Illinois Business Startup Guides
Opening a Business in Ashton, Illinois
Contemplating starting a business in Ashton, Illinois? We walk you through the process of opening a business in Ashton.
Do You Have Entrepreneurial Drive and Passion?
Before you get too far along in the process, assess 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:
- Talk to other entrepreneurs in Ashton. Get their candid feedback on what it takes to start a successful business.
- 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. A support network of family and friends can be a great sounding board for good advice before you decide for sure to go into business.
Ashton, Illinois Demographic Information
Ashton has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Ashton demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Ashton.
Businesses
As a new Ashton entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Ashton 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
Is Franchising a Better Option?
Browse the Yellow Pages for Ashton and you'll notice that many local entrepreneurs have gone the franchising route. But is franchising the right option for you?
Most business experts recommend that you consider franchising as an option. We have many articles on franchises, such as How Franchises Work. Gain a solid understanding of franchising by scanning all of our Articles on Franchising.
To learn about specific franchise opportunities, check out our Franchise Directory.
Sample franchise opportunities include Ruffin's Pet Centres and 7 Valleys Custom Blends Farm Fresh Tobacco. Alternatively, you can browse franchise categories, such as Health and Diet Franchises and Ice Cream Franchises.
Note on Ashton Franchise Opportunities: To find out if a franchise you are interested in is available in Ashton, you will need to get in direct contact with the franchisor.
Have You Considered Buying an Existing Ashton Business?
If you have some capital to play with, you may want to Buy a Business in Illinois. Follow that link and you might discover several good businesses for sale in Ashton.
For anybody who wants to buy a business, we recommend reading this useful article: Hold Harmless Agreements When Buying Businesses.
Do You Need a Business Plan?
Writing a business plan is vital in maximizing the prospects of your new company. In effect, a business plan is a written description of the future you envision for your business. Not having a business plan will greatly reduce your chances of business success.
To learn more about business plans, read Business Plan Contests. You can also get face-to-face free consulting available from your local SCORE chapter in Illinois.
Startup Financing Basics
Getting your Ashton 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 Business Line of Credit.
For Ashton entrepreneurs in need of startup financing, check out our List of Illinois Angel Investors and our List of Illinois Venture Capital Firms.
Marketing Your New Business
To grow your Ashton business, you'll need to have a good marketing plan.
There are myriad resources on this site to help you with your marketing plan. Internet Advertising is a good read to get your marketing creativity flowing. That's just one of the many useful articles we have on Marketing a Small Business.
Now It's Up To You
You have a dream -- starting a business in Ashton. To achieve your dream, you have to persevere, even when the odds are against you.
From this point on, you control your own destiny.
We are here to help Ashton businesses to be successful. 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 Ashton, Illinois
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Ashton.
- Resources for Ashton, Illinois Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Ashton entrepreneurs.
- Illinois Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Illinois.
- Illinois Small Business Development Center - Illinois Small Business Development Centers located throughout the state provide assistance to new and existing small businesses.
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