some of the learning programs at local Mississippi educational institutions. You should also check if there are any networking groups or organizations in which Columbia entrepreneurs get together to network and trade their business experiences.
Next Steps
You have a dream -- starting a business in Columbia. To achieve your dream, you have to persevere, even when the odds are against you.
Owning your own business will be a daunting task, but you can do it.
We are here to help Columbia businesses to be successful. We want to be there for you to answer your business questions, whether you are a new Columbia entrepreneur who is just getting started or you are already up and running with your new venture.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Columbia, Mississippi
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Columbia.
- Resources for Columbia, Mississippi Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Columbia entrepreneurs.
- Mississippi Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Mississippi.
- Mississippi Small Business Development Center - The Mississippi Small Business Development Centers (MSBDC) is dedicated to helping build and grow businesses in Mississippi. For new entrepreneurs, this is an excellent resource.
Starting-a-Business Guides for Other Cities in Mississippi
Starting a Business in Collins
Starting a Business in Columbus
Browse All Business Startup Guides for Mississippi
Starting a Business Guides for Other States
Share this article
Additional Resources for Entrepreneurs