Contemplating starting a business in Athens, Ohio? We walk you through the process of opening a business in Athens.
Which Business to Choose?
There are many businesses that you can start. How do you know which type of business is right for you? We recommend that you read 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 Starting a Game Birds & Venison Business guide or our How to Start a Golf Equipment Rental Business guide.
Always keep in mind that your new startup will be located in Athens. Some businesses will do better in Athens than others. A critical consideration is whether Athens demographics mesh well with your startup concept.
Athens, Ohio Demographic Information
Athens has an active business community that includes small businesses,
mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Athens demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Athens.
| Business Size | # of
Businesses |
| 1-4 Employees |
12089 |
| 5-9 Employees |
5478 |
| 10-19 Employees |
3597 |
| 20-49 Employees |
2838 |
| 50-99 Employees |
825 |
| 100-249 Employees |
264 |
| 250-499 Employees |
99 |
| 500-999 Employees |
0 |
| 1000+ Employees |
0 |
| All Athens Businesses |
25190 |
As a new Athens entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Athens 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 |
| Advertising Agencies |
2 |
| Amusement Arcades |
1 |
| Animal (except Poultry) Slaughtering |
1 |
| Architectural Services |
2 |
| Art Dealers |
1 |
| Automotive Exhaust System Repair |
1 |
| Automotive Parts and Accessories Stores |
5 |
| Automotive Transmission Repair |
1 |
| Baked Goods Stores |
1 |
| Beauty Salons |
8 |
| Beer and Ale Merchant Wholesalers |
1 |
| Beer, Wine, and Liquor Stores |
1 |
| Blood and Organ Banks |
1 |
| Book Publishers |
1 |
| Book Stores |
6 |
| Broadwoven Fabric Finishing Mills |
1 |
| Building Inspection Services |
1 |
| Business Associations |
2 |
| Cafeterias |
1 |
| Camera and Photographic Supplies Stores |
1 |
| Car Washes |
1 |
| Cemeteries and Crematories |
2 |
| Child and Youth Services |
2 |
| Child Day Care Services |
6 |
| Civic and Social Organizations |
15 |
| Clothing Accessories Stores |
1 |
| Coin-Operated Laundries and Drycleaners |
1 |
| Collection Agencies |
1 |
| Commercial Lithographic Printing |
2 |
| Commercial Photography |
1 |
| Community Food Services |
1 |
| Computer and Software Stores |
2 |
| Computer Systems Design Services |
1 |
| Confectionery and Nut Stores |
1 |
| Construction Sand and Gravel Mining |
1 |
| Consumer Lending |
1 |
| Convenience Stores |
1 |
| Convention and Visitors Bureaus |
1 |
| Couriers |
1 |
| Credit Unions |
2 |
| Custom Computer Programming Services |
3 |
| Dental Laboratories |
2 |
| Diagnostic Imaging Centers |
1 |
| Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages) |
12 |
| Educational Support Services |
1 |
| Electric Power Distribution |
1 |
| Electrical Contractors |
3 |
| Electronic Shopping |
2 |
| Elementary and Secondary Schools |
2 |
| Emergency and Other Relief Services |
1 |
| Engineering Services |
3 |
| Family Clothing Stores |
2 |
| Family Planning Centers |
1 |
| Fine Arts Schools |
3 |
| Finish Carpentry Contractors |
1 |
| Fitness and Recreational Sports Centers |
1 |
| Floor Covering Stores |
2 |
| Florists |
2 |
| Food (Health) Supplement Stores |
1 |
| Food Service Contractors |
1 |
| Fossil Fuel Electric Power Generation |
2 |
| Full-Service Restaurants |
24 |
| Funeral Homes and Funeral Services |
1 |
| Furniture Stores |
1 |
| General Automotive Repair |
8 |
| General Freight Trucking, Local |
2 |
| General Medical and Surgical Hospitals |
1 |
| General Rental Centers |
2 |
| Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Stores |
5 |
| Glass and Glazing Contractors |
1 |
| Golf Courses and Country Clubs |
1 |
| Grantmaking Foundations |
2 |
| Hardware Stores |
2 |
| Hobby, Toy, and Game Stores |
2 |
| Home Centers |
1 |
| Home Health Care Services |
5 |
| Home Health Equipment Rental |
1 |
| Household Appliance Stores |
3 |
| Human Rights Organizations |
1 |
| Industrial Design Services |
1 |
| Industrial Mold Manufacturing |
1 |
| Insurance Agencies and Brokerages |
14 |
| Internet Service Providers |
3 |
| Investment Advice |
2 |
| Janitorial Services |
5 |
| Jewelry Stores |
2 |
| Land Subdivision |
2 |
| Landscaping Services |
3 |
| Lessors of Other Real Estate Property |
2 |
| Limited-Service Restaurants |
39 |
| Locksmiths |
1 |
| Mail-Order Houses |
2 |
| Manifold Business Forms Printing |
1 |
| Manufactured (Mobile) Home Dealers |
4 |
| Marketing Consulting Services |
1 |
| Masonry Contractors |
1 |
| Medical Laboratories |
2 |
| Men's Clothing Stores |
3 |
| Miscellaneous Intermediation |
1 |
| Mobile Food Services |
1 |
| Motion Picture and Video Production |
1 |
| Motor Vehicle Towing |
1 |
| Motorcycle Dealers |
2 |
| Museums |
2 |
| Music Publishers |
1 |
| Musical Instrument and Supplies Stores |
1 |
| Nail Salons |
2 |
| New Car Dealers |
2 |
| New Housing Operative Builders |
1 |
| Newspaper Publishers |
2 |
| Nonresidential Property Managers |
3 |
| Nursing Care Facilities |
1 |
| Office Administrative Services |
2 |
| Office Equipment Merchant Wholesalers |
