Maine Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Wells, Maine
Thinking about starting a business in Wells, Maine? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Wells.
Wells, Maine Demographic Information
Wells has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Wells demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Wells.
Businesses
As a new Wells entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Wells 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 a Franchise Opportunity Right For You?
As you drive around Wells, you may be surprised to see how many franchises there are in the area. Would going with a franchise be a good idea for you?
We highly recommend you consider franchising as an option. We have many articles on franchises, such as Common Franchisee Mistakes. Gain a solid understanding of franchising by scanning all of our Articles on Franchising.
To learn about specific franchise opportunities, check out our Franchise Directory.
Sample franchise opportunities include Subway Franchises and Starbucks Franchises. Alternatively, you can browse franchise categories, such as Accounting Franchises and Moving Franchises.
Note on Wells Franchise Opportunities: You will need to contact franchisors directly to see if their franchises are available in Wells.
Naming the Company
Making the right decision when choosing a company name is very important. There are many decisions you'll make now that you can change later, but changing a company name years down the road is not very easy. So, choose a good company name at the outset.
We strongly advocate that you make sure the ".com" domain name is available for your company name. Every business needs a strong Web presence these days, and having a non ".com" domain means somebody else may outrank you in the search results for your own company name.
To get up to speed on what makes for a good company name, we encourage you to read this useful article: Naming a Company.
As a final piece of advice, remember that because you are starting a business in Wells, it's imperative that you check now that no other Maine company is using the business name you want to use.
Forming a Company in Wells, Maine
A critical step is ensuring that your business is formed as a legal entity that is separate from its owners. Without a legal structure for the business, you can be held personally liable for the actions, debts and obligations of your company.
The entity you form can be a corporation, LLC, sole proprietorship, partnership or other structure.
Incorporating is a very popular way to form a business. A key decision is whether to form and S-Corp or a C-Corp, and you also must decide in which state you will incorporate. If you are starting a business in Maine, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Maine. In fact, you can incorporate wherever you want. For example, it's very popular to incorporate in Delaware, and incorporating in Nevada has become very trendy as well. Don't forget, though, that you will have to register as a foreign entity in all states that you do business in.
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 Wells, Maine, our information on Incorporating in Maine may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Maine.
Don't Forget to Create a Business Plan
A business plan is critical in maximizing the prospects of your new company. Indeed, your business plan is your game plan for how you hope to grow your business. Starting a business without a business plan is a recipe for disaster.
To learn more about business plans, read Business Plan Contests. A great resource for business planning assistance is the free business counselors available to you through your local SCORE chapter in Maine.
Bring in Revenues
Mastering the art of selling is priority one if you want your new Wells business to do well.
Why should customers buy from you instead of buying from competitors? Fortunately, we've got plenty of good advice to help you improve your selling skills.
Selling with Questions 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.
Next Steps
Most new Wells 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 Wells and throughout the United States . We have a wealth of experience in business start-ups, financing, marketing, sales and more...and we've made all of our knowledge available to you.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Wells, Maine
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Wells.
- Resources for Wells, Maine Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Wells entrepreneurs.
- Maine Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Maine.
- Maine Small Business Development Center - Maine Small Business Development Centers and its technology-focused group, the Maine Small Business & Technology Development Centers, provide comprehensive business management assistance, training, resource and information services to Maine's entrepreneurs and small business owners.
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