California Business Startup Guides
Opening a Business in Thousand Oaks, California
Contemplating starting a business in Thousand Oaks, California? We walk you through the process of opening a business in Thousand Oaks.
Is Becoming a Business Owner Right for You?
Most new companies fail, in part because the founder did not have the perseverance and abilities that are necessary to succeed. So, before jumping into the world of entrepreneurship, consider all of the implications of being an entrepreneur.
Here are three things we recommend you do before you fully commit to starting a new business of your own.
- Reach out to other entrepreneurs in Thousand Oaks. Get their take on what it's really like to be an entrepreneur.
- Peruse Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs. This is one of our more popular articles for folks who want to go into business for themselves.
- Seek the advice of somebody who knows you well. That's the best way to get a truly objective assessment as to whether others think you have what it takes.
Thousand Oaks, California Demographic Information
Thousand Oaks has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Thousand Oaks demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Thousand Oaks.
Businesses
As a new Thousand Oaks entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Thousand Oaks 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
Forming a Company in Thousand Oaks, California
A critical step is ensuring that your business is formed as a legal entity that is separate from its owners. Doing so will protect you from personal liability for business debts and obligations.
The entity you form can be a traditional C-corporation, a Limited Liability Company (LLC), or an S-corporation.
Incorporation 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 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 Dissolving a Corporation. You may also want to seek the advice of an attorney. Finally, if you are starting a business in Thousand Oaks, California, our information on 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 vital in maximizing the prospects of your new company. In effect, your business plan is your game plan for how you hope to grow your business. Starting a business without 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 Find Sample Business Plans Online. A great resource for business planning assistance is the free counseling sessions provided by your local SCORE chapter in California.
Raising Money for Your New Venture
Finding the funds to fuel the growth of your Thousand Oaks business is a difficult chore. The reality is that there is very little funding available for new small businesses, and you have to explore every possible alternative.
Take advantage of our many articles on raising capital, such as Microlending as a Small Business Funding Source.
For Thousand Oaks entrepreneurs who want to raise money for a new venture, browse our List of California Angel Investors and our List of California Venture Capital Firms.
Marketing Your New Venture
To grow your Thousand Oaks business, having an excellent marketing plan is fundamental to your successs.
There are myriad resources on this site to help you with your marketing plan. Advertising on Google 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.
How to Sell
Mastering the art of selling is a must if you want your new Thousand Oaks business to do well.
The key to selling is to set sales goals goals and monitor your progress towards those goals. Let us help you refine your selling techniques through our many useful sales advice tips.
Compensating Sales People 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.
Thousand Oaks Entrepreneur Interviews
Here, we'll keep a running list of interviews we've had with Thousand Oaks entrepreneurs.
Moving Forward
Most new Thousand Oaks businesses underestimate the number of challenges they will face.
Owning your own business will be a daunting task, but you can do it.
Our goal here is to promote the vitality and growth of small businesses in Thousand Oaks and throughout the United States . We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Thousand Oaks, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Thousand Oaks, California
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Thousand Oaks.
- Resources for Thousand Oaks, California Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Thousand Oaks 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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