Pennsylvania Business Startup Guides

Open a Business in Northern Cambria, Pennsylvania

Need help starting a business in Northern Cambria, Pennsylvania? We've got the information you need to open a business in Northern Cambria.

Do You Have What It Takes?

Before you get too far along in the process, assess your entrepreneurial instincts and capabilities.

While entrepreneurship has become a popular career choice, we recommend you do the following before you take the plunge:

  • Talk to other entrepreneurs in Northern Cambria. Get their candid feedback on what it takes to start a successful business.
  • We recommend reading Should You Become an Entrepreneur?. For aspiring new entrepreneurs, it's a must read article.
  • Have a candid conversation with friends and family. A support network of family and friends can be a great sounding board for good advice before you decide for sure to go into business.

Northern Cambria, Pennsylvania Demographic Information

Northern Cambria has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.

To give you a better feel for Northern Cambria demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Northern Cambria.

Business Size
# of
Businesses
1-4 Employees
243
5-9 Employees
81
10-19 Employees
45
20-49 Employees
9
50-99 Employees
6
100-249 Employees
3
250-499 Employees
0
500-999 Employees
0
1000+ Employees
0
All Northern Cambria Businesses
387

As a new Northern Cambria entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Northern Cambria 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.

Business Type
# of
Businesses
Ambulance Services
1
Beauty Salons
1
Beer, Wine, and Liquor Stores
3
Charter Bus Industry
1
Child Day Care Services
1
Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages)
1
Electrical Contractors
2
Farm Supplies Merchant Wholesalers
1
Florists
1
Food Service Contractors
1
Full-Service Restaurants
2
Funeral Homes and Funeral Services
1
General Automotive Repair
4
Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Stores
1
Graphic Design Services
1
Hardware Stores
1
Heating Oil Dealers
2
Home Centers
1
Home Health Care Services
2
Household Appliance Stores
1
Insurance Agencies and Brokerages
2
Janitorial Services
1
Jewelry Stores
1
Libraries and Archives
1
Limited-Service Restaurants
5
Logging
1
New Car Dealers
1
New Housing Operative Builders
1
Offices of Dentists
2
Offices of Lawyers
3
Offices of Optometrists
1
Pharmacies and Drug Stores
3
Racetracks
1
School and Employee Bus Transportation
1
Siding Contractors
1
Site Preparation Contractors
1
Special Needs Transportation
1
Sporting Goods Stores
1
Tax Preparation Services
1
Tire Dealers
1
Used Car Dealers
1
Used Merchandise Stores
1
Video Tape and Disc Rental
1
Wholesale Trade Agents and Brokers
2
Wired Telecommunications Carriers
1

Choosing a Company Name

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.

For other considerations regarding naming a company, we recommend this article: Naming a Business.

As a final piece of advice, remember that because you are planning on starting a business in Northern Cambria, it's very important that you make sure no other Pennsylvania company is using the business name you want to use.

Company Formation in Northern Cambria, Pennsylvania

It's very important that your business is formed as a legal entity that is separate from its owners. Among other things, forming a legal entity for the business limits your 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. A key decision is whether to form and S-Corp or a C-Corp, and you also must decide in which state you will incorporate. Just because you are starting a business in Pennsylvania, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Pennsylvania. As it turns out, 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's a lot to know about forming a company. We recommend you read some of the educational articles about company formation that are availabe on our site, such as Subchapter S Corporations. You should also consider getting professional assistance from your business lawyer. Finally, if you are starting a business in Northern Cambria, Pennsylvania, our information on Incorporating in Pennsylvania may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Pennsylvania.

Startup Financing Basics

Getting your Northern Cambria business the capital it needs to succeed is not an easy task. Bootstrapping, which means growing the business without outside funding, is the best alternative, but that's not a viable option for many startup plans.

Take advantage of our many articles on raising capital, such as Angel Investors.

For Northern Cambria entrepreneurs who want to raise money for a new venture, we have assembled a List of Pennsylvania Angel Investors and our List of Pennsylvania Venture Capital Firms.

Bring in Revenues

Being able to sell is critical to your business success. Whether you are focused on selling local customers in Northern Cambria or are selling to customers throughout Pennsylvania, the United States or even the world, you have to be able to sell.

So what does it take to bring in more prospects and close more business? Fortunately, we've got plenty of good advice to help you improve your selling skills.

Good Sales Strategies is worth reading, as it may give you some good ideas on how to sell your products or services. We have many more good articles on selling that you may enjoy reading.

Now It's Up To You

You have a dream -- starting a business in Northern Cambria. To achieve your dream, you have to persevere, even when the odds are against you.

Owning your own business will be a daunting task, but you can do it.

This site is all about helping entrepreneurs in Northern Cambria and elsewhere to achieve real success. We want to be there for you to answer your business questions, whether you are a new Northern Cambria 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 Northern Cambria, Pennsylvania

Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Northern Cambria.

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