Are you starting a business in Benton, Tennessee? This article discusses the most important things to consider when opening a business in Benton.
Do You Have Entrepreneurial Drive and Passion?
Before you get too far along in the process, take inventory of your entrepreneurial instincts and capabilities.
With so much at stake when you start a business, we strongly recommend you do the following before you proceed:
- Talk to other entrepreneurs in Benton. 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.
What Type of Business Should You Start?
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 Finding Your Niche in Life.
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 a Petroleum Consultants Business guide or our How to Start a Voter Registration Business guide.
Remember that starting a business in Benton has some implications. The business you want to start may already be well-represented in Benton. Study Benton demographics and do a competitive analysis as part of your startup planning process.
Benton, Tennessee Demographic Information
Benton has an active business community that includes small businesses,
mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Benton demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Benton.
| Business Size | # of Businesses |
| 1-4 Employees |
1969 |
| 5-9 Employees |
462 |
| 10-19 Employees |
231 |
| 20-49 Employees |
132 |
| 50-99 Employees |
0 |
| 100-249 Employees |
33 |
| 250-499 Employees |
0 |
| 500-999 Employees |
0 |
| 1000+ Employees |
0 |
| All Benton Businesses |
2827 |
As a new Benton entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Benton 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 |
| Automotive Parts and Accessories Stores |
2 |
| Beer, Wine, and Liquor Stores |
1 |
| Bottled Water Manufacturing |
1 |
| Business Associations |
1 |
| Cemeteries and Crematories |
1 |
| Child Day Care Services |
1 |
| Construction Sand and Gravel Mining |
1 |
| Electric Power Distribution |
1 |
| Electrical Contractors |
1 |
| Family Clothing Stores |
1 |
| Full-Service Restaurants |
3 |
| Funeral Homes and Funeral Services |
1 |
| General Automotive Repair |
4 |
| Home Health Equipment Rental |
1 |
| Insurance Agencies and Brokerages |
3 |
| Landscaping Services |
1 |
| Limited-Service Restaurants |
2 |
| Newspaper Publishers |
1 |
| Offices of Certified Public Accountants |
1 |
| Offices of Dentists |
2 |
| Pharmacies and Drug Stores |
2 |
| Photography Studios, Portrait |
2 |
| Radio Stations |
1 |
| Sawmills |
1 |
| Septic Tank and Related Services |
1 |
| Site Preparation Contractors |
1 |
| Sporting Goods Stores |
1 |
| Tire Dealers |
1 |
| Tobacco Stores |
1 |
| Veterinary Services |
1 |
| Video Tape and Disc Rental |
1 |
| Water Supply and Irrigation Systems |
1 |
| Wired Telecommunications Carriers |
1 |
| Women's Clothing Stores |
1 |
What About Buying an Existing Benton Business?
If you have some capital to play with, you may want to Buy a Business in Tennessee. Follow that link and you can assess several good businesses for sale in Benton.
For anybody who wants to buy a business, we recommend reading this useful article: Buying a Business.
Naming the Business
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.
Companies like Starbucks, Apple, Target, Microsoft and Intuit all have strong company names that are easy to remember and have become well-loved brands. Wouldn't it be nice if your new company name got on a similar track?
Numerous company naming issues are discussed in more detail in this article: Naming a Company.
On a final note, given that you are planning on starting a business in Benton, it's very important that you make sure no other Tennessee company is using the business name you want to use.
Forming a Company in Benton, Tennessee
It's very important that your business is formed as a legal entity that is separate from its owners. Without a legal structure for the business, you can be held personally liable for the actions, debts and obligations of your company.
The entity you form can be a corporation, LLC, sole proprietorship, partnership or other structure.
Incorporating is a very popular way to form a business. Of course, you have to decide which type of corporation to form and where to incorporate. If you are starting a business in Tennessee, it doesn't mean you are required to incorporate in Tennessee. As it turns out, you are allowed to incorporate wherever you want. For example, it's very popular to incorporate in Delaware, and incorporating in Nevada has become very trendy as well. Don't forget, though, that you will have to register as a foreign entity in all states that you do business in.
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 Incorporating Online. You may also want to seek the advice of an attorney. Finally, if you are starting a business in Benton, Tennessee, our information on Incorporating in Tennessee may be a useful resource if you decide to incorporate in Tennessee.
Now It's Up To You
You have a dream -- starting a business in Benton. 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 Benton businesses to be successful. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Benton, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Benton, Tennessee
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Benton.
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