Texas Business Startup Guides

Starting a Business in Sweetwater, Texas

Thinking about starting a business in Sweetwater, Texas? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Sweetwater.

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 Opening a Metal Products Wholesale & Manufacturers Business guide or our Opening a Real Estate Timeshares Business guide.

Always keep in mind that starting a business in Sweetwater has some implications. Some businesses will do better in Sweetwater than others. Make sure you fully understand Sweetwater demographics before you lock in on your business idea.

Sweetwater, Texas Demographic Information

Sweetwater has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.

To give you a better feel for Sweetwater demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Sweetwater.

Business Size
# of
Businesses
1-4 Employees
1593
5-9 Employees
612
10-19 Employees
396
20-49 Employees
261
50-99 Employees
63
100-249 Employees
36
250-499 Employees
18
500-999 Employees
0
1000+ Employees
0
All Sweetwater Businesses
2979

As a new Sweetwater entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Sweetwater 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.

Business Type
# of
Businesses
Ambulance Services
1
Amusement Arcades
1
Anthracite Mining
1
Automotive Parts and Accessories Stores
5
Beer, Wine, and Liquor Stores
4
Business Associations
1
Cable and Other Program Distribution
1
Car Washes
1
Caterers
1
Cemeteries and Crematories
2
Child Day Care Services
4
Children's and Infants' Clothing Stores
1
Civic and Social Organizations
1
Coin-Operated Laundries and Drycleaners
1
Consumer Lending
3
Credit Bureaus
1
Credit Unions
1
Direct Title Insurance Carriers
1
Discount Department Stores
1
Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages)
4
Electric Power Distribution
2
Engineering Services
1
Family Clothing Stores
2
Farm Product Warehousing and Storage
1
Farm Supplies Merchant Wholesalers
1
Finish Carpentry Contractors
1
Floor Covering Stores
1
Florists
2
Fossil Fuel Electric Power Generation
3
Framing Contractors
1
Full-Service Restaurants
11
Funeral Homes and Funeral Services
2
Furniture Stores
2
General Automotive Repair
1
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals
1
Glass and Glazing Contractors
1
Golf Courses and Country Clubs
2
Gypsum Product Manufacturing
2
Hardware Merchant Wholesalers
1
Home Centers
1
Home Health Care Services
1
Homes for the Elderly
1
Insurance Agencies and Brokerages
7
Landscaping Services
1
Limited-Service Restaurants
9
Livestock Merchant Wholesalers
2
Machine Shops
1
Miscellaneous Intermediation
1
Natural Gas Distribution
2
New Car Dealers
2
Newspaper Publishers
1
Nonresidential Property Managers
1
Nursing Care Facilities
2
Office Administrative Services
1
Offices of Certified Public Accountants
5
Offices of Chiropractors
2
Offices of Lawyers
10
Offices of Optometrists
2
Offices of Other Holding Companies
1
Painting and Wall Covering Contractors
1
Pet and Pet Supplies Stores
1
Pharmacies and Drug Stores
4
Pipeline Transportation of Natural Gas
1
Ready-Mix Concrete Manufacturing
1
Real Estate Credit
1
Recreational Vehicle Dealers
1
Residential Property Managers
1
Roofing Contractors
2
Securities Brokerage
1
Septic Tank and Related Services
1
Site Preparation Contractors
2
Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars
3
Solid Waste Collection
1
Sporting Goods Stores
1
Tax Preparation Services
6
Taxi Service
1
Tire Dealers
2
Used Car Dealers
3
Used Merchandise Stores
2
Veterinary Services
2
Video Tape and Disc Rental
1
Warehouse Clubs and Supercenters
1
Water Supply and Irrigation Systems
1
Wholesale Trade Agents and Brokers
1

Forming a Company in Sweetwater, Texas

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.

When forming a company, you will pick from many company types, such as a traditional C-corporation, a Limited Liability Company (LLC), or an S-corporation.

Incorporating is a very popular way to form a business. Of course, you have to decide which type of corporation to form and where to incorporate. If you are starting a business in Texas, it doesn't mean you are required to incorporate in Texas. 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 Subchapter S Corporations. You may also want to seek the advice of an lawyer. On a final note, since you will be starting a business in Sweetwater, Texas, our web page covering Incorporating in Texas may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Texas.

Don't Skip the Business Plan

Writing a business plan is critical to the health of your new business. Simply put, a business plan describes what you plan to do with the business and how you plan to do it. Starting a business without a business plan will greatly reduce your chances of business success.

To learn more about business plans, read Business Plan Mistakes. A great resource for business planning assistance is the free counseling sessions provided by your local SCORE chapter in Texas.

Marketing Your New Venture

To rise above the crowd in Sweetwater and build your business, having an excellent marketing plan is fundamental to your succeeding.

You can learn quite a bit about marketing on our site. Direct Mail Costs discusses marketing strategy and tactical marketing in a way that should get you thinking about how to creatively promote your business. That's just a sampling of the many useful articles we have on Marketing a Small Business.

Improving Your Entrepreneurial Skillset

Good entrepreneurs recognize that they need to continually improve.

As an entrepreneur who lives in Sweetwater, Texas, you should check out some of the many programs available at nearby Texas universities, colleges and community colleges. You should also check if there are any networking groups or organizations in which Sweetwater entrepreneurs get together to network and trade their business experiences.

Next Steps

Most new Sweetwater businesses underestimate the number of challenges they will face.

From this point on, you control your own destiny.

We are here to help Sweetwater businesses to be successful. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Sweetwater, neighborhood development and overall economic health.

More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Sweetwater, Texas

Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Sweetwater.

More Business Startup Guides for Texas

Starting a Business in Sulphur Springs
Starting a Business in Taft

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