California Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Venice, California
Thinking about starting a business in Venice, California? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Venice.
Will You Be a Successful Entrepreneur?
Most new ventures don't make it, in part because the business owner did not have the perseverance and abilities that are necessary to succeed. So, before you start your business, consider all of the implications of being an entrepreneur.
Because entrepreneurship is not for everyone, we recommend you do the following to help you assess whether you should move forward with starting a business:
- Talk to other entrepreneurs in Venice. They are usually very willing to share their insights on the ups and downs of being an entrepreneur.
- We recommend reading Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs. For aspiring new entrepreneurs, it's a must read article.
- Seek the advice of somebody who knows you well. Others sometimes know you better than you know yourself.
What Business Are You Starting?
There are many businesses that you can start. How do you know which type of business is right for you? If you are struggling with what type of business to start, read Business Ideas That Don't Make Sense.
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 Starting a Dance Club guide or our Starting a Tatoo Parlor guide.
Don't forget that you are opening your new business in Venice. The business you want to start may already be well-represented in Venice. Don't forget to review Venice demographics to see if there's a market for what you want to sell.
Venice, California Demographic Information
Venice has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Venice demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Venice.
Businesses
As a new Venice entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Venice 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 Venice, California
A critical step is ensuring that your business is formed as a legal entity that is separate from its owners. Among other things, forming a legal entity for the business limits your liabilities.
The entity you form can be 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 California, it doesn't mean you are required to incorporate in California. 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 Corporate Formalities. You should also consider getting professional assistance from your business lawyer. Finally, if you are starting a business in Venice, California, our information on Incorporating in California may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in California.
Marketing Your New Venture
To rise above the crowd in Venice and build your business, having an excellent marketing plan is fundamental to your successs.
You can learn plenty about marketing on our site. Advertising in Magazines discusses marketing strategy and tactical marketing in a way that should get you thinking about how to creatively promote your business. There are many more articles on marketing on our site. Visit our Small Business Marketing resource section to see them all.
Building Up Your Sales
Mastering the art of selling is priority one if you want your new Venice business to do well.
Good selling involves demonstrating that your wares meet your customer's needs. Fortunately, we've got plenty of good advice to help you improve your selling skills.
How to Build and Motivate a Sales Team is a good article to read, one of dozens in the Selling for Entrepreneurs section of our site.
What's Next?
Most new Venice businesses underestimate the number of challenges they will face.
From this point on, you control your own destiny.
We are here to help Venice businesses to be successful. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Venice, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Venice, California
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Venice.
- Resources for Venice, California Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Venice 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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