South Carolina Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Lancaster, South Carolina
Thinking about starting a business in Lancaster, South Carolina? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Lancaster.
Choosing the Right Company to Start
Choosing a business that is right for you is very important. To help you decide on a business type, we encourage you to read Evaluating Your Idea.
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 Starting an Antenna Towers Business guide or our How to Start a Charitable & Nonprofit Organizations Business guide.
Don't forget that you are opening your new business in Lancaster. The business you want to start may already be well-represented in Lancaster. Make sure you fully understand Lancaster demographics before you lock in on your business idea.
Lancaster, South Carolina Demographic Information
Lancaster has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Lancaster demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Lancaster.
Businesses
As a new Lancaster entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Lancaster 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
Naming the Company
A big decision when starting a company is choosing a company name. Believe it or not, choosing a good company name can be a big contributor to your business success.
Even if the name doesn't do it by itself, many naming experts believe there should be a story behind the name that ties into your company mission.
To get up to speed on what makes for a good company name, we encourage you to read this useful article: Branding Advice.
There's one other important factor when naming a business. Since you are opening a business in Lancaster, it's very important that you make sure no other South Carolina company is using the business name you want to use.
Forming a Company in Lancaster, South Carolina
It's very important that your business is formed as a legal entity that is separate from its owners. Among other things, forming a legal entity for the business limits your 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 South Carolina, it doesn't mean you are required to incorporate in South Carolina. As it turns out, 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 Why Incorporate in Delaware. You should also consider getting professional assistance from your business lawyer. Finally, if you are starting a business in Lancaster, South Carolina, our information on Incorporating in South Carolina may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in South Carolina.
Don't Skip the Business Plan
Creating a business plan is vital to the health of your new business. In effect, a business plan is a written description of the future you envision for your business. Starting a business without a business plan
To learn more about business plans, read Business Presentations. You can also get free counseling sessions provided by your local SCORE chapter in South Carolina.
Building Up Your Sales
Being able to sell is critical to your business success. Whether you are focused on selling local customers in Lancaster or are selling to customers throughout South Carolina, the United States or even the world, you have to be able to sell.
Good selling involves demonstrating that your wares meet your customer's needs. Fortunately, we've got plenty of good advice to help you improve your selling skills.
Selling with Questions 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.
Learning More About Entrepreneurship
The best business owners recognize that they need to continually improve.
As an entrepreneur who lives in Lancaster, South Carolina, you will want to take advantage of the learning programs at local South Carolina educational institutions. It's also worthwhile to see if there are any networking groups or organizations in which Lancaster entrepreneurs get together to network and trade their business experiences.
Moving Forward
You have a dream -- starting a business in Lancaster. To achieve your dream, you have to persevere, even when the odds are against you.
From this point on, you control your own destiny.
We are here to help Lancaster businesses to be successful. We want to be there for you to answer your business questions, whether you are a new Lancaster 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 Lancaster, South Carolina
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Lancaster.
- Resources for Lancaster, South Carolina Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Lancaster entrepreneurs.
- South Carolina Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in South Carolina.
- South Carolina Small Business Development Center - The South Carolina Small Business Development Center provides consulting services to small and medium enterprises through more than 14 locations across the state.
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