Pennsylvania Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Washington, Pennsylvania
Thinking about starting a business in Washington, Pennsylvania? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Washington.
Are You Sure You Want to Do This?
Running your own business is demanding, much harder than working as an employee. Are you positive you have the stamina and skills to succeed on your own?
Here are three things we recommend you do before you fully commit to starting a new business of your own.
- Talk to other entrepreneurs in Washington. Ask them candidly what it's like to run a business.
- We recommend reading Why Small Businesses Fail. For aspiring new entrepreneurs, it's a must read article.
- Get feedback from somebody whom you trust. The people who know you best are often in the best position to tell you bluntly whether you will be a good entrepreneur.
What Business Are You Starting?
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 Finding Your Niche in Life.
For step-by-step instructions on starting a variety of business types, visit the Good Businesses to Start section of our site. For example, you might be interested in our Opening a Commercial Tractors Business guide or our Opening a Patio & Sidewalk Cleaning Services Business guide.
Don't forget that you are starting a business in Washington. If Washington already has plenty of the kind of business you want to start, you might want to change your plans. Only by spending some time analyzing Washington demographics can you decide if there will be strong demand for your business idea.
Washington, Pennsylvania 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
Is Franchising a Better Option?
Examine a list of Washington businesses and it's apparent that franchising has become a very popular way to start a business. Would going with a franchise be a good idea for you?
Our recommendation is that you consider franchising as an option. We have many articles on franchises, such as Selling A Franchise. Get a thorough education on franchising by browsing all of our Articles on Franchising.
You can find franchise opportunities by browsing our Franchise Opportunities Directory.
Sample franchise opportunities include The Grout Medic and Altratouch Systems. Alternatively, you can browse franchise categories, such as Candy and Chocolate Franchises and Fitness Franchises.
Note on Washington Franchise Opportunities: You will need to contact franchisors directly to see if their franchises are available in Washington.
Company Formation in Washington, Pennsylvania
It's essential 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.
Incorporating 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. Just because you are starting a business in Pennsylvania, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Pennsylvania. As it turns out, you can incorporate in any state you would like to. However, if you do incorporate in another state, you'll have to register as a foreign corporation in your home state.
There's a lot to know about forming a company. We recommend you read some of the educational articles about company formation that are availabe on our site, such as How to Incorporate. You may also want to seek the advice of an attorney. Finally, if you are starting a business in Washington, Pennsylvania, our information on Incorporating in Pennsylvania may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Pennsylvania.
Letting the World Know You Exist
To grow your Washington business, having an excellent marketing plan is fundamental to your business achieving its goals.
We have some helpful resources on this site for entrepreneurs who are working on marketing plans. Marketing Versus Sales is an article that will generate a few thoughts on your marketing plan. That's just a sampling of the many useful articles we have on Marketing a Small Business.
Increase Your Entrepreneurial Knowledge
Good entrepreneurs know that they don't know everything.
Given that you are starting a business in Washington, Pennsylvania, you will want to take advantage of the many programs available at nearby Pennsylvania universities, colleges and community colleges. It's also worthwhile to see if there are any Washington networking organizations.
Next Steps
As an entrepreneur in Washington, you won't be working for the boss anymore. You are the boss.
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 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, Pennsylvania
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Washington.
- Resources for Washington, Pennsylvania Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Washington entrepreneurs.
- Pennsylvania Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Pennsylvania.
- Pennsylvania Small Business Development Center - Pennsylvania SBDCs help aspiring entrepreneurs turn ideas into businesses, help small firms expand, and provide the information every business person needs to make critical decisions. There is no charge for their assistance and their free help can make the difference between business success and failure.
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