West Virginia Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Morgantown, West Virginia
Thinking about starting a business in Morgantown, West Virginia? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Morgantown.
What Type of Business Should You Start?
An important decision is what kind of business you want to start. If you are struggling with what type of business to start, read Good Business Ideas.
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 How to Start a Photofinishing Retail Business guide or our Starting a Plastic Barrels & Drums Business guide.
Remember that your new startup will be located in Morgantown. Some businesses will do better in Morgantown than others. A critical consideration is whether Morgantown demographics mesh well with your startup concept.
Morgantown, West Virginia Demographic Information
Morgantown has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Morgantown demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Morgantown.
Businesses
As a new Morgantown entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Morgantown 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
Is a Franchise Opportunity Right For You?
Examine a list of Morgantown businesses and it becomes clear that purchasing a franchise is a common way to get started as an entrepreneur. But is franchising the right option for you?
We highly recommend you consider franchising as an option. We have many articles on franchises, such as Buying an Existing Franchise. Become a franchising expert of sorts by reading more of our Articles on Franchising.
To learn about specific franchise opportunities, check out our Franchise Directory.
Representative franchise opportunities include Steam Brothers and Stone to Foam. Alternatively, you can browse franchise categories, such as Auto Repair Franchises and Print and Sign Franchises.
Note on Morgantown Franchise Opportunities: You will need to contact franchisors directly to see if their franchises are available in Morgantown.
Have You Considered Buying an Existing Morgantown Business?
An excellent way to get started in business is to Buy a Business in West Virginia. Follow that link and you might discover several good businesses for sale in Morgantown.
Before buying a business, be sure to read this article: Buying a Business.
Naming the Business
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.
Pick a company name that isn't too generic. If you do a search engine search for your proposed name and a billion results come up, you may want to reconsider the name. It's much easier to come up in the search engines when your name is fairly unique.
To get up to speed on what makes for a good company name, we encourage you to read this useful article: Naming a Company.
As a final piece of advice, remember that because you are planning on starting a business in Morgantown, it's imperative that you check now that no other West Virginia company is using the business name you want to use.
Letting the World Know You Exist
Whether your goal is to attract Morgantown customers or you plan on selling elsewhere, having an excellent marketing plan is fundamental to your business achieving its goals.
We have some useful resources on this site for entrepreneurs who are working on marketing plans. Phone Book Advertising Costs discusses marketing strategy and tactical marketing in a way that should get you thinking about how to creatively promote your business. That's just one of the many useful articles we have on Marketing a Small Business.
The Art of Selling
Mastering the art of selling is priority one if you want your new Morgantown business to do well.
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.
Mastering the Complex Sale offers some helpful tips on how to sell. It's one of several good articles on our site regarding Entrepreneurial Selling.
Moving Forward
Most new Morgantown businesses underestimate the number of challenges they will face.
From this point on, you control your own destiny.
We are here to help Morgantown businesses to be successful. We want to be there for you to answer your business questions, whether you are a new Morgantown 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 Morgantown, West Virginia
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Morgantown.
- Resources for Morgantown, West Virginia Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Morgantown entrepreneurs.
- West Virginia Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in West Virginia.
- West Virginia Small Business Development Center - The West Virginia Small Business Development Center (WVSBDC) promotes economic development through a program of practical, interrelated services, providing assistance to existing West Virginia small businesses and the emerging West Virginia entrepreneur.
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