New York Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Grand Island, New York
Thinking about starting a business in Grand Island, New York? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Grand Island.
Is Becoming an Entrepreneur Right for You?
Before announcing to the world that you are going to start your own business, take inventory of your entrepreneurial instincts and capabilities.
While entrepreneurship has become a popular career choice, we recommend you do the following before you take the plunge:
- Reach out to other entrepreneurs in Grand Island. Get their take on what it's really like to be an entrepreneur.
- Peruse Why Small Businesses Fail. This is one of our more popular articles for folks who want to go into business for themselves.
- Get feedback from somebody whom you trust. That's the best way to get a truly objective assessment as to whether others think you have what it takes.
Grand Island, New York Demographic Information
Grand Island has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Grand Island demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Grand Island.
Businesses
As a new Grand Island entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Grand Island 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 Franchising Opportunities?
Browse the Yellow Pages for Grand Island and you'll notice that many local entrepreneurs have gone the franchising route. Is franchising maybe a better way for you to start your business?
Our advice is to consider franchising as an option. We have many articles on franchises, such as Franchising My Business. Become a franchising expert of sorts by reading more of our Articles on Franchising.
To learn about specific franchise opportunities, check out our Franchise Directory.
Sample franchise opportunities include Subway Franchises and Starbucks Franchises. Alternatively, you can browse franchise categories, such as Accounting Franchises and Moving Franchises.
Note on Grand Island Franchise Opportunities: You will need to contact franchisors directly to see if their franchises are available in Grand Island.
Raising Capital for Your Venture
Raising money to fund your new Grand Island business is very difficult due to the ongoing business credit crunch. To obtain business financing, you will need to hear a lot of rejections before you finally find a funding solution that works for you.
On the bright side, this site contains dozens of articles on raising money, including one we recommend entitled 504 Loans.
For Grand Island entrepreneurs who need startup capital, check out our List of New York Angel Investors and our List of New York Venture Capital Firms.
Getting the Word Out About Your New Company
Whether your goal is to attract Grand Island customers or you plan on selling elsewhere, having an excellent marketing plan is fundamental to your beating the competition.
We have some helpful resources on this site for entrepreneurs who are working on marketing plans. PR Versus Advertising is a good read to get your marketing ideas flowing. There are many more articles on marketing on our site. Visit our Small Business Marketing resource section to see them all.
Building Up Your Sales
Being able to sell is critical to your business success. Whether you are focused on selling local customers in Grand Island or are selling to customers throughout New York, the United States or even the world, you have to be able to sell.
Not knowing how to sell can result in lost customers and minimal market share. Fortunately, we've got plenty of good advice to help you improve your selling skills.
Effective Sales Presentations offers some helpful tips on how to sell. It's one of several good articles on our site regarding Entrepreneurial Selling.
Moving Forward
You have a dream -- starting a business in Grand Island. To achieve your dream, you have to persevere, even when the odds are against you.
From this point on, you control your own destiny.
We are here to help Grand Island businesses to be successful. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Grand Island, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Grand Island, New York
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Grand Island.
- Resources for Grand Island, New York Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Grand Island entrepreneurs.
- New York Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in New York.
- New York Small Business Development Center - The New York State Small Business Development Center delivers high quality business counseling and training to New Yorkers who want to start a business or improve the performance of an existing business.
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