Florida Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Longwood, Florida
Thinking about starting a business in Longwood, Florida? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Longwood.
Longwood, Florida Demographic Information
Longwood has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Longwood demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Longwood.
Businesses
As a new Longwood entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Longwood 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
Should You Franchise?
Visit the business district of Longwood and you may be surprised to see how many franchises there are in the area. But is franchising the right option for you?
Our advice is to consider franchising as an option. We have many articles on franchises, such as Credit and Franchise Purchasing. Get a thorough education on franchising by browsing all of our Articles on Franchising.
You can find franchise opportunities by browsing our Franchise Opportunities Directory.
Sample franchise opportunities include Ground Round and Different Twist Pretzel Company. Alternatively, you can browse franchise categories, such as Travel and Leisure Franchises and Bath Remodeling Franchises.
Note on Longwood Franchise Opportunities: You will need to contact franchisors directly to see if their franchises are available in Longwood.
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.
Company names need to be easy to spell, easy to pronounce, and easy to remember.
To get up to speed on what makes for a good company name, we encourage you to read this useful article: Branding Advice.
On a final note, given that you are opening a business in Longwood, it's imperative that you check now that no other Florida company is using the business name you want to use.
Getting Money to Start a Business
Getting your Longwood business the capital it needs to succeed requires strong organization skills and perseverance. The reality is that there is very little funding available for new small businesses, and you have to explore every possible alternative.
Take advantage of our many articles on raising capital, such as 504 Loans.
For Longwood entrepreneurs who want to raise money for a new venture, you'll want to take a look at our List of Florida Angel Investors and our List of Florida Venture Capital Firms.
Promoting Your New Company
Whether your goal is to attract Longwood customers or you plan on selling elsewhere, you'll need to have a good marketing plan.
You can learn plenty about marketing on our site. Business Cards discusses marketing strategy and tactical marketing in a way that should get you thinking about how to creatively promote your business. That's just a taste of the many useful articles we have on Marketing a Small Business.
How to Sell
Mastering the art of selling is essential if you want your new Longwood business to do well.
The key to selling is to set sales goals goals and monitor your progress towards those goals. Let us help you refine your selling techniques through our many useful sales advice tips.
Hiring Telemarketing Firms to Generate Sales Leads offers some helpful tips on how to sell. It's one of several good articles on our site regarding Entrepreneurial Selling.
Learning More About Entrepreneurship
The best entrepreneurs recognize that they don't know everything.
Given that you are starting a business in Longwood, Florida, you will want to take advantage of the many programs available at nearby Florida universities, colleges and community colleges. It's also worthwhile to see if there are any networking groups or organizations in which Longwood entrepreneurs get together to network and trade their business experiences.
Some Interesting Longwood Entrepreneurs
We're compiling a number of interviews with Longwood entrepreneurs. Enjoy!
Moving Forward
Most new Longwood businesses underestimate the number of challenges they will face.
From this point on, you control your own destiny.
We are here to help Longwood businesses to be successful. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Longwood, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Longwood, Florida
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Longwood.
- Resources for Longwood, Florida Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Longwood entrepreneurs.
- Florida Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Florida.
- Florida Small Business Development Center - The Florida Small Business Development Center Network (FSBDCN) is a statewide economic development partnership between higher education and other stakeholder organizations dedicated to providing entrepreneurs and established businesses with the assistance needed to start, grow and succeed, contributing to the Florida economy.
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