Washington Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Kent, Washington
Thinking about starting a business in Kent, Washington? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Kent.
Will You Be a Good Entrepreneur?
Most new companies don't make it, in part because the business owner did not have the entrepreneurial skills and traits needed to succeed. So, before you open a business, consider all of the implications of being an entrepreneur.
Here are three things we recommend you do before you fully commit to starting a new business of your own.
- Talk to other entrepreneurs in Kent. They are usually very willing to share their insights on the ups and downs of being an entrepreneur.
- 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. Others sometimes know you better than you know yourself.
Choosing the Right Company to Start
An important decision is what kind of business you want to start. To stir your creative juices on what kind of business to start, take a look at 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 Billiard Table Recovering & Restoring Business guide or our Opening an Irrigation Equipment Leasing Business guide.
Always keep in mind that you are opening your new business in Kent. Some businesses will do better in Kent than others. Study Kent demographics and do a competitive analysis as part of your startup planning process.
Kent, Washington Demographic Information
Kent has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Kent demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Kent.
Businesses
As a new Kent entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Kent 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 Kent, Washington
It's very important that you form your business as a legal structure. The primary advantage of forming your new business as a legal entity is that it separates your business liabilities from your personal liabilities.
The entity you form can be a traditional C-corporation, a Limited Liability Company (LLC), or an S-corporation.
Incorporating is a very common way to legally create a business entity. Of course, you have to decide which type of corporation to form and where to incorporate. If you are starting a business in Washington, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Washington. In fact, you can incorporate in any state you would like to. 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 Getting an EIN. You should also consider getting professional assistance from your business lawyer. Finally, if you are starting a business in Kent, Washington, our information on Incorporating in Washington may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Washington.
Make Sure You Have a Business Plan
Creating a business plan is vital to the health of your new business. Indeed, your business plan is your game plan for how you hope to grow your business. Starting a business without a business plan
To learn more about business plans, read Business Plan Outsourcing. A great resource for business planning assistance is the face-to-face free consulting available from your local SCORE chapter in Washington.
Raising Capital for Your Venture
Finding the funds to fuel the growth of your Kent business 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 Business Line of Credit.
For Kent entrepreneurs with great ambition but a shortage of investment capital, check out our List of Washington Angel Investors and our List of Washington Venture Capital Firms.
What's Next?
Most new Kent 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 Kent businesses to be successful. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Kent, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Kent, Washington
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Kent.
- Resources for Kent, Washington Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Kent entrepreneurs.
- Washington Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Washington.
- Washington Small Business Development Center - Washington Small Business Development Centers promote economic vitality by providing advice, training and research to Washington entrepreneurs and existing Washington businesses.
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