Washington Business Startup Guides
Start a Business in Westport, Washington
Are you starting a business in Westport, Washington? This article discusses the most important things to consider when opening a business in Westport.
Will You Be a Successful Entrepreneur?
Before you get too far along in the process, take inventory of your entrepreneurial instincts and capabilities.
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:
- Reach out to other entrepreneurs in Westport. They are usually very willing to share their insights on the ups and downs of being an entrepreneur.
- Peruse Should You Become an Entrepreneur?. This is one of our more popular articles for folks who want to go into business for themselves.
- Have a candid conversation with friends and family. Others sometimes know you better than you know yourself.
Westport, Washington Demographic Information
Westport has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Westport demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Westport.
Businesses
As a new Westport entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Westport 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 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.
Before you decide on a company name, run it by some prospective customers and see what they think. If they don't like it, it's probably a good idea to go back to the drawing board.
To get up to speed on what makes for a good company name, we encourage you to read this useful article: Branding Advice.
There's one other important factor when naming a business. Since you are planning on starting a business in Westport, it's very important that you make sure no other Washington company is using the business name you want to use.
Make Sure You Have a Business Plan
A business plan is critical to the health of your new business. Indeed, a business plan is a written description of the future you envision for your business. Not having a business plan is a recipe for disaster.
To learn more about business plans, read Business Presentations. You can also get face-to-face free consulting available from your local SCORE chapter in Washington.
Raising Capital for Your Business
Getting your Westport business the capital it needs to succeed is not an easy task. Bootstrapping, which means growing the business without outside funding, is the best alternative, but that's not a viable option for many startup plans.
Take advantage of our many articles on raising money, such as 504 Loans.
For Westport entrepreneurs with great ambition but a shortage of investment capital, check out our List of Washington Angel Investors and our List of Washington Venture Capital Firms.
Marketing Your New Business
Whether your goal is to attract Westport customers or you plan on selling elsewhere, having an excellent marketing plan is fundamental to your beating the competition.
We have some useful resources on this site for entrepreneurs who are working on marketing plans. Advertising on Google is a good read to get your marketing juices flowing. That's just a taste of the many useful articles we have on Marketing a Small Business.
What's Next?
You have a dream -- starting a business in Westport. To achieve your dream, you have to persevere, even when the odds are against you.
If you choose the right business and love what you do, you will greatly increase your odds of success.
Our goal here is to promote the vitality and growth of small businesses in Westport 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 Westport, Washington
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Westport.
- Resources for Westport, Washington Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Westport entrepreneurs.
- Washington Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Washington.
- Washington Small Business Development Center - Washington Small Business Development Centers promote economic vitality by providing advice, training and research to Washington entrepreneurs and existing Washington businesses.
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