California Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in San Diego, California
Thinking about starting a business in San Diego, California? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in San Diego.
Will You Be a Good Entrepreneur?
Running your own business is hard work, much harder than working as an employee. Are you certain you have the stamina and skills to succeed on your own?
With so much at stake when you start a business, we strongly recommend you do the following before you proceed:
- Speak with other entrepreneurs in San Diego. They are usually very willing to share their insights on the ups and downs of being an entrepreneur.
- You should read Starting a Company. It's a good read for those who are thinking about becoming an entrepreneur.
- Talk it over with a close friend or partner. Others sometimes know you better than you know yourself.
What Business to Start
There are many businesses that you can start. How do you know which type of business is right for you? To help you decide on a business type, we encourage you to read Good Business Ideas.
For step-by-step instructions on starting a variety of business types, visit the Good Businesses to Start section of our site. For example, you might be interested in our Starting a Child Abuse Treatment Centers Business guide or our How to Start a Used Brick Dealers Business guide.
Always keep in mind that you are opening your new business in San Diego. The business you want to start may already be well-represented in San Diego. Make sure you fully understand San Diego demographics before you lock in on your business idea.
San Diego, California Demographic Information
San Diego has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for San Diego demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in San Diego.
Businesses
As a new San Diego entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in San Diego 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
Picking a Company Name
A good company name can give a big boost to a new startup. It might seem like an easy thing to do, but there are many things to consider when naming a business.
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 Business.
There's one other important factor when naming a business. Since you are planning on starting a business in San Diego, it's critical that you ensure that no California company has already registered the company name you have selected.
Forming a Company in San Diego, California
It's essential that your business is formed as a legal entity that is separate from its owners. The principal advantage of forming your new business as a legal entity is that it separates your business liabilities from your personal liabilities.
When forming a company, you will pick from many company types, such as a corporation, LLC, sole proprietorship, partnership or other structure.
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 California, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in California. In fact, you are allowed to incorporate in the state of your choosing. 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. To learn the fundamentals of company formation, browse articles on our site, such as Incorporation Advice. You should also consider getting professional assistance from your business lawyer. On a final note, since you will be starting a business in San Diego, California, our web page covering Incorporating in California may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in California.
Don't Skip the Business Plan
Having a business plan is critical in laying a solid foundation for your business success. In effect, a business plan is a written description of the future you envision for your business. Failure to write a business plan makes you more prone to becoming a business failure statistic.
If you want more information on writing business plans, we recommend reading Business Plan Software. You should also take advantage of face-to-face free consulting available from your local SCORE chapter in California.
Bring in Revenues
Do you know how to sell? In order to attract customers to your new San Diego business, you need to focus on sales.
Why should customers buy from you instead of buying from competitors? Fortunately, we've got plenty of good advice to help you improve your selling skills.
Writing Great Proposals 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.
Some Interesting San Diego Entrepreneurs
We're compiling a number of interviews with San Diego entrepreneurs. Enjoy!
- Interview with Ryan Sit, Founder of PicClick.com
- Interview with Girlfriend Grams Founder Lani Harr
- Interview with Kelly Christy, Founder of TTS Logistics, Inc.
- Interview with Paulette Ensign, Founder of Tips Products International
- Interview with BlogRadio Co-Founder Tirrell Payton
What's Next?
As an entrepreneur in San Diego, you won't be working for the boss anymore. You are the boss.
From this point on, you control your own destiny.
This site is all about helping entrepreneurs in San Diego and elsewhere to achieve real success. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in San Diego, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in San Diego, California
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in San Diego.
- Resources for San Diego, California Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist San Diego entrepreneurs.
- California Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in California.
- Fresno, California Small Business Development Center - The UC Merced SBDC Regional Network assists Central California entrepreneurs and small business owners through counseling, training and business information.
- Los Angeles, California Small Business Development Center - The Los Angeles Regional Small Business Development Center Network (LA SBDC Network) is part of the national, U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) effort to provide free one-on-one customized consulting services and low-cost training workshops to growing businesses and start-up businesses.
- Sacramento, California Small Business Development Center - As Northern California continues to grow demographically and economically, the Northeastern California Small Business Development Center (NECSBDC) at CSU, Chico is committed to helping communities prepare and plan for future growth.
- San Diego, California Small Business Development Center - The Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Southwestern College serves entrepreneurs and small businesses in San Diego and Imperial Counties. The SBDC provides no-cost business assistance to start-up & existing businesses.
- San Francisco, California Small Business Development Center - The Northern California Network of Small Business Development Centers helps individuals start, manage and grow their businesses.
- Orange County Small Business Development Center - The Orange County SBDC is a leader in providing consulting, training, and technical assistance to the small business community.
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