Pennsylvania Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in West Chester, Pennsylvania
Thinking about starting a business in West Chester, Pennsylvania? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in West Chester.
Will You Be a Good Entrepreneur?
Most new companies do not succeed, in part because the founder did not have the tenacity and/or the skills to succeed. So, before you open a business, consider all of the implications of being an entrepreneur.
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 West Chester. They are usually very willing to share their insights on the ups and downs of being an entrepreneur.
- 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. Others sometimes know you better than you know yourself.
Choosing the Right Company to Start
Choosing a business that is right for you is very important. To stir your creative juices on what kind of business to start, take a look at Evaluating Your Idea.
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 Starting a Coin & Token Manufacturers Business guide or our How to Start a Medical Billing Services Business guide.
Always keep in mind that your new business will be in West Chester. Some businesses will do better in West Chester than others. Only by spending some time analyzing West Chester demographics can you decide if there will be strong demand for your business idea.
West Chester, Pennsylvania Demographic Information
West Chester has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for West Chester demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in West Chester.
Businesses
As a new West Chester entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in West Chester 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
Naming the Company
A good company name can give a big boost to a new startup. It might seem like an easy thing to do, but there are many things to consider when naming a business.
Company names should be fun to say, and they should help people to understand what you do and how you differentiate yourself in the market.
To get up to speed on what makes for a good company name, we encourage you to read this useful article: Naming a Business.
As a final piece of advice, remember that because you are planning on starting a business in West Chester, it's imperative that you check now that you will be the only Pennsylvania company using the business name you have chosen.
Forming a Company in West Chester, Pennsylvania
It's very important that you form your business as a legal structure. The main 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.
Incorporation 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 Pennsylvania, it doesn't mean you are required to incorporate in Pennsylvania. 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 Dissolving a Corporation. You should also consider getting professional assistance from your business lawyer. Finally, if you are starting a business in West Chester, Pennsylvania, our information on Incorporating in Pennsylvania may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Pennsylvania.
How to Sell
Mastering the art of selling is priority one if you want your new West Chester business to do well.
Not knowing how to sell can result in lost customers and minimal market share. Let us help you refine your selling techniques through our many useful sales advice tips.
The Art of Customer Referrals offers some helpful tips on how to sell. It's one of several good articles on our site regarding Entrepreneurial Selling.
What's Next?
Most new West Chester businesses underestimate the number of challenges they will face.
If you choose the right business and love what you do, you will greatly increase your odds of success.
This site is all about helping entrepreneurs in West Chester and elsewhere to achieve real success. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in West Chester, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in West Chester, Pennsylvania
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in West Chester.
- Resources for West Chester, Pennsylvania Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist West Chester 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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