Illinois Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Washington, Illinois
Thinking about starting a business in Washington, Illinois? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Washington.
Washington, Illinois Demographic Information
Washington has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Washington demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Washington.
Businesses
As a new Washington entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Washington 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
Have You Considered Franchising?
Visit the business district of Washington and you'll notice that many local entrepreneurs have gone the franchising route. Would going with a franchise be a good idea for you?
We highly recommend you investigate buying a franchise. On our site, you can read many articles about franchising, such as How to Franchise. Gain a solid understanding of franchising by scanning all of our Articles on Franchising.
You can find franchise opportunities by browsing our Franchise Opportunities Directory.
Sample franchise opportunities include Hunting Lease Network and Miracle Method Surface Restoration. Alternatively, you can browse franchise categories, such as Tax Preparation Franchises and Donut Shop Franchises.
Note on Washington Franchise Opportunities: You will need to contact franchisors directly to see if their franchises are available in Washington.
Forming a Company in Washington, Illinois
It's essential that your business is formed as a legal entity that is separate from its owners. Doing so will insulate you from personal liability for business debts and obligations.
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.
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 Illinois, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Illinois. As it turns out, 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 Pre-Incorporation Agreements. You may also want to seek the advice of an attorney. On a final note, since you will be starting a business in Washington, Illinois, our web page covering Incorporating in Illinois may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Illinois.
Don't Forget to Create a Business Plan
Having a business plan is vital in laying a solid foundation for your business success. In effect, a business plan describes what you plan to do with the business and how you plan to do it. Not having 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 The Art of the Executive Summary. You can also get free business counselors available to you through your local SCORE chapter in Illinois.
Raising Money for Your New Venture
Raising money to fund your new Washington business is very difficult due to the ongoing business credit crunch. Bootstrapping, which means growing the business without outside funding, is the best alternative, but that's not a viable option for many startup plans.
Take advantage of our many articles on raising capital, such as Getting a Small Business Loan.
For Washington entrepreneurs who want to raise money for a new venture, browse our List of Illinois Angel Investors and our List of Illinois Venture Capital Firms.
Selling Tips
Being able to sell is critical to your business success. Whether you are focused on selling local customers in Washington or are selling to customers throughout Illinois, the United States or even the world, you have to be able to sell.
Why should customers buy from you instead of buying from competitors? The good news is we can help you to make selling a big competitve advantage for your new firm.
The Art of Customer Referrals is a good article to read, one of dozens in the Selling for Entrepreneurs section of our site.
What's Next?
You have a dream -- starting a business in Washington. To achieve your dream, you have to persevere, even when the odds are against you.
From this point on, you control your own destiny.
Our goal here is to promote the vitality and growth of small businesses in Washington and throughout the United States . We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Washington, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Washington, Illinois
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Washington.
- Resources for Washington, Illinois Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Washington entrepreneurs.
- Illinois Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Illinois.
- Illinois Small Business Development Center - Illinois Small Business Development Centers located throughout the state provide assistance to new and existing small businesses.
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