South Carolina Business Startup Guides
Start a Business in Pickens, South Carolina
Are you starting a business in Pickens, South Carolina? This article discusses the most important things to consider when opening a business in Pickens.
What Business to 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 Evaluating Your Idea.
For step-by-step instructions on starting a variety of business types, visit the Good Businesses to Start section of our site. For example, you might be interested in our Starting a Garage Organizers Business guide or our Starting a General Store guide.
Always keep in mind that your new startup will be located in Pickens. Some businesses will do better in Pickens than others. Don't forget to review Pickens demographics to see if there's a market for what you want to sell.
Pickens, South Carolina Demographic Information
Pickens has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Pickens demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Pickens.
Businesses
As a new Pickens entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Pickens 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
Picking a Company Name
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.
Companies like Starbucks, Apple, Target, Microsoft and Intuit all have strong company names that are easy to remember and have become well-loved brands. Wouldn't it be nice if your new company name got on a similar track?
To get up to speed on what makes for a good company name, we encourage you to read this useful article: Naming a Business.
As a final piece of advice, remember that because you are planning on starting a business in Pickens, it's imperative that you check now that no other South Carolina company is using the business name you want to use.
Forming a Company in Pickens, South Carolina
A critical step is ensuring that your business is formed as a legal entity that is separate from its owners. Doing so will insulate 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 South Carolina, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in South Carolina. As it turns out, you can incorporate in the state of your choosing. 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. To learn the fundamentals of company formation, browse articles on our site, such as Offshore Company Formation. You may also want to seek the advice of an attorney. Finally, if you are starting a business in Pickens, South Carolina, our information on Incorporating in South Carolina may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in South Carolina.
Do You Need a Business Plan?
A business plan is essential in maximizing the prospects of your new company. In effect, a business plan is a written description of the future you envision for your business. Starting a business without a business plan is a recipe for disaster.
Before you start writing a business plan, we suggest you skim Business Plan Contests. A great resource for business planning assistance is the free business counselors available to you through your local SCORE chapter in South Carolina.
Marketing Your New Venture
To rise above the crowd in Pickens and build your business, you need a excellent marketing plan.
We have some excellent resources on this site for entrepreneurs who are working on marketing plans. Newspaper 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.
Increase Your Entrepreneurial Knowledge
Good entrepreneurs recognize that they don't know everything.
As an entrepreneur who lives in Pickens, South Carolina, you will want to take advantage of the many programs available at nearby South Carolina universities, colleges and community colleges. It's also beneficial to see if there are any Pickens networking organizations.
Next Steps
Most new Pickens businesses underestimate the number of challenges they will face.
Owning your own business will be a daunting task, but you can do it.
This site is all about helping entrepreneurs in Pickens and elsewhere to achieve real success. We have a wealth of experience in business start-ups, financing, marketing, sales and more...and we've made all of our knowledge available to you.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Pickens, South Carolina
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Pickens.
- Resources for Pickens, South Carolina Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Pickens entrepreneurs.
- South Carolina Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in South Carolina.
- South Carolina Small Business Development Center - The South Carolina Small Business Development Center provides consulting services to small and medium enterprises through more than 14 locations across the state.
More Business Startup Guides for South Carolina
Starting a Business in Pawley's Island
Starting a Business in Ridgeland
Browse All Business Startup Guides for South Carolina
Starting a Business Guides for Other States
Share this article
Additional Resources for Entrepreneurs