Tennessee Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Columbia, Tennessee
Thinking about starting a business in Columbia, Tennessee? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Columbia.
Do You Have Entrepreneurial Drive and Passion?
Being an entrepreneur is demanding, much harder than working as an employee. Are you sure you have the stamina and skills to succeed on your own?
With so much at stake when you start a business, we strongly recommend you do the following before you proceed:
- Reach out to other entrepreneurs in Columbia. Get their candid feedback on what it takes to start a successful business.
- Peruse Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs. This is one of our more popular articles for folks who want to go into business for themselves.
- Seek the advice of somebody who knows you well. A support network of family and friends can be a great sounding board for good advice before you decide for sure to go into business.
Columbia, Tennessee 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?
If you have some capital to play with, you may want to Buy a Business in Tennessee. Follow that link and you may find several good businesses for sale in Columbia.
If you are intent on buying a business, you may want to read this article: Hold Harmless Agreements When Buying Businesses.
Forming a Company in Columbia, Tennessee
A critical step is ensuring that your business is formed as a legal entity that is separate from its owners. Doing so will insulate you from personal liability for business debts and obligations.
The entity you form can be a corporation, LLC, sole proprietorship, partnership or other structure.
Incorporation 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 Tennessee, it doesn't mean you are required to incorporate in Tennessee. As it turns out, you can 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 LLC Advantages. You may also want to seek the advice of an attorney. Finally, if you are starting a business in Columbia, Tennessee, our information on Incorporating in Tennessee may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Tennessee.
Letting the World Know You Exist
To rise above the crowd in Columbia and advance your business, you need a great marketing plan.
You can learn plenty about marketing on our site. Seven Marketing Ideas for Your Small Business 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.
How to Improve Your Entrepreneurial Abilities
Good entrepreneurs recognize that they don't know everything.
As an entrepreneur who lives in Columbia, Tennessee, you will want to take advantage of the many programs available at nearby Tennessee universities, colleges and community colleges. It's also beneficial to see if there are any networking organizations for Columbia entrepreneurs.
Now It's Up To You
As an entrepreneur in Columbia, you won't be working for the boss anymore. You are the boss.
From this point on, you control your own destiny.
Our goal here is to promote the vitality and growth of small businesses in Columbia and throughout the United States . We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Columbia, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Columbia, Tennessee
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Columbia.
- Resources for Columbia, Tennessee Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Columbia 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!
Starting-a-Business Guides for Other Cities in Tennessee
Starting a Business in Collierville
Starting a Business in Cookeville
Browse All Business Startup Guides for Tennessee
Starting a Business Guides for Other States
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