Wisconsin Business Startup Guides
Opening a Business in Burlington, Wisconsin
Contemplating starting a business in Burlington, Wisconsin? We walk you through the process of opening a business in Burlington.
Are You Ready for Life as an Owner?
Before announcing to the world that you are going to start your own business, assess your entrepreneurial instincts and capabilities.
While entrepreneurship has become a popular career choice, we recommend you do the following before you take the plunge:
- Talk to other entrepreneurs in Burlington. Listen closely to their experiences and see if you think you too can be successful.
- We recommend reading Why Small Businesses Fail. For aspiring new entrepreneurs, it's a must read article.
- Get feedback from somebody whom you trust. 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.
What Type of Business Should You Start?
An important decision is what kind of business you want to start. If you are struggling with what type of business to start, read 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 an Infrared Spectroscopy Testing Laboratories Business guide or our Starting a Wood & Wood Products Business guide.
Always keep in mind that starting a business in Burlington has some implications. Some businesses will do better in Burlington than others. Make sure you fully understand Burlington demographics before you lock in on your business idea.
Burlington, Wisconsin Demographic Information
Burlington has an active business community that includes small businesses, mid-sized businesses and large businesses.
To give you a better feel for Burlington demographics for small businesses, we have tabulated the small business sizes, based on number of employees, for business in Burlington.
Businesses
As a new Burlington entrepreneur, you may also be interested in the table below. It shows how many businesses there are in Burlington 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
The Role of the Business Plan
A business plan is essential in laying a solid foundation for your business success. In effect, a business plan is a written description of the future you envision for your business. Failure to write a business plan is a recipe for disaster.
If you want more information on writing business plans, we recommend reading Business Plan Contests. You can also get free business counselors available to you through your local SCORE chapter in Wisconsin.
Where to Get Money to Start a Company
Getting your Burlington 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 Getting a Small Business Loan.
For Burlington entrepreneurs with great ambition but a shortage of investment capital, you'll want to take a look at our List of Wisconsin Angel Investors and our List of Wisconsin Venture Capital Firms.
Marketing Your New Company
To grow your Burlington business, having an excellent marketing plan is fundamental to your beating the competition.
We have some excellent resources on this site for entrepreneurs who are working on marketing plans. Buying Radio Ads is a good read to get your marketing ideas flowing. That's just a taste of the many useful articles we have on Marketing a Small Business.
How to Improve Your Entrepreneurial Abilities
Good entrepreneurs know that what they know now may not be enough to ensure their future success.
Given that you are starting a business in Burlington, Wisconsin, you will want to take advantage of the many programs available at nearby Wisconsin universities, colleges and community colleges. It's also worthwhile to see if there are any Burlington networking organizations.
Never Give Up
You have a dream -- starting a business in Burlington. To achieve your dream, you have to persevere, even when the odds are against you.
From this point on, you control your own destiny.
Our goal here is to promote the vitality and growth of small businesses in Burlington and throughout the United States . We believe entrepreneurship is an amazing engine for job creation in Burlington, neighborhood development and overall economic health.
More Entrepreneurial Resources for Starting a Business in Burlington, Wisconsin
Here are more links that we believe will help you be successful in starting a business in Burlington.
- Resources for Burlington, Wisconsin Entrepreneurs - Browse a variety of resources we've collected to assist Burlington entrepreneurs.
- Wisconsin Entrepreneurial Resources - We've gathered state-level entrepreneurial resources to help new entrepreneurs who are based in Wisconsin.
- Wisconsin Small Business Development Center - Wisconsin Small Business Development Centers offer a variety of educational services to small-businesses. The low-cost courses, seminars, and workshops cover both basic and complex topics, from marketing to management techniques to business plan development.
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