New Jersey Business Startup Guides
Opening a Business in Somerville, New Jersey
Contemplating starting a business in Somerville, New Jersey? We walk you through the process of opening a business in Somerville.
Is Becoming an Entrepreneur Right for You?
Most startup companies do not succeed, in part because the entrepreneur did not have the entrepreneurial skills and traits needed to succeed. So, before you start your business, consider all of the implications of being an entrepreneur.
While entrepreneurship has become a popular career choice, we recommend you do the following before you take the plunge:
- Talk to other entrepreneurs in Somerville. Get their take on what it's really like to be an entrepreneur.
- 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. That's the best way to get a truly objective assessment as to whether others think you have what it takes.
Somerville, New Jersey Demographic Information
Somerville has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Somerville demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Somerville.
Businesses
As a new Somerville entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Somerville 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?
Examine a list of Somerville businesses and you may be surprised to see how many franchises there are in the area. But is franchising the right option for you?
Our recommendation is that you consider franchising as an option. We have many articles on franchises, such as Franchising Scams. Become a franchising expert of sorts by reading more of our Articles on Franchising.
To learn about specific franchise opportunities, check out our Franchise Directory.
Sample franchise opportunities include VoipStarter and Honest-1 Auto Care. Alternatively, you can browse franchise categories, such as Wedding Franchises and Hardware Store Franchises.
Note on Somerville Franchise Opportunities: You will need to contact franchisors directly to see if their franchises are available in Somerville.
Forming a Company in Somerville, New Jersey
It's very important that your business is formed as a legal entity that is separate from its owners. 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 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 New Jersey, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in New Jersey. In fact, you can incorporate wherever you want. 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. We recommend you read some of the educational articles about company formation that are availabe on our site, such as Piercing the Corporate Veil. You may also want to seek the advice of an attorney. Finally, if you are starting a business in Somerville, New Jersey, our information on Incorporating in New Jersey may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in New Jersey.
Make Sure You Have a Business Plan
Creating a business plan is vital to the health of your new business. In effect, your business plan is your game plan for how you hope to grow your business. Starting a business without a business plan
To learn more about business plans, read Business Plan Contests. A great resource for business planning assistance is the face-to-face free consulting available from your local SCORE chapter in New Jersey.
Getting Money to Start a Business
Getting your Somerville business the capital it needs to succeed is very difficult due to the ongoing business credit crunch. To obtain business financing, you will need to hear a lot of rejections before you finally find a funding solution that works for you.
To learn about raising money, we recommend you read the fundraising articles on our site, such as 504 Loans.
For Somerville entrepreneurs with great ambition but a shortage of investment capital, we have assembled a List of New Jersey Angel Investors and our List of New Jersey Venture Capital Firms.
Moving Forward
Most new Somerville 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 Somerville businesses to be successful. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Somerville, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Somerville, New Jersey
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Somerville.
- Resources for Somerville, New Jersey Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Somerville entrepreneurs.
- New Jersey Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in New Jersey.
- New Jersey Small Business Development Center - The New Jersey Small Business Development Centers (NJSBDC) network helps New Jersey small businesses expand operations, manage growth or launch new ventures. With offices in every county of the state, NJSBDC consultants help small business owners finance, market and manage their ventures.
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