California Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in West Hollywood, California
Thinking about starting a business in West Hollywood, California? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in West Hollywood.
Is Becoming a Business Owner Right for You?
Most startup companies don't make it, 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.
With so much at stake when you start a business, we strongly recommend you do the following before you proceed:
- Talk to other entrepreneurs in West Hollywood. Get their take on what it's really like to be an entrepreneur.
- We recommend reading Why Small Businesses Fail. For aspiring new entrepreneurs, it's a must read article.
- Get feedback from somebody whom you trust. That's the best way to get a truly objective assessment as to whether others think you have what it takes.
What Type of Business Should You Start?
An important decision is what kind of business you want to start. You might get some good ideas about what kind of business to start by reading 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 How to Start an Enrolled Agents Business guide or our Starting a Support Groups Business guide.
Always keep in mind that starting a business in West Hollywood has some implications. Some businesses will do better in West Hollywood than others. Only by spending some time analyzing West Hollywood demographics can you decide if there will be strong demand for your business idea.
West Hollywood, California Demographic Information
West Hollywood has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for West Hollywood demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in West Hollywood.
Businesses
As a new West Hollywood entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in West Hollywood 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 Business
A big decision when starting a company is choosing a company name. Believe it or not, choosing a good company name can be a big contributor to your business success.
Company names need to be easy to spell, easy to pronounce, and easy to remember.
To get up to speed on what makes for a good company name, we encourage you to read this useful article: Naming a Business.
On a final note, given that you are starting a business in West Hollywood, it's imperative that you check now that no other California company is using the business name you want to use.
Raising Money for Your Venture
Getting your West Hollywood 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.
Fortunately, this site contains dozens of articles on raising money, including one we recommend entitled Realistic Debt Financing Options.
For West Hollywood entrepreneurs who want to raise money for a new venture, check out our List of California Angel Investors and our List of California Venture Capital Firms.
Marketing Your New Venture
Whether your goal is to attract West Hollywood customers or you plan on selling elsewhere, you need a excellent marketing plan.
There are myriad resources on this site to help you with your marketing plan. Branding Advice discusses marketing strategy and tactical marketing in a way that should get you thinking about how to creatively promote your business. That's just a sampling of the many useful articles we have on Marketing a Small Business.
Moving Forward
Most new West Hollywood 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.
We are here to help West Hollywood businesses to be successful. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in West Hollywood, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in West Hollywood, California
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in West Hollywood.
- Resources for West Hollywood, California Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist West Hollywood entrepreneurs.
- California Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in California.
- Fresno, California Small Business Development Center - The UC Merced SBDC Regional Network assists Central California entrepreneurs and small business owners through counseling, training and business information.
- Los Angeles, California Small Business Development Center - The Los Angeles Regional Small Business Development Center Network (LA SBDC Network) is part of the national, U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) effort to provide free one-on-one customized consulting services and low-cost training workshops to growing businesses and start-up businesses.
- Sacramento, California Small Business Development Center - As Northern California continues to grow demographically and economically, the Northeastern California Small Business Development Center (NECSBDC) at CSU, Chico is committed to helping communities prepare and plan for future growth.
- San Diego, California Small Business Development Center - The Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Southwestern College serves entrepreneurs and small businesses in San Diego and Imperial Counties. The SBDC provides no-cost business assistance to start-up & existing businesses.
- San Francisco, California Small Business Development Center - The Northern California Network of Small Business Development Centers helps individuals start, manage and grow their businesses.
- Orange County Small Business Development Center - The Orange County SBDC is a leader in providing consulting, training, and technical assistance to the small business community.
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