Iowa Business Startup Guides
Starting a Business in Whittemore, Iowa
Thinking about starting a business in Whittemore, Iowa? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Whittemore.
Whittemore, Iowa Demographic Information
Whittemore has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Whittemore demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Whittemore.
Businesses
As a new Whittemore entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Whittemore 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
What About Franchising Opportunities?
As you drive around Whittemore, you may be surprised to see how many franchises there are in the area. Is franchising maybe a better way for you to start your business?
Our recommendation is that you consider franchising as an option. We have many articles on franchises, such as Costs of Franchise Ownership. Get a thorough education on franchising by browsing all of our Articles on Franchising.
To learn about specific franchise opportunities, check out our Franchise Directory.
Sample franchise opportunities include Par-T-Perfect and Global Broker Systems. Alternatively, you can browse franchise categories, such as Health and Beauty Franchises and Leisure and Entertainment Franchises.
Note on Whittemore Franchise Opportunities: You will need to contact franchisors directly to see if their franchises are available in Whittemore.
Do You Need a Business Plan?
A business plan is critical to the health of your new business. In effect, a business plan describes what you plan to do with the business and how you plan to do it. Not having 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 counseling sessions provided by your local SCORE chapter in Iowa.
Raising Capital for Your Startup
Getting your Whittemore 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.
The good news is this site contains dozens of articles on raising money, including one we recommend entitled 504 Loans.
For Whittemore entrepreneurs with great ambition but a shortage of investment capital, check out our List of Iowa Angel Investors and our List of Iowa Venture Capital Firms.
Marketing Your New Startup
To grow your Whittemore business, having an excellent marketing plan is fundamental to your succeeding.
You can learn quite a bit about marketing on our site. Examples of Marketing Strategies discusses marketing strategy and tactical marketing in a way that should get you thinking about how to creatively promote your business. That's just one of the many useful articles we have on Marketing a Small Business.
The Art of Selling
Mastering the art of selling is a must if you want your new Whittemore business to do well.
The key to selling is to set sales goals goals and monitor your progress towards those goals. The good news is we can help you to make selling a big competitve advantage for your new firm.
Closing Sales Techniques offers some helpful tips on how to sell. It's one of several good articles on our site regarding Entrepreneurial Selling.
Now It's Up To You
Most new Whittemore 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 Whittemore and throughout the United States . We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Whittemore, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Whittemore, Iowa
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Whittemore.
- Resources for Whittemore, Iowa Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Whittemore entrepreneurs.
- Iowa Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Iowa.
- Iowa Small Business Development Center - The Iowa SBDC conducts research, counsels, and trains business people in management, financing, and operating small businesses. They provide comprehensive information services and access to experts in a variety of fields. This is a great resource for Iowa entrepreneurs!
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