New Hampshire Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Rochester, New Hampshire
Thinking about starting a business in Rochester, New Hampshire? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Rochester.
Which Business to Choose?
An important decision is what kind of business you want to start. To stir your creative juices on what kind of business to start, take a look at Finding Your Niche in Life.
If you still are not sure what type of business to start, peruse the Good Businesses to Start section of our site. For example, you might be interested in our Starting a Garbage Containers Wholesale & Manufacturers Business guide or our Opening a Bridges Contractors Business guide.
Always keep in mind that your new startup will be located in Rochester. Some businesses will do better in Rochester than others. Only by spending some time analyzing Rochester demographics can you decide if there will be strong demand for your business idea.
Rochester, New Hampshire Demographic Information
Rochester has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Rochester demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Rochester.
Businesses
As a new Rochester entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Rochester 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
Forming a Company in Rochester, New Hampshire
A critical step is ensuring that your business is formed as a legal entity that is separate from its owners. Doing so will shield 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 common way to legally create a business entity. Of course, you have to decide which type of corporation to form and where to incorporate. If you are starting a business in New Hampshire, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in New Hampshire. As it turns out, you can incorporate in any state you would like to. 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 How to Incorporate. You may also want to seek the advice of an attorney. Finally, if you are starting a business in Rochester, New Hampshire, our information on Incorporating in New Hampshire may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in New Hampshire.
Raising Capital for Your Venture
Getting your Rochester business the capital it needs to succeed is very difficult due to the ongoing business credit crunch. If you don't have a rich uncle to fund you, you'll need to be creative in how you approach your fundraising efforts.
To learn about raising money, we recommend you read the fundraising articles on our site, such as 504 Loans.
For Rochester entrepreneurs in need of startup financing, check out our List of New Hampshire Angel Investors and our List of New Hampshire Venture Capital Firms.
Building Up Your Sales
Being able to sell is critical to your business success. Whether you are focused on selling local customers in Rochester or are selling to customers throughout New Hampshire, the United States or even the world, you have to be able to sell.
Good selling involves demonstrating that your wares meet your customer's needs. Fortunately, we've got plenty of good advice to help you improve your selling skills.
Tips on Customer Referrals 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.
How to Improve Your Entrepreneurial Abilities
Good entrepreneurs recognize that they need to continually improve.
As an entrepreneur who lives in Rochester, New Hampshire, you will want to take advantage of the many programs available at nearby New Hampshire universities, colleges and community colleges. It's also beneficial to see if there are any networking organizations for Rochester entrepreneurs.
Next Steps
You have a dream -- starting a business in Rochester. 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 Rochester and elsewhere to achieve real success. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Rochester, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Rochester, New Hampshire
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Rochester.
- Resources for Rochester, New Hampshire Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Rochester entrepreneurs.
- New Hampshire Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in New Hampshire.
- New Hampshire Small Business Development Center - The New Hampshire Small Business Development Center offers free, one-on-one, confidential business counseling, low cost training programs, and other great services for New Hampshire entrepreneurs.
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