Michigan Business Startup Guides
Start a Business in Standish, Michigan
Are you starting a business in Standish, Michigan? This article discusses the most important things to consider when opening a business in Standish.
Is Becoming an Entrepreneur Right for You?
Being an entrepreneur is demanding, and can be orders of magnitude more strenuous than working as an employee. Are you sure 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:
- Talk to other entrepreneurs in Standish. 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.
Standish, Michigan Demographic Information
Standish has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Standish demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Standish.
Businesses
As a new Standish entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Standish 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 Buying an Existing Standish Business a Good Strategy?
If you have some capital to play with, you may want to Buy a Business in Michigan. Follow that link and you can assess several good businesses for sale in Standish.
If you are intent on buying a business, you may want to read this article: Hold Harmless Agreements When Buying Businesses.
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.
Pick a company name that isn't too generic. If you do a search engine search for your proposed name and a billion results come up, you may want to reconsider the name. It's much easier to come up in the search engines when your name is fairly unique.
Numerous company naming issues are discussed in more detail in this article: Naming a Business.
There's one other important factor when naming a business. Since you are starting a business in Standish, it's critical that you ensure that no other Michigan company is using the business name you want to use.
Forming a Company in Standish, Michigan
It's very important that you form your business as a legal structure. Doing so will protect you from personal liability for business debts and obligations.
The entity you form can be a corporation, LLC, sole proprietorship, partnership or other structure.
Incorporation is a very popular way to form a business. A key decision is whether to form and S-Corp or a C-Corp, and you also must decide in which state you will incorporate. If you are starting a business in Michigan, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Michigan. In fact, you can incorporate in any state you would like to. 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. We recommend you read some of the educational articles about company formation that are availabe on our site, such as Registered Agents. You may also want to seek the advice of an attorney. Finally, if you are starting a business in Standish, Michigan, our information on Incorporating in Michigan may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Michigan.
The Role of the Business Plan
Writing 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. Not having a business plan will greatly reduce your chances of business success.
Before you start writing a business plan, we suggest you skim Business Plan Contests. You should also take advantage of free business counselors available to you through your local SCORE chapter in Michigan.
Getting Money to Start a Business
Getting your Standish business the capital it needs to succeed is not an easy task. In fact, financing your new business may be the hardest challenge you ever face.
On the bright side, this site contains dozens of articles on raising money, including one we recommend entitled Choosing VC Firms.
For Standish entrepreneurs who need startup capital, browse our List of Michigan Angel Investors and our List of Michigan Venture Capital Firms.
Moving Forward
As an entrepreneur in Standish, you won't be working for the boss anymore. You are the boss.
From this point on, you control your own destiny.
Our goal here is to promote the vitality and growth of small businesses in Standish and throughout the United States . We want to be there for you to answer your business questions, whether you are a new Standish entrepreneur who is just getting started or you are already up and running with your new venture.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Standish, Michigan
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Standish.
- Resources for Standish, Michigan Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Standish entrepreneurs.
- Michigan Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Michigan.
- Michigan Small Business Development Center - This organization supports 12 regional offices and over 30 satellite offices, each providing counseling and training to Michigan small business owners and entrepreneurs throughout the 83 counties in Michigan. Services to entrepreneurs are offered through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Starting-a-Business Guides for Other Cities in Michigan
Starting a Business in Springport
Starting a Business in Stephenson
Browse All Business Startup Guides for Michigan
Starting a Business Guides for Other States
Share this article
Additional Resources for Entrepreneurs