Kansas Business Startup Guides

Starting a Business in Garden City, Kansas

Thinking about starting a business in Garden City, Kansas? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Garden City.

Is Becoming a Business Owner Right for You?

Running your own business is demanding, much more challenging than working as an employee. Are you certain you want to go into business for yourself?

Because entrepreneurship is not for everyone, we recommend you do the following to help you assess whether you should move forward with starting a business:

  • Reach out to other entrepreneurs in Garden City. Get their take on what it's really like to be an entrepreneur.
  • Peruse Should You Become an Entrepreneur?. This is one of our more popular articles for folks who want to go into business for themselves.
  • Have a candid conversation with friends and family. That's the best way to get a truly objective assessment as to whether others think you have what it takes.

Garden City, Kansas Demographic Information

Garden City has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.

To give you a better feel for Garden City demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Garden City.

Business Size
# of
Businesses
1-4 Employees
15543
5-9 Employees
6798
10-19 Employees
4554
20-49 Employees
2442
50-99 Employees
858
100-249 Employees
231
250-499 Employees
99
500-999 Employees
33
1000+ Employees
0
All Garden City Businesses
30558

As a new Garden City entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Garden City 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.

Business Type
# of
Businesses
Architectural Services
3
Automotive Exhaust System Repair
1
Automotive Glass Replacement Shops
3
Automotive Parts and Accessories Stores
9
Automotive Transmission Repair
2
Baked Goods Stores
2
Bed-and-Breakfast Inns
1
Beer, Wine, and Liquor Stores
13
Book Stores
2
Bowling Centers
2
Building Inspection Services
1
Business Associations
4
Cable and Other Program Distribution
1
Camera and Photographic Supplies Stores
1
Car Washes
5
Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning Services
3
Child and Youth Services
7
Child Day Care Services
8
Children's and Infants' Clothing Stores
1
Civic and Social Organizations
8
Clothing Accessories Stores
1
Coin-Operated Laundries and Drycleaners
3
Collection Agencies
2
Commercial Lithographic Printing
2
Commercial Screen Printing
1
Commodity Contracts Brokerage
3
Community Food Services
1
Computer Training
1
Confectionery Merchant Wholesalers
1
Construction Sand and Gravel Mining
1
Continuing Care Retirement Communities
1
Couriers
2
Credit Unions
2
Crop Harvesting, Primarily by Machine
1
Discount Department Stores
1
Drilling Oil and Gas Wells
1
Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages)
6
Drywall and Insulation Contractors
1
Electric Power Distribution
2
Electrical Contractors
10
Electronic Shopping
1
Emergency and Other Relief Services
1
Engineering Services
1
Environmental Consulting Services
2
Ethyl Alcohol Manufacturing
1
Exterminating and Pest Control Services
2
Family Clothing Stores
5
Farm Labor Contractors and Crew Leaders
1
Farm Supplies Merchant Wholesalers
7
Finish Carpentry Contractors
3
Fitness and Recreational Sports Centers
4
Floor Covering Stores
1
Flooring Contractors
2
Florists
1
Fluid Milk Manufacturing
1
Food Service Contractors
1
Framing Contractors
1
Full-Service Restaurants
21
Funeral Homes and Funeral Services
2
Furniture Stores
5
General Automotive Repair
11
General Freight Trucking, Local
8
General Rental Centers
1
Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Stores
1
Glass and Glazing Contractors
2
Golf Courses and Country Clubs
1
Grantmaking Foundations
1
Hardware Merchant Wholesalers
1
Hardware Stores
3
Historical Sites
1
Home Centers
1
Home Health Care Services
4
Household Appliance Stores
1
Industrial Building Construction
1
Industrial Launderers
1
Industrial Pattern Manufacturing
1
Internet Service Providers
1
Investigation Services
1
Investment Advice
3
Janitorial Services
10
Jewelry Stores
4
Kidney Dialysis Centers
1
Landscaping Services
8
Limited-Service Restaurants
25
Livestock Merchant Wholesalers
1
Locksmiths
1
Machine Shops
1
Mail-Order Houses
1
Manufactured (Mobile) Home Dealers
3
Marketing Consulting Services
1
Meat Markets
1
Medical Laboratories
1
Men's Clothing Stores
2
Metal Tank (Heavy Gauge) Manufacturing
1
Motorcycle Dealers
1
Museums
1
Musical Instrument and Supplies Stores
1
New Car Dealers
6
Newspaper Publishers
1
Nursing Care Facilities
2
Office Administrative Services
3
Office Supplies and Stationery Stores
3
Offices of Certified Public Accountants
6
Offices of Chiropractors
6
Offices of Lawyers
19
Offices of Optometrists
4
Offices of Podiatrists
1
Offices of Real Estate Appraisers
2
One-Hour Photofinishing
1
Optical Goods Stores
2
Paint and Wallpaper Stores
1
Passenger Car Rental
1
Payroll Services
1
Periodical Publishers
1
Pharmacies and Drug Stores
3
Photography Studios, Portrait
2
Pipeline Transportation of Crude Oil
1
Plastics Plumbing Fixture Manufacturing
1
Private Mail Centers
1
Quick Printing
1
Radio Stations
3
Real Estate Credit
2
Recreational Vehicle Dealers
1
Refrigerated Warehousing and Storage
1
Residential Property Managers
3
Reupholstery and Furniture Repair
1
Roofing Contractors
2
Savings Institutions
2
Scheduled Passenger Air Transportation
2
Securities Brokerage
3
Septic Tank and Related Services
1
Shoe Stores
7
Sign Manufacturing
1
Site Preparation Contractors
3
Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars
4
Solid Waste Landfill
1
Sporting Goods Stores
4
Tax Preparation Services
4
Taxi Service
1
Temporary Help Services
1
Temporary Shelters
1
Tire Dealers
6
Tire Retreading
1
Title Abstract and Settlement Offices
3
Tobacco Stores
1
Travel Agencies
1
Used Household and Office Goods Moving
1
Used Merchandise Stores
2
Veterinary Services
3
Video Tape and Disc Rental
1
Warehouse Clubs and Supercenters
1
Water Supply and Irrigation Systems
1
Wholesale Trade Agents and Brokers
3
Women's Clothing Stores
6

