Indiana Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Notre Dame, Indiana
Thinking about starting a business in Notre Dame, Indiana? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Notre Dame.
Is Becoming an Entrepreneur Right for You?
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:
- Reach out to other entrepreneurs in Notre Dame. Get their take on what it's really like to be an entrepreneur.
- Peruse Should You Become an Entrepreneur?. This is one of our more popular articles for folks who want to go into business for themselves.
- Have a candid conversation with friends and family. That's the best way to get a truly objective assessment as to whether others think you have what it takes.
Notre Dame, Indiana Demographic Information
Notre Dame has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Notre Dame demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Notre Dame.
Businesses
As a new Notre Dame entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Notre Dame 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?
As you drive around Notre Dame, you'll conclude that many business owners have opted to buy a franchise, rather than starting a business on their own. So, it probably makes sense for you to consider franchising too.
Our recommendation is that you consider franchising as an option. We have many articles on franchises, such as Franchising My Business. 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 Notre Dame Franchise Opportunities: You will need to contact franchisors directly to see if their franchises are available in Notre Dame.
Naming the Company
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.
Company names should be fun to say, and they should help people to understand what you do and how you differentiate yourself in the market.
Numerous company naming issues are discussed in more detail in this article: Naming a Company.
On a final note, given that you are opening a business in Notre Dame, it's very important that you make sure no other Indiana company is using the business name you want to use.
Forming a Company in Notre Dame, Indiana
It's very important that you are forming a legal entity that operates independently from you. Doing so will protect you from personal liability for business debts and obligations.
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 Indiana, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Indiana. 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 Avoiding Personal Liability in Business. You may also want to seek the advice of an lawyer. Finally, if you are starting a business in Notre Dame, Indiana, our information on Incorporating in Indiana may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Indiana.
Getting Money to Start a Business
Getting your Notre Dame 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 securing funding, such as 504 Loans.
For Notre Dame entrepreneurs with great ambition but a shortage of investment capital, check out our List of Indiana Angel Investors and our List of Indiana Venture Capital Firms.
Moving Forward
You have a dream -- starting a business in Notre Dame. 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 Notre Dame and elsewhere to achieve real success. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Notre Dame, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Notre Dame, Indiana
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Notre Dame.
- Resources for Notre Dame, Indiana Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Notre Dame entrepreneurs.
- Indiana Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Indiana.
- Indiana Small Business Development Center - The Indiana Small Business Development Center assists Indiana entrepreneurs and small businesses through one on one counseling, education and business resources.
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