Connecticut Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Fairfield, Connecticut
Thinking about starting a business in Fairfield, Connecticut? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Fairfield.
What Business to Start
An important decision is what kind of business you want to start. You might get some good ideas about what kind of business to start by reading Business Ideas That Don't Make Sense.
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 Starting a Dance Club guide or our Starting a Tatoo Parlor guide.
Don't forget that starting a business in Fairfield has some implications. Some businesses will do better in Fairfield than others. Make sure you fully understand Fairfield demographics before you lock in on your business idea.
Fairfield, Connecticut Demographic Information
Fairfield has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Fairfield demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Fairfield.
Businesses
As a new Fairfield entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Fairfield 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
Picking a Company Name
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.
We strongly advocate that you make sure the ".com" domain name is available for your company name. Every business needs a strong Web presence these days, and having a non ".com" domain means somebody else may outrank you in the search results for your own company name.
Numerous company naming issues are discussed in more detail in this article: Naming a Company.
On a final note, given that you are starting a business in Fairfield, it's imperative that you check now that no other Connecticut company is using the business name you want to use.
Forming a Company in Fairfield, Connecticut
It's very important that your business is formed as a legal entity that is separate from its owners. Doing so will protect 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 common way to legally create a business entity. Of course, you have to decide which type of corporation to form and where to incorporate. If you are starting a business in Connecticut, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Connecticut. In fact, you are allowed to incorporate in the state of your choosing. 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. To learn the fundamentals of company formation, browse articles on our site, such as Where to Incorporate. You may also want to seek the advice of an attorney. Finally, if you are starting a business in Fairfield, Connecticut, our information on Incorporating in Connecticut may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Connecticut.
Do You Need a Business Plan?
Having a business plan is essential in laying a solid foundation for your business success. In effect, a business plan describes what you plan to do with the business and how you plan to do it. Failure to write a business plan makes you more prone to becoming a business failure statistic.
If you want more information on writing business plans, we recommend reading Business Presentations. A great resource for business planning assistance is the free business counselors available to you through your local SCORE chapter in Connecticut.
Marketing Your New Venture
To grow your Fairfield business, you need a excellent marketing plan.
You can learn quite a bit about marketing on our site. Marketing Research discusses marketing strategy and tactical marketing in a way that should get you thinking about how to creatively promote your business. That's just one of the many useful articles we have on Marketing a Small Business.
Moving Forward
Most new Fairfield businesses underestimate the number of challenges they will face.
Owning your own business will be a daunting task, but you can do it.
We are here to help Fairfield businesses to be successful. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Fairfield, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Fairfield, Connecticut
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Fairfield.
- Resources for Fairfield, Connecticut Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Fairfield entrepreneurs.
- Connecticut Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Connecticut.
- Connecticut Small Business Development Center - Central Connecticut State University's Institute of Technology and Business Development (ITBD) supports Connecticut businesses and business-related organizations with training, technology assistance, conferencing services, procurement services and business incubation.
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