Have You Considered Buying an Existing Garden City Business?

We've created a useful website page for those who want to Buy a Business in Kansas. Follow that link and you might discover several good businesses for sale in Garden City.

If you are intent on buying a business, you may want to read this article: Buying a Business.

Naming the Company

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.

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.

For other considerations regarding naming a company, we recommend this article: Naming a Business.

There's one other important factor when naming a business. Since you are planning on starting a business in Garden City, it's critical that you ensure that no other Kansas company is using the business name you want to use.

Do You Need a Business Plan?

Creating a business plan is vital in maximizing the prospects of your new company. In effect, a business plan is a written description of the future you envision for your business. Failure to write a business plan

To learn more about business plans, read Business Plan Contests. You should also take advantage of free business counselors available to you through your local SCORE chapter in Kansas.

Raising Money for Your New Venture

Getting your Garden City business the capital it needs to succeed requires strong organization skills and perseverance. The reality is that there is very little funding available for new small businesses, and you have to explore every possible alternative.

To learn about raising money, we recommend you read the fundraising articles on our site, such as Business Line of Credit.

For Garden City entrepreneurs in need of startup financing, check out our List of Kansas Angel Investors and our List of Kansas Venture Capital Firms.

How to Improve Your Entrepreneurial Abilities

The best entrepreneurs recognize that they don't know everything.

As an entrepreneur who lives in Garden City, Kansas, you will want to take advantage of the learning programs at local Kansas educational institutions. It's also worthwhile to see if there are any Garden City networking organizations.

Moving Forward

As an entrepreneur in Garden City, you won't be working for the boss anymore. You are the boss.

From this point on, you control your own destiny.

This site is all about helping entrepreneurs in Garden City and elsewhere to achieve real success. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Garden City, neighborhood development and overall economic health.

More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Garden City, Kansas

Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Garden City.

Starting-a-Business Guides for Other Cities in Kansas

Starting a Business in Galena
Starting a Business in Gardner

Browse All Business Startup Guides for Kansas
Starting a Business Guides for Other States

 

 

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