2 |
| Office Supplies and Stationery Stores |
2 |
| Offices of Certified Public Accountants |
4 |
| Offices of Chiropractors |
6 |
| Offices of Dentists |
13 |
| Offices of Lawyers |
21 |
| Offices of Optometrists |
4 |
| Offices of Podiatrists |
1 |
| Offices of Real Estate Appraisers |
3 |
| Optical Goods Stores |
1 |
| Outdoor Power Equipment Stores |
2 |
| Paint and Wallpaper Stores |
2 |
| Painting and Wall Covering Contractors |
3 |
| Pen and Mechanical Pencil Manufacturing |
1 |
| Periodical Publishers |
1 |
| Pet and Pet Supplies Stores |
2 |
| Pet Care (except Veterinary) Services |
1 |
| Petroleum Bulk Stations and Terminals |
1 |
| Pharmacies and Drug Stores |
3 |
| Photography Studios, Portrait |
2 |
| Pipeline Transportation of Natural Gas |
1 |
| Political Organizations |
1 |
| Portfolio Management |
1 |
| Professional Employer Organizations |
1 |
| Professional Organizations |
2 |
| Quick Printing |
1 |
| Radio Stations |
1 |
| Ready-Mix Concrete Manufacturing |
2 |
| Real Estate Credit |
5 |
| Real Estate Investment Trusts |
1 |
| Residential Property Managers |
8 |
| Residential Remodelers |
5 |
| Retail Bakeries |
2 |
| Roofing Contractors |
1 |
| Rooming and Boarding Houses |
8 |
| Securities Brokerage |
5 |
| Septic Tank and Related Services |
2 |
| Sheet Metal Work Manufacturing |
1 |
| Shoe Stores |
3 |
| Site Preparation Contractors |
5 |
| Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars |
5 |
| Software Publishers |
2 |
| Sporting Goods Stores |
4 |
| Tax Preparation Services |
1 |
| Telemarketing Bureaus |
1 |
| Telephone Answering Services |
1 |
| Television Broadcasting |
1 |
| Temporary Help Services |
1 |
| Temporary Shelters |
1 |
| Tile and Terrazzo Contractors |
2 |
| Tire and Tube Merchant Wholesalers |
1 |
| Tire Dealers |
3 |
| Title Abstract and Settlement Offices |
2 |
| Tobacco Stores |
1 |
| Travel Agencies |
1 |
| Used Car Dealers |
1 |
| Used Merchandise Stores |
1 |
| Vending Machine Operators |
2 |
| Veterinary Services |
3 |
| Video Tape and Disc Rental |
6 |
| Warehouse Clubs and Supercenters |
1 |
| Wholesale Trade Agents and Brokers |
1 |
| Wired Telecommunications Carriers |
3 |
| Women's Clothing Stores |
3 |
Is Buying an Existing Athens Business a Good Strategy?
An excellent way to get started in business is to Buy a Business in Ohio. Follow that link and you might discover several good businesses for sale in Athens.
If you are going to be buying a business, you may want to read this article: How to Buy a Business.
Picking a Company Name
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.
Pick a company name that isn't too generic. If you do a search engine search for your proposed name and a billion results come up, you may want to reconsider the name. It's much easier to come up in the search engines when your name is fairly unique.
To get up to speed on what makes for a good company name, we encourage you to read this useful article: Naming a Business.
As a final piece of advice, remember that because you are starting a business in Athens, it's imperative that you check now that no other Ohio company is using the business name you want to use.
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. Starting a business without a business plan makes you more prone to becoming a business failure statistic.
If writing a business plan is on your to-do list, be sure to read Business Plan Contests. A great resource for business planning assistance is the face-to-face free consulting available from your local SCORE chapter in Ohio.
Marketing Your New Business
To rise above the crowd in Athens and build your business, having an excellent marketing plan is fundamental to your doing well.
You can learn quite a bit about marketing on our site. Dealing with Angry Customers 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 taste of the many useful articles we have on Marketing a Small Business.
Moving Forward
Most new Athens businesses underestimate the number of challenges they will face.
From this point on, you control your own destiny.
We are here to help Athens businesses to be successful. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Athens, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Athens, Ohio
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Athens.
- Resources for Athens, Ohio Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Athens entrepreneurs.
- Ohio Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Ohio.
- Ohio Small Business Development Center - Whether you're starting your business, expanding your business, or just looking to stay in business, the Small Business Development Centers of Ohio (SBDCs of Ohio) can help with professional guidance by connecting you with research, financing sources, and training opportunities.
- Athens, Ohio Newspaper Ad Rates - This is a nearly comprehensive list of advertising rates for Athens, Ohio newspapers, including ad costs for newspapers serving the Athens area.
- Athens, Ohio Radio Advertising Prices - To help you in your marketing efforts, we've gathered radio advertising rates for Athens, Ohio area radio stations.
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