Alaska Business Startup Guides
Start a Business in Haines, Alaska
Are you starting a business in Haines, Alaska? This article discusses the most important things to consider when opening a business in Haines.
Are You Sure You Want to Do This?
Most new ventures fail, in part because the founder did not have the tenacity and/or the skills to succeed. So, before you open a business, consider all of the implications of being an entrepreneur.
While entrepreneurship has become a popular career choice, we recommend you do the following before you take the plunge:
- Talk to other entrepreneurs in Haines. Ask them candidly what it's like to run a 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. 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. You might get some good ideas about what kind of business to start by reading 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 Opening a Medical Equipment Service & Repair Business guide or our Opening a Ship Cleaning Business guide.
Don't forget that you are starting a business in Haines. Some businesses will do better in Haines than others. Make sure you fully understand Haines demographics before you lock in on your business idea.
Haines, Alaska Demographic Information
Haines has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Haines demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Haines.
Businesses
As a new Haines entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Haines 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
Have You Considered Buying an Existing Haines Business?
An excellent way to get started in business is to Buy a Business in Alaska. Follow that link and you may find several good businesses for sale in Haines.
For anybody who wants to buy a business, we recommend reading this useful article: Hold Harmless Agreements When Buying Businesses.
Company Formation in Haines, Alaska
It's essential that you form your business as a legal structure. 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.
Incorporation is a very common way to legally create a business entity. A key decision is whether to form and S-Corp or a C-Corp, and you also must decide in which state you will incorporate. Just because you are starting a business in Alaska, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Alaska. In fact, you are allowed to 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's a lot to know about forming a company. We recommend you read some of the educational articles about company formation that are availabe on our site, such as Piercing the Corporate Veil. You may also want to seek the advice of an attorney. Finally, if you are starting a business in Haines, Alaska, our information on Incorporating in Alaska may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Alaska.
Getting the Word Out About Your New Company
To rise above the crowd in Haines and grow your business, you need a excellent marketing plan.
You can learn quite a bit about marketing on our site. Making the Most of Trade Shows 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.
Ramping Up Sales
Mastering the art of selling is priority one if you want your new Haines business to do well.
So what does it take to bring in more prospects and close more business? Let us help you refine your selling techniques through our many useful sales advice tips.
The Art of Customer Referrals is a good article to read, one of dozens in the Selling for Entrepreneurs section of our site.
Next Steps
Most new Haines businesses underestimate the number of challenges they will face.
If you choose the right business and love what you do, you will greatly increase your odds of success.
We are here to help Haines businesses to be successful. We want to be there for you to answer your business questions, whether you are a new Haines 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 Haines, Alaska
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Haines.
- Resources for Haines, Alaska Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Haines entrepreneurs.
- Alaska Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Alaska.
- Alaska Small Business Development Center - The Alaska Small Business Development Center, which is hosted by the University of Alaska and funded in part by the U.S. Small Business Administration, has assisted businesses by providing free, confidential technical business assistance and low-cost business training in Alaska for twenty years.
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