Florida Business Startup Guides
Opening a Business in Saint Petersburg, Florida
Contemplating starting a business in Saint Petersburg, Florida? We walk you through the process of opening a business in Saint Petersburg.
What Business Are You Starting?
An important decision is what kind of business you want to start. We recommend that you read 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 you are opening your new business in Saint Petersburg. Some businesses will do better in Saint Petersburg than others. Study Saint Petersburg demographics and do a competitive analysis as part of your startup planning process.
Saint Petersburg, Florida Demographic Information
Saint Petersburg has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Saint Petersburg demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Saint Petersburg.
Businesses
As a new Saint Petersburg entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Saint Petersburg 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
Is Franchising a Better Option?
As you drive around Saint Petersburg, you may be surprised to see how many franchises there are in the area. But is franchising the right option for you?
Our advice is to consider franchising as an option. This site has dozens of articles on franchising, such as Before Buying a Franchise. Become a franchising expert of sorts by reading more of our Articles on Franchising.
A comprehensive list of franchisors is available via our List of Franchise Opportunities.
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 Petersburg Franchise Opportunities: You will need to contact franchisors directly to see if their franchises are available in Saint Petersburg.
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.
To get up to speed on what makes for a good company name, we encourage you to read this useful article: Naming a Company.
There's one other important factor when naming a business. Since you are starting a business in Saint Petersburg, it's imperative that you check now that no other Florida company is using the business name you want to use.
Startup Financing Basics
Getting your Saint Petersburg business the capital it needs to succeed will be harder than you might expect. If you don't have a rich uncle to fund you, you'll need to be creative in how you approach your fundraising efforts.
Take advantage of our many articles on raising money, such as 504 Loans.
For Saint Petersburg entrepreneurs who want to raise money for a new venture, you'll want to take a look at our List of Florida Angel Investors and our List of Florida Venture Capital Firms.
Ramping Up Sales
Mastering the art of selling is essential if you want your new Saint Petersburg business to do well.
Clever sales techniques can transform any business from good to great. The good news is we can help you to make selling a big competitve advantage for your new firm.
Hiring Telemarketing Firms to Generate Sales Leads 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 Petersburg businesses underestimate the number of challenges they will face.
Owning your own business will be a daunting task, but you can do it.
We are here to help Saint Petersburg businesses to be successful. We have a wealth of experience in business start-ups, financing, marketing, sales and more...and we've made all of our knowledge available to you.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Saint Petersburg, Florida
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Saint Petersburg.
- Resources for Saint Petersburg, Florida Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Saint Petersburg entrepreneurs.
- Florida Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Florida.
- Florida Small Business Development Center - The Florida Small Business Development Center Network (FSBDCN) is a statewide economic development partnership between higher education and other stakeholder organizations dedicated to providing entrepreneurs and established businesses with the assistance needed to start, grow and succeed, contributing to the Florida economy.
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