South Carolina Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Lexington, South Carolina
Thinking about starting a business in Lexington, South Carolina? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Lexington.
Will You Be a Successful Entrepreneur?
Most startup businesses fail, in part because the founder did not have the perseverance and abilities that are necessary 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 Lexington. They are usually very willing to share their insights on the ups and downs of being an entrepreneur.
- We recommend reading Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs. For aspiring new entrepreneurs, it's a must read article.
- Seek the advice of somebody who knows you well. Others sometimes know you better than you know yourself.
What Business 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 How to Evaluate a Business Idea.
If you still are not sure what type of business to start, peruse the Good Businesses to Start section of our site. For example, you might be interested in our Opening a Foam & Sponge Rubber Wholesale & Manufacturers Business guide or our How to Start a Records Management Business guide.
Remember that your new business will be in Lexington. Some businesses will do better in Lexington than others. Study Lexington demographics and do a competitive analysis as part of your startup planning process.
Lexington, South Carolina Demographic Information
Lexington has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Lexington demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Lexington.
Businesses
As a new Lexington entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Lexington 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 Business
Making the right decision when choosing a company name is very important. There are many decisions you'll make now that you can change later, but changing a company name years down the road is not very easy. So, choose a good company name at the outset.
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.
As a final piece of advice, remember that because you are starting a business in Lexington, it's imperative that you check now that no other South Carolina company is using the business name you want to use.
Don't Forget to Create a Business Plan
A business plan is vital in maximizing the prospects of your new company. 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 free counseling sessions provided by your local SCORE chapter in South Carolina.
Increase Your Entrepreneurial Knowledge
Good entrepreneurs recognize that they need to continually improve.
With your business being located in Lexington, 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 Lexington entrepreneurs get together to network and trade their business experiences.
What's Next?
Most new Lexington businesses underestimate the number of challenges they will face.
From this point on, you control your own destiny.
Our goal here is to promote the vitality and growth of small businesses in Lexington and throughout the United States . We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Lexington, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Lexington, South Carolina
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Lexington.
- Resources for Lexington, South Carolina Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Lexington 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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