Starting a Business in Albany, Kentucky

Are you starting a business in Albany, Kentucky? This article discusses the most important things to consider when opening a business in Albany.

Will You Be a Good Entrepreneur?

Most new ventures fail, 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 Albany. They are usually very willing to share their insights on the ups and downs of being an entrepreneur.
• We recommend reading Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs. For aspiring new entrepreneurs, it's a must read article.
• Seek the advice of somebody who knows you well. Others sometimes know you better than you know yourself.

What Business Are You Starting?

Choosing a business that is right for you is very important. You might get some good ideas about what kind of business to start by reading Free 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 Artificial Stone & Brick Business guide or our How to Start an Electrician Business guide.

Don't forget that your new business will be in Albany. The business you want to start may already be well-represented in Albany. Study Albany demographics and do a competitive analysis as part of your startup planning process.

Albany, Kentucky Demographic Information

Albany has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.

To give you a better feel for Albany demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Albany.

Business Size	# of Businesses
1-4 Employees	4950
5-9 Employees	1395
10-19 Employees	1395
20-49 Employees	675
50-99 Employees	180
100-249 Employees	45
250-499 Employees	0
500-999 Employees	0
1000+ Employees	45
All Albany Businesses	8685

As a new Albany entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Albany 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.

Business Type	# of Businesses
Ambulance Services	1
Automotive Parts and Accessories Stores	3
Boat Building	2
Child Day Care Services	3
Community Food Services	1
Consumer Lending	2
Custom Computer Programming Services	1
Dimension Stone Mining and Quarrying	1
Drilling Oil and Gas Wells	2
Electric Power Distribution	1
Electrical Contractors	1
Elementary and Secondary Schools	1
Engineering Services	1
Farm Supplies Merchant Wholesalers	2
Fertilizer (Mixing Only) Manufacturing	1
Finish Carpentry Contractors	1
Full-Service Restaurants	4
Funeral Homes and Funeral Services	3
Furniture Stores	1
General Freight Trucking, Local	1
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals	1
Gum and Wood Chemical Manufacturing	1
Hardware Stores	1
Home Health Care Services	3
Insurance Agencies and Brokerages	3
Janitorial Services	1
Jewelry Stores	2
Limited-Service Restaurants	9
Linen Supply	1
Manufactured (Mobile) Home Dealers	1
Marinas	1
Masonry Contractors	1
Natural Gas Distribution	2
New Car Dealers	1
Newspaper Publishers	1
Nursing Care Facilities	1
Office Administrative Services	1
Offices of Chiropractors	1
Offices of Dentists	3
Offices of Lawyers	7
Offices of Optometrists	1
Painting and Wall Covering Contractors	1
Pharmacies and Drug Stores	3
Poultry Processing	1
Radio Stations	1
Ready-Mix Concrete Manufacturing	1
Recreational Goods Rental	1
Sawmills	3
Shoe Stores	1
Siding Contractors	1
Site Preparation Contractors	2
Tax Preparation Services	2
Taxi Service	2
Testing Laboratories	1
Tire Dealers	1
Tobacco Stores	3
Used Car Dealers	3
Veterinary Services	1
Video Tape and Disc Rental	1
Vocational Rehabilitation Services	1
Wood Container and Pallet Manufacturing	1

Have You Considered Buying an Existing Albany Business?

We've created a handy website page for those who want to Buy a Business in Kentucky. Follow that link and you might discover several good businesses for sale in Albany.

If you are serious about buying a business, you may want to read this article: How to Buy a Business.

Forming a Company in Albany, Kentucky

A critical step is ensuring that you form your business as a legal structure. Among other things, forming a legal entity for the business limits your liabilities.

The entity you form can be a traditional C-corporation, a Limited Liability Company (LLC), or an S-corporation.

Incorporating is a very common way to legally create a business entity. Of course, you have to decide which type of corporation to form and where to incorporate. If you are starting a business in Kentucky, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Kentucky. In fact, you can incorporate in any state you would like to. 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 C Corp Versus S Corp. You should also consider getting professional assistance from your business lawyer. Finally, if you are starting a business in Albany, Kentucky, our information on Incorporating in Kentucky may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Kentucky.

Don't Forget to Create a Business Plan

Having a business plan is essential to the health of your new business. In effect, your business plan is your game plan for how you hope to grow your business. Not having a business plan makes you more prone to becoming a business failure statistic.

To learn more about business plans, read Business Presentations. A great resource for business planning assistance is the free business counselors available to you through your local SCORE chapter in Kentucky.

What's Next?

Most new Albany 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 Albany and elsewhere to achieve real success. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Albany, neighborhood development and overall economic health.

More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Albany, Kentucky

Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Albany.

• Resources for Albany, Kentucky Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Albany entrepreneurs.
• Kentucky Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Kentucky.
• Kentucky Small Business Development Center - The Kentucky Small Business Development Center (KSBDC) has been assisting Kentucky small business community for more than 25 years. KSBDC is co-sponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration and is administered by the University of Kentucky in partnership with regional universities, community and private colleges, and the private sector.
• Albany, Kentucky Newspaper Ad Rates - This is a nearly comprehensive list of advertising rates for Albany, Kentucky newspapers, including ad costs for newspapers serving the Albany area.
• Albany, Kentucky Radio Advertising Prices - To help you in your marketing efforts, we've gathered radio advertising rates for Albany, Kentucky area radio stations.

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