Tennessee Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Nashville, Tennessee
Thinking about starting a business in Nashville, Tennessee? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Nashville.
What Business to Start
An important decision is what kind of business you want to start. We recommend that you read Business Ideas That Don't Make Sense.
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 a Dance Club guide or our Starting a Tatoo Parlor guide.
Don't forget that Nashville is the place where you are starting a business. Think about what needs are currently being underserved in Nashville. A critical consideration is whether Nashville demographics mesh well with your startup concept.
Nashville, Tennessee Demographic Information
Nashville has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Nashville demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Nashville.
Businesses
As a new Nashville entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Nashville 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?
Examine a list of Nashville businesses and you'll notice that many local entrepreneurs have gone the franchising route. But is franchising the right option for you?
Most business experts recommend that you consider franchising as an option. We have many articles on franchises, such as Evaluating Franchise Opportunities. Get a thorough education on franchising by browsing all of our Articles on Franchising.
To learn about specific franchise opportunities, check out our Franchise Directory.
Sample franchise opportunities include Subway Franchises and Starbucks Franchises. Alternatively, you can browse franchise categories, such as Accounting Franchises and Moving Franchises.
Note on Nashville Franchise Opportunities: You will need to contact franchisors directly to see if their franchises are available in Nashville.
Selecting a Name For Your Venture
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.
We strongly advocate that you make sure the ".com" domain name is available for your company name. Every business needs a strong Web presence these days, and having a non ".com" domain means somebody else may outrank you in the search results for your own company name.
Numerous company naming issues are discussed in more detail in this article: Branding Advice.
On a final note, given that you are starting a business in Nashville, it's very important that you make sure no other Tennessee company is using the business name you want to use.
Don't Forget to Create a Business Plan
Creating a business plan is vital to the health of your new business. Indeed, your business plan is your game plan for how you hope to grow your business. Failure to write a business plan
To learn more about business plans, read Business Plan Contests. You can also get free counseling sessions provided by your local SCORE chapter in Tennessee.
Letting the World Know You Exist
Whether your goal is to attract Nashville customers or you plan on selling elsewhere, you'll need to have a good marketing plan.
There are myriad resources on this site to help you with your marketing plan. Holiday-Powered Marketing is a good read to get your marketing juices flowing. There are many more articles on marketing on our site. Visit our Small Business Marketing resource section to see them all.
Never Give Up
You have a dream -- starting a business in Nashville. 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.
We are here to help Nashville businesses to be successful. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Nashville, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Nashville, Tennessee
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Nashville.
- Resources for Nashville, Tennessee Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Nashville entrepreneurs.
- Tennessee Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Tennessee.
- Tennessee Small Business Development Center - If you are a small business owner, entrepreneur or you are thinking about starting a new business, the Tennessee Small Business Development Center (TSBDC) is ready to help you every step of the way!
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