Tennessee Business Startup Guides
Opening a Business in Knoxville, Tennessee
Contemplating starting a business in Knoxville, Tennessee? We walk you through the process of opening a business in Knoxville.
Are You Sure You Want to Do This?
Before announcing to the world that you are going to start your own business, take inventory of your entrepreneurial instincts and capabilities.
Before you move forward with starting a business, be sure to do these three things:
- Talk to other entrepreneurs in Knoxville. Ask them candidly what it's like to run a business.
- 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. The people who know you best are often in the best position to tell you bluntly whether you will be a good entrepreneur.
What Business Are You Starting?
Choosing a business that is right for you is very important. We recommend that you read Free 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 How to Start an Air Cleaning & Purifying Service guide or our Starting a Paternity Testing Business guide.
Always keep in mind that your new business will be in Knoxville. Some businesses will do better in Knoxville than others. Don't forget to review Knoxville demographics to see if there's a market for what you want to sell.
Knoxville, Tennessee Demographic Information
Knoxville has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Knoxville demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Knoxville.
Businesses
As a new Knoxville entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Knoxville 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 Knoxville, Tennessee
It's very important that your business is formed as a legal entity that is separate from its owners. The principal advantage of forming your new business as a legal entity is that it separates your business liabilities from your personal liabilities.
When forming a company, you will pick from many company types, such as a corporation, LLC, sole proprietorship, partnership or other structure.
Incorporating is a very popular way to form a business. 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. If you are starting a business in Tennessee, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Tennessee. 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 Registered Agents. You should also consider getting professional assistance from your business lawyer. On a final note, since you will be starting a business in Knoxville, Tennessee, our web page covering Incorporating in Tennessee may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Tennessee.
Promoting Your New Venture
To grow your Knoxville business, you'll need to have a good marketing plan.
We have some great resources on this site for entrepreneurs who are working on marketing plans. Transit Advertising is a good read to get your marketing juices flowing. There are many more articles on marketing on our site. Visit our Small Business Marketing resource section to see them all.
How to Improve Your Entrepreneurial Abilities
The best entrepreneurs recognize that they need to continually improve.
With your business being located in Knoxville, Tennessee, you should investigate some of the learning programs at local Tennessee educational institutions. You should also check if there are any Knoxville networking organizations.
Next Steps
You have a dream -- starting a business in Knoxville. To achieve your dream, you have to persevere, even when the odds are against you.
Owning your own business will be a daunting task, but you can do it.
This site is all about helping entrepreneurs in Knoxville and elsewhere to achieve real success. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Knoxville, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Knoxville, Tennessee
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Knoxville.
- Resources for Knoxville, Tennessee Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Knoxville entrepreneurs.
- Tennessee Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Tennessee.
- Tennessee Small Business Development Center - If you are a small business owner, entrepreneur or you are thinking about starting a new business, the Tennessee Small Business Development Center (TSBDC) is ready to help you every step of the way!
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