Starting a Business in Atmore, Alabama

Thinking about starting a business in Atmore, Alabama? This step-by-step guide walks you through the major decisions you should consider before opening a new business in Atmore.

Are You Ready for Life as an Owner?

Being an entrepreneur is demanding, much harder than working as an employee. Are you sure you have the stamina and skills to succeed on your own?

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 Atmore. Listen closely to their experiences and see if you think you too can be successful.
• 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. Ask them directly: Do I have what it takes to be an entrepreneur? Listen carefully to their answer, as they presumably know your strengths and weaknesses.

Atmore, Alabama Demographic Information

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

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

Business Size	# of Businesses
1-4 Employees	522
5-9 Employees	219
10-19 Employees	153
20-49 Employees	81
50-99 Employees	18
100-249 Employees	18
250-499 Employees	0
500-999 Employees	3
1000+ Employees	0
All Atmore Businesses	1014

As a new Atmore entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Atmore 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	2
Automotive Glass Replacement Shops	2
Automotive Parts and Accessories Stores	8
Beauty Salons	2
Beer and Ale Merchant Wholesalers	1
Beer, Wine, and Liquor Stores	1
Book Stores	1
Business Associations	1
Cafeterias	1
Car Washes	2
Cemeteries and Crematories	1
Child Day Care Services	5
Civic and Social Organizations	1
Commercial Lithographic Printing	1
Construction Sand and Gravel Mining	1
Consumer Lending	2
Convenience Stores	2
Cotton Ginning	1
Drafting Services	1
Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages)	2
Electric Power Distribution	3
Electrical Contractors	2
Electronic Shopping	1
Elementary and Secondary Schools	2
Emergency and Other Relief Services	1
Engineering Services	1
Exterminating and Pest Control Services	1
Family Clothing Stores	2
Farm Product Warehousing and Storage	1
Farm Supplies Merchant Wholesalers	4
Finish Carpentry Contractors	2
Floor Covering Stores	1
Florists	3
Food (Health) Supplement Stores	1
Framing Contractors	3
Full-Service Restaurants	8
Funeral Homes and Funeral Services	3
Furniture Stores	3
General Automotive Repair	5
General Freight Trucking, Local	1
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals	1
General Rental Centers	2
Glass and Glazing Contractors	1
Grantmaking Foundations	1
Hardware Stores	1
Home Centers	2
Household Appliance Stores	1
Industrial Launderers	1
Insurance Agencies and Brokerages	4
Jewelry Stores	1
Kidney Dialysis Centers	1
Landscaping Services	4
Libraries and Archives	1
Limited-Service Restaurants	7
Logging	1
Manufactured (Mobile) Home Dealers	1
Metal Tank (Heavy Gauge) Manufacturing	1
Natural Gas Liquid Extraction	1
New Car Dealers	3
Newspaper Publishers	1
Nonwoven Fabric Mills	1
Nursing Care Facilities	1
Office Equipment Merchant Wholesalers	1
Office Supplies and Stationery Stores	1
Offices of Bank Holding Companies	1
Offices of Certified Public Accountants	4
Offices of Chiropractors	1
Offices of Dentists	4
Offices of Lawyers	4
Offices of Optometrists	4
Offices of Other Holding Companies	1
Painting and Wall Covering Contractors	1
Pharmacies and Drug Stores	5
Quick Printing	1
Ready-Mix Concrete Manufacturing	1
Real Estate Credit	1
Residential Remodelers	4
Roofing Contractors	5
Sawmills	1
Securities Brokerage	1
Security Guards and Patrol Services	1
Site Preparation Contractors	3
Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars	2
Support Activities for Forestry	2
Tax Preparation Services	2
Telecommunications Resellers	1
Tire Dealers	3
Tire Retreading	2
Travel Trailer and Camper Manufacturing	1
Truss Manufacturing	1
Used Car Dealers	3
Used Merchandise Stores	2
Vending Machine Operators	1
Veterinary Services	2
Video Tape and Disc Rental	1
Water Supply and Irrigation Systems	2
Wholesale Trade Agents and Brokers	1
Wired Telecommunications Carriers	4
Women's Clothing Stores	2

Have You Considered Buying an Existing Atmore Business?

If you have some capital to play with, you may want to Buy a Business in Alabama. Follow that link and you may find several good businesses for sale in Atmore.

If you are headed down the path of buying a business, you may want to read this article: Buying a Business.

Forming a Company in Atmore, Alabama

It's very important that you are forming a legal entity that operates independently from you. Among other things, forming a legal entity for the business limits your liabilities.

When forming a company, you will pick from many company types, such as a traditional C-corporation, a Limited Liability Company (LLC), or an S-corporation.

Incorporation is a very popular way to form a business. A key decision is whether to form and S-Corp or a C-Corp, and you also must decide in which state you will incorporate. If you are starting a business in Alabama, you don't necessarily have to incorporate in Alabama. In fact, you can incorporate wherever you want. 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 Company Formation. You should also consider getting professional assistance from your business lawyer. On a final note, since you will be starting a business in Atmore, Alabama, our web page covering Incorporating in Alabama may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Alabama.

Don't Skip the Business Plan

A business plan is critical in maximizing the prospects of your new company. Simply put, 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 Expert Advice on Business Plans. You should also take advantage of free business counselors available to you through your local SCORE chapter in Alabama.

Promoting Your New Company

Whether your goal is to attract Atmore customers or you plan on selling elsewhere, you need a great marketing plan.

There are myriad resources on this site to help you with your marketing plan. Facebook Advertising is an article that will stimulate a few thoughts on your marketing plan. There are many more articles on marketing on our site. Visit our Small Business Marketing resource section to see them all.

Never Give Up

As an entrepreneur in Atmore, you won't be working for the boss anymore. You are the boss.

From this point on, you control your own destiny.

Our goal here is to promote the vitality and growth of small businesses in Atmore 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 Atmore, Alabama

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

• Resources for Atmore, Alabama Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Atmore entrepreneurs.
• Alabama Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Alabama.
• Alabama Small Business Development Center - Alabama's Small Business Development Center (SBDC) counsels and trains business people in a wide variety of business topics and provides comprehensive information services and access to experts in many fields. Counseling is provided free of charge to all Alabama small business owners.
• Atmore, Alabama Newspaper Ad Rates - This is a nearly comprehensive list of advertising rates for Atmore, Alabama newspapers, including ad costs for newspapers serving the Atmore area.
• Atmore, Alabama Radio Advertising Prices - To help you in your marketing efforts, we've gathered radio advertising rates for Atmore, Alabama area radio stations.
• Atmore, Alabama Payroll Services - This list includes Atmore, Alabama payroll services, national payroll services for Atmore, and helpful information on choosing a Atmore payroll service.

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