Minnesota Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Waterville, Minnesota
Thinking about starting a business in Waterville, Minnesota? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Waterville.
Are You Ready for Life as an Owner?
Most new ventures do not succeed, in part because the entrepreneur did not have the tenacity and/or the skills to succeed. So, before jumping into the world of entrepreneurship, 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:
- Speak with other entrepreneurs in Waterville. Listen closely to their experiences and see if you think you too can be successful.
- You should read The Entrepreneurial Personality. It's a good read for those who are thinking about becoming an entrepreneur.
- Reach out to a trusted acquaintance. Ask them directly: Do I have what it takes to be an entrepreneur? Listen carefully to their answer, as they presumably know your strengths and weaknesses.
Waterville, Minnesota Demographic Information
Waterville has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Waterville demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Waterville.
Businesses
As a new Waterville entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Waterville 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
What About Franchising Opportunities?
As you drive around Waterville, you may be surprised to see how many franchises there are in the area. Should you be giving franchising serious consideration?
Our advice is to consider franchising as an option. This site has dozens of articles on franchising, such as Selling A Franchise. Get a thorough education on franchising by browsing all of our Articles on Franchising.
To learn about specific franchise opportunities, check out our Franchise Directory.
Sample franchise opportunities include SmallBizPros and Leather Medic. Alternatively, you can browse franchise categories, such as Golf Franchises and Landscaping Franchises.
Note on Waterville Franchise Opportunities: You will need to contact franchisors directly to see if their franchises are available in Waterville.
Have You Considered Buying an Existing Waterville Business?
An excellent way to get started in business is to Buy a Business in Minnesota. Follow that link and you might discover several good businesses for sale in Waterville.
Before buying a business, be sure to read this article: Hold Harmless Agreements When Buying Businesses.
Raising Funding for Your Business
Getting your Waterville business the capital it needs to succeed is very difficult due to the ongoing business credit crunch. The reality is that there is very little funding available for new small businesses, and you have to explore every possible alternative.
To learn about raising money, we recommend you read the fundraising articles on our site, such as Realistic Debt Financing Options.
For Waterville entrepreneurs who want to raise money for a new venture, you'll want to take a look at our List of Minnesota Angel Investors and our List of Minnesota Venture Capital Firms.
Marketing Your New Business
To grow your Waterville business, you'll need to have a good marketing plan.
We have some useful resources on this site for entrepreneurs who are working on marketing plans. Advertising Campaigns 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.
How to Improve Your Entrepreneurial Abilities
The best entrepreneurs recognize that they don't know everything.
As an entrepreneur who lives in Waterville, Minnesota, you will want to take advantage of the learning programs at local Minnesota educational institutions. It's also worthwhile to see if there are any networking groups or organizations in which Waterville entrepreneurs get together to network and trade their business experiences.
Never Give Up
Most new Waterville businesses underestimate the number of challenges they will face.
From this point on, you control your own destiny.
We are here to help Waterville businesses to be successful. We want to be there for you to answer your business questions, whether you are a new Waterville entrepreneur who is just getting started or you are already up and running with your new venture.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Waterville, Minnesota
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Waterville.
- Resources for Waterville, Minnesota Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Waterville entrepreneurs.
- Minnesota Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Minnesota.
- Minnesota Small Business Development Center - The Minnesota Small Business Development Centers provide no-cost, professional business consulting to Minnesota small businesses covering a variety of business needs.
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