West Virginia Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Wellsburg, West Virginia
Thinking about starting a business in Wellsburg, West Virginia? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Wellsburg.
Are You Sure You Want to Do This?
Being an entrepreneur is demanding, much harder than working as an employee. Are you sure 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 Wellsburg. Ask them candidly what it's like to run a business.
- We recommend reading Should You Become an Entrepreneur?. For aspiring new entrepreneurs, it's a must read article.
- Have a candid conversation with friends and family. 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 to Start
An important decision is what kind of business you want to start. If you are struggling with what type of business to start, read Good Business Ideas.
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 Opening a Home Furnishings Business guide or our How to Start a Lighting Fixtures Retail Business guide.
Don't forget that you are opening your new business in Wellsburg. Think about what needs are currently being underserved in Wellsburg. Make sure you fully understand Wellsburg demographics before you lock in on your business idea.
Wellsburg, West Virginia Demographic Information
Wellsburg has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Wellsburg demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Wellsburg.
Businesses
As a new Wellsburg entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Wellsburg 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 Wellsburg, West Virginia
It's very important that you choose the right legal structure for your new entity. The principal advantage of forming your new business as a legal entity is that it separates your business liabilities from your personal 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. 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 West Virginia, it doesn't mean you are required to incorporate in West Virginia. In fact, you are allowed to incorporate in the state of your choosing. 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 Nevada Incorporation. You should also consider getting professional assistance from your business lawyer. Finally, if you are starting a business in Wellsburg, West Virginia, our information on Incorporating in West Virginia may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in West Virginia.
Raising Money for Your New Venture
Getting your Wellsburg business the capital it needs to succeed 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.
To learn about raising money, we recommend you read the fundraising articles on our site, such as Getting a Small Business Loan.
For Wellsburg entrepreneurs on the hunt for startup funding, we have assembled a List of West Virginia Angel Investors and our List of West Virginia Venture Capital Firms.
Getting the Word Out About Your New Business
Whether your goal is to attract Wellsburg customers or you plan on selling elsewhere, having an excellent marketing plan is fundamental to your business achieving its goals.
We have some useful resources on this site for entrepreneurs who are working on marketing plans. Bus Bench Advertising Costs is an article that will generate a few thoughts on your marketing plan. 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
Good business owners recognize that they don't know everything.
Given that you are starting a business in Wellsburg, West Virginia, you will want to take advantage of the learning programs at local West Virginia educational institutions. It's also beneficial to see if there are any networking groups or organizations in which Wellsburg entrepreneurs get together to network and trade their business experiences.
Next Steps
As an entrepreneur in Wellsburg, you won't be working for the boss anymore. You are the boss.
From this point on, you control your own destiny.
Our goal here is to promote the vitality and growth of small businesses in Wellsburg and throughout the United States . We want to be there for you to answer your business questions, whether you are a new Wellsburg 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 Wellsburg, West Virginia
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Wellsburg.
- Resources for Wellsburg, West Virginia Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Wellsburg entrepreneurs.
- West Virginia Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in West Virginia.
- West Virginia Small Business Development Center - The West Virginia Small Business Development Center (WVSBDC) promotes economic development through a program of practical, interrelated services, providing assistance to existing West Virginia small businesses and the emerging West Virginia entrepreneur.
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