Massachusetts Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Haverhill, Massachusetts
Thinking about starting a business in Haverhill, Massachusetts? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Haverhill.
Are You Ready for Life as an Owner?
Most startup businesses don't make it, in part because the business owner did not have the tenacity and/or the skills to succeed. So, before jumping into the world of entrepreneurship, consider all of the implications of being an entrepreneur.
Before you move forward with starting a business, be sure to do these three things:
- Talk to other entrepreneurs in Haverhill. Listen closely to their experiences and see if you think you too can be successful.
- We recommend reading Should You Become an Entrepreneur?. For aspiring new entrepreneurs, it's a must read article.
- Have a candid conversation with friends and family. Ask them directly: Do I have what it takes to be an entrepreneur? Listen carefully to their answer, as they presumably know your strengths and weaknesses.
Haverhill, Massachusetts Demographic Information
Haverhill has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Haverhill demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Haverhill.
Businesses
As a new Haverhill entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Haverhill 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
Forming a Company in Haverhill, Massachusetts
It's very important that your business is formed as a legal entity that is separate from its owners. Doing so will protect you from personal liability for business debts and obligations.
The entity you form can be a corporation, LLC, sole proprietorship, partnership or other structure.
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 Massachusetts, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Massachusetts. In fact, you can incorporate in any state you would like to. For example, it's very popular to incorporate in Delaware, and incorporating in Nevada has become very trendy as well. Don't forget, though, that you will have to register as a foreign entity in all states that you do business in.
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 lawyer. Finally, if you are starting a business in Haverhill, Massachusetts, our information on Incorporating in Massachusetts may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Massachusetts.
Do You Need a Business Plan?
A business plan is critical to the health of your new business. Simply put, a business plan is a written description of the future you envision for your business. Starting a business without a business plan is a recipe for disaster.
To learn more about business plans, read Business Plan Contests. A great resource for business planning assistance is the face-to-face free consulting available from your local SCORE chapter in Massachusetts.
Raising Money for Your New Venture
Getting your Haverhill business the capital it needs to succeed will be harder than you might expect. If you don't have a rich uncle to fund you, you'll need to be creative in how you approach your fundraising efforts.
Fortunately, this site contains dozens of articles on raising money, including one we recommend entitled Choosing VC Firms.
For Haverhill entrepreneurs who need startup capital, we have assembled a List of Massachusetts Angel Investors and our List of Massachusetts Venture Capital Firms.
Learning More About Entrepreneurship
The best business owners recognize that what they know now may not be enough to ensure their future success.
With your business being located in Haverhill, Massachusetts, you will want to take advantage of the many programs available at nearby Massachusetts universities, colleges and community colleges. It's also smart to see if there are any networking groups or organizations in which Haverhill entrepreneurs get together to network and trade their business experiences.
Never Give Up
Most new Haverhill 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.
Our goal here is to promote the vitality and growth of small businesses in Haverhill and throughout the United States . We have a wealth of experience in business start-ups, financing, marketing, sales and more...and we've made all of our knowledge available to you.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Haverhill, Massachusetts
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Haverhill.
- Resources for Haverhill, Massachusetts Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Haverhill entrepreneurs.
- Massachusetts Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Massachusetts.
- Massachusetts Small Business Development Center - The Massachusetts Small Business Development Center (MSBDC) Network provides one-to-one free comprehensive and confidential services focusing on, business growth and strategies, financing and loan assistance as well as strategic, marketing and operational analysis.
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