Open a Business in Blaine, Washington

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

Will You Be a Successful Entrepreneur?

Most new ventures don't make it, in part because the founder did not have the perseverance and abilities that are necessary to succeed. So, before you start your business, consider all of the implications of being an entrepreneur.

While entrepreneurship has become a popular career choice, we recommend you do the following before you take the plunge:

• Talk to other entrepreneurs in Blaine. They are usually very willing to share their insights on the ups and downs of being an entrepreneur.
• 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. Others sometimes know you better than you know yourself.

Blaine, Washington Demographic Information

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

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

Business Size	# of Businesses
1-4 Employees	3152
5-9 Employees	948
10-19 Employees	336
20-49 Employees	240
50-99 Employees	132
100-249 Employees	36
250-499 Employees	0
500-999 Employees	12
1000+ Employees	0
All Blaine Businesses	4856

As a new Blaine entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Blaine 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
Amusement and Theme Parks	1
Amusement Arcades	1
Art Dealers	1
Automotive Parts and Accessories Stores	2
Beauty Salons	2
Beer, Wine, and Liquor Stores	4
Boat Building	1
Boat Dealers	1
Breakfast Cereal Manufacturing	1
Building Inspection Services	2
Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning Services	2
Caterers	1
Child Day Care Services	2
Civic and Social Organizations	3
Clothing Accessories Stores	1
Commodity Contracts Dealing	2
Computer Systems Design Services	2
Construction Sand and Gravel Mining	1
Continuing Care Retirement Communities	1
Couriers	1
Credit Bureaus	1
Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages)	3
Drywall and Insulation Contractors	4
Educational Support Services	1
Electrical Contractors	3
Electronic Shopping	1
Engineering Services	1
Family Clothing Stores	1
Finfish Fishing	2
Fish and Seafood Merchant Wholesalers	1
Fitness and Recreational Sports Centers	2
Florists	1
Food (Health) Supplement Stores	2
Framing Contractors	2
Freight Transportation Arrangement	20
Fresh and Frozen Seafood Processing	2
Full-Service Restaurants	11
Funeral Homes and Funeral Services	1
Furniture Stores	2
General Freight Trucking, Local	2
General Warehousing and Storage	3
Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Stores	1
Golf Courses and Country Clubs	2
Hardware Stores	2
Insurance Agencies and Brokerages	4
Interior Design Services	1
Internet Service Providers	1
Investment Advice	2
Janitorial Services	10
Jewelry (except Costume) Manufacturing	1
Land Subdivision	1
Landscape Architectural Services	1
Landscaping Services	5
Lessors of Other Real Estate Property	5
Limited-Service Restaurants	8
Machine Shops	1
Mail-Order Houses	1
Marketing Consulting Services	3
Miscellaneous Intermediation	1
Motor Vehicle Towing	1
New Housing Operative Builders	4
News Syndicates	1
Newspaper Publishers	1
Nonresidential Property Managers	1
Nursing Care Facilities	1
Office Administrative Services	3
Offices of Certified Public Accountants	1
Offices of Chiropractors	1
Offices of Dentists	2
Offices of Lawyers	4
Offices of Other Holding Companies	1
Offices of Real Estate Appraisers	2
Painting and Wall Covering Contractors	1
Petroleum Refineries	1
Pharmacies and Drug Stores	1
Private Mail Centers	5
Radio Stations	1
Refrigerated Warehousing and Storage	1
Residential Property Managers	2
Residential Remodelers	9
Reupholstery and Furniture Repair	1
Savings Institutions	2
Security Guards and Patrol Services	1
Septic Tank and Related Services	1
Siding Contractors	1
Site Preparation Contractors	5
Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars	2
Sports and Recreation Instruction	2
Testing Laboratories	1
Tile and Terrazzo Contractors	1
Tour Operators	1
Travel Agencies	1
Veterinary Services	5
Video Tape and Disc Rental	2
Wholesale Trade Agents and Brokers	2

Have You Considered Buying an Existing Blaine Business?

An excellent way to get started in business is to Buy a Business in Washington. Follow that link and you may find several good businesses for sale in Blaine.

Before buying a business, be sure to read this article: Buying a Business.

Choosing a Company Name

Making the right decision when choosing a company name is very important. There are many decisions you'll make now that you can change later, but changing a company name years down the road is not very easy. So, choose a good company name at the outset.

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: Branding Advice.

On a final note, given that you are starting a business in Blaine, it's imperative that you check now that you will be the only Washington company using the business name you have chosen.

Getting Money to Start a Business

Finding the funds to fuel the growth of your Blaine business is a difficult chore. To obtain business financing, you will need to hear a lot of rejections before you finally find a funding solution that works for you.

Take advantage of our many articles on raising capital, such as Getting a Small Business Loan.

For Blaine entrepreneurs with great ambition but a shortage of investment capital, browse our List of Washington Angel Investors and our List of Washington Venture Capital Firms.

Learning More About Entrepreneurship

Good entrepreneurs know that they don't know everything.

Given that you are starting a business in Blaine, Washington, you will want to take advantage of the many programs available at nearby Washington universities, colleges and community colleges. We also suggest you look into networking groups or organizations in which Blaine entrepreneurs get together to network and trade their business experiences.

What's Next?

Most new Blaine businesses underestimate the number of challenges they will face.

From this point on, you control your own destiny.

This site is all about helping entrepreneurs in Blaine and elsewhere to achieve real success. We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Blaine, neighborhood development and overall economic health.

More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Blaine, Washington

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

• Resources for Blaine, Washington Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Blaine entrepreneurs.
• Washington Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Washington.
• Washington Small Business Development Center - Washington Small Business Development Centers promote economic vitality by providing advice, training and research to Washington entrepreneurs and existing Washington businesses.
• Blaine, Washington Newspaper Ad Rates - This is a nearly comprehensive list of advertising rates for Blaine, Washington newspapers, including ad costs for newspapers serving the Blaine area.
• Blaine, Washington Radio Advertising Prices - To help you in your marketing efforts, we've gathered radio advertising rates for Blaine, Washington area radio stations.

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