Georgia Business Startup Guides
Open a Business in Lithonia, Georgia
Need help starting a business in Lithonia, Georgia? We've got the information you need to open a business in Lithonia.
What Business Are You Starting?
Choosing a business that is right for you is very important. To help you decide on a business type, we encourage you to read Business Ideas That Don't Make Sense.
For step-by-step instructions on starting a variety of business types, visit the Good Businesses to Start section of our site. For example, you might be interested in our Opening a Garbage Disposal Sales, Service, & Parts Business guide or our Opening a Discing Services Business guide.
Always keep in mind that Lithonia is the place where you are starting a business. Some businesses will do better in Lithonia than others. Study Lithonia demographics and do a competitive analysis as part of your startup planning process.
Lithonia, Georgia Demographic Information
Lithonia has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Lithonia demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Lithonia.
Businesses
As a new Lithonia entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Lithonia 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 Lithonia, Georgia
A critical step is ensuring that your business is formed as a legal entity that is separate from its owners. The biggest 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 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 Georgia, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Georgia. In fact, you can incorporate wherever you want. 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 ESOP Formation. You should also consider getting professional assistance from your business lawyer. Finally, if you are starting a business in Lithonia, Georgia, our information on Incorporating in Georgia may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Georgia.
Don't Forget to Create a Business Plan
Writing a business plan is essential in maximizing the prospects of your new company. In effect, a business plan describes what you plan to do with the business and how you plan to do it. Not having a business plan will greatly reduce your chances of business success.
To learn more about business plans, read Business Plan Contests. You can also get free business counselors available to you through your local SCORE chapter in Georgia.
Startup Financing Basics
Getting your Lithonia 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.
Recognizing this challenge, this site contains dozens of articles on raising money, including one we recommend entitled 504 Loans.
For Lithonia entrepreneurs on the hunt for startup funding, check out our List of Georgia Angel Investors and our List of Georgia Venture Capital Firms.
How to Improve Your Entrepreneurial Abilities
The best entrepreneurs recognize that what they know now may not be enough to ensure their future success.
Given that you are starting a business in Lithonia, Georgia, you will want to take advantage of the learning programs at local Georgia educational institutions. It's also worthwhile to see if there are any networking organizations for Lithonia entrepreneurs.
Moving Forward
You have a dream -- starting a business in Lithonia. To achieve your dream, you have to persevere, even when the odds are against you.
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 Lithonia and throughout the United States . We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Lithonia, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Lithonia, Georgia
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Lithonia.
- Resources for Lithonia, Georgia Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Lithonia entrepreneurs.
- Georgia Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Georgia.
- Georgia Small Business Development Center - The Georgia SBDC program helps Georgia entrepreneurs with developing business plans, providing financial analysis, identifying sources of capital, and assessing marketing strategies.
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