Illinois Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Quincy, Illinois
Thinking about starting a business in Quincy, Illinois? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Quincy.
Quincy, Illinois Demographic Information
Quincy has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Quincy demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Quincy.
Businesses
As a new Quincy entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Quincy 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
What About Buying an Existing Quincy Business?
If you have some capital to play with, you may want to Buy a Business in Illinois. Follow that link and you may find several good businesses for sale in Quincy.
Before buying a business, be sure to read this article: Hold Harmless Agreements When Buying Businesses.
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.
Before you decide on a company name, run it by some prospective customers and see what they think. If they don't like it, it's probably a good idea to go back to the drawing board.
Numerous company naming issues are discussed in more detail in this article: Naming a Company.
There's one other important factor when naming a business. Since you are opening a business in Quincy, it's imperative that you check now that no other Illinois company is using the business name you want to use.
Forming a Company in Quincy, Illinois
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 corporation, LLC, sole proprietorship, partnership or other structure.
Incorporation 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 Illinois, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Illinois. As it turns out, you are allowed to incorporate wherever you want. For example, it's very popular to incorporate in Delaware, and incorporating in Nevada has become very trendy as well. Don't forget, though, that you will have to register as a foreign entity in all states that you do business in.
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 Incorporation Advice. You should also consider getting professional assistance from your business lawyer. Finally, if you are starting a business in Quincy, Illinois, our information on Incorporating in Illinois may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Illinois.
Marketing Your New Venture
To rise above the crowd in Quincy and grow your business, you'll need to have a good marketing plan.
We have some useful resources on this site for entrepreneurs who are working on marketing plans. Direct Mail Costs discusses marketing strategy and tactical marketing in a way that should get you thinking about how to creatively promote your business. There are many more articles on marketing on our site. Visit our Small Business Marketing resource section to see them all.
How to Sell
Mastering the art of selling is priority one if you want your new Quincy business to do well.
Not knowing how to sell can result in lost customers and minimal market share. Let us help you refine your selling techniques through our many useful sales advice tips.
Sales Forecasting is a good article to read, one of dozens in the Selling for Entrepreneurs section of our site.
Now It's Up To You
Most new Quincy 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 Quincy and elsewhere to achieve real success. We want to be there for you to answer your business questions, whether you are a new Quincy 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 Quincy, Illinois
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Quincy.
- Resources for Quincy, Illinois Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Quincy entrepreneurs.
- Illinois Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Illinois.
- Illinois Small Business Development Center - Illinois Small Business Development Centers located throughout the state provide assistance to new and existing small businesses.
More Startup Articles for Illinois Cities
Starting a Business in Prophetstown
Starting a Business in Ramsey
Browse All Business Startup Guides for Illinois
Starting a Business Guides for Other States
Share this article
Additional Resources for Entrepreneurs