North Carolina Business Startup Guides
Opening a Business in Franklin, North Carolina
Contemplating starting a business in Franklin, North Carolina? We walk you through the process of opening a business in Franklin.
Are You Sure You Want to Do This?
Most new businesses don't make it, in part because the founder 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.
Here are three things we recommend you do before you fully commit to starting a new business of your own.
- Reach out to other entrepreneurs in Franklin. Ask them candidly what it's like to run a 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. 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?
An important decision is what kind of business you want to start. To stir your creative juices on what kind of business to start, take a look at Free Business Ideas.
To view an extensive list of business types, complete with startup instructions, spend some time in the Good Businesses to Start section of our site. For example, you might be interested in our Starting an Ice Melting Equipment & Supplies Business guide or our Opening a Gold Nugget Jewelry Business guide.
Remember that you are starting a business in Franklin. Some businesses will do better in Franklin than others. Make sure you fully understand Franklin demographics before you lock in on your business idea.
Franklin, North Carolina Demographic Information
Franklin has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Franklin demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Franklin.
Businesses
As a new Franklin entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Franklin 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
Naming the Business
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.
Company names need to be easy to spell, easy to pronounce, and easy to remember.
To get up to speed on what makes for a good company name, we encourage you to read this useful article: Naming a Company.
There's one other important factor when naming a business. Since you are opening a business in Franklin, it's imperative that you check now that no other North Carolina company is using the business name you want to use.
Forming a Company in Franklin, North Carolina
A critical step is ensuring 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.
The entity you form can be 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. If you are starting a business in North Carolina, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in North Carolina. In fact, 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 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 Avoiding Personal Liability in Business. You may also want to seek the advice of an attorney. Finally, if you are starting a business in Franklin, North Carolina, our information on Incorporating in North Carolina may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in North Carolina.
Marketing Your New Startup
To grow your Franklin business, you need a excellent marketing plan.
You can learn all about marketing on our site. Advertising on Google 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.
How to Improve Your Entrepreneurial Abilities
Good entrepreneurs recognize that they need to continually improve.
With your business being located in Franklin, North Carolina, you will want to take advantage of the many programs available at nearby North Carolina universities, colleges and community colleges. It's also worthwhile to see if there are any Franklin networking organizations.
Next Steps
Most new Franklin 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 Franklin businesses to be successful. We want to be there for you to answer your business questions, whether you are a new Franklin 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 Franklin, North Carolina
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Franklin.
- Resources for Franklin, North Carolina Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Franklin entrepreneurs.
- North Carolina Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in North Carolina.
- North Carolina SBA - With offices in Charlotte, Wilmington, Raleigh and Asheville, the SBA organizes many events and provides useful resources for new entrepreneurs and growing businesses throughout North Carolina.
Starting-a-Business Guides for Other Cities in North Carolina
Starting a Business in Forest City
Starting a Business in Fuquay-Varina
Browse All Business Startup Guides for North Carolina
Starting a Business Guides for Other States
Share this article
Additional Resources for Entrepreneurs