Minnesota Business Startup Guides

Start a Business in Granite Falls, Minnesota

Are you starting a business in Granite Falls, Minnesota? This article discusses the most important things to consider when opening a business in Granite Falls.

Do You Have What It Takes?

Running your own business is difficult, much harder than working as an employee. Are you certain you are ready to take on this challenge?

While entrepreneurship has become a popular career choice, we recommend you do the following before you take the plunge:

  • Talk to other entrepreneurs in Granite Falls. Get their candid feedback on what it takes to start a successful business.
  • We recommend reading Why Small Businesses Fail. For aspiring new entrepreneurs, it's a must read article.
  • Get feedback from somebody whom you trust. A support network of family and friends can be a great sounding board for good advice before you decide for sure to go into business.

Granite Falls, Minnesota Demographic Information

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

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

Business Size
# of
Businesses
1-4 Employees
861
5-9 Employees
315
10-19 Employees
153
20-49 Employees
99
50-99 Employees
9
100-249 Employees
9
250-499 Employees
9
500-999 Employees
9
1000+ Employees
0
All Granite Falls Businesses
1464

As a new Granite Falls entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Granite Falls 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
Beauty Salons
3
Beer, Wine, and Liquor Stores
1
Bowling Centers
1
Cable and Other Program Distribution
1
Casinos (except Casino Hotels)
1
Child and Youth Services
1
Child Day Care Services
3
Construction Sand and Gravel Mining
1
Couriers
1
Custom Roll Forming
1
Dental Laboratories
2
Electric Power Distribution
2
Electrical Contractors
2
Engineering Services
1
Facilities Support Services
1
Farm Supplies Merchant Wholesalers
1
Finish Carpentry Contractors
1
Fitness and Recreational Sports Centers
1
Floor Covering Stores
1
Florists
1
Food Service Contractors
1
Funeral Homes and Funeral Services
1
General Automotive Repair
3
General Freight Trucking, Local
1
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals
1
Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Stores
1
Golf Courses and Country Clubs
1
Hardware Stores
1
Homes for the Elderly
1
Industrial Valve Manufacturing
1
Insurance Agencies and Brokerages
6
Interior Design Services
1
Jewelry Stores
1
Land Subdivision
1
Landscaping Services
2
Machine Shops
1
Masonry Contractors
1
New Car Dealers
3
Newspaper Publishers
1
Offices of Certified Public Accountants
1
Offices of Chiropractors
3
Offices of Dentists
3
Offices of Optometrists
1
Pharmacies and Drug Stores
2
Professional Organizations
2
Ready-Mix Concrete Manufacturing
1
Retail Bakeries
1
Site Preparation Contractors
2
Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars
1
Solid Waste Landfill
1
Support Activities for Forestry
1
Tax Preparation Services
1
Travel Agencies
1
Wired Telecommunications Carriers
1

Have You Considered Buying an Existing Granite Falls Business?

We've created a useful website page for those who want to Buy a Business in Minnesota. Follow that link and you may find several good businesses for sale in Granite Falls.

For anybody who wants to buy a business, we recommend reading this useful article: How to Buy a Business.

Forming a Company in Granite Falls, Minnesota

It's essential 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 Minnesota, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Minnesota. 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 Where to Incorporate. You may also want to seek the advice of an attorney. Finally, if you are starting a business in Granite Falls, Minnesota, our information on Incorporating in Minnesota may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Minnesota.

The Role of the Business Plan

A business plan is critical in laying a solid foundation for your business success. Indeed, your business plan is your game plan for how you hope to grow your business. Failure to write a business plan is a recipe for disaster.

Before you start writing a business plan, we suggest you skim Business Plan Contests. You should also take advantage of face-to-face free consulting available from your local SCORE chapter in Minnesota.

Marketing Your New Venture

To rise above the crowd in Granite Falls and build your business, having an excellent marketing plan is fundamental to your successs.

You can learn quite a bit about marketing on our site. Introduction to Advertising is an article that will generate a few thoughts on your marketing plan. That's just a taste of the many useful articles we have on Marketing a Small Business.

Building Up Your Sales

Do you know how to sell? In order to attract customers to your new Granite Falls business, you need to focus on sales.

Why should customers buy from you instead of buying from competitors? The good news is we can help you to make selling a big competitve advantage for your new firm.

Mastering the Complex Sale is worth reading, as it may give you some good ideas on how to sell your products or services. We have many more good articles on selling that you may enjoy reading.

Now It's Up To You

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

If you choose the right business and love what you do, you will greatly increase your odds of success.

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

More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Granite Falls, Minnesota

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

More Business Startup Guides for Minnesota

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