Minnesota Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Saint Cloud, Minnesota
Thinking about starting a business in Saint Cloud, Minnesota? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Saint Cloud.
Are You Ready for Entrepreneurship?
Before announcing to the world that you are going to start your own business, assess your entrepreneurial instincts and capabilities.
To determine whether you have what it takes to run a business, we recommend these three steps to help you decide:
- Talk to other entrepreneurs in Saint Cloud. Listen closely to their experiences and see if you think you too can be successful.
- 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. Ask them directly: Do I have what it takes to be an entrepreneur? Listen carefully to their answer, as they presumably know your strengths and weaknesses.
Saint Cloud, Minnesota Demographic Information
Saint Cloud has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Saint Cloud demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Saint Cloud.
Businesses
As a new Saint Cloud entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Saint Cloud 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
Naming the Business
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.
Company names need to be easy to spell, easy to pronounce, and easy to remember.
For other considerations regarding naming a company, we recommend this article: Naming a Company.
As a final piece of advice, remember that because you are opening a business in Saint Cloud, it's very important that you make sure no other Minnesota company is using the business name you want to use.
Forming a Company in Saint Cloud, Minnesota
It's very important that you form your business as a legal structure. Without a legal structure for the business, you can be held personally liable for the actions, debts and obligations of your company.
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. 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. If you are starting a business in Minnesota, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Minnesota. In fact, you are allowed to incorporate in any state you would like to. 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 Avoiding Personal Liability in Business. You may also want to seek the advice of an attorney. Finally, if you are starting a business in Saint Cloud, Minnesota, our information on Incorporating in Minnesota may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Minnesota.
The Role of the Business Plan
A business plan is vital in maximizing the prospects of your new company. In effect, your business plan is your game plan for how you hope to grow your business. Starting a business without a business plan is a recipe for disaster.
If you want more information on writing business plans, we recommend reading Reasons to Write a Business Plan. You can also get free business counselors available to you through your local SCORE chapter in Minnesota.
Promoting Your New Company
Whether your goal is to attract Saint Cloud customers or you plan on selling elsewhere, you need a solid marketing plan.
We have some helpful resources on this site for entrepreneurs who are working on marketing plans. How to Market to Accountants and CPAs is a good read to get your marketing juices flowing. That's just a taste of the many useful articles we have on Marketing a Small Business.
Never Give Up
You have a dream -- starting a business in Saint Cloud. 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.
We are here to help Saint Cloud businesses to be successful. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Saint Cloud, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Saint Cloud, Minnesota
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Saint Cloud.
- Resources for Saint Cloud, Minnesota Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Saint Cloud entrepreneurs.
- Minnesota Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Minnesota.
- Minnesota Small Business Development Center - The Minnesota Small Business Development Centers provide no-cost, professional business consulting to Minnesota small businesses covering a variety of business needs.
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