Wisconsin Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin
Thinking about starting a business in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Fort Atkinson.
Are You Sure You Want to Do This?
Before quitting your day job, consider your entrepreneurial instincts and capabilities.
To determine whether you have what it takes to run a business, we recommend these three steps to help you decide:
- Talk to other entrepreneurs in Fort Atkinson. Ask them candidly what it's like to run a business.
- We recommend reading Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs. For aspiring new entrepreneurs, it's a must read article.
- Seek the advice of somebody who knows you well. The people who know you best are often in the best position to tell you bluntly whether you will be a good entrepreneur.
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? To help you decide on a business type, we encourage you to read Good Business Ideas.
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 an Auto Wheel Covers & Hubcaps Business guide or our How to Start a Private School guide.
Don't forget that Fort Atkinson is the place where you are starting a business. Some businesses will do better in Fort Atkinson than others. Only by spending some time analyzing Fort Atkinson demographics can you decide if there will be strong demand for your business idea.
Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin Demographic Information
Fort Atkinson has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Fort Atkinson demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Fort Atkinson.
Businesses
As a new Fort Atkinson entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Fort Atkinson 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
Forming a Company in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin
A critical step is ensuring that you are forming a legal entity that operates independently from you. The principal advantage of forming your new business as a legal entity is that it separates your business liabilities from your personal liabilities.
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 Wisconsin, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Wisconsin. In fact, you can incorporate in any state you would like to. 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 Company Formation. You should also consider getting professional assistance from your business lawyer. Finally, if you are starting a business in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, our information on Incorporating in Wisconsin may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Wisconsin.
Getting Money to Start a Business
Getting your Fort Atkinson business the capital it needs to succeed 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 Fort Atkinson entrepreneurs who need startup capital, browse our List of Wisconsin Angel Investors and our List of Wisconsin Venture Capital Firms.
Increase Your Entrepreneurial Knowledge
Successful entrepreneurs recognize that they don't know everything.
Given that you are starting a business in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, you will want to take advantage of the learning programs at local Wisconsin educational institutions. It's also worthwhile to see if there are any Fort Atkinson networking organizations.
Next Steps
You have a dream -- starting a business in Fort Atkinson. 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 Fort Atkinson businesses to be successful. 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 Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Fort Atkinson.
- Resources for Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Fort Atkinson entrepreneurs.
- Wisconsin Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Wisconsin.
- Wisconsin Small Business Development Center - Wisconsin Small Business Development Centers offer a variety of educational services to small-businesses. The low-cost courses, seminars, and workshops cover both basic and complex topics, from marketing to management techniques to business plan development.
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