Minnesota Business Startup Guides
Open a Business in Saint Paul, Minnesota
Need help starting a business in Saint Paul, Minnesota? We've got the information you need to open a business in Saint Paul.
What Business to Start
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 Good Business Ideas.
For in-depth how-to guides on how to start specific businesses, browse our Good Businesses to Start section of our site. For example, you might be interested in our Starting a Dance Club guide or our Starting a Tatoo Parlor guide.
Remember that your new startup will be located in Saint Paul. Some businesses will do better in Saint Paul than others. Make sure you fully understand Saint Paul demographics before you lock in on your business idea.
Saint Paul, Minnesota Demographic Information
Saint Paul has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Saint Paul demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Saint Paul.
Businesses
As a new Saint Paul entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Saint Paul 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 Franchising Opportunities?
As you drive around Saint Paul, you may be surprised to see how many franchises there are in the area. But is franchising the right option for you?
Most business experts recommend that you consider franchising as an option. This site has dozens of articles on franchising, such as Before Buying a Franchise. 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 Paul Franchise Opportunities: To find out if a franchise you are interested in is available in Saint Paul, you will need to get in direct contact with the franchisor.
Have You Considered Buying an Existing Saint Paul Business?
An excellent way to get started in business is to Buy a Business in Minnesota. Follow that link and you may find several good businesses for sale in Saint Paul.
For anybody who wants to buy a business, we recommend reading this useful article: How to Buy a Business.
Raising Capital for Your Venture
Finding the funds to fuel the growth of your Saint Paul business is not an easy task. Bootstrapping, which means growing the business without outside funding, is the best alternative, but that's not a viable option for many startup plans.
To learn about raising money, we recommend you read the fundraising articles on our site, such as 504 Loans.
For Saint Paul entrepreneurs who want to raise money for a new venture, check out our List of Minnesota Angel Investors and our List of Minnesota Venture Capital Firms.
The Art of Selling
Mastering the art of selling is priority one if you want your new Saint Paul business to do well.
Not knowing how to sell can result in lost customers and minimal market share. Fortunately, we've got plenty of good advice to help you improve your selling skills.
Compensating Sales People offers some helpful tips on how to sell. It's one of several good articles on our site regarding Entrepreneurial Selling.
Next Steps
Most new Saint Paul businesses underestimate the number of challenges they will face.
If you choose the right business and love what you do, you will greatly increase your odds of success.
This site is all about helping entrepreneurs in Saint Paul and elsewhere to achieve real success. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Saint Paul, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Saint Paul, Minnesota
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Saint Paul.
- Resources for Saint Paul, Minnesota Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Saint Paul 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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