Missouri Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Saint Joseph, Missouri
Thinking about starting a business in Saint Joseph, Missouri? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Saint Joseph.
Saint Joseph, Missouri Demographic Information
Saint Joseph has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Saint Joseph demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Saint Joseph.
Businesses
As a new Saint Joseph entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Saint Joseph 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 Saint Joseph, it becomes clear that purchasing a franchise is a common way to get started as an entrepreneur. Should you be giving franchising serious consideration?
Most business experts recommend that you consider franchising as an option. We have many articles on franchises, such as Franchising and Veterans. 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 Saint Joseph Franchise Opportunities: You will need to contact franchisors directly to see if their franchises are available in Saint Joseph.
Have You Considered Buying an Existing Saint Joseph Business?
If you have some capital to play with, you may want to Buy a Business in Missouri. Follow that link and you may find several good businesses for sale in Saint Joseph.
If you are headed down the path of buying a business, you may want to read this article: Hold Harmless Agreements When Buying Businesses.
Forming a Company in Saint Joseph, Missouri
A critical step is ensuring 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 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 Missouri, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Missouri. In fact, 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 Pre-Incorporation Agreements. You may also want to seek the advice of an attorney. Finally, if you are starting a business in Saint Joseph, Missouri, our information on Incorporating in Missouri may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Missouri.
The Role of the Business Plan
A business plan is essential in maximizing the prospects of your new company. Indeed, a business plan describes what you plan to do with the business and how you plan to do it. Starting a business without a business plan is a recipe for disaster.
To learn more about business plans, read Business Plan Contests. A great resource for business planning assistance is the free business counselors available to you through your local SCORE chapter in Missouri.
Marketing Your New Venture
Whether your goal is to attract Saint Joseph customers or you plan on selling elsewhere, having an excellent marketing plan is fundamental to your business achieving its goals.
There are myriad resources on this site to help you with your marketing plan. Working with an Advertising Agency discusses marketing strategy and tactical marketing in a way that should get you thinking about how to creatively promote your business. That's just a taste of the many useful articles we have on Marketing a Small Business.
What's Next?
Most new Saint Joseph businesses underestimate the number of challenges they will face.
From this point on, you control your own destiny.
Our goal here is to promote the vitality and growth of small businesses in Saint Joseph and throughout the United States . We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Saint Joseph, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Saint Joseph, Missouri
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Saint Joseph.
- Resources for Saint Joseph, Missouri Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Saint Joseph entrepreneurs.
- Missouri Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Missouri.
- Missouri Small Business Development Center - Missouri Small Business Development Center business specialists are uniquely qualified to help small businesses get started, develop and thrive.